Fanfic / Loud Visions

Loud Visions is a The Loud House fanfic by Rack44.

Loud Visions is a fanfic that leads up to the events of "No Such Luck". Taking place before said episode, Lincoln Loud has a new power: The ability to see into the future and all possible outcomes. Lincoln sees events that have yet to unfold, including ugly truths. With this, he can change or avoid certain bad things from happening. However, seeing the truth can change people. How much will this change Lincoln and how he sees his family?

Sister in Sha-I mean, Loud Visions 2 is a sequel that takes place after the events of Loud Visions. After revealing his future visions to his sisters, Lincoln's life takes a different turn. His sisters vow to be better for him, but now they have other things to worry about in the present. Future Lincoln has to fight enemies from the future to protect his past. Will Lincoln keep his family together, or does fate have something else to say about that?

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The series provides examples of:

General

• Foreshadowing:
  • Both these stories are about Lincoln's ability to see visions of the future.
  • Rack44 foreshadows future events of these stories with pictures and comments on DeviantArt.
  • Future Lincoln also monologues about what will happen in the future.
• Gray Is Useless: When one of Lincoln's light orbs turns gray, it means that one potential future will never happen. Of course, the vision can still be viewed.
• Guilt-Induced Nightmare: Almost all the Louds have these because of what they did to Lincoln.
• Seers: In a nutshell, Lincoln attained the power of seeing into the future through Dreaming of Things to Come.
• Time Machine: In Future Lincoln's time, not only do they exist, but they're being mass-produced.

Loud Visions

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Following the trend of Loud house fanfics in mid-2023, Lucy becomes Lincoln's ally out of the sisters, being the first to whom he trusts the secret of his visions. She is also willing to protect him from her sisters, like poisoning Lynn Jr. with a burrito and keeping a knife under her bed to stab Lynn if necessary (fortunately, she doesn't do that). ^note But, in chapter 20, Lucy still jumps Lincoln during the Sister Fight Protocol along with Lola and Lynn Jr. - just like in the original episode; a possible proofreading error by the author.
• Arc Words: "Why should I prove my worth to my own family?"
• Art Reflects Personality: In chapter 3, it's revealed that some of the drawings that Lincoln made showed that he wasn't happy. Lucy found the drawings, took pictures of them, and showed the photos to her sisters.
• Big Sister Bully: In Chapter 18, Lynn Jr. snatches and eats Lincoln's breakfast burrito, mocking him for it.
• Big "WHAT?!":
  • This happens in chapter 17 after Lucy tells her sisters Lincoln is low on his meds, and he passes out.
  • This happens in chapter 23 after the Loud kids tell Rita why Lincoln ran away.
• Blessed with Suck: Lincoln's ability to see into the future caused him to fear the potential cruelty of his family.
• Cliffhanger: This story ends on a major cliffhanger.
• Conditional Powers: Whenever Lincoln uses his future visions for too long, it takes a bad toll on him.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Future Lincoln causes a lot of traumatizing things to happen to Present Lincoln, such as putting his sisters in near death situations and running over his past self with a car. However, all of these events are used to force his family to realize they've been treating Lincoln wrong which will allow them to change and give Present Lincoln the family that Future Lincoln wishes he had.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Similar to most "No Such Luck" fanfics, this one replaces the farcical and bombastic comedy of the source material with more grounded and realistic drama, combined with the supernatural. As a result, characters like Lynn Jr. face the consequences of their actions rather than getting away with it for the sake of gags.
  • Lincoln, thanks to self-defense training from Lynn and his more negative attitude towards his family, is much stronger and more violent than in canon, such as breaking his father's nose at the dinner table and savagely beating Chandler and his goons at school. He is also capable of brutally beating up all of his sisters (except Lucy and Lily) in an alternate future (with an equally plausible opposite in another alternate future). In chapter 20, he breaks an action figure over Lynn's head and throws her against the wall, making her bleed, and then he kicks Lola, making her fall on top of Lynn (though, that was in self-defense).
• Dirty Coward: Lynn Sr. has no problem using Lincoln to get more customers in chapter 5, and instead of trying to save Lana from an alligator attack in chapter 11, he screamed like a little girl as he dashed to climb on top of a truck and sit on top of it in a fetal position.
• Dream Intro: This story begins with one of Lincoln's vision dreams.
• Feigning Healthiness: Even though Lynn Jr. is not doing well after eating Lincoln's burrito in chapter 18, she does not stay home from school or take any kind of medicine, and she still does her baseball training.
• Formerly Fit: Part of Lynn's nightmare in chapter 29 showed the Loud sisters except Lynn almost forty years in the future; Lola looked like she gained weight and looked pumped under her pink jacket.
• Future Badass: Future Lincoln is a mercenary known throughout the galaxy as the White Death. He's gained several additional powers on top of his future visions and is overall skilled. However, he's also a bit lonely, as he only has two friends and no family.
• Growling Gut: This happens to Lynn Jr. after she eats Lincoln's burrito in chapter 18.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Future Lincoln does this to the leader of a group of assassins in Chapter 16; then smashing his skull for good measure.
• In Spite of a Nail: Lincoln believes that even if he's able to prevent the "bad luck" incident from happening, the fact that this future is possible makes him worried that something like this will happen in another way.
  Lincoln: I heard a saying once. That there are two types of men in this world: Men that never ever beat their wives and children… and men that will always beat their wives and children. If they do it once, they will do it again.
• Internal Reveal: Lincoln reveals his powers to Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Stella in chapter 7, Lucy in chapter 15, and his other sisters in chapter 22.
• Jerkass Ball: Lynn plays this trope at Lincoln's expense, which terrifies him into fleeing the family for fear of his future visions.
• The Jinx: In chapter 14, Lynn Jr. believes Lincoln is bad luck before the events of No Such Luck even happen.
• Kiss of Life: Lynn Jr., instructed by Lisa, revives the unconscious Lincoln by performing CPR on him.
• Laxative Prank: Taken up a notch in Chapter 18. Lincoln and Lucy put laxatives, a few ghost peppers, and some mold they found in the back of the fridge in Lincoln's burrito because they knew Lynn Jr. would snatch and eat it. The burrito somehow has an immediate effect and shows her no mercy.
• Lethal Chef: Subverted. Lincoln knows how to cook, but he and Lucy add harmful things to his burrito in chapter 18 to poison Lynn.
• Locked in the Bathroom: Lincoln does this in his vision dream in chapter 1, so he can call the police on his family.
• Never My Fault: In chapter 20, Lynn Jr. blames Lincoln for almost completely screwing her training even though she caused it by eating his burrito.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Stella. When Lincoln reveals his powers to them in Chapter 7, the three have different reactions. Clyde refuses to believe that Lincoln's family would do things like this. Ronnie Anne believes that Lincoln's family ought to be punished for turning on him. Stella questions if arresting Lincoln's family is the right thing to do, but she's willing to let it happen if necessary.
• Nightmare Sequence: Chapters 25-29 are dominated by the Loud sisters' nightmares brought on by Lincoln's near-death experience in chapter 20 and his showing them potential bad futures in chapter 22.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • Lincoln does this to Chandler in chapter 7 because he and his goons are bullying his friends.
  • Lincoln's sisters except Lucy and Lily do this to him in the first vision dream in chapter 19 and he does this to them in the second vision dream.
• Origins Episode: Averted because we never actually see the event that gave Lincoln the ability to see visions of the future.
• Paranormal Gambling Advantage: In Chapter 8, Lincoln tells his friends about a future where, if he showed his family his powers to prevent the "bad luck" incident, they would use his powers to cheat at the lottery; their greed only increasing from there. They'd use him to cheat at other things, and if anything went wrong, they'd take it out on him. Eventually, they'd get caught, and the entire family, including Lincoln, gets arrested. Lincoln then tells his friends that if he tells his family about what would happen, they'd ignore his concerns and just try harder not to get caught. But they'd always get locked up.
• Passion Play: Luan's nightmare in Chapter 26 has similarities to one. Luan is subject to both heavy mockery and physical abuse the whole time, was tied up by ropes (with the ropes digging into her wrists and ankles) to a wheel, had a plush jester hat placed on her head and mockingly hailed as "the Queen Prankster", and was made to suffer for an hour before getting killed by a giant mallet to her head.
• Plot Armor: Lynn Jr. should have had problems for at least a few days after eating the burrito in chapter 18 but after just a few hours she is perfectly fine as if she never ate the burrito.
• Potty Emergency: Lynn Jr. somehow has an immediate one right after eating Lincoln's burrito in chapter 18.
• Power at a Price: Whenever Lincoln creates a new vision with his powers, it tends to give him splitting headaches.
• Powerful Pick: Lincoln uses a pickaxe to kill a bull alligator in chapter 11 because it tried to kill Lana.
• Psychic Nosebleed: This happens to Lincoln a few times in this story.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • In chapter 1, Lincoln does this when he tells Lynn Jr. not to touch him.
  • In chapter 5, Lincoln does this when he tells his dad no and when he tells his parents Leni's life could have ended.
  • In chapter 7, Lincoln does this when he tells Chandler to stay the hell away from him, his friends, and everyone.
  • In chapter 14, Lola does this when she tells Lynn Jr. Lincoln being bad luck is the stupidest thing she has ever heard.
  • In chapter 14, Lori does this when she asks Lynn Jr. if she makes herself clear again.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In chapter 23, Lincoln tells his parents off hard for doing nothing whenever his sisters fight.
  "Why? You're asking me why? Why I didn't come to you?" Lincoln asked.

  Rita started. "Yes, sweetie. That's what we—"

  "I didn't come to you because I couldn't!" Lincoln yelled.

  Everyone was startled by that.

  "What do you do when the girls fight? What do you do? What do you do? You lock yourselves in your bedroom with Lily and let everything outside happen! It's basically a free-for-all when you do nothing and let the girls fight. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Someone could get really hurt or caught in the crossfire. That's why I ran away because I was afraid. I was scared of getting hurt!" Lincoln explained.

  Rita and Lynn Sr.'s faces slowly show shock and horror upon realizing the reason behind Lincoln's actions.

  "I didn't go to you two for help because you two wouldn't have done anything. You simply would have said, 'Sorry, Lincoln, but we just got to let the girls sort it out,' like you usually do, and you wouldn't even let me in your room for safety from them. You would just leave me out there to get caught in the crossfire," Lincoln said.

  Those words slammed into the parents' core like a sledgehammer because he was right. That's exactly what they would have done if Lincoln asked them to stop the fighting.

  "That's what kind of parents you are. You're afraid of your own children. You're too spineless and cowardly to put your foot down and end the fighting like normal parents. The only reason you're doing it now is because I'm here in the hospital," Lincoln stated.

  "That's not true! Lincoln, we realize that we should have done something earlier. But we're your parents. You're supposed to come to us when you need us," Rita responded.

  Lincoln raised his eyebrow at that.

  "When I need you? Really? That's funny because when I needed you, you weren't there, or you were too busy being there for them!" Lincoln jabbed, pointing to his sisters.

  The parents glanced at each other at the Loud sisters.

  "What are you saying?" Rita asked.

  "I'm saying you're always there for them and not me. You never supported me in any of my hobbies or interests. You barely even know what they are. You drag me to all of theirs. I encourage and support them because that's the only thing I can do! I can't pursue any of my goals because you don't give me any time or support to go after them or figure out what they are. You don't listen, and you never give me time for myself. It's ironic that you're using me as the main character for your book when you neglect him more than care for him!" Lincoln stated firmly to his mother's face.

  Rita was silent with a look of shock on her face. She was trembling, and her pupils shrank, tears slowly building up in her eyes. Her son's words were like knives to her heart.

  Lincoln turned to Lynn Sr., "And you, sometimes I feel like I barely know you. You're more neglectful than she is. At least she tries to hang out with me here and there. At least she tries to make time for me, but you? You know when's the last time you and I had a father and son time together? Not with the family. Not with any of my sisters. You know when's the last time we've spent time together, just you and me?"

  Lynn Sr. uttered, not remembering when indicating it's been too long. He just now realized that, and it left a hole in his chest, filling him with guilt.

  "It was when I learned how to ride a bike without training wheels . . . when I was seven frigging years old! Since then, we've done nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. We've got nothing to show any connection between us."

  "Lincoln, we didn't mean to make you feel left out. We were just busy. I-I've spent maybe too much time training to be a cook so that I could get a restaurant, but that doesn't mean we don't want to spend time with you," Lynn Sr. said.

  Lincoln scoffed, "You don't show you want to spend time with me either."

  "Lincoln, do you think we want you to feel neglected? Of course, we want a connection with you! You're our son, for crying out loud!" Lynn Sr. protested.

  Lincoln closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them, he turned to look at his parents.

  "In all honesty, given your actions and behavior these past weeks, I'm not sure I want a connection with you two," Lincoln said coldly.

  That statement made everyone gasp. Their eyes were as wide as dish plates with their pupils tiny. They had never seen Lincoln like this and certainly never expected him to say something so cruel. The sisters were less surprised by this as they knew why.

  "Lincoln . . . how can you say that?" Rita uttered.

  "How could I not? You're both afraid of your own kids. You're both cowards. Neglectful cowards!" Lincoln stated, raising his voice.

  Both parents were on the verge of tears. Lincoln had to use every ounce of his will to hold back his own tears. It pained him to hurt his parents, to break their hearts, but enough was enough. Lincoln felt a change had to be made; sometimes, change can only be done the hard way.

  "I don't like talking like this, and I know it hurts to hear me say such things to you, but I am tired of you two making empty promises. I am tired of not being able to count on you. I am tired of knowing I can't come to you two for help. You want a connection between us? Then you two need to be the parents that your children need – especially the parents I need! I need my mother. I need my father. I need my parents . . . because if this happens again if I get hurt because of my family . . . I'll leave, and you'll never find me," Lincoln stated.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: What Lincoln planned to do when the events of "Brawl of the Family" happened. It got set in motion in Chapter 20.
• Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Lola uses these Exact Words when Lynn Jr. believes Lincoln is bad luck in chapter 14.
• Take a Third Option:
  • Chapter 8 reveals Lincoln's only two options are to go through the bad luck incident or be used as a crystal ball. Future Lincoln finds a third option in chapter 11.
  • Similarly, in the vision of the events of the aftermath of Brawl In The Family in chapter 19, the two outcomes are either his sisters beat the hell out of him, or Lincoln beats the stuffing out of them. Instead of letting either outcome play out, he decides to become The Runaway with enough convincing from Ronnie Anne to bunk with her and her family in Great Lakes City.
• Toilet Humor: When Lynn Jr. is in the bathroom in chapter 18, everyone can hear everything she is doing from outside the house and some comments are made.
• Toon Physics: Averted like most serious and dark Loud House fics, which means no Big Ball of Violence, no Amusing Injuries, and no easy Karma Houdini for any of the characters as realism and/or drama dominate the premise of the story. Except for when it comes to the burrito in chapter 18 because of how it has an immediate effect on Lynn Jr. and how fast she makes a full recovery from everything.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: This story has an A plot about Present Lincoln and what he does and a B plot about Future Lincoln and what he does.
• Unexplained Recovery: The mold alone from the burrito Lynn Jr. ate in chapter 18 should have caused her problems for at least a few days even with the medicine she took, but the burrito also had laxatives and a few ghost peppers, and yet she makes a full recovery from everything in just a few hours.
• Yet Another Christmas Carol: Chapters 27-29 are Lynn's nightmare that she had after realizing how much of a jerk she was to Lincoln. Her past focused on how Lynn became a jerk. Her present showed the consequences of child neglect to the neglected. And her future revealed what would've happened to the Louds had they kicked Lincoln out of the house. Lynn lampshades this when she calls the Ghost of the Past "The Ghost of Christmas Past".

Loud Visions 2

• A-Cup Angst: When Luna and Luan see what they look like as adults in the future, they are upset because they might have to wait a while before they finally get boobs.
• Abusive Parents: After Lincoln showed and explained everything to Rita, she slapped Lori hard in the face, then Leni not as hard in the face, then Lynn hard in the face again and again.
• Arc Symbol: An adult Lynn dressed as a hobo.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When his sisters tell him that Lynn would start thinking that he's bad luck again in Chapter 12, Lincoln asks them:
  Lincoln: Girls… don't you think that I would have warned you if Lynn would have gone back to believing in luck? Don't you think I would have said something?
• Artistic License – Explosives: Various examples are discussed and defied. When the Louds need to blow up a bridge set to collapse in Chapter 18 via C4, they talk about how plastic explosives aren't that quick to explode, that one pack isn't powerful enough to cause such a large explosion, and that explosives need to be placed in specific areas in order to properly blow something up.
  Lana: [C4 is] actually a really stable explosive, unlike others. The movies and TV shows have it wrong. You can't just set them off by shooting them with a gun or setting them on fire. It takes shockwaves to blow them up, which is why we really need those detonators to pull this off.
  Lisa stated that they needed 60 packs to level the bridge.
  Lisa: Okay, I've drawn on the map where the C4 needs to be placed to cause enough destructive force to unbalance the bridge's main structure and cause it to collapse.
• Asshole Victim: Lynn broke Scoots's nose in Chapter 19 for repeatedly heckling her. In Chapter 20, it's revealed that neither the Loud siblings nor the people who watched the video felt bad for Scoots.
• Berserk Button: The word "luck" has become one for Lynn.
• Big "WHAT?!":
  • This happens in chapter 7 after Lincoln tells his sisters Lori wants to adopt him and take custody of them.
  • This happens in chapter 12 after Rita tells almost all her daughters they are off the bedroom clock.
• Butt-Monkey: Lynn Jr. is this in this story.
  • In chapter 8, Lynn Jr. gets slapped the most by Rita because of the bad luck incident even though almost all the Louds went through with it.
  • In chapter 11, almost all Lynn Jr.'s sisters sabotage her and her baseball games to make her lose so the bad luck incident will not happen.
  • In chapter 14, Lincoln has a vision dream where Lynn Jr. gets raped and beaten by six grown men.
  • Chapter 19 has her having to go to summer school with the possibility of being held back because of her failing grades after the trial. And that's without her getting taken off of sports indefinitely and grounded for breaking Scoots's nose because Scoots was heckling her.
  • Chapter 20 has Rita refuse to let her go with the rest of the family to Hawaii for the events of the previous chapter. Actually subverted because the other Loud siblings take her there with them behind her back.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Rita makes it clear in Chapter 16 that Lincoln can only use his powers for emergencies.
• Deconstruction:
  • In chapter 15, a future vision reveals Lana will actually get very sick from a bad bacterial infection that later leads to gastric cancer if she continues to eat gross things, unlike in the show where she almost never gets sick, even with all of the gross things she eats.
  • In chapter 15, a future vision reveals Lola will actually get fat and eventually diabetes if she does not cut down on her sugar addiction, unlike in the show where she never gains any weight, even with how much sugary food she eats.
• Disowned Parent: Lincoln's drawing in Chapter 3 has the entire Loud family in it... except for his parents. He tells his sisters that he doesn't trust their parents yet, and that they have to do a lot of work to regain it.
• Embarrassing Nickname: In chapter 4, Lincoln gives the McCanns embarrassing names after he erased their memories.
  • Chandler: Larry Ebola Gonorrhea Lame.
  • Mrs. McCann: Labia Lipton Lame.
  • Mr. McCann: Dick Humper Lame.
• Everyone Has Standards: In Chapter 3, despite being fine with his sisters getting grounded, being forced to clean the house, and doing everyone's yard work, Lincoln thinks having his sisters work at Aunt Ruth's is going too far.
• Exact Words: Remember the "Paranormal Gambling Advantage" mentioned in the first story? In Chapter 7 of this story, Lincoln makes it clear that they got caught not because of the initial lottery ticket, but because their greed drove them to keep cheating.
• Extreme Doormat: Lynn Jr. is this because she just lets everyone do whatever they want to her without getting any kind of payback like when almost all her sisters sabotage her and her baseball games in chapter 11. Why? Because she feels like she deserves all of it.
• A Fool for a Client: In Chapter 5, even though Future Lincoln is representing Present Lincoln and his family, he is still representing himself.
• Formerly Fit: In chapter 15, Lincoln has a future vision of Lola getting fat and diabetes.
• How We Got Here: Chapter 1 starts in the future and the rest of this story shows the events leading up to that point.
• Humiliation Conga: Chapter 11 is a big one for Lynn. It's made worse when it's revealed that her sisters did it to her on purpose.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Lincoln wins the fight with Edge by teleporting a forklift into the sky, pretending to surrender, and having Edge stand where the blades of the forklift impale Edge.
• Immediate Sequel: This story takes place immediately after Loud Visions.
• Internal Reveal: Lincoln reveals his powers to Rita in Chapter 8, and plans to reveal them to Lynn Sr. later. He also shows his family (except Lynn Sr.) his new powers in Chapter 16.
• Jerkass Realization: Near the end of Chapter 17, Lucy feels like she's been too mean to Lynn after she saw that Lynn felt like she was being punished for being able to think about kicking Lincoln out of the house.
  Lucy: (thinking) It's strangely ironic. I carried such hatred for you when I learned what you would have done to our only brother. Now I'm worried for you.
• Mama Bear: Deconstructed in Chapter 17. Lincoln tells Rita that if he brought her instead of Lori to kill Lynn's would-be rapists, she'd enjoy their deaths "a little too much" and go down "a dark path".
• Massive Numbered Siblings: This trope, a key premise of the show, is deconstructed in Chapter 13. In Lynn's dream about the future, Lincoln tells her that because their parents had so many kids, he thinks that they had "an unhealthy home environment". 11 kids crammed into a small house meant that no one could have much alone time, they couldn't be properly disciplined, and that they barely even knew their parents.
• Me's a Crowd: The Red Barron/Future Chandler has created a clone army of himself to take down Future Lincoln once and for all.
• Medal of Dishonor: Lincoln says in Chapter 16 that they should take down Lily's thumb-sucking trophies for this reason. He shows a future where Lily, as a teenager, gets made fun of for having these trophies. She would respond by throwing a tantrum and breaking all of the trophies in the cabinet while cussing out their parents. Lincoln then adds that Lily had other talents that she could later get trophies for.
• Mythology Gag: In Chapter 11, when the other Loud sisters are talking about their fears that Lynn will still call Lincoln "bad luck", Lucy brings up Lynn's "FLIBBR".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chapter 11 ends with Lynn seeing Lucy rip a page out of her notebook and throw it away. Curious, Lynn picks it up, discovering her sisters' plan to sabotage her.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Lincoln reveals to Stella and Ronnie Anne in Chapter 2 what would've happened in the first "bad luck" vision. While the trial is going on, Lincoln, his friends, and his sisters' former friends decide to get payback. They trash the house, destroy everything (except for his and Lily's stuff), dig a big hole in the backyard, throw all of the smashed stuff in it, douse the stuff with gasoline, and set it alight. To add insult to injury, Lincoln and Sam then spray-paint every room in the house with insults.
• Pet the Dog: Lincoln decides to give Lynn "special treatment" in Chapter 13 because of what happened to her in Chapter 11.
• Power Nullifier: Edge has a device that can disrupt Lincoln's future vision. When the device was destroyed, Lincoln's powers returned. The device returns in Chapter 19 when Future Lincoln fights an army of robots who're wearing them.
• Pragmatic Hero: While waiting for Lynn's would-be rapists to arrive in Chapter 14, Lincoln and Lori talk about the necessity of lying for the greater good. In Chapter 15, the two decide that they need to tell their family about Edge and Lincoln's new powers, but not in a way that would mention the rapists.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • In chapter 6, Lori does this when she tells Lincoln to never do what he did again.
  • Lincoln does it twice in Chapter 12 when he teleports himself and his sisters all over the world and when he kisses each of his sisters.
  • In chapter 13, Ronnie Anne does this when she tells Clyde Lincoln's family is awful.
  • In chapter 16, Rita does this when she is wondering how long Lincoln suffered without her and Lynn Sr. noticing.
• Rape and Revenge: In Chapter 14, Lincoln has a vision dream where Lynn was gang-raped. To stop this from happening, he and Lori kill the would-be rapists by using guns and Molotov cocktails.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In chapter 16, Rita tells Lynn Sr. off hard for never spending any time with Lincoln.
  "Oh, not so much?" Rita asked, grabbing her husband's attention, "Not so much? Don't you mean not at all? You made plenty of time for the girls and NONE for him."

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rita, are you pinning this all on me?" Lynn questioned.

  "It's on both of us! But at least I TRIED to hang out with him. You wouldn't even bring him to your office for 'Bring your kid to work Day.' It stopped being just for daughters YEARS ago, Lynn!"

  "Well, I didn't know that! It's hard to connect with him. We don't have anything in common!"

  Rita's eyes widened with anger, and it was hard for her to control herself.

  "Really?! Let's see, you both like cooking and baking and can play musical instruments! You play saxophone, and he plays drums, guitar, and bass. Cooking and music. That's two things I can name off the top of my head!" Rita said, raising her voice.

  "Why are you mad at me?!" Lynn defended.

  "Because YOU didn't even try!" Rita snapped.

  The room fell silent.

  Rita turned to the others, "After Lincoln got hit by a car and was sent to the hospital, he said he didn't come to us for help because he felt he couldn't. He pointed out that we were always there for our daughters and not him. We wouldn't give him any time for himself. We neglected him, and because of that, he doesn't trust us. We don't make him feel safe. Lincoln even admitted that he feels like he barely knows his father. We made him feel left out. We did this to him."

  Rita couldn't hold back her tears, and neither could Lynn. Counselor Walter waited patiently for her to dry her eyes.

  "Lincoln made a beautiful art canvas of his family. He drew everyone that matters to him, his sisters, his grandparents; he even drew the damn pets! But not us. We're not in the art canvas . . . because we don't matter to him," Rita explained, "He couldn't even bear to look at us. That's how ashamed he is of us."

  Rita turned to her husband.

  "I remember you so badly wanted a son after Lynn Jr. was born. You kept saying you felt so outnumbered by all the ladies in the house. You wanted our next child to be a boy. You wanted one. Well, guess what? You got one, and you didn't do anything with him!"

  Lynn Sr. sniffled as the tears rolled down his face.

  "You're right. (nodding) You're right. I failed him. I failed you. I failed our family. I'm a failure, Rita. I was so caught up with learning how to start a restaurant and spent too much time with our daughters that I didn't make any time with him. And now . . . it terrifies me that it's too late to connect with him," Lynn Sr. said with a hoarse and broken voice.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Despite Lynn Jr. changing her behavior in the previous story, her other sisters think that she'll return to her old ways; to the point of sabotaging her baseball game in Chapter 11 because they think that she'll believe in luck again. By the beginning of Chapter 20, however, they have begun to take Lynn's side because they've decided that their parents had punished Lynn enough.
• Sequential Art: The beginning of Chapter 17 has Lincoln finishing a panorama depicting American soldiers from every major war that the United States has fought in (including era-accurate clothes and weapons).
• Slipping a Mickey: Lisa slipped some sleeping pills into Lynn Jr.'s water bottle to make her drowsy and throw her focus and depth perception off during her baseball game.
• Smoking Is Not Cool: Future Lincoln tricks Present Chandler to, among other things, start smoking. Chandler ends up dying from lung cancer at 41.
• Starter Villain: In the context of people who want to steal Lincoln's powers, Edge plays this role in Chapter 15.
• Teleportation: Lincoln gains this power in Chapter 11. It's revealed in Chapter 12 that Future Lincoln gave Present Lincoln this power to help him save his family and fight other people who want his power.
• Three Lines, Some Waiting: This story has both the first story's plots and a C plot about Lynn Jr. being scared about her future (Sister in Shade).
• Unstoppable Rage: In Chapter 19, Lynn, having already been repeatedly heckled by Scoots during this chapter's baseball game, throws the ball at Scoots when she says "lucky". Next thing she knew, she was being held down after ripping apart the squirrel mascot's suit.
• Victory Dance: After blowing up a bridge to save Rita's and hundreds of others' lives in Chapter 18, the Louds celebrate with a victory dance while taunting each other over who's the best dancer.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Lynn's dream about the future in Chapter 13 has her talking with Lincoln about how much of a jerk she was. Lincoln assures her that though they can't change the past, they can do something about the present and the future.

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