Pre-chapter author's note: This isn't a direct sequal to 'Broken Mirror' ('Restore Image' is the direct sequal to that story). Rather, this is a sort-of 'what if' kind of deal that explores what it would be like if Lincoln's time in the city that he ran away to continued beyond the events of the last chapter in that story. I'm doing this story partly because a lot of you seemed to like 'Broken Mirror' and I figured that some of you would appreciate this story, and partly because the more I thought about a story like this and developed the plot in my mind, the more I wanted to bring this story to life. I have NO idea how well this story will catch on, but I guess that there is only one real way to find out. (Warning: Much like the original 'Broken Mirror', this story will contain blood, violence and strong swearing. However, this story will also contain mentions of suicide, horrific massive events of violence, strong themes of racism, and multiple named characters from the series proper will bite it.) So, without further ado, here's the first chapter of 'Broken Mirror: New War'.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Broken Mirror: New War

Chapter one: Not Returning

Lincoln Loud, who has long since ceased referring to himself as a member of that family, was shocked to see that Ronnie Anne Santiago, someone who was close to him back in his old life back in Royal Woods, was in the city that he ran away to after he was compelled to do so after his family decried him as bad luck. The boy without a family saw the Hispanic tomboy enter the apartment building that was part of the same building that also had the bodega store that Hector Casagrande, a nice old man who has shown Lincoln kindness, owns and operates.

To add another degree to the shock that Lincoln was feeling, he also saw that Vanzilla, the ancient family vehicle owned by his ex-family, was parked outside of the bodega store slash apartment building. After a bit of thought, Lincoln realized that, if Ronnie Anne was in this city, then her older brother Bobby was most likely here as well. Bobby and Lincoln's oldest ex-sister Lori were an item; given the dedication the two seventeen-year-olds had for each other, Lincoln assumed that Lori drove all the way up here just to be with her precious Boo-Boo Bear.

…Feh, typical. It didn't surprise the boy without a family that his oldest ex-sister would show such care for her boyfriend. As for the boy without a family himself, he might as well be what his ex-dog Charles left in the backyard. In fact, Lincoln wouldn't put it past Lori if she decided to blab to Bobby about how Lincoln was quote unquote 'bad luck'; Lincoln also had reason to believe that Hector Casagrande might be a relative of Bobby's and Ronnie Anne's (remembering something Hector said when he first met him, Lincoln connected some dots and believed that Hector was Ronnie Anne's grandfather), and soon the Casagrandes would likewise view Lincoln as if he bore a black spot.

Not wanting to even bother with them anymore, Lincoln turned around and began to walk away. However, he didn't get all that far before he heard a familiar female voice call out, "Hey, you're that kid from before!" Turning around, the boy without a family saw that Carlota girl from the high school fundraiser come running up to him. "Yeah, yeah you're totally that kid from before!" Carlota said to Lincoln in a cheerful and friendly tone, "How have you been?"

Sighing in a resigned, tired tone, Lincoln said, "I'm…fine. Really tired, but otherwise fine." Trying to make conversation with Carlota so as to not seem rude, Lincoln asked, "Did…did your school ever try again with the fundraiser after what happened with all of those kids coming in and wrecking the place?" Lincoln is speaking about a local gang of rather violent youths, all of which were in Lincoln's general age group.

The violent youth gang had committed various crimes, up to and including murder. For reasons that escape Lincoln and most everyone else in the city, the violent youth gang were able to do whatever the hell they wanted with impunity, as the local law enforcement seemed completely unwilling to give those violent youth gang members so much as a slap on the wrist.

…Lincoln gave every last member of the violent youth gang far more than a mere slap on the wrist. In fact, Lincoln had just gotten out of yet another confrontation with those gang members; he tracked down two members of the gang and saw that they had somehow managed to drag Ronnie Anne into their hideout in an abandoned building somewhere in the city, with the intent of making her join under threat of physical violence.

Before the two gang members knew what was going on, Lincoln made his move, silencing both of them forever. Ronnie Anne had no idea that it was Lincoln, as he was wearing his get-up that he had for when he did his 'work' in the city. In fact, he had even taking to leaving calling cards that he made himself; they were made on index cards, a capital letter 'B' was in the upper left corner, while a capital letter 'M' was in the lower right corner, and in the middle was a drawing of a hand mirror, with the mirror part broken.

Hence why everyone in the city has taken to referring to him as 'Broken Mirror'.

Right after he had saved Ronnie Anne from being forced to join the gang, a thirteen-year-old girl who talked like Lincoln's musically inclined ex-sister came in and saw what was going on. The girl said that the two gang members wanted her to join, but she hadn't accepted yet. Lincoln allowed the girl to go after she promised not to join the gang; he also salvaged a ring from one of the gang members he killed and gave it to the thirteen-year-old girl, as the girl said that she had her eye on the ring for quite some time.

Lincoln knew that his work as Broken Mirror was done; he heard from the two gang members who tried to make Ronnie Anne join that, if both she and the thirteen-year-old girl joined the gang, the gang would have a total of four members. Since Lincoln killed the two actual gang members and neither Ronnie Anne or the thirteen-year-old girl joined, that means that the gang has been completely wiped out. Never again would a group of overly violent youths that were allowed to make the city their personal stomping grounds give trouble to the innocent civilians. Never again would the gang damage property, or steal from others, or assault older people.

…Or kill innocent kids.

But Lincoln was letting his mind wander. Lincoln looked up to Carlota, who was saying, "…on Friday of the following week," Carlota said. With an amused smirk, the older Hispanic girl continued, "You know, my friends and I could have used your help again. It was really sweet of you when you tried to help clean up the mess that those punks made."

Lincoln suddenly remembered that Carlota was talking about how she and some of her friends hired Lincoln to help them set up for their part of their school's fundraiser. "I…" Lincoln said, trailing off a bit because he wasn't quite sure what to say. Shaking his head gently a bit, Lincoln said, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Carlota said in a reassuring tone. Ruffling Lincoln's hair, Carlota said, "I bet you were scared that those punks would have shown up again." Shaking her head gently in an understanding manner, Carlota continued, "I can't really blame you for that." Removing her hand from the top of Lincoln's head, Carlota said as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "You said you were tired, right? My grandfather's place is across the street, so if you want, you can stop by for a bit."

Looking behind Carlota, the boy without a family saw she was pointing out the apartment building/bodega store that he saw Ronnie Anne go into earlier. This surprised Lincoln; was Carlota related to Ronnie Anne as well? What other family does she have in this city? …No doubt Carlota would jump on the 'Lincoln is bad luck' band wagon that Lori undoubtedly got Bobby, Ronnie Anne and the rest of their folks to join.

Shaking his head gently, Lincoln said, "No thanks. I'll be fine."

With a look of mild concern on her face, Carlota asked, "Are you sure?"

Nodding weakly in the affirmative, Lincoln replied tiredly, "I'm…I'm sure. I just need to get going." Turning around, the boy without a family walked away. However, Lincoln didn't walk all that far; about ten to twelve feet away, Lincoln stumbled, fell against a wall and…after regaining his balance, stood himself back up properly and continued to walk away, defying the exhaustion he was feeling as a result of everything he did today. Carlota, although concerned as she saw the white-haired boy stumble a bit, respected his decision and allowed him to continue on his way.

…

Lincoln eventually found a safe place to rest, an abandoned building that used to be one of the hideouts for the violent youth gang before Lincoln…became the new resident. There was some sort of office room on the building's second floor, and that room had been converted into a bedroom of sorts. Granted, the bed was nothing more than a mattress on a box-spring that was on the floor, but at least it was something. Lincoln even managed to gather a few pillows and a comforter to make resting on the bed more comfortable.

After he checked to make sure everything in his 'home' was secure, Lincoln went to his bedroom, laid down on the pitiful excuse he had for a bed and proceeded to allow his exhaustion to take him off to the realm of sleep. As he drifted off, the boy without a family felt that he could afford to take something of a break; the violent youth gang was no more, the innocent people of the city were safe, and what made Lincoln especially at ease was that he was not exposed to a group of brainless, heartless monsters that mistreated him at their leisure.

Lincoln, as he began falling asleep, thought that things were going to look up.

The following day, Lincoln was walking back from helping out a kind elderly Jewish woman who ran a thrift shop. She even paid Lincoln twenty dollars for his help and hard work. Lincoln thanked the elderly Jewish woman before he respectfully took his leave. Anywho, as Lincoln walked through a park, he felt a bit hungry. Luckily, there was a convenience store near the park, and Lincoln had a fair bit of money on-hand, even without considering the twenty dollars he had just earned.

After buying a cinnamon roll and a bottle of strawberry-flavored sports drink, Lincoln walked over to the park, found a bench, sat down, and proceeded to consume his purchases. As he ate and drank, the boy without a family saw a football land near the bench he sat on. In fact, the football actually landed near Lincoln's feet. Curious, the white-haired boy got up and with his right hand (which was free since he finished his cinnamon roll) picked up the football. "…Huh," Lincoln said aloud as he considered the football. As he slowly turned the football around, he heard an older man's voice call out, "Excuse me!"

Looking up, Lincoln saw two people of Hispanic heritage come running up to him. The first was a man that Lincoln estimated to be no older than his ex-father; this man wore glasses with a black-colored square frame, a white long-sleeved shirt under a green sweater vest, brown pants, and brown shoes. Lincoln suddenly remembered that this was that Carlos man who was talking to that elderly Caucasian man Henry over at the local Burpin' Burger that one time. The other person, the one with Carlos, was a boy who Lincoln estimated to be maybe a year or two older than him; this boy wore a yellow shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks and blue shoes. Lincoln could tell that the boy had some sort of mental handicap.

"Sorry about that," Carlos said to Lincoln apologetically, "My son Carlos Jr. put a bit too much effort in throwing the football."

"Oh, so this is yours," Lincoln remarked to Carlos and the boy, revealed to be his son Carlos Jr., as he held up the football. Gently tossing the football to the younger Carlos, Lincoln said, "Here you go."

"You wanna play with us?" Carlos Jr. asked, "Mom doesn't wanna toss the football around with me and dad, so it's only the two of us."

"Now son," Carlos Sr. began to the younger Carlos, "This boy has probably got something else that he wants to do. You shouldn't try and drag him into joining us."

"Actually," Lincoln replied, "I've got nothing going on right now. I don't see any problem with joining you guys, provided that's okay." Carlos Jr. cheered while Carlos Sr. chuckled in a manner that conveyed some amount of amusement with the situation.

"Well I don't see why not," Carlos Sr. said to Lincoln. Gesturing for the boy without a family to follow him and his son, Carlos Sr. said, "Why don't you come with me and Junior here? My wife's over in the direction we came from, and she's got the picnic basket with her. We ought to be heading back over there so Frida doesn't worry about Junior and I too much." Nodding in agreement with the kind Hispanic man, Lincoln proceeded to follow the father and son pair over to another area of the park.

Lincoln, Carlos Sr. and Carlos Jr. ended up tossing the football around for the next few hours. The boy without a family actually had quite a bit of fun with the two guys. Lincoln even learned a bit about them; Carlos Sr. was something of a bibliophile, as evident by the fact that he was trying to read a book while playing with Lincoln and Carlos Jr. at the same time. This resulted in the book that the older Carlos was reading being forced into his face when the younger Carlos threw the football while shouting, "Catch, dad!" The football accidentally smacked into the book, forcing the book far closer to Carlos Sr.'s face that he normally likes. Lincoln, Carlos Jr., Carlos Sr.'s wife Frida and even Carlos Sr. himself all found this worth laughing about.

Speaking of Frida, she sat on a nearby bench as she watched her husband and son play with a boy who she automatically assumed was a new friend of Carlos Jr.'s. Like her husband and son, Frida was a person of Hispanic heritage. She had long black hair and she wore a pink dress that had a green pattern of some sort at the top, a pair of orange earrings, yellow pearl bracelets on each wrist, and a pair of brown shoes. Every so often, Lincoln noticed that Frida took pictures of what was going on, such as when Carlos Jr. made a rather impressive catch where he jumped into the air to catch the football as he dad threw it to him.

Carlos Jr. was the last of this family trio. From what Lincoln was able to learn after Frida told him, Carlos Jr. was thirteen-years-old, putting the Hispanic boy in the same age as Lincoln's athletic older ex-sister, a girl whose name Lincoln was in no mood to utter anytime soon. Also, Lincoln's earlier guess of Carlos Jr. having some sort of disability was confirmed when Frida explained that her son had Down Syndrome. The boy without a family didn't know too much about this, but luckily for him, the city's local library should have a book on the subject, so he should be able to read up on it in between the various odd jobs he does to earn his living.

"Wow, we ought to get going," Frida said to her husband and son as she looked at the time on a cell phone she pulled out of her purse, "It's six-thirty-two in the evening."

"Six-thirty-two?!" Carlos Sr. repeated in a shocked tone, "Geez, we stayed more than an hour longer that we were supposed to! My mother will get mad if the three of us are late for dinner just because we lost track of time!"

"Oh, I'm sorry if me coming over to toss the football around with you distracted you guys," Lincoln said in an apologetic tone.

"Oh, it's not your fault, young man," Carlos Sr. replied in a kind and reassuring tone, "It's just that my parents live with my family, and my mother likes to handle the cooking, but she's a bit strict when it comes to everyone being home on time for dinner."

"This night would have been the first night that my sister and her kids would have joined us," Frida began, "She was considering moving her family here to the city to live with us, as she didn't want her kids to be lonely while she was at work, and she figured that they'd do better if they had their cousins to hang out with." With a sigh that sounded a bit resigned, Frida continued, "But my sister ultimately decided against moving her family out here. Then again, my dad told her and her children over the phone everything he heard about this violent youth gang that's been terrorizing the city. When my sister and her kids were over here yesterday, my niece claimed that two gang members were trying to force her to join."

"…Really?" Lincoln asked as this woman's story started to sound like it was slowly mixing with his exploits from yesterday on how he saved Ronnie Anne from being forced to join the gang.

"My niece also told me some masked person saved her by killing the gang members and letting her go unharmed," Frida went on.

"Did she say anything about the killer's appearance?" Carlos Sr. asked.

Shaking her head gently in the negative, Frida replied, "Sorry, dear, but she didn't get anything out before my sister took her and our nephew back with her to Royal Woods." Having heard the Hispanic woman mention Royal Woods just now caught Lincoln's attention; Frida and both guys named Carlos were relatives of Ronnie Anne's. The boy without a family didn't get complete and total confirmation, but he could tell that he was right.

"A darn shame," Carlos Sr. remarked, "If she did say anything about the guy's appearance, then I'd have an idea of what he looked like so that if I ever ran into him, I could thank him."

"Thank him?" Frida repeated in a confused tone that carried a hint of shock. Giving her husband a serious look, the Hispanic woman continued, "Carlos, why would you thank a killer?"

"Frida, look," Carlos Sr. began, "You know full well my stance on that violent g-" The older Carlos was cut off when Frida's cellphone rang. Frida answered it, got a bit of shouting from over the phone (from where Lincoln stood, it sounded like it came from a woman older than Frida), then after she ended the call, Frida looked to her family.

"That was your mom," Frida said, "She wants us home for dinner now."

"Alright, then," Carlos Sr. replied, "It is getting a bit late, after all." Turning to face Lincoln, Carlos Sr. said, "Thanks again for playing around a bit with us."

"Can you join us next time?" Carlos Jr. asked.

"If…if I run into you guys, sure," Lincoln replied, a bit surprised that these people were kind enough to show him such consideration. The three family members said their good-byes to the boy without a family before they took their leave from the park, leaving Lincoln alone. Since he had nothing else to do, the white-haired boy took his leave.

…

As Lincoln walked back to the abandoned building that he's taken up as his new home in this city, he thought about the kind family that he hung out with at the park earlier. They showed Lincoln no scorn, readily welcoming him to join them for a simple game of catch in the park. The boy without a family thought that, if he could pick what family he was born into, he would pick those kind people.

A well-read albeit mildly absentminded father who was patient and encouraging. A mother who took every opportunity she could get to preserve family memories forever with her camera. A fun older brother who was young at heart. Not to mention grandparents, with the grandfather at least being someone Lincoln could count on (Lincoln was able to connect the dots and figure out that Hector was Carlos Sr.'s dad), a kind older sister (Carlota was likewise connected), an aunt and two cousins. Lincoln wished that he had been born into a family such as that. He bet he would have liked it.

He bet that they wouldn't have decried him as bad luck.

The following morning, Lincoln was grabbing breakfast at the local Burpin' Burger, although his breakfast consisted of some sort of French Toast sticks and a large cup of sports drink. As he had his small breakfast, the boy without a family overheard something on the wall-mounted TV. Luckily for him, another customer in the Burpin' Burger at the time asked for the TV's volume to be turned up so the news could be heard. As such, Lincoln heard what the news was saying.

"…Arrested late yesterday evening following their assault on a local elderly woman," the news anchor said as the pictures of two young adult people, one a Caucasian male and the other an African American female, were shown on the news. The news then showed the picture of an elderly woman who was clearly Hispanic. "Witnesses to the assault report that the two assailants were shouting obscenities at the elderly woman, degrading her for her ethnicity. This is yet another instance of the brewing trouble that's arising in this city where citizens of Hispanic heritage are on the recieving end of serious hate crimes. We'll bring you more on this story as it develops."

Lincoln turned his attention away from the TV, returning his attention to his meager meal. This whole business that's pitting people of different races against each other sounds like far greater trouble than the deal he recently finished involving the now wiped-out violent youth gang. Then again, instead of violent youths committing crimes, this racial thing seemed to be something between adults and other adults. And the local police are actually getting involved this time.

Lincoln figured that Broken Mirror didn't need to get involved here.

END, BROKEN MIRROR: NEW WAR CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

The idea for this story popped up into my head while I was still working on a number of other Loud House stories. Also, I saw in the comments of 'Broken Mirror' how some of you were disappointed with its relatively short length. So, I figured that some of you might appreciate this continuation of the story. …Well, it's sort-of a continuation of 'Broken Mirror'. Basically, this is what would happen if Lincoln didn't collapse from exhaustion in front of Carlota in the early part of the last chapter of 'Broken Mirror', which ended up allowing for the white-haired boy to be reunited with his estranged family.

Anywho, the next chapter will see Lincoln reconsider his stance on Broken Mirror getting involved in the whole deal of the blatant racism that's currently going on in the city, especially considering what ends up happening to one of the Casagrandes.