6. The Fear Is Real

A/N: Hello guys, welcome to chapter 6. In this very chapter, the middle child of the Loud Family will finally come into contact with one of his sisters responsible for his condition. How will he react? How will Lynn react? And what will everyone else think about the encounter? Should be interesting if I set it up properly.

Also, a note to Mr. Noname. While I appreciate your interest in my story, you need to stop nitpicking sentences you think have grammar 'errors'. I proofread all of my chapters before they are published (sometimes going over it twice in case I want to change something), and those errors you picked are fine the way they are. People do talk like that in real life and that's what I'm imitating. I'm not writing a term paper, so you need to stop acting like you're my English teacher. I would've told you this in PM, but because you lack an actual account, this is the only way I can tell you.

Now, without any delay, let's get on with it!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING from the Loud House.

After spending a few minutes hugging each other, Ronnie Anne finally released her boyfriend. "I know Lynn said she broke your arm...but I didn't expect...this..."

"It's...it's not that bad Ronnie Anne." Lincoln replied, trying to calm her.

"Not that bad?..." She whispered. "NOT THAT BAD?! LOOK AT YOURSELF LAME-O! YOU HAVE BANDAGES ON YOUR HEAD AND CHEST! SOME OF YOUR TEETH ARE GONE, AND THERE'S EVEN A TUBE CONNECTED TO GOD KNOWS WHAT DOWN THERE!" The Hispanic girl shouted, making the white-haired boy wince. "I swear, if I see any of your so-called 'sisters', I'm going to...I'm going to...GRR! I'm so angry right now, I can't think of a proper death threat!" She slammed her fists on the bed, causing the boy to jump a little. Her breathing was heavy, trying to vent out the overwhelming amount of frustration that was caged within.

Lincoln looked at his distressed girlfriend in worry. He was used to her being angry, but not when her level of aggression was up to 11. However, he was indifferent to the threats she was making to his sisters. Part of him felt they deserved such retribution, but the kinder side of him didn't wish them to face Ronnie Anne's wrath. To further complicate this, he heard his parents talking about the punishments his siblings received last night. One side felt it was enough, while the other wanted something more; some kind of revenge to really make it clear just how much his sisters' selfishness hurt him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt a migraine coming on.

The white-haired boy shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts. Ronnie Anne was still enraged, and he needed to snap her out of her little 'episode'. "Ronnie Anne..." The tomboy didn't respond. "Ronnie Anne, look at me..." Still no response. "Please?..." He was practically begging at this point. Finally, the brunette turned her head, still holding onto that glare. "I know your mad right now, but...I'm just not sure if more violence is going to solve anything. From what I heard, my parents are already on top of everything, and I don't think they would like another one of their kids visiting the ER..." He explained, hoping that reasoning would soothe her.

In her mind, Ronnie Anne couldn't believe what she was hearing. Even after getting sent to the clinic, he still held some level of compassion for his siblings. The girl would probably never understand why Lincoln wasn't angry, but she wished he grew a spine and stood up for himself. Ironically...this was one of his traits that she oddly found attractive, and it gave them a chance to be together. He could have easily told her off the first time she met him in front of his house. But instead, he kissed her (ironically after his sisters convinced him she liked him). She still felt bad for punching him the face for it. Then, before they officially started dating in secret, that day he insulted her at school and later at Jean Juan's French Mex, he never did mean to cause her harm. The boy was just put on the spot by his friends and panicked. After all, she did get some enjoyment with making it seem like she dumped him the very next day (at least to prevent further teasing).

The tomboy sighed, returning to her mellow state. "I'm sorry Lincoln...it's just that...I just wish I could've been there...if I was, I would've been able to at least do something...instead I was at home playing some stupid game..."

The boy placed his hand on her arm, giving her a small smile. "It's ok Ronnie Anne. You didn't know what was going on...and speaking of which, how did you find out?"

"Bobby told me everything...and I ended up telling Clyde, so don't be surprised if he shows up."

"Does anyone else know?" He asked.

"Well, your mom asked the principal to spread the word that you'll be out of school for a while."

Lincoln wasn't too surprised at that. His teachers would've wound up asking the same question. However, something didn't seem right. The boy replayed the last sentence Ronnie Anne said in his mind. "Wait, did you get sent to principal's office?"

Ronnie Anne slowly nodded. "I...got into a fight with Lynn...both of us are suspended for a few days now..." She smiled sheepishly, showing that she was missing a tooth. The boy started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You look kinda cute with your missing tooth." Lincoln chuckled, before giving a small cough.

"You dork." She playfully punched his good arm.

Someone knocked on the door. Turning their heads, Mrs. Santiago poked her head in. "Hija. I know you want to spend more time with your friend, but mommy needs to head back to work."

"Dang it..." Ronnie Anne muttered.

"Promise you'll visit again?" Lincoln asked his girlfriend.

"You can bet on it."

Leaning up, Ronnie Anne pecked him on the lips before departing with her mother, leaving a very flushed Lincoln Loud.

Lynn sat in one of the chairs of the waiting room, her head propped up with one arm. She was bored out of her mind, and her patience was beginning to run dry. In any other circumstance, the sports fanatic wasn't one to sit around for anything. If she wanted something done, she'd just do it without much thought behind it. As a result, time had proven to her that you can't always get what you want immediately. Such was the case when she had to wait behind a long line for the ladies room at a rest stop. Given that lines to the bathroom were common in the Loud House, you'd think she'd be used to it. But unfortunately for Lynn, she just had to drink that extra large soda. The only difference between then and now was that she didn't need to pee. Ronnie Anne was still speaking with her little brother, and Lynn had to respect her mother's wish to avoid another confrontation. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to wait for much longer.

A set of footsteps echoed through the hall, causing the jock the glance toward the sound. Seeing her mother approaching, Lynn sat up straight.

"Ok dear. Mrs. Santiago and Ronnie Anne just left. Ready to see your brother?" Rita asked.

Lynn gave a nod before following. As they approached Lincoln's room, the 13 year old couldn't help but feel nervous. No doubt Lincoln would be upset with her, along with the rest of her other 8 siblings. What if, even after she apologized, he didn't forgive her? What if he even refused to speak with her? The girl braced herself for that possibility.

"I'm not a bully...I'm not a bully..." Lynn played this line in her head repeatedly. Even if he didn't want her around, she still wanted to let him know that she felt horrible for her actions against him.

Rita knocked on the door upon arrival. "Lincoln? You have another visitor." She said calmly, though Lynn was less than calm.

Taking a deep breath, Lynn tried to relax her body. "Ok, here goes nothing. Just go in, let him know bad you feel, and try to make it up to him..." She thought to herself.

Once the door fully opened, Lynn stepped through, coming within full sight of her brother. Like Ronnie Anne, the jock was surprised by the amount of bandages that covered the boy. Even though she got a full description from her father about his injuries, it pained her to see them for herself. The jock cast a look filled with guilt at the cast that adorned her brother's left arm, wishing to have never brought such pain to him. But what Lynn didn't know, was the inner turmoil that was brewing inside the middle child.

The second Lynn came within his sight, time seemed to slow to a crawl around Lincoln. His mouth ran dry, his pupils retracted, knots formed in his stomach, and the ticking of the clock on the wall suddenly made itself known. His heart rate spiked for a brief moment, even showing up on the heart monitor, but this went unnoticed by everyone else. All of the room's occupants felt a shiver in their spines as the tension made their blood flow slow down.

"Why...why is she here?" Lincoln thought to himself. Did Lynn arrive just to mock him, or worse, finish what his sisters started?

"...H-Hey bro." Lynn started uneasily.

"...Hey..." Lincoln replied.

Lynn looked to her mother for encouragement, who gestured her to keep going. She took a deep breath and slowly approached him. "Lincoln...I'm really, really sorry about putting you here...I should've recognized that you were in pain and wanted us to stop...instead, we just...we just kept hitting you, taking our own frustration out on the only brother we'll have in a lifetime..." By now, she was halfway towards his bed, fresh tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Unbeknowst to her, the heart monitor was starting to beep faster. "...T-The reason you have a broken arm...I'm the one who did it! I should've known better than to hurt you like that, but I just couldn't stop myself!" Lynn was beginning to cry now, her guilt spilling over with each word. Memories of past sparring matches and the occasional threat of a pummeling came to her mind.

Each step she took, the frequency of the beeps increased, yet the jock still hadn't noticed it."I promised myself I would always protect you...yet how can I even call myself your sister when I all do is take advantage of you?!...I'm no better than a stupid bully, and if you think that of me, you have every right to feel that way..." Lynn sniffled. She finally reached the bed, gripping the ledge softly.

The heart monitor's pings increased to a point it was the loudest thing in the room. Rita and Lily took notice, seeing as how this had occurred when Lincoln tried (unsuccessfully) to get some rest. "Lynn, sweetie? I think you should back away from your brother..."

Lynn didn't hear her. She stared at the floor, watching as her tears dripped off her chin. "I just want you to know...I want to make it up to you...you'll be out of here at some point, and I want to spend all the time I can being a real sister...not the idiot I've been up til now..." As she finished, she finally heard the monitor, casting a confused glance at it.

Unfortunately, while Lynn was pouring her heart out, Lincoln was stuck in a state of ever-lasting fear. His sister's pleas fell on deaf ears, his mind racing. As Lynn got closer to him, his heart rate skyrocketed while he subconsciously moved as much as he could to the opposite side of the bed. He wanted to run away, he really did. He hated how he still couldn't get out of the bed without hurting himself. Memories of the constant abuse he took from her flooded his mind, and soon one of his nightmares came forth. The boy remembered it clear as day. Lynn had apologized, even hugging him out of remorse, but this proved to be a hoax. When Lynn hugged him, she tightened her grip to the point he couldn't breathe. He begged her to let him go, but all he got in return was the scariest evil grin he could imagine. The jock just kept hugging him tighter and tighter, until his spine and ribs finally gave out from the pressure.

When Lynn was right next to the bed, his heart was practically ready to jump out of his chest and run for the hills. He didn't know what Lynn was going to do next, but then he finally heard her. "You ok bro?" Lynn asked, genuinely worried. Lincoln could've swore she even looked like she wanted to hug him right now.

"No...not this time...not this again!..." That thought ran through the boy's mind like a freight train.

"Lynn, give him some space. He's still shaky about everything." Rita told her.

While the 13 year old was distracted, Lincoln quietly reached over to the small desk next to his bed. On it was his lunch tray, now empty and messy from his earlier feeding. He gripped it tightly in his hand.

Lynn looked at her mother for a brief second when she spoke, and she turned to look at her brother again, she wished she took Rita's advice immediately.

POP!

That was what Lynn heard as her vision went white for a moment; something hard colliding with her face. The impact nearly floored her, but she managed to put her hands out just in time to stop her face from slamming into the tile. Her cheek stung, fresh blood flowing out of her mouth due to one of her gauze sponges being knocked out. Looking back in great surprise, Lynn saw Lincoln breathing heavily with a plastic lunch tray in his hand. The tray itself was broken in half after being used as a weapon.

"L-L-Lincoln..." Lynn managed to say.

"Just stay away from me Lynn...I...I don't want to have to hurt you again..." Lincoln told her, the fear ever present in his voice. It seemed only now the boy was aware of his uneven breaths.

Lynn sat there for a few seconds. She brought a hand to her mouth when she realized she was bleeding again. Looking between her hand and Lincoln, it dawned to her what happened, and that Lincoln made his choice. He wasn't just upset, he hated her. That single thought made more tears run down Lynn's face before she bolted out of the room and down the hall, her soft sobs echoing in the hall.

Rita and Lily just stood there, mouths agape, at what just transpired. The mother knew Lincoln would get uncomfortable around his other sisters, but this was completely unlike anything she had imagined. Lincoln laid back on his bed, dropping the broken tray as he did so; his heavy breaths and the heart monitor's decreasing pings a sign he was trying to calm himself. Normally, she would've been angry with him for lashing out in such a way to his sister when she was trying to apologize, but the matriarch had a feeling something else was wrong. Rita didn't have time to dwell on this fact, as she needed to track down her distraught daughter.

Lynn Sr. panted as leaned against Vanzilla. He spent much of the day moving his daughters' prized possessions into a storage room big enough to fit it all. What he hadn't realized was how heavy all of it was. He would've asked for assistance, but no one else was around (besides the desk clerk). He stared at the locked door in regret. Those items made his children stand out among each other, and everyone else. Though Lynn had to be honest with himself: his daughters had a bad habit of getting too much of everything.

For example, Luna's speakers (the heaviest of all the stuff moved), could be heard in the whole house with only 2 of them. Yet she had about 20 from what the patriarch noted. Luan's props were also numerous, though he supposed she deserved a pass since comedy is particularly hard to master. You could say the same for Lola and Lynn Jr. since the former was a well-known beauty pageant winner, and the latter played dozens of sports. However, Lynn Sr. did agree that Lana had too many reptiles.

The father of 11 heard his phone ring in the car. Opening the door, he eyed the called ID, seeing it was his wife. "Hey honey."

"Hey Lynn...I need you to come pick us up at the hospital..."

"Something happen?"

"...I think it's best if I tell you when you get here..." Rita told him.

"Alright. I'll be there soon. Just finished moving everything into storage." He put the keys into the ignition and tried to start the van up. The engine choked but wouldn't fully start. "Oh come on!" He turned the keys a 3rd time. The machine whined as the ancient engine finally sprung back to life. Lynn Sr. sighed. He liked Vanzilla, he really did. After all, it had been passed to down to him from his dad, and his grandfather. One day he hoped to pass it on to Lincoln. But now that he thought about it, the car was roughly 40 years old, and its age showed every day. In fact, it seemed almost every week the van broke down while someone was using it.

"Maybe it's time I get a new van..." He muttered.

Thankfully, the van kept its act together during the whole trip. When he got to the hospital, Rita and Lily were waiting, along with Lynn Jr. The father was surprised to see Lynn, as well as the fact she appeared to be somewhat hurt physically, and broken emotionally. Rita strapped Lily into her baby seat, with the jock climbing in soon after. Lynn Jr. brought her knees up to her face and continued to cry in silence. Lily looked at her sister in worry, even taking her pacifier out of her mouth and offering it to the sports fanatic. Instead, she got no response and slowly popped it back in.

"So what happened?" Lynn Sr. asked as his wife strapped herself in.

"For starters...Lynn Jr. got attacked by Ronnie Anne and both are suspended til Friday... "

"She's one of Lincoln's friends right?"

"Yeah...Lynn had some of her teeth knocked out, so I brought her with me to the hospital. She wanted to make amends with Lincoln, but...it...it didn't go well...at all..."

"What do you mean?" The father asked.

"He smacked her with his food tray Lynn...she was apologizing to him, he got uncomfortable when she got close to him, and he just took his tray, and hit her in the face...now Junior thinks her brother hates her..."

"Geez..." The father grimaced.

"I'm worried Lynn. I want our daughters to make amends with Lincoln too, but I'm afraid he might act the same way he did with Junior, or worse..." Rita explained, her distress very clear.

"Do you think a doctor might be able to figure out what's wrong?"

"I pray that one does...otherwise...otherwise I just don't know what we're going to do..."

Clyde sat in the back of his family's car, staring at the houses that passed by his window. Both of his dads were in the front seats. The McBride family was going to visit a certain someone at the hospital before visiting hours were done, but Clyde wanted to stop by the Loud House first. He knew being stuck in a hospital could get boring, and he wasn't sure if Lincoln had something to keep himself occupied. As his best friend, the boy knew Lincoln could never say no to Ace Savvy. After telling the whole story to his parents, Clyde was bringing the comics he owned, as well as those Lincoln had to help him feel better.

The African-American child was rather surprised when Harold stated they arrived. Usually, the noise from the house could be heard a few blocks away, living up to the name. But now, it was eerily quiet. Vanzilla was parked in the driveway, the lights were on, so someone had to be home.

"Thanks dad. I'll only be a few minutes." Clyde said as he got out.

"Be careful dear! You have your inhaler with you right?" Howard asked with worry. Clyde pulled it out of his pocket for a brief moment before stowing it.

The boy walked up to the door and knocked. He would've used the door bell, but he grimly remembered the last time that happened. After a few moments of waiting, Clyde heard footsteps inside the house before the door swung open, revealing Luna. Instead of her normal, cheery self, the rocker was quite moody and depressed. She wasn't even in her usual attire, just a plain white shirt and baggy pants.

"Hey Clyde..." She stated.

"Hey Luna." He shifted a little. "Um...this is kinda hard to say...I know what happened around here yesterday, but I'm not here to badger you about it. I just want to know if I can grab some of Lincoln's comics from his room."

"Go ahead...no one's been in his room, or will be for that matter..." Luna told him dejectedly before going upstairs.

Clyde thanked her before stepping into the house. Looking around, he spotted Lola sleeping on the coach. Instead of a princess gown and tiara, she was wearing a plain blue T-shirt with white pants. Aside from that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He just couldn't believe how quiet it was. The boy could even hear Luan writing something in the dining room. Peaking in, he saw she seemed just as moody as Luna; her hair was still down, and he was sure she wasn't thinking of any jokes due to the fact he could see her math book on the table. Lisa was there too, trying to help her understand a few equations. The brains of the family didn't seem to change all that much. The two gave him a quick glance before resuming their activity.

Going up the stairs, he was now in the epicenter of where the loudest sounds of the house always originate. But now, it was so quiet it felt like a ghost town. It actually unnerved Clyde a bit. Looking around the hall, Lori and Leni's room was closed, though Luna and Luan's door was slightly ajar. He peeked in, and noticed the lack of music equipment and speakers. He never realized how big the room actually was. It just seemed kinda cramped with the large speakers and Luan's props scattered about the place. Luna was in her bunk, earphones plugged in as she tuned out everything around her, listening to a song Clyde couldn't make out.

Quietly placing the door back to its original position, he walked towards Lincoln's room, taking note of the other rooms when he could. Lynn and Lucy's room was closed, though he heard someone crying behind the door. In the twin's room, Clyde immediately noticed the lack of exotic reptiles, and a heartbroken Lana sitting on her bed with a photo in her hands. On Lola's side, plastic had been taped to the mirrors hung on the walls. Whether that was the parents doing or the princess' own was up for debate. In Lisa and Lily's room, the light was off, though the door was also ajar. Lily was asleep in her crib, but Clyde could see that Lisa's extensive chemistry set was gone. It was as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Man...talk about epic grounding..." The boy muttered to himself.

Upon reaching the converted linen closet, Clyde slowly opened the door and turned on the light. Nothing had changed from when he was last in there. The bed was a little messy, some clothes hung here and there, a few scrapes of trash on the floor, and Lincoln's computer sat on his desk. Next to the laptop, stacked neatly in a pile and covered in a plastic freezer bag, was the white-haired boy's collection of Ace Savvy comics.

"Still fresh. Definitely Lincoln's style." Clyde noted, grabbing the bag before making his way back down the stairs. He bid the sisters goodbye before exiting.

Harold noted the look on his son's face when he stepped into the car. "You alright Clyde? Something happen?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just, everything seems so different now. They might have to call the Loud House, the Quiet House." Luan would approve of that joke.

"Oh dear. You're not going to have another fear about change are you?" Howard asked.

"No dad, but I'm just worried."

"Well, you did say those ruffians got their punishment. It might be for the best." Harold noted.

"Maybe for most, but probably not for the Louds..." Clyde stated, casting a sad glance at the Loud house through the rear window.

A/N: I think I wrote that out nicely. I was thinking of stopping it right after Lynn ran out the room, but decided to keep going. I'd say Lincoln's reaction was appropriate, but it does bring into question whether his other siblings will dare a visit. They might, which would enforce the point that something is clearly wrong.