13. Unplugged

Hello, people! I hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Five months and a few days ago, I published Requiem's first chapter. Five months! Wow. If we don't count November (it was a hiatus thanks to my college), that means 13 chapters in 4 months. I'm over 110K words written, which is a pretty long. And that's just the english version...

I'd like to thank Alejindio and eagc7 (check their word on DeviantArt). They made some really beautiful art about my stories, and they're awesome. Thank you.

And speaking of tributes! There's a new story here in FF called "Remembering Lincoln", and it's the author's interpretation of how this story (Requiem for a Loud) might end. He chose the "Lincoln finally dies" route. It's a very nice read, I enjoyed it, but I would only like to point out that it's not mine, and that's just how he interpretated this might end. It's not canon, hahaha, so keep that in mind. My end has been decided a long time ago and I'm sticking to my storyboard, even if some of you want Lincoln to die and some others want Lincoln to live. The decision has been made, and you'll have to wait for it.

But enough chit chat! Let's go with the mentions:

erica-phoenix16, Omega Ultra, Secret life of writing, Thunderstrike16, littlealexmartinez61910, Gumball2, celrock, ElectricLoud, BoukenDutch, The Critik, D-Structs, Emperor of Performances, Crazyforeverything, TexasGunKing, ExMarkSpot, FanficFan920, CapitalClassShip, Mini-Crushies, MikeTheHuman113, Samtastic 3-0, Codymitchell1, Purple, FrofeeTrush, ImpossibleJedi4, Emma, Red the Pokemon Master, Grim-XIII, Ash Sayin, Insane Wise-man, Hand dvxhdb, LoudSin, October Jack101, Boshwa, endeavor-NeverEnding, Normallyle, thehardboiledhit, The Wannabe WriterOriginal, STR2D3PO, Haven shultz, Jazz, Gunnrexx, SilvaBittah01 and all those anonymous guests!

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Chapter 13: Unplugged.

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It was about five in the afternoon when Lynn and Lincoln were walking back home. They had spent the whole day together, with nothing else bothering or interrupting them. She'd called their mother to tell her that she was with Lincoln, that they would be coming back home later, and that she then would accept whatever form of punishment they thought she deserved. Rita was not happy at all at first, but she didn't need too much incentive to allow them to spend an afternoon together. They had lunch, Lincoln took her to the arcades, and they finally went to another park, sat on a seesaw and started to talk. They talked for hours. Lincoln couldn't have been happier: Lynn was giving him the most precious thing, something that Lincoln hadn't really worried about in the past, but that now he knew it was the best gift you could give to someone.

Time. Shared time. The chance to talk, to be heard, to listen what the other person had to say. To understand and know his sister better. He was deeply surprised when she started to talk and told him all her secrets. Everyone in the Loud house loved Lincoln, but he was still an eleven years old boy, so there were many things his sisters weren't fond of sharing with him. But this time, when he simply asked Lynn to talk about herself, the girl put all the cards on the table.

He was surprised to find out there was another Lynn besides the one he knew. It was a Lynn that would love to learn to cook but never found time to practice, a Lynn that had tried to polish her nails last week but she didn't know how to do it and was too embarrassed to ask anyone to teach her, a Lynn that confessed she had a crush on a boy from her tennis class but wouldn't dare to talk with him because she didn't consider her neither pretty enough or "developed enough" —textual words that were accompanied with a hand gesture in front of her chest. Lincoln always boasted about how he knew his ten sisters better than anyone else in the world, but that little chat with Lynn made him realize that while he indeed knew them better than anyone, there were many layers about them that he wasn't aware of.

"Well, I know how to cook" Lincoln said, kicking the ground to lift himself up after Lynn's monologue. While he was going up and she was going down, their eyes met each other's.

He promised to teach her how to cook his special strawberry muffins. And he also told her that he knew how to polish nails, that he would be more than happy to explain everything about it to her. And as he was going up again, he told her not to worry about "that subject" —textual words he said as he looked elsewhere and his finger pointed at the general zone he was referring to—, that she was beautiful and only an idiot wouldn't want to be with her.

He patiently waited five minutes in the air until Lynn was recovered and she could kick the ground on her side of the seesaw.

Lincoln knew that all these things he was promising Lynn were not listed on his already long bucket list, but he was convinced that he would find the way to arrange his calendar so they could fit. That was precisely what he needed, what he wanted: the chance of spending some special bonding time with his sisters. If he could also do things such as teach Lynn how to cook, do something that would change them and could be part of his legacy, then much better.

When she stopped smiling at her brother's words, she also started to ask him questions. Mainly, she was asking what he intended to do these days. She didn't need to say that they were going to be his lasts. She just said "these days". She didn't need to insist much until Lincoln told her some details about Operation Farewell. They had to leave the seesaw, for Lynn's legs were suddenly out of strength and she could no longer push herself up in the air. They sat on a bench and Lincoln tried to explain her a little about what he was planning to do. He didn't tell her the motivation behind all of it, he simply told her that he had listed down some things that he wanted to do, and that many of them were related with his sisters. Lynn didn't say anything. She seemed to be holding back something, a comment or an opinion, but she kept it for herself. She just nodded and held Lincoln's hand.

Some minutes later, after a last minute visit back to the mall so Lincoln could buy a few things, both of them were walking down the Franklin Avenue, getting closer and closer to number 1216. Not giving a single care to the fact that the neighbors could see them, Lynn walked holding Lincoln's hand and with her head on her brother's shoulder. They walked in silence, both of them lost in the moment and their thoughts, until Lynn stopped dead on her tracks. Lincoln stopped walking too and turned to see his sister. She was intensely staring at a tree, and he knew right away what was going through her mind.

Behind that tree, he two of them had changed again and again for a whole season so Lynn could replace him in the football team. It hadn't been much, really, but those short minutes while they were dressing up and changing the football uniform had been theirs only, very personal moments in which they had talked, they had laughed, and that they were surely going to remember for the rest of their lives. In Lincoln's case that wasn't really much of a feat, but still…

He let her stay there for some minutes, alone with her thoughts, until he finally spoke again.

"We should get going" he said, gently caressing Lynn's hand.

She sighed and slightly nodded. They started to walk again, and it was then, when their house roof became visible, that Lincoln remembered that he had to remind her of something.

"Lynn, I had an awesome time with you today."

She nodded, but she didn't show any kind of enthusiasm. She was probably understanding where he was going with those words.

"I love being with you, and we still have a lot of things to do" he assured her. "But… When we're back at the house… Lucy and the twins don't know it yet. We need to pretend everything's okay. We can't go in like this."

And as he said the last thing, he pointed at where they were holding hands. Lynn heavily sighed and released her grip on Lincoln's hand. They were about to keep walking, but she couldn't resist the temptation any longer and she hugged him with all the tenderness and delicacy as she could manage, while giving him a very long kiss on his cheek. He smiled and hugged her too.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. But, can I bunk with you? Just for tonight?" She asked him, not moving a centimeter away from him.

"I don't know Lynn… The girls could get suspicious."

"They won't!" She quickly said. "Let me take care of that. Please, just one night."

Lincoln didn't need to think it very much. She knew that Lynn wanted to spend more time with him, and he wanted to spend more time with her too. Besides, he remembered how he'd slept the night before with Luan. He had felt in peace, protected, safe. He wanted to sleep like that again, without any worries in the world. The only inconvenient was that his room had a brand new calendar and his goal lists. He'd told her about it, yes, but he didn't want her to read it all. Although… He didn't really had anything to hide there.

"Alright" he finally said, and Lynn smiled like she'd just won a championship. "But no Dutch Ovens!"

The music was filling the garage. The glasses and the walls were vibrating at the rhythm of the sounds of the recorded drums and bass that were coming from the amplifiers. Those were some bases that she'd recorded a long time ago, so she could always have something to improvise on when there was no musician nearby to help her. It was a pretty catchy funk base, and she was improvising with her electric guitar. The truth is that she didn't use to play funk. She liked it, yeah, it was an interesting fusion of different rhythms and it was really funny to improvise over it, but it was her favorite rhythm.

Her true passion was rock. She loved rock, specially hard rock. But the last three times she had tried to play something from that particular genre she had ended up playing "Hole in my soul" by Aero is Myth, "November Rain" by Rhymes 'n' Proses and "So far away" by Avengers Eightfold. Songs that she had loved all her life, songs that she knew from the first note to the last stop. Now, however, she was listening them in a different way. They were no longer simple bitter love songs and songs about loss, they were much more. Now they were songs that she could identify with, song with which she could relate with, and that's not what she was looking for. She wanted to disappear, to let the music carry her to a galaxy far, far away, to a different dimension, to nirvana, where nothing could get to her, where none of her problems could follow there. Wasn't that what music was all about? Wasn't that the very purpose of art, to distract the mind from the boring and sad real world and take it to a new world, a limitless place where she could feel safe? She was trying to escape from reality.

But no matter how hard she tried to dissimulate what was happening, to ignore what was going on, she couldn't do it. It was like a string that was only one half tone out of tune. The chord was still identifiable, many people could overlook it, but there was a slight vibration that was out of place, and a trained ear could detect it. Unfortunately for Luna, her ear was perfectly trained. She had an almost robotic hearing. She could be sitting at the nineteenth row in an open auditorium listening to a forty six instruments symphonic orchestra, and she would still notice that the third violin had its second string slightly out of tune. Her ears were just that good in recognizing sounds and music. And that's why she knew exactly right away what was wrong with the way she was playing.

She was playing minor chords.

She stopped playing midway into her last lick and checked her fingers. She should be playing a C chord. She was improvising, so it wasn't really an obligation, but the bass was making a melody in the key of C. Why, then, was her hand playing a C minor? Her muscle memory was so well trained that she didn't even need to think about the chords to play them. Her left hand reacted instinctively and played the right chord, everytime. But her subconscious was making her play minor chords instead of the major ones she was supposed to play. She didn't need to know that much theory –which she did knew, by the way– to know realize that it was because minor chords were mostly used to give a sad tone to the songs.

Luna sighed and stepped closer to her computed. She turned the funk base off and the garage was suddenly in silence. She sat in a brench and sighed again. She started to think in the immense amount of mistakes she was lately making while playing with her guitar. Her mind was working again, and right away it found the way to make her feel miserable again. She thought about major chords, which made her think about happy songs, that made her remember all the good times she had had while playing the guitar, and the first thing that came to her mind was being in her room, doing a private show there with Lincoln as the only member of the crowd, clapping and cheering her up.

Her heart was teared apart once again, and she quickly prepared her guitar so she could start playing. She had been playing almost non-stop for several days by now. While she was playing, her mind was busy thinking about scales, harmonies, melodies and intricate solos, riffs and licks. They all came out naturally, but even so, there was still a minimum grade of mental compromise, a certain amount of focus required. And as long as she was focused on the music, she avoided to think about Lincoln. That's why she barely came out of the garage or her room, the only places where she could play without being bothered by anyone. Every minute she spend without playing an instrument was a minute where she started to think, and every time her mind started to think she pictured her brother, and she remebered that soon enough he would be no longer reading comic book in his room. He would be knocking on heaven's door.

She pressed the strings against the neck so hard that she could've broken it in two. She took a deep breath and tried to play anything, the first thing that came to her mind. She saw the garage floor and relized how dirty it was, and the song suddenly appeared, her fingers started to dance aroung the frets and her voice accompained the soft plucking.

"I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping; still my guitar gently weeps..."

Well, she hadn't even lasted two verses without ruining her mood. With trembling hands, she started to put aside her instruments and to unplug her amps. It was ten past five, a good time to have a snack and then start to get ready for the night. She was still waiting Chunk's confirmation, but he'd told her that everything was practically arranged. And even if he didn't confirm anything to her, she wasn't going to stay home on a Friday night. No, she needed some relief, and she knew exactly where to go.

She went into the kitchen and sneaked a peek inside the frigde when the entry door was opened.

"Lynn!" Yelled Lola.

Right away, she and Lana approached the newcomer and surrounded her, firing question after question at her. Luna closed the fridge and went to the entry hall. Lynn had her back against the door, trying to push the twins off. The headmaster and the teachers had tried to keep it a secret that Lynn had beaten the hell out of one of his classmates and then ran out of school. So, naturally, both Middle and High School knew everything about it.

Lynn looked away from her little sisters for a second and locked her eyes with Luna's. Just like the rest of the family, the older girl was deeply worried about what had happened, but she wasn't Lynn's mom, and she wasn't Lori neither, so she wasn't going to lecture her or something. She just made a gesture, as if asking if everything was alright. Lynn dropped her eyelids and nodded so slightly that the twins didn't even notice it. That was all that Luna cared about, that she was alright.

And then she turned around and saw Lincoln.

"Hey, bro."

He was staring at Lynn from the stairs. Luna was getting used to seeing him so tired and fragile, but that didn't mean that it was easier or less painful to see him like that. He smiled at her anyway and waved a hand, while the other one was carrying several bags from the mall.

"Hi, Luna" he said.

She stepped closer and stopped right next to him.

"How are you?" She asked.

"Great, great", answered Lincoln, "a little tired, but otherwise well."

"Oh, I see", she said. She had been about to ask him to come with her to the garage to maybe sing along. "So, uh... you've been with Lynn, huh?"

She asked that last thing almost in a whisper. Lately, a lot of thing had to be said or done in silence in the Loud house, specially if there was a young sibling around. Lincoln's smiled hesitated, and his gaze was lost in Lynn once again.

"Yeah. She needed me today" he simply said.

Luna's fingers started to drum on her thighs, as an old pop song casually started to play on her mind.

And I need you now, tonightAnd I need you more than everAnd if you only hold me tightWe'll be holding on, forever

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind from that tune.

"What's that, dude?" She suddenly asked, pointing a finger at the mall bags he was carrying. "Went shoppin'?"

"Oh, this?" He said, a little nervously, lifting the bags for a second and then hiding them behind his back. "It's nothing... just some stuff I needed."

"Oh."

"Yep."

"I see."

"Right."

She used to chat with Lincoln everyday. At least once a day, she would go to his room and simply ask him how was he doing. Up until last week, the two of them had been really closed, they shared a lot of time together and they had a blast everytime, but now it was like they'd ran out of words, like they couldn't improvise a conversation anymore. The problem, Luna believed, was that they both knew that behind their words hid a conversation that none of them wanted to have. An issue that was there, that they didn't want to touch, that they had to keep a secret, but that, at least for Luna, was getting harder and harder to conceal.

"Well, I guess I'll just go to my room" she finally said, feeling like she wouldn't be able to draw some more words from him. With a last smile, or at least a smile attempt, she turned around and started to climb up the stairs.

"Wait" he stopped her, grabbing her by the wrist when she walked past him.

Luna turned around to see him. He seemed to be deciding what to say. He remained in silence, clearly looking for the right words. Finally, he sighed and looked her in the eye.

"Just... You know I love you, right?" He asked, although in an odd, resigned way, like he knew he'd just made a dumb question.

Luna felt warmth inside of her, like different notes getting in harmony to become a beautiful chord. With a big smile, she caressed her brother's hair and gently kissed his forehead.

"I love you too, Lincoln. You're my Wonderwall" she said, before resuming her way to her room.

As her steps drove her closer to her room and away from Lincoln, her smile slowly started to fade. By the time she opened her bedroom's door and closed it behind her, she was bitting her lower lip to keep it from shaking so bad. She looked around her room and was thankful that Luan wasn't there. She felt like a baloon that kept being inflated, she was filled with emotions and sensations that she could no longer tolerate. She needed to release the pressure, to let those feelings abandon her, to expel that oppresive sensation on her chest. She needed to play something.

She went straight to her keyboard. She turned it on, configured it so it sounded like a traditional piano, and she played a song that she had been avoiding from the very beggining of this tragedy, a song that had been on her mind since that damn Monday morning. She had supressed it, but right then, she needed it. As her fingers started to softly press the piano keys, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and sang, skipping the first verse and going straight to the chorus.

Here comes goodbyeHere comes the last timeHere comes the start of every sleepless nightThe first of every tear I'm gonna cryHere comes the painHere comes me wishing things had never changedAnd he was right here in my arms tonightBut here comes goodbye

Her fingers remained on the last chord, letting the sound slowly fade away. When she lifted her hands from the keys, she realized they were shaking like she'd been swimming in a pool in the South Pole. She breathed in and opened up her eyes. Before playing, she felt like she was about to explode, and now she felt terribly empty. A void of darkness inside of her, like a black hole right on her heart, a vortex of infinite nothingness that was trying to drag her there.

And she was about to let herself be dragged. Her room was empty, no one would see her. She was two seconds from letting go all those tears she had been trying to conceal for these last few days, but the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open.

Lola stormed into her older sister's room, violently shuting the door behind her. She was frowning and her lips were so pressed together that her mouth was only a thin line. She walked with her eyes fixed on the floor, and went straight to the window without even glancing at Luna, which gave the rocker some time to put herself together and pretend that she wasn't about to cry. The little princess was stomping her way inside the bedroom, like she was trying to kill a colony of cockroaches.

"You okay, sis?" Asked Luna, hoping that her voice sounded normal.

Lola didn't answer. She just stood next to the window, facing away from Luna.

"I'm gonna ask you something, and you will answer me with the truth" the girl slowly informed Luna, still looking through the window.

Luna rolled her eyes. Her rock spirit made her a rebel by nature. She did what her parents told her because she didn't want to get grounded, and every once in a while she heeded Lori because she kinda respected her. But, taking orders from Lola? That wasn't happening.

"What do you want?"

She saw Lola's gloves shriveling up around her fists because of how strong she was clentching them. She was waiting for the girl to have a little tantrum, a little show of rage that would probably end up in Lola throwing her tiara at her and demanding her apologizes for something she didn't even do.

"Why do you all prefer Lana?"

Luna opened her eyes as much as her eyelids allowed her to after hearing that. She stared at Lola, whose whole body seemed to be shaking. But Luna now knew that it wasn't because she was angry or upset. Luna stood up from her keyboard stool and walked near her sister.

"What are you saying, dude? No one prefers Lana."

"Yes you do!" She yelled, still not looking at her. "All of you! Leni, Lynn, you, even Lincoln! You all like her better!"

Luna and Lola usually didn't spend much time together. They shared a lot of moments, obviously, just like the whole family, but her shared time wasn't that much compared with the time they spent with the rest of their siblings. Luna couldn't read Lola like she could with the rest of her sisters. But she was the third oldest, and she had dealt with younger sisters problems her whole life, so she had her methods.

She grabbed her acoustic guitar and stepped closer to Lola. She put an arm around her and lifted her up in the air.

"Hey! What gives?" She asked, turning her face to stare at Luna with a mixture of surprise and anger.

Luna carried her to the bean bag in her room and let herself fell onto it. She sat Lola on her lap and put the guitar in front of the young princess, trapping her between her older sister and the instrument. Even if she was a little uncomfortable, Luna managed to start playing a soft melody.

"Alright, little one" she softly said, "why don't you tell me what happened?"

Lola continued to look at her a little angry for a couple of seconds. Then, her face relaxed. She looked forward and made herself comfortable in Luna's lap, leaning against her.

"Lana and I were just fighting" she started, with the guitar melody as a perfect, relaxing background music.

The relationship between Lana and Lola had always been complicated. They loved each other and they played together everyday, almost all the time. But they also fought a lot. This last week, though, they were fighting more often, harsher, and for the stupidest things. Luna wondered if the new atmosphere in the house wouldn't be affecting them somehow.

"What were you fighting about now?" She asked.

"I... I don't know."

"You don't know why you were fighting?"

"We were asking Lynn about what had happened, because we overheard mom and dad talking about grounding her, and then Lana starte to speak over me, and I told her to shut up, and she glared at me, and then we were both fighting on the floor."

"And what happened?"

"Lynn came between us and pulled us apart" she continued. "We argued a little more, and then Lincoln came closer and told us to stop fighting. He always says that, and then he always suggest something the three of us can do, together. But... But this time he asked Lana to help him plant some stupid thing in the backyard."

Luna felt her sister shivering on her lap, as the guitar strings continued to sound.

"And just because of that you believe Lincoln likes Lana more than you?" She calmly asked.

"He obviously prefers her!" Said Lola. "Why didn't he ask me to go too?"

"Well, gardening isn't really your thing, right?"

"So what? If he's inviting Lana he should invite me too! Why is he ignoring me?"

"Lola, don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?"

"No!" Lola yelled, and she sharply turned around on Luna's lap, looking at her. "No one ever wants to come to my tea parties, but you all help Lana with her mud piles! No one wants to drive my car while I practice my waving, but you're always helping Lana with... with whatever she wants to do! The only... The only one who always had time for me was Lincoln, but... But now he prefers her too."

Lola's delineated eyes started to twinkle, and her eyelashes were moving rapidly to avoid crying. Luna now understood what was bothering her little sister. She put her guitar aside.

"Lola" she said, putting her hands on Lola's cheeks. "Lincoln loves you just as much as he always did. He wasn't traded you for Lana, or anything. That's absurd! None of us thinks that you're less fun or less likeable than Lana."

"Then why do you all prefer her?"

"No one does. Do you really believe that we all play in the mud with her every single time she asks us to? We seldom do, really. Actually, I'm pretty sure that we all go to more tea parties with you than mud wars with Lana."

"But when you're playing with me you're always frowning, and when you're with Lana you smile and you have fun" complained Lola.

"Maybe that's because you force us to play with you" Luna replied. "You can't coerce us into everything you want to do, Lola, we end up doing it without really wanting to. If you waited for us to really want to play with you, then we would all end up having more fun."

Lola kept staring at her for a few seconds and then looked down. She was about to cry. Luna mentally cursed herself. Lori could surely calm Lola down. Even Lincoln would find the way to cheer her up.

"For example, right now I'd love to attend a tea party" she said, determined to cheer her little sister.

Lola didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about it.

"You just want to make me feel better" she whispered.

"Yeah, it's true" Luna admitted, before lifting her up as she stood up, "but that doesn't mean we can't have a blast."

Finally, Lola smiled and hugged Luna.

They both left the room and went into the hall, heading to a tea party in Lola's bedroom. But as they were walking there, Lynn and Lucy's bedroom door was opened, and a very angry Lynn walked out of it, telling at her sister.

"You better find my special baseball bat! You hear me, Lucy? Until then, I'm not staying in the same room as you! I'll be bunking with Lincoln!"

Lana couldn't be more happy.

She didn't even remember having a fight with Lola; that was just everyday stuff, she couldn't worry about every single fight they had. She may have stayed upset for a while if it wasn't for Lincoln. He had asked her to help him plant a tree. A new tree in the backyard! That was awesome.

She usually help her dad with the gardening, and she had planted some flowers in the past. But, a tree? Like, a real tree? That was something new! She could already picture what a new tree in the backyard would look like. It was going to produce a big shadow, and that would attract a lot of bugs. And if the tree had some good branches and a nice foliage, then maybe some birds would build their nests there. And what if it ended up being like a apple tree? Then there would definitely be a lot more worms! Lincoln had had a great idea.

"So where do you want to plant it?" Asked Lana, dragging along her special shovel.

"I don't know. I think I'd like it if you could see it from the kitchen and the rooms" he said, with dreamy eyes.

"Of course, so we can all see from upstairs if it's avaiable to play on it! I like the way you think, Lincoln!"

"Yeah... That's why I meant."

He sounded a little vague, like he was somewhat distracted, but Lana didn't blame him. Planting a tree was really exciting.

She started to run around the backyard, looking for the best spot to plant it. Everytime she founded a nice spot, she stopped there and looked at the house, making sure that it could be seen from all the rooms. It was kinda hard to really picture that, since she was only a little less than three feet tall, and trees were pretty big, but she tried her best. Finally, she foudn the perfect spot in a place that wouldn't bother anyone.

"Lincoln, Lincoln, over here!" She called him, waving her arms with excitement.

Lincoln walked over there with a smile.

"You like it here?" She asked.

"I think it's perfect."

"Great! Let me just start digging!"

She grabbed her little shovel and started to dig. She loved digging, to feel the wet earth on her fingers. She would've digged with her own hands, but this was the first time she ever planted a tree, so she wanted to do it right. As she was digging, Lincoln sat next to her.

"Lana, I bought this tree for all of you guys" Lincoln told her.

"For us? Really?" She asked, stopping her digging for a second to smile at him. "But, wait, not for you?"

"Consider it as a gift" he said, not answering her question. "I don't want it to replace our old tree, but I think this one's gonna be taller and it'll give more shadow. It may be a nice place for you to sit down and relax when you're sad or upset."

"You think we could climb it? The other one doesn't have low branches" she commented, as she resumed her digging.

"I guess so, I don't know really."

"Cool!"

She kept going for a few minutes until Lincoln told her it was enough. He then grabbed a bag with the mall's green-house logo. He opened it and Lana saw what seemed to be a pair of pods full with seeds.

"Wow! Are those the seeds?"

"Yeah. It's a boxelder maple. It grows fast and it's easy to take care of. You just have to water it once a day, twice if it's really sunny."

Lana took mental notes about those instructions. It was pretty easy, just to water it once a day. She was in charge of over seven pets, and she knew by heart all their specific feeding habits. She wouldn't have a problem taking care of that tree. She stretched her hand as if to grab the pods, but Lincoln stopped her.

"Hey, can I plant the first one? It's... It's something special" he said, acting a little weird.

Lana glanced at him a little confused. Why was he acting so strange? But then she realized this was the first time Lincoln planted a tree, too, and that he would be probably as excited as she was. Who would've known? Lincoln liked gardening too, after all.

"Of course, Lincoln! Do the honors!" She said with a smile, stepping aside.

Lincoln took his time to put the seeds in the hole. Then he gave Lana some seeds, and she threw them there too. They both took a step back, and she filled the hole again with her shovel.

"How long will it take to grow?" She asked, highly interested, picturing herself playing on the new tree branches.

"It grows up pretty quick. In just a year it can grow a little over three feet."

"Three feets in a whole year?" She complained. "I thought it would be as high as the house in like a month!"

Lincoln chuckled.

"Lana, it'll need some time to grow, but then it will last many, many years. And that's why" he said, kneeling in front of her, "I entrust you to take care of it as it grows."

"Me?" Asked Lana, confused. "Why me?"

"Because I know how much you like trees, and I know you'll make an excellent job making sure that it grows strong and healthy."

"But won't you take care of it too?"

"Well... You know how I am" said Lincoln, looking away from her eyes. "I'm pretty careless sometimes, and maybe... Maybe I won't have time to take care of it as it deserves. That's why I'd love if you could do it for me."

Lana felt confused. Lincoln was sometimes careless, yes, but he wasn't dumb. He could take care of a tree if he really wanted to. Besides, why would he buy a tree if he was going to give it to his sisters and then he wouldn't take care of it? He was acting really weird. However, even if Lana didn't fully understand her brother, she was really happy. He was entrusting her with a mission. He was asking her to do it because he trusted her and he was sure that she would do an excellent job.

"Alright, I'll take care of it. And I'll make sure that it's the biggest, tallest and best tree in the whole city!" She said, opening her arms wide to emphasize her words. "It'll be so tall we will see it from school!"

"Of course it will" Lincoln assured her.

"And you know what? When it gets tall and strong enough, maybe we can build a tree house there! You ould help me, and it would be ours! Yours and mine, so we can go there and play, and you can read your comics."

Lincoln put a hand on her red cap and playfully shook it a little, making her laugh.

"I like that you're always thinking that enthusiasticly" he said with a smile. "Never lose all that energy and optimism you have."

"Pff, why are you talking like dad when he gives us those boring speeches?" She asked.

"You're right. I guess I am sounding like dad" he simple said, before standing up. "Alright, it was fun to plant the tree with you. Do you happen to know where Luan is? I need her help with a little video project."

"She was in the attic looking for some prank stuff" Lana said, grabbing her shovel and cleaning it on her overalls. "I'll put some stakes around it so Charles and Cliff don't step on it."

"Perfect. And Lana..."

Lincoln grabbed her from her armpits and lifted her high enough to give her a little kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lincoln" she said, giggling and wiping her cheek with her hand.

Lincoln went inside the house, leaving Lana alone in the backyard. After making sure that her shovel was clean, she went to the garage, where she was hoping to find some wood stakes to make a sort of fence around the newly planted tree. As she was walking to the garage, she gently touched the cheek where Lincoln had just kissed her.

He was the best big brother in the world.

Finally, at half past seven, Luna received the message she had been waiting from Chunk:

All ready, luvGet Chloe readyYou drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy

She hadn't had dinner yet, but she didn't care. She could eat later. Or not, maybe she didn't need to eat at all. Even at the time she already knew how that night was going to end, and food wasn't exactly at the top of her worries. She was lying in her bed, so she jumped down and started to get dressed. She put on her typical outgil, but she changed her belt and her bracelets for some more shinning and striking accessories. She also picked up a necklace with a big musical note in it, and a jacket with handmade fringes on the sleeves.

Lincoln had knitted those fringes.

She then grabbed a guitar case with enough space for all the accessories she needed, and she started to get all the things she needed. She picked up the cables, her picks, some spare strings and, of course, Chloe.

Chloe was the name of her favorite electric guitar. A beautiful star guitar, all purple, with three pickups and pearled frets. It wasn't her first guitar —that was resting in pieces under Lincoln's bed—, but it was her all-time best. Her favorite guitar, the one she took everywhere. The one that had never failed her. She had a special bond with Chloe, it was her most precious possession. A symbol of her bond with rock. She loved it like it was a living thing, like a pet.

She carefully put it inside her case. She then grabbed it, made sure to have some money on her wallet and she left her room. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen, were both her parents were already getting everything ready for dinner.

"Mom? Dad?" She called them.

They turned around and quickly realized she was wearing a jacket and had her guitar case with her.

"Luna? Are you going somewhere?" Asked Mr Loud.

"I'll be playing at the Railway Tavern" she firmly said. She didn't ask for permission. She just informed them her plans.

Her mother looked at the kitchen clock. They usually let her go there to play the guitar in front of an audience, but that was almost always during the day. The seldom let her go out at night since the place, no matter how famous and well known it was in Royal Woods, was still a pub. Alcohol, rock, adults... Luna was a very mature girl, and she might have a rebellious spirit, but she was only fifteen years old. Her parents respected her likes and they let her express herself, but they were deeply worried about their daughter.

"Luna, don't you think it's a little late? We're already getting ready for supper" her mother said.

"Please, it's Friday, I need to go out" she pleaded, with begging eyes.

Her parents exchanged a look.

"I don't know, honey" said Lynn Sr, screatching his head. "We know you can take care of yourself, but... it's different, now. With all that has happened..."

"I know. But that's exactly why I need to go."

They didn't seem to be convinced at all, but they sighed and dropped their shoulders, feeling defeated.

"Luna, listen to me" her father said. "We're all... affected. Terribly affected. And when we feel this way, we sometimes look for solace in the wrong places. With the wrong people."

"Dad..."

"I know you're a big girl, but... Just promise me you won't do anything stupid" he interrupted her, "and that you'll be home before midnight."

Luna smiled and kissed them goodbye.

"I promise you, guys. See ya!"

She left the house, and once she was out, she uncrossed her fingers. She started to run to the nearest bus stop. She would've looked behind, but she didn't want to. She knew that there were people there who loved her and were worried about her.

And she felt very bad for being about to let them down.

"Railway Tavern" was the name of the most famous English pub in Michigan. A disgusting, ninety square meters, old pub, with its hardwood floor, a constant smell of cigarette, all kinds of paraphernalia about the United Kingdom and the Tottenham Hotspur FC, and a clientele that consisted of old english men who gathered around for some drinks and to discuss everything wrong with Manchester, and young boys and girls who loved music and had that place as their sanctuary.

Luna loved it. It was her second home. Ever since her first guitar teacher told her that he sometimes played there, Luna had experimented a fascination with the little stage that the pub offered to every artist interested in showing what they were capable of. She had had her first concert ever when she was just thirteen years old. It had been on a Sunday afternoon, and her father was there too. She had been extremely nervous. So nervous, in fact, that she broke one of her strings barely five minutes after she started. She hadn't had any spare strings with her, so she was about to leave the stage, when one of the boys working behind the bar let her borrow his own guitar.

"You were blinding out there, mate" said the boy. He was a burly boy, who seemed to be many years older than his actual seventeen years old. "But you look tense, kid. Rock 'n' roll's 'bout havin' fun. So don't worry, just go an' have fun, will ya?"

"Thank you... Er..."

"Chunk" answered him, raising her purple newsboy cap to salute her. "The name's Chunk."

Luna went back on the stage, with a borrowed guitar, and she played for almost an hour without stopping. The people went crazy, cheering her and applauding every one of her solos, but no one was yelling louder than Mr Loud, who actually was standing on her table, dancing at her daughter's rhythm.

Since then, Luna not only had become one of the little celebrities on the pub, the genius girl who could make you feel rousing with any instrument, she had also gotten into the local music radar. Everyone who loved music went to the Railway Tavern, and many door had been opened to her thanks to that. She had met Chunk, who would become one of her best friends despite him being four years older, she had gotten a lot of friends, she'd found her first boyfriend there, and she had even had conversations with some producers of local record labels. The Railway Tavern had changed her life just as much as that Mick Swagger concert. It was a place she always related with good moments, with music, a place where she felt safe.

That night she went there looking for some of that.

She opened the door and was received by Bob Plant's voice as the background music. The bar was unusually full, or perhaps that's how it always was in Friday nights. There was definitely more people than a regular saturday night, when she usually went there. The only time she ver remembered that place being this crowded was, of course, the time she had been forced into going there dressed as Lynn as a punishment for having deceived Pop Pop. That time, the pub had been completely crowded, and Lynn's stupid baseball glove. Lynn hadn't explained her how to take it off, and Luna had broken her strings because of that. A new humilliation, but everyone there found it hilarious.

As she was getting closer to the bar and Chunk, some people started to greet her. They were mostly the regular clientele who knew her from all these years. They were all giving her big smiles, and ocassionally joked that she was too young to be in a pub so late in the night. She was no stranger to alcohol. She'd taken some drinks with her friends, and even with Lori, but she'd never gotten drunk or anything. She laughed at the jokes people made, but a little voice inside her head kept telling her that she was still in time to listen to them and walk away.

She was about to reach the bar when a shapr voice called her name.

"Luna!"

Before she could even turn around, an eleven years old girl was hugging her. She wasn't really tall, but her gellep up hair almost reached Luna's chin, giving her a perfect view of those purple highlights.

"I was waiting for you!" Said the girl, pulling away from Luna and looking at her with excited eyes.

Luna smiled. She knew that kid had her as her idol, and loved her like she was her older sister. She had enough with nine sisters already, but she really liked that girl too.

"What's up, Tabby? How are those riffs coming?" She asked, putting her fist in the air so Tabby could bump it.

"Great! Listen, I came up with this riff that's totally sick, I had to wrote it down as soon as I played it because it was so awesome! You gotta listen to it!"

"I'd love to, Tabby. Just call me up and we can have a jam session."

"You'll see, it sounds amazing, it'll make you feel some sweet emotions" after saying that, she took a hand to her mouth to cover her giggling. "You see what I did there? Sweet Emotion, that's a song by Aero is Myth."

"Toys in the Attic, 1975" confirmed Luna.

"Exactly! See? I'm speaking with lyrics too!"

"I wouldn't expect less from Royal Woods future rockstar" she said, winking at her. "But what are you doing here this late?"

"I found out that you were going to be playing here, so I asked my brother to come with him for tonight. He didn't want it ar first, but he knows how much I love to hear you on the stage, so he brought me."

"Cool."

When she looked up, Luna saw Chunk behind the bar, preparing some drinks for a client. She was about to say goodbye to Tabby, but she spoke first.

"So, how's Lincoln doing?"

There it was, that void inside her chest, the sensation that someone was stabbing her with a cold blade.

"Sorry?" She asked, pretending she hadn't heard her so she could have a few extra seconds. But what for? To pull herself together? To pretend that there was nothing wrong? She couldn't do that.

"Your brother, Lincoln. You know, at first I was kinda mad at him for what he did at the Sadie Hawkings dance. But when you told me what had happened, I realized it hadn't been entirely his fault. And I actually had a great time with him. You say that sometimes he helps you practice, right? Do you think the three of us could maybe have a jam sometime?"

Luna's face wasn't showing what was really going on inside of her. It showed a somewhat forced smile, yes, but not even the best detective in the world could figure out the amount of pain she was feeling inside. No one could've known the chills that had settles on her spine, or how weak her legs suddenly became. They couldn't get inside her mind and see the image she was picturing like a movie frame stopped in time: it showed her, playing her guitar alone in the garaje but with no audience. There was only an empty stool, and it would be empty for the rest of her life.

"Yeah, right. We'll see about that, ok? I'll tell Chunk I'm ready."

And without waiting for an answer, she dashed away.

"Oh... Good luck then!" She heard Tabby say over the muttering and the beautiful guitar that was playing a song about a lady buying a stairway to heaven.

She quickly got to the bar and stood in front of her friend.

"Chunk."

He turned around and smiled at her.

"Evenin', luv" he said. "Oi, why so stubborn about playing tonight? You know it ain't easy to convince my gaffer to lemme take a break to jam on the stage. Not on Fridays, at least."

"Well, I would've stepped onto stage without you anyway, but it's not the same without drums. So grab your drumsticks and get your fat ass on the stage" she said, a little impatient to take out Chloe and let the music do the talking. She wanted to be carried away from that bar, far away from that city, away from that empty stool in the garage.

"I like your energy. Oi, Larry!" He said, calling the other bartender. "It's show time. I'll be right back."

Larry gave him the thumbs up and nodded with a smile. Chunk washed his hands and went into the small stage, where Luna was already preparing the amps. He removed the blanket that was covering the drums and started to adjust the toms and the stool height.

"You didn't answer me, tho'. Why the rush to play tonight?" He asked Luna, while checking if the floor tom's tuning.

She was configuring the amp so she could have the sound she was looking for. She could've done it without looking, but she decided to pretend that she was deeply focused on it.

"Because I need it" she finally said, standing up and putting Chloe's strap over her left shoulder.

When Chunk finished preparing his drums, Luna stepped closer to the microphone. Most of the clientele had already adjusted their seats so they could see the stage better. Luna stood there and stared at the pub. The manager turned off the background music and turned on the stage lights. This new light seemed to surround her, partially hiding everything else. The people had become mere silhouettes, and the pub seemed like a far away place. Luna didn't dare say anything, she enjoyed that sensation, that feeling of being in a different place. It was a dreamlike image, a surreal spectacle. She took a deep breath and tried to focus. A show. She was there to give them a show.

Luna grabbed the mic and her mouth became a giant smile.

"Good evening, Railway Tabern!" She enthusiastically shouted, turning on her guitar and playing a blistering scale that started the first wave of applause. "I'm Luna Loud, and tonight, my rodie Chunk and I will be playing our souls out for you all! Are you ready to rock?"

Everyone in the pub raised their glasses and shouted in conformity.

"Stand up and be counted for what you are about to receive!" Said Luna. "Chunk, let's start with International You Day!"

Chunk spinned his drumsticks on his hand a few times and then started to play the intro of the song Luna had just told him. She waisted no time, and soon enough started to play the classic power chords that defined the song. That little piece of art, one of the punk rock anthems, quickly won the approval of the audience. It wasn't a British song, but they enjoyed good music, and with Luna Loud playing, they had guaranteed quality.

The moment her guitar and Chunk's drums got in tune, Luna felt a cosmic energy grabbing her by the hand and carrying her away from there. There was nothing in the world but herself and her music. She closed her eyes, let the rhythm flow through her, and she started to sing.

I'm sorry that it took so long to write this songBut I gave upYou see one million words can't describe how it feelsTo know your love

The people in the pub was excited. They yelled, they clapped and they made them feel their total support. They loved Chunk's double pedal, and both Luna's power chords and her perfect imitation of Tony Shy's legendary voice style. She had picked that song because she knew people would like it, it was a great punk rock song. But, as she kept singing, she wondered whether it had really been a random choice or not.

Where did I go wrong?I should have told you from the startThat I'm closer than you think when we're apartNothing that I've tried, is as simple as this line...

When she got to the chorus, she finally realized why she had picked that song. She was about to lose her rhythym and timing because of the surprise, but she managed to pick it up and go on without any trouble. She kept singing, and every new verse made it clearer for her that she hadn't picked up that song by accident.

The subconscious could be a jerk when it really wanted to. After she went through the chorus, a random memory came to her mind. It was about Lincoln, two years ago, crying in his bed because he had spilled all his juice over his lastest comic, copletely ruining it before he read it. And then Luna opened his bedroom door and got inside. It wasn't a fresh memory. She didn't remember what words she had given him, she didn't remember what he had told her back. The only thing she remember was hugging him, singing him a song and then going to the mall with him to buy him a new comic and an ice cream.

It was sad to think that there was a time where only by singing a song and spending ten dollars she could solve his problems.

I'm coming home todayTo wipe the tears right from your eyesI'm totally enamored by your lifeNothing that I've doneHas ever been for one

She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Tabby, jumping next to the stage at the guitar rhythm, waving her arms and singing along. She was so happy, so full of energy, so... ignorant. She didn't know what was going on. No one did. If they knew, they wouldn't be so happy and excited, they wouldn't be singing those lyrics so amused. If they knew what was going on, they would be singing them like she did, from her heart, feeling her soul ripping apart with every new line in the final chorus.

But without youMy life is incompleteMy days are absolutely grayAnd so I'll tryLet your heart know for sureThat i have so much more to tell youEvery single day...My life is incompleteMy rites are absolutely goneSo wake me upBefore you leave todaySomething i need to say'cause they'll be nothing when you're gone

She let that last chord slowly fade away. For a second, the vibrating strings were the only sound that could be heard, and then it came the applause. Tabby was rapt, she was screaming like a girl in an amusing park, telling Luna that she was the best one ever. Luna felt like she was in a dream once again, but this time it wasn't because of the lights and the sensation of feeling like she was somewhere else. She felt like she was in a dream because it felt like she was watching a first person movie. She felt like she was getting goosebumps everywhere in her body.

She was barely concious that she pressed down a pedal so her guitar made a clean sound, without distortion, trying to imitate the sound of an acoustic guitar. She almost didn't notice when she told Chuck she would be playin 'Gone too soon', neither. She just knew that the chords came out of nowhere, playing slowly, every single note trying to sound as clean as possible, and her voice was filled with so much feelings that those who weren't paying attention until then suddenly turned around to see her.

Hey there now, where'd you go?You left me here, so unexpectedYou changed my life, I hope you know'Cause now I'm lost, so unprotectedIn the blink of an eyeI never got to say goodbye

She looked back to give Chunk the signal to slowly make his way into the song, and she saw that he was staring at her with his eyes half closed. Of course, he was starting to suspect. It wasn't normal that Luna started playing a ballad unless a couple from the crowd asked her to. It wasn't normal for her to sing with so much feeling. It wasn't normal that her knees seemed to be shaking.

She looked forward once again and kept playing and singing. Usually, when she was on stage, there was nothing on her mind other than music, the beat and the melody. That night, however, her mind seemed to be trying to keep her occupied remembering scenes from the past.

You were always thereLike a shining lightOn my darkest daysYou were there to guide me

This time the memory was very clear. It had been on last summer. Luke, a boy she had met in a concert and that had became her third boyfriend, had dumped her. The excuse was that their relationship wasn't going anywhere, and that he didn't want to be with her if he wasn't really into it, because that would end up hurting her. Of course, only two days later, Luna saw those pictures of Luke kissing a girl from his school. She was now remembering the afternoon she found out about it. She remembered getting home barely holding back the tears. She went straight to the garage and played her guitar with so much anger that she broke two strings in the same solo. She remembered that after unplugging everything, she sat on the floor and started to cry, while her siblings gathered around her to comfort her, already knowing the news.

"I don't know why I'm surprised" she had told them, wiping her tears. "I should've known he was only changing me for another one. It's always like that, guys only care about you while you're still a novelty. When they finally got you hooked, they get bored and they look for another stupid girl to play with. It's always like that. They're all the same."

The older girls were silently nodding, while the younger ones simply stared at her, a little confused. Then someone spoke.

"That's not true."

Luna looked up, and her sisters stepped away to let Lincoln get closer. He kneeled before her and looked her in the eye.

Oh I miss you nowI wish you could seeJust how much your memoryWill always mean to me

"There are a bunch of jerks. Luke's not the first and he won't be the last boy who acts like an idiot and ends up hurting someone. But you can't put everyone in the same bag. You'll find someone who's worth it. Someone who can realize that, once they have you, they don't need anyone or anything else."

They all let out a big "aaaaw", and Luna hugged him and squeezed him against her, gently stroking his hair.

"You know what, bro? You're right, I can't say that all boys are the same, and that they're all idiots. How could I believe that having you as my brother?"

Shine on, shine on, on to a better placeShine on, shine on, we'll never be the sameShine on, shine on...

The scene continued for a little longer, but she shook her head to push it away. So many emotions were starting to affect her. She tried to stop thinking in the song, and for a moment she kinda messed up the lyrics, but she recovered just in time for the finale.

Like a shooting starFlying across the roomSo fast so farYou were gone too soonYou're a part of meAnd I'll never be the same here without youYou were gone too soon

The song went on repeating the last phrase several times, with energy, with so much feelings. Luna's voice was firm, it didn't shake and it didn't waver. She tried to pretend that everything was alright, that she was just singing a song, nothing more. An artist could sing about anything without getting involved with it. She could sing things she didn't feel. Not every song was based on a true event. The most notable usually did, but there were a lot of songs that just came up out of a metaphor, a random idea, or even as a joke sometimes. In theory, she could be singing such a sad song as the one she just did, and people shouldn't be assuming that she was projecting anything personal, or getting emotionally involved with the lyrics.

It was obvious, though, that the song had affected her in one way or another. For the first time in years, Luna was shaking on the stage. She looked like a scared child. In an instinctive act, she looked at the bottom right tables, where his father had sat on her first concert. She was almost expecting to see hi there, giving her a thumbs up and letting her know that it was all okay. But he wasn't there, there were no thumbs up, and nothing was okay.

That song, that bloody ballad hadn't taken her away from her problems, like she was expecting it to, it had reminded her of them in the most painful way possible. Lincoln was really leaving them all too soon. He was going away to shine on a different place. While she was there, standing on a pub stage, playing to a bunch of random guys, he was in their house, twenty minutes from there. What was he thinking? How was he feeling?

Was he still alive ? What if she got home and Lincoln's body hadn't made it? What if she had missed her last chance of saying goodbye?

Her arms dropped Chloe, and it would've hit the ground if it wasn't for the strap. Her chest was hurting her with every breathing, with every mouthful of air coming into her lungs. She barely registered that the people on the bar started to mutter about her, or Tabby's worried look, or that Chunk was about to stand up and see if she was okay.

Well, she wasn't. Music had failed her. It wasn't making her feel better. It wasn't helping her forget. On the contrary, it was making her feel all the pain she had been trying to conceal for a week, all the pain she had buried inside of her and that now was threatening to erupt like a volcano.

Her soul was out of tune. It was three octaves down. She knew everything was wrong, that the melody was lost. And the worst thing was that there was no tuner to adjust. There wasn't any kind of tuning fork that could help her find the harmony once again. Once Lincoln died, the music would be lost forever.

She felt a single tear leaving her left eye. Probably nobody in the pub noticed it. They were all waiting for Luna Loud, legendary fifteen years old Royal Woods rockstar, to give them a show. They were expectantly waiting for her, a little confused by her attitude. They wanted music, they wanted rhythm, they wanted energy. Luna smiled, almost ironically.

One more night. One last night. A final concert. She could do that.

"You!" She suddenly said at the mic, pointing a man that was sitting at the closest table. "Pass me a beer."

The man smiled. He took a can and passed it to Luna. She catched it, opened it, and started to drink it on the spot. The beer tasted aweful and it made her throat burn, but at the same time she felt a warm sensation inside. She knew that it all had to be psychological, that the beer couldn't be acting so fast. But it was like suddenly she had no more inhibitions, no more doubts.

"Hey! That gal's just a kid! She can't drink beer!" Said a man at the end of the pub.

"Fuck you, Bob!" Said Luna, showing him the middle finger and earning a new round of applause. "Alright, guys, let's wrap it up in a high note. Let's close with Guernica!"

"Gernica? Really?" Asked Chunk, staring at her a little confused and worried.

"Absolutely! For those about to rock!" She said, pressing down her pedal again so Chloe was now playing with distortion.

Chunk and her started to play. The song wasn't as strong as International You Day, but it was clearly stronger than Gone too soon. It wasn't a classic, by all means. Tabby, for example, was moving her head at the rhythm of the drums, but she looked confused, wondering what kind of song it was. When Luna started to sing, no one sang along.

Ever since I was young your word is the word that always won.Worry and wake the ones you love.A phone call I'd rather not receive.Please use my body while I sleep.My lungs are fresh and yours to keep,Kept clean and they will let you breathe.

This time there was no doubt about why she had chosen that song. She thought about a dozen songs that she might've chosen, but Guernica was the one that presented the less risk of making her cry on the stage before all that people. She didn't want to be seen so vulnerable. She didn't want to cry in front of anyone. She just wanted them to see her rocking. The Luna Loud they all knew. The one she thought she knew.

Is this, the way a toy feelsWhen it's batteries run dry?

Maybe because of the alcohol, or maybe because this time she actively tried to just focus on the lyrics and the chords, or maybe simple because she was resignated, but during that song she managed to get away from it all. No memory came to her this time, no image of Lincoln.

Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,So I sat alone and waited out the night.The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick aroundI'm not writing my goodbyes.

I submit no excuseIf this is what I have to doI owe you every day I wakeIf I could I would shrink myselfAnd sink through your skin to your blood cellsAnd remove whatever makes you hurtBut I am too weak to be your cure

For ten glorious minutes, Luna captivated the audience. She sang like she'd never did, taking her singing to a whole new level, making sure that every single word that came out of her mouth felt real. She screamed when she needed to scream, she whispered when she was supposed to. She only took some liberty when it came to the guitar. She lengthened every bridge, she added solos where there wasn't any, she improvised random licks. Chunk managed to follow her lead on the song, that went from it's original three and a half minutes to a ten minutes display of energy and passion like the world had never seen before. People loved her. They were all screaming her name. Many of them even forgot to keep their british accent.

When she finally stopped playing, Luna pondered the possibility of ending the night with a stage dive and maybe a little crowd surf. She was about to do it, but she decided not to. She really wanted to just go away. Usually she didn't play three songs only, but that night was different.

"Good night, Railway Tavern!" She shouted, playing one last chord and letting the sound fade away until it was gone.

The lights went off and Luna stood there, staring at the nothingness, with her guitar hanging from the strap.

"Luna, you a'right?" Asked Chunk, getting closer.

"I'm okay, Chunk."

"You sure, luv? Those songs..."

"I said I'm okay!" She yelled, unplugging her guitar and quickly walking out.

Not wanting to face Tabby —she didn't have the strenght to talk with her right now—, she went straight to the smoke section, outdoors. The pub had a small space outoors that was supposedly where people should go to have a cigarette, but they all smoked inside anyway. Luna didn't smoke, but there was no one that could bother her there...

"You were sick up there."

...yet.

She turned around and saw a bot that was about Lori's age, staring at her with a smile and a bottle of beer in his hand.

"Thanks" she simply said, continuing to look at the boy. She'd seen him a couple of times, she knew that. But this was the first time she ever noticed how attractive he was. He wasn't Hugh, but there was something about him. That old leather jacket, those tight pants, his kinda long and disheveled hair...

"You want some?" He asked, offering his bottle.

Luna thought about it for a second.

"Don't you have an unopened bottle?" She asked with a smug smile. He laughed.

"What? Are you afraid I put something on it?"

"A girl can't be too cautious nowadays" she softly said, stepping closer. "Nothing personal, luv."

"Don't worry. I think I have a six pack in my car" he said.

The beer was starting to affect her, but even in her actual state, her father's voice made its way to her mind: "when we feel this way, we sometimes look for solace in the wrong places. With the wrong people." He was right. She knew he was right. She knew what she was supposed to do.

But she felt terrible. She felt like nothing made sense anymore. She had gone to that bar believing that her music was going to help her forget her problems, at least for one night. Well, music had failed her, but maybe that boy could help.

"And where's your car?" She asked, smiling and waving her eyelashes in a way that was more common for Leni or Lola tan her.

"We're here."

Matt stopped at the adress Luna had given him. She was sitting on the passenger seat, with her eyes closed, about to fall asleep. He gently shook her.

"What?" She asked, disoriented.

"Your house. We're here", Matt repeated.

"Oh. Thanks, luv."

She took her seat belt off and stepped out of the car. She almost tripped with the curb, but managed to stay in her feet. Laughing at her own clumsiness, she opened the back door and grabbed her guitar case with Chloe inside.

"Listen, do you have any plans for next Friday?" Asked Matt, trying not to sound too interested in her answer.

Luna closed the back door and looked at him through the window.

"Dream on, dude" she said, before smiling and blowing a kiss at him.

He smiled too. He turned on his car and drove down the street, leaving Luna alone in the sidewalk. She had no idea what time it was. She didn't know if there would be someone awake. Probably not. The only thing she was sure of was that she was in serious trouble. Or, actually, she could be, if they caught her. Maybe she would be lucky enough to reach her bedroom without anyone finding out.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, she got to the entry door. She suddenly realized that their door had these three little strips of glass, like little windows. Windows on a door? She found that idea extremely hilarious. She took her key and tried for two whole minutes to put it in the door lock. Why was it so hard?

She finally made it. Carefully, she stepped inside the house. It was all dark, it was all silent. Perfect. She closed the door behind her and turned around. She tip toed until she reached the stairs.

"You're so lucky I'm the one who finds you."

Luna cursed in a whisper. She was doomed. She sighed and smiled at Lori, who was sitting on the couch, without any lights on.

"Hey, soul sister!" She greeted her, trying to sound casual.

"Cut the crap. It's way past two in the morning, Luna" Lori severely said.

Luna sighed again.

"Did you stay awake just so you could be here to lecture me now?" She asked her. "You know how to always spoil the fun, don't you?

"For your information" said Lori, standing up and approaching her little sister", I came here because I can't fall asleep. I didn't even remember that you were out."

Luna said nothing. She tried to go upstairs, but Lori stopped her.

"Luna, you smell of alcohol. Alcohol and..." she sniffed around her and her nose wrinkled with disgust. "Luna, what the hell?!"

She released herself from Lori's grip and started to walk to her room.

"Luna, your skirt's backwards! Who was that guy?!"

"I don't know, Mike, Matt, I didn't catch what he said!"

"Are you literally telling me that you have no idea who brought you home in his car?! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Nothing, that was the bloody point!" She said, stopping in the middle of the hall and turning around to face her sister. "I didn't want to think, don't you get it?!"

"Well, you did an excellent job. Do you have any idea how reckless and dangerous was what you've just did?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lori, but not all of us have your luck, sis."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Asked Lori, squinting her eyes.

"I mean that the rest of us doesn't have a boyfriend so we can go to his house and be all day long there, getting some comfort! The rest of us has to go and pick up a guy if we want a good fuck to forget our problems!"

She heard about seven gasps. Her vision was blurred and she was too focused on Lori to see it, but she knew that all her siblings were eaves dropping the discussion, maybe even poking their heads out. Had she woken them up with her argument with Lori?

Lori was taken aback. At first she didn't say anything. And when she did talked back, she did it much more calmly. She still had a clear mind, so she knew that their conversation was no longer private, and she was trying to keep it down.

"Luna, I'm telling you this because I'm worried about you. You shouldn't... do the things you did. It's dangerous."

"I got news for you: you're not my mother, and I'm not a child."

"You sure act like one!"

"Fuck you!"

New gasps. This time, the door at the end of the hall opened.

"I knew this was going to happen sooner or later" said Lori, shaking her head. "I knew your stupid obsession with rock n roll would take you this way."

"'Stupid obsession'? What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. All your idols preach about getting drunk, getting high and having careless sex, and now you think you should do it too."

Luna clentched her fists. She didn't remember ever being this angry at anyone.

"That's a lie. That's bullshit and you know it! You know very well why I'm feeling like this!" She said, clearly pointing at Lincoln's room. "You know perfectly well that this has nothing to do with rock or music!"

"Of course it does" Lori snapped back, looking at her with anger and disgust. "It's all about music with you. It's all that matters to you."

She coudln't believe what she was hearing. Her older sister, the one who supposedly knew them better, telling her that she only cared about music. How could she say that? How could she even suggest that? If music was all that ever mattered for her, she wouldn't have left the pub. She wouldn't have played only three songs.

If music was all that mattered, she wouldn't be feeling this empty inside for a week now.

"Really? So that's what you think? You thing that I only care for music?" She slowly asked, opening her case and grabbing Chloe. A silent tear left the corner of her eyes, falling down her cheek. "Do you really think that's all that matters to me?"

Lori suddenly came out of her rage trance and realized what she'd said.

"I... No. No, I didn't mean that" she said, staring at the floor. "You know I didn't mean that."

Luna kept staring at her.

She then looked at her side. Lucy and the twins were poking their heads out of their bedrooms. Lisa was also seeing it all with interest. They were all watching her. And Luna knew that, deep down, they all believed that about her. They all thought that she was only defined by music. That music was all that mattered for her.

She looked at Chloe. Purple, polished, shining, with a new set of strings and those beautiful pearled frets. And then she looked over Lori's shoulder, at the end of the hall. That door was opened. Two of her siblings were standing inside. Lynn, at the back, looking confused. And before her, Lincoln, her brother, staring at her with tired eyes and a worried look. He seemed to understand what she was going to do before everyone else, and he tried to silently tell her not to do it.

But Luna couldn't allow her whole family to think of her like that.

"Yes. You meant it" she told Lori.

She looked at Chloe once again, her favorite guitar. Then she grabbed it by the neck, raised it over her head and with one quick motion she smashed it against the floor. All her siblings jumped in their place, and some of them let out a cry of surprise.

Only one smash was enough to break the neck in two parts and to dislodge it from the body, which was also broken in two near the bridge and the pickups. The broken strings jumped everywhere, scratching her arms. She ended up holding a piece of chipped wood that was once part of the neck of her favorite guitar. She softly thew it next to Lori's feet, who was staring at her in disbelief.

The noise coming from downstairs meant that her parents were awake now, probably because of the sound of a guitar smashing against the floor. But Luna didn't care. She took a step forward, stopping inches away from a startled Lori. She then put her hand in such a way that Lori's own body shield it from their younger sister's sight, and pointed right in Lincoln's direction.

"Nothing else matters" she snapped through gritted teeth, before turning around and heading to her room. She walked past Luan and threw herself in her bed without even changing her clothes.

The noise from the hall muffled the sound of her cries.

.

.

I could make a smaller chapter with all the deleted scenes from this one. Luna's concert was actually longer, but I thought it was coming off like too dense, so I deleted some stuff. And there were another scenes I deleted just because the chapter was getting longer and longer. So I sticked with what I thought was most important. And sh*t, you DON'T want to know how many music references I let out, hahahaha. But don't worry, many of them will appear on chapter 14.

So, listen, after posting this chapter I created a Tumblr account. You can find me as "underratedhero". There are so many of you asking me questions, and FF is not the right platform to do it. So I'll use Tumblr to try to answer you all the best I can, to share some of my drawings with you, and maybe give you a little sneek peaks for upcoming chapters. But, you know, I've just created it, so right now it's literally empty.

So... um... Well, the twins scenes were pretty necessary. And this isn't the last we've seen of Tabby.

So I'll see you on Requiem for a Loud Chapter 14: "The show must go on".

See ya!