Lincoln sat peacefully in his room, drawing in his sketchbook. He drew page after page of the new comic book he and Clyde created together – Lincoln the artist and Clyde the writer. Lincoln's new look was a pair of loose jeans and a black t-shirt with an orange tiger head. Lincoln's hair has gotten some length, and he's gained some muscle, looking healthy and athletic.
Lincoln turns towards the audience with a smile, "Oh, hi. It's been a while since I've talked to you, and it's probably been a while since you've seen me smile. Well, you've seen the previous events of me living in misery, thinking my family was going to abandon me and do horrible things to me. However, something else happened. I told and showed my sisters my future vision powers, and they got very emotional, swore that they would never let those bad things happen, and blah blah blah. You saw what happened at the hospital."
Lincoln sat up straight, "So, you may be wondering what happened after that. Well, I'll tell you. This story will be mixed, being told throughout 3rd person (by the author) and by me narrating. So, try to bear with me, okay? Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah."
[FLASHBACK]
Lisa's device to level out and balance Lincoln's brain wave energy was nearly complete. However, the girls were worried about their parents facing legal action. The police and CPS interviewed and asked them about Lincoln running away, their Sister Fight Protocol, Lana's alligator attack, their parents, and how irresponsible and neglectful they were.
Newscaster: "The ongoing investigation continues as FBI agent Mary Holland leads the case against the Loud parents for child neglect and abuse."
FBI agent Holland: "The actions displayed by Lynn and Rita Loud show a clear behavior of neglectful parents who are not qualified to raise children. By ducking out while their daughters are fighting creates an unsafe environment not only for their son but also for themselves. Lincoln realized such danger and did the only thing he felt he had to do – run away. Nobody goes to such lengths if they felt that afraid. If a person feels in danger, they will try to get as far away from the danger as quickly as possible. Lincoln Loud tried to get very far, very fast. These are signs of domestic violence and abuse. That many sisters with one boy under the same roof? How often do they beat up the poor boy? That's what we need to know."
Lincoln didn't need to use his vision powers to know that with word spreading around, people will be looking at his family differently, and even with dirty looks – social media was going to be more cruel and toxic. At the same time, Lincoln gained a massive following on social media. People praised him as a hero for saving his sisters Leni and Lana – some even made art of him, and they were impressive.
So, Lincoln posted a video of him carefully explaining why he ran away from home and how his sisters chased him, fearing for his safety and wellbeing.
Lincoln explained, "Hello, my name is Lincoln Loud. Many of you have heard about me and my family. I'm posting this video to explain a few things. I ran away not because my sisters were beating me or abusing me but because I was scared of getting caught in the crossfire if my sisters were going to fight. Sometimes, my sisters' fights get out of hand, and sometimes, they resolve it on their own. My fear of the worst got the better of me, and when my sisters chased after me, I was so scared I wasn't thinking. I didn't realize that my sisters were trying to help me. They were worried out of their minds for my sisters, which is why they chased after me. If I had stopped and talked to them, then I wouldn't have gotten hit by a car and be here in the hospital. My sisters aren't monsters. They don't abuse or beat me, and neither do my parents. My sisters may have a temper at times, and they can lose their temper at times and fight, but they always make up for it later. They're not bad people at all. They're good people. They love me and care about me. So, please, please, don't mistreat or harass my family. I know many of you have been speaking highly of me and what I did to save my sisters. So please, for me, leave my family alone."
Lincoln made it clear that his sisters and parents weren't abusive. The news showed his video, and everyone saw it. This was enough for everyone not to see the Loud sisters as villains, but the parents were still seen as neglectful. Most people honored Lincoln's request to stop harassing the family, but they weren't out of the woods yet – the Loud family, of course, was grateful for Lincoln's video.
Lori sent him a text: 'From all of us, thank you, Lincoln!'
At school, the sisters were confronted by their friends. Lori was confronted by Bobby, Luna by Sam, and Luan by Benny.
Bobby looked Lori in the eye, "Is it true? Everything he said about you?"
"Yes! I swear!" Lori said.
"Did you ever abuse Lincoln?" Sam asked.
"No, dude, never," Luna answered.
"Don't bullshit me! Did you hurt him?" Sam hissed with anger.
There was pain in Luna's eyes as she answered with a broken voice, "Not directly. We didn't abuse him, but he has gotten caught in the crossfire of our fights. Sam, we love him more than you can imagine. We never hurt him directly."
Sam stared at her for a while, "I hope so."
"Are you guys breaking up with us?" Luan asked.
"No, Luan. Or at least I'm not breaking up with you, but we do need to talk. I need to know more about this other side of you and your family," Benny said.
"Same with me, babe. Lincoln is the little bro I've always wanted and never had. I love that little guy," Bobby added.
Luna looked at Sam to see she had her arms crossed with a look of disappointment.
"Sam?" Luna reached out.
Her girlfriend turned to her, "Same with me. We're not breaking up, but we got a lot of ground to cover . . . and we want to talk to Lincoln."
Luna and her sisters nodded. After school, they visited Lincoln and heard it from him.
"It's true, guys. I ran away because I was scared. When my sisters get angry, they can get aggressive and even violent. I couldn't go to my parents because they would do what they always do, and that's hunkered down in their bedroom with Lily and wait it out. I would have gone to Clyde's or Stella's, but they were both out of town. Bobby, you and your family were the closest I could go to. That's why I bought a bus ticket for your place in Great Lake City. My plan was to crash there for a day or two, then go back home," Lincoln explained.
"Lincoln, that is so messed up. You shouldn't have to do something like that. That's not normal," Benny said with a sorrowful cringe expression.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Lincoln said.
Sam looked baffled and slightly angry, "Sorry? Sorry?! What do you have to be sorry about, Lincoln? You didn't do anything wrong! This isn't your fault or your sisters' fault. It's your parents' fault! If they put their foot down and stopped your sisters fighting like normal parents, you wouldn't have to do something like this. No kid should ever be this afraid of their own family!"
Bobby approached Lincoln, "Little bro, if something is going on, you can tell me. You can tell us, okay? If you see something, say something, even if it's happening in your own home with your family. We want you to be safe and okay. What happened, how you got here, is not okay. Now, is there anything going on in your home that we should know about?"
"No," Lincoln answered.
"Don't you lie to us, Lincoln. If something is going on, if your family is hurting you or not treating you right in any way, we need to know about it," Sam stated very seriously.
"I've told you and the CPS and that FBI agent everything, I swear," Lincoln replied.
Even though Lincoln explained the whole thing, and they believed him, they weren't satisfied.
[CUTS BACK TO PRESENT LINCOLN]
"After two weeks, they finally released me from the hospital, and let me tell ya, the first week after being back home was rough. Before I say anything more, I don't mean anything offensive in any way at all. With that being said when you live in a house with ten sisters, you learn that women are emotional creatures. They're emotionally complex, and my sisters are no different," Lincoln stated.
Lincoln picked up a different colored pencil and applied a darker shade to the drawing on his sketchbook.
Lincoln explained as he was drawing, "Sometimes girls get emotional, and they just need to let out. When they do, sometimes you can't really say or do that'll automatically make them feel better. It's like the movie Inside Out; sometimes you just gotta let yourself and others be sad. So, even though my sisters know that I know that they'll never let the bad things happen, and they know that I know they love me, they still feel bad about the whole thing. Even though they're dedicated to changing for the better, they're still upset that they're capable of doing horrible things to me. So, that first week, my sisters needed to cry it out, and because you can't make the sadness just go away just like that, all I could do was just hold them close and let them know that everything's going to be okay."
[SCENE CUTS TO FLASHBACK]
Lincoln stood in Lori's room, hugging his eldest sister as she held her brother close while crying.
"It's okay, Lori. It's okay. I'm here," Lincoln spoke sincerely.
"I love you, Lincoln," Lori wept, "Please promise you'll never leave."
"I promise, Lori," Lincoln assured while stroking her back.
Lincoln lay with Leni in her bed as she sobbed. Just like Lori, he held her close and promised that everything was going to be okay while stroking her beautiful blonde hair. Leni whispered about loving him and how she never wants him to leave. With Luna and Luan, Lincoln lay in the bottom bunk bed with them having a sister in each arm. Luan used a handkerchief to dry her eyes while Luna soaked Lincoln's shirt with her tears. The same thing happened with the twins. Even Lisa, as brilliant as she is, needed to cry and let out her emotions and needed comfort from her brother. With her being so small, Lincoln was able to hold her up and walked around the room, comforting her – it wasn't often that Lisa acted her age or allowed herself to. Poor little Lily didn't know what was going on and didn't like seeing her sisters so sad.
Lynn took it the hardest and needed more love and comfort than the rest. As Lincoln held her and Lucy to comfort them, Lucy took the opportunity to apologize to Lynn.
"I'm sorry, Lynn," Lucy said.
"For what?" Lynn asked, wiping her tears.
"When Lincoln showed me what you would have done to him, I hated you. I thought you were a disgrace. I wanted to hurt you," Lucy answered.
Lynn's eyes widened with a soft gasp.
"But then you changed and vowed never to hurt Lincoln because you love him like I do, like the rest of us do. You're our sister, and we love you. I didn't think you could change. That was horrible of me. I didn't have any hope or faith in you," Lucy said.
Lynn looked at Lucy before hugging her, and she hugged her back before Lincoln hugged them both.
[CUTS BACK TO PRESENT LINCOLN]
Lincoln explained, "And it wasn't just the crying that was bad. It was the nightmares. Every night, my sisters would get nightmares and feel the need to be close to me. The only time they didn't get nightmares was when they slept with me. I saw this coming, so on the first night, I pulled my mattress out from my room and into Lori and Leni's room, along with Lynn and Luna's – I laid them on the floor. Then I carried Lynn, Lucy, the twins, and Lisa bridal style into the room and placed them in the beds – and yes, they liked me carrying them." Lincoln rolls his eyes, "Especially Lynn and Lola. Lynn was like, 'You don't have to put me down,' and Lola, the little miss princess, was like, 'Now this is the proper display of a gentleman for a beauty pageant queen.' Girls, what are you gonna do? You guys know what I'm talking about."
Lincoln cleared his throat and finished the drawing. Like many artists, he signed his signature on the corner with the date. It was a magnificent drawing of his girlfriend, Stella, smiling. Everything from the colors, shading, lighting, and textures were as near perfect as they came. You'd think that a professional artist drew it, but it was Lincoln, and he was quite proud. It was like the drawing was alive. Lincoln had mastered the blending of colors. There were many different techniques that most people didn't know about – one of them was using Q-tips and rubbing alcohol.
"Pretty cool, huh? I think she'll love it. Where was I? Oh yeah. After that, I took all the couch cushions and everyone's pillows. We all slept in that room; as predicted, no one got any nightmares. I knew this would be a problem, especially when I had to wake up in the morning with four sisters sleeping on top of me. So, I called a sibling meeting the next morning, and with help from Lana and Lisa, we found a solution," Lincoln explained.
Lincoln pulls out a whiteboard. On the whiteboard was a map of the upstairs room with the girls' rooms and a clock in the middle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the bedroom clock. Each night, I sleep in a bedroom with a room with two of my sisters, and in each of their rooms, we modified the beds to press together to make a bigger one for three people," Lincoln said. Then he goes to Lori and Leni's room, "Check this out."
A big red button on the wall was next to the light switch. Lincoln pressed it, and the girls' beds moved from their sides of the room to being pressed together in the middle. Lori and Leni were reading their magazines and weren't bothered by Lincoln giving a demonstration.
"And voila! With a press of a button, we've turned two extra-large twin beds into an Olympic queen bed," Lincoln said. Lori and Leni gave thumbs up while still reading, and their brother returned the same.
Then he entered Luna and Luan's bed and pressed their red button. Luan's bottom bunkbed went out into the middle of the room for Luna's top bunkbed to come down, and then Luan's bed pressed next to Luna's bed.
"One, two, me," Lincoln said with a confident smile, "It's the same for Lynn and Lucy's bed and the twins' beds. On the first night, I sleep in Lori and Leni's room. The next night, it's Luna's and Luan's room, then Lynn and Lucy's, then the twins, and finally Lisa with me in my bedroom."
Lincoln walks back out into the hallway, where his sisters are waiting in line to use the bathroom.
"So, yeah, I don't sleep by myself anymore, and I don't know how long it'll take for my sisters to be comfortable enough to sleep by themselves again. And I know what you're going to ask, 'If you're sleeping with two sisters a night, what about the other sisters who are getting nightmares without you there?' Well, I came up with a solution that my sisters actually liked," Lincoln explained.
Lincoln turned to Lynn, and she turned to the viewers and held up her hand. On her wrist was a Dreamcatcher bracelet with red threads and a silver bed in the middle of the circle. Along the band that went around the wrist were red beads and sports beads like soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, etc., and a small metal feather.
"Lincoln made us these. Dreamcatcher bracelets. He knew we'd get nightmares, and he didn't waste time in the hospital making these. Whenever we have to sleep by ourselves, we wear these and think of him," Lynn explained and then looked at the audience, "And before you say anything, no. I don't still believe in superstitions like luck. So, don't look at me like that."
The other sisters held theirs up for the viewers to see – each bracelet band and beads matching their favorite color and personality. Lori: light blue with a phone and golf beads, Leni: light green with sunglasses and dress beads, Luna: purple with a guitar and musical note beads, Luan: yellow with a laugh emoji and smiling wink with tongue emoji beads, Lynn: red with sports beads, Lucy: black with skull and bat beads, Lana: navy blue with a wrench and frog beads, Lola: pink with a crown and sun beads, and Lisa: dark green with an atom and star beads. All of them had a little metal feather with them.
"Just when we thought our Lincoln couldn't get any sweeter, he keeps surprising us with that big, warm golden heart of his," Lori said while gliding her fingers on both her hands through Lincoln's hair. Lincoln relished the sensation of Lori massaging his scalp.
"Yeah, not gonna lie, this was a wicked nice surprise. Our brother is truly a one in a million, and we wouldn't trade him for anything in the whole universe. Which kind of makes us feel bad that we didn't realize it sooner . . . or we always did know but didn't fully appreciate. Either way, we love our bro, and we love these bracelets. They're wicked awesome," Luna added while looking at her bracelet.
"And they're totes wonderful! They look fabulous, so I wear them almost all the time, and my friends are super jealous," Leni praised while looking at her bracelet, "However, this wouldn't be complete if Lincoln didn't have a bracelet of his own, and we felt bad that he didn't make one for himself."
"So, we all got together and made him one," Lori smiled.
Lincoln raised his hand to show his Dreamcatcher bracelet around his wrist. When the girls said they made one for him, he thought his bracelet would be all orange since orange was his color, but it wasn't. The thread and band were actually rainbow-colored. They had all the colors, including orange. There were beads all around the band, each one hearts and stars of his sisters' colors – keeping their hearts close to his. Lincoln was touched by what they made for him and was forever grateful to them.
"The fact that he made them makes them extra special," Lola said with a smile while looking at her bracelet.
"Totally, they're so nice. I only wear them when I go to sleep. I'm afraid they might break or get ruined if I go mud bathing or fixing Vanzilla with it on," Lana added.
"Same with me. I don't want sports to tear apart this beautiful thing. It doesn't make the nightmares go completely, but they aren't so bad when we wear them. It's like having a little piece of Lincoln with us," Lynn stated.
"Sometimes the nightmares are durable, and sometimes they get bad enough where we wake up scared, but when we sleep with Lincoln by our side, we don't get any nightmares at all," Lucy said.
Luna wrapped her arms around Lincoln from behind while brushing her cheek against his hair, "Yeah, dudes, there's something about feeling his presence close by that gives us a real sense of safety, especially for us sisters that Lincoln saved from danger. However, for all of us, Lincoln's more than our brother. He's our hero, almost like a guardian angel since he takes care of us."
The twins and Lynn hugged Lincoln.
"With everything that's happened, sometimes the thought of Lincoln not being in our lives terrifies us, and I don't mean it gets us nervous scared like the first time taking an extreme rollercoaster or looking down at a really tall height. I mean, truly scared – like serious scared," Lola stated.
"Like Lincoln said, it'll take time for us to heal, but regardless, he's very important to us, and we're never ever giving him up. Ever," Lynn said and then shot a glare at the audience, "And if any of you try to take him from us or hurt him, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN, BEAT YOU TO A BLOODY PULP AND THEN GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!!!"
In that last part, Lynn's eyes and skin were red, and her hair was on fire.
"Lynn," Lincoln spoke as he held her back.
Lynn inhaled and exhaled deeply, "You know what I mean. Lincoln, he's ours. You can't have him because we said so."
"Indeed," Luan agreed and then joined in on the group hug, "He's ours."
The twins stuck their tongues out at the audience and blew raspberries. Then Lynn did the same thing before turning to her other sisters and said, "Come on, all of us together now."
The older sisters, along with Lucy and Lisa, shrugged before they all looked at the audience and blew raspberries with their tongues sticking out.
Lincoln looked at his sisters with a raised eyebrow. Lincoln turns back to the audience.
"As you can see, we're pretty close, and we all love each other – and also, my sisters are kind of silly, but whatever. However, when it comes to family and even friends, it's important that you show the love. It's actually ironic when you think about it. When my future vision powers came into my life, I was depressed over what my family would do to me, that I needed comfort more than anything. Now that my sisters know the truth, I'm the one comforting them because they're afraid of losing me," Lincoln explained.
Lisa held her arms up, indicating to Lincoln that she wanted to be held. Lincoln picked her up, and Lisa got comfortable resting her head just under his chin.
"Normally, I don't care for human emotions, but in recent events, my eyes have been open along with my heart. This has brought me to sudden realizations of what is more important than any pursuit of knowledge and science . . . and that would be family. Even simple things such as family and love are arguably the most important things in the world," Lisa stated.
"Even a child prodigy needs love. It's the little things that make up for the big things in life," Lincoln said.
"There is wisdom in those words, and also, technically speaking, Lisa is still four years old. So, there's nothing wrong with her being a little kid and wanting love and comfort," Luan stated.
"Understatement of the year, but you know what we mean," Lynn remarked.
Lincoln continued, "Now I know what you want to ask. Did that machine that Lisa made do the trick with my powers? Yes. Lisa's serum did the trick and healed my head. Then, when I finally got out of the hospital, she hooked me up to a machine and helped level out the brain waves to help me control my powers. It worked way better than any of us thought. I can unlock new visions with ease, and I can show what I call the Vision Stream."
Lincoln waved his hand, and a glowing stream of energy similar to the light orbs appeared and stretched across the hallway before them. A bunch of smaller streams of light were sticking out of the big main one. Almost like a river with little streams or small roots attached to a big main root. On all the streams, both big and small, were little light dots.
"There's us in the main timeline, and all these little light dots are light orbs. Each one is a light orb of a possible future. The little streams show a different path of the future. Depending on the choices we make or don't make can determine which path we're going to go down . . . and there are some dark paths and some good ones, too. There's also this other cool trick that came along with it."
Lincoln blinks, and the whites of his eyes change. One eye, the white of his eye vanished and glowed a bright blue light, while the other eye was green.
While still in Lincoln's arms, Lisa said, "This is quite helpful because when he needs to tell us or his friends something about the future, he can show his eyes, and we know right away that something is up."
"It's also really cool. Those glowing eyes make him look like a wizard," Lori said with a smile.
"I know, right? Something about how his eyes glow like that is totes amazing!" Leni added.
"Now, you're wondering what happened after I got out of the hospital with our parents and with the law. Well, we'll tell you that too, but first, I gotta tell you about the visit with Stella and Ronnie Anne," Lincoln stated.