40. Chapter 40 - Era's End

Carol Pingrey liked to think of herself as a modern, actualized woman. But she still allowed herself a small, contented titter as she watched Lincoln gingerly climb into the passenger side of her car, and set about buckling himself in. Lincoln. Her boyfriend. Granted, it wasn't all sunshine and roses just yet. Lincoln, whether he knew it or not, was romantically entangled with a number of other girls, and that was going to have to be addressed sooner than later. And as much as she'd have liked to simply assert her new claim and demand that all other interested parties were to keep their hands off her man...she had, unfortunately, been privy, a few too many times, to how they all functioned as a collective unit. Those bonds, some forged long before she'd entered the picture, were too precious to be severed. And while she knew that Lincoln would do the right thing and lay down the law if he had to, gently, but firmly inform his various paramours that he'd picked her, and that they needed to get over it...she also knew that doing so would emotionally devastate him. That Lincoln and these girls were simply too far gone to ever be able to find true happiness apart from each other.

Her mind began to drift back to the day when she'd first realized the reality of the situation. That fateful day at work, when she'd been thunderstruck by the revelation that her intended, Lincoln Loud, was actually—

"Carol?"

The older girl experienced a brief, but powerful sensation of disorientation as her mind reeled from the aborted flashback. She gave her head a violent shake to clear the sensation, then turned to see Lincoln looking at her with concern.

"Everything okay?" He asked

"Of course." Carol gave him what she'd hoped was a reassuring smile. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, n-not that I mind, being alone with you..." Carol felt her cheeks redden with pleasure, "...But you've just been sitting there for the last few minutes, staring into nothing."

Pleasure immediately transitioned into embarrassment. "Was I?" She asked, hoping that Lincoln wouldn't be able to make out her burning fact in the dim lighting.

"Yeah." He chuckled nervously. "Not that there's anything wrong with that..." An obvious lie, but she'd forgive it, given the circumstances. "...but we've got a movie to make, right?"

"O-of course!" She cleared her throat. "Just needed to check, the...mirrors. And such. After all..." She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. "I'm transporting precious cargo."

She wanted to die. That was the dumbest, corniest possible response she could have given. And yet, it was Lincoln who turned away, equal parts pleased and embarrassed by the sentiment. She gave him one last squeeze before pulling back her hand and starting up the car. Carol couldn't believe that had worked, but a win was a win.

She pulled the car out of the driveway and started them off towards their destination. Her heart told her that what they really needed to do was go to Lincoln's house and patch things up with the other girls as soon as possible. But her head told her that she was still kind of mad at them. They'd made it a week without their precious brother, it assured her, surely they could last a few more hours. Carol felt that her heart was the more correct of the two...but her head's suggestion meant she got to go on a date with her new boyfriend. And, if they were lucky enough to find seats in a nice dark corner of the theater, preferably towards the back, it wouldn't even matter if the movie was bad. There was plenty they could do to keep themselves entertained.

Carol let out a low chuckle and pressed a little harder on the gas. Everything would be just fine.

"Tree!" Luan shrieked, desperately struggling against the gravitational forces confining her in her seat in an attempt to point at the obstacle in question.

It was a fairly pointless gesture, as her lone voice was incapable of rising above the roar of Vanzilla's engine and the terrified screaming of teenage girls that served as the soundtrack to their trip. Tires squealed and metal audibly strained as one side of the van rose up off the ground just enough to allow the vintage vehicle to pass through unharmed. Then, clearly perturbed at these mortals Promethean defiance of the greater forces of the universe, gravity angrily asserted its presence once more. Vanzilla righted itself once more, the side that had previously been airborne slamming down onto the pavement with a loud crunching noise. Elsewhere, an unsuspecting Lana Loud suddenly cried out in pain and fell to the floor, her skin pallid and her breathing shallow.

"Why is Leni driving!?" Lynn shouted into Lori's ear, the athlete's hardier frame allowing her shove her face into the driver's compartment, despite the physical impossibility of doing so under the circumstances.

"Don't blame me!" Lori bellowed in reply. "She grabbed the keys before I could!" Lori turned as best she could towards her younger sister. "Leni! Pull over and let me drive!"

"There's no time, Lori!" Leni called back. "Besides, this is a one way street!"

The fashionista had failed to note that the way in question, was the exact opposite of the direction they were driving in.

Carol and Lincoln sat in companionable silence as they headed along their route, the ambiance accentuated nicely by jazz music softly emitting from the car's speakers. Traffic had been a little heavy at the onset, but it had cleared up relatively quickly, and their trip had otherwise been relatively uneventful.

"You think we should stop somewhere to get snacks?" Lincoln asked. "The theater will charge us an arm and a leg for them."

"Nah." Carol replied, after a moment of consideration. "We're in a hurry. It won't kill us to have to pay a few extra dollars at the concession stand."

"Besides." She added "There's just something about the smell of movie theater popcorn straight from the theater, right?"

"True." Lincoln nodded in agreement. "Shame it tastes like the cardboard its served in."

The couple shared a hearty laugh as they continued on their way.

"Dudes, how is it that we're staying alive?" Luna wheezed. "That truck was coming straight at us."

The situation inside Vanzilla was no less perilous, nor terrifying than it had been previously. The only difference now was that the occupants were too tired to continue screaming. The girls had seemingly reached a silent agreement that the omnipresent peril spoke for itself, rendering their cries of terror somewhat redundant.

"I hit the jump button." Leni replied cheerfully.

"I keep telling you, Leni." Lori rasped, "That's called the acceler—" The rest of Lori's sentence was drowned out by the a loud horn blaring off in the distance.

"Lori, please let me concentrate, okay? This one's going to be tricky."

And with that, the unspoken agreement was unceremoniously broken as the screaming resumed.

"Oh no!" Lincoln exclaimed shooting up in his seat in a panic.

"Everything okay, hun?" Carol asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the younger boy frantically patting at his pockets.

"I forgot my wallet!" Lincoln groaned, flopping back down, clearly agitated. It took every ounce of willpower Carol had to refrain from giggling at how dramatic he was being.

"It's okay, Linc." She reassured him. "It's only been a few days since my last paycheck, I've got plenty of money."

Lincoln threw up his hands in frustration. "But I'm the guy, right? I should be treating you." He let out a disappointed sigh. "I'm sorry, I just really wanted this to go well."

"Don't worry so much." Carol gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "It's going to be a good night as long as we're together, right?" She slowed the car to a gentle stop as they pulled up to a red light.

"Besides." Carol took the brief reprise from her driving responsibilities to lean down and give Lincoln a peck on the cheek. "It's not like this is your only chance. We'll be going on plenty of dates."

That younger boy noticeably straightened up, a happy, yet embarrassed smile making its way onto his face.

Carol giggled softly to herself as the light changed back to green. Crisis averted.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Vanzilla gently rolled to a stop. Evidently, Leni still remembered that a red light meant stop.

"White shoe." The girl recited, confirming that theory.

"'Scuse me, ladies." Sam mumbled as she rolled down her window and thrust her head out into the cool night air. Her stomach was still doing flip flops after their latest brush with death, and it was taking everything she had to make sure that her insides stayed right where they were.

"That shouldn't have happened." Lucy whimpered in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "I...I want to ask Lisa for some sort of explanation. For any kind of explanation, but..." She trailed off, her voice cracking on the last word.

"You're afraid she'll tell you that it's physically impossible for something as big as Vanzilla to pull off a triple summersault and still land without crushing the passengers into goo?" Lynn asked. The tiny goth nodded wordlessly, and Lynn pulled her into a hug, rubbing soothing circles into the younger girl's back.

"It's okay, Luce." She cooed softly. "The theater's only a few blocks away, we're almost there."

"Y-yeah, little dude." Luna added. "D-don't fear the reaper." While the sentiment was welcomed, Luna's still chattering teeth rendered the platitude less reassuring than it might have been.

Outside, Sam let out one last retch before her stomach finally calmed down. Thankfully without anything coming out. After the night they'd had so far, vomit breath was the last thing she wanted to be dealing with.

Placing both hands on the outside of the van, Sam pushed herself up with the intention of sliding back into her seat. The inside of a Leni-driven car was dangerous enough, she had no intention of finding out what the experience was like for the world outside. Halfway through the motion, however, she froze.

Across the street was a large, black, doberman, its attention occupied with something small and presumably helpless. It shouldn't have held her attention the way it did, stray animals were hardly an uncommon sight, but there was something within her reacted to the sight of this particular dog. Something primal. And terrified. The animal tensed, slowly raising its head and turning to face her. Their eyes locked, and Sam felt her blood run cold. There was intelligence in those eyes. Hateful, terrible intelligence. And in that moment, Sam realized that she knew this dog, and it, her.

"You noodle stealing son of a bitch." She breathed, softly, her entire body beginning to quiver as repressed memories came forth unbidden.

The dogs lips drew back in an angry snarl, revealing sharp, vicious, yellowed teeth. And, as if summoned by some unseen signal, four more dogs slowly padded out of the shadows, each larger and more terrifying than the last.

"Drive...Leni." Sam rasped, desperately trying to pull herself back into her seat. "DRIVE THE CAR, LENI!"

"ARF ARF ARF!"

Carol hummed happily to herself as she maneuvered her car through the short alleyway adjacent to the theater and into the parking lot. Not only had they made it to the theater with time to spare, but in defiance of all operative logic for the opening night of a big blockbuster movie, a single parking spot was readily available, as if specially prepared for her. The evening's dicey start not withstanding, everything seemed to be going perfectly.

Carol pulled into her parking spot and shut off the car. She felt somewhat perplexed when Lincoln leapt out of his seat, and exited the vehicle the very second the engine shut off, but her unasked question was answered in short order when her door suddenly opened.

"M'lady." Lincoln said, giving a short bow before offering his hand to her.

"What a gentleman." Carol giggled, taking his hand in hers and allowing the younger boy to help her to her feet. She locked the doors, set the car alarm, and the pair set off to enjoy their evening, hand in hand. She was momentarily disappointed when Lincoln let go of her, but found herself pleasantly surprised when the pale haired boy wrapped one shaking arm around her slender waist, and pulled her close. Carol responded in kind, though their difference in height made reciprocation somewhat difficult. It was worth it, however, as returning the gesture brought some color back into the boy's face, and his arm shook a little less.

This, she thought to herself as turned into the alleyway, is going to be a very good night.

"ARF ARF ARF!"

Carol froze momentarily. She opened her mouth, intending to ask Lincoln if he'd heard that, but her words were swallowed up by the sounds of screeching tires and screaming metal.

A van, looming enormously in the small area, pulled into the alley and barreled straight at them. Lincoln, her boyfriend, futile though the gesture was, stepped in front of her, trying to shield her with his small body. As the vehicle roared towards them, closing the distance distressingly fast, Carol realized that she knew this particular van.

"Not again!" She screamed, pulling Lincoln into her arms and hugging him with all her might.

Lincoln yelped in surprise as Carol yanked him up off the ground and into her chest, screaming in terror all the while. He'd kind of been hoping that his noble, but less than useless gesture would have spurned the older girl into fleeing from the death machine barreling towards them. Instead, it now looked like they were both going to die.

Still, he thought to himself, basking in the pleasant sensation of Carol's warm, feminine softness wrapped around his comparatively tiny frame, there are definitely worse ways to go.

He'd wanted to go out staring death in the face, just like Ace Savvy would. But Lincoln, for all his emotional maturity, and inexplicable luck with the ladies, was still a kid at heart. And despite his best efforts to stare down the several tons of rusty metal careening towards him and his date, he flinched, turning away, squeezing his eyes shut, and hugging Carol for dear life. The world went dark, and his existence became nothing but noise terror, and the oddly comforting sound of Carol's thumping heartbeat. And then...silence.

Lincoln allowed himself to linger a few moments longer, not wanting to indignify his death any further by opening his eyes just before the moment of his impending splattering. But several more moments passed, and still, the only sensation he felt was that of Carol's soft flesh against his cheek. Steeling himself, Lincoln wrenched himself out of the quietly sobbing girl's vice-like grip (strong, but nothing compared to Leni's when she went into hug mode), and opened his eyes. There, only scant inches away from the young couple, lay a vehicle that was exceedingly familiar to the young boy.

"What, the—" He began, but was swiftly interrupted as the doors opened simultaneously and seven dark shapes emerged. The shadowy figures rushed towards him, and within moments, Lincoln's world went black again, though this time, not of his own volition. This time, it was also significantly harder to breath.

With a gasp of exertion, Lincoln managed push his face above the writhing mass of shadowy flesh that had been suffocating him. He blinked in irritation, Vanzilla's still glaring headlights momentarily blinding his night adjusted eyes. Fortunately, the light also granted the boy some much needed clarity, as it revealed the identities of his shadowy assailants.

"Lori? Leni?" He asked, bewildered. "Luna? Luan? Lynn? Lucy?"

"And Sam." Added the girl in question.

"SHHHHHHHHH!" The other six hissed. Lincoln felt one strong hand clamp around his mouth, and then he and Carol were unceremoniously yanked into the huddle that was now taking place in front of Vanzilla. He wanted to demand an explanation for what had just happened, but his instincts told him to heed the call for silence, so he did.

He lay there, perfectly still, the night's chill staved off by the collective body heat of his girlfriend, his six sisters, and...whatever Sam was at this point. It was so comfortable. So peaceful. So...right feeling, that all he wanted to do was drift off to sleep, surrounded by the people who meant the most to him.

That feeling of warmth and comfort was shattered as a low, bestial growl, cut through the night. Lincoln was suddenly very grateful for the hand clamping his mouth shut, as he was now very uncertain that he'd have been able to refrain from crying out in terror otherwise. He felt the bodies around him tense as the sound drew closer. Lincoln did the only thing he could do, he reached out and grabbed the closest free hand he could find. Leni's, he guessed, from the feel of the sewing callouses that adorned the otherwise immaculate flesh. He reached out with his remaining hand, and found another. Rough, and slightly damp with sweat. Lynn's for sure. Nevertheless, Lincoln held on, and gave each girl a reassuring squeeze, pleased to feel the girls relax ever so slightly. As if by some unspoken agreement, the remaining members of the huddle reached out and clasped hands with each other. The group lay there, terrified, but united in shared solidarity, and that unity gave them the strength they needed.

It was hard to say exactly how much time passed, fear had a tendency to stretch even seconds into an eternity, but at last he finally heard the sounds he'd so longed to hear. A short, disappointed bark, and the sounds of padded feet flapping against the pavement, the sound growing increasingly faint as it disappeared into the distance.

Several more moments of silence passed, the only sounds heard being the ambient noises of the city at night. Finally, group let out a collective sigh of relief, and the huddle collapsed, as every member went limp.

"Sam?" He asked as the hand keeping him silent finally withdrew. "Please take your hand out my pants."

"And that's why we were being chased by the doggies." Leni concluded, beaming happily. The group was sitting on the floor of the alley, roughly arranged into a circle. Though it seemed they'd manage to escape their brush with disaster, they'd made the decision to tarry a little longer, give the dogs ample opportunity to find new prey.

Lincoln simply sat there, frozen in place. Eyes bulging, and mouth agape.

"I, uh..." Luna coughed, nervously. "I think we might have broken him, dudes."

"It was probably the part where you guys confessed to being in love with your brother." Sam opined. The blonde girl discretely slid her hand along the floor, creeping closer and closer to the dumbstruck boy, but she was foiled as seven hands came down and slapped the appendage away in unison. She yelped in pain and cradled her red, throbbing hand against her chest, glaring at the other girls.

"You mean my boyfriend!" Carol growled, yanking Lincoln into her lap. The still frozen boy began to topple sideways, but Carol held him steady, fussing with im as she tried to seat him comfortably. She looked around, and took a small amount of vindictive pleasure in the fact that none of the other girls was willing to meet her gaze. Save for Lori.

"Carol..." She began, plaintively.

"You tried to run me over." Carol replied, flatly. "For real this time!"

"That was Leni!" Lori protested, flinching at the hurt look Leni sent her way. "And we weren't trying, you just...kind of happened to be there." She finished, lamely. Lori sighed, dejectedly. "Just like...the other time."

Carol bit her lip and turned away, trying to hold onto her indignation. She had told herself that she was going to put this whole stupid thing behind her, for the good of her relationship with Lincoln. But now that it was staring her in the face, she was suddenly staring to find it a lot harder to support this whole thing. She didn't want to share Lincoln with anyone! Let alone the girls who'd been so mean to her.

Carol started as she felt a gentle touch against her cheek. She turned, and was surprised to find Lori , right in her face. Her best friend. Her very sad, very remorseful looking, best friend.

"Carol..." She repeated, softly. "I'm so sorry. We're all..." She gestured around the group "So, so very sorry."

The raw emotion in Lori's voice caused Carol's heart to soften ever so slightly. Unwilling to trust herself to stay composed, she nodded her head a fraction of an inch, indicating for Lori to go on.

"We were really terrible to you." Lori continued. "And you didn't deserve that. Nobody would have deserved that. But this..." She flung out her arms, flailing them wildly, "This whole thing is just so screwed up!"

Lori paused momentarily, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "We...all of us...we love our brother." Carol flinched at the frank admission. It was one thing to deduce the fact from fairly obvious evidence, but it was quite another to hear it out loud.

"We love our brother." Lori repeated. "Too much. More than any sister should. But, that's the the fact of the matter. And while it was wrong to take it out on you the way we did, in that moment, you..." Her voice began to crack, "You were the girl who was taking him away from us."

There was a soft coughing noise from off to the side.

"And Sam." Lori added, rolling her eyes, a bit of the girl's usual spirit creeping back into her demeanor as she did so.

Carol wasn't a bad person. She genuinely felt for these girls, all of whom had bravely lain their emotions bare on the table. And yet, there was a part of her that still resisted.

"Please..." Carol squeaked in surprise as Lucy suddenly appeared in front of her, as if from thin air. She was certain that only moments before, the girl had been on the other side of the loose circle they'd arranged themselves in...

"Please..." She repeated, pleading. The raw emotion in the normally stoic girl's voice compelled Carol to listen.

"You've already won." She continued. "Lincoln won't leave you for us, no matter how much we beg. He's too good of a person for that. But even if he doesn't return our feelings, forcing Lincoln to choose between you and us will kill him. And we love him too much to put him through that kind of trauma. So please, Carol..." Lucy trailed off, averting her gaze as a sob wracked her tiny body.

"...Please don't take our brother from us." She finished, her voice a barely audible whisper.

Carol looked around the assembled girls, still clutching Lincoln possessively. She could see the fear. The naked terror in their expressions. They knew she held all the cards here.

"So...what?" She asked, neutrally. "We're going to be like, a harem or something?"

"K-kind of?" Lori responded, scratching her head nervously.

"It...uh, it sounds a lot worse when you say it out loud." Luan added, chuckling nervously. "Loud. G-get it?"

Nobody acknowledged the pun, not even by groaning. That was how serious the matter was.

"We'll be a family." Leni replied, softly, a strange look of determination settling onto the girl's features.

"You're already a family." Carol pointed out, her tone a bit more sour than she'd intended.

"No!" Leni protested. "We're a family." She gestured to herself and her siblings. "But we all love Linky. You, and Sam too." She gestured towards the younger blonde. "So if we can all agree to be nice to each other, then we can all be a family." She gestured again, this time indicating the entire group. "All of us, together. We can be the best family ever."

Carol couldn't help but crack a smile at the fashionista's logic. "And all we have to do is share the same guy, huh?"

"Ya huh." Leni nodded, her face entirely devoid of the slightest hint of irony. Apparently, in her mind, it really was just that simple. Carol looked to the still catatonic boy in her arms. And she found herself wondering if maybe, just maybe...it really could be that easy

"I'm not saying yes..." She began, and immediately felt her heart break at the devastated expressions that broke out on the other girls' faces. "Yet!" She shouted, waiving her arms around for emphasis. "I'm not saying yes yet!" She breathed a short sigh of relief as the mood turned hopeful again. This was hard.

"It's not going to be easy." She continued "But I think I can be...agreeable, to this arrangement of yours."

She held up one finger, forestalling any premature replies. "However. We need to hear what Lincoln thinks first."

The Louds plus one exchanged nervous glances.

"Uh..." Lynn ventured. "I'm fine with that, but...how, exactly...do we do that?" She tittered nervously. "I know how to knock guys out, not so much how to wake them up."

Carol didn't respond to the athlete, instead she looked down at her boyfriend, and began to pat him softly on the shoulder. "I think it's time to stop playing possum, Linc." She whispered, softly.

Much to the surprise of the other girls, Lincoln stirred back to life, groaning as his stiff joints cracked. He looked around, sheepishly, and absentmindedly scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, guys." He said, nervously.

"You were awake the entire time!?" Lynn shouted, her hands reflexively balling into fists.

"Y-yeah." He replied, letting out a distressed chuckle, "I guess I was."

Silence fell upon the group as the girls processed this.

"So..." Lori ventured, "You...heard...everything, then."

"Y-yeah." He repeated. He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. "I did."

Again, there was no immediate followup. Finally Carol found that she'd had enough of all this waiting.

"Lincoln!" She barked, sternly, jabbing the boy in his side. "You know that these girls are in love with you. Yes?"

"Y-yes!" He squeaked, suddenly fearful.

"And you!" She swept that same finger around the group. "All know perfectly well that Lincoln's spent the better part of the last year drawing comics of all of you in romantic situations with him. So he clearly feels the same way!"

"Carol!" Lincoln protested, his face bright red with embarrassment.

"It's obvious!" She waved her hand dismissively. "You'd have to be blind not to see the implications there!"

"And you!" She indicated Sam, who suddenly began to back away in terror. Carol's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "He got to second base with you. On television."

"Y-yeah." Sam laughed nervously. "B-but I don't have a comic, right?"

Carol rolled her eyes. "It's been in production for months." She poked Lincoln again. "Tell her."

"C-Capes and Capers!" He yelped, "It was going to be a surprise!" He looked to Sam very briefly, before turning away, suddenly bashful. "It's about Card Sharp, and Ace, a-and..." He gulped. "Night Club."

"Aww." Sam cooed, her face flushing with pleasure. She leaned over and pulled Luna into a side hug. "Babe!" She hissed in a stage whisper. "I think he likes us!"

Luna let out an amused chuckle, and returned the gesture, seemingly very pleased by the notion herself.

"Now!" Carol yanked Lincoln off the ground by the scruff of his neck, and shoved him towards his sisters. "Tell them you love them!"

Lincoln stumbled forward, propelled by the unexpected shove and tumbled over, expecting to hit the ground. Instead, he fell into the waiting arms of his sisters. He looked around at their expectant faces, each one tinged with hope and fear in equal measure. But there was also something else there. Love. Pure, simple love. And as he gazed upon the love in his sisters' eyes, he felt feelings that he'd long tried to suppress, begin to make themselves known once more. It scared him. It thrilled him. He stiffened slightly as he felt a familiar, soft sensation against his back. He turned to see that Carol had joined them, wrapping her arms around him, and giving him a reassuring squeeze.

"Is...is it really okay?" He asked her, his voice quavering with barely suppressed terror.

Carol took a deep breath, and searched within herself. And at that moment, she finally felt the little ball of anger and resentment she'd been nursing for so long fade away. All that was left was serenity, and acceptance. And yes, love.

"It's okay." She whispered, giving him an encouraging smile.

Lincoln turned back to his expectant sisters, his heart hammering in his chest. "I love you guys." He said, haltingly. "I think...I think I always have. And I want us to stay like this. All of us. Forever."

No more words needed to be said. The Loud collective, plus two, pulled the boy close. And the nine of them simply sat there on the floor of that empty alleyway. Enured to the cold of the night by the love that they shared.

Sometimes, it really was just that simple.

Ending A

"So, uh..." Lincoln coughed nervously, his mind still reeling from the implications of this new relationship. Relationships, he mentally corrected himself. "What now?"

"Smooches, obviously." Sam replied, thrusting herself into the heart of the group, licking her lips in anticipation. "Pucker up, lover boy."

Lincoln blanched, and opened his mouth to respond. He wouldn't get the chance, however. Suddenly a dark shadow emerged from beneath Vanzilla. It reached out, grasped hold of the boy with long, spindly fingers, and yanked the boy down into it's lair.

"What..." Carol began, dumbfounded, "The heck was that!?"

"Oh, right." Lori tittered. "I guess we kind of forgot to tell you. There's actually this one other...girl?" Carol could hear the lilt of the unasked question in the other girl's voice, and she found that mildly unsettling. "We're not totally sure what her whole deal is."

The girls sat there, patiently, listening to the sound of soft moans, and lips pressing against flesh. There was some mild concern when Vanzilla began to rattle, but it was only moments later that Lincoln was ejected back into the group. Dazed, his face and arms covered in marks of black lipstick, but otherwise unharmed.

"I've got next!" Lynn shouted, leaping to her feet, but she was stopped in her tracks as an enormous weight pressed down upon her. The sporty Loud turned to see a dainty, well manicured hand wrapped around her shoulder in a death grip.

"No." Leni replied, simply.

Ending A+

Later, Lincoln lay deathly still amid his crowd of extremely pleased looking paramours.

"That was fun." Lori purred, leaning down and giving the boy a gentle kiss on the lips. "But I think we need to let the poor guy rest a little." Lincoln responded with a wordless cry, reaching one trembling hand up towards the sky, before collapsing in on himself, limp and unmoving.

"Well..." Carol chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Lincoln and I were going to see a movie. Granted, we're..." She looked at her watch and winced. "Twenty minutes late, at this point, but it might be fun if we all went." She looked around the group. "Together?"

"Kind of like...a date?" Sam ventured, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Yeah." Carol giggled. "Our first date."

A low wheeze drew the attention of the girls to the dried out remains of what had once been Lincoln.

"That sounds fun." Lincoln rasped, his voice dusty and dry. "But if we're going to do that, we should get going. I've actually got an early day tomorrow."

"Oh?" Carol asked. The dehydrated boy seemed to be oblivious to the interest, which which the newly formed group was now regarding him.

"Yeah." Lincoln nodded as he stumbled to his feet. Surprisingly, nobody was lending him a hand just yet. "I'm meeting Becky tomorrow."

"Oh?" Eight voices asked in unison. Carol found herself smiling at the strange sense of camaraderie she was feeling. This was actually kind of nice.

"Uh huh." Lincoln finally managed to find his feet, though his legs still wavered with weakness. "She wanted me to help her set up this super romantic picnic she's been planning. She's been trying to get some dope to notice her for like, forever. But somehow, this guy just can't pick up on the super obvious hints she's been dropping him. So she's gonna finally come out and tell him directly. Crazy, huh?"

Lincoln looked around, likely expecting to be met with amusement. It was probably surprising when, instead, he was met with annoyance.

"What?" He asked, genuinely confused.

There was a collective sigh of disappointment among the assembled girls.

"What?" Lincoln asked again, clearly annoyed by the reaction.

Then...

SMACK

"Ouch!"

"Linky..." Leni tsked, even as she pulled the bewildered boy in for an apologetic hug. "Sometimes you can be really, really dumb."

True Ending A++, Era's End.

I probably should have wrapped things up like, two segments ago. But I had ideas I couldn't quite let go of, that I also couldn't quite figure out how to roll into the main flow of the chapter. To that end, I've broken it up into three endings, and you guys can just pick whichever one you feel makes the best stopping point. For the record, each ending includes the previous one, and A++ is what I consider to be the canon ending.

So I know that the question that's probably running through your heads is, is this the end of Aces Wild? The answer is an emphatic...kind of?

Aces Wild started off as a dumb idea concocted from by a guy who was convinced he'd never be able to write anything meaningful. When it turned out that people actually liked this idea (a lot, it seems given the view count), I had to reassess what I wanted to accomplish with this story. Specifically, what kind of story I wanted to tell, and more importantly, where I wanted to stop telling that story.

It looks like there's a not insignificant number of people who were just in this thing for the wacky hijinks, and some of those people have expressed dissatisfaction with the direction the plot took. Specifically, it seems, that the story actually has a plot. I'm sorry for people who feel that way, but Aces was only ever a pure comedy story for like...the first chapter, more or less. From the moment I decided to expand this idea beyond its original gag of "Wouldn't it be funny if even Luna's girlfriend shipped Lunacoln?", I've had a very clear idea of the kind of story I wanted to tell with Aces. The fine details have changed over time, some characters gained more prominence than they were originally intended to have, largely because I ended up having more fun than I expected to with them, but there were always very specific milestones that I'd wanted the story to hit. And that includes this particular ending.

So, Aces is now over in the sense that I have now finished telling the story I wanted to tell. You can read Aces Wild from chapters 1 through 40, and come away with a complete narrative experience. But Aces isn't quite finished yet.

I think this will make more sense if I save the full explanation for after the next chapter. Suffice to say, chapters 1-40 represent the main story of Aces, which is now over and done with. I still have an epilogue chapter planned that I want to write, which I think will help transition into the next thing I want to do with the story. I won't get too into it right now, but I'm going to throw out the phrase "post game content", and the assurance that I still have a lot of things I want to do with Aces Wild.

If you'll bear with me a little longer, I just want to reiterate how amazed I am that so many of you guys have stuck with me for this long. As of the writing of this chapter, Aces Wild currently sits at 125,683 views, with 300+ follows and favorites (separate, not collectively), and 546 reviews. It's utterly amazing to me that this dumb little story of mine has gotten the attention it has, and I'm so humbled that you guys kept coming back to read more of it.

As always, I want to express my deepest thanks to AberrantScript and LoudAutomata16. They are dear friends who've given me so much support, basically from the very beginning of this thing. I can say without any exaggeration, that this story would never have been completed without their encouragement. And, to only a marginally lesser extent, I want to extend my thanks to you readers. You guys are the reason I kept writing this thing. Your encouragement, your enjoyment of the material, and even some of the hurtful things people have sent my way, all drove me to keep on writing, and I don't think I would have come this far without you guys pushing me every step of the way. So once again, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

Gonna wrap this up now before I go on for too long, the story's going to be over 100k words as it is. So to reiterate, there's still an epilogue chapter coming, and after that, there will be...stuff, bear with me for a little longer and it'll all make sense. If you're not interested in what comes after, than you can peace out here, knowing that you have read the entirety of this weird little story that I wanted to tell. I hope you enjoyed the ride even a fraction as much as I did.

It is now...3am my time, so I think I'm gonna to lay down and sleep forever, just for a bit. Later folks :)