Sins In Twisters

by Blonkess

When Lincoln was destined to never have success like his family, after surviving the Royal Woods' Tornado, his future takes him on the path of becoming a renowned storm chaser. But as years pass since that day, his family tries to hold together after freak disasters put a halt to the sisters' lives when Lisa discovers a past family secret that tells Lincoln's time is running out.

34. Within The Cracks

Sins In Twisters

Chapter 34: Within The Cracks

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(Note: This chapter got delayed because of me having some health issues on Sunday that took away my energy to finish the last sections for a couple of days.)

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He couldn't sit tight. He couldn't stay in one spot, maybe tinker with some stuff or photograph the local fauna, but no, he just had to… had to…

I'm getting too ahead of myself again. Restarting entry…Now.

…

…

Log Entry Date: February 25th, 2026

The following is the second major entry to a new record that continues investigation 201-47.7, officially labeled as 211-03.1. Code named… Bloodline. It has been approximately 51 days since my previous entry, and a lot has since been put into motion.

My initial hopes for the first quarter of this year being quiet have been dashed, though development that I hadn't foreseen due to blindness had transpired that has led to this entry being warranted.

Aside from a very few in social circles, no one else knows about the curse except what information Lucy and I have already disclosed and given some details on afterward. Upon the reveal of all of this information, expected reactions were witnessed immediately and afterward, with the former developing… strange things to be described later.

I had put aside further research to document these emotional changes, as our family had entered a period that, after November 10th, effectively pushed anything regarding storms out of our mindset. This included our brother as well. Even I was in this mentality, especially given Lincoln's apparent lack of activity…

I was a fool to think he wouldn't just be relaxing and not keeping himself busy with simpler things. Not by building something that took away his time to give anyone the idea he wasn't silent…

During the frequent reveals over two months, the base truck was detailed as a 2024 GMC 3500 Sierra equipped with a modified AT4X platform. The vehicle is not a successor to Storm Shrieker but a middle-to-high ground step between Shrieker and his former Toyota 4Runner 'RainRunner.' This new truck is to serve in a multipurpose role, namely his new daily driver and off-season stand-in unit for Shrieker so that he doesn't have to put unnecessary wear and tear on his primary vehicle. Allegedly built to survive a broadside wind force of 130mph, a strong EF2 tornado, but not directly, despite having the weight, anchoring, and wind limit to several full-fledged intercept vehicles in the past two decades.

In short, the Haildiver, as it has been named, is a semi-intercept chase unit designed to get safely close to tornadoes while having the flexibility of rapid, all-terrain, all-conditions mobility. Some of the comments used to describe it as 'to dive straight into the hail of the storm' with some photos of what is referred to as 'the notch,' an area of clear air that often divides the core of a supercell with the north side of its hook echo where most chasers would perform core punching and hook-slice maneuvers to keep up or escape the storm.

The closest similarity I've found for its purpose is to serve as the 'doghouse' vehicle to Storm Shrieker. This support truck operates in a closer range to directly work with the tank, possibly replacing the role that the KnightTwo filled, providing more outside information on road and weather conditions, mechanical and medical aid, and functional as secondary support on a more mobile chassis at the sacrifice of armor protection. The second closest is the Dodge Ram used in the film Twisters, which, despite not having armor, was rated by its real-life builders to survive possibly winds up to 125 mph with its own anchoring style, though said to be only rated for EF1 in film.

The truck's design is mostly the modified GMC AT4X model, but it has an extended roll cage wrapping around the entire vehicle from the front and cabin. Unlike the previous truck, the whole cab layout has been heavily modified, so the rear doors now form into a semi-armored cab resembling the back half of Shrieker in design without a third axle and a large sunroof/ roof hatch above the unchanged driver compartment.

Oddly, it's been seen during construction that it was briefly equipped with Shrieker's turret for a time until later photos revealed it is getting a nearly identical version with more windows and a smaller instrument mass mounting a single radar system. All the windows have been replaced with thicker bulletproof Lexan, and all the doors have been reinforced for what armor and protection it has. The roll cage is designed to handle heavy and oversized debris, mainly impacts when on the outer edges of a tornadic circulation; as the estimates put the total weight north of 11,000 pounds, it is mobile enough to get out of the area in the event it is taking such impacts.

Its anchoring system is an odd combination. As it lacks any flaps or shields to block out wind flow, it is equipped with ten anchoring spikes, two on each end, two below the running boards, and two larger units similar in size and function to Shrieker's outriggers. The former eight is designed to be pulled closer by a single hydraulic arm to angle the spikes toward the ground before being forced in, a slower method than the rapid-fire means used on the tank's outriggers. Why this choice for a slower deployment system than what was already built before is unknown at this time…

So you may ask, what is the purpose of me going into such heavy detail about such a vehicle our brother has possibly dumped a great deal of his money and time into?

A few reasons….

For one, despite a record-cold winter here in the United States this year greatly preventing storm development, it caught my attention when tornadic activity spiked in other parts of the globe.

It is noted that North America, from northern Mexico to Central Canada and basically everything in between, is regarded as the core Tornado Alley due to climatology and geography. However, other parts of the world have their own 'allies' that see the most frequent tornadic activity. The South American Tornado Alley, which spans a significant portion of the central and eastern half of the continent, mainly east of the Andes Mountains into what is called the Pampa Plains

This area, coupled with the reverse directions of Antarctic air from the south and tropical moisture from Brazil and the tropics, essentially allows it to become an almost perfect setup for storm development on the great plains. It is considered the second most active tornado hotspot behind the US itself. However, the actual tornado count is unknown because of the sparse population in areas and the lack of sensors.

What is known is that the South American tornado season this year has been more active than ever. On average, it is possible that a few dozen are known enough to be reported, and far fewer are actually documented. Yet, this year is well above average in what some local reports call the '2026 Super Season', with high numbers of tornados across all parts from Argentina to the shores of Uruguay and southern Brazil.

This outbreak sequence caught the attention of many chasers worldwide who attempted to storm chase the region, and Lincoln was no exception. It is entirely possible that he didn't want to risk it being stuck or due to international customs laws, but he had forgone taking Storm Shrieker and instead used Haildiver as his chase vehicle. Having landed in Porto Alegre, Brazil, via fairy barge out of Galveston as part of a 6-vehicle 17-person convoy, I drove the remaining distance to Uruguay upon the increase in storm activity.

From January 12 to February 23, 110 tornadoes were reported between the three countries, with Argentina obtaining the highest at 74. This prolonged weather outbreak has been noted to be caused by a stronger-than-seasonal tropical jetstream directing deeper troughs across the continent, with surging Arctic air masses being pulled across the Andys. Forecast models had predicted a somewhat active early season, but not to this degree, and future models have the activity going into the first week of March.

So far, the 'biggest' day has been on February 13, ironically Friday the 13th, when the team managed to intercept three back-to-back EF2s and two EF3s, with one having a satellite that got progressively worse to chase when conditions changed from dry and clear to a nighttime rainwrap. These six tornadoes were from a single storm out of five other cells that produced 25 tornadoes on that day. In terms of actual chasing, the team hasn't had as much success as they would have had this kind of setup over central states. Since landing, they have reported only seeing 17 tornadoes, most from a distance due to inferior information and terrain options for fast-moving storms. Lincoln has posted that they aim to reach 20 to 25 before March 10, when they return to the States.

This has made me go in as deeply as possible and find every shred of information about what this storm season is shaping up to be….

… the forecast so far has not been pretty.

Calls are being put out for an above-average March and early April, with activity during the latter mouth becoming normalized until possibly a prolonged sequence into May. Current models call for May to continue, but they are too far out to be determined.

Yet these models are painting a very dark picture for everyone. As estimated tornado days are fewer, raw numbers on those active days are much higher and possibly bear more significant concentrated outbreaks. Some fear a possible repeat of the historic 2023 March-April 1st outbreak; others fear an even worst-case scenario of this perhaps being the calling card to the next Super Outbreak…

It would be outright stupid of me or anyone who understands now to think that Lincoln would only dare to miss a potential setup like this by dying in South America or on the trip back. If he sticks to his estimated goal of 2 upon the end date of March 10, an estimated two weeks of sailing back to Galvaston would put the team back in Oklahoma a mere five days before the outbreak was to begin. Even in such a short time of rest, there's no doubt the team hasn't preplanned for such a situation. Statements from the NWC have pointed to the Vortex 3 mission this year, increasing their preparations in the lull of a potentially hyperactive season, which hasn't been seen in decades.

And so have we.

…To some extent….

For the last 50 days, my family has been as active as possible in preparing for the task at hand. Some more so than others, but… it's clear that my early roster of candidates was still validated.

The week after the meeting, I began preparing and distributing a learning package designed to give everyone a crash course in storm chasing. I explained what to expect, the dos and don'ts, and the basics, such as reading weather models and cloud structures. I suggested they start by watching documentaries about said elements instead of watching Twister repeatedly. One might ask why such necessary knowledge for everyone is needed if we plan to get our brother back home as soon as possible; it lies in my earlier facts that should Lincoln choose to stay in the plains, with this year shaping to keep him there, we must be prepared for the long game. While I hope to avoid being pulled into any chasing itself, it doesn't hurt for everyone to know the importance should the situation occur.

For this, we've taken the first significant step in our plan. As of 17 days ago, our family has had two major events unfold: the framework of our new house is approaching 70% completion, the main floor plan is already complete, and despite the weather, it is projected to be finished by the end of April. The garage facility, however, has already been completed and furnished, being used as a storage unit for our extra items and the facility for us to prepare our newest weapon.

The second was the acquisition of a new means of transportation. As we cannot risk a vehicle breaking down so frequently, the choice of using Vanzilla was out of the question. With a set budget, we looked for suitable replacements that could comfortably fit 11 people traveling long distances while having plenty of space for our cargo needs. As such, we had found, strangely, a V1100 Passenger van created by the Fungo Motor Company. A direct successor to Vanzilla was produced in 2009; the van is easily a one for one modernized but familiar platform.

Its condition wasn't optimal, with 120,000 hard miles and a worn-out V8 engine. It'll take time and resources to rebuild it to meet our needs fully, but everyone has already called it Vanzilla 2.

Currently, Lana has undertaken the task of rebuilding the van with some help that we can sometimes provide. The hope is that it can be completed within the timeframe before Lincoln returns from the trip or the season itself begins…

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Across Royal Woods, the idea of a 'winter wonderland' starkly contrasted the chaos Lisa and others saw in the future.

That wasn't to say that the steady snow coming down wasn't invoking its own form of chaos. The people of Michigan were constantly used to the grind of shoveling and salting their sidewalks and driveways. Use a little more caution when driving down streets with buried cars, avoiding getting hit by a plow truck or running into a pothole where you underestimated its depth and paid the price. There was still a sign of green among the snow, where the flash of Christmas was a memory, and Valentine's Day was in the rearview, and the town and its people prepared for the coming of St Patrick's Day.

But to the south, any kind of holiday cheer was few and widespread; as the further one journeyed, the fewer homes and standing trees gave way to empty vacant lots that resembled the abandoned slums everyone usually saw Detroit as. Where a tree once stood was either a stump creating a hidden mound in the snow or a sunken pit almost filled in.

To where homes that contained the lives of families that by now would be gathered around a fire or out playing in the snow making forts, snowmen armies on the front yard or bringing the whole street into an epic snowball fight no longer existed. The cries of joy from kids or grunts of adults just trying to keep their cars clear were all replaced by the sounds of life away and the wind blowing through like an arctic tundra.

A few signs of life stood out among the desolation: signs of those who were determined to rebuild their livelihood in the same spot a monster had taken it all away. Some homes stood barely as slabs or empty basements, others with the bare framework taking shape, and even others already with their lights on, showing that the town of Royal Woods was a lot more resilient to what horror mother nature can throw at it.

Along Franklin Avenue, this thinking materialized even more as rows of homes closer to town were cropping up and slowly inching their way toward healing the scars of that horrible day. Where the home 1216 once stood, while the mailbox was bolted to a new post and the oak tree that stood in the front yard was gone, stood the growing fortress of the new Loud House.

Or what was built so far… Tarps fluttered in the cold breeze as they fought to keep the open walls and unfinished inside free of snow. Supplies and hardware are scattered about the ground floor, with some parts of the one above yet to be laid down. To anyone who had seen the original and felt their minds struggle to understand how 1200 feet could house a family of 13, just from the exposed walls and plumbing to the maze that unfinished hallways created, it was understandable how that problem was being vastly corrected.

To the right of the house where the old one-car garage once stood, a nearly finished two-door with half the unfinished gravel driveway leading up to it gave anyone a taste of what the new home would be like. Even with the unfinished rooms above, flashes of light burst from the windows. The sound of a torch burning its way through metal until the sound of a pipe banging off the floor told it to cease.

Inside, it was a bit difficult to say precisely what was happening. Look at either corner or wall, and three more things will appear.

Parked close to the door where the old slab used to sit, the still beaten-up form of Lori's car stood drying from the ice and snow that puddled on the floor. Beside it were stacks of boxes and items recovered from the old house, some too big or too much to fit in their trailer. To the center stood the newest addition to the family fleet. They were jacked up and sitting on bricks with their wheels off to the side. Its outer door panels were removed, exposing the intricate insides with the hood joining them against the wall. The front bumper sits just a few feet away to let the engine be exposed to a drop light hanging from the ceiling and the exposed spider web of cables strewn about.

To one corner were more supplies for the construction crew for later. Across from it was the doorway that would eventually lead into the house, and between it was a 20-foot-long workbench covered in tools and parts. All from brand new shocks and springs still in the box to a piece of cooling tubular steel pipe being placed in front of a giant sheet of paper with schematics of the van itself and a thinner transparent plastic sheet on top showing off the van becoming surrounded in a metal cage from bumper to bumper.

Flipping her mask off, Lana carefully studied the numbers on the part she had in hand. Calculating eyes over every detail Lisa had drafted to holding a ruler up and checking her cuts, she nodded in approval. Pulling the mask off and placing it on the counter as she went to grab the cleanest rag she could reach and wipe away the sweat from her forehead. Turning on her boot heel, she went over to the growing mass of steel assembled on the floor. Holding the piece in place as it filled the corner to two more welded together.

Carefully placing it on the floor to make sure it didn't roll away, Lana took a few steps back to admire her progress so far.

Having somewhat of a blank check to work with, even if Lisa already had calculated how much material it would take with the extra for any margin of error, Lana was in her element. Even if the house was to be complete by tomorrow and everyone had to move in, she'd ask to make this place her new bedroom. All the brand new tools bought just to let her get to where she is now, a new beast on wheels to get her hands dirty instead of constantly having to fix the old family van, having school be canceled for three straight days due to the snow, it was like the stars had aligned for her this week and she loved it.

She has always loved to do this, even to burn some free time. Getting down into the wires and gears, crafting something with her own hands and tools to benefit whatever it was needed for. She had been so excited to help build up the house when school wasn't in the way, focusing on the garage to get it done so that once they got the new van, she could immediately sink her teeth into it like it was her first car. She couldn't go utterly crazy with ideas, but she had the tools and talent to get pretty close.

Letting herself fall back for a moment, she gracefully spun back around. Pulling herself up a work stool and leaning against the table to give herself a moment of rest after glancing at a wall clock and seeing she was well into her fifth hour of work. Snatching a relatively warm water bottle and a tablet almost buried under papers and user manuals, she took a few deep gulps before flicking the device out of its sleep mode.

On-screen, four 3D models stood on top of each other. One of what the new van looked like before and what, in theory, it'd look like once it was all said and done. Above it was a rather under-detailed version of Lincoln's newest truck (something that, upon seeing its construction and final result, made her utterly giggly seeing the engineering evolve) and a hyper-detailed model of the last version of his tank that Lisa could find and create. Pinching the screen to zoom in, she made the lower window bigger as she looked over exactly where to continue next. Seeing the next step, to get the frame of the windshield hail guard built, she zoomed out and zoomed in on the two trucks.

She couldn't remember how often she'd done it but couldn't stop wondering about the beasts her brother had created. Had you told her five years ago that Lincoln could design and build something like this, she would have probably shrugged it off as being another part of his own shenanigans. But if Lisa had given proof that he had been designing the tank well before he left home, she would have stopped whatever she was doing to work on it with him.

Did it take him and five other guys eight months to build it? She was confident they could have gotten it rolling before May even started and had plenty of time to tinker with it, get all those bugs and issues out with the occasional field test, and refine their work.

She always dreamed of having a sibling sharing the same passion for building and nature as herself, and while maybe Lynn was a close second, Lincoln was the best she had and wanted. He wasn't a total gearhead or great with construction and handling animals like she was; that's why she's the queen of plumbing. Still, to know that he actually did become someone so inspired and crafty to build what he needed to get the job done made her heart beat even faster, just picturing what they could do together.

She always pictured her dad working on her first car once she got her license and an actual car to call her own. All the times they fought together to keep Vanzilla chugging were how she learned more and how the old rust bucket was defying fate and still on all four wheels. They were fond memories (even if it was during rather bad times that caused them) and were times she'll remember for years to come.

But as the years went on, as they all grew up, everyone above started going their ways; even as he became focused on his new fascination, Lincoln was still there. Driving them to school, helping with homework, or being that figure that could keep up more back then than their dad could anymore. A lot of times, she imagined it being her and Dad unlocking one of those childhood moments together; Lincoln was the one there.

She didn't have any ill against her father, far from it. Sure, he wasn't a hundred percent and did a lot for the family, but when Lincoln would step up to take his place, it felt so different. It wasn't just a father-daughter moment, but sometimes more than a sister-and-brother moment. All the wacky stuff they could and have done together only fueled a feud between her and Lola over who his favorite twin really was. As far as he said, he never played favorites, but they all knew who stood on each step of the ladder in his life.

And she knew she was among the higher ones back then.

Now? After all these years… she didn't know for sure.

There was the fear he no longer cared as much as before, but so many things spoke otherwise. All the stuff he was doing for them before was to make sure they even had a roof over their heads before, now and later. The fact that he could have just one day gone made Lana feel like all the times she had lost a pet feel, like it was the world trying to prepare her for the day to come. She didn't believe her brother would go out so soon. He was too stubborn like them, too quick on his feet and fast to plan for the world to catch him like that.

But he was on a deadline, a literal countdown for years that could have been spent preparing for that day when he was busy spending the days helping them. All the laughs of running around the yard in summer instead were replaced by being locked away in his room, slaving away every detail.

It did, she realized some time ago. All the checks, the will, and the letters were like cogs in an elaborate machine designed to keep running without him at the controls. Planning every step he could take for them…

By the end of the year, he might not be here anymore.

By the time she turned 16, ready to get behind the wheel and spread her wings further than before, he could only be seen as a tombstone or jar of ash on the mantle, if they were even that lucky…

By the time she was ready for prom (even if it wasn't the kind of social function she liked), he wouldn't have been there to make sure she had a good time.

By the time she eventually found the one guy to start a family or even get her own business going, he wouldn't be there to see the success he helped her achieve or the son or daughter he would one day hold to see one of her greatest creations…

Even as she used her dirty sleeve to wipe away the growing tears, leaving a grease stain across her face, she powered off the tablet and put it back on the counter. She looked back up at the diagram, staring at it for a moment before looking back to the barely finished, half-torn-apart van that was to be what took them the distance to stop all that from happening.

It'd take time. The time that every minute she sat on her ass thinking what could be. She could be making more progress in making sure her brother was there for her. He was there for all the times she willingly put herself in danger. She knew he would disapprove of her doing it again, but he'd have another thing coming if he thought she wouldn't follow her big brother's footsteps and keep him safe.

He will be there to hold his future nephew or niece, to see her take the first steps into adulthood, to share a drink, go on a trip, and work on her first car together.

He will be-

"You okay in here?"

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the 'kitchen' opened. Lynn, dressed in a black winter coat and red pants, pulled down a pair of earmuffs as flakes of melting snow flew and stepped inside, shivering under the sudden change from the winter air beyond these walls to the electric heater running in the corner.

"You got all quiet." She said, knocking some snow off her boots.

Lana sighed, turning back towards the table. "I'm fine. Just… thinking over something."

It didn't take two clashing brain cells to know what that meant, so Lynn didn't push any further than that. She, of all people, understood where her little sister was coming from, not just Lana but all of them. If she wasn't here right now because she was to keep an eye on the mechanic and be her ride back home, Lynn was sure she'd either wander around trying to keep herself distracted or sit in her room counting down the days like she was in a prison cell.

The local psychic ward was probably more befitting.

She wasn't herself before, and after that storm and meeting, it felt like she didn't know herself anymore. The Lynn of Old felt dormant, but that was because the Lynn of New thought it was because that was the source of this mess. All the time, she was beating herself up for it. Not believing that she, of all people, was so willing to stoop so low because something she believed in was a bunch of hogwash. That is because of her inability to accept a loss; not just her but the whole family suffered for years. She vowed after stressful, restless nights, she'd find a way to fix it. With every day that went by, it felt like she was making small progress but losing too much time.

To know that even if she had changed their world, no matter how big or small, the world at large wouldn't have cared. The big game was inevitable. She could become the best player out of them all, but it would always be Lincoln versus Fate. All of them were just spectators on the sidelines watching a rabbit have to survive against lions. It felt like her job as his closest-in-age big sister was to teach him and prepare him. Make him stronger and ready to face those lions everyone would face someday.

Ironically, when the rabbit was forced away from those trying to 'protect' it when it was forced to fend for itself, it learned and became stronger. They still wanted to teach it when it was brought back, but they had already learned more than they could give. The closer they got to facing that lion, the further away they got from that protection.

She felt like she was preparing him for the world when none of them could be there. When that big brawl with Chandler happened, if they were older, she would have taken him to a bar and celebrated—for how proud she was of him standing up for himself.

But that was when they were still close. And when she realized he didn't need them anymore. He didn't need her anymore…

Physically building up won't stop the world from bringing anyone down. All the broken bones she got over the years said otherwise, but all it took was a literal heartbeat to put her two steps closer to death's front door. She's only 23 years old, too young to think about what the end would be like 60, 70 years away. But countless younger people had already been taken out of the world. Lincoln had only turned 20, and the world was dead set on making sure he didn't see to 21.

For days, she cursed her ancestors for letting this happen, but conventional thinking told her that was probably a bad idea right now and that from learning more from Lisa, they didn't know until it was too late or did all they could to stop it. What they were doing now was working faster than their family had before, with more resources and knowledge than before, to succeed where 400 years hadn't. Her younger self would have gladly accepted that challenge. The idea of breaking such a losing stream enticed her inner competitor, but now she knew it wasn't for bragging rights or some trophy. There was blood in this. Practically paving the way to where they are now and the road they had yet to go.

Ten years ago, she promised never to let herself be so focused on winning that it'd cost her family. Now, they had to win no matter what. The prize was too big for them to lose. You might lose one game in softball and have to wait until next season to avenge it, but this was one and done. There was no rematch, overtime, delayed start, or reschedule. When it was all said and done, there would only be one winner or one loser.

It's more like all winners or all losers to her.

Lincoln might have been lucky to survive all this before, and if the strongest storm in the world couldn't kill him, then nothing short of divine intervention would. He has his team and friends out there but for them? This family was a team of their own. He was standing alone against the entire opposition for the whole season. This time, he won't be alone.

If it wasn't for rational thinking or the fact he was out of the country, you wouldn't think the psychic ward would be enough to stop her from taking Lori's car right here and now and driving that thousand miles. So be it if she had to wait for him to return.

Lynn Loud Junior wasn't a quitter; nothing would unless God stopped her first.

Oh, the irony that itself held… For just standing in this garage, shaking off her lightly soaked winter coat and placing it on a hook with Lana's, she looked back to the mess that Vanzilla 2 was slowly transforming into.

And it made her realize something about herself. Something about all of them…

For all their talents that made their youth sore, what good are they now?

She could run fast and toss one helluva pitch, but what good was that for any of this? She didn't want to disappoint the others; some had their negatives, too, but 5hey all had workarounds.

Lori might not get into golf, but her skills could make her manage an entire industry. Luan's comedy and Lucy's writing were great when they shined on the people they connected to. Still, they understood people on a level Lynn could imagine Luan becoming something like a therapist. Lola had her beauty, but the way she thinks, it wouldn't surprise anyone if she went into politics. Lisa had her science from start to finish; Luna had the musical drive she could adapt, and Leni… caregiver? And Lily… she had the world to figure out what she could do with examples all around.

Lincoln… all the above and more.

And for herself?

…What?

Plenty of athletes in history went on to do things outside of sports, but what could she do?

Right now, only sit and wait. Feeling as useless as ever since the day she wasn't fast enough to catch that tank…

She wasn't alone in this boat, either; most were limited to what functions they could do to help speed things up. Lisa was heading the whole operation like she always did. She got every update about their brother and planned what they could do in the future. Lana was here, building away, and Lucy was trying to contact the dead again.

Everyone else was just stuck in waiting. Lori and Luan had work to keep busy; Leni was making… something and wanted to focus on just it. Luna watched Lily's recovery, and Lola kept up the news, like Lisa did, and helped Lily or Leni.

And what did she do this time?

Good question.

Nothing except just mope.

She had no job, car, or skills to do what the others were doing to help. Somehow, the few always made the biggest impact on them, and she hated being stuck on the sidelines. She… needed to do something.

Anything. Something that could help her, help all of them make up for what they've lost…

Looking back to Vanzilla 2, glancing over to Lana as she was prepping her blowtorch again to get back to work, looking over the mess of tools and parts all over the place, she was reminded of how in the first part of the show, it showed little montages of them building his tank. It went over it faster than it really was but still showed how much hard labor her brother dedicated to building it. Without that dedication, none of them would be here today…

"You okay, Lynn?" Lana asked, turning down her torch when she noticed her big sis looking around like she had lost something. Focusing on Lana, Lynn spooked her momentarily with how intently she stared back. Looking over every detail she could soak up, she felt like she was watching the scene all over again.

"Yeah…" she slowly answered, "I'm Just… thinking about some things." She muttered, looking away to something else to keep her attention.

Lana sighed, understanding that by now, this was just another one of those times her sister was drifting off into space. It was far from the first time in the last two months, and after the sixth time, they all found that it was better for her to talk when she wanted to.

Getting a spark to reignite her torch, Lana put back on her mask as she grabbed one of the precut tubes, and brought it over to a rather small but beefy hydraulic bender. Locking the end of the tube in a vice before steadily washing over the entire length back and forth with the flame to soften the metal up before sending it through the press.

"Lana?" Lynn asked, her voice a bit closer than before. With a sigh, she turned her torch down without it dying. Flicking her mask up, she looked up to see Lynn standing by the van now. She looked over the edge of the driver's window into the cab, eyeing the steering wheel.

"Yeah?"

"Were… do you think if we were better sisters and actually supported Lincoln as much as he did for us, he wouldn't have done what he does now? Chasing all this stuff…"

Lana looked away, thinking it over, "I mean… we all could've been more faithful to him. He always believed in us, and look where we were able to get." She gestured in the air with her tool. They both knew it didn't mean where they were right now, but what months to years ago had been like. Even when Lincoln was chasing, he was living his life like all of them were. Had none of those incidents happened, there was no telling where they would be now. Though thinking it through long and hard, Lynn knew they would have been more separated than ever. Their paths would have taken them far away from Royal Woods and formed into their own worlds.

Lynn had always believed Lincoln would still be the one they could all link back to. She had even a little plan if things went right for him to maybe come to college with her. It would work to keep family close, and they both could benefit from the proximity. Keep an eye on each other's backs. Just like all the times, they really were less like rivals or predator and prey and actually like siblings. So close in age, if you switched it she didn't think much at all would change aside from him having to play the more 'responsible' role she should have been.

She should have realized sooner how much he relied on friends and outsiders, how someone like Clyde or Ronnie took the time to actually build up with him, and…

Ronnie…

Lynn remembered when she returned to Royal Woods with Bobby a few days after the storm. It was too late to help with rescue but in time to see the clean-up effort kick into gear. When she came in that car, they all practically mobbed it, believing Lincoln had shown back up. But she was here to check on friends and see what had happened. Walking down Franklin Avenue with her, Lynn could see just how broken she looked compared to the last time they met.

She shared her experience and how she and her sisters got roped into that mess. Ronnie commented, laughed, and criticized every step they did, but that was from what two years had done. Seeing so much damage for the first time since that Kansas nightmare made her worry so much about what Lincoln might do when the next 'big one' came. They both knew he was smart and that experience was the best teacher, but even someone like him had a point where he wouldn't care what danger he was heading into.

He might have a tank he could make stronger, Clyde, and a whole team of like-minded people in support, but he didn't have someone there next to him anymore. She asked Ronnie why not go back. She understood taking a break after something huge like Kansas, but the two of them? The show might make things out of proportions or overplaying drama, but the way the two of them connected with each other, seeing how utterly happy they were, she couldn't resist asking why not go back.

She didn't have to say anything when the look she gave Lynn told her something that felt too familiar, too personal: that she understood the girl's reasons. Since then, the athlete had been stuck in the cycle of thinking about what she could have done differently.

Not just before round here but out there. She was so hyperfocused on impressing colleges that she failed to support him on his biggest day when, willing or not, he was there for some of her biggest moments.

She wasn't there when he turned 18. When traveling the world. When facing down that monster trying to-

No...

Too many times, she's had to look back and say, 'If I was there,' or 'I could've done it better.' That was all in the past, and there was no changing it now. Even Ronnie said it herself: There was always going to be another storm, alone or not. Miss one, there's always going to be another day tomorrow or beyond that.

But Lincoln didn't have that time anymore. She didn't know if Ronnie knew about the curse or not. Possibly just another recovering victim like them who was just caught in the crossfire. Lisa once said it was possible because of his willingness to sacrifice himself to protect her that day is why he still lived.

If protecting someone he loves is what helped him survive, then she wasn't going to let him go alone. Whether that meant typing him up so he could go or following him, she wasn't going to let him go.

If his love protected others, then their love for him will keep him safe. She won't let the world take the most important person in her life away from them.

Away from her.

And if that day comes… he won't be alone.

---

In another part of town, as the day drew on, becoming darker by the hour, the hustle and bustle around downtown were slowly winding down. Some people saw this as the time had come to flip the signs, turn off the lights, lock the doors, and head home. Either already exhausted at the thought of tomorrow being a repeat of today or eager to fulfill some afternoon plans now that they were free. Some were in the middle, dreading tomorrow but looking forward to what today had left.

That mixed thought made some people wonder what to do before progressing. Should they stop at a coffee shop for a fresh, hot one? Should they get a quick bit from the drive-thru or run to the store for a quick milk pickup? All while praying that traffic wasn't bad and the roads were plowed when they got home.

At what can be described as a brand-new restaurant that sprung up just around Christmas, Lynn's Table was slowly winding down but still drummed with activity. The restaurant had undergone an extensive renovation after the storm to repair the swath of the roof and water damage caused by wind-driven hailstones that had shot into the entire area. The inside especially held that feeling of having a little bit of the old built into the new when you walked through the doors, with home-style mixed with elements that felt more in line with places you see in high-end entertainment districts.

It was refreshing and familiar in one. It was something that the several dozen people who trickled in and out of the doors and gathered at tables all felt. Faces that came in wishing for a good time, beaming as they dug into their meals, left them with smiles and warm bellies, with a memory of the many stories being told flying in the air.

With so much filtering through, it was all hands on deck. In her mind, running around with trays full of food or bags for take was a welcomed distraction for Lori as she weaved around tables. Dressed with a waiter's apron over her business clothes, her face was bare, but her eyes were sharp and calculating. In swift grace, she deposited the checks to two tables, refilled water two steps later, snagged an unneeded stack of places from another, and dropped off four takeout bags at the front counter, where another staff member gladly took to distribute to the waiting crowd. In the return pass to the kitchen, she snagged those checks, paused to collect the dishes at an empty table that another member quickly stepped over to give a wipe down, and asked another table about their food and service before making wide strides in each step.

Since business kicked in, Lori had been on fire today. And she wasn't the only one.

Using her hip to knock the door open, she was greeted by the hive of activity that dominated the kitchen. Despite technically being past their usual rush hour, the staff was working full steam ahead like the crew in the belly of a ship feeding the war machine. The staff here worked as well as oiled cogs in that machine, swiftly putting together orders as fast as they popped in. She squeezed by as she deposited the dishes by the sink where one of a few newly hired was washing them down. She saw just in time a plume of fire erupt from the stove, and she watched Luan lean back with a frying pan and a slab of sizzling meat flare up when applying a little spray of alcohol.

With the fear their father wasn't ready to get in the kitchen just yet, Luan had stepped up to help around the restaurant. Both to help their father pay off a new car as she refused to use any money she had on hand and put it into funding Vanzilla 2 and as her own means for a distraction these days. Lori could see it in her eyes even when they were covered in a pair of tinted glasses meant to help keep her eyes from burning. To her, this wasn't funny business anymore; it was real life. They both knew that growing up, things would continue to get tough, and they'd have to find ways to navigate it, but it was, unfortunately, Lisa's words that made them realize who was a better fit to face them.

She did have a little pride in knowing she was a top pick, but it didn't take much to see how her choices affected everyone else.

Just the scramble to get every penny they had on hand to fix both the original and the new van gave them all something to work on together, but after Lisa had given her specifically her past recordings, her earlier plan of just getting her own plane ticket or driving south still seemed inviting. With what Lisa had given them all to read up, she had given her more refined material to study. She didn't understand why until she brought up situations over the years where their brother had been working next to Clyde and Ronnie to figure out why.

Standing by, ready to take out any other orders, Lori looked for any spot she could jump in if needed. Most of the items were shifting to more takeout than serving, and the other waiters were making swift progress, bussing them out faster than she could think to grab one herself. She looked to the stations, spotting Grant putting the finishing touches to a plate before another was sent out. Sensing her gaze, he looked up to see the question in her eyes, to which he shook his head slightly.

Sighing in either relief or disappointment, she nodded back, understanding, before stepping out of the kitchen and heading towards the back. She untied the apron and hung it on a passing coat hook before ducking into her office. Closing the door behind her, the vibrant sound of chatter was silenced, with only the muffled clanging of pans being moved around. Moving to her desk, she plopped into her chair, feeling more mentally exhausted than physically exhausted.

She figured her help had been needed to keep up the flow for others. With how late it was getting busy, it should be slowing down from here on out. It was a nice long distraction that kept her mind focused away from another distraction that had been bugging her, not just her, for the last month.

Sitting up to face her computer, she saw a mess of tabs open to anything related to what Lisa had given all of them to look over as much as possible before the day they rolled out. Everything from old documentaries from nearly 20 years ago to case studies about specific weather events, this scientist found in recent years and, above all else, saw how much Lincoln had changed. Lisa reasoned that there was so much video out there from himself and others dating back to before he left home to the 10th that it gave them an 'evolutionary timeline' to understand what to expect from their brother.

Not including her adding on the TV show, there was, to Lisa's estimate, about 600 hours, literally 25 days worth of footage from the first Royal Woods Tornado, across the last 10 years. A lot of the events were repeated but were presented from different angles and perspectives by others. From just a few short seconds bumping in at a gas station to complete almost hour-long interviews and even longer chase days, all of it to prepare them all for what was to come.

So far, Lori had gotten maybe eighteen hours in. This surprised her, given how much she was on her phone a decade ago. She'd be burning through or skipping parts, but her mind told her to treat this more as something she needed to learn to pass an important test back in college. Every detail they could take was more than they were prepared for when that test happened.

And so far, all she had seen was how her brother was shortly after moving away. Some of these she had already seen before after Lynn's run-in with Clyde had sparked curiosity among them all, but this was seeing it step by step and not clicking on whatever random video piqued her interest. All the ones of him chasing with someone else, usually Clyde, and on the rare chance the two brothers were with them, it was like a group of old friends going on an adventure that led to something wacky, exciting, or terrifying by the end of the day. But Lori could see how, in most cases, it was just the two of them or himself; Lincoln was always risking getting closer and closer even when someone said they were close enough.

One video, titled "Tornado Intercept in a Pickup," dated to May of 2022, when they were chasing a 'derecho' and got in the path of a rope EF2 in South Dakota that was laughably pathetic in size compared to the monsters he'd face. It was so much like a noodle, yet it obliterated an entire school before it came right at them. They were cheering their heads off like sports fanatics until it was right on them. They started panicking; Lincoln tried backing up before using something on the truck to lock them in place. They sat there for seconds until it hit them. Screaming or shouting to stay down when the whole truck shook, and even the windshield cracked into pieces. After it passed, she could hear how shaken they both were, but Lincoln had something else. In the brief shot,s he was on video rightafterward; hiss eyes had a different look as he laughed. She could only confirm the same thing when she asked Lisa about it.

At that point, he wasn't the same brother they had remembered. Once his tank was finished, he became more aggressive, and it was like seeing two people occupy the same body. One half the day, he was just like the boy they knew in an adult body, then in minutes, became someone you'd think to find as some high rank in the military. It seemed to become less of a 60/40 to 80/20 split once Ronnie joined, but there was so much that the show didn't tell anyone that anything taken from outside revealed.

Curse or not, it made the oldest sibling lean back in her chair and think hard. She was going down a path that was taking a beating now every time she walked it, hoping there was a different light at the end than she was already seeing.

*knock, knock*

"You busy in there?" Luan's voice came from behind the door.

*sigh* "No. Not really…" Lori answered as the door swung open.

In stepped Luan; her hair was covered in a net, and food stains were on her apron. Uncaring, she reached over and slammed the door shut as she plopped herself in the chair across from her sister. Hand over her eyes as she kept them shut, trying to get her own thoughts together.

She had taken up the spot their father occupied in the kitchen, but being so much younger, she had that energy he didn't have anymore. Everyone knew their dad one day wanted to hand the restaurant down to the comedian, and now, they can see the reasons why manifest before their eyes. Luan wasn't on the same level as Lynn Sr. but grew fast at home. Her first multi-course meal for the family was her first test back onto this path, and while there was plenty of room to improve, her determination was paving the way.

And they all knew it wasn't for the day she inherited the restaurant.

Sitting in silence with Luan's deep breaths, the only notable noise beyond these walls, Lori had been expecting and hoping for her little sister to crack a pun about today or something about working in the kitchen. Days had gone by with little of this; when it did, it was more like a side remark that made anyone in the know laugh or crack a smile.

Lori wanted to give her reassurance, but at this point, words can only go so far when spoken so many times.

This was Luan's distraction; she focused on keeping her mind and body active and away from the turmoil that would soon come. While her arm was healed and any scratch or cut had faded, before the big reveal, she was still herself.

After? Lori felt it was like time had reverted her sister back to when she could barely speak at all. Her version of a vow of silence, where she talked as usual, but a laugh and pun were almost extinct. It had more dry humor than what they remembered.

When Lisa noticed this change (at this point, what doesn't she), she speculated it was because of her report that painted Luan as one of the lower members fitted for going after their brother. If her car wasn't in the junkyard right now, chances were they would have to take the tires off to keep her from running. Lori didn't know how the others that fell into 'that' category felt, but she knew Luan wouldn't let it stop her.

And in the comedian's mind, if she could give you an image to picture how she felt, it'd be close to seeing a giant, seething Russian doing curls with 200-pound dumbbells in a barely lit room surrounded by shelves of stuff that better fit the prop supply trailer to a circus.

While her body was tired after a long day like this, her mind was working full steam ahead to prepare itself. Given the opportunity, she read what Lisa said about them, too, and after the initial shock about what everything had become, it felt like someone had kicked the chair out from under her. She was holding onto the table to keep from falling any further than the first kick brought her to. It wasn't what she'd consider her accurate means of focusing on something positive or creative instead of sinking into the negative again.

It wasn't like half of her was gone. Losing her voice didn't stop her. A giant twister did even less. Up until that reveal, she managed to pull off one of their best Christmas and New Year to date despite all the hell that came their way. There was still joy to be given out there. Many who went through the same needed that spark of joy again. Even if it wouldn't change the past, it gave hope to a brighter future.

But for now, Funny Business was closed for the foreseeable future. It's a bit hard to be all bubbly and laughing when 200 different things occupy your mind simultaneously—taking up a spot as a cook? It was just one of the outlets that worked for everyone.

"Line finally cut down?" Lori asked, not wanting the silence they'd become all too familiar with to continue.

"Yeah…" Luan sighed, finally looking up. She pulled the net out and let her hair free. "You'd think they'd be more tempted to go to a Wendy's or something quicker."

Lori nodded, understanding. They had been a bit busier than usual, especially this time of the season. They weren't sure why, but they weren't complaining. It only meant speeding up, covering the costs of the repairs, and getting more pennies to build the house. Some said that some good will spread throughout the town because of their connections to the Foundation. A vast difference now compared to what life was like in the aftermath of the first storm…

"How are you holding up?" She asked quietly.

Luan sunk more into the chair. "I don't know anymore… I want to get this done. I'm used to playing the long game, but this is one I don't want to play." She said, looking up to meet her tired brown eyes and the drained blues that looked back. How much both of them wanted to put an end to this.

But they both knew what that end was, and neither would accept it. The anticipation was growing to the point they were getting sick. They constantly watched the clock and date, hoping it'd be the next day to finally get it moving. Until then, both women knew that the cycle of insanity had to continue if just for a bit longer, hoping that nothing else fell into their path.

Leaning back, Lori ran a hand over her eyes, glancing at the clock on the computer and feeling her mind scramble some at what time it was now. Business would only continue to drop as they cleared out the last orders, and there wasn't much point in her or her sister staying anymore.

"Come on, " she said, dropping her hands to her lap as she stood up, stretching. Let's head home. I'm sure the others are already back and have dinner ready."

Luan looked up at her, silently asking if they should do that when there was still a mess here.

"We'll see what they need help with before we go. Plus, gotta let the van warm up for the next hour anyway."

Luan cracked a small smile as she mustered the strength to stand up. Both knew it'd be a good bit before they could roll home, but knowing there was still plenty to do to burn, that time came.

---

Back across town towards the Royal Woods Mall, one would think that with no school and the work day ending, one would expect the area to still be a hotbed of activity even with the snow. Plenty of stores, restaurants, and places still stood unaffected by the disaster, or times still inhabited its walls for anyone to find something to do.

But if you looked from one side or above, you'd see how half the lot went from a typical snow-covered parking lot to resembling a refugee camp.

However, compared to over a month ago, the size had dwindled further from before. To where maybe an entire trailer park once existed, the lot now held maybe north of two dozen, with not even half of those with their lights on and any sign of life coming from within. Some lay dark and cold, waiting to be hauled away to parts where it's next needed, others buried, others with families utilizing the extra space given in between their temporary homes.

For what was the only double-wide on the lot that remained, besides its door, was a scratched-up and bent number plate reading '1216'. One of the few pieces the family had brought from the debris to bring some semblance of their old home with them.

Inside, the place was remarkably spacious. Compared to their old home, which had that small townhouse feeling, the atmosphere still felt artificial, given that the whole unit still sat on blocks and wheels and that with so many people inside, they could still shake the place. When gathered together, it felt like they could invite double their numbers and be comfortable.

The same couldn't be said for sleeping arrangements. With a dozen still present and only three rooms available, corners had to be cut wherever possible. Where the parents got the masters to have the needed room, the sisters took a page out of Luna and Luan's book by going vertical. Now, in the packed one room had the two oldest and twins, and the second had the two youngest and Luan. It was an odd setup, but one that was felt needed to give the youngest her own bed until better times. As for the two that shared the most significant age gap, the family had to get a little creative—sacrificing half the living room to get enough space to 'construct' another room big enough to hold the two adults.

Lucy didn't mind the setup. Compared to their old room, it was about how packed it felt before being an 18-year-old sharing it with someone that's 23. Only now, being on the bottom of a bunk bed in a room with an old cabinet as a closet and unfortunately is only a 3-inch hollow wall and four feet from the TV at night. On a tiny 32-inch screen that nowadays felt more like it fit a computer, the local news acted as decent background noise as the anchors reported about anything from what new international controversies have sprouted to where the surrounding areas are expected to either get some relief from the snow or how much more was on the way.

Usually, she loved the winter months. Aside from the blasts of color the holidays brought, the empty periods in between acted as their own little worlds where life had faded away, and the world itself was trying to bury it. It gave her a much clearer blank slate to work on her stories.

But right now, that inspiration evaded her.

Sitting alone in the middle of a couch that was big enough to fit the family without someone needing to sit on the armrests or floor, her usual attire was her expected taste but styled a bit differently. Wearing a red long sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants, black hair grown so long that even tied into a ponytail draped across her right shoulder, her bangs still hung down to cover her eyes from anyone. Having turned 19 a little over two weeks ago, she didn't feel any different before and after gaining another year to her name. However, what she thought within that year was something she believed could sum up her entire life into a memoir.

Since the meeting, there hadn't been much she could do. Though a weight felt like it had been lifted, knowing that a secret as complex as the curse had been revealed all at once meant not having to tread ground repeatedly, which meant they were finally on the same page. But that weight was like merely taking off a light coat when you still had an entire car strapped to your back. Though this knowledge was shared, it did little to stop the mind from thinking over it too much.

No matter how much you'd lay in bed at night, trying to drift into slumber as those thoughts swarmed you like crows to a dying animal, you'd be awakened. Forcing your mind to burn away those thoughts and replace them with something as far away from them as possible. Before, it'd be nearly impossible for Lucy not to do this. Now, it was almost impossible for her to do the opposite. All because the paths lead to one thing that pledged both mind and heart.

This curse, it was a literal countdown. So many times, for something like a disease, a doctor might say they have 3 months to live, but that could become 3 to 30 years of life or merely 3 hours from an unrelated incident. For age, it was the same from minutes coming into this world to some living to see an entire century. At that time, so much could be done, but the one thing that was certain for any person now and then was never knowing when that final moment would happen.

They knew.

They knew that right now, it could take just one small thing to take Lincoln away. If it was the storm from a decade or a year ago, luck was on his side. But no matter how much not only he but all of them got lucky, there was a time when this would all end. He could be the most lively person out of the eight billion that walked this Earth, but in one day, that can be taken away forever. It invoked the question of if you knew exactly when you or someone was going to die, regardless by what or where, that the light of the next day will never be seen, how can anyone live with this?

One day, she would have marveled at the chance to know such details that bonded the living world and the next. But knowing it was her brother, the one person who for the better part of 15 years had been someone who truly gave her a life to see, it was like their own curse to know this—one they were all at the mercy of.

After so much time and effort helping Lisa crack the code, they got as far as possible. In personal time, she attempted to contact their ancestors—anyone from their times before Scotland to as recently as their beloved grandfather. If there was any chance they could gain more knowledge about how to prevent this and how to prepare better, it could make a massive difference, but none answered her calls or pleas. After all they'd been through, she knew they were there listening. Not just one but many. She couldn't tell who they were and didn't know, only that they refused to acknowledge her call. To answer her pleas to know what fate has in store and what must be done to save him.

It had been weeks since she had last tried to contact the spirit world, and like the weather, she could only assume it was as cold as it was outside. Her time spent in between had been filled with looking over whatever remained of the book. The digital copy they saved and the water-logged, dry brick of a 400-year work of literature that belonged in a museum or destroyed until ash. Just like countless times before she combed over its words. Searching for anything that could be useful to them. Maybe an undying spell that prevents someone from dying, thus acting as a direct counter. Maybe one that could transfer the curse to another living being, like an ant or something that they could step on and end the curse forever.

Yet the fact that this force came from that book made her years of interest in these mystic arts grow further, with caution being her only saving grace now. What were the chances she could botch what she thought was a simple spell and do more damage than what was already? What were the chances she placed the curse on an innocent person who equally had no right to deserve such fate? There was still so much to this book that it made her question what it contained that could stop a Loud like her.

And in truth, she hoped there was.

When this was all said, and over, Lucy knew that the world beyond theirs was a place closer than anyone believed it to be. How she or the world at large would react was a future she didn't want to know any more than knowing what tomorrow would bring.

And what would tomorrow bring for her? The only thing that was a given was their time running short. Every day brought them closer to being more ready, but with less time to act. The one thing that kept her up at night was picturing one day she would end up contacting the spirit world and have to pray it was only…

… there won't be that day.

If they fail, she will pledge to give up everything that connected her to the mystic arts so she'd never have to deal with such tragedy. If there was eventually a day his spirit contacted her to communicate, so be it, but she'd do everything to ensure he could rest in peace. But that's if they fail. And taking a page out of Lynn's book, they couldn't fail at this…

They still had time. And like all that time when someone was given, you'd do everything you can to make that time the greatest in their lives. You'd make plans to provide them with great memories in the living to carry on into the next life. Until then, they could make this the most incredible time on earth.

And the queen of darkness had a plan.

Ludicrous in function, insane to anyone who didn't understand her motives. She never thought there would be a chance in this world to allow her to really sit down and think it through. But the more details she looked over, trying to see what ways to make things work and the possibilities that things would get bumpy the further they got, her heart started to beat faster in a rhythm that filled her mind not with worry or fear, but hope that brought a warm smile to her face that if anyone were close by would see a faint blush in the light as she slowly weaved her hands together.

The sound of dishes clattering told Lucy that someone was close but out of view from seeing her reaction. She turned her head just enough to see from the corner of her vision her father and Luna in the kitchen preparing dinner for everyone. The lack of walls between the kitchen and living room was still something they were adjusting to, but it meant there wasn't the bottleneck getting to the dining room anymore.

Moreover, Lynn Sr., despite complications and constantly being told to take it easy, was enjoying the new setup.

Don't get him wrong; he missed the old home just as much as any of them, if not more, because of how many years and memories are tied to it. But the kitchen before him was one that if this is what is going into the new house, he might end up retiring early and never leave it—sliding from the fridge that was almost half the size of their old master closet and fishing out some milk, drumming a spoon on the counter while listening to a song in his head as he slid back over to the growing board of food.

Luna wondered exactly what tune her pops were listening to so she could get that kind of groove, too.

It had been a hot minute since she had that big musical kick in months. With a good chunk of your equipment destroyed and not having much privacy in 'her' room, she was limited to where she could listen and how loud to make it. Working at the music store inside the mall sometimes helped. Staying active somehow kept her mind off a lot of things. Especially when word gets out that a famous rock star works at the record store in the mall she's living within throwing distance of.

It felt ironic that with her taste and experience with music for the last 20 years, suddenly paired with her little nack for her computer setup; she was finding it easier to work on things she didn't think she could. She wasn't like Lana's level of smarts. Still, when it came to anything musical, instrumental, or any device, even a scratch record, she looked over it carefully, as if she were examining her favorite guitar or McSwagger's record and finding and fixing the problem.

The pay wasn't that great, and the hours were worse, but like Luan, every penny helps build up in case something happened, and it gave her a place to keep her thoughts focused on just clocking in and seeing how much in between until she could clock out. And oddly, during it all, she enjoyed it. It reminded her of when she was still young, dreaming of one day going big…

Well, once you go big, you never reach it again or try to go bigger. But sometimes you have to wait and see which way to go. There was a time for that later, and that kept her focused on what was in front of her. Though it'll be quite a mess to clean up for later, seeing her dad at least be like his old self was a refreshing and welcomed experience.

For Lynn, knowing he could tap into that spark again helped his aging heart and mind. His mental concert came to a steady end as the oven went off, and he switched the dial around to stop dinner from overcooking. "Alrighty, take five, sweetie," he said, out of breath, taking a quick drink from a nearby cup. "Just gotta let it sit for now. Hopefully, the others will be back before it's ready."

"Alright, Dad," Luna replied, finishing her little part and taking a breather.

"I'm gonna go check on your mother. See if she's still napping or not."

As her father moved away, the smile on Luna's lips dropped some. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder. Watching her dad move steadily until holding a hand against the wall to guide him. She was ready to bring into action should anything happen, but once he opened the furthest door and disappeared into a dimly lit bedroom and out of sight, she let out the breath she was holding.

Grabbing the nearest rag to wipe off her hands, she shuffled over towards the back of the couch. Tossing the rag over to the sink, instead of just going around, she let herself fall over the backrest and head into the seat as her legs flew in the air and twisted to be in a squat position.

A seat away from her, Lucy only turned her head an inch as her only form of registering her sister before looking back to the TV. Calming herself down from her little performance, Luna adjusted into a more favorable spot. Sighing once, she felt herself sink into the soft cushions. Sitting silently with only the TV playing, she glanced at her sister's nearly turtled-up form.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asked, noticing Lucy's usual gloom had a different aurora.

Lucy didn't respond verbally, but Luna could see her curl up tighter. Hoping she'd get the message but feeling her gaze still on her, she sighed.

"Many things I wish not to…" She muttered and could feel Luna's positive aurora diminish some.

Looking towards the TV, as a news anchor stood beside a giant screen, talking about the coming snowfall, Luna felt a bubble of regret for asking.

It had become more of a new standard to avoid asking questions related to the bigger situation. Lisa was all for drilling it into their brains if it meant keeping everyone on the same page. However, with Lucy… it started becoming very uncomfortable very fast, knowing she had or still has contact with their dead relatives. It brought old memories from their first time in Scotland visiting Loch Loud, seeing ghosts of themselves in another era and then knowing now what kind of fate one of them had…

It was a conscious choice early on, one Lucy was all the more willing to embrace, but one problem she had that some of them didn't was to have an outlet away from it. Luna knew Lynn was in the same boat, maybe Lola and Leni, but those two had school and… things. She…

In a move that surprised Lucy, Luna started twisting herself around, rolling across the couch until she was right next to her little sister. This surprised the goth even more when she was suddenly enveloped in her arms. Pulling their bodies so closely, she thought Luna was trying to get her on her lap. It probably would have been easier ten years ago when Lucy was only a small eight—or nine-year-old, but for right now? This felt doable.

For Lucy, it felt odd. This was the kind of affection she would expect from Leni; they all knew it was a different force.

"Luna?"

"Hmm?"

"While in recent times I don't mind physical contact as much as I did in the past… what are you doing?"

"Comforting my little sister who needs someone by her side," Luna answered, leaning over to rest her head on Lucy's as she kept the goth close enough to feel her body warmth wash over her. Lucy tilted her head back a little, and Luna was pretty sure that if her hair wasn't there, her eyes would be looking up at her with the idea that she was losing it again.

Instead, Lucy once more sighed and let herself relax into the embrace. It wasn't the kind of comfort she was hoping for, but it was more than welcomed.

---

Meanwhile, down the hallway to the room that the two oldest and twins shared, the family fashionista and former pageant queen sat on top of Leni's lower bunk bed with Lola sitting quietly in front of her big sister as she carefully combed her gold hair with a brush in the silence of the room.

Leni sat there in silence, a small smile on her lips as she counted down each brush stroke of the smooth and rich golden hair her little sister had asked for. Leni happily agreed and has stayed here since. Gleeful hummed a tune to herself as the time ticked by.

She could think of other things she could be doing right now. Like Lincoln's suit, after recovering it from the house, she was on version six now and could confidently say it was coming close to where she wanted it. She still needed adjusting and a final fit test before she could really work on what she foresaw as the seventh and final form. There was also her little workload. Despite having to work in the living room instead of privacy, she was slowly getting out, but she couldn't wait until her new room was ready.

Oh… the things she was dreaming of making. All the new designs are just waiting to burst out from her noggin, and how she couldn't wait to see Lincoln dressed in what would be some of her best work to come. The thoughts of him on a miniature runway showing off to her crowd of one made her gleefully giggle.

Sitting perfectly still with her eyes closed, counting each stroke, Lola snapped one eye open. Glancing up as she stayed silent, listening to her giggling sister for a moment until Leni could get herself under control again.

It was unnerving the few times they saw her doing it back then. She could put it past to her sister just going through one of those phases in life. When it came to having to bunk with her and Lori, she didn't think much about it until after multiple nights, when the three of them would wake up hearing Leni moaning and whispering so much that it kept them up for hours. They'd get out of bed more tired than before, and Leni would look like someone who just returned from a spa day.

It was bad enough when they had to adjust to their new living conditions, but it got a little worse once they went back to school a week after the storm, only to go on Thanksgiving break right after. The whole town was like a bridge, half in the river and half trying not to join the other. There was so much information going around, from the local gossip pools to the broader rumor mills picking up speed; getting back into the game was a struggle.

She didn't want to believe what happened that day. She and Lana felt more far from home until they got closer and closer. Seeing their neighborhood, old school and home wiped out felt mind-numbing. She cried for her sisters, her parents, and even some friends who got caught in the maelstrom. She cried when having to recover damaged memories from the wreckage and hoped that things would be alright soon.

And then Lincoln happened. Not him as a knight riding back to a ruined kingdom after a beast had torn through, but he had sent an army to them.

Days from that, the gossip around school seemingly spun around her name like its own storm. Whenever it was just her or both twins in a room during some free time, she lost count of how many fellow students would come and ask, "Hey Lola, did you guys call for this?" or "Hey Lola, since when did your family have its own disaster company?" or the ever popular "Hey Lola, how is your brother?" The last one seemed to be the more general flavor that got asked so much it was starting to give her a headache. So many times, she had to repeat that they didn't own or know about the company and that their brother did and had sent it to the town days after he had been seen last.

Some even went as far as spreading rumors that he somehow cursed the town and caused the storm so that he could profit from the things people lost.

Lola had dealt with those people very swiftly and without mercy.

But recently, she has had to sit down and think about the bigger picture. What Lisa told them honestly felt like it had reawakened something she thought had burned up long ago…

That old flame within her that was willing to blackmail someone beyond six feet down to get her way, the one that, on the day she had truly been the flame of the show, had wanted to scream out that she knew it was Lincoln's doing and it was because of him they had gotten into this mess all over again. She dealt with 'her' more heavily as soon as she understood it more, but the echoes still bounced around her brain when thinking further into it every day that went by.

Before their agreement, Lucy had said there was a chance that if Lincoln had not left them, the outcome could have been so much worse for the town and them. Lisa backed this up, saying no one was expecting a storm like that anywhere near here on a day with them dropping everywhere. It was just another coincidence that fate was throwing their way like the last ten years had been.

And from far away, but like he was still here, their brother was there. Was he being a knight in… gray armor… riding a… metal sted? Not just to them but to thousands on that day and millions afterward. He did battle with a beast despite still being wounded, even if the battle couldn't be seen as a win or loss. When the land and its people cried out, he was everywhere he could be. Like a loyal knight is to the people that he swore to protect….

"Leni?" Lola asked, breaking the silence.

She responded with a gleeful 'Hmm?' but did not pause.

"I got… a question to ask…"

"And I might have an answer." She said, like a parent playing along, believing the topic of the coming questions. "Is it about a boy from school?"

"What? No."

"Is it that Winston boy from a few years ago?"

"Leni, Winston moved away six years ago.

"What about that one you hang around with in your group after school?"

"How did you know I-"

"What was his name? I think it starts with an L-"

"LENI!" Lola cried, feeling her cheeks warming up.

Leni couldn't help it; she laughed at how her sister got so flustered by the 'innocent' question, "Haha, calm down, Lols. I'm just teasing. It's not often I got to tease you like this."

"Yeah…" Lola slowly agreed, "we've all noticed." she said. Letting Leni get the last of fits out of her system. "But… I'm being serious."

"So am I," Leni replied with a smile that Lola, with all her years of practice and mastering the arts of deception, could see the edges of her lips twitching. She resisted the urge to turn that smile into a knowing smirk.

"It's about Lincoln."

Those three words and Lola could see that look transform before her very eyes. The smirk slowly faded into a much softer smile, like she was pleased to hear something she wasn't expecting. The look in her eyes that had that teasing aurora to them shifted from preparing to see what else could make her little sister flustered to being curious at what she had to ask and… that look. The one that had kept them up at night. The one that had made them all scoot a few inches away from her on the couch or have to spring into action and do damage control when out in public.

"Well then," Leni adjusted herself, leaning back against the wall and crossing her legs. "What would you like to know?" she asked almost too eagerly.

Lola was about to exclaim a dozen she had at the ready. But the second the flame touched the fuse to fire away, it burned to ash before it reached the powder.

What could she ask? What was there that she didn't know that everyone already did from asking the same question? There were more answers than questions, and how that worked was outside her realm of explanation. When Lisa had it memorized, she could take one look at them and give the exact answer, with them saying a syllable. Watching Leni's reactions, and even the others when she caught them alone thinking out loud, it felt like something was staring at her across the room, and she was either blind or too unsure to ask what it was.

But now, it felt like she was sitting right next to both the source of her questions and answers.

"What's with this?" She gestured to all of Leni, catching her off guard.

"With what?" Leni asked, puzzled.

"THIS!" Lola stressed the word, emphasizing Leni as a whole, "What is with you and Lincoln now? Hell, what is with the others? Before, you guys did it subtly, but now you can barely stay focused on going off to Lala land whenever he gets mentioned."

Still puzzled over what her sister was talking about, Leni looked away to some random spot in space to think. Trying to understand what she meant… be…

'Oh~…' She slowly smiled.

Lola didn't like that smile. It made them nervous when Leni showed them that there was a much more sneaky side to her thinking than anyone knew of.

"Lola," She said sweetly, "I have a question for you now."

She didn't like that either.

"... okay?"

"What do you know about how boys act?"

Now, Lola was puzzled. What did she know? She knew a lot. She didn't run the elementary, middle, and high school as one of the top kids from winning a talent show. She knew how to get someone wrapped around her finger and do her bidding. Know where to get the information on any dirt she needed on those she deemed an incoming or future threat to her rule and know when to utilize it.

Whenever there was a boy she met, they fell into the categories of being that possible threat, a fool that's just trying to get on her good side to either act cool or win some bet from his friends, or someone who is like-minded who knows their place on the ladder. That latter was separated between those who were close and, on her good side, those who understood what she could do. And the others, the ones she kept closer to keep an eye on.

The old keep friends close but enemies closer.

That's not to say she would run into a few gems. Winston undoubtedly was one she wouldn't have minded keeping in her treasure chest. It was a shame when his family moved to Europe years ago…

"I know that-"

"I know." Leni interrupted, "We all know how you are with others."

"Then why ask?" Lola muttered.

"To help you focus the picture for what is next."

"And that is..?"

Standing up from her bunk, Leni headed to a small window that gave their room the only other way out to the world. She pushed away the black curtains more as she peered into the snowy world beyond her. It had gotten dark since they'd been in here, but the soft orange-yellow lights from the street lights gave the lot an almost golden shine to the snow below it. The wind created little wisps that moved across the surface, carrying a family of flakes from one place to another.

It was a harsh world out there. Although its beauty was visible to anyone, it was painful to stand out in the cold for too long.

She felt her thoughts drifting towards a different world. Instead of a parking lot, it was a big open yard stretching beyond the trees. The warmth was not coming from vents but from a cracking fireplace in a cozy home she-

'Focus, Leni' a little Leni reminded her.

"How about this: close your eyes for a moment. Let everything just… vanish." She suggested building an idea of how to make this work.

Reluctantly, Lola did as asked. Sitting down on Lori's bed, she closed her eyes as if she were mentally preparing herself to go on stage for a big event. She needed her mind to be free of any distractions.

"Now, picture all those thoughts you've had from the past. All the boys and guys you've met from a few minutes to knowing for so long. Take that all and strip away anything with relationships, titles, social standing, or even where they came from. Just take it all away and leave in front of you the person you see them as your heart would see."

As Leni went to sit back down on her bed across from Lola, the youngest twin took a deep breath and thought for a moment why she was even going through with this. A little voice told her it was to satisfy her curiosity, and this was baby-stepping towards the answer to her outburst moments ago. In her growing mind, she did what Leni asked. She thought of everyone she could imagine that fit the bill. Old friends and enemies, those of family or strangers, gathered around her like she was on a podium, looking around in a circle to see them all dressed in plain white clothes so that one wouldn't stand out beyond another.

She saw many, many faces, both familiar to heart and obscure to memory. Close to the platform, she saw those that she remembered to this day: her dad, Pop Pop, Grandpa Leonard, Winston,

Just behind them were those from over the years. Her 'allies and enemies' that cycled around time went on. And just behind that was a sea of bodies and faces that, at best, were someone she had interacted with for more than 10 minutes on multiple occasions.

"Okay…" she said quietly, believing she had what Leni was asking, "I think I got it…"

"Good. Now, take all of that into a single picture. Like you're holding a photo of them all together."

Reaching out like she was trying to grab something off a shelf, each face changed like some weird kaleidoscope she could hold. "Okay…"

"Now, imagine Lincoln beside it as you see him."

Faster than anything before her, Lola saw her brother appear in the middle of the crowd. Surrounded but standing alone. Dressed in the same white clothes, his shining white hair stood out like a white diamond among a sea of coal, gold, and bronze. He looked just like he did when he was 16; a bit skinny but had shot up like a weed to be as tall as her older sisters when they were younger. His face had become far more rounded and refined than the years before.

Among the crowd before her, he could have easily been swallowed up. Hidden by just one or two others that stood in her view from him, she could see him like he was a glowing beacon for her eyes only to stay on.

"Okay… I can see them all… I can see him."

"Good," Leni replied softly. Now, think back to everything you can remember. Even if it's good or bad, think of everything everyone has been to your life and see how they are to the others." She said, slowly leaning back and closing her eyes.

Instantly going to work, many faces started disappearing from the crowd. One glance and a dozen would be gone. Thinking of everything they held to her in heart and mind, some of the apparent choices vanished, and others, she had to spend a little longer thinking over the past and present. Some, like Winston, lingered for some time. And with those, she pictured what it could be for and with them.

The crowd of hundreds dwindled to just over a dozen, but with each face she saw, she looked closer to everything. The one she saw next was her father, who was a bit clumsy and a bit too scared at times, but a man who had stuck to his guns for all these years to raise them all and still does. Dedication was the one word she would describe him as, and she liked someone who was willing to help her grow her future. It was like her vision acknowledged it, as his form gave a soft smile before bowing his head and vanishing.

Then there was Winston. Ever since they met, she felt deep inside that it was destiny that she had someone so early in her life. She couldn't deny that there were nights she dreamed of him being her prince. Even when dressed in simple clothes, his smile shined as brightly as his blonde hair, as if it were made of gold.

Years of memories flashed before her. Since they first met, it felt like destiny was finally beginning to shape in her favor. She had the reputation, but he had the backing. He was a kindness who counterbalanced her rather… 'rough' side and understood the world she wanted to go to. It all appeared so fast. Like a hundred movies being fast-forwarded but seen in real-time, it was almost like her life was flashing before her eyes. Even her dreams weaved into it.

Slowly, the image before her changed. Winston's hair had been stylized, and his white clothes had been replaced with something like a crossover of his outfit she remembered from elementary school to when she last saw him. The image of him being just a picture in her hands vanished, and here he stood before her just feet away, like a man waiting for his date on a day that would go down in history to be remembered until the day they pass. He held his hand, smiling and ready to take her on such an adventure.

And she was ready…

But there was still someone else…

And slowly turning away from Winston, Lola saw her brother there with his hands behind his back, patiently waiting. Except now he wasn't dressed in just white, just in his original orange polo and blue pants. No red shirt or jacket overtop. His hair was still a messy mop with that stubborn turkey tail on the side, but it was genuinely glowing now to where it had shined earlier. A white gold shining with the sun's strength contrasted by the gaze of his blue eyes like pure oceans.

Lola had to step back, surprised by the image her mind was forming. As fast as the memories of Winston appeared, she watched her brother change from before he was even a 9-year-old to his days in middle and high school, from the last time she saw him to all the times she saw his face on television and online. How he evolved so much: all the stress, joy, anger, mud, and shine. In a brief moment, she saw what he looked like on the day he had visited them…

There were so many versions, yet it returned to what it started with. The same boy was there long before and after Winston; briefly, there was someone else. He stood at the ready to aid or defend her and drive off anyone who dared lay a single hair on her. The one that guided and trained her to reach the current levels and still be there to spend an afternoon at one of her old tea parties or help keep her looks up to standard.

He wasn't perfect. There were so many times she could destroy his life and reputation and get close enough to doing it out of something as small as petite smite. So many times to make him squirm and kneel before her just to get her way, and in return, karma would come back to bite her.

But he was always there. He was there so much even when she and Lana were still newborns or barely learning to walk. He raised them together while their parents were off working to support them. He gave them baths and diaper changes, talk how to read, and even partook in some shenanigans that would tire them out so fast they'd be in bed before they realized it. Though some of those former thoughts made her cringe and blush after years of learning important things about life, it was just part of them growing up together.

She saw herself as the Princess of the Loud Hosue. And he, as her faithful servant, is called to be very whim.

Not just a faithful servant… but a dedicated member of her court. Someone who fits both as an advisor to help her navigate troubling times and be the voice of comfort whenever they can't get through it alone. At first, he was there for her as just an obligation, but in time, he did it to make sure she lived her childhood and teen life free of so much evil in the world. He might not have been there to stop the fire, but he made sure she rose from the ashes greater than before.

Whether it was family drama or staring into the eye of the storm, her Knight was still there for all of them. For her. He might have the money, the reputation (to a degree), and looks, but through all of it, it was still her brother. The one she could always count on being there….

*knock, knock* "Girls," both sisters jumped at the silence broken by their father's door from behind the door, "Dinner's almost ready."

"Okay, Dad!" they reply together, listening to him walk away and hear the sound of the door to his room opening and closing. When there was no more sound aside from their quick breaths trying to calm themselves from their unexpected scare, Leni leaned back towards Lola with a curious glint in her eyes.

"Well?" she asked like a mother expecting her daughter to get the answer independently.

"Leni…I..." Lola stuttered, confused at what her mind had just visualized. Some of it wasn't anything new, especially those involving memories turning fantasy, but something felt very different about it this time…

"That's understandable. It something… something that takes time. It's taken me years to totes realize it…"

---

Across the hall, in the opposite bedroom, the atmosphere was far from the surreal feeling being experienced by the other parties as Lily sat quietly on her bed. The covers pulled up to her knees, and her drawing book rested on her lap. Her pencil glided over the page with precision strokes as the images in her head translated down her arm to her hands. Her eyes dartedted over each detail before adding a line here and there, then quickly erasing them all or the ones created at the start.

The scene before her was far from complete, indistinguishable from someone creating many wavey lines.

But Lily could see a different world before her.

A world of beauty seen and hidden. Vast plains stretched into the horizon, with mountains beyond them towering so high they made up the foundation on which itself heaven was built upon. A river snaked its way through the grassland, with beaches on its sides reflecting the sunlight as a storm stood above the land moving on its way.

And there, sitting on a hilltop overlooking all of this, was a blank spot. No lines had been added, nor marks of ones erased. It was a white blob in a single place that divided parts of the mountains and river like a colorless black hole in the middle of the land.

Why this spot was blank, someone would ask the youngest Loud as she continued adding details to the mountains was a question she wouldn't ask.

But as soon as she had finished a detail barely the size of her finger, she grabbed the edge of the page and turned it over. Seeing the image before her took only a second, and she immediately returned to work.

From her desk, Lisa looked through the reflection of a metal container upon hearing her sister's movements. Pausing her work before her, she listened and watched for a few seconds more before focusing back on the task in front of her.

Like their old room, she had built a retractable lab that could be stored out of the way in its entirety to avoid taking up too much of their already limited space. It was a far cry from her original setup, which took years to form. The lack of her main computer was replaced by his portable unit, which had a screen displaying a complex of formulas she followed with as much care as she did the first time creating it.

Before her was a set of brand new tools that, on any ordinary occasion, she would be happy to have more and refined equipment, but right now, she was pleased enough to have the proper equipment for her goal. Adding a few drops of a pink liquid into a tube containing what looked like a piece of torn-up ham connected to wires, she gave it a single flick to make it mix more and carefully put it into a small glass box. Quickly sealing the hatch and watch for its reaction.

Her computer sounded off a detected reaction, but she didn't look at it immediately. She almost pressed her glasses to the case, watching the liquid slowly be soaked into the 'meat' as it turned a far deeper red like it was bleeding. The torn figments became so damped they fell to the sides, but slowly, as she watched with a growing smile, they grew. Reaching towards the other side until contact allowed several strains to link together. Slowly, the two haves became whole again.

She looked at her computer, and the display showed four panels: a view of the case from three angles and another as a 3D image of the object surrounded by a green square. Pressing a key, the animation rewound itself by a few seconds, displaying the two pieces before the liquid was added and the process where it detected active changes. Zooming into some spots revealing the material actively growing again until contact and bondage were achieved.

With an exasperated sigh, Lisa leaned back in her seat. Pulling off her glasses as she wiped her forehead of sweat, she couldn't help but let out a single light laugh.

"Test 34 is a success." She sighed like she had just avoided a nuclear meltdown. "Preparing the next stages of Test 35." A window popped up on her computer, recording her few words before closing itself out and bringing up a new file.

It was significant progress, but she was still far from the finish line.

With a mind like hers, you'd think that after successfully inventing a form of stem cell regeneration in a form as simple as a gel, you can lather on like burn cream over any wound, and it would be easy to reinvent. It's a long and grueling process the first time the idea is created, and you start to build up the elements and test what works and what doesn't. How would this react to this damaged tissue or this disease at the same time? By this time, she could have completed the first batch had she not gotten that boost from last year's aid.

With the completed formula, a diminished workload, and a slightly higher amount of funding channeled, you'd think such a task could be done within a month or weeks at most.

If it only was that easy….

Having the formula from the first time was a big jumpstart, but soon, you begin to see flaws. Parts that need more refinement could end up completely nullifying others and forcing them to rewrite one part or the other of the equation. And from something as sensitive as this, it required a lot of testing to get the minor pieces right before you could go to something bigger. The first batch took almost 200 tests alone, but that was for nearly two years when it was still starting.

The thing about science is that it's always progressing, whether mechanical, biological, or astronomical. So many minds in history were in her position before and either realized it or refused to accept it.

Which side she was on, she wasn't so sure right now. Her blood pressure was running higher than usual, and the lack of sleep might cloud her mind, but she wouldn't allow it to stop her from reaching that goal again. Not when so much was at stake.

At the sound of a page flicking, Lisa sighed. She was taking it as the signal for her to get back to work.

But back on the bed, Lily was quickly at work on another page. One that had been almost completely filled from edge to corner with no color except for the figure in the middle.

Around them, like shadows of the void closing in, the dim light of a desk lamp to one side and a dying computer to the other becoming clouded. Though seen more as them standing over the table with her arms to the side, the angle showed some of who it was to have a face of utter exhaustion. Like an old cartoon of someone who had just slaved away to complete something beyond their original hours at work, sitting on the floor exhausted and slumping forward, unable to move.

Plucking a dark green pencil from the case next to her, Lily carefully colored in a few lines around the edges that made the top parts of rolled-up sleeves from a green sweater. Using her thumb to smudge a little of the fresh lines, she grabbed her other tool and added in some shading. Looking back at her sister once when she reaches for a box below the table to pull out some ingredients to continue her work.

Pausing, Lily lowered her pencil to look at her work of a woman hunched over a table. Head of fizzled brown hair bowed down, with lab coats falling off one side that held a pair of glasses and the other of the rolled-up sleeve holding the table's edge like she was trying to support herself. The only source of light from all around that was strong enough to keep the encroaching darkness was whatever lay hidden from view in front of her.

She flipped the page back, seeing what it would fall upon next.

The light revealed a new scene. It was a point of view as if you were walking down a dirt road surrounded by fields with a ditch and wooden fence on one side, with the sky all around bleak and darkening but a bright light in the distance. In the middle, as they had come from the horizon, a woman in a red coat was kneeling as she had fallen. Knees in mud as puddles gathered around her as the rain coming down made it hard to see her face if there were streaks of rain or tears running down her cheeks.

Lily flipped the page back further, with another scene of hills and fields. Only this time, with so much black and gray, it was easy to see it as a nightpiece. Lightning cracked the sky to pieces as stars and part of a full moon became either visible or hidden by the clouds. A towering storm stood before someone sitting in the grass with their back to the viewer. Low, like they were resting their heads on their hands and knees, a bright light shined behind them.

Another flip, two pages forward, someone walking through an empty town with splotches of blues, reds, and yellows in the background.

On the page after, two figures are standing in a wood area at dusk, with the sun breaking between the trees as they stand face to face and a third far away.

On another page, five figures were bunched together in mixed colors, making it hard to tell who they were. They were piled together on the ground, trying to crawl forward, with what looked like an inferno raging just ahead. The fiery glow was bleeding into the sky as something stood towering in the smoke.

And the next-

*Knock, knock* "Girls, dinner time," their dad said as he headed back to the living room with another shadow in tow. They could hear some movement beyond the door, another opening, as they heard Leni talking to Lola as they walked by.

Lisa sighed in frustration as Lily quickly closed her book. She did not want her sister or anyone else to see what work she had as the scientist pushed away from the desk—pushing her back forward to feel it pop out some stiffness as she took off her lab coat.

"I gotta wash up first…" she muttered, running a hand through her greasing hair before looking back at Lily. " Do you want me to bring you something?"

Lily shook her head slowly, "I'll be out in a minute." she said quietly.

If the last several days had proven them, Lily had inherited the Loud Family's stubbornness when it came ot letting an injury keep them down.

Her voice and eyes made Lisa feel her mind shifting tracks away from the gel and coming mission. Lily's health had greatly improved over the last 50 days; she could walk without being exhausted and hold down food more like normal, but that didn't stop them from being extra careful with her.

She was getting physically better, and that was good. They all hoped to see her up and about again, even her friends from school. They hoped she'd get better enough to come out and enjoy the snow with them. And if, by some miracle, she could get the following 85 tests completed sooner, Lisa would call it a heart-saving moment to see her little sister herself again.

But those eyes.

Sitting there in bed with the light of her workbench and the table lamp beside the bed towards where she and the others sleep, it was like two different forces were standing on either side in orange and white light… There was something else to her. Something that she nor Lucy had been able to figure out before and probably not for a while.

Letting out a tired sigh, she nodded. Thinking back on her work, she felt that maybe getting some food in her system would help her mind concentrate again.

As Lisa sluggishly headed out of the room to freshen up, Lily counted to 11 seconds before slowly opening her book back to the page she was on. Mentally noting that soon she'd need a new book at the rate she was burning through this one, she came upon a piece that looked like it couldn't have been drawn from just pencils with some creative thinking thrown in.

Ten figures stood together, all darkened out except for choosing one color for their clothing. Around them stood ten, a hundred, countless more figures that grew so much that they became a gray mass the further away they got. In front of them stood the outline of a house, and above them all filled the sky like an eldritch horror twisting the land and air around it, staring down at them.

If given a name to this piece? She could think of a few, but only one stood out among them all…

"The false calm before many storms…" She whispered.

---

(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)

Well, this chapter just kept surprising me. This note even got rewritten about 5 times due to changes as the chapter changed and plans for the story and the greater world changed.

First off, its understandable that the last chapter was big and seemed to be missing some key points and that the ending was a bit odd and turned off some people. I kind of blame it on the fact I had been so focused on things beyond writing that my time and mind hadn't had a moment of peace to actually sit down for a few and really hammer it down.

So after a day when posting Chapter 33 and seeing the reaction and the weather finally tampering down my work outside this story, I started to look back into getting this along, as I am itching to get back to writing the storm chasing parts that the first big chase with everyone keeps on evolving. I'm trying to anchor down what each point will be (and it's probably going to be big with my current ideas.)

For this chapter, it was both to help establish the current status quo for the sisters and what, after 50 days from being told 'the truth' has made them think and sleep it over. Instead the raw emotions they got during that meeting have now been refined over time. I had started utilizing my stupidly long shifts to get more writing in and within 6 hours got almost all of Lana and Lynn's and finished Lisa's part.

Oddly I had another runaway moment. As I originally envisioned Lisa's part maybe being 1000-1500 words and going over 2200, and then the sisters having a combined 1500 word segments exploded when Lana's section had already broken 2400 out of a revised 2000 limit. So my productivity has definitely spiked up again.

Noa, trying to get this formatted was something that boggled my mind every step of the way until the end. The original plan was to mirror more of Chapter 2, though this time more focused on direct response and interaction with the younger siblings. This eventually went into having Lily make the whole thing like it's from her POV but then I thought some interactions and thoughts wouldn't be possible to work in this context.

So going by the paired up situation, the idea was to get the younger siblings a chance to really express their own thoughts to different levels and how some characters see themselves. As for my driving example being Lana and Lynn's moment, as Lana is literally the family engineer who's experience since youth has evolved to be massively beneficial to their cause, but Lynn doesn't know much at all about fabrication, electrical and automotive. She's stuck to watching from the sidelines feeling utterly useless. It's these thought processes that will come into play for many of them later down the line.

After this part got finished, I had rearranged the order I had characters paired with to this current layout, as I imagined more to what their interactions on similar levels would play into each other (such as Lola and Leni having a similar idea but the degree they wish to achieve it is wildly different) and that as the older sisters begin to edge closer to the next step into "that" mindset, the younger are taking notice. Though I had more of an idea on building Lily's part, originally a combination of everyone's focus, to just her as someone that sees this all like when the family was younger and how it all changed. Like Lincoln seeing how before and after the NSL incident, he's seeing what has become of his family and the toll it is taking on them to fix it.

By the end of it, it got a little bit of a mix up from the earlier Lily POV, and some sisters like Luna, Luan and Lynn had less shown while someone like Lucy had more despite being a part of earlier moments. The last chapter had set the former 3 up more, and as they are among the oldest siblings, have a lot more to really process what the last decade has given them. Though during this it had given me some self insight on characters I need to work on better; namely Lily, Lola, Leni, Luan and Lynn.

In part, to give a growing sense of they're stuck in place and racing to get forward as time is running out. To know that so little has been done despite the race to get them done, yet other factors are playing outside their control. Lisa's growing outbursts are in line with Lincoln not playing it safe and is actively storm-chasing again on another continent of all places. Something that the last chapter was in context with, as those two ending lines were originally the opening lines to this. As the closer we get to the family reunion, the more raw some emotions are bound to get.

In addition to the edited note in Chapter 33, I had the idea at first of there being a mid-winter outbreak in the States, but remembered how Lincoln has traveled the world in the last few years and that there are other places to chase storms. Parts of South America in particular is so similar to North America in terms of a layout that people chasing in the south could be confused into thinking they were chasing somewhere in the Great Plains. It does give me more of an idea on writing a spin-off chapter about how the outbreak went for Lincoln and how he was in this time between the last we saw him and when we will again.

Going into detail of Haildiver is another thing that Lisa is trying to find every detail she can on what Lincoln has been doing and why he's built this new truck. The inspiration for the truck itself is the stated 2024 GMC ATX4 with parts of the concept AEV GMC Grande, with the 3 storm chasing parts coming from, as said above, the Tornado Wrangler from Twisters, and 2 real world vehicles built by storm chaser/filmmaker Sean Casey who had a personal Dodge Ram with a modified film cab and turret for chasing in the early to mid 2010s, and his most recent vehicle, a modified Subaru Outback.

For Vanzilla 2, I was originally going to use a Nissan NV 3500 passenger van, as in the irony of either Twister movies the 'shiny new truck' uses gets clobbered by the weather, but as I went looking for something as inspiration, I found a fan made 'redesign' by the artist VanzillaChillBoy that honestly feels more like a modernized version to a classic that's old enough and in a condition that fills in the role like the original did in the show. Hoping to one day eventually draw out items, vehicles, and even locations and scenes but that's far in the future.

And in part, I've noticed how people have been turned off by chapters seen as being fillers or like Chapter 33 being not to some people's tastes that they unfollow and fav. I understand that sometimes a story starts good and eventually goes somewhere or does something that's not to the taste before, but please understand this entire thing is just a creative outlet for me that's probably the most built up thing I've done in 11 years since joining this site.

If this story isn't something you wish to continue, I'm okay with it only being 5 people only following. The fact that so many wish to follow this and see where it goes tells me I've done something right with what I'm making, and until I truly quit or burn out, I'll keep going the way I have plan and hope to see to completion. If you wish to still follow to the end and see what possibly 4 years of thinking has done to someone, then by all means I welcome you to keep following something I'm honestly surprised has gotten this far.

Because of this getting delayed by a week and things with life right now going all over the spectrum this month (like my bank account getting hacked and creating its own mess three days ago...) the next two chapters are being planned for a back-to-back release in late December and are both under production. Right now, I'm in heavy debate about them even being separate and just creating a massive (30k) single chapter as Chapter 35's word count has dropped from 13 to about 10k (and that's stretching current numbers) and the plan for 36 is getting bigger and more laid out.

We'll see.

(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and afterhand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)