For Want Of A Sibling

Chapter 06

Lori let out a sigh as she drove Vanzilla into the driveway. Putting the vehicle in park she rested her head against the steering wheel.

They spent the whole day on a wild goose chase looking for any trace of their brother. She was hoping it would be easy to find him. She was hoping to talk through their problems together, make amends and move on like they always do.

No such luck.

After the phone call that Lincoln made to her she kept her phone in her lap. Ready to answer as soon as she could. Lincoln either couldn't, or wouldn't, dial her number for a second time that whole day.

If she answered would he have stayed on for longer? If he heard her voice would he tell them where he was?

Lifting her head up she could see the sisters they left behind gazing at them from the living room window. Everyone had a hopeful gaze that soon dropped into anxiety when she met their eyes.

"Come on girls." She tried to sound firm. She tried to sound strong. "Let's go tell the girls." Everyone that left the van had heavy feet as they piled out.

Lori had to steel herself as she gripped the door handle. She was the oldest of the Loud children. She had to be the pillar of strength for the others.

After she ran damage control and when everyone else was asleep, she'd call Bobby.

She didn't have to be strong for him.

'Lincoln, wherever you are. Be safe.' She prayed.

Lynn splashed a handful of water on her face to help her wake up. She watched as the water trickled down her face into the sink.

'I look like shit.' She thought as she examined herself in the mirror.

The lack of sleep was taking its toll on the young girl. Her vision, which was normally exceptional, was now slightly blurry. It was hard to focus her eyesight. Dark bags were starting to make themselves known under her eyes.

Her body was aching with pain from how much she forced it to move earlier. She didn't know how far she pedalled. She pedalled until the sun went down while looking for the white-haired boy. She would have continued too if her body's normally unending energy didn't end up exhausted.

It was by pure luck that her sister Luna spotted her. They almost missed her collapsed form near the sidewalk.

If the problem was only muscle strain, she wouldn't have issues sleeping. Her body was used to muscle pain from all the training and sports she did.

It was her mind that was keeping her up. Worry for Lincoln and thoughts of what might have happened to him assailed her mind. It made falling asleep an unsurmountable obstacle. But when she finally did fall asleep her rest was plagued by nightmares involving her brother.

She tried to recall what happened in her nightmares, yet the harder she tried to grasp them the more they slipped through her fingers.

"I just want my little brother back." She whispered to herself as she watched her tears mingle with the little drops of water still stuck to her face.

"Do you really mean that?" Her reflection asked her.

The tears that were marring her face mere seconds ago vanished without a trace. There wasn't a sneer in the mirror that she expected from the 'Not sister' voice. Neither was there the look of frantic panic from the 'sister' voice.

The visage in front of her held neither sneer, nor smile. It held no trace of malice or any hint of kindness.

"I do." She told the figure staring back at her. She meant it from the bottom of her heart. She would do anything, give up everything, if it meant having her brother Lincoln back.

She expected a proud smile to adorn the face.

She didn't expect the face to bite its lower lip.

She didn't expect the look of pity.

She didn't expect the sigh of resignation.

"That may be what you want. But do you even deserve him?" It questioned her curiously. The voice was neutral, never fluctuating. It was like her own personal therapist, asking a question and allowing the patient to make their own answer.

She didn't like her own answer.

"No. I don't." She managed to choke out through clenched teeth and barely contained sobs.

The image closed its eyes and faded away. No proof that it was ever there, like smoke in the wind. In its place was her own reflection again with fresh tears spilling forth.

Ghostly images started dancing on the reflective surface. Past transgressions she committed against her brother played like a TV show in front of her. Some of them were minor offences, while others were major.

She didn't just witness her own transgressions. She saw everyone's.

She forced herself to endure watching each one. She didn't dare to turn away from all their faults. She couldn't turn back from what they did. What she did.

This was her punishment.

"But that doesn't mean I can't." She promised herself in a whisper.

Lynn Loud was a winner. She faced any trial, any challenge head on and won.

Now she just had to win against herself.

She would be a sister that Lincoln deserved.

"I. Loathe. Mornings." Carol stated as she glared at her coffee maker.

Carol was still wearing her pajama's. It was a large grey hoodie and jogging pants. She wasn't planning to go out today, so there was no reason to start getting ready.

'Wait. Am I supposed to go somewhere today?' She scratched her head underneath her hood, hoping that the motion would help remind her if she had any plans.

'Whatever. Any problems can wait until I get my coffee.' She reasoned. Coffee made things work.

It was bad enough that she had to wake up. But she also forgot that her Dad was currently out of town due to business. It must have slipped her mind while having to deal with Lynx.

With her father away that meant she had to cook breakfast. Lynx was lucky to get to sleep in.

'Did Lynx mention what he wouldn't eat?' Carol didn't know the boy well enough to know his eating habits.

Peeking into the fridge from under her hood she gazed looked at all the ingredients. She should've taken the kid grocery shopping as well.

'Whatever. Kid doesn't like it he can make his own breakfast.' She thought as she started pulling out ingredients.

Upstairs in her room Lincoln was just starting to wake up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he noted the absence of his bedmate.

It was strange. Any day of the week he had to wake up early due to the noise in his house. He had to wake up to assist everyone in getting ready and lining up for the bathroom to get himself ready. Now the only battle he had was pushing the blanket off and putting his feet on the floor.

Slipping his feet into the cat slippers Carol bought him he headed to the kitchen. He normally wouldn't mind the cat slippers, but the reason Carol purchased them…

'You're like a stray kitty I found outside. Why do you think I call you Lynx?' He could just still hear her giggling in his ears.

When he was halfway down the stairs a sound grabbed his ears. Arriving at the kitchen he saw Carol standing by the stove and bobbing her head to a tune only she could hear. One of her hands rested inside her hoody's pocket while the other hand manipulated a spatula.

"Carol. You need any help?" He offered after observing the teen from the entrance.

He wanted to pay the teen back for everything she's done for him so far. He couldn't give her money, he was broke. But if he could help her in any way, he would do it to lessen the debt he owed her.

"I do whatever I want to. I fight who I don't like, I'm a rebel through and through~" Lincoln could only stare at the girl's back in confusion. How did any of that answer his question?

"Without a single hope for the future, I wanted so badly to live within a dream." Carol whispered out before starting to sway her hips and bounce on her feet.

"And yet I'm still afraid of the future, while hating tomorrow. Wish things were the way the were. But time it stops for no one and so I shout." Carol started raising the spatula to her mouth before starting to talk into it.

"'I don't want, I don't want, don't want tomorrow to come.'" Lincoln watched on in morbid fascination as Carol continued without a care in the world. She was just singing and dancing away like no one was watching.

But someone was, and he was completely frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of an incoming truck.

When Carol turned to put the meal on the table, she caught sight of the boy and stopped. She could feel her face burning up as she slowly removed her earbuds.

"Lynx?" She slowly sat in the chair across from the boy.

"Yes Carol?"

"You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You will speak nothing of what you witnessed. Are we clear?" Lincoln would normally be intimidated in this situation. If Carol had her trademark glare aimed at him, he would have been petrified.

Unfortunately for Carol, any threats she made right now were obsolete to the boy. Carol trying to hide inside her hood to cover up her embarrassment? That overshadowed everything right now.

He tried his best to hold it in. He really did. But with the convulsions of his shoulders and the snort that escaped his lips, he couldn't contain himself anymore. Laughter filled the kitchen as what could be seen of Carol's face got redder and redder.

Lincoln didn't even bother to dodge as a piece of egg was launched at his face. Courtesy of Carol's carefully aimed spoon.

Lincoln laid on Carol's sofa, his arms and legs spread in all directions. His one hand held the remote trying to find something to watch on Netflix.

There was nothing for the boy to do. He didn't really feel like going to any of his friends' houses. His sisters would have contacted them first.

He couldn't even work on his homework. All his assignments were back in his room at the Loud house. That was how bored he was. He would willingly do his own homework right now.

After breakfast Carol told him 'Do whatever. Stay out of trouble.' Which would have been fine, if there was anything to do. It wasn't like he knew the area. He also didn't want to run into one of his sisters.

He would have checked up on Carol, but something told him she was still embarrassed about being caught singing into a spatula.

He could faintly hear the washing machine under the preview clips and quiet footsteps.

Darkness suddenly covered his vision as a soft uncomfortable heat enveloped him. Fighting off what was on him he glared at his roommate.

"Hey! What gives?"

"Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're going to love it. Now get folding." She said with a smirk. She circled around the sofa with a laundry hamper balanced on her hip.

Looking at what Carol dumped on him he saw his newly bought, freshly cleaned clothes.

"You plan on watching something?" She asked as she sat beside the boy and placed the basket beside her.

"I don't know what to watch. I never thought having to do nothing would be so boring." He admitted while picking up his white hooded vest to fold.

There was a point in time that all he wanted was some peace and quiet time for himself. It's what started this whole mess. Maybe if he-

"That doesn't answer my question Lynx." Carol said as she started folding her own share of clothes.

"Yeah, sorry." He apologized while reaching for the next article to fold. "Anything planned for today?"

"Homework. I need to write a book report on the differences and similarities between Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." She scrunched up her face in distaste.

"Sounds… Interesting?" The boy hazarded to say as he grabbed his bra to fold next.

"Yeah, so we're going to have to go visit the library after this." Carol said as she continued folding her own clothes.

The boy nodded in acceptance before freezing in mid motion.

'Wait. What?' He lifted the piece of clothing in his hands again and examined the piece. It was a bra. A black, lacy, transparent bra.

Normally this wouldn't be embarrassing. He helped fold his sisters' undergarments on occasion.

But this was Carol's. Carol wasn't his sister.

He could feel his face start to heat up. In his panic fumbled with the bra before flinging it away from him.

Carol didn't even flinch as her bra smacked her in the face. She continued with her task. Reaching over to a pair of socks she calmly bundled them together.

Before launching the ball of cloth at Lincoln's head.

Lincoln stared at Carol in shock. Carol raised her eyebrow in return. She didn't have to say anything. Lincoln remembered how she acted at the arcade last night.

Carol's competitive nature was sparked.

"You do know this means war." He said narrowing his eyes at the teen.

She leaned over to put her eyes at the same level as his. "Bring it Kitty."

Carol let out a sharp squeal as she tried to avoid a pair of briefs aimed at her face.

The start of the great laundry war was here.

"I'll literally be right next door. If you need anything you have my number saved. You remember 'Carol's All True Rules Of Living Life' number 3?" Carol asked as she stared down at the boy.

Lincoln sighed as he nodded. The nod wasn't good enough for Carol as she motioned with her hand for the boy to continue.

"Don't do something I wouldn't want to explain to the cops or paramedics. AKA, stay out of trouble." The boy recited while rolling his eyes.

"Good boy." She smiled as she pulled Lincoln's hood over his eyes.

He flailed his arms in hopes of knocking her arms away, but she was already walking away from him. Paying for his time at the counter the girl strode out of the café.

She said she was going to the library. He wouldn't have minded going with the girl, but he had his own objective at the cyber café.

Hopefully one of his classmates was online right now.

He couldn't help the smile that blossomed on his face as he saw who was online.

"Hey Clyde." He greeted his best friend after initiating a video chat.

Carol returned to the café after she finished in the library. She gave a brief nod to the cashier that he returned in kind.

Scanning the room, she tried to find a sign of her bedmate before the owner pointed his thumb into a corner near the back.

As she approached the boy, he could see he was talking to a Hispanic girl. The girl's face eyebrows were scrunched up in irritation as she spoke.

Her features tickled a sense of familiarity in the girl. She couldn't place when or where she would have seen this girl.

Too caught up in his conversation he didn't even notice her approach.

'Is she Lynx's girlfriend?' Carol jut out her lip in thought as she stood behind the boy.

Slowly, her lips broke into a smile. It wasn't a warm smile. It wasn't a happy smile.

It was the smile of the cat that ate the canary.

'I can have fun with this.' Holding in her chuckles she slowly and casually placed her hand upon his shoulder.

She watched as the younger girls face morphed from irritation into one of confusion.

"Thanks for sending me the homework Clyde." Lincoln said to his friend.

"No problem Linc. Anyways, I have an appointment with doctor Lopez. See you on Monday."

Closing the video chat another video chat request popped up. It was from his other friend Ronnie Anne, the younger sister of his oldest sister's boyfriend.

He was hesitant to accept the request. Not because he didn't like Ronnie Anne, but because of her relationship to Bobby.

If he didn't accept, she would give him an earful on Monday. Resolving himself he clicked on the accept button.

"Lame-O!" The Hispanic girl's face popped onto the screen. "Where have you been?! Your sisters have been worried sick!"

"Hey Ronnie Anne. How've you been?" It was good to see a familiar face again.

"Don't try to change the subject!" The girl snapped at him. She worried for the boy. But it was easier for her to deal with anger than with anxiety. "Lori called Bobby last night saying you haven't been home. Where are you right now?"

The mere mention of his older sister sent a flurry of emotions into him. But still, he answered the girl's question.

"I'm at a café near the library right now."

Before Ronnie Anne could ask another question a figure of a person came on the screen.

The stranger stood behind Lincoln and all that could be seen was the person's torso. It was easy to identify as female, but that was it. The hands of the female were concealed in the front pocket of the purple hoodie.

The stranger placed a hand on the younger boy, it was done casually, as if they were close friends.

"Yo Lynx. I grabbed what I needed. You almost done?" Ronnie Anne didn't recognize the voice at all. But the familiarity it showed Lincoln was odd. It even had a nickname for the boy.

Lincoln was her friend. He was arguably her best friend. So an unfamiliar voice near him when he went missing…

It drew an uncomfortable picture in her mind.

"Yeah. Ronnie Anne. Be seeing ya."

"Hey wai-" She held on to the corners of the monitor to stop the boy from disconnecting.

"Hey Lynx." The unfamiliar voice cut her off.

Both Ronnie and Lincoln stopped. Lincoln looked up at something out of her view. But still she tried to get closer to get even a glimpse of the stranger.

"Can you do me a favor?" The voice asked.

"Sure. Wassup?"

"Smell this." Purple hoody pulled out a piece of cloth from inside her main pouch.

"Let me know if it smells like chloroform." With that statement the cloth immediately was set upon her friend's mouth and nose. The young boy started struggling to pull the hand something him off with no success. With her one hand occupied with the boy she pulled out the other and cut off the connection.

Ronnie Anne couldn't do anything. She felt like a string puppet without the strings as she sat back down in her chair and stared blankly at the screen.

If anyone knew anything about Bobby Santiago, it was that he was dedicated. It was his specialty. Whether it was his family, his girlfriend Lori, or even his future; Bobby would commit himself 100% and more.

He would balance family, school, Lori, and his multitude of jobs with a smile. He promised himself that at any time, for any reason; if they needed him, he would be there.

Last night his babe gave him a call. Her voice was wavering as she spoke, she was holding in tears with everything that she was saying.

His heart went out to his girlfriend. He could understand the worry the eldest Loud sister was going through. Their lil bro was missing.

It wasn't hard to imagine what Lori was going through. He just had to imagine Nini disappearing without a trace.

He may not have been the smartest boy in school, but what he lacked in brains he made up for in single minded tenacity. He just had to get some help.

"Nini! Lil bro is missing. I need your help to find him." He said after bursting through his little sisters' door.

She was sitting in front her laptop, a window displaying a 'user disconnected' screen on it.

"Lame-O is near the library…" She said as she stared at the screen.

Bobby couldn't help but blink at that declaration. Lori was freaking out, and his sister knew where he was right away.

"Well, as long as he's okay. We can go pick him up."

"I guess." Ronnie Anne said in a daze. The young girl was still in a shock from the surreal event that took place on her screen.

"Hey bro?" She turned to look at her brother.

"Yeah?"

"What's chloroform?"

Deleted scene

Carol and Lincoln at the Arcade

Carol allowed Lincoln to drag her around the sea of people. The sound from the various game machines and laughter of people almost drowning out the boy's excited babbling.

He finally pulled her into a booth with two pistol controllers.

"Carol! You ever play an FPS before?" The boy asked after sitting down and facing the girl. His joyful smile lighting up his face as his body shook with excitement.

"What's an FPS?" The term sounded familiar. If only because she heard it through conversations between her classmates she overheard.

"First Person Shooter. Think paintball." He said as he reached over to pick up a plastic firearm.

"Whatever. Let's do this." She grumbled picking up a gun of her own.

Looking back, Lincoln should have explained the game mechanics to Carol before they started.

"What the hell?!" Carol yelled at the screen. "I shot it in the face! How did it not die?!"

"Don't panic!" Lincoln eyed the screen for any enemy movement. "See the sparkling plant in the bottom left corner? Shoot it to get back health."

"I would do that if I could. But I'm out of ammo over here!" Carol wanted to throw the controller at the screen in frustration.

"Shoot off screen to reload!" He said trying to buy time for Carol to get used to the game.

"How do these things not die from a bullet to the head? I double tapped! I swear to God I did!"

"Don't feel bad Carol." Lincoln said as he stroked the back of the scowling teen to comfort her.

She was sitting there, glaring at the screen as it flashed the scores. It was bad enough that the boy had a higher score than her. But what really made the situation worse was that the boy sounded exactly like his older sister Leni when she would comfort Lori.

"You're just not as good at this as Lori."

Correction. What he just said with his smug little smirk made it was worse. She could feel something within her snap.

She took a deep breath as she wordlessly picked her gun back up and paid for another round.

"One. More. Time." She said glaring at the younger boy.

She completely, and absolutely refused to lose to a Loud.

Lincoln couldn't hold back his gleeful laughs as he continued to drag Carol from game to game.

He always spent time with his sisters. It was rare that his sisters spent their time with him though. He was always helping them with their hobbies and projects that they rarely had time for his.

"Before I get on this contraption, explain how it works." His partner said as she crossed her arms and glared at the machine.

That was why he was happy right now. None of his sisters played his favourite game with him. It was why he was giddy to explain the game to the unamused girl.

'If only I had more day's like this with them.'

"I think this is the first time I've seen you smile and actually mean it." Lincoln commented as he followed beside the older girl

Carol was positively beaming as they left the arcade and mall behind her.

"What can I say? I just won bragging rights over another Loud."

Carol had to admit. It was fun hanging out with Lynx. It threw the monotonous routine of hers for a loop.

The bragging rights also felt damn good.

Can't forget the bragging rights.

Author's Note: So, I'm just going to end this chapter here. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but originally this story wasn't meant to be a long story.

It was going to be just a series of one shots. A sort of "Slice of Life" fic of just Carol and Lincoln being friends. I have a bunch of clips already written down, but most of them were cut for the mere fact they probably wouldn't fit into the main story line now or that they wouldn't end the chapter in a way that I felt happy with.

I still liked those scenes, so I added one as a sort of bonus. So yeah, it is canon in this story.

Other side random notes. The original title of the story was supposed to be Hocus Pocus, like the Hatsune Miku song. It changed after I was surfing that tvtropes site.

Preview

"Are you completely insane?" "What are you going to do if she calls the cops thinking I was actually kidnapped?"

"Yeah…" "My bad…"