A new day
Over the next couple days, the Loud kids and girls from Grimwood visited Lincoln whenever they could, as promised. And each day, Lincoln's strength and energy returned to him. By the coming Wednesday, the Loud warlock was declared well enough to be released from the hospital. He was pretty grateful for that, since he was getting very tired of just laying around watching tv all day. After taking care of the paperwork with the help of Shaggy, he was finally on his way back to school. "Bet you're glad to be out of there." The scruffy man said as he drove his van down the road.
"I sure am." Lincoln told him with a soft smile. "After all that training I did, the inactivity was starting to drive me kinda crazy." The two of them chuckled lightly. "Hope I didn't miss a lot of schoolwork…"
"Nah. Miss Grimwood put classes on hold." Shaggy explained, "The building needed repairs after Sigmund's attack, she needed to review the applications she collected at the convention, and she needed to work with Mr Van Ghoul to discuss his lesson plan."
"Sounds like she's been really busy…" The one son said, his expression becoming sadder. He remembered how bad Miss Grimwood felt about the end of the Revolta Incident. He imagined she was probably beating herself up pretty badly over Sigmund's invasion; even if it wasn't her fault. 'I hope she'll be alright…' He thought to himself. The rest of the short ride was made in silence, Shaggy focusing on the road and Lincoln simply staring out at the window until he parked inside on the grounds. The middle son climbed out of the Mystery Machine, Miss Grimwood had emerged from the school building to greet him.
"Welcome back, Lincoln. Feeling ok now, I hope?" She asked, leaning over to look him in the eyes, as if to make sure she was being honest with her.
"Thanks, Miss Grimwood. Yeah, I'm feeling better. Not gonna be running any marathons anytime soon, but I'm well enough to be out and about." He answered, not breaking eye contact.
"Good. Good. The girls will be so happy to hear you're back." Abigail told him. "I believe I saw them up by your room earlier."
"Are you doing alright, Miss Grimwood?" The young man asked.
"Oh, don't worry about me, dear. I'm just fine." She told him, patting him on the head. "Go on and go see your friends, Lincoln." He wasn't entirely convinced, but didn't pursue it. He simply nodded to her with a soft smile and bid her good afternoon before he went upstairs. Oddly, when he reached the door to his room, he found no one there, but his door was ajar. This struck the one son as curious, since the girls didn't usually go into his room when he wasn't there...except Phantasma to set up an ambush. However, when he opened the door, no one was in there either. There was, however, a note on his teleportation orb. On the note was written, in very tiny handwriting so Lincoln need to get very close to read it, 'Don't Move'.
"Don't move?" The boy from Royal Woods said out loud, scratching his head. While he was considering this, the orb was filling with green smoke. Just when he was about to start looking for his friends, Lincoln vanished in a flash of light.
The white haired lad just blinked as he suddenly found himself in the living room of the Loud House. Not only that, but he was surrounded by his sisters, his parents, his friends from Grimwood, Ronnie Anne, and Bobby. He didn't quite catch this as he was a little disoriented, but he snapped out of it as they all cheered "Welcome back, Lincoln!" The moment he realized where he was and especially who he was with, he smiled brightly at them all.
"Shaggy told us you were coming back, so we all arranged a little welcome back party for you." Sibella told him, smiling in return to the mortal boy she loved so much.
"It's good to see you up on your feet again, bro." Lynn Jr said, walking over to pat her brother on the back.
"How's your shoulder feeling?" Lucy inquired.
"Fine. It was a little stiff when I first came to in the hospital, but it's fine now." Lincoln replied, swinging his arm a bit to show them all was well.
"We're so glad you're all better, big brother." Tanis said, giving Lincoln a big hug.
"Linkin! Linkin!" Lily agreed, toddling over to hug his leg. This brought a collective "Aaawwwww!" from everyone in the room. Well, not verbally from Milly, but she thought it. About that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Is anyone expecting company?" Lynn Sr asked, walking toward the door.
"I texted Clyde earlier that Lincoln was coming back home. I'll bet that's him." Lori explained. However, when her father answered the door, he found Trent and Cynthia at the door, an arm around one another and looking in good spirits.
"Oh. Good afternoon, Trent, Cynthia." He greeted them with a smile.
"Hi Lynn. How are you today? How's the family?" The detective asked.
"We're doing wonderfully, thanks. Lincoln just got back home from the hospital and we were about to have a little celebration. Care to join us?" He offered the two of them.
"Well, that's wonderful." Cynthia replied with a smile of her own. "And we're in the mood to celebrate as well." Before the Loud father could inquire any further, the two of them stepped to one side, revealing Zanya; awake, alive (so to speak) and as chipper as the day she first arrived. She waved to them with a big smile on her face.
"ZANYA!" Lola, Lana, Leni, Phanty, Tanis, Winnie and Gila all cried out as all of them dashed to the door and tackled the zombie girl into the grass with the force of their combined hugs.
"Hahaha. Come on guys. I just got out of the hospital and you're trying to send me back?" She joked while laughing.
"We're just so happy to see you again." Lana told her, tears of happiness spilling from her eyes. The rest of the Louds soon emerged from the house, along with Sibella, Milly, Suki, Elsa. It was such a sweet scene most of them couldn't help but giggle at the sight. Lincoln stepped over to them and help Zanya back up.
"Good to see you again, Zanya." He said to her.
"Same to you, Lincoln. Mom and Dad told me about what happened while I was out." The ghoul girl told him. "I'm sorry you all ended up getting hurt by that horrible man…" She added, her face falling to a look of sadness and guilt.
"It's ok, Zanya...we're all fine and-" Sibella started to say.
"But it wouldn't have happened at all if I hadn't told him about the Calloway School…" She confessed, on the verge of tears. Everyone went silent after her confession, which lead her to explaining what had happened in the forest before Lana and Lola came into the picture. "...and when my stomach pains became too much to bear...I told him about Calloway…."
"...Old or New?" Winnie finally asked.
"...what?" The zombie girl was uncertain she heard her correctly.
"Old or New Calloway?" The werewolf repeated herself.
"I don't understand…"
"Before Halloween, the Old Calloway school closed down, and they opened a new, large school several miles away." Elsa explained to her.
"I...didn't realize that. I thought there was only one."
"I'll bet he probably used a map app to look for Calloway after you mentioned it." Lori reasoned, smirking a bit. "And with the old school closed down, I don't doubt he ended up being led right to the New Calloway school." She had no way of knowing this for sure, but she was trying to help Zanya feel better. It wasn't working.
"Still...I shouldn't have said anything…." The guilt ridden undead girl said, looking toward the grass.
"Zanya...no one blames you for what happened." Tanis told her, looking back to all of their friends. "Right?" Everyone nodded. "See?"
"It all turned out alright in the end, Zanya. No one was seriously hurt, and Sigmund won't be bothering anyone anymore." Lincoln told her, gently lifting her chin so she would look at them.
"But...you almost-"
"Zanya, don't beat yourself up about it." The one son interrupted her. "I'm fine now. We all are…" She sniffled a bit as she looked at him.
"The only one who deserved to get beaten up was that creep...and boy did he." Lynn commented, punching her fist into her hand.
"Speaking of, Mr Talon, how has your investigation going?" Sibella asked.
"Mother dragon protecting her eggs." He said simply. "He went to slay her, bit off more than he could chew, and she left to find a new place to hide and protect her eggs." This was a lie, of course, but they didn't need to know that. Lisa smirked at the two and gave them a covert thumbs up, while Cynthia nodded slightly in return.
"And what about Malora? What happened to her?" Zanya inquired.
"Her trial was just the other day." Lola piped up, pulling up the news article on her cell and showing it to her. "She got ten years: eight in juvie and two in grown up jail."
"Serves her right." came the voice of Chandler from just down the sidewalk. All eyes turned to see him, Clyde, Haiku, Liam, Rusty, Zach, Girl Jordan and Stella headed down the walk, headed right for them.
"Whoo wee. Looks like it's a regular party here." Liam commented with a smirk. Zanya turned to look at her friends and boyfriend and immediately ran to them. She and Chandler hugged each other, Zanya doing her best not to hug him too tight. Her mother just smiled at the sweet scene, while Trent just kinda looked at them. He would have sneered at the boy, but...given what's happened and the fact he did seem to legit care about his little girl..he'll let it slide. Clyde waved to Lincoln before he ran over to the white haired boy, the two of them high fiving.
"Good to see you, buddy!" He said excitedly.
"Likewise, buddy." Lincoln replied.
"We heard you were in the hospital, Lincoln. What happened?" Zach inquired, walking over with Girl Jordan and Haiku.
"Heh. Well, it's a bit of a long story…" Lincoln replied, rubbing his shoulder a little.
"Well, we have time, Lincoln." Jordan told him, putting a hand on his other shoulder.
"Looks like this party is going to be bigger than we thought." Rita commented, looking at all the kids currently on their front lawn.
"Yeeep…" Lynn Sr agreed, nodding his head slightly. "Looks like we're moving things to the backyard."
"But where are we going to get enough refreshments?"
"Don't you worry about that, Rita." Trent interjected. "We'll help you out."
"Is pizza ok?" Cynthia asked, pulling out her own phone.
"That would be perfect." Lynn Sr said with a smile before directing all the kids to the back.
A couple minutes later, the celebration was starting to really take off in the backyard of the Loud House. Luna was playing guitar while Phanty played the keyboard she loaned her, Haiku was hanging out with Elsa and Winnie (and seemed to really hit it off well with them and the other Grimwood girls), Lola, Lana, Liam, Lynn were playing party games with Tanis, Gosuki and Gila, and Milly was sitting off to the side with Lisa, discussing things no one else (except perhaps Elsa) could understand. Lynn Sr, Rita and Cynthia were serving up some snacks to tide the kids over until the pizzas arrived, while Trent was chatting with Mr Grouse (who initially just wanted to grouse about the party, but soon calmed down enough to just have a friendly chat with the detective). Lori and Bobby were dancing together, with Rusty not far away attempting to bust a move. Chandler was sitting with Zanya by the snack and soda table, letting her know what she missed while she was out and, especially, going into more detail about Malora's trial. "...really, it didn't last long at all." He said with a bit of a shrug. "Right from the bat, her family's lawyer refused to represent her, so she had to go with a state appointed attorney."
"Makes sense." The zombie girl said, her arm around Chandler.
"And once the trial started properly...well, I wasn't there, but I heard from a family friend it was a train wreck. Her main defense was that you were a zombie and a monster and blah blah blah...so you apparently 'deserved what you got'." The cool kid rolled his eyes as he said that.
"Bet that went over well…"
"Oh, it did. But not for her. The judge, from what I heard, really tore into her. Told her that in the eyes of the law, monsters were people too. Called her an entitled little brat and called her out for her callousness and immaturity." Zanya had to giggle at that.
"I wish I could have heard that." She said. "If only someone would have just taken one of my ears into there, just so I could have listened in."
"You can do that?" Chandler asked, looking surprised. "...cool. Anyway, as character witnesses and witnesses to her crime started appearing to testify against her, she started having a meltdown. Got herself a charge of contempt of court along with assault, conspiracy and being an accessory to attempted murder. And when the judge passed sentence, she REALLY threw a tantrum: stomping and crying right in the middle of the courtroom."
"Well, in this case, I can kinda understand. Ten years is a long time." Zanya said. "I wonder if they have any school arrangements in juvie.."
"Probably. I mean, going to school is the law. Besides, it would be double the punishment for her in that case." The two of them shared a soft laugh at that as they settled in to listen to Luna and Phantasma play. Meanwhile, Lincoln was not far away, telling Zach, Girl Jordan, Stella, Lucy, and Clyde about what had happened at Grimwood's, with Sibella and Ronnie Anne beside him, filling in the blanks in his story.
"...And then Sibella and I double teamed him, pounding on him like it were an episode of Dragon Cube X." He related, having his two friends on the edge of their seats. "But the moment we kicked him away, he pulled another weapon on us: a miniature crossbow. Sibella shoved me out of the way to avoid getting hit, but then I created a light sphere and threw it at him, yelling 'Hey Sigmund! Keep your eye on the birdy!' Thinking I was throwing a magic missile at him, he shot it and it exploded, blinding him long enough for Sibella to blast him with her own magic attack."
"Sounds like to two of you make quite a team." Zach commented.
"Don't we know it." Sibella replied, smiling sweetly at Lincoln, getting a blush from him.
"What happened next?" Clyde asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.
"Well, it turns out the jerk had smoke bombs. He threw them at us, kicked me to the ground and pinned Sibella to the wall with arrows." The man with the plan continued. "He then loaded a wooden stake into his bow and aimed it at her. I ran right to her, and got between the stake and her, getting pierced in the shoulder."
"Whoa! Dude, you could have been killed…" Clyde said, his jaw dropped.
"I know, but I wasn't going to let him kill her. Besides, I knew what I was doing, thanks to Tanis."
"What'd she do?" The little conspiracy theorist asked, scratching his head through his messy red hair.
"She had a nightmare some time ago...a nightmare that turned out to be a vision of that attack, so I was forewarned this would happen. And speaking of Tanis, she just went nuts on the guy after. She grabbed him with her bandages and just...Wham! Wham! Wham!" He said as he mimed the way the little mummy pulverized the monster hunter.
"And he got back up after that!?" The amazed, bespectacled boy asked.
"I was as shocked as you are." The middle Loud admitted. "He was about to take another shot at Sibella, but that was when Ronnie Anne jumped in." The tough and proud latina smiled and blushed a little.
"She really saved our lives with her slingshot work." The vampiress added. "Unfortunately, Sigmund still wasn't stopped. But that was when Leni stepped in and threw him clear across the hall..." Sibella and Ronnie Anne picked up the story from there, since Lincoln was pretty much out of the fight. As two of the girls he loved related the story to Clyde and Zach (with Lucy just listening), Lincoln looked over his shoulder and smiled as he noticed the audience.
"Oh. Hey guys. I was wondering when you'd get here." He said in a quiet voice, not wanting to disrupt the tale in progress while turning to face the fourth wall. "It's been quite a ride, hasn't it? I met some amazing girls, learned a lot of cool magic, made a lot of new friends, and even a few enemies. I fell in love several times over, fought a crazy monster hunter, met some of the most powerful monsters in all the world...and I haven't even finished a full year at Grimwood's." He chuckles a bit at that. "It had its highs and its low...but it was a ride I thoroughly enjoyed taking. It does make me wonder though...after all that...what's going to happen next?" He is silent for a moment as he pondered this, then shrugged. "Only one way to find out, I guess."
"Hey you party animals!" Luan called out, carrying a stack of pizza boxes. "Come get a pizza this action. Hahahaha!"
"Oh boy! The pizza's here!" Lynn Jr cheered, rushing over to help Luan bring over the boxes (and get the first slice). Ronnie Anne was about to join them, but Lincoln stopped her. She looked at him like he were mad for a moment, but then she watched as he raised the palm of his hand skyward. Three slices of pizza and three paper plates came floating toward them, coming to hover in front of her, Lincoln and Sibella.
"Hehe. I forgot I was dealing with a magical genius." Ronnie Anne said with a chuckle, patting Lincoln on the cheek before looking toward the viewers. "Oh, hey! When'd they get here?"
"Not too long ago. I'd offer you guys a slice, but….you're kinda out there."
"So, what were you talking about, Lincoln? If I may ask." Sibella inquired.
"Just kinda pondering what's next, ya know?"
"Well, we have no way of knowing that for sure…" The vampiress commented before taking a bite of pizza.
"But whatever happens, we'll be right there with you." Ronnie Anne told him, before amending herself. "...well, maybe not always physically…"
"Hehe. It's cool, Ronnie Anne. I know what you mean."
"She's right, you know." Phantasma said from right behind them, startling them all. "Hee hee! Like I was saying, just how we know you'll be there for us, Linky, we'll be there for you." She continued, giving her living boyfriend a big hug from behind. The Loud warlock smiled as Sibella and Ronnie Anne went in for a hug too, Lincoln sharing a loving kiss with each of them in turn.
AN: And with that, this story comes to a close. However, I do plan to keep the series going. After a little break (so I can work on Lincoln Juice and Reluctant Werewolf a little more), I will attempt to start up a new LLATGS series with a more episodic structure; like the Loud House itself. Special thanks to mtsocano for the episodic series suggestion, and thanks to all of you for sticking with me and enjoying this story.