AN: Here it is, sorry for the long wait.

It was bright.

Lincoln groaned as he squinted at his surroundings.

White walls, white floor, white sheets. Why was everything so blindingly white? He tried to say something('hello?', 'where am I?' or the always useful 'help!) before he started coughing uncontrollably. God, his throat was so dry.

Someone was walking to him, heels clicking on the tiled floor. "What's happening-" a voice said. A woman. "Oh, you're awake!"

A shadow suddenly fell over him. He blinked up at her. A nurse?
"How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?" she asked.
"Water." Lincoln rasped before closing his eyes. His head throbbed at the damn brightness. He heard the nurse shuffle around before returning to him.

"Here." He squinted his eyes open again and saw her holding out a styrofoam cup with a straw poking out the top to him. The teen leaned forward and greedily sucked down as much water as he could. When he was finished the nurse set the cup down on a nearby table and turned to leave.

"You wait right there, I'll tell the doctor you're awake." she called.

"Wait! Can you turn the lights off, please?" He half begged. She flicked the switch off and left him in darkness.

Lincoln tried to piece together where he was. Hospital? How did he get here? He felt completely numb from the neck down. And he was covered in something...dry and papery...bandages? A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. The man-no, the doctor looked older, with balding hair and horn rimmed glasses.

"Hello Lincoln, I'm Doctor Peltzer." The man said, reaching his hand out.

"Hey." Lincoln managed, shaking his wrinkly hand.

Peltzer sat down in a chair next to the bed, clearing his throat.

"Do you know where you are?" He asked slowly, making sure Lincoln could understand.

"Hospital." Lincoln guessed.

"Do you know why you're here?" The doctor pressed him.

"Please..L-Lincoln. I-I just need to test this one theory."

Blinding-burning-bright-hot-white-

"What's that sound?"

His skin was on fire. White light poured into him-

"That's not good. I recommend a hasty-"

He cradled her small form. He had to protect her. Protect from the light.

"Lincoln?"

Someone was screaming. It was him. It didn't matter. He had to protect her.

"Lincoln!" The doctor snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Are you okay?"

Lincoln shook himself. "Uh, there was an accident. Explosion."

The older man put on a sympathetic face. "Is that all you can remember?"

"I...had to protect someone." Who? "Keep her safe." Her? "She-"

The world exploded in pure light. "LISA!"

Lincoln bolted upright. "Lisa! My sister, what happened to her?!" His bandaged hands grabbed Doctor Peltzer by the shoulders and shook him violently. "Where is she?! Is she okay?!"

"Easy, easy son!" Peltzer wheezed. "Your sister is alright, she went home a week ago!"

Safe, she was safe. He protected her.

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief and let the poor doctor go. "Sorry."

"It's alright." Peltzer waved him off. "It's only natural to have that kind of reaction."

Lincoln leaned back on the mattress. You'd think they'd be able to afford more comfortable beds.

"Is this the part where you start doing tests on me?" He asked the doctor wryly.

"I'm just going to check your senses and vitals. You've done this before?" Peltzer took out several tools from his bag.

"I've done this more times than I can count." said Lincoln.

"Oh? Are you a hospital regular?" said the doctor, holding up a stethoscope to Lincoln's chest.

"My little sister is a kind of a doctor." And an engineer, and a physicist, and a chemist, and so many other things Lincoln couldn't even pronounce.

Peltzer gave him a curious look. "But you're only eighteen. She sounds a little young to be a doctor."

"Well, she's not a real doctor, she doesn't have her P.H.D. or anything." Though Lisa could probably get one in a week if she really wanted to. "But she knows everything about the human body. Heck, I'd trust her to do surgery on me."

The doctor shook his head as he got out the blood pressure pump-thingy. "I've never heard of a little girl performing surgery before." He scoffed as he started squeezing the pump.

"It's true, I swear." said Lincoln. "Not that she ever needs to do it, but she can."

"How old is she?" Peltzer asked.

"Eleven." said Lincoln.

"Eleven years old and you'd trust her with a scalpel?" The old doctor "If what you're saying is true she has to be some kind of prodigy."

"You have no idea." Lincoln laughed.

Doctor Peltzer finished all of his tests(including shining that flashlight thing in Lincoln's eyes, which felt like someone was stabbing a screwdriver into his brain) and packed all of his tools up.

"Uh, Doctor? How long have I been here?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, about a week. You've been comatose most of the time."

Only a week? "That's not too bad, I guess." Lincoln shrugged. He got to miss his final exams and he could still enjoy summer before college. Ha, suck it Clyde. All that studying was useless anyway."You're going to call my family, right? Tell them I'm awake?" said Lincoln.

"Normally I would, but visiting time is over. We'll call them in the morning, don't worry." Peltzer turned to leave. "In the meantime you should rest up. You have a long day tomorrow."

"I will." promised Lincoln.

The doctor started walking towards the door when he suddenly dropped his bag and hissed.

"You okay?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm fine, just a little sore." Peltzer gave a pained smile as he rubbed his shoulder. "You have a strong grip, son."

"Lisa." A bored voice came to her. "Arise, Lisa."

The eleven year old groaned and rolled on her side. Wake up? No, she was tired, so tired. Sleep….that's what she needed right now. Nice, quiet, sleep…

"Lisa." An annoyed sigh. "Come on, wake up already." A pale hand shook the sleeping genius awake.

Lisa grumbled. Who dared to interrupt her rest? She blinked her eyes open to see a pale black and white face hanging inches in front of her.

"Gah!" Lisa flinched back.

"Sigh." Lucy withdrew away from her. "I can't even wake people up without scaring them."

Lisa's gothic sister stood next to the bed with her arms crossed. The genius noted she was wearing her sleepwear, an oversized black t-shirt and striped pajama pants.

A brief silence ensued.

"Er-" Lisa cleared her throat. "Do you require something?"

"It's time for breakfast. Dad sent me to get you." said Lucy.

Breakfast? Lisa yawned and rubbed her eyes. She must have fallen asleep while taking notes on her condition. Said notes now lay scattered around her on the bed, ripped from the notepad. The genius picked up a sheet but struggled to read it, owing to the cracks that spiderwebbed her vision. She was still wearing the damaged pair of glasses from yesterday.

"Can you tell Father I'll be down in a few minutes?" Lisa asked her intruder as she retrieved an intact pair from her desk drawer.

"He said you'd say that and that I should wait for you. To make sure you don't get...distracted." Lucy said.

Curse these familial meal gatherings. Lisa thought as she swapped glasses. Father insisted she came down every morning for breakfast even though she preferred to take her meals alone in her room. It was an annoying but tolerable routine. With the new glasses her vision cleared exponentially allowing her to bend down and start picking up the scattered notes, hopeful to find something she could work with.

"Are you coming?" Came the goth's drawl from behind her.

"Give me a moment." Lisa flipped through her assembled stack of papers. The first few pages seemed promising.

The urge doesn't appear to vary in intensity over time, it is uniform in strength, constant. Not a single line of information, rather multiple 'threads'. Each thread leads to different areas of information all related to constructing the targeted item, i.e. the laws of energy and motion, electromagnets, advanced engineering, etc, all combining together to help construct the desired product.

Everything quickly devolved from there.

-broadcasted-(illegible)-what kind of signal? Neural feedback loop-(illegible)-quantum mechanics suggest…too many too many too many-(illegible)- Written notes are proving ineffective, will attempt to demonstrate via illustrations.

After that was nothing but scribbles, page after page of senseless scribbles. Lisa threw the stack down with a sound of frustration. So much for that.

"Let's go." Lisa said and fell into step behind her older sister as they marched down the hallway.

"Pardon me for asking, but why did Father send you to retrieve me?" Lisa queried as they reached the stairs. Her older sister was usually not the type to volunteer for such a task.

Lucy shrugged. "No one else wanted to do it."

Hmm. Lola didn't volunteer for obvious reasons, and Lily and Lana likely wanted to avoid her after she verbally lashed out at them. Lisa felt a stab of guilt at her previous actions. She was emotionally unstable after the fight with Lola, but that didn't excuse her treatment of them.
The duo reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the dining room. Their three pajama clad sisters sat at the table, Lily and Lana sitting on the left side and Lola sitting across from them, alone. Lily was laughing at something Lana said before spotting the duo and instantly clamming up.

Three pairs of eyes locked onto Lisa.

Lola's formed a glare, 2nd degree burns undoubtedly still paining her. The genius felt a small amount of satisfaction at that.

Lana's eyes were remorseful, guilty, conciliatory towards her. She likely blamed herself for what happened yesterday.

The final pair of eyes was Lily's, fearful and uncertain. The little photographer quickly averted her gaze, scared of annoying her again.

Lisa felt anguish strike her heart. The two of them used to be the closest pair of sisters. She personally oversaw her growth and development, from her first steps to potty training to when she got her first camera. To have their familial bond threatened like this...it would not go on. She would apologize to Lily , and Lana too, later, when she had the chance.

Lucy silently moved to sit next to Lola while Lisa decided to sit at the far end of the table. An uncomfortable silence hung over the table until her parents joined them from the kitchen, arms laden with a pot of oatmeal and plates of eggs and bacon.

Lisa grabbed a bowl and filled it with oatmeal as dialogue began again. She picked at her breakfast, appetite nonexistent.

Oatmeal. 84% water, 12% carbohydrates, 2% dietary fiber, 2% of protein. Contains 29% of the daily value of manganese-

The buzzing of a cell phone interrupted her dietary analysis. Lisa looked for the source of the disturbance. Father reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone.

"Hello?" Beat. Father suddenly stood up, almost knocking over a glass of orange juice in his haste. "He is? Can we see him?"

Silence for a few seconds. "Yes, yes, we'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you so much." He hung up the phone and turned to the family.

"That was a call from the hospital." He announced.

The mood in the dining room instantly grew tense. Lisa gripped the edge of her chair. Don't be dead, don't be dead, don't be dead...

Father beamed. "Lincoln's awake!"

The table erupted into cheers. Lisa felt like she could fly at that moment. He was alive, he was awake. She would get to see him again. Father clapped his hands, quieting the children's celebration. "Okay, everyone get changed! We're leaving in ten minutes!"
The sisters stampeded up the stairs back to their rooms to get dressed. Just as she was about to enter her room Lisa felt an arm coil around her shoulder and tensed.

"Come on little sis, I got the cutest top you can wear." Lola said sweetly as she dragged the genius towards her own room.

Lana paused in front of her door and gave a concerned look in their direction. She frowned and narrowed her eyes. Lana pulled up her sleeve and started walking to them threateningly when Lisa shook her head. Don't interfere. Lana stopped looked at her imploringly. Let me help you.
She shook her head again. No. Lisa didn't need her help, she would handle this herself. Lana deflated and shrunk back into her room.

Once they entered Lola's room the princess threw Lisa against the wall and held her in place.

"What, you don't actually think you get to visit him, do you?" she said darkly.

"Yes, I do." Lisa freed herself from her grasp. "He is my brother too. I have a right to visit him."

Lola laughed. "Sorry to burst your bubble, freak, but that's not happening. Lincoln needs to rest and recover, and seeing you is the last thing he needs right now."

"I'm going to see him." Lisa said assertively. She wouldn't be denied seeing her own injured brother, not in his time of need.

"Did you forget what happened yesterday?" Lola asked.

"I see you haven't, going by your slight difficulty walking." Lisa retorted.

"You don't have a choice." Lola growled. "Or do you want me to-"

"-reveal my deepest, darkest secret to Lincoln?" Lisa finished dryly. "No. But you don't have a choice either. Mother and Father want everyone to go."

"Mom and Dad." Lola emphasized. "Won't let you go if they think you're sick."

"But I'm not sick." Lisa pointed out.

Lola eyed her. "Mhm. Stick a finger down your throat."

Lisa's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"I said stick a finger down your throat." Lola said plainly.

Inserting a finger in her throat would cause her to touch her uvula, triggering a gag reflex-"No!" Lisa said with disgust.

Lola sighed impatiently. "I don't have time for this. Either you do it, or I'll do it for you." She grinned and held up her index finger, a long, sharp nail protruding from it. "And I'll make sure it hurts."

Lisa glared at her older sister. Then, to her embarrassment, she inserted a finger into her mouth. Lisa paused, considering what she was about to do.
"Come on, do it already." Lola urged her, tapping her foot.
Lisa steeled herself and prodded her uvula, gagging. She hunched forward and expelled the contents of her stomach, oatmeal and stomach acid staining the carpet. Lola wrinkled her nose at the smell and opened her door. "Mom!" She called. "Lisa's throwing up!"

Footsteps hurried up the stairs and in seconds her mother knelt next to her. "Lisa! What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked.

Lisa wiped her mouth. "I don't feel well." she lied.

"Did you eat too fast? Was there something wrong with the oatmeal? Should I-"

"Mother..." Lisa interrupted her "Maybe...I should remain here? I might risk infecting Lincoln with something."

"Are you sure, honey?" Mother asked. "I know you really want to see him."

Behind her Lola nodded. Lisa swallowed. "I'm sure."

Mother put her to bed with strict orders not to exert herself any further. With a kiss on the forehead Mother bid her goodbye and promised they'd be back soon.

Lisa was left with an empty stomach and a smoldering hatred for her sister.

Lola grinned to herself as Mom carried Lisa out of her room. That should hold her off for a few days. Enough time for Lola to make sure Lincoln is okay. He'd have some time to rest and relax without the little Frankenstein bothering him.

The princess could picture it perfectly. Lincoln laying in bed while half dead while Lisa badgered him with questions.

What is your current status? Do you notice any side effects? Would you submit to a few tests?

She'd probably think her stupid experiment was still going on. What was she even trying to do that day, anyway? Lola shook her head. It didn't matter, nothing was worth almost killing Lincoln.

Lola browsed her closet for something to wear. Too slutty, she thought, tossing a shirt aside. Too sparkly, too tight, not pink enough.

She finally settled on a pink crop top and blue jeans. The princess grit her teeth as she stretched the pants up her bandaged legs. It hurt like hell how it pressed and squeezed her, but she had to hide the burns from her parents. Lola finished and admired herself in the mirror.

Silky blonde hair, smooth curves, toned stomach-she turned around-and a tight ass that would make a supermodel jealous. She looked perfect, as usual.

"Lola!" Dad called from downstairs. "Don't keep us waiting!"

"Coming Dad!" Lola blew her reflection a kiss and left the room.

The family crowded into Vanzilla, that stupid old bucket of bolts. Lola sat in the back row where she could have a little bit of privacy and pulled out a pair of pink earbuds, starting to untangle them.

Lana slid into the seat next to her with a glare.

Lola rolled her eyes. Still mad about that stupid frog? She gave Hops back after her ice bath, true to her word. Now what did Lana want?

Vanzilla rumbled to life and the family of six pulled out of the driveway. Dad turned on the radio, putting on his cringy dad music.

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown

The music drifted all the way to the backseat. Lola hurried untangling her headphones, desperate to drown out that garbage.

"What did you do to Lisa?" Lana suddenly whispered accusingly.

Lola froze. She slowly turned to her sister and mock gasped. "Who, me? Do something to her? Why would I ever-"

Lana scowled at her. "Cut the bullshit."

"Why do you think I did something to her?" asked Lola.

"Because I know you. Why are you hurting her?"

Lola tensed and looked at the front seat. Dad was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and singing. The music was loud enough that they couldn't hear anything behind them.

The princess turned back and sighed. Here we go again. Lana was the only sister she actually tried to convince about Lisa's secret agenda, but she was just too thick headed to understand. "Because she hurt Lincoln." Lola carefully explained. "She burned him up and put in the hospital. I think she deserves to feel a little pain too."

"But it was an accident." said the mechanic. "She didn't mean to hurt him."

Lola's eyes flashed. "Shut up, Lana. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"This isn't right." Lana shook her head. "Sisters don't do this to each other."

"Lisa's not like the rest of us. She's dangerous. What if she blew up Hops? Or Geo? Or Cliff?" Lola leaned closer. "Or me?"

The mechanic avoided her eyes. Lola smiled. Almost. "What if she killed us?" She pressed.

"L-Lisa wouldn't-" Lana protested.

"But she almost did. And this wasn't the first time either. Are you forgetting all of the times her experiments went wrong?" Lola leaned forward and gave her twin a disarming smile. "I'm just going to make sure this never happens again. What's wrong with that?"Come on, trust me. Stop fighting me.

For a second Lola thought she had her. Lana dropped her scowled and looked torn, confused, easy to control. Just when Lola was about to open her mouth to reassure her Lana's defiance returned in full force. "But she already locked up all her science stuff in the bunker."

Lola rolled her eyes. "Come on Lana, even you're not that stupid. It's Lisa we're talking about here. She could find a way to crack through that door in ten minutes if she wanted to, which she will."

"That doesn't make it okay to hurt her. It's...it's…" Lana searched for the right word. "-abuse."

"Wow Lana, such a big word. Where'd you learn that? I know you didn't read it in Plumber's Monthly."

Lana glared defiantly at Lola.. "I'm not letting you hurt her anymore."

Lola eyed her twin warily. Usually it was a coin flip whenever they fought who would win, Lana being slightly stronger while Lola had just a bit more viciousness.
But with her legs messed up she couldn't risk a fight with her right now. She had to be smart about this.

"So what are you going to do?" Lola hissed.

"I'll tell Mom and Dad." said Lana.

Lola narrowed her eyes. Mom and Dad would take Lisa's side, of course. "How could you hurt your poor little sister?" she could hear them lecturing her already. She couldn't let Lana tell them anything. Leverage, Lola needed leverage over her twin quick. She mentally ran through her blackmail material.

Steal and/or threaten another pet? They'd have to get home first and Lana could tattle anytime in between.

Threaten to spread her embarrassing secrets? Summer just started, she couldn't tell everyone in school about how Lana wet the bed until she was seven if there was no school for the next two months.

Lola sighed. She had no other choice, she had to use her trump card. The princess gave Lana a cheshire grin.
"You want to tell them? Fine, go ahead." She waved her hand dismissively. "See if I care."

Lana eyed her warily. "What are you doing?"

"What? You want to tell them what I did to Lisa? Go ahead, there's nothing stopping you." Lola inspected her fingernails. "But if you do that I think it's only fair that I tell them all about how much money you've stolen from Mom's purse to buy pet treats."

Lana's eyes widened. "H-how do you know about-"

"How much did you steal? I counted at least a hundred dollars after I started watching you but you had to have been doing it for a lot longer than that." Lola suddenly pounced forward and grabbed her twin's shirt, pulling her close. "Don't fuck with me, Lana." she whispered darkly. "If you even think about getting in my way again I'll make sure Mom and Dad take every one of your stupid pets away. Got it?"

Lana clenched her fists and looked down at her feet. After a few seconds she nodded.

Lola smiled. Checkmate. It was a shame she had to lay all her cards on the table, but at least now Lana would stop doing anything to protect that schizo. The princess let go of the greasemonkey and put her earbuds in again, looking for a song to play. Katy Perry? Ariana Grande? Taylor-

"This is why everyone hates you." Lana whispered bitterly.

It was quiet, so quiet that Lola barely heard it over the sounds of the music, the engine, and the wind whipping by.

Girl you gotta love your man
Girl you gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand

"Not everyone." Lola whispered to herself. "Not yet."

Lola lead the pack of sisters into Lincoln's room, almost knocking over an old doctor standing in their way.
There he was, leaned back and reading an old magazine. His eyes met hers. Blue met blue. Lola smiled and tackled him into a hug.

"Hey." Lincoln said. "Careful, you might break something again."

"I missed you so much, Lincy!" Lola gushed.
"Me too!" Lily slammed into him with an 'oof', followed immediately by Lucy.
"Sigh. Welcome back to the world of the living." The goth drawled, her tight hug betraying her true feelings.
Lana was last in line, though her hug was no less strong. "Good to see you up and at em, Linc!" She gave a forced smile.

Their parents followed them into the room. "Give us a turn, girls." Mom scolded, breaking apart the sibling hug. They hugged Lincoln next, Mom kissing him on the forehead and Dad ruffling his hair.

"So, how's the food here?" Dad asked.

"Awful." Lincoln shuddered. "Everything needs salt."

"Shoot, I should have brought some oatmeal." Dad sighed.

Lincoln waved him off. "It's fine, I'll be home soon, right?"

Dad scratched his head. "I don't know." He looked at the old doctor "Will he?"

The doctor cleared his throat. "His burns should heal completely in the next two to three weeks."

A chorus of complaints erupted from the family before he held up his hand.

"But we should be able to send him home after a few days, no more than a week."

The doctor covered his ears from the sound of the family cheering.

"Are you people always so loud?" he grumbled.

"You should hear us when the whole family is together." Mom laughed.

"Whole family? How many kids do you have?"

"Eleven." boasted Dad proudly.

"Eleven?!" The doctor shook his head and trudged away. "Have these people never heard of condoms?" Lola faintly heard him mutter to himself.

The Louds crowded around Lincoln again and started chatting aimlessly.

"Think you can tough it out for a few days here?" Lana asked.

"I don't know if I can make it if lunch is anywhere near as bad as breakfast." said Lincoln.

"We'll bring you some real food, right Dad?" Lily chirped.

"Sure, I'll whip up some peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches for tomorrow." said Dad.

Lola gagged. How did her brother eat that stuff? Lincoln seemed happy though with the promise of his disgusting sandwiches.

"And I'll try to finish my photo album soon! You'll love it!" Lily promised.

"Photo album? Of what?" he encouraged her with a smile.

"Of all my favorite pictures of us as a family!"

"Family?" Lincoln suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Uh, aren't we missing someone?" He asked.

Lola scanned the room. "Nope, we're all here. Mom, Dad, Lily, Lana, Lucy, and of course, me!" She gave him a pageant winning smile.

Lincoln forced a smile of his own. "And it's great to see you guys again, but where's Lisa? I really need to talk to her."

Lola frowned.

It'd been three days and Lisa still hadn't visited him. Everyone else visited him at least once a day, many times twice, but not her. Lincoln was starting to get worried.

Lisa...cared about him, didn't she?

Lincoln wanted to slap himself. Of course she cared. Lisa might be a little more guarded with her feelings but she wasn't some kinda sociopath. There had to be some reason why she was staying away from him. Lincoln asked his parents why she didn't want to see him. They said she was sick with something and had been vomiting for the past few days.

"Why doesn't she just cure herself?" Lincoln asked confused. This was Lisa, the smartest person in the world. She could come up with a cure for any disease in an hour. Why would some stupid stomach bug keep her down?

Then they told him about how she made a promise to never experiment again and locked up all of her old inventions in the April Fool's bunker.

Lincoln felt torn. On the one hand she promised she'd do the same thing after he left for college, on the other she had to be struggling to quit cold turkey, and now she might be sick because it. Lincoln still wasn't totally convinced she was sick, though. Even if Lisa had given up her science she was still a very clean person, she'd know better than anybody how to stay healthy and avoid germs. But if she wasn't sick what was it?

Is she scared I'm angry at her? That thought terrified him. He didn't want his little sister to think he hated her guts for what happened. All Lincoln could do at this point was wait until he could go home and try to talk to her himself.

His other sisters did their best to try to make up for Lisa's absence.

Lily, true to her word, brought in an album of family pictures. Dozens upon dozens of pictures of them, actually.

"I thought you said you were only going to put in your favorites?" said Lincoln.
"Uh, I did." Lily blushed and looked away "But it was really hard to pick out my favorites so I just put most of them in there."

Lincoln smiled at his littlest sister's antics and turned the page before quickly frowning.

"Lily? Where did you find this one?"
"Huh?" The little photographer peered over the top of the scrapbook. "Oh! Luan sent me that one when I told her what I was doing."
"Of course she would." Lincoln grumbled to himself as he stared at the embarrassing picture. That was one Christmas party he wanted to forget forever.

Lana brought in Hops and Geo and had them run(or hop) around on his chest as they talked about her new project to fix Vanzilla. Lincoln could tell something was bothering her, but she still had that spark in her eyes when she was talking about fixing things.

"She needs new fuel injectors, a new battery, pistons, valves…" Lana paused. "You know what, we should probably just get a new engine. It'd save us alot of trouble."
"We're not going to crash, or explode, or get stuck on the side of the road on the way home are we?" Lincoln asked worriedly.
Lana snorted. "Nah, she's still got a little time before that could ever happen." She beamed. "And don't worry, if anything happens I'll be there to fix it!"

Somehow Lincoln didn't feel reassured.

Lola showered him in glitter dusted cards every visit.
Where did she get all of that glitter? Lincoln wondered as he tried to rub it off his bandages.

His little sister sat by his bedside and chatted with him as she lazily painted her fingernails.

"When you get out of here I was thinking we could go to the arcade-" Lola suggested. "-or we could play videogames, or read comics in our undies, or-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." Lincoln held up his bandaged hands. "What's up with you?"

Lola cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"We haven't hung out in forever and now all of a sudden you want to do everything with me?" said Lincoln.

Lola looked at him with strange mix of emotions on her face. "You almost died, Lincoln."

"Well, when you put it that way I guess it makes sense." Lincoln scratched his head awkwardly. Great job, Linc.
Sure Lola was acting a little weird but it wasn't every day your brother was put in the hospital.
"Uh, when I get out of here we should definitely hang out." Lincoln continued. "But maybe we should do something else. I haven't been to the arcade in years and we're both a little too old to be reading comics in our undies."

"But you still play videogames, right?" questioned Lola.

"I do." Lincoln nodded.

"Then how about we do that?"

"Uh, I don't think you'd like the kind of games I play." Lola didn't seem like the kind of person that would like Devil May Cry or God of War.

"There's only one way to find out." Lola declared, hands on her hips. "You're going to teach me how to play one of your games, got it?"

Lincoln gave a small smile. "If you say so."

Lucy used him as an audience to read her poems to, just like always. She didn't seem to care at all about his condition.

'Black as tar, dark as night, the endless abyss that eats all light...'

This current poem was about a boy on a journey to the end of the world. Lincoln lay in his bed enraptured by the story. Lucy had grown into a real poet in the past seven years, winning

'The void awaits, but not just yet, will the boy...' Lucy paused. "That's where I left off. I can't think of something that rhymes with yet."

Lincoln started forward. This was the first time she asked for help in the past hour. "Yet, huh? Hmm. Met, vet, get, let..." he listed. "But those don't really fit. How about forget?"

"Forget?" Lucy pulled out her black pen and started scribbling in her poem book. In minutes she was finished and read the finished poem aloud.

'The void awaits, but not just yet, will the boy ever forget-

Of the living world, of dearest home,

That place where he was never alone.

It was not yet his time,

To leave them forever and become undying,

And so he turned and began to walk,

White hair lighting the way,

He knew he would be back again,

One day soon, but not today.'

"What do you think?" the goth asked expectantly.

"I really like that one." said Lincoln. "The boy sounds a little familiar, though, doesn't he?"

"The best poems take inspiration from the poet's life."

Lincoln stretched his arms after the last family visit. God, he was so uncomfortable like this.

His burns didn't hurt(probably cause they were pumping him full of drugs) but they did itch, especially right after they changed his bandages.

Lincoln fought the urge to scratch himself again. The nurse(Jenny, he learned her name was) had lectured him about a dozen different reasons why he shouldn't scratch himself but right now he didn't care. Just one little itch wouldn't hurt, would it?

Lincoln glanced at the door. The coast was clear. He reached for his right forearm-

-and instantly had his hand slapped. Nurse Jenny was there by his bedside in a flash.

"Ow!" Lincoln groaned.

"What did I tell you?" She put her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look.

"No scratching." Lincoln recited.

Jenny nodded. "That's right. The last thing you want to do is reopen your wounds."

"Where did you even come from?" Lincoln whined. "Even Lucy can't sneak up on me like that anymore."

Jenny smiled at him cryptically. "Us nurses have our ways." She turned back to checking his IV bag. Which reminded him...

"Uh, Jenny?" he asked the nurse.

"Yeah? Need something?" said the nurse with her back to him.

"I don't want to sound like a dick, but I'd like to take a piss standing up again, if that's okay." said Lincoln. He didn't want to pee with that thing in his dick again.

Jenny chuckled. "Alright, I'll just remove your catheter then."

She moved her hands towards his crotch causing Lincoln to instinctively cover it with his hands.

Jenny smiled teasingly. "What's that? Don't want me to take it out now?"

"N-no." Lincoln blushed and lowered his hands. This is so embarrassing. "J-just do it quick, okay?"

The nurse winked at him. "Quick is my middle name."

Lincoln wouldn't lie, that had to be the greatest piss he'd ever taken in his entire life.

He flushed the toilet and moved to wash his hands before remembering they're bandaged up. Lincoln sighed. He wouldn't have to keep wearing these at home would he? Great they were starting to itch again. He wished that these stupid burns would just heal already so he wouldn't have to put up with this torture.

Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the itching stopped.

It didn't slowly fade away or become tolerable, no, it just completely disappeared. There one second, gone the next. Poof.

Lincoln pressed down on his arm. He could feel that. He curled his toes. He could feel that too. He pinched himself in the stomach. And that.
His body wasn't numb anymore, he felt normal again.

What the heck just happened?

Lincoln started unwrapping the bandages on his right arm.

"You alright in there?" came Jenny's voice from the door.

"I'm fine, just give me a second!" said Lincoln.

His hand looked good. Scratch that, it look great. No burns, no scars, nothing. It was all new, pink skin.

"Huh." Lincoln blinked. "That's weird."

He continued unwrapping his entire right arm, bandages coiling at his feet.

Lincoln gaped at the sight. His whole arm was completely healed!

"Hey Jenny. How long did you say it'd take for my burns to heal?" called Lincoln.

"At least another two to three weeks. Why?"

Lincoln flexed his fingers. "Well, it looks like I've got the world record."

"What does that mean?"

"I'll show you in a second, let me just-" A sudden wave of nausea hit Lincoln and he started swaying in place.
Vision blurred and a chill went down his back as he staggered towards the toilet. Lincoln doubled over the toilet bowl and started vomiting out all of the awful hospital food that was in his stomach. This was followed by a lot of stomach acid before he ran out of that too and started dry heaving.

Lincoln stayed kneeling by the toilet for the next ten minutes, gagging and gasping. He only stopped long enough to stop the nurse from coming inside("I'm fine, really!"). When his stomach was completely empty Lincoln stood up and wiped his mouth. Nasty. He thought with a grimace.
Just before Lincoln could flush the disgusting mess down the toilet he saw something that made his fingers freeze on the lever.

There were dents in the toilet seat.

Finger shaped dents.

Lincoln blinked before pressing his fingers into them. A perfect fit.

"Now that's really weird." he said aloud.

Lincoln struggled to process what just happened. He looked at his hands, his completely healed hands, then at the toilet seat which he just molded like clay. No, that's impossible. He couldn't have...that. The experiment failed didn't it? It had to be some freak hallucination or something. Maybe the doctors gave him a little too much codeine? Yeah, that had to be it.

Lincoln slapped himself. What the hell was he doing? He might actually have superpowers and here he is trying to talk himself out of it? Ace Savvy would be disappointed. But how could he prove it was real? He had to be sure somehow. Lincoln scanned the bathroom for something else he could use to test it. Rip off the toilet from the floor? Sure, that wouldn't raise any questions.

His eyes locked onto something on the wall.

"Aha!" he cried as he reached for the metal support bar. With less effort than it'd take to peel an orange he wrenched it off the wall. Lincoln gaped. Holy shit it actually worked! He cradled the bar in his hands. It doesn't even weigh anything!

He gave an experimental squeeze, the metal squishing under his fingers. That confirmed it alright. What else can I do? Lincoln wondered as he started bending the bar, twisting and stretching it like playdoh. The metal was just so easy to work with. Even Ace Savvy didn't make it look so easy.

"Lincoln? Are you okay in there?" called Jenny from outside the door.

Lincoln froze. Shit, he should probably fix this before she came in. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just give me a second." He called back as he hurried to straighten out the bar and stab it back into the wall. Lincoln winced at the cracks spider webbing in the wall. There was obviously some damage, but they wouldn't be able to figure out what caused it. Probably.

Lincoln had to fight to contain his excitement as he exited the bathroom and laid back down in his bed.

It was official: he had superstrength. The new superhuman grinned to himself. "Lisa's gonna freak."

AN: Shifted the focus a bit from Lisa to Lincoln. Still not completely satisfied with this chapter but I've been pushing it off for too long.
Sorry again for the long wait, I'm a notorious procrastinator. The next chapter won't take anywhere near as long as this one don't worry. Once the story actually gets into swing things will move alot quicker.