I do not own The Loud House. All rights belong to Nickelodeon.

Chapter 13

It took them a while to calm down when the sisters woke up. There was a lot of "LINCOLN CAN TELEPORT LIKE JUMPER?!" They paraded him with questions, and Lincoln did his best to answer them, but he didn't have a clue how these new powers came to him. Lisa was more than eager to study him, but Lincoln insisted she save it for tomorrow. Rita was equally surprised when she came home.

With that, everyone brushed and flossed their teeth and headed for bed. Lincoln gave Lana a very heartfelt and reassuring goodnight before she went to bed with Luna and Luan. Lola, of course, didn't want that bedroom all to herself, so she slept with Lori and Leni.

Thankfully for Lynn, it was her turn on the bed clock, and like always, she curled up real close in his arms, feeling safe and secure. Lincoln held her close and planted a few kisses on her head as he gently stroked her hair.

Lynn's dream

Lynn woke up sitting in a chair. Like the other dream, she was grown up and not a hobo – much to her relief. She wore jeans, knee-high boots, and a red sweater with her hair out. She looked over and saw her brother, tall, strong, and handsome as ever, as he walked down the stairs. He wore an orange sweater over his white collared shirt, loose blue jeans, and winter boots. He grabbed his black coat and Lynn's red coat.

He turned to her, "You ready to go?"

Lynn hesitantly answered, "Y-Yeah, I'm ready."

She got up and grabbed her coat as Lincoln handed it to her. Once they both had their coats and hats on, they walked outside. It was winter, with snow everywhere and a gentle cold breeze blowing. There were still some Christmas decorations and dried-up Christmas trees sitting on the curb, ready to be taken to the dump. There wasn't a cloud to be seen, and the sky was so blue. The sun made the snow shine brightly.

Lincoln put on a pair of sunglasses, but Lynn didn't have any. She clung to her brother's arm as she walked with him while resting her head on his shoulder, only closing her eyes when it was too bright. She didn't know where they were going, and she didn't care. She was happy as long as she was with Lincoln – she didn't want to be anywhere else. Sometimes, she wanted the world to just stop and let her have this forever.

"Lynn," Lincoln spoke.

"Yeah?" Lynn asked while still resting her head on his shoulder.

"I got some news to tell you."

Lynn opened her eyes and dreaded that it was anything bad. She lifted her head to look at him with a serious look.

"Lucy's pregnant," Lincoln said.

Lynn's eyes widened with a smile, "What?"

"Yeah. She's going to have a baby. She found out yesterday."

"Well, that's fantastic! That's good, right?"

"Yeah, it's good. It's what she had wanted for a while now. She's gonna be part of the inner circle of sibling parents."

Lynn tried to use her current mind and memories, but they were vague. She had to figure out how to ask Lincoln without being too weird.

"Uh, Lincoln. Can you refresh my memory? There are so many of us. It's such a big family. How many kids are there?" Lynn asked.

"Umm, let's see," Lincoln thought as he looked up at the sky, "Lori has her two sons and her daughter. That's three. Leni has a son and a daughter. That makes five. Luna and her adopted son. That's six. Luan and her two sons. That's eight. There's you and your twin daughters. That's ten. There's my son and my two daughters. That's thirteen in total."

Lynn's eyes widened but with joy, as she smiled. She wondered if they all had 'L' names. A part of her hoped that none of them did to break the mold.

"If assuming that Lucy is having just one, then that'll make fourteen," Lincoln said.

"Big family. Lots of kiddies," Lynn grinned.

"Yeah. Lucy hasn't told the others yet. So, don't tell the others. She'll tell the rest of the family later today. She called me yesterday and told me. She was a little freaked out, but I was able to calm her down, and now she's ready."

"That's good."

They arrived at the coffee shop, and both had caramel macchiato – Lynn ordered a Christmas tree cookie. They sat peacefully in a booth by the window, enjoying their coffee. Lynn couldn't take her eyes off of Lincoln. He looked so good. He really grew up. He was sipping his coffee while answering a few emails on his phone. Once he was done, Lynn reached out and held his hand. Lincoln looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You okay, Lynn?" Lincoln asked.

"I just . . . I'm just really happy I'm here with you," Lynn said warmly.

Lincoln rubbed his thumb on her hand.

"You've been acting kind of strange lately. Are you sure you're okay? If something is going on, you can tell me," Lincoln assured.

There was so much that Lynn wanted to tell him, but she wasn't sure if she could. She wasn't sure whether all this was real or just a dream. Lynn only got these dreams whenever Lincoln slept with her in her bed. Either this was all just dreams, or sleeping with Lincoln gives off his future vision energy, and she's seeing a window into a possible future. Maybe this Lincoln has seen it all and knows exactly what to say to her, or the minutes she asks him, it'll all fall apart like a collapsing dream, and she'll never see this Lincoln ever again . . . and never feel this kind of happiness again. Lynn thought she had to choose her words carefully.

"I . . . I haven't always been the best sister to you. Sometimes, I've even been the worst to you," Lynn started.

Lincoln gave a sad frown.

"I know growing up, I didn't always have my head screwed on just right. I've made my share of mistakes, said things I shouldn't have said, and done worse things . . . and I cared too deeply about sports, about winning. But I need you to know that I never wanted to hurt you," Lynn explained.

Lynn turned away to fight back her tears. All the bad memories were flooding her mind, and it was hard to push them away.

"I just . . . I just wish I was a better sister to you. I'm really sorry for the bad things I did to you," Lynn said.

Lincoln looked down at his coffee before sipping it. He let out a steady sigh, then spoke as he held her hand.

"Growing up, you were a lot of things, Lynn. You weren't perfect . . . sometimes you were not a good person, let alone a good sister," Lincoln started.

Lynn's eyes slightly widened, and then she looked down with a sad expression of shame.

"But neither were the rest of our sisters," Lynn looked at him as he continued, "Including me. None of us were perfect, especially our parents. We weren't a completely bad family, but there was a lot that we could have done better for each other and others. However, despite our mistakes, we always made up to each other. Don't get me wrong. I love you and our sisters, but I think we had an unhealthy home environment."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, "Unhealthy?"

"Yes. We humans are very social creatures, but sometimes we need to be alone. We need our space. We need the quiet. Simple things like being alone and having silence can teach kids patience and learn about themselves as they explore their thoughts and imagination, and learning about themselves. We didn't get enough of that because we all lived in a small house crammed together. Also, having that many kids means you don't have enough time to give all of them the proper amount of attention, guidance, and discipline that a kid needs."

Lynn looked down, feeling guilty, "That's why we felt like we could do whatever we wanted and get away with it."

"Exactly! And that is what happened to us growing up. There were times when our parents were so distant that I felt like my mother was the kind of parent I only saw once a month. And Dad? Sometimes, I felt like I barely knew the guy. My point is that it's unhealthy to have that many kids because it can lead to problems. We turned out fine, but some families with few kids turned out way better. This is why I implore you and our sisters not to have more than two or three kids. I actually hope that Lucy and the others only have just one."

Lynn stirred her coffee in silence, feeling bummed out. Everything he was saying was true. Letting your children run wild can lead to several problems, even long-term problems. Lincoln was a prime example of such. She and her sisters were left to figure out many things on their own, including how to settle their fighting, and Lincoln got caught in the crossfire of those fights. He's been blamed and punished for things he didn't do and things his sisters did. That's not fair to Lincoln – never was. So, it was understandable for Lincoln to hold some resentment toward his family. Now that Lynn thought about it, their parents weren't the best. One of the best advice Lynn, Lincoln, and their siblings had about raising kids was don't do the bad shit that their parents did.

Lincoln took another sip and asked Lynn a question.

"Do you remember the movie Cowboys & Aliens?" Lincoln asked.

"What?" Lynn replied.

"Cowboys & Aliens. With Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, and Clancy Brown. You remember?"

"Sort of. It was a long time ago."

"When Clancy Brown's character, the preacher, was killed, he said, 'God don't care who you were. Only who you are.' That means what's in the past is done. We can't change the past but can do something about the present and the future," Lincoln explained.

As Lincoln explained, the light around them was getting brighter and brighter. Soon, all the windows showed nothing but pure light.

"We are who we chose to be. You, me, all of us. We decide that and change if we put our minds and will to it. The first step is believing in ourselves," Lincoln said.

The light grew brighter until everything was light.
End of Lynn's dream

Lynn woke up lying close to Lincoln with her arms around him. She carefully looked around to see that she was in her room at the present time. She groaned a quiet sigh as she stretched and rubbed her eyes. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about the words Lincoln said to her in the dream.

'God don't care who you were. Only who you are.'

'How in the world can that be true? The past doesn't matter? I think a ton of people would disagree with that,' Lynn thought as she turned to Lincoln, 'If the bad luck incident happened along with the Sister Fight Protocol going from bad to worse, Lincoln would have been scarred for life . . . and our family would have been torn apart. All because of us . . . because of me.'

Lynn lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking back to all the visions Lincoln had shown them. Even though the events didn't happen, they still ached and broke her heart, knowing that she and her family were capable of such things. Lynn couldn't tell which was worse; the cruel acts themselves or the idiotic and piss-poor reasons behind them.

Lynn looked over at Lincoln again. Her hand gently caressed his cheek as she watched him sleep and listened to his soft snoring. Lynn twirled his soft snow-white hair in her fingers as she gazed at his face.

'You deserve so much better than this unstable and broken family,' Lynn thought.

Lincoln yawned and stretched – Lynn didn't mean for him to wake up. However, he was still half asleep because he rolled over, wrapped his arms around Lynn, and squeezed her a hug. Lynn smiled and rubbed his arms.

Lincoln planted a gentle kiss on her head.

"Morning, Snowflake," Lynn said softly.

"Morning, Lynn," Lincoln mumbled.

"Barely awake, and you're spooning your sister?"

"Whatever, I'm comfy. I'm gonna sleep on you for a while."

Lynn didn't argue as she relished Lincoln being close to her. After a while, everyone got up to shower. However, Lincoln stopped Lynn from getting out of bed.

"Nope, you don't walk to the shower. I'll carry you," Lincoln said.

"Lincoln, I'm fine. I have a black eye and some irritated skin, not broken legs. I can walk," Lynn stated.

"After what you went through, you deserve the royal treatment," Lincoln replied.

Lynn opened her mouth while pointing with her finger, ready to object, but froze while thinking. Then she sighed, "Yeah, you're right. I definitely deserve some special treatment after that horrible day."

Lincoln carried her bridal style to the bathroom before Lori and the others arrived.

"Nope, Lynn goes first, then you girls can go," Lincoln stated.

Lori and the others frowned at that but realized after their stunt at Lynn's game that it was only fair.

"Uh, no. Then you go next, Lincoln," Lynn said.

"But I'm a boy. It's always lady's first," Lincoln responded.

"Yeah, but I want to smell your hair when it's fresh from the shower. It's our thing, remember?"

Lori sighed, "Whatever. You two go first, and then the rest of us."

Lincoln shrugged. Lynn went in and showered to get all clean. Then she waited in her bedroom for Lincoln while drying. Once Lincoln had finished, his hair was still damp as he lay on Lynn's chest of her bathrobe, and she smelled Lincoln's hair while rubbing his head. Lincoln's new shampoo and conditioner were her favorite scents, making his hair silky and smooth. Lincoln enjoyed Lynn kissing his head while driving her fingers through his hair.

Once everyone was cleaned, they headed downstairs for breakfast. Lincoln helped Rita make waffles for everyone. As they cooked, Rita explained to everyone which houses they'd be cleaning, what chores to do, and what activities they couldn't do. The girls didn't object and swallowed their pride. However, Lincoln lightened the mood with a proposal.

"Mom, I can teleport now. Anywhere on the entire planet, I can get us there in a blink of an eye. So, here's what I'm proposing. A week from now, after the girls have served up their grounding period, how about we all go to the beach?" Lincoln asked.

Lynn groaned a sigh, "Please, no."

Everyone turned to her with a confused look.

"The beach makes me think of the vision where we would have forced you to wear that stupid squirrel costume while the rest of us have fun and you get heat rashes. I know those events didn't happen, and they never will, blah blah blah, an and all that, but it still makes me sad that we would do all that stuff to you," Lynn explained.

"And I don't want you to hate the beach because of that. The beach is a great place to have fun and make new memories," Lincoln said.

Lynn crossed her arms and looked away.

"Okay, tell you what. Instead of going to the beach at the Great Lakes, what if we go to a different beach like, say . . . Hawaii?"

The girls all gasped with stars in their eyes.

"O-M-Gosh! Yes, please!" Leni praised.

"Yes! Hawaii has literally the best beaches ever!" Lori added.

"Hawaii! Hawaii! Hawaii!" the twins cheered.

Luna and Luan rushed over to Lynn.

"Say yes, little dude! Pleeeeeeeeaaaassseeee," Luna begged.

"Pretty please. Mr. Coconuts can actually be Mr. Coconuts," Luan said and then did her puppet's voice, "Come on, doll. Me? Mr. Coconuts around actually coconuts? The comedy writes itself!"

Lynn softly groaned, "I don't know."

Rita approached her, "Lynn, honey, a vacation will do all of us some good. You could surf the waves and play volleyball with Lincoln and your sisters. Plus, I really want to spend some time with Lincoln. Walk the beach, collect some shells, and reconnect with him."

Lynn glanced at Lincoln before looking back at her.

"Please?" Rita asked.

Lynn sighed while pinching her nose, "Okay, fine. Let's go to Hawaii."

The sisters' eyes sparkled, and then they cheered, but Rita reminded them that they still had to finish their grounding sentence.

"You're still grounded, girls. Once you finish your sentence, then we can go," Rita said.

"There's one little problem with teleporting to Hawaii," Lisa pointed out, getting everyone's attention, "Hawaii is five hours behind Midwest time. If it's 10:00 here, it's 5:00 over there. So, managing the time is going to be difficult."

"We'll make it work. Plus, it's going to be a three-day weekend next week. So we can teleport there for a day, come back here, then go back one more day," Lincoln proposed.

Luna shrugged, "Works for me. Plus, we don't have to pay for expensive hotels or meals. We can just teleport back here to sleep and make food."

"That's true. Although, we shouldn't buy anything with our credit and debit cards. It'll go into the system and raise suspicion. If there's anything we want to buy there, it should be cash only," Lori pointed out.

"That's true. So, it's official? We're going to Hawaii next weekend?" Luan asked.

Rita nodded, "If you behave from now, yes."

The sisters and Lincoln cheered.

"Mother, I understand that part of my status of being grounded is that I am prohibited from using my lab equipment. However, I insist on studying Lincoln to know more about how he acquired his new powers to teleport," Lisa said.

"You can study Lincoln all you want when you're done being grounded," Rita replied.

"But Mother! Lincoln's teleportation powers could be temporary, and who knows if there are unknown elements in his system that could lead to harmful effects!"

That caught everyone's attention as their eyes widened with realization.

"I only wish to study Lincoln to understand his new powers. No experimentation. I swear!" Lisa promised.

Rita glanced at the sisters and Lincoln before looking back at Lisa, "Okay, but you're only studying Lincoln. You're not experimenting on him or any of your sisters ever again. Are we clear, young lady?"

"Crystal clear."

"I mean it, Lisa. He's not a lab rat. He's your brother. So, I want you to treat him properly like one. The same goes for your sisters. I know you like to experiment, but don't play around with them to blow up in your face."

"Not to sound like backtalk, Mother, but if I recall, I made Lincoln the serum that took away his head pains. Not all my experiments have negative outcomes. I promise not to experiment on my siblings, including Lincoln. However, it is imperative that we understand his powers while they're still here," Lisa insisted.

"And you'll get your chance to understand it. I'm just making it clear that what you do is safe for everyone," Rita replied.

Then, the sisters, except Lynn, went to clean the neighbors' yards and do their other chores. Lincoln went to hang out with his friends and girlfriend. He teleported to them and took them to different parts of the world to have fun and enjoy the many different sites. To say that the world is fantastic is truly an understatement. Then he explained what happened with his sister Lynn and how his sisters sabotaged her game. They were stunned.

"Wait, what?!" Stella asked, surprised.

"Your sisters sabotaged Lynn's game?" Clyde questioned.

Lincoln nodded, "They did it because they thought Lynn would return to believing in luck if she won, which is why they made sure she lost."

"So, they did to protect you?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah. Good intentions but bad actions."

Clyde sighed, "Well, it shows that they care. So, that's good even though they hurt Lynn."

They walked along the Great Wall in silence, admiring the view. Then Ronnie Anne broke the silence, wanting to ask something.

"Hey, Lincoln. I don't want to ruin the day or bum everyone out, but this has been bothering me for some time now. I need to know," Ronnie Anne started.

"What is it?" Lincoln asked.

"Those visions of the Sister Fight Protocol, the ones where either your sisters beat you to a pulp, or you beat them to a bloody pulp, what would have happened afterward?"

Lincoln stared at Ronnie Anne for a while but then looked down with a sad expression. He did know. It was out of pure curiosity that Lincoln looked through his visions to see the outcomes, even though such events as the Bad Luck incident and the Sister Fight Protocol wouldn't happen and never would. However, he wished he didn't because the aftermath of them wasn't pretty.

"Let's go somewhere more private," Lincoln said.

Lincoln and his friends gathered close together, and he teleported them to somewhere isolated. The place he took them was surrounded by gorgeous mountains and stunning forests with a large river running through the land. The air was so clean and smelled like cold rain. Lincoln's friends were in utter awe, their eyes wide open and their jaws dropping.

"Lincoln, where are we?" Stella asked, still amazed.

"Norway. We're near a fjord. That's what they call large, narrow sea inlets that go deep inland," Lincoln answered.

"It's so beautiful," Clyde said.

"It is."

"Why'd you take us here?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Lincoln shrugged, "I thought the beautiful scenery would help ease the bad feeling when you learn the ugly truth of what could have happened if one of the outcomes of the Sister Fight Protocol happened."

They all sat by some boulders and looked around to ensure they were alone. Lincoln summoned the light stream and went toward the streams of light that were not golden light but of colorless white – possible future timelines that will never happen. Lincoln pulled out a light orb and handed it to Ronnie Anne. As Lincoln explained, Stella and Clyde sat close to her to see the light orb.

"If the one outcome where they beat me happens, then my parents come out after hearing my crying. They rush me to the hospital where I'm treated for my broken arm, cracked pelvis, bruises all over, busted teeth, and a broken nose," Lincoln started.

Stella and Clyde gasped with sorrow while Ronnie Anne groaned a growl.

Lincoln continued, "That beating that almost kills me traumatizes me. In that future, I'm diagnosed with syngenesophobia – fear of relatives," Lincoln used his finger to fast forward the orb showing Lynn visiting Lincoln in the hospital before the rest of her family to apologize with tears of sadness and regret in her eyes, "It's so bad that I don't see my sisters as my sisters anymore. I see them as a real and dangerous threat, like wild animals out of the cages."

The light then showed as Lynn tried to approach Lincoln. He gets more frightened by the second and then reacts instinctively as though to defend himself. He grabs a food tray and hits Lynn in the face so hard that the tray breaks along with her nose as she falls to the floor. She's shocked by this before she runs away, sobbing. This saddens Clyde and surprises Stella and Ronnie Anne. The light orb then shows the sisters visiting, but Lincoln freaks out as if his life were in danger and uses the IV pole to keep them back as he's screaming for help – the nurses show up and get the sisters out.

"I never recover from it. Even when I heal up from the hospital, I can't stand to be anywhere near them. Every time they reach out, I freak out and panic. There are times when I even act violently to save myself from them," Lincoln explained.

The light orb showed sisters like Lucy approaching him from behind, scaring him like usual. He's so scared that he spins around and punches Lucy hard in the face, making her fall to the floor. Lincoln is so gripped with fear that he punches her over and over, knocking her teeth out along with Lisa and the twins when they try to stop him. Lincoln is so fearful of them that he doesn't even hug them as they're crying and bleeding. When Luna, Luan, and Leni try to give him cooldown hugs when he's panicking, Lincoln gets wild to get out of their grasp and ends up hurting them. He reacts as if his life were in danger. This results in him giving them black eyes, bruises, and claw scratches on their faces. Lincoln even tore out Luna's earrings and kicked her face several times when she was down and screaming.

It was even worse with Lynn and Lori when they confronted him about his behavior. They try to hold him down to calm him down, and it doesn't help that Lynn is angry, which makes it worse as Lincoln grabs a kitchen knife to defend himself. He slices Lori's face and cuts her eye. Then he stabs Lynn in the leg to make her let him go, twists it, and then grabs a glass bottle and breaks it on her head – she lays on the floor unconscious, bleeding from her head. Even then, Lincoln backs into a corner, fearing for his life, while his sisters scream in agony and horror. When they saw the blood, Clyde, Stella, and Ronnie Anne shivered with goosebumps.

"It just gets worse and worse. It's so bad that I can't even live with them anymore. So, Mom and Dad make the painful decision to give up custody of me, and my Uncle Lance and Aunt Sharon adopt me. I don't even say goodbye to my family . . . much to their grief and sorrow. I just rush out the door with my suitcase and backpack to the car. I can't wait to get to the airport to get as far away from them as possible," Lincoln explained, "I never even say 'I love you' to any of them ever again, and that really hits my mom hard. Sometimes they say it, and I don't say it back. Finally, when my Mom asks why I don't say it back, I tell her something truly heartbreaking."

"Which is?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"I tell her I don't feel any love in my heart . . . only fear," Lincoln answered.

Clyde and the two girls' eyes widened, with a cold chill giving them goosebumps.

"Wow," Stella said with a sad face.

"Lincoln, that is so messed up," Clyde added.

"No kidding. Would things have gotten better for you with your uncle and aunt?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Lincoln nodded, "Yeah, my cousins are really nice and supportive. Living with them is a brand new start. That's when I begin the path of recovery. It's a huge weight off my shoulders."

"What about your family? Your sisters?" Clyde asked.

Lincoln frowned sadly as he looked after fast-forwarding the light orb, "It's all downhill for them. Word gets out of what they did to me, and they ostracize them. They lose their friends, boyfriends, and clubs. Rumors spread like wildfire, and they're treated like criminals, which adds a ton of depression to them, and no one is eager to help them or take pity on them. My sisters send me a dozen handwritten letters expressing how sorry they are for everything and that they love and miss me. I don't respond or even read a single letter."

Clyde and the two girls watched as the light orb showed Lincoln throwing unopened letters in the fireplace. Lincoln didn't even stick around to watch them burn. They're absolutely meaningless to him, like spam or junk mail. Clyde and Stella are amazed and saddened at Lincoln's cold cruelty.

"Some of the letters have old family photos. My sisters mail them with the letters in the hope that it would spark some love within me . . . but I don't want to have anything to do with them."

"So, you completely disown them?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Lincoln nodded, "Not out of anger or hatred, but fear. I don't speak to them. I don't answer their calls. I block all their emails. I don't see them during the holidays. Nothing. I have no trust or faith in them because I'm afraid that they'll beat me again. So, I do everything possible to avoid them and push them out of my life. My sisters suffer depression as the months and years go by. Luan loses her comedy business completely. Luna loses all interest in playing music and gets addicted to drugs and alcohol as she hates herself after she's kicked out of her band. Lucy is even more depressed and even develops suicidal thoughts as she cuts herself with razor blades. Lana is so depressed that she can't take care of her pets, so they have to give them up at an animal shelter. Lola's beauty pageant is done for, and Lisa's study is in shambles. Lori's eye is permanently damaged after I sliced her face, and all hopes of going to Fairway are out the window and in the gutter. She has to wear an eye patch and has a noticeable knife scar. Lynn has it the worst."

"What do you mean? What would have happened to her?" Stella asked.

The light orb showed as Lincoln explained, "Smashing the glass bottle on her head gave her severe head trauma. One day, she passes out and is rushed to the hospital. She suffers a cerebral stroke which leads to complete paralysis."

Clyde, Stella, and Ronnie Anne gasped.

"She can't move. She can't even speak, and it doesn't take long for her to be unable to breathe on her own. So, she's put on life support. Within a few short months, they have to pull the plug because she doesn't recover . . . and I don't even attend the funeral because I burned the letter that would have told me all that. Which leads to an emotional scene here."

The light orb showed Lori making an unexpected visit to Lincoln. Lincoln dashes into the house, and Lori tries to stop him so she can talk to him, but Lincoln makes it to the door and slams it shut. He locks it and even moves a bookcase like a bear or a horde of zombies trying to get in. Lori is begging Lincoln to open the door and cries out of her one eye.

"No! No! Lincoln, open up! Open up!" Lori pleads as she bangs on the door.

Clyde was on the verge of tears seeing Lori like this. He no longer had a crush on her, but seeing her like this still ached his heart. Lincoln looked away with a single tear rolling down his cheek. Stella covered her mouth with sad, watery eyes. Ronnie Anne had a sorrowful, pensive look on her face.

"Please, Lincoln! Come back to us!" Lori cries as tears stream down her cheek.

Lori falls to her knees while leaning her forehead against the door, sobbing. After crying so hard, she speaks softly through her tears, "Please (sobs) come back . . . come back to us Lincoln. (sobs) We need you. We need you back (sobs). We can't go on without you. Please come back to us. Please, Lincoln."

On the other side of the door inside the house, Lincoln squeezes his eyes shut to try to stop the tears from escaping and clenches his teeth hard. A part of him wanted to go out there and embrace his big sister. A part of him wanted to dry her tears and tell her everything would be okay. A part of him wanted to return home to Royal Woods with his family . . . but he couldn't.

He could never forget how they almost killed him. He could never forget how he was beaten with an inch of his life because his sisters couldn't control their anger. He could never ever forget . . . the pain. The agonizing pain. The horror . . . and the fear. The soul-crushing fear that he was going to die. He remembered lying on the floor in so much pain, thinking he was going to die. A part of him wanted to so that the pain would stop. All that god-awful, terrible things came from his sisters. His own flesh and blood. Because he could never forget, there was no way he could forgive them.

Clyde and Stella had tears rolling down their cheeks with sorrowful faces while Ronnie Anne's eyes were watery, but she didn't let a tear fall.

Lincoln sighed and made the light orb disappear, "For the rest of my life in that future, I try to move on . . . and eventually I do. I'm not the happiest person around, but I do find joy. I'm not quick to trust people and keep my distance from them. It takes a while to open up and trust my girlfriend fully. I'm like a closed book to her that was hard to open. She goes the extra mile to help me. Eventually, I let her in after therapy and emotional connection. My sisters are forever broken. They never find the joy in their lives. An unhappy ending."

"God . . . I'm grateful that future didn't happen," Clyde said.

"Me too," Ronnie Anne added.

Stella wiped her tears with her shirt and cleared her throat, "And what would have happened if the other outcome came true? The one where you beat them?"

Lincoln pulls out another light orb and explains as the images appear.

"Sort of the same as the other outcome, only the other way around in some ways. Instead of me being afraid of them, they're afraid of me. More so, in that future, they're downright terrified of me. They're all scarred, both physically and mentally. Lynn can't play sports ever again. I messed up her leg so hard that she has to wear a leg brace for the rest of her life. Some of my sisters lose their sense of smell. I keep my distance, but it's difficult for them to be in the same room with me. When Mom and Dad hear the whole story in the hospital, we're all punished – not just me. Word gets out, and I thought I'd be treated like a criminal, but instead, I'm treated like a survivor – a hero. Bullies steer clear of me," Lincoln explained.

"Really?" Ronnie Anne asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lincoln nodded, "The other future, I disown my sisters out of fear. This one where I beat them when they attacked me, I disown them out of resentment – out of hatred. The worst is what kind of person I turn into."

Clyde raised an eyebrow, "What kind of person? What do you mean?"

"In that future, if it happened, I become very cold, hard, and even hostile. I'm okay around others, even if I'm a bit standoff-ish, but to my sisters . . . I'm an absolute jerk. Actually, I become worse than that. I become a total bastard."

"Lincoln!" Clyde called in disbelief.

"It's true! Look," Lincoln fast forward the light orb, "I become toxic and make them feel like they deserved the abuse, that all the mistreatment they're getting, like they had it coming. Not just my sisters, but to my parents too. I'm a hateful person. I really get into martial arts . . . which leads to becoming a cage fighter, then an Army Ranger, and . . . then an overprotective father who fears for his daughter. Whose greatest fear is that she'll end up like her old man . . . an angry, violent, and unforgiving man who hates his family."

The light orb showed Lincoln as a strong and muscular man dressed like an MMA fighter, beating his opponent to a bloody pulp with fire in his eyes. Then, as an Army Ranger fighting among other soldiers in a warzone. And finally, the light orb showed him middle-aged. His beard and the wrinkles near his eyes make him look old and tired. The light orb showed him talking to his teenage daughter, who looked a lot like him – same white hair, eyes, and ears. She was beautiful with an athletic, toned body and long hair. She even wore an orange t-shirt with a tiger's head on it, and her white hair was tied in a ponytail with her bangs out.

She had gotten into a fight where she ended it violently to defend her friends – she told her father she was thinking of being a fighter like him. Lincoln had a face showing an utter look of desperation with fear in his eyes. His daughter looked at him with an extremely pensive look mixed with shock and a hint of sadness. As if she had never seen her father like this. Lincoln's fear of his daughter ending up like him truly frightened and filled him with sorrow. Clyde and the two girls listened as Lincoln talked to her and urged her to find joy in her life and surround herself with good people. To not live her life angry and filled with hate like him. They listened to the light orb as Lincoln, in that future, told her the backstory of what happened between him and his family.

"My anger took me to dark places, and I lost so much because of it. I lost everything and everyone. Now you're all I got left. You're the only thing in my life worth fighting for more than anything," Lincoln said to his daughter.

His daughter was devastated but later showed her understanding of what he was saying as she hugged him close with tears in her eyes. The bond between them was closer than ever. She abandoned her pursuit of becoming a fighter and became an online artist and a graphic novelist. Lincoln supported his daughter all the way.

Lincoln continued, "My parents reach out to me more than once to try to get me to reconnect with them. I only do so when they become terminally ill. We don't exactly hug it out, but I apologize for what happened, and my sisters, in a very emotional state, work the will to forgive me. We don't go back to being a happy family or a close one, but we reconnect . . . in some ways. So yeah, my sisters and I don't get a happy ever after if that future happened. So, running away was the best option to avoid those terrible outcomes."

"Wow. Just wow," Ronnie Anne said in awe.

"Yeah."

"Lincoln, tell me you didn't show your sisters any of this," Clyde said.

Lincoln shook his head, "I didn't show them, and I won't. This will just add depression that they don't need."

"Yeah. It'll do more harm than good."

"You know what? How about we go for a walk here in Norway? It's stunningly beautiful out here," Lincoln suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that," Stella said, grabbing her boyfriend's hand.

Everything from the mountains, the land, the trees, the water, and the sky was all beautiful. The four girls were in awe of its breathtaking beauty. However, somewhere along the way, Clyde stopped Ronnie Anne.

"You do know that all those terrible futures will not happen, right?" Clyde asked.

Ronnie Anne looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah. Why are you telling me that?"

"Because it seems like you don't trust them. It feels like you don't believe they changed for the better."

"Maybe I don't because Lincoln said 'possible' futures. As in, anything can change. Just because the bad luck incident and the Sister Fight Protocol are not happening doesn't mean Lincoln's sisters won't do something else that'll get him hurt or worse," Ronnie Anne stated.

"I know what could have happened, but at the end of the day, it didn't happen. They're changing themselves to be better. They love Lincoln. They're his sisters. If Lincoln trusts them, why can't you?" Clyde asked.

Ronnie Anne gave him a hard stare, her pupils shrunken to tiny dots.

"Clyde. His sisters. His family. They. Are. Awful! They're capable of terrible things like abandoning him and abusing him for (wheezes a laugh). I honestly don't have a word for how ridiculous and inhuman it is to do all that because of luck. You know why? Because I don't think it's ever happened before. Have you heard of someone locking their child out of the house or forcing them to wear a mascot costume for good luck? No, because that is not a normal thing, even in terms of an abusive and bad home environment. So, even though Lincoln's visions showed that those things aren't going to happen, how do we know that something else won't happen? And that . . . that is what scares me. (nervous laugh) Which is why I don't trust them, and I don't know if I ever will," Ronnie Anne explained.

Lincoln sighed heavily, "Ronnie Anne. My sisters sabotaged Lynn's game for me. They didn't do that out of spite or malice or vengeance. They did it to protect me. They were afraid that Lynn would go back to believing in luck if she won. They could have just sat back and done nothing, but instead, they did all that because they care about me. They love me, and the possibility of losing me terrifies them. I hear what you're saying, Ronnie Anne, but I promise nothing bad will happen to me. If anything does, I'll see it, and we'll handle it."

Stella tightened her grip on Lincoln's hand. He turned to face her and saw the concerned look on her face.

"Promise me. Promise us . . . that those people, the ones who would do those awful things to you, promise us that they're long gone and we're seeing a family that actually loves you and sees you as a human being. As a person. An actual human would ask, 'What is a person worth?' Promise that we're seeing good people that will change for you," Stella stated.

Lincoln held her hand and looked her in the eye, "I promise. I promise that those terrible people are long gone. This new family of mine wants and will change for the better. I promise."

Stella stared at him longingly, and then he sent his lips to hers, giving her a long kiss.

"Guys, everything is going to be okay from now on. They changed and are getting better."

Clyde nodded in believing him. Ronnie Anne kept her hard look but eventually nodded. Meanwhile, Future Lincoln watched them from afar.

"You'll trust them, Ronnie Anne," Future Lincoln said before summoning a light orb that showed Bobby and his father, "Especially when they help save your brother and father."