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

Restored Image: A tale retold

Chapter one: Return home

If one were to have told Lincoln Loud, an eleven-year-old boy who ran away from his home in Royal Woods, Michigan, that he would have one day gone back home with Lori, one of the members of his ex-family, then the white-haired boy would have laughed that person off without giving the notion all that much thought. After all, given the way that they made him out to be quote unquote 'bad luck', Lincoln never wanted to have anything to do with any of them ever again. Granted, Lincoln did have a role in what transpired prior to his running away, but it should be noted that it was his family, or rather ex-family, who took things way too far.

He didn't even give it all that much consideration when Vanzilla, the practically ancient family vehicle belonging to the Louds, pulled into the driveway of the Loud family residence. In fact, Lincoln didn't say a single word since he and Lori entered Royal Woods city limits, and was still silent up until the van was parked and shut off. "Well, here we are," Lori said to her little brother in as cheerful of a tone as she could manage. Gesturing to the Loud family residence, Lori said, "We're back home."

"…You don't say," was all that Lincoln replied with, his tone lacking any discernable emotion. Although he was barely able to keep from saying it out loud, Lincoln could still not help but wonder… was he really home? Should he really be giving the Louds a chance to try and make things up to him for the way that they had treated him because they let their imaginations run wild with a claim that they took way too far? Although Lincoln did have a hand in spreading that claim-this was a fact that cannot be overlooked-he only did so because, at the time, it was the only way he could come up with to get some much needed alone time, something that he was starting to suspect was against his ex-family's rules.

The lack of emotion in her younger brother's response did not go by Lori unnoticed. It was the doing of the rest of the immediate Loud family, including Lori herself, that brought about everything starting with her only brother running away from home that fateful day, leading all the way up to the teary-eyed (clearly on Lori's part) reunion with the sole Loud boy all the way over in Great Lakes City. With a mildly resigned look of heartbreak on her face, Lori said, "I know what we did to you was literally stupid, Lincoln, and I know that no number of apologies, no matter how sincere, will make up for what we had done, what we had driven you to do."

"…" Lincoln was silent for a few seconds as he considered the words spoken by the oldest of his ex-sisters. Eventually, the white-haired boy turned his head to regard Lori. "…Why else do you think that I'm letting you and the others try and prove to me how sorry the lot of you all are?" Lincoln remarked, both his tone and expression dry, "Actions speak louder than words."

Actions speak louder than words indeed.

Lori nodded in agreement, knowing that Lincoln made an excellent point about how actions were louder than words, especially considering the actions just prior to his running away from home. Knowing that there was no beating around the bush, Lori gestured to the loud residence before saying, "Well, we ought to be heading on inside now. I told everyone over the phone that I found you in Great Lakes City, where Bobby's family was going to move to before Mrs. Santiago decided to change her mind." Somewhat nervously, Lori added, "We all missed you, Lincoln."

Lincoln didn't even give a spoken response as he and Lori got out of Vanzilla and closed it up before they proceeded to make their way to the house; the white-haired boy gave an "Mmm," that was devoid of any emotion, but that was it. The two of them made their way to the front door and entered the house. However, Lincoln didn't get two steps into his ex-family's home before he was tackle-hugged by two blonde-haired objects that he quickly identified as Lola and Lana, the twin six-year-olds.

"LINCOLN!" the twins exclaimed in unison, tears rolling down the sides of their faces as they hugged their older brother, "YOU'RE BACK!" It was a display that lacked any sort of elegance, especially considering that one of them was Lola, who was known for some degree of elegance. But then again, the two of them are six-year-old girls who knew full well they had a hand in driving away the boy that they had tackle-hugged, so seeing him home again was quite a good reason for any pretense of elegance to be dropped, kicked to the curb, and ignored outright.

"Lola, Lana, both of you get off of Lincoln right now," Lori instantly said in a stern tone. Both of the twins, still teary-eyed, complied with their eldest sister's command, releasing their combined hold on their returned brother. Seeing that tears were still running down the sides of the faces of both Lana and Lola, Lori sighed in a sympathetic tone, understanding all too well how they both feel. "Look," the oldest Loud sibling began in a sympathetic tone, "I know the both of you missed him. All of us literally missed Lincoln while he was missing. But he's had a very-" Lori was cut off when another blonde-haired object, one that was bigger than either of the twins, tackle-hugged Lincoln.

"LINKY!" Leni exclaimed tearfully as she picked her little brother up in a hug and spun around in place, "I TOTES THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T COMING BACK!"

Sighing in a mildly unamused tone, Lori said, "…Leni, put Lincoln down." As Leni complied with Lori's order, the rest of the Loud siblings, having been summoned by all of the commotion that the twins and Leni had been making, all came into the main entry area of the house, with Lily being carried by Luna.

"Holy crap, Lori!" Luna exclaimed in a surprised tone as her gaze shifted to the sole Loud boy, "What you said over the phone was right! You did find Lincoln!"

"How did you get from Royal Woods all the way over to Great Lakes City?" Lucy asked her older brother, "Because I'm pretty sure that a three-hour drive does not equal a three hour walk."

"How were you able to keep yourself alive?" Lisa asked.

"Wincon!" Lily exclaimed happily as she waved a hand at the white-haired boy, glad to see that he had finally returned home.

"Are you okay, Lincoln?" Luan asked, her expression and tone both clearly conveying that she was very concerned about her only brother.

Lynn began to say something, but she was cut off when, due to being overwhelmed with being asked so much all at once, Lincoln yelled, "QUIET!" All of the Loud girls instantly shut up and look to their returned brother in concern. Sighing in a resigned tone, the white-haired boy said, "Look. I know that all of you have a few things that you want to ask me. I understand that. But I'm…" Lincoln stopped short and let out a tired sigh, showing that he was about at his limit. "…I'm tired, okay? I'm…I'm just tired." With a hint of bitterness seeping into his tone, Lincoln continued, "So, unless it's a cardinal sin for me to have some time to myself, I'd like to go to bed now. I'll tell you all more in the morning."

"I fail to see how you having some time to yourself can be considered to be a serious error of judgment, Lincoln," Lisa remarked, more than a hint of emotion seeping into the four-year-old's otherwise dry monotone. The little genius also wore a look of mild concern on her face, as she was shocked to hear that her older brother, who had finally returned after being gone for so long, thought it was a bad thing if he wanted some alone time.

"Yeah, about that, Lisa," Lori replied, "You, me and the other girls have a few things to talk about while Lincoln is getting some sleep." The oldest Loud sibling had a few choice words for a certain younger sister of hers when they and the other sisters have their eventual sister meeting to discuss, among other things, the return of Lincoln.

"Assuming that I can get some sleep," Lincoln replied in a dry, bitter tone, getting all of the Loud girls to turn to regard him. Giving them all a knowing scowl, Lincoln continued as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Because unless my memory is failing me, I seem to recall that my room was boarded up, preventing me from getting inside."

"I took all of that junk down off of your door, Lincoln," Lana pointed out, trying to sound as helpful as she could.

"I went with mom when she went to go buy your furniture back after she sold it under the impression that all of it was tainted by bad luck," Lynn added.

Hearing what his athletic ex-sister had said did nothing but make Lincoln's scowl worse. "…She sold my furniture under the impression that it was tainted by bad luck?" the white-haired boy asked, his tone indicating that his mood has dropped even more.

Sounding regretful for having unintentionally made her brother more upset, Lynn pointed out in a somewhat unsure tone, "We…we got it back."

"…Whatever," Lincoln replied as he went upstairs. As he made his way to the second floor, the white-haired boy said, "Hey Lori, I'm going to guess that you and your sisters have some stuff that you'll be needing to talk about while I'm sleeping. If you cover anything that you think needs to be kept from Ronnie Anne and the rest of her family, please stress that point to the others."

"Wait a minute, Linky," Leni said in a concerned, almost heartbroken tone, one that made the white-haired boy pause. "We aren't just Lori's sisters," Leni continued as tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes, "We're, like, totes your sisters as well."

Standing still where he was at on the stairs, Lincoln said nothing for a few brief moments before he responded. "…You have a lot to go over with your sisters, Lori," Lincoln said before he made a turn when he reached the second floor. After Lincoln was out of sight from Lori and the other Loud sisters, Lori gave a resigned-sounding sigh.

"…Girls," Lori began, "Sibling meeting, me and Leni's room. Now."

Within a few minutes, the ten Loud sisters had all assembled in the bedroom shared by Lori and Leni. Seeing that all eyes were on her, Lori sighed in a knowing tone. "As I'm sure all of you can literally guess," Lori began, "We're having this meeting because-"

"You found Lincoln and brought him back home?" Luan asked, interrupting Lori in the process. Although it's normally not a good idea to interrupt Lori when a sibling meeting is going on, the oldest Loud sister decided to let it slide for now.

"…Yes," Lori replied with a nod, "Lincoln's finally back home where he belongs." Sighing in a resigned tone, the oldest Loud sister continued, "Show of hands, who here thinks that Lincoln literally belongs here with the rest of us?" At that prompting, every sister, including Lori herself, raised their hands. "Good," Lori replied with a nod of approval as everyone began to lower their raised hands, "That's good. Now that we've gotten that settled, we can go about discussing the main subject of this meeting; proving to Lincoln that he belongs with this family."

"He…" Lola began, clearly sounding upset, "…He doesn't think that he belongs with us…?"

"You heard what Lincoln said earlier," Lana remarked somberly to her younger twin sister, "He referred to all of us as just Lori's sisters, not his and Lori's sisters." As she cast a downcast expression to the floor, Lana added, "And why shouldn't he think that? I mean, none of us gave him any reason to think otherwise before he disappeared."

"Speaking of Lincoln's disappearance from Royal Woods and sub-sequent reappearance over in Great Lakes City," Lisa began, then continued when she turned to face Lori, "Judging from what our brother had said before he headed up to his room to get some rest, you have some info that should be shared with the rest of us. Is this correct, Lori?"

Nodding somberly, Lori said, "Yeah, I do." To her sisters, Lori continued, "You all had better get comfortable, because this will take some time." Over the next few minutes, Lori told the other Loud sisters everything, starting from when she drove Vanzilla over to Great Lakes City in her bid to try and convince Bobby's folks to not move, to Lori calling the family to let them know that by some extreme miracle Lincoln had shown up in the city, then the return drive to Royal Woods.

The oldest Loud sibling sparred no detail, including how, when Bobby was questioning Lincoln, Lori was afraid that he would tell Bobby of her (Lori's) involvement in the whole 'bad luck' incident. "…We stopped off at a taco place because there was literally no way we could have gotten back within a reasonable time for dinner," Lori said as she finished the story, "But other than that, it was a straight drive from Bobby's relatives' place to back here."

"He's…" Luna began in a quiet tone, a quiet tone that failed to cover her total disbelief, "…He's actually giving us a shot at trying to make things right with him…?"

"Even though he totally hates all of us?" Luan pointed out with an upset look on her face, "Especially me, Lola, Lisa and Lynn?" The upset look on Luan's face was being matched by the looks on Lola's and Lisa's respective faces.

"Now hang on there a minute, Luan," Lynn began to point out, "Lincoln only mentioned the four of us because he didn't want Bobby to be upset with Lori, and that Bobby was expecting him to name some names, and that we were the only ones who were coming to mind for him at the time. Besides, Lori did say that Lincoln regretted having to throw all of us under the bus like the way that he did." Having heard their sporty sister point all of this out just now did restore some spirits to Luan, Lola and Lisa, if only just.

"Hold up a minute there, Lynn," Lori interrupted, "Lincoln said that he only regretted having to throw Luan, Lola and Lisa under the bus like that." Giving her athletic sister a suspicious look, Lori added, "Lincoln didn't say anything about you."

"What are you talking about, Lori?" Lynn asked, taken aback a bit, and with the barest hint of worry in her tone.

Without answering Lynn directly, Lori turned to face the second-youngest amongst the Loud sisters' number. "Hey Lisa," Lori began, "You have that video surveillance system of yours installed all over the house, don't you?"

"That is correct," Lisa replied, nodding once in the affirmative.

"And it goes back to the morning that all of the bad luck nonsense started, right?" Lori said as she continued with her current line of questioning.

"I have video recordings of everything that happened going all the way back to when I first installed the surveillance system, which was shortly after I turned two," Lisa replied. With a mild hint of curiosity, Lisa said as she looked up at her oldest sister, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't suppose that you can pull up the video of what happened on the date that I had just asked for, could you?" Lori asked.

"It'll take me a minute or so, but it shouldn't prove to be a problem for me," Lisa answered.

…

Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud, the parents of the eleven Loud siblings, were in the kitchen/dining room area, sitting across from each other at the table. The both of them had somber expressions on their respective faces; Lincoln, their only son out of aforementioned eleven children, had run away some time ago, and had only just been found earlier this day…in Great Lakes City (which was a three hour drive away) no less.

Luckily for the Louds, Great Lakes City was the same city that the Santiagos were considering moving to until Maria changed her mind. Lori drove to the city in some half-baked bid to try and convince her boyfriend's family against the idea of moving, and by some miracle or chance, Lincoln was found lying passed-out on the sidewalk across from where the Santiago's relatives lived. If it hadn't been for all of the coincidence, there would have been a very good chance that Lynn Sr. and Rita would have never seen their only son again.

But see him again they did; well, technically, the Loud parents haven't seen Lincoln yet, as he was brought back home while they were out, and he went straight to his room because of how incredibly tired he was, and he pretty much made it clear that he didn't want to be disturbed. But Lynn Sr. and Rita would be seeing him in the morning, which Lynn Sr. intended to make sure started off right with breakfast.

"Do…do you think that Lincoln's upset with us?" Lynn Sr. asked his wife, the Loud patriarch's expression mildly anxious.

"I wouldn't blame him if he was," Rita replied in a somber tone, "I mean, don't you remember how we treated him? We kicked him out of the house, Lynn. Not only was that morally wrong on so many levels, but I'm pretty sure that kicking a minor like our son out of the house is also ill-" The Loud matriarch was cut off when she and her husband heard one of their daughters cry out in pain, followed by some angry shouting. From the sounds if it, it sounded like it came from Lori and Leni's room.

"You stay here," Rita said to Lynn Sr. as she got up from the table, "I'll go see what the girls are up to." Rita walked out of the kitchen/dining area, up the stairs, and over to the room that was shared by her two oldest children. Upon opening the door, Rita said in a mildly firm tone, "Girls, if you all can't-" Rita stopped short upon noticing what exactly was going on; her daughter Lynn was covering her right cheek with her hands on one side of the room, and on the other side of the room, Lori and Luna were trying to restrain a clearly angry Lola.

"Lola, I know what Lynn did was literally stupid, but you've got to calm down!" Lori exclaimed as she and Luna struggled to restrain the enraged pageant-winning princess.

"GRILS!" Rita shouted, making all of her daughters take pause and turn to regard her. With everyone's attention on her, Rita asked, "What is going on here?"

"At Lori's request, I pulled up the video recording my surveillance system got from the morning when the nonsense of Lincoln being quote unquote 'bad luck' started," Lisa said as she began to explain things to her mom, "It was shortly before a softball game that Lynn's team ended up losing. According to Lynn, Lincoln had never been to any game that she ever played, and she wanted him to show up to the softball game in question. From what the footage my surveillance system got showed me and the others, Lincoln tried to decline Lynn's request to come to her game, only for Lynn to coerce Lincoln into coming via threatening him with a baseball bat."

Rita was both shocked and appalled from what she was just told. Did Junior really threaten her little brother into attending one of her games against his will? The Loud matriarch had no doubt that she would be having words about this with her athletic daughter. However, something of a more pressing nature had to be handled first. Pointing to Lynn who was still covering her right cheek, Rita said to Lisa, "And your sister is covering her cheek because…"

"Upon seeing the recoding of Lynn threatening Lincoln with a baseball bat, Lola instantly went berserk and clawed Lynn in the cheek," Lisa stated, "As you can tell by how Lori and Luna were struggling to keep Lola restrained until you shouting made all of us take pause." With a mildly surprised look on her face, Lisa added, "I never would have expected Lola, of all people, to have acted in such a manner."

Turning to where Lynn was standing while still covering her cheek, Rita sighed. "Junior, lower your hands," Rita instructed, "I want to see what your younger sister did." Complying with what her mother had asked, Lynn slowly lowered her hands, revealing the injury she had just received. The scratches that Lola had left, although not too serious (thankfully they didn't require stitches), were more than most people would have regularly expected out of Lola. Rita was mildly worried that one of her youngest was even capable of causing such damage, not to mention alarmed by the blood, both on Junior's hands and on her scratched cheek. That would be requiring some bandages, not to mention Junior having to wash her hands.

Letting out an impressed-sounding whistle, Luan said, "Wow, Lynn, it looks like you just got done tangoing with a wild animal or something."

"I've seen some of the damage that Ronnie Anne gave to kids at school who got on her nerves, but I never saw her do anything along the lines of that," Lana remarked. Turning to face Lola, Lana added, "Remind me never to get on your bad side, sis."

"Dude, why did you have to go and flip out like that?" Luna asked her pageant-winning sister.

"It's Lynn's fault that Lincoln ran away in the first place!" Lola hissed angrily as she pointed an accusing finger (that had some blood on it) at Lynn, "She forced him to go to one of her games even though he didn't want to, then when her team lost, she said it was his fault! That is without a doubt one of the worst things that any of us could have ever done to Lincoln!" As tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, Lola continued, "I bet that if Lynn didn't force him to go to that game of hers, Lincoln would still know that we're his family instead of believing that we don't love him anymore!" After her explosion at Lynn, Lola began to cry softly to herself.

"…Girls," Rita said, "I think that it's time for everyone to go to bed." Understanding what their mother was saying, the girls aside from Lori and Leni all proceeded to shuffle out of the room. As she and Lucy walked passed their mother, Lynn was stopped by the Loud matriarch. "Junior," Rita said in a mildly firm tone, "Go to the bathroom and get those scratches cleaned up. Also, we'll be discussing what you did in the morning."

"Yes mom," Lynn replied guiltily before she proceeded to follow Lucy out of Lori and Leni's room before making a detour to the bathroom. After the youngest girls had left, Rita turned to face her two oldest daughters. Not knowing what to say at that moment, the Loud matriarch let out a resigned sigh.

"Are you okay, mom?" Lori asked.

With a concerned look on her face, Leni asked, "Is Lola, like, in trouble for giving Lynn that rather nasty scratch on her cheek?"

"I…don't know right now," Rita replied, her tone making it clear she was starting to reach her limit for the night, "Given the circumstances, this is something that your father and I will have to discuss in the morning, after we settle on a punishment for Lynn." Giving Leni a sympathetic look, Rita continued, "In the meanwhile, why don't you and Lori get some sleep, huh?" Nodding in understanding, Leni went over to her bed while Lori went to her own. As she left the room, Rita said, "Good night, girls." Rita closed the door behind her, letting Lori and Leni get to sleep.

END, RESTORED IMAGE: A TALE RETOLD CHAPTER ONE

Author's note:

So…yeah, I'm actually doing this. Back when I was still dealing with IRL computer problems that left me without a reliable way to continue uploading new work, Loud House and non-Loud House alike, I thought about all of the work that I already had up. Specifically, my mind kept going back to the original 'Restored Image' and how I missed so much when I was working on it. Well, I'm going to be fixing a LOT things, breathing new life into an old tale.

One of the main things that bothered me was how I didn't explore Lincoln's psyche, in regards to his Broken Mirror-related nightmares, anywhere near as much as I should have; as such, you can expect more exploration in that department. I also plan to expand upon Chandler's character more, giving some respect to his post-'Jeers for Fears' potential; granted, he'll still be playing an antagonistic role here, but I'll be endeavoring to make him much more sympathetic. I'll also be using Trent and Richie, Chandler's cronies from 'Jeers for Fears', as well as the two goon-friends that appeared before, and until they get proper names, the one in the red hoodie is Sid, and the heavyset blonde one is Frank (as a shout out to Red Rain, the anonymous guest user who commented so much on the one-shot collection; if you see this, Red Rain, thanks for the name suggestions for Chandler's goon-friends).

I also intend to fix various grammar problems, as well as replace any use of 'the city that the Santiagos almost moved to' with the use of 'Great Lakes City'; I didn't know/couldn't find the city's actual name at the time, and now that I know it, I will be using it. Another major thing that I'll be doing is not only changing what order the sisters/parents are acknowledged by Lincoln again, but what they do to earn said reconciliation with the sole Loud boy (well, mostly; if I can't think of anything else, or if it coincides too closely with its counterpart in the one-shot collection (which is in the 'official' setting that I use), then I'll keep certain things in tact).

I'll also be considering suggestions from comments on which sister/parent does what in order to reconcile with Lincoln (I may also consider what order to put a sister/parent in), and if I end up using a suggestion that I see, I will be sure to give the person who provided it a shout-out, so as to give them the credit that's due to them. However, I won't be considering anything that I see in anonymously left comments. But other than that, yeah. This is the first chapter of the revamped version of my 'Restored Image' story, and as such you can expect to see a lot of changes that, I believe, will make this version better. But only time and your comments will tell how well that goal has been achieved.