Chapter 4: Purpose
~Loud House~
Thursday Morning (August 22nd, 20XX)
As the early morning birds sang, Lincoln slowly stirred awake, as he opened his eyes and rubbed them,
" *Yawn* That was a good sleep, I slept har-huh?"
Lincoln's eyes were still a bit hazy, but something didn't feel right to him. He moved his hand around, but he couldn't feel his pillow, his mattress nor his blanket.
"What?" He muttered, before rubbing his eyes until the haziness left, and he could see properly...
He looked around but nothing was out of the ordinary in this room, his dresser was still there, the door, the really low ceiling...
'huh...? Low ceiling...? What's that abou-oh'
It hit him—he was floating...
horrified, he let out a scream;
"AAA-"
But he quickly stopped; he instinctively covered his mouth with his hands. The last thing he needed was for one of his sisters or parents to burst in unexpectedly.
'I'm f-floating!' he thought. 'HOW?!'
Then it all came rushing back to him...yesterday...the portal...
'It wasn't a dream...' He thought, completely lost at what to think.
'I-I-Everything! The portal! The explosion...the stuff after...it really happened?!' Lincoln felt a his anxiety start to rise.
'N-No...I can't start to panic, I have to calm down!' He thought. 'Panicking isn't going to get me anywhere!'
Lincoln took second to take a deep breath;
*inhale*
*Phew*
'Now...how do I get down?'
Thinking quickly he started making a swimming motion downward, but that didn't work.
"That was stupid..." He voiced out loud.
As he floated above the bed, he had a hard time rationalizing how any of it worked. To him it felt like the force of gravity was completely nonexistent, almost as if he had become the exception to such a universal rule; the usual invisible force that was always pushing down on everything around him had somehow vanished.
'Come on Linc! Think! How do I get dow-'
"Wait...!" He paused, remembering what he said before falling asleep last night;
"This could be a chance to see if I can control these...uhh...powers?. Let's see... maybe if I concentrate and focus, I could probably get down," He said talking to himself.
Lincoln had seen it hundreds of times in movies he watched and in the comics he read. When ever someone in a story would miraculously gain powers, they were usually able to control them.
'Just maybe it could work the same...?'
Focusing, Lincoln thought to himself, 'Come on... go down...float down...Come on...'
He focused harder, and to his surprise, he slowly went down
'float down...'
He felt something in his body react to his internal desire to go down.
Before he knew it, Lincoln had floated down, and fell onto his bed;
"T-That worked?!" He rejoiced. "YES!"
This proved his suspicions were right; he actually had control over these powers.
"Can't believe I can fly...well float...either way, this is actually really cool." he muttered.
Despite the surreal reality he found himself in, a small smile crept onto his face. He still didn't fully understand how to feel about his new found powers, but for the first time in a long while, he felt a spark of excitement, a glimmer of something good unfolding in his life.
"Despite this week starting off crappy...this was actually pretty amazing."
Getting off the bed, he quickly grabbed a towel and a new set of clothes, wishing he had changed into his pajamas last night. He looked at the clock—it was 9 AM.
'9 AM...it's still morning -sih, what to do...maybe some breakfast? Not feeling that hungry though...'
Since the accident, he hadn't had anything to eat.
'Last thing I ate was a sandwich...I hope I didn't lose my ability to eat from the explosion...what a way to kill an appetite. *heh* ' He let out a quiet chuckle, trying to find some humor in the absurdity of it all.
Walking to the door, he remembered something from yesterday;
'Can't believe they actually let me sleep in. Guess the note worked,' He thought to himself.
'Normally, they'd just barge in and wake me up. Guess not today. Oh well.' He shrugged it off and made his way out.
Opening the door, Lincoln saw the usual chaos that he was so accustomed too.
Lori stood outside the bathroom designated for the eldest members of the family. He didn't see Leni, so he assumed that Lori probably waiting on her to finish.
Luna was outside her room with large speakers, strumming her guitar aggressively to the point where each time she did, he could almost feel the walls of the house shake from the vibrations.
Luan was next to her, messing around with Mr. Coconuts, the ventriloquist doll she had since, well forever. She was having a strangely one-sided conversation with it. Something that might seem bizarre to anyone else, but he'd seen her do it so often, it hardly fazed him anymore
Lynn, was running around the hall as she kicked around her soccer ball, doing tricks and juggling the ball with her feet as she jumped over piles of random stuff that littered the halls of the upper floor.
'Why do I have a feel she's going to end up kicking it at me...' He thought.
Lucy was walking around with a quil and paper in her hand, most likely writing a new poem. Some how not getting hit by Lynns ball as she continued to bounce it of the walls and doors.
Lola and Lana as usual, were outside the second bathroom, fighting each other to get in.
Then there was Lisa, with a robot almost the same size as her, helping Lily tie her shoes.
Lincoln stepped out of his room and began walking, when he heard someone yell out to him;
"BALL INCOMING!"
Lincoln turned around, and saw Lynn's soccer ball; it was coming directly at him, but there was something weird about it.
'It's moving slowly...really slowly...' He thought. 'Am I seeing things...?'
Unbeknownst to Lincoln; as the ball came towards him, a quick wave of green shimmered through his eyes. It just for an instant, very easy to miss if no one was paying attention...
He quickly ducked his head down, narrowly dodging Lynn's ball in time; as she called out to him from across the hall.
"Quick reflexes, bro!"
Lynn ran up to him with a smile on her face, "Heya Linc! Haven't seen you in a bit. Everything alright? Luna went up to call you yesterday and saw the note on your door."
"Yeah. I've, um... just been pretty worn out lately," Lincoln replied.
"Well, you must be starving! Make sure you come down for breakfast, alright? And after that, how about some old fashioned American football?" Lynn grinned, her eyes lighting up. "I need someone to hold the ball while I go for a kick! So, what d'ya say, lil' bro?!"
Lincoln, wanting to avoid spending too much time with someone in order to hide his...problem from showing up by mistake, nervously replied;
"W-Well, maybe, but I might go out for... uhhh... a walk! Yeah, I'm gonna head out for a walk." He said quickly, scrambling for a reason. "I need to swing by the mall too, gotta pick up some new clothes..."
Lynn's eyebrow arched as she took in Lincoln's awkward reply. 'Something's definitely off... He's hiding something, but what?' she thought, suspicion flickering in her eyes;
But she decided to let it slide for now; "Well, all right, Stinkin," she said with a smirk, giving him a playful punch on the arm, before going after the ball she had kicked earlier.
'aaaaannnnddd off she goes...huh, that's odd. Her punches usually sting more than that-' Lincoln's thought process abruptly halted as;
*tap tap tap tap tap*
'Hm?' He wondered, but before he could react, a sharp tingle shot down his back;
'Why do I feel like someone is behi-'
"Hello Lincoln..." Lucy spoke in her usual monotone and depressive tone, as she suddenly appeared behind him.
This was the part where Lincoln would normally leap into the air, and let out a girlish yelp at the sudden appearance of Lucy behind him...but he didn't;
'Oh...' Lincoln thought, realizing he'd heard someone approaching from behind. His ears had picked up what he now recognized as Lucy's nearly silent footsteps. He had also felt his senses picking something up, moving closer to him.
'Whoa! Could it be...no...maybe? Was that... super hearing?!,' He thought, his mind racing. 'And that tingling sensation; it's like my body was alerting me, letting me know something was coming!'
Turning around, Lincoln replied. "Hey Luce, got a new poem you working on?"
He decided to push the strange, albeit cool new discoveries to the back of his mind, for now, at least. There'd be time to figure it all out later. Right now, pretending everything was normal felt a lot easier.
Lucy just stood there showing absolutely no emotion on her face, but behind her black bangs, her eyes were wide as ever; she was completely shocked.
'H-He didn't jump?!' she thought to herself.
"Y-Yeah it is, m-maybe you could give it a r-read later?" Lucy responded stuttering; stumbling over her words as she tried to comprehend how her brother hadn't been startled by her abrupt presence.
'He didn't even flinch!' She thought, bewildered.
"Sure, maybe after breakfast?" Lincoln replied.
"O-Okay..." Lucy murmured, still in shock as she walked away, trying to make sense of what just happened. 'Guess our suspicions were correct...'
Lincoln quickened his pace toward the nearest bathroom, wanting to get to the bathroom as fast as possible without having another encounter and end up getting dragged into something.
He hurried down the hall toward to the first bathroom. When he got there, he found Lori standing outside.
'Dang it,' Lincoln thought, 'Totally forgot she was also waiting.'
"Hey, Linc! Good morning," Lori greeted, turning around just as she noticed her brother hurrying toward the bathroom. "You doing all right? We didn't see you at all yesterday."
'Gulp-!'
"H-Hey, Lori. Good morning," Lincoln stammered. "And y-yeah, I'm all right. Just been feeling really tired lately, because of, uhhh..." he trailed off, scrambling for another excuse to use.
'What do I say? Crap—!' he thought, panicking for a moment. 'Wait, I know!'
"...all the stress of starting high school soon… ya know?" he finished saying, trying to make his excuse sound natural.
'Lying on the spot just sucks! Please let her believe it!' He thought, anxiously.
Lori narrowed her eyes, giving him a skeptical look as she tried to gauge whether Lincoln was telling the truth or just making something up.
'Something's off with him again...' She thought, her suspicion growing.
Lincoln noticed her doubtful look and replied, "Honest... really."
With that, Lori concluded that something was definitely up with her little brother, but since he didn't want to share, she decided to let it go; for now.
" *sigh* That's good to hear. We all thought you were sick when we saw that note on your door." Lori said, gently ruffling his white hair.
"And don't stress too much, it's natural to be nervous. If you need anything, just come to me, okay?
Just as Lori finished, the bathroom door swung open, and Leni stepped out, flashing them both a bright smile.
"LINCY!" she squealed, rushing over to Lincoln and pulling him into a tight hug.
"O.M.G! Are you all right?! We, like, didn't see you at all yesterday! We were totes worried!" she said, her voice full of genuine concern.
"I-I'm okay, nothing to worry about, just tired... but uhh... I'm feeling better now-!" he managed to reply, though his face was completely smothered in her chest.
"Perfect!" she said with a wide grin, finally letting him go from her embrace.
She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, leaving him with a rosy blush spreading across his face.
"Leni I think-" Lincoln stopped mid sentence, he wasn't sure how to tell Leni; she had a habit of intensely doting on him. He hadn't minded it much before...but now for some reason, he couldn't help feel a bit embarrassed by the way she tightly hugged him and how she would give him small kisses on his cheeks.
"What's wrong Lincy...? Is something bothering you?" Leni asked, tilting her head to the side with a concerned look.
'How do I even go about this...No, forget it, I'm the one being weird here, Leni's just being her usual affectionate self.' He thought.
"It's nothing, thanks for worrying about me." He answered, a soft smile on his face.
"Lincoln..." Leni smiled widely to his response, she clasped her hands around Lincoln's face, and and drew him closer to hers; so close that they were almost nose-to-nose. He could feel her breath warm softly brushing against his lips.
'TOO CLOSE! WAY TOO CLOSE!' Lincoln panicked in his head, as his face became deep shade of crimson;
"You're welcome... I'll always look out for you..." Leni finished, her usual lighthearted tone softened with warmth, her usual aloofness replaced by a gentle, straight forwardness; as her eyes held a certain softness that felt deeper, more intense, as she looked at him.
As her gaze lingered on him, he couldn't help but feel his heart race.
"That's grea-" he began, only to be interrupted mid-sentence.
"All yours, twerp. Come down to breakfast when you're done," Lori said as she stepped out of the bathroom. While Leni and Lincoln had been talking, She had quietly slipped in, and was now on her way out.
Seeing Lori exit the bathroom, Leni pulled away from Lincoln in the blink of an eye.
"Well bye Lincy, I'll see you downstairs!" She said with a cheerful wave, flashing him a quick smile before dashing down the stairs.
"What's up with her?" Lori asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know..." Lincoln replied, feeling momentarily puzzled by his older sisters odd behavior, until he remembered it was Leni he was talking about, and decided to let it go.
Shrugging it off as well, Lori turned away from Lincoln, and *inhaled* a long breath before;
"All right, everyone else, get down those stairs! Breakfast should be ready by now!" Lori yelled, directing it towards all the other sisters in the hallway. They instantly responded to her command, hurrying down the stairs without hesitation.
With his sisters making their way to breakfast, Lincoln finally stepped into the bathroom.
~Downstairs/Dinning Room~
As Lori settled at the dining table with her sisters, as their parents were in the Kitchen, busying themselves with putting the final touches for breakfast. This brief moment gave the sisters a chance to discuss something important: their brother.
The rest of the sisters were chatting amongst themselves, noticing the scattered conversations among her sisters and seeing no opening, Lori called out;
"*Ahem!*" Lori said, her voice cutting through the chatter, and instantly capturing the attention of everyone at the table.
"Okay, seems we got a bit of time, so now everyone listen up..." Lori announced, making sure she had their full attention.
"Does everyone remember what we talked about last night...?" Lori prompted, her gaze moving around the table to make sure they were all on the same page.
Flashback to Wednesday Night
Once their mom got back with Lisa from the meeting, she immediately set to work preparing dinner for everyone.
Lynn Sr. arrived home only a short while later. After checking that most his chain of restaurants were all running smoothly. He left things in the hands of his head chefs before making his way home.
Noticing his wife hard at work on dinner, he quickly jumped in to lend a hand. Cooking and feeding for eleven mouths took a lot of effort and it was no easy task. It certainly didn't help that each kid had their own particular tastes to cater to.
Almost all of Lincoln's sisters who had been out, arrived back home just as dinner was about to be served. They hurried to the table, eager and ready to enjoy their meal.
Raising his voice to be heard over the chatter of his kids, Lynn Sr. asked, "Is everyone here!?"
All the kids paused their conversations, before responding with a unified;
"Yes!"
Then, just as quickly, they picked up their conversations right where they left off.
Luna entered the dining room as the last to arrive, the inviting aroma of her parents' cooking guiding her in. She had made it back just in time to catch her dad's question.
"I'm here pops!" Luna answer with a grin and a small wave to her dad who was poking his head out the archway that led from the dinning room and the kitchen.
"Perfect sweetie! Grab a seat, dinner is on the way." Lynn Sr responded.
Listening to her dad, Luna took a seat, but something suddenly crossed her mind; she'd heard all her sisters respond to her dad's question, but... something felt off.
'Hm? Wait...someone's not here-!' Luna thought, Now the oldest in the household (besides her parents) since Lori and Leni had moved out, she'd developed a sharp sense of where everyone usually was.
Luna could easily distinguish each of her siblings' voices, but right now, one voice was noticeably absent from the table...
Her gaze traveled around the table, her eyes scanning each seat, before noticing the absence of a certain white-haired little brother from his usual spot.
"Wait-!" she called out, her voice cutting through the chatter. "Lil' dude's not here yet."
Luna's sudden call out made the family pause what they were doing, a few of them exchanging questioning glances and raising their eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" asked Lynn Jr., glancing around the table herself. She quickly noticed that her little brother was nowhere to be seen.
"Is he still sleeping?" She questioned.
"Negative, Lynn. Our brother should not be currently slumbering; he had overslept today, yes, but he was awake when mother and I left him in charge of the house while we attended my meeting." Lisa responded.
"So, where is he, then?" Lola questioned, glancing around, tapping her fingers irritably. She didn't like waiting for anyone, and Lincoln was holding things up.
Rita spoke up; "I remember him saying he was heading to his room after Lisa and I came back home."
"If Lincoln's not coming, can I have his share?" Lynn Jr. asked eagerly, only to be met with a tired eye roll from her mom.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Lana chimed in, crossing her arms. "Why does she get more food? I'm just as hungry as she is!"
"Oh, please," Lynn Jr. shot back, rolling her eyes. "You barely finish your plate half the time, anyway."
"Do not!" Lana argued, leaning forward on the table. "I eat as much as you do, and I don't waste it throwing half my food around pretending I'm in some food fight!"
"Nope! That's called strategy!" Lynn Jr. retorted, smirking. "Besides, I could finish Lincoln's leftovers in no time, unlike you."
"If anyone's getting Lincoln's share, it's me!" Lola cut in, flashing a smug smile at her sisters. "Because, let's face it, I'm the prettiest. The rule is after all that the fairest go first!"
"Well, let's see how fair you look with a face full of sauce!" Lana shot back, grabbing her spoon with a mischievous grin.
"Girls, that's enough!" Rita interjected, raising her hands to calm them down. "No one is getting Lincoln's share of the food right now. If he doesn't show up, I'll just put his leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow."
Lynn Jr. groaned, slumping back in her chair, while Lana and Lola stuck their tongues out at her
"I'll go call him down," Luna offered, pushing her chair back. Wanting to get away before her three sisters escalated their bickering into a full-blown food fight. "He's probably doing something and lost track of time."
Luna walked up the stairs and arrived at Lincoln's door. She noticed the note he had left and raised her eyebrow. "What's this about?" she muttered.
As she read the note, she made a confused face. Skipping breakfast was one thing, skipping dinner is a whole 'nother.
'I didn't see him at breakfast either...something's up.' She thought to herself.
Curious, she jiggled the door handle to see if it was locked. To her surprise, it was open.
She slowly peered into the room and noticed Lincoln was passed out. Thinking it was weird, since he shouldn't be this tired, she closed the door and walked away, taking the note with her downstairs.
Seeing Luna return without Lincoln the family asked where he was.
She showed the family the note. They all raised an eyebrow at Lincoln's request. The parents just assumed Lincoln have been super tired looking after the house, while all the sisters looked at each other, slight concern and worry laced on their faces.
'Something is up with him...my older siblings senses are going crazy...' Lori thought;
Lori turned to Luan who was sitting next to her, and whispered about having a mandatory sister meeting in her room after dinner was done and to pass it forward to everyone else.
Luan nodded and began whispering the plan to Lola, and she passed it on.
...
...
...
All the sisters nodded and agreed.
Dinner finished, and all the sisters quickly made their way into Lori and Leni's room. Each sibling found a spot to sit, some sitting on one of the two beds, while some decided to sit on the floor.
The room had remained mostly, if not exactly, the same, apart from a few bags and boxes, most likely items they had packed to take to their place near campus. The family had decided to leave the room unchanged for the two sisters, as they often returned to visit during the holidays.
"It's been a while since we last did one of these" Replied Lynn Jr.
"Yeah dudes, been a while, anyways...what we discussing Lori?" Luna asked.
"Yeah it's been a while, with me and Leni off at college and everyone being busy this summer we haven't had a chance for sibling meeting...but that isn't the main point of this..." Lori said; "Has anyone noticed anything weird or off about Lincoln lately?"
To Lori, her brother had always been good at hiding what he was feeling or going through. Each day in the Loud house followed a kind of chaotic routine predictable in its own loud, messy way. The week had started off like any other, but now Lincoln was skipping meals and sleeping in late. It was strange, to say the least. The whole summer and even the beginning of this week had been as normal as things ever got in the Loud household. But Lincoln's sudden change? It definitely raised her concern.
Luan responded nodding her head no.
Lisa said, "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Haven't noticed anything." Lola and Lana said in unison.
"Lincoln's acting different?." Leni replied.
"Winkoln has been acting normal around me." Lily added.
Lucy on the other handed expressed, "Yes actually."
All the sisters turned to her. Waiting for her to continue...
"I've noticed Lincoln acting a bit off lately, especially in the last couple of days. He always seems like he's in deep thought, and he responds indifferently when asked about something..." Lucy finished saying.
Luna added, "Actually, now that you mention it...I do remember Lincoln acting a bit weird, especially on yesterday. When I was saying bye to him as I walked out to meet up with Sam, he didn't seem to hear me. He was just looking at the TV, but it didn't seem like he was actually watching it."
Lynn chimed in next, "Oh yeah, yesterday...I do remember something weird about Lincoln that morning. When I woke up to do my morning run at 6 AM, I found Lincoln just staring oddly at the TV. Which was weird cus I'm usually the only one up at that time. When I went to say hi, he didn't even hear me. I got annoyed at his lack of response, so I just said whatever and went for my run. When I came back, I found him still sitting in the same position, having that same blank stare and look on his face."
Lori pointed out, "I did notice Lincoln acting just like that during breakfast Yesterday...I asked him what was up, he didn't want to talk..."
"Does anyone know what might be bothering Lincoln?" Lori expressed.
Everyone shook their heads no.
Lucy however suggested, "It might be the stress of high school. I'm also a bit nervous about the whole thing myself..."
"She might be onto something" Replied Lisa. "As you all know, our brother is at that age were he is going through many chances, both physically and mentally. Most teenagers go through many different emotional moods and changes and with Lincoln starting high school soon, he might be dealing with anxiety and stress of the upcoming school year."
'Maybe I should have pried him and asked if he was doing all right on Monday,' Lucy thought to herself.
Lori said, "That could be true. But we need a way to find out."
Luan asked, "What should we do?"
Lola suggested, "Let's go wake him up and make him tell us."
"NO!" All the siblings yelled.
"OKAY! Sheesh no need to scream!" Lola Replied.
"Well maybe you shouldn't suggest stupid ideas then!" Lana said.
"Stupid?! You couldn't tell your rights from your lefts gears for brains!" Lola replied back.
"OH! YOU WANNA GO PRINCESS?" Lana said.
Taking off her hair pin, Lola jumped at Lana...
With this, a small fight broke out among the two, but quickly became worse when Lynn tried separating the two but ended up getting pulled into the squabble. It soon turned into a dust ball of hair pulling punches and slaps. Before long all siblings besides Lori, Lisa, Leni, Luna and Lucy were fighting each other on how to get Lincoln to talk.
Lori sighed and SLAMMED her shoe on the dresser.
"OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH!" She yelled out.
The siblings went quiet, stopping they're fighting and looked at Lori.
"There's something going on with Lincoln, but we shouldn't push it out of him. Let's try and ease his stress if that's what's bothering him."
With that they all started to suggest different ways to help ease Lincoln's stress.
"Maybe Lincy can come with me to the mall? We could like totes go shopping for some new clothes! Or maybe we could have a spa day! That like totes helps me destress after a long week!" Leni suggested.
"Spa? Come on Leni, Lincoln's a dude, I bet he would rather have an awesome jam session with me and Sam! Lil dude could jam away all the stress" Luna added, while hitting her classic rock pose.
"Well I maybe I could see if Lincoln could come spend some time with my at the theater? We are doing rehearsals for some of the comedy scenes tomorrow, maybe it could help cheer him up?" Luan replied.
" *Pfffft* Laaammeee. What Stinkin really needs is to work all that stress out of his body! Let's have him come with me for my morning runs since it seems like he's waking up early now!"
"OH, I Know! Maybe Lico-" Lana started, before getting cut off by Lola
"Hey! I wanna say my Idea first!" Lola said.
In a blink of an eye, the twins got into another argument, before they could even suggest anything. Not wanting to get dragged into another fight, the the rest of the siblings rolled there eyes at the two, and decided to not to intervene, unless it got physical.
"Ignoring those two, I suggest we have our male sibling unit attend therapy. If he is dealing with high amounts of stress and it's affecting his day to day life it might be beneficial for him. It might be short notice, but I am more then qualified to take up the role as the psychiatrist for Lincoln." Lisa added, making sure to be heard over the sound of the twins fighting.
"...If Winkoln is sick, we can go play on the swings! It will make him feel better!" Lily replied.
The siblings continued to give more suggestions on how to help there brother;
Lucy throughout this whole ordeal stayed quiet. 'How could I forget to even ask how he was doing?!' She thought to herself. 'He took the time out of his day to help me, and I can't even be their for him...' "Sssiiiggghhh"
"Okay everyone!" Lori said. "Let's calm down!"
This caused everyone to quiet down once again and focus there attention on Lori.
"Those are all great ideas, but let's wait until tomorrow to see what we should do," Lori said.
The rest of them nodded there head, and agreed to wait, before they began to pile out of Lori's and Leni's room.
Back to the present
They all responded agreeing and nodding their head, looking at each other to make sure they were all on the same page.
Lori asked, "Has anyone talked to Lincoln this morning?"
Luna, Luan, Lola, Lana, Lisa, and Lily all shook their heads, no.
Lynn chimed in, "I saw him coming out of his room and acting a bit weird. He said something about going for a walk and shopping for some new clothes..."
"Clothes?! Shopping?! OMGEE! YAAYYY! Lincy and me can go shopping together!" Leni replied.
"SHHH Leni keep it down!" Luna added.
"OH! Oopsies...hehe" Leni responded back, covering her mouth.
Lucy added, "I went to talk to him and might have snuck up on him, but..."
"But what?" Lana asked
"he didn't get jump-scared. Almost like he heard me coming..."
All the sisters gave a shocked look. "Are you being serious?" Luan asked.
Lucy nodded. "Yes, I'm serious," she confirmed, leaving the sisters dumbfounded.
For as long as anyone could remember, Lucy had a habit of jump-scaring the rest of the family, thanks to her eerily quiet footsteps and tendency to appear out of thin air. Everyone figured she kept doing it because she found it amusing. So why was Lincoln, of all people, suddenly immune to her scare tactics?
" *Ahem!* Moving on, Leni and I talked to Lincoln, and he told us he was feeling stressed." Lori announced. Confirming Lucy's theory.
"Since Leni and I are leaving soon, maybe we could take Lincoln out for the day and maybe even grab him some clothes if he's looking for some new stuff." Lori added.
The sisters agreed that it was a good idea. As Rita and Lynn Sr walked in with breakfast.
'I wish I could be going with him instead,' Lucy thought to herself.
"Morning Everyone!" Lincoln said out loud as he walked into the dinning room.
His hair still slightly damp and dressed in his usual clothes, Lincoln took sat down at the table beside Luna.
With Lincoln
'Okay finally!' Lincoln thought to himself. 'That was close, I gotta stay calm and not get nervous...they might start asking questions...'
Lincoln began to undress; as he undressed he slowly removed the bandages he had put on his body the previous night. Most of the bandages had blood covering them. However thankfully it seemed that he had fully healed through the night.
'Well that's a relief...some of the wounds are healed. Maybe my body has some sort of accelerated healing now...that's freaky...on the other hand...' Lincoln thought, relieved that he no longer needed to wear bandages for the cuts and bruises from the accident, which had healed remarkably fast. However, this relief was short-lived as he now faced a new problem; several large scars were now scattered across his body, ones that would undoubtedly raise some eyebrows.
' *Sighhh* Guess that's a problem for later. My clothes should be able to cover all of them anyway...' He thought, trying to push the concern to the back of his mind.
Walking into the shower, and getting done fast as possible, so he didn't suddenly phase through the tub and into the dinning room butt naked.
Walking out he dried himself quickly, and put on a new pair of his usual clothing; quickly brushing his teeth, he made his way downstairs.
On the way down, his ear got that tingling feeling once again, and he started to hear a whole lot more.
What he heard were Lynn's words; "Acting a bit weird. He said something about going for a walk and buying some new clothes"
'Uh-oh' he thought to himself. 'They're all downstairs...talking about me?!'
That made Lincoln panic slightly. 'They couldn't know...right? No I was careful...then again maybe I wasn't careful enough...'
Lincoln heard another part of the conversation that was happening downstairs, and this time it was Lori.
"Take Lincoln out for the day and maybe even grab him some clothes if he's looking for some new stuff..." He heard
'Well crap...there goes me avoiding them for awhile' He expressed to himself. 'Me and my big mouth.'
'Let's just get through breakfast and maybe I could get out of going shopping with Lori.' He thought.
As Lincoln made his way down, and entered the dinning room and after saying good morning he sat down next to Luna.
Rita and Lynn Sr began asking everyone about their plans and the sisters eagerly answered and discussed what they would be doing.
Lincoln, meanwhile, was having trouble just keeping a grip on his butter knife.
As the family discussed, Lincoln every now and then would drop his knife, the reason being his hands would turn intangible which made the utensil fall right down onto his plate.
'Come on! Not again...' He thought to himself. 'Turn back...come on...' He focused hard, similar to earlier when he was floating above his bed.
"Come on turn back..." He mumbled under his breath, watching as the sensation gradually returned to his hands, growing tangible once more.
"You doing all right lil bro?" Luna commented.
This made Lincoln quickly come out of his concentration as he hurriedly put his hand under the table.
"Yeah! Yup! All good here! W-Why do you a-ask?" Lincoln responded, stuttering as he did.
'Please tell me she didn't notice...' He thought worriedly.
"Cool...I was asking cus, I keep hearing you dropping your knife onto the plate... Slippery hands this morning, huh Linc?" Luna expressed with a questioning look on her face, which soon turned to a small smirk.
"Yeah...I guess you could say that."
Luna turned back to her attention back to her plate and continued eating.
Sighing in relief, Lincoln quickly looked under the table to check his hand, which thankfully was back to normal.
'All right! Getting the hang of this...sorta...' He thought to himself, he looked at his plate.
All of this felt like too much, too fast. Not even twenty-four hours ago, he'd been just another teenager, dealing with his sisters' problems, running around the house doing chore, wondering about how to pass the day by. Now? He wasn't even sure what he was. Whatever he'd become, it didn't feel normal. Not even close.
He finally managed to grip his fork and knife without fumbling. Small victory. He cut a piece of food from his plate, eggs and toast, nothing fancy-and brought it to his mouth. He chewed.
And frowned.
The food tasted... wrong. Or rather, it barely tasted like anything at all. He took a few more bites of the food...maybe it was just a bad first bite?
Each bite felt more and more off.
The eggs were just texture, the toast felt like cardboard. No butter, no salt, no warmth just bland, dry mouthfuls going down like he was eating out of obligation rather than hunger.
'What the heck? Did Mom forget to season anything today? No... that's not it.'
He glanced around the table. His sisters were eating like normal, chatting between bites, stealing each other's hash browns like always. No one else seemed to notice anything was off.
'So it's just me... Great. First I wake up floating, now this?'
He poked at his plate, suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore. The lack of taste wasn't just weird, it was unnerving. It made everything feel a little more real, a little more alien. Like even the simple act of eating wasn't safe from whatever was happening to him.
'What else is going to change?'
"So Lincoln, anything planned for today?" Asked Lori, as some of the sisters got a bit quieter.
The words snapped Lincoln out of his thoughts. He quickly set his knife down, trying to appear collected.
"Uhh...n-not really, might head to the mall and buy some stuff..." Lincoln responded. 'CRAP! I shouldn't have said that...'
"Great! Me and Leni are also going there. Let's go together!" Lori replied with a smile.
"I-I don't kno-"
"Come on Linc, me and Leni are supposed to be heading back to campus in a few days." Cutting Lincoln off.
"Please Lincy! We wanna spend sometime with you..." Leni said, adding herself to the conversation, while making puppy dog eyes, to convince him.
'Ugh… she brought out the puppy dog eyes. Totally not fair,' Lincoln thought.
"All right...All right...I concede" Lincoln replied.
"Great!" Said Lori and Leni.
"Lori. Before you head out." Called Rita, from across the table. "Can you drop off the twins today? I have to take Lily to get a check up."
"Sure thing mom" Lori replied. "Guess we can head out later...maybe 3pm?"
"Y-Yeah, works for me" Lincoln answered.
" *AHEM!* Can I have everyone attention please! " Luan said getting the attention of the family.
"I have something for everyone!" She replied, as she began passing out tickets to the rest of her family.
"These are the VIP seating tickets! I got everyone a seat like I promised! The show will be tomorrow at 6pm, and with a little help from Benny the shows been sold out! It's going to be a full house tomorrow night!"
"That's amazing sweetie! And don't worry about us missing your show, we know you've been working really hard for it to get done so quick, we wouldn't miss it for the world" Rita replied.
"That's my girl! We are all super proud of you Luan, we are all going to be there tomorrow night, right kids?" Lynn Sr added.
The rest of the family replied a loud "Yeah!"
Luan beamed, clearly thrilled by the enthusiastic response from her family. However, as the others continued chatting excitedly about the upcoming show, Lincoln sat quietly at the table, his thoughts elsewhere.
He knew he should feel just as excited as everyone else, after all, this was a big moment for Luan, and she had worked incredibly hard for it. But the nagging concern in the back of his mind wouldn't let him fully enjoy the moment. He couldn't shake the fear that something might go wrong, like accidentally falling through the floor or suddenly floating into the air.
It was dangerous for him to be around anyone right now, let alone in a crowded theater. The thought of losing control in front of so many people made his stomach churn.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to push the worry aside, at least for now. "Y-Yeah," he replied softly, his voice barely audible amidst the lively chatter. "I'll be there."
Luna, sitting next to him, noticed his nervous tone and gave him a reassuring nudge on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, bro. Luan is a master at making a great show. It's gonna be awesome!" she said with a grin, doing her best to lift his spirits, though she wasn't quite sure why he seemed so anxious about the matter, especially since he wasn't really a part of it.
'Odd..' She thought.
Lincoln nodded and managed a small smile, hoping none of his other sisters picked up on how uneasy he felt.
'I can't just skip her show, that'd only make things worse if I want to keep all this a secret. They'd ask questions, and everyone would start getting suspicious... On the other hand what if something happens during the show… or just randomly again like this whole morning...'
He sat there, conflicted about what to do next, when an idea came to mind. 'Maybe I should head upstairs and practice, try to get a better handle on these powers before things spiral out of control and I'm completely unprepared. It's worth a try...'
It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had at the moment.
A while later
After breakfast, everyone dispersed to do their own thing. Lincoln on the other hand, went up to his room to practice controlling his powers.
He sat on his bed, took a steadying breath, and focused. Holding his hands out in front of him, he concentrated on turning his intangibility on and off. It was like trying to flex a muscle he didn't quite understand yet.
'Let's see..." Closing his eyes, he grabbed a tissue box in his right hand and focused intently, concentrating on making his hand turn intangible. He tried to recall the sensation from before, the strange, weightless feeling of his hands becoming nothing, as if they were fading out of existence.
He felt that tingling feeling in his arms, and opened his eyes to see if it worked. To his surprise, not only had his hand turned see-through, but so had the tissue box he was holding. It shimmered faintly, almost as if it didn't fully belong in the physical world anymore.
"Whoa...no way...it actually worked!" A smile began to form on his face. "And not only that but I can turn things I touch see through as well?!"
He quickly grabbed a bottle of lotion from his night table with his left hand. He tried doing it now to his left hand. Concentrating harder and making sure he was turning just his hand not his whole body.
'Come on...' He thought to himself. Seeking that feeling of phasing through, being nothing, that he felt whenever he began to phase through things. He again felt that tingling feeling in his left arm.
His left arm became see through, leaving only the outline of his arm and the bottle of lotion.
"Alright! I'm getting an idea on how all of this stuff works...now let's try to turn it off" Lincoln expressed to himself.
This time, he tried concentrating and looking for that feeling of being whole. As he concentrated, his hands returned back to normal.
"This is...GREAT! I can finally control it...maybe...I still have to work on doing it better. Now time to practice disa-" Lincoln declared before getting cutoff by a knock on the door.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Who is i-!"
"HEY LINCOLN!" Came Lynn rushing into his room before he could finish.
' *haaa* What's the point of knocking if you're just going to barge in...I should really start locking my door.' He thought to himself.
"Hey Lynn..." He responded.
"I need you to do som-" She said before stopping mid sentence.
There sat her little brother on his bed, with a box of tissues...and a bottle of lotion.
"W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you doing!?" Lynn asked completely flustered.
"I was jus-"
"DONT ANSWER THAT!" Lynn quickly cutting him off. "H-H-Here!" Putting money onto Lincoln's bed.
"I need you to buy me a mouth g-guard. I have to get to p-practice soon and I still have some drills to get d-done. I w-w-won't make it in time before Good Sports c-closes..." She added stuttering over her words.
'Guess I am taking that walk after all.' Thinking to himself.
"Alright...fine..."
"GREAT! N-Now I'm heading out!" Lynn responded. "M-M-Make sure you lock the door b-b-b-before you do s-stuff like that! Imagine if Lily walked in on y-you, idiot!" She said before slamming his door quickly and rushing away. As she left, her face was covered in a red blush.
'What's her problem...? And what did she think I was doing?' He thought as he looked down to his hands...and then it hit him...
"oh..." He said as his face dropped in horror.
~Royal Woods~
A Couple of Minutes Later
Heading out, Lincoln found him self walking through the streets of Royal Woods, as a cool breeze brushed past his face, indicating the end of the summer. He found himself wondering about everything he'd been dealing with lately, the changes, the powers, and what it all meant.
Lincoln was divided, he understood his family still loved him...very much actually. They were quick to ask questions when he wouldn't show up for dinner, they even reached out many times. They cared...but that feeling from before came back.
'Would they still care, if they knew I was dead...' That thought raced through his mind over and over again. 'Would they brush me off like before, if I told them?'
His mind was still a mess...
'And these powers... on one hand, they're insanely cool. I mean, who wouldn't want superhuman abilities? But still... they came at a cost.'
"One I didn't want to make..." He muttered under his breath. Lincoln still in thought kept wondering about what his purpose in life truly was...even with his new found abilities he was still far behind his sisters.
As he turned to the next street, he saw a tanned skinned girl, who looked to be roughly Lily's age, she had curly red hair and wore a orange skirt and blue shoes. With her was a red bouncy ball, which she was currently bouncing on the side walk.
As she played, her parents sat on a porch swing, watching her with gentle smiles. The man, who appeared to be in his early 30s, had fair skin and dark brown hair, while his wife, a tanned-skinned woman in her late 20s with curly red hair, sat beside him. Also on the porch was an older boy, who looked to be slightly younger than Lucy, with tanned skin and brown hair; he leaned against the railing, quietly observing his younger sister
Lincoln continued walking when he noticed the little girl bounce her ball hard against the sidewalk, causing it to fly up and land right into the middle of the street. The girl seeing this quickly ran towards the ball.
Unbeknownst to the girl, there was a truck coming her way and fast. It was going way over what the speed limit would be for such a narrow street...
But of course the truck would stop in time...right...?
It didn't...
The truck wasn't slowing down at all...her family noticed this and called out for her to get back, but the girl didn't hear. As she picked up the ball, she looked up and saw the truck coming...she froze.
Noticing this, her family quickly got up to get her, but they were too far away, they wouldn't reach her in time.
Lincoln had stopped in his tracks, his attention fully fixed on the scene unfolding before him.
As he stood there, his heart began to burn an icy cold sensation; he could feel it swelling up in his chest.
Something deep in his heart called out, urging him to move. Before he could even question the impulse, his body sprang into action on its own, driven by an instinct he didn't fully understand.
He dashed toward the girl, moving faster than he ever thought possible. In that moment, Lincoln was no longer just running—he was moving at an inhuman speed, the world around him blurring as he pushed himself forward. As he ran, a bright white ring with a faint blue hue formed around his waist, shimmering with energy. The ring split in two, one half moving upward while the other traveled downward, enveloping him in light. In an instant, the transformation was complete, altering him mid-run as he closed the distance like a streak of pure energy. He dove at where the girl was standing;
In the blink of an eye, Lincoln appeared in front of the little girl. Without hesitation, he scooped her up into a tight hug, shielding her with his body. The truck driver, who was on his phone this entire time, had looked up due to a sudden flash of white. That was when he noticed what was going on. Panicking, he slammed his foot onto the brakes with all his might, but it was too late. The massive truck was now only a few inches away from colliding with Lincoln and the girl.
Running purely on instinct, Lincoln focused with all his might. In an instant, his body became fully intangible, along with the little girl in his arms. As the truck barreled toward them, they both phased straight through it, untouched, as if they were nothing more than ghosts.
The truck came to a screeching halt, its tires skidding loudly against the pavement. On the other side, Lincoln hovered a few feet in the air, holding the girl securely in his arms. Both were unharmed, now safely beyond the truck's path, the danger behind them.
Many of the people that were inside their house began coming out to see what was going on. The people who were already out had began filming the entire event, all except for Lincoln's transformation. The mother and son of the little girl, coming out of their initial scare, came rushing towards Lincoln and the girl. The father of the girl was pissed beyond belief after seeing the phone in the hands of the driver who came out to see if everyone was all right. The father knew why the driver hadn't tried slowing down, and right now he was ready to knockout the driver. if it wasn't for some bystanders coming to stop him.
"Hey man we saw everything! Don't worry we called the cops, they are on their way!" A bystander said to the father.
"Don't fight him or you'll get into trouble as well" Said another.
"THEY BETTER GET HERE FAST! OR IM GOING TO KNOCK HIS FUCKING TEETH OUT!" Declared the father in a loud voice which scared the driver into a fetal position.
Lincoln opened his eyes, and looked around, and smiled seeing that they had made it. His chest was overwhelmed with a feeling of triumph.
'I made it! Thank God! What a rush...everything was going so fast, and what is this feeling in my chest...it's cold but so warm at the same time...' He thought to himself as his smile remained.
Concentrating a bit he let the intangibility fall as his body and the girl turned back to normal.
"T-Thank you" The little girl replied with water flooding her eyes.
"OH! Uhh yeah, of course. No Problem..." Lincoln responded. The feeling increasing.
"A-Are you my guardian angel?" The girl asked, as she noticed the eerie white glow emanating from Lincoln's body, his black hair and his otherworldly glowing green eyes.
"No...I'm uhh I actually don't really know how to expla-"
"THANK HEAVENS! AMY! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT SWEETIE?!" The mother of the girl, named Amy, yelled rushing towards the two.
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" She repeatedly said to Lincoln as he floated in mid air.
Lincoln proceeded to then hand the girl into the mothers arms.
"Thank you so much young man, thank yo-!" She stopped. Then it hit her. Her daughters savior...was floating...in mid air...and he was glowing...
The Mother's mind came to a complete stop. She was completely frozen, her eyes becoming filled with fear.
"W-W-What a-are y-y-you...?" She asked stuttering with each word.
"OH! I'm...uhh" He tried saying.
'CRAP! How do I tell her I'm a walking corpse?! She looks scared as hell right now...' He thought to himself, when a memory came to him. It was weird, he couldn't recall where it was from.
Deep within his mind, a whisper of a singular word, came to him.
'pha...nt...om~'
With that whisper came his answer.
"I'm sort of a g-ghost...the name's Ph-Phantom..." Lincoln answered his voice echoing. "But don't worry, I'm not gonna haunt your house and open all your drawers or something. I'm like a nice ghost...?"
As he answered, Lincoln heard sirens coming from the distance... 'Uh-oh time to get out of here...'
"Well anyways, you guy's stay safe! I'm going to head out!" He announced before the mother could reply.
'Now, since I'm already floating...maybe if I concentrate on going up really quic-' He pondered before, he was launched straight up into the air, leaving behind a dust cloud.
Now Lincoln found himself miles up in the air. His head in a bit of a daze from the sudden rush. He shook his head and looked down and saw the amazing sight.
It was the view of the entirety of Royal Woods...He could see his house, the mall, all the stores and restaurants.
Lincoln smiled...
He'd done something incredible today. It was sudden, unexpected, even but it happened. In a single moment, he did something he never imagined he was capable of.
"I just saved a life..." His heart was burning passionately as he reminisced on what just took place.
"Maybe the accident...and all these changes...maybe they're not so bad after all," he thought. 'I mean, after what I just did...maybe I really could help people with this.'
The realization felt strange, almost sudden, but it made sense in a way he couldn't explain. That same icy-cold sensation stirred in his chest again, strangely comforting, yet powerful-like the first spark of something greater just beginning to awaken.
Lincoln didn't know it at the time, but this was the beginning of something amazing, he had just found his purpose.
End Chapter