Lynn Jr was returning back home from training in the park, but as she sensed the smell of freshly baked cookies, she rushed into the Loud House.
“DO I SMELL COOKIES?!” She said, excited.
“Yeah, but don't waste your time,” said Lola nonchalantly, while resting on the couch. “They’re “not for family”.”
LJ followed the scent of cookies to the kitchen, where she found Lincoln and Clyde making them.
“OI, STINKIN’! She shouted, “THINK FAST!” She threw a basketball at the two kids. While they dodged it, the athlete snatched a cookie and ate it.
“LYNN!” said Lincoln, visibly annoyed.
“No, it’s okay.” said Clyde, “I needed someone to taste-test. Are they soggy?”
“Nah, they’re pretty crunchy,” said Lynn Jr. “What are they for, by the way?”
“Clyde and I are gonna have the middle school orientation tomorrow!”
LJ spat the cookies. “You guys are going to my school tomorrow?!”
“Yeah! An eighth-grade student is gonna take us around and show us the school, we wanna make a good impression!” said Clyde.
“So, we’ll be prepared!” Lincoln showed a business card to his sister, reading “Clincoln McCloud - BFFs!”
“...Cookies and business cards? That’s your plan?” Lynn Jr. asked. “Look, this stuff may fly in elementary, but middle school is different. It’s like a jungle.” She explained, “If you go there looking weak, you could be eaten alive.
“E-Eaten alive?!” Lincoln and Clyde said in unison, panicking.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan!” LJ took her phone and called her school’s principal. “Yo, Principal Ramirez? Lynn Loud. Listen, who can I talk to about becoming an orientation buddy?”
So, the orientation day arrived. Lincoln and Clyde arrived at their future school.
“Wow…It's huge!” said Lincoln.
“Yeah! Luckily we brought these maps!” Clyde pulled out his map from his backpack.
“Hoooooooooooold on!” Lynn interjected. “Better if you ditch the maps! Never let you be seen as a noob!”
“But we are noobs!” Clyde complained.
“When some upperclassman realises that, you'll be a prime target for pranks!" said Lynn, “Like the poor kid who asked directions from an eighth grader on his first day. He got sent on a wild goose chase down in the tunnels under the school and didn't make it out until the whole day was over.”
The two kids gasped in horror, they wrote down on their notepads this first “rule”.
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They arrived at their classroom.
"Okay, homeroom.” said Lynn, “There are no assigned seats, so it's time for rule N. 2: Don't get stuck with a crummy desk." She turned to two students who already sat down. “MOVE OUT!” The two moved away.
Clyde walked to a desk, but another girl arrived at the same time. Like a gentleman, he quickly backed down.
Lynn facepalmed and went to the girl. “Back off, pigtail! My buddy saw it first!” She growled, causing the other student to go away.
“Huh…Isn’t that a little too aggressive?” Clyde asked nervously.
“Not if you don’t wanna end like the kid that got the worst desk,” said Lynn.
Lincoln and Clyde gasped in horror.
“This one kid thought she had the perfect desk but ended up getting stuck in it so tight, they had to call the school cook.”
The rest of the day continued in a similar manner, with Lynn giving “important” survival tips to Lincoln and Clyde, like “Own up to nothing”.
Then, after lunch, the orientation students let the others loose for the rest, to see how they would do on their own, an excellent opportunity to put on use Lynn’s teachings! Surely, everything will go smoothly for Lincoln and Clyde!
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Well…Not really.
Lynn’s rules, as expected, did nothing but alienate any friendly students from Lincoln and Clyde, making too many kids want to meet them at the blacktop at 3pm.
Later, Lynn saw from a window a group of middle schoolers with hostile looks in the school courtyard, as if they were getting ready to beat someone up…And Lincoln and Clyde just arrived.
“Huh oh.” Lynn connected the dots and rushed to the rescue.
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As she arrived, the athlete tackled the two kids behind the dumpsters.
“Guys!” She said, worried. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a long story, but I think it’ll end with those kids kicking our butts,” said Lincoln.
“What happened?” Lynn asked.
“We tried to follow your rules, but people think we’re jerks,” said Clyde. “And I’m not sure if I can disagree…”
“Yeah, so thanks for the great advice.” Lincoln snarked.
Guilt hit Lynn like a truck. “I’m sorry, guys. I wanted to spare you two from what happened to me. ”
Lincoln and Clyde looked at Lynn completely dumbfounded. “What?!”
“Yeah, my first year of Middle School was a complete nightmare,” said Lynn, sheepishly.
“That story…Was about you ?” said Clyde.
Lynn nodded. “I thought if I started acting tough, I would pass the year in peace, and it worked!” She looked away, “But…I guess I just got lucky.”
Lincoln felt bad for his older sister, seeing how she really wanted to help him. However, there was something he couldn’t understand, a discrepancy in Lynn’s story…
“ Why didn’t you ask Alastor for help? ” Lincoln practically shouted, but hushed enough to make Clyde overhear him.
Lynn’s eyes widened.
“You mean your family’s caretaker?” said Clyde.
Lincoln nodded. “Why didn’t you tell Alastor, Lynn? He could have helped you like he did with me when he talked with Ronnie Anne!”
“He did find out…But I didn’t want him to help me with this.” Lynn explained.
“But why?” Lincoln asked.
“...Clyde, can you please leave us alone for a bit? It’s family matter,” said Lynn.
Clyde went away as far as he could without getting spotted by the other students.
“Look, Lincoln, Alastor…Is a cool guy, okay? But he’s not the great person you think he is.” Lynn explained. “He’s a demon, there’s a reason he went to Hell.”
Lincoln was silent. One thing in particular alarmed him…
,,,Was that fear he heard in Lynn’s voice?
Lynn, the fearless athlete of the family, was scared of someone? Sure, Alastor could be scary sometimes, but what did he do to scare someone like Lynn?
Since Lynn looked uncomfortable at talking about it, Lincoln won’t know it for a while… But you may.
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7 years ago, the family went to Flip’s Food n’ Fuel. Alastor wasn’t there, saying that he “had urgent matters to attend to,”.
As the parents fueled up Vanzilla, the rest of the kids were having a snack.
Nature called for Lynn, as she drank too much water, and went to the bathroom.
Suddenly, she noticed something: A green glow coming outside the window.
Curious, the little girl climbed outside the window and landed on her feet near the dumpster in the back of the store.
A terrible choice in hindsight.
And then…She found it, a dead body. Or at least, what remained of a dead body, some parts were completely missing, like the eyes, and the arms…
Perhaps it would have been better if little LJ wore yellow shorts that day.
Then, a shadow force field surrounded the girl. Then, she heard a voice
“Why, hello there, Lynn!” Alastor appeared. “Aren’t you supposed to be with your parents?” He hid his nerves behind his grin.
Lynn remained silent, she glanced at the corpse.
“Oh, poor devil.” Alastor noticed the dead body. “Oh, well, let’s get you back to your parents-
“I-I didn’t see anything!” She said.
Alastor looked at the girl with a puzzled look. He glanced at his arm, which was covered in blood. “Oh.”
“I-I’m not gonna tell them! I-I promise!” Lynn was utterly frightened like she was in front of the Devil himself (even though he didn’t look like that clown Lucifer)
“Hey, hey! Relax! Relax! I’m not going to kill you!” He said. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” He headpatted her with his unsoiled hand.. “Let’s make a deal: You won’t take tell a word about what you saw here, and I will help you and won’t say a word about your…Incident.”
Lynn glanced at her shorts and her face became as red as a tomato.
“Surely you don’t want someone to find out that the now grown-up Lynn wet herself like a baby, do you?”
This was tactic Alastor often uses when forcing Sinners into striking a deal: exploiting people’s flaws. Despite her young age and sweet nature, Lynn already was a rather prideful person.
“...Okay.” said Lynn, as she shook hands with the demon.
Alastor snapped his fingers, and the blood on his coat and the wet stain on the child’s shorts disappeared.
After that, Lynn returned to her family and Alastor vanished. Despite things ending rather well, Lynn never forgot about this unfortunate incident, causing her to develop a hidden fear for the demon.
After all, if he went to Hell, there had to be a good reason.
Of course, Alastor acted like nothing happened and kept treating the young athlete well. So, after Lynn’s terrible first week of middle school, he was the first to notice that something was wrong.
“Lucy, dear…” Alastor appeared in their room. “I wish to speak with Lynn for a moment, if you please.”
“Very well.” Lucy left the room.
“You don’t seem to be much happy to having started Middle School…” Alastor turned to the athlete. “Sure, nobody likes going to school, but you seem sadder than usual.”
“I’m…Fine,” said Lynn, looking away from the Radio Demon. “There’s nothing wrong.”
“Really? Then, the fact that here’s peanut butter on your clothes must be a coincidence. Did you get stuck somewhere?”
Lynn’s eye widened. “...Yeah.”
“Exactly as I thought.” said Alastor, “Now, would you mind telling me what happened?”
“I…Older students have been picking on me.” Lynn told the truth. “And I have no idea what I did wrong! I just asked for directions!”
“Oh, my dear, you did nothing wrong,” said Alastor. “Tell me who did this, and I’ll make sure they won’t-”
“ NO! ” Lynn shouted in fear, startling the demon.
“...Pardon?” He tilted his head.
Lynn realised what she just done and took a deep breath. “I mean, t-there’s no need, I already have a plan for how to handle this.”
Alastor went silent for a few minutes, and then he shrugged. “Very well, I trust your judgement. After all, what kind of caretaker would I be if I didn’t let you have some autonomy?” He left.
Lynn collapsed on the bed, exhausted, her fear for Alastor suddenly reemerging, no matter how many times the demon behaved well, that hidden fear just wouldn’t disappear, returning every time he showed his bloodlust.
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Back into the present, things luckily ended peacefully, as Lincoln and Clyde went to talk with the angered students, who realised that in the end the two weren’t so bad.
Hours later, Lincoln and Lynn returned home and were welcomed by Alastor.
“Ah, welcome back, you two!” he said, “How was the orientation day?”
“Good, we had a few problems, but it ended well,” said Lincoln.
“Happy to hear it!” He said, glancing at Lynn, who looked away.
Lincoln went upstairs, the athlete was doing the same, until…
“Lynn, dear, may I have a word with you?”
Lynn froze on the stairs.
“Calm down, calm down, he just wants to talk, suppress the fear!” She thought. “...Yeah, Al?”
“You look like you just saw a ghost.” said Alastor, “Did something happen at school?”
“No, I’m fine, okay?” She said. “I’m just…Tired.” She left.
Alastor sighed in disappointment “She still remembers that day…Oh, If I could make her forget it…” He left.
<------To Be Continued----------