Lynn it to win it

                                                                 LINCOLN

Finally, the day had come.
Friday afternoon had always been special to Lincoln, but this particular Friday was proving to be even more wonderful than he could have ever dreamed. He had marked the days off his calendar for months in anticipation of this day, and could hardly pay attention in school. There was one thing on his mind, and one thing only: Ace Savvy. His latest adventure was set to release today, and he made a point to miss the bus home so he could walk to the comic book shop to pick it up.

Clyde was supposed to join him, but his parents didn't get off work until late, and his house was way too far for him to walk.

"My parents won't be home till late," Lincoln mocked in his best Clyde voice. "Whatever, more Ace Savvy for me!"

He arrived at the shop and made a b-line for his hero.

On the walk back to his house, Lincoln nearly walked into traffic three times, unable to pull his nose from Ace's latest adventure. Before he knew it, he was home, but still only half way through his comic.

He sighed. Inside that house he would find no peace. He'd have one sister or another pestering him for any number of reasons. He stared down at the comic in his hands. When would he ever find the time to enjoy it?

"Until tomorrow, Ace..." He put the comic in his backpack and steeled himself on the front porch. Behind the front door was the constant assault of noise and chaos that was his home life.

'Well, maybe I can actually make it to my room before anyone knows I'm home,' he thought, feeling the cold brass of the knob before turning it.

The usual madness was in full swing as he opened the door. Thankfully, every sister present was engaged with another. He dodged Lana and Lola's fight, ignored Leni and Lori's shouting match, and crept past Luna's one Loud mosh pit.

"Phew," he breathed, closing the door to his room. He took off his shirt, pants, shoes and socks, ready to enjoy comics the way nature intended.

He only managed to get a few pages in before the call came for dinner.

"Dang it," he muttered, finding pants and a shirt and heading downstairs. He took his place at the kids table with his younger siblings and dug into his chicken fingers and fries. About halfway through his meal, and just before the inevitable food fight, Lincoln noticed something at the grown-up table.

Someone was missing!

'Huh... Leni, Lori, Mom, Dad, Luna, Luan... Lynn!" He scratched his head. 'It's not like her to miss dinner...' After all, this was the girl who ate three subs between lunch and dinner, and then also ate dinner!

Lincoln stood from the table after dinner was over and pulled Lucy aside.

"Where's Lynn?" He asked.

"She's exploring the blackness that is her soul."

"Uh... okay. So, that means what, exactly?"

"She's been in our room ever since we came home from school," Lucy replied. A small smile spread across her lips. "I think she's finally embraced the futility of existence."

That wasn't like her at all. She lived to kick butt and take names! How could she cross over to the dark side? Or, at least, the Tim Burton-y side?

Lincoln headed upstairs. As a former roommate, he felt he owed it to her to at least see if there was anything he could do.

He stopped outside the door to her and Lucy's room, hesitating to knock. He took a deep breath, and knocked.

No response.

He tried the handle. Oddly enough, it was unlocked.

"Lynn? Are you okay?"

                                                              LYNN
What was the point? Winning, competing, crushing the competition, what did she gain from any of it? A trophy? What good does a trophy do anyone anyway?
'Look at me, I was awesome at something once.'she thought.
Lynn laid in her bed, curled beneath her sheets. The candles Lucy normally lit cast dancing shadows across the room. Maybe there was something to Lucy's whole 'bleakness and unending misery' thing. Lynn honestly found herself beginning to get it.

After all, she was the athlete, the queen of all things competitive! She made the boys in her grade cower when they faced her in the dodgeball arena, kickball field, or basketball court. She was the best, and her trophy case showed it! She should be borderline arrogant in regards to her athletic ability!

But all she felt was emptiness. Sports had always filled the identity she'd felt she lacked. But now, that void had grown. Being the best wasn't enough anymore.

The call for dinner had come about twenty minutes ago. She ignored it.

Her stomach grumbled at her.

She ignored that too.

If sports didn't make her feel alive anymore, what on earth would?

That's when she heard a knock at the door.

"Lynn? Are you okay?"

She knew that voice. Lynn shifted beneath her blankets, but continued to face the wall. A sniffle betrayed her true emotions. "I'm fine," she muttered.

There was silence for a moment before she heard her brother's footsteps coming toward her bed. "You missed dinner, are you sure you're alright?"

Anger began to well inside her. Why did he care? Why can't her stupid family just leave her alone for five minutes?! Lynn grabbed he pillow curled it around her head. "I said I'm fine!" she growled. "Take a hike!"

Again, there was silence. A small sigh and the closing of her door let Lynn know she was alone again. She let the pillow fall from around her head. Lynn raised herself to her elbows and looked at the door, barely illuminated by the weak candlelight. As quickly as it had come, her anger at Lincoln evaporated. Another emotion promptly took its place, as a wave of guilt crashed into her like a tsunami.

'All he wanted was to make sure I was okay,' she thought, staring at the closed door. 'Thats all any of them wanted, and I just snapped at them!' Tears welled in her eyes as she slumped back down into her bed. Self-loathing accompanied her guilt as the tears rolled down her face. This wasn't her, she wasn't the type to cry!

'What is wrong with me?'

                                                              LINCOLN

Lincoln stepped back out into the hallway, with no further clues as to what was wrong with his sister. Lost in thought, he made his way back towards his room before he bumped into Lucy.

"Mom and Dad are taking us for ice cream to celebrate all of us staying out of the emergency room for a month," she said flatly. "Does Lynn want to go?"

"Well... probably not, but you could go ask her yourself," he replied.

"I'll take your word for it. There's only so much depressing emptiness I can take in one afternoon." That was certainly news to him. Lynn must be in a real funk. "You coming?" she asked.

No self respecting 11 year old turns down free ice cream. But there were a few valid reasons for him to hang back.

For one, there was ice cream in the fridge. Two, with his sisters all out of the house, he would have more than enough peace and quiet to finish his comic!

"Actually, I think I'll stay here and hold down the fort."

Lucy shrugged, heading back down the stairs as the rest of his clan filed out the door. In a moment, there was silence —a rare thing in the Loud house.

Lincoln wasted no time in heading to his room, ready to resume his comic book in his customary attire. He settled in and picked up where he left off.

The quiet in his house was unprecedented as he burned through page after page. As he soaked up Ace's new adventure, something caught his attention.

It was a noise, soft at first. As he actually listened for it, the sound became clearer and louder. Someone was crying.

"Is that... Lynn?" he asked himself, setting his comic down on his bed. He stood up, putting his ear to the wall.

Sure enough, his sister was in her room, sobbing like no one was home.

Lincoln was no stranger to crying siblings, but it was usually one of his younger ones, or, on occasion, Lori or Leni for one insane reason or another. But Lynn? He didn't even think she was capable of crying! He'd once seen her take a ground roll right to the shin without even flinching, and still making the double play! Her leg swelled up to the size of the baseball that hit it, and she brushed it off like it was nothing!

So what the heck could make the extra tough Lynn Loud cry?

He hesitated to even get involved. After all, he'd also encountered angry Lynn before, and he was no match for her. But, he couldn't just sit by while one of his sisters was hurting. It just wasn't in him. He was their brother, older to some and younger to others, but he had been raised to believe that he had to protect his sisters, regardless.

He took a deep breath, and left his room. He had to broach the situation carefully, and there was but one way to tame the savage beast.

Subs.

Lincoln headed downstairs to the kitchen. He opened the freezer, a blast of cold air crashing into his bare chest, sending a shiver down his spine. He removed the ice cream and grabbed a spoon. He took a few quick bites before putting it back. After all, how fair would it be for his sisters to get ice cream and not him?

Refocusing, he opened the fridge and grabbed all the ingredients for his sister's favorite sandwich. He assembled them expertly, having made lunches for his sisters before. He plated the meal, and started up the stairs. His earlier feeling of confusion had been replaced by determination. He would solve Lynn's problem, whatever it may be. Not just for himself or for her, but because it was kind of difficult to immerse yourself in a graphic novel with sobbing coming through the paper-thin walls of your room.

He knocked once again.

"Lynn?" he called into the room, pushing the door open with his foot. "I know you told me to take a hike, but I brought you a sub since you missed dinner."

She was still as he left her, facing the wall. He hoped she wasn't asleep. Nothing was quite as irate as a sleep deprived Lynn. She shifted beneath the sheets as Lincoln set her sandwich on the nightstand. He stood there, hoping for her to say something. Though it was at most a few seconds, he felt like he had been waiting for her reply for hours. His ears perked up.

"What was that?"

"I said!" Lynn shouted, bolting upright in her bed and glaring at Lincoln through puffy, red eyes. "Thanks..."

This was completely unlike anything he'd ever had to deal with. He shrank back at her outburst, but stood his ground.

"You're welcome," he replied, acutely aware that he was still in his underwear, though unlike nearly every other time, Lynn didn't seem to care. "Uh, Lynn, are you sure you're okay?" he asked earnestly. "It looks like you've been... well..."

"Don't you dare," she threatened.

"Okay, okay!" Lincoln replied defensively. "But, it looks like you've been doing a certain... thing, that you don't do, like... ever."

Lynn sighed, throwing the sheets off her legs and sliding them to the side of the bed as she faced Lincoln.

"Yeah well... the truth is..." she paused, glancing into her brother's eyes. He hoped she wouldn't lie to him. "I have."

She punched her pillow repeatedly, as if just the admitting she had been crying caused her physical pain. "I'm a wreck! I mean, one minute I'm owning the soccer field, the next minute I have to fake an injury so I can hide behind the field house and cry like a baby!"

Lincoln raised an eyebrow, sitting beside his sister on her bed. "You cried at school? What for?"

"I don't know!" Lynn shouted. "I saw a mother duck leading a bunch of baby ducks to the pond past the fence, and all the sudden I'm a weeping willow!"

That was unlike her. Sure, she liked cute stuff to an extent. After all, she did help him reduce the energy the family used to help save that adorable polar bear.

"So you just saw some ducks and... started crying? Why?"

Lynn raised a fist to her brother. He flinched, but she sighed, lowering her hand. "I told you, I don't know. I just had this feeling that came over me and... next thing I know, I couldn't stop myself."

"Huh..." Lincoln answered. Not the most substantial reply, but it was all he could muster at the moment. "I mean... ducklings are cute, I guess, but, isn't the whole existential dread and endless emptiness more Lucy's thing?"

"I know, Lincoln!" she snapped. "I just... I don't know what's wrong with me, you know? I mean, sports are my life, but today, they weren't enough." She turned to Lincoln, a deep uncertainty across her face. "I don't know who I am if I don't have sports."

Lincoln thought about what she said. He never seemed to have a way with words, but these seemed to come naturally.

"You don't know who you are?" Lincoln asked, suppressing a laugh. He noticed Lynn's expression sour, her fist clenching. He knew he'd better continue. "You're Lynn Loud! You're the raddest sister I've got!" True or not, none of his other sisters were there to argue. "No one has more trophies than you, and even if you quit sports tomorrow, I'd still love you."

Lynn faced away from him. The sniffles had returned.

"Really?" she asked, arms folded, face in shadow.

"Of course! Sports and trophies are great, but they aren't everything. Heck, the only trophy I've ever won was a trophy you guys made for me!"

Although she tried to hide them, her tears reflected down her cheeks in the candlelight. Lincoln rolled the dice, and put a hand on her shoulder. He anticipated a punch, but none came. Instead, she wiped her tears and leaned her head into him. He brought her into a hug, her wet cheeks staining his chest.

"Lincoln?" Lynn whispered.

"Yeah, Lynn?"

"If you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, I will kill you."

He smiled. Same old Lynn.

"No problem," he replied.

"Oh, and Lincoln?"

"Yeah?"

"Go put some pants on."

                                                               THE NEXT DAY...

Once the family returned, Lynn seemed to return to normal. On top of that, Lincoln's parents surprised everyone with a Saturday trip to none other than Splashtown! The biggest waterpark in the tri-state area!

Lincoln, like his sisters, was stoked beyond comprehension. In the hectic hour after everyone had woken up, every sister was ready to hit the park. They all lined up at the door, and Lincoln slid down the bannister to join them.

"Alright, let's go!"

Mom opened the door and Dad followed suit, as did the rest of the Loud clan. Lincoln was ready to join them, before he noticed something off about his normal group of sisters.

"Wait... Leni, Lori, Luna, Luan, Lisa, Lana, Lola, Lilly, Lucy... Lynn!" She was conspicuously absent.

Lincoln ran back upstairs and checked her room. She was gone. He checked every room in a panic, before he came to the bathroom. It was locked.

"Lynn? Are you in there? Everyone is already in the car, let's go!"

No reply. He put his ear to the door. Sobbing greeted him once again.

'Oh, come on, Lynn, why now?' he thought.

"Go get Luan, Luna, Lori, or Mom!" Lynn shouted from behind the door.

"What? Why?" Lincoln asked.

"Stop asking questions and go!"Lynn demanded from beyond the door.

"Are you sick? If you don't want to go, just—"

"Lincoln! Go get them now or I swear to God I'll kill you!"

He stepped away from the door. She was clearly serious. Lincoln dashed down the stairs and towards the van.

"Mom, Luna, Lori, Luan, something's wrong with Lynn! I think she's sick!"

The mother and sisters gasped, unbuckling from the van and rushing inside. Lincoln followed them upstairs until they reached the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

He paced outside the bathroom for what felt like hours until they all emerged, Mom's hand on Lynn's shoulder.

"So you see, dear, this is a perfectly natural thing to happen to a girl your age."

"Thanks Mom, I guess I was just freaking out over nothing," Lynn replied as they all came out of the bathroom.

"Wait," Lincoln demanded. "She sounded like she was going to die in there, and now everything's all better? What the heck was going on?"

Lincoln felt a hand on his shoulder. His father had exited the van with the girls.

"Son, when we get back from the water park, there's something very important I need to talk to you about."

He scratched his head. "What? But what about Lynn? What the heck was up with her?"

Mr. Loud let the girls head back to the van before he continued.

"Son, you and I are the only men in this house, and there are certain things you need to know about women."

Lincoln swallowed nervously. "W-women?"

"That's right, there are certain times when women want nothing to do with men, even their brother."

His eyes grew wide. "What? Why would they do that?"

Lincoln's father smiled. "It's just their nature. All you need to know is that during that time, you need to stay out of their way. Understand?"

"Uh... not really. I don't really understand why girls would hate boys for a certain time."

His father smiled. "Me neither son, me neither. Now how about we head to the water park?"

"Heck yeah!"