The Loud House - Calling Card

Chapter 1: Five Years Later

Lincoln sat alone in his room.

He still couldn't believe that even after all this time, everything was almost completely untouched. It was almost as if he had left it yesterday, but in reality, this room hadn't been occupied in over a decade. The old converted linen closet was a sight for sore eyes after all that had happened.

Lincoln felt strange. He was in pain, yes, but the pain seemed to be quickly subsiding. It had only been an hour since Lynn had brought him back from the past to their present, or in his case, from his present to his future. It was a surreal experience, and it almost didn't feel real. Upon looking over his body, he could see the burns and cuts given to him by his maniac captor were healing quickly. Lisa said that it was because of the nanites in his system, but the technical aspect of it was still lost on the boy.

As he continued to look around the room, the reality of the situation began to really sink in. His old life was gone. His friends were grown up, his family had changed, and he wasn't even really Lincoln Loud anymore. For all intents and purposes, he disappeared ten years ago and was now presumed dead. He had to continue his life under a forced alias, unable to tell others about who or what he really was.

A freak.

An accident.

A boy out of time.

He was stirred from his thoughts at the sound of a knock on his door. After Lisa had explained the situation to his family, he had become overwhelmed with his situation and excused himself to his room. He had almost forgotten about his family due to the angst he was feeling.

"Come in," Lincoln said.

The door opened, revealing the 23-year-old that was his sister Lynn, who only a week ago, from Lincoln's perspective, was a 13-year-old. It was still a strange feeling to see his sporty sister as a mature, responsible adult, when just a month ago in his perspective she was terrorizing him with wedgies and dutch ovens.

"Hey bro," she said tentatively. "How. . . how are you feeling?"

Lincoln shrugged, but offered no other answer. Lynn nodded sadly. How else did she expect him to be? Being kicked out of the house by his family over a stupid prank, being kidnapped and tortured for a week, and uprooted from his life and brought ten years into the future.

Though Lynn already felt terrible about this, what was worse was that they were forced to tell Lincoln about what would have happened if hadn't brought him to the future. Although the events of the past six months did not actually happen due to their actions in correcting time, the memories of the events still played fresh in their minds as if it were yesterday.

Lincoln had returned to them as a deranged terrorist, hell-bent on revenge against the family for what they had done to him. He had successfully managed to destroy most of the police presence in Michigan, as well as killing thousands in the process, including Ronnie Anne and Bobby Santiago. His reign of terror had finally come to an end when he had perished by his own hand, but the scars of what he had done remained, and the Loud Family were poised to take the fall for everything. Lynn shuddered to think about where her family would be today if they hadn't managed to correct their mistake and rescue the only male loud child.

However, it was clear that their work was far from over. They were unfortunately unable to make it back any sooner than a week after his abduction, and that meant Lincoln suffered a week of torture at the hands of his insane captor. This alone was enough to drive Lynn to tears, but she had to be strong for Lincoln's sake.

She sat down on the bed next to her brother, sighing sadly. "I....tried to keep your room as pristine as possible," said Lynn uneasily. "For when you...got back."