User blog:LoudFanWolf/We'll be there for you

We'll be there for you, a story written by LoudFanWolf.

'''WARNING: The following story contains discussions/conversations about the dark topics of depression and suicide; if you are sensitive to these topics, I suggest that you do not read this story, but it's ultimately your decision. And before you ask, NO, this story does not revolve around Lincoln being depressed due to his sisters treating him badly. This isn't any kind of episode-criticizing fanfic either. Anyway, reader discretion is advised.'''

It was an average Friday afternoon at The Loud House, well as average as it could be. After finishing her homework, Luna Loud was ready for another awesome band rehearsal with her amazing girlfriend/bassist Sam, her rocking drummer/brother Lincoln, and her talented lead vocalist/close friend, Derek Gabriel (well, he was a close friend to everybody in the Loud family, and also to Sam, but I digress) who joined the band a few months ago. Luna walked out of her room, and down the hall to Lincoln's linen closet bedroom. Luna rhythmically knocked on Lincoln's bedroom door before saying "Hey bro, you finished with your homework yet? It's almost 4:15PM, it's almost time to rock n' roll, buddy!"

"Almost," Lincoln replied back from behind his bedroom door "let me just finish this one math problem, and...." Lincoln then burst out of his bedroom with 1 drum stick twirling in both of his hands "Let's rock and roll!"

"Alright!" Luna exclaimed. "Now all we have to do is wait for Derek and Sam, and my beautiful lady should be arriving any second now..." It was then that there was a knock on the front door downstairs. "Right on cue," Luna said, and as she and Lincoln were walking down the stairs, Luna yelled "it's open, babe, come on in!"

Sam entered, carrying her magenta bass on her back like a bookbag with one strap. Luna greeted Sam at the bottom of the stairs with a hug, and a kiss to go with it. "I missed you, my Patti." Luna said, calling Sam by her nickname, the special nickname that Luna had given her.

"George," Sam chuckled, calling Luna by the special nickname that Sam had given her "it's only been an hour and fifteen minutes, baby."

"I know," Luna replied, "it's just that you don't realize how much I need you." Luna said before giggling, she had referenced a Beatles song written by George Harrison, titled, I Need You.

"Probably cause you like me too much, and I like you." Sam replied, before she started giggling along with her girlfriend. Sam had also referenced a Beatles song that was also written by George Harrison, titled, You Like Me Too Much.

After the two girls finished their giggle fest, they shared another quick hug. Lincoln then said "Ah, love is real, real is love," a reference to the song Love, written by John Lennon.

The two high school sophomore girls turned to the fifth grade boy and grinned at him. "Ha, good one, bro," Luna said. "Yeah, good one, Linc," Sam added.

The three band members then went to the Loud House garage, and set up shop for band rehearsal by turning on the amps, turning the volume to the right numbers etc. and it only took a few minutes for that to be done. Now, all the three of them had to do was wait for their lead vocalist and friend, Derek Gabriel, to show up.

Luna checked her phone for the time. "4:30 PM. Huh, that's strange. Derk is usually here and helping us finish setting up by now."

"Eh. He's probably just running a bit behind schedule, no biggie, he'll show up soon." Sam said.

Despite her girlfriends optimistic attitude, Luna couldn't stop wondering and worrying. Luna didn't know why, but it seemed like Derek just wasn't acting like himself lately. Usually whenever Derek, Luna and Sam ate lunch together, he was usually the one who did all the talking, really happy, energetic, and full of life. But recently, for the past week to be specific, Derek had been unusally quiet, looking down in the dumps, and sighing all the time. Whenever Luna or Sam would ask him if everything was alright, Derek would just say "it's nothing" or "I'm fine" and then go back to eating his lunch. Derek's odd behavior made Luna worry, and she was wondering what was going on with her usually happy friend.

After 30 minutes of waiting, Derek still hadn't shown up. Luna began to pace around, as Sam and Lincoln stood in their usual spots, all three of them wondering where Derek could be. Luna was so concentrated on thinking about Derek that she didn't notice the microphone stand, and she bumped into it, making it fall over, which made the microphone give off a screeching sound of feedback, making all three of them plug their ears in annoyance.

The side door to the garage opened, and out walked a very annoyed 4 year old genius, known by her family and friends as Lisa Loud.

"Luna, would you mind keeping the noise level down a little bit this time? I have an experiment to perform that requires little to no interruptions, and that includes your loud, tinnitus inducing music." Lisa said, her voice riddled with annoyance.

"Sorry Lis," Luna apologized "I was just thinking about Derek so much that I didn't watch where I was going, and I knocked over the mic stand."

"Where is the big guy?" Lincoln asked rhetorically before sliding off of his drums chair "It isn't like him to just skip out on rehearsal."

"Yeah," Sam added, "come to think of it, Derk has been doing things he usually doesn't do for quite a while now. It's strange."

"Hm, may I ask you to be more specific on how Derek has been acting? Perhaps my scientific mind can help with this situation." Lisa said.

"Well," Luna began "it all started about a week ago. Derek came to class looking really bluesy, which is quite unusual since he's mostly a really happy guy, and he barely paid any attention to the lesson, he just sat there staring off into space and twiddling his thumbs."

"Hm, interesting" Lisa interjected "alright, go on."

"Well," Luna began again "when he sits with Sam and I at lunch, he's usually really happy and pleasant there too; laughing, joking, just being the fun guy that he is. But ever since Monday, he's been really quiet, staring off into space, sighing a lot."

"Yeah," Sam added again "and whenever I, or Luna, ask him if everything is alright, he usually just says 'it's nothing' or 'I'm fine."'

After writng down some notes, Lisa asked "and how was Derek acting today?"

"Mostly the same, except today, and the end of the lunch period, he hugged the both of us and said I love you guys' which isn't strange, since we all know how much Derek loves to show how much he cares about the people he loves."

"But the way he said it," Sam added "just didn't sound right. He sounded sad when he said it, like it was the last time he was ever going to see us."

"There is also the fact that Derek has not come over every day this week like he usually does," Lisa added. Lisa finished writing down her notes, and then adjusted her glasses before speaking. "Siblings, and female siblings significant other, I have come to a conclusion about our dear friend Dereks mental state."

"What is it, Lisa?" Lincoln asked "what's wrong with Derk?"

"It would seem that our dear friend Derek has developed a case of depression."

Sam and Luna gasped while Lincoln just looked confused. "Um, what's depression?" The fifth grader asked, curious about the new word he just learned.

"Depression, Male Sibling Unit," Lisa started "is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how a person feels, the way a person thinks, and how a person acts. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyed by that one person. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work, at school, and at home. Here are the symptoms for depression that our dear friend, Derek, has: feeling sad or being in a depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed, and finding difficulty in thinking or concentrating."

"Yep, sounds like Derk." Sam said glumly.

"Fortunately," Lisa continued "depression is also treatable."

"Well, what happens if depression isn't treated right away?" Lincoln asked the 4 year old genius.

"Well, elder brother... it's kind of-"

Lisa was interrupted by Sam, Luna, and Lincolns cell phones, all three of them had received a text.

Luna picked up her cell phone first. "It's a text from Derk!" she cried.

"What does it say?" Lincoln, Sam, and Lisa asked simultaneously.

"It says 'Sorry, I'm just not in the mood to rock anymore. I'll see you all on a better day. Goodbye.'"

Luna and Sam both began to internally panic, as did Lisa, while Lincoln just stood bewildered.

Lisa gasped and then asked "Okay, Luna, where does Derek live?"

Luna gave her Derek's address, which happened to be just down the block, Lisa then exclaimed "Okay, no time to lose, let's go!"

All four of them ran out of the garage and down the street, all of their minds focused on one thing: Derek Gabriel.

Luna and Sam were scared crapless, they didn't want to their bandmate and close friend to do something so stupid, sad, and tragic. Losing Derek would be like losing a brother, and neither Sam nor Luna wanted that.

Lincoln was still trying to wrap his head around what was going on. So, Derk, the guy who was like a brother to him, has been feeling really down in the dumps, and hasn't been coming over all week because he has depression. And now he's saying "Goodbye." Lincoln knew that when people said goodbye, that usually meant that you would most likely never see them again. "Oh my gosh," Lincoln thought "is Derk gonna....kill himself!? Oh no, Oh No, OH NO, OH NO, OH NO!!!!" Lincoln began to run faster, as he grabbed Lisa, and carried her in his arms so that she wouldn't fall behind. Tears began to form in Lincoln's eys as he ran, he couldn't lose Derek, no, not somebody who was like a brother to him.

Lisa was worried about Derek as well, although she didn't show it much, she did care about her family, and Derek, the close family friend.

All of them were hoping that they would be able to talk Derek out of doing whatever he was planning to do, because losing him, meant losing family.

Derek Gabriel sat in his bedroom on his bed, feeling nothing but pain. He had just sent a text to Luna, Sam, and Lincoln, telling them he wouldn't be at practice because he wasn't "in the mood to rock anymore." Laying beside him on the bed were three things: a picture of him and the band, a picture of him with the Loud family, and a full bottle of pills.

Derek picked up the picture of him with the band and stared at it for a few seconds. "It's okay," the voice inside Derek's head told him "there are plenty of singers out there, some of them better than you. They'll find another one."

Derek then put that picture down, and picked up the one with him and the Loud family sitting on the Loud House porch, Derek with arms around both Luna and Lincoln, all 14 of them smiling. "It's okay, they'll find new friends soon, after all, you were just the lead vocalist to Lunas band. Not to mention the fact that you've only been friends with all of them for about 4 to 5 months."

Then, Derek picked up the full bottle of pills and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity before the voice inside his head began yelling at him "THERES NO POINT IN STALLING ANYMORE! JUST DO IT, YOU WORTHLESS PILE OF CRAP!!!"

Derek nodded to himself, and slowly began to unscrew the bottle, when he suddenly heard banging on front door of his house, and then he heard it get broke down. Then, Derek heard a familiar voice call out to him.

"DERK! BRO, WHERE ARE YOU!?" It was Luna.

Derek then heard footsteps heading towards his room, so he quickly unscrewed the pill bottle and was about the throw back a bunch of pills into his mouth, before his bedroom door burst open, revealing Luna, Sam, Lincoln, and Lisa.

"DERK, STOP! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!?" Luna screamed.

"Oh, nothing, Luny."

"IT SURE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE NOTHING!"

Derek sighed. "Don't worry, you guys, I'm just trying to make your lives easier."

"Trying to make our lives easier!? What're you talking about!?" Sam shouted.

"I'm nothing but a burden to you lot, all I am to you is just a vocalist, and I'm not even that good. Plus, you guys don't really need me anyway; you will all find new friends soon, and then you'll forget about me almost immediately. After all, we've only known eachother for about 4-5 months anyway."

Derek was about to throw back the pills again when Luna smacked the bottle out of Derek's hand, spilling the bottle, and scattering a bunch of pills all over the bedroom floor.

Luna  screamed "STOP IT! What's really wrong, Derk? You're not telling us everything!"

Derek sighed again, then he continued to talk. "I'm just tired of it all, feeling worthless, exhausted, and sad all the time. Plus, there's this voice inside my head that keeps telling me all these bad things and it won't go away."

Luna and Sam both shed a few tears before running up and hugging Derek. "Don't listen to it, Derk. Whatever that voice says, it isn't true." Sam said.

"Yeah, bro," Luna added "you are one of me and my family's best friends, and we would feel totally lost without you in our lives."

"And I would too," Sam added.

"And about us forgetting about you immediately, well, you can bet that that totally isn't true either. Me, Sam, Lincoln, and the rest of the family would totally miss you, bro. You're like a brother to all of us. You're like another son to Mom and Dad. It doesn't matter how long we've known each other." Luna stated.

The hug broke apart a little so that Derek could look into both pairs of the 2 girls' eyes, "do you really mean all that? Do you, really?"

"Of course we do!" Both of the girls said.

Then, the three of them heard a little whimper.

"Derk."

Derek, Sam, and Luna turned and saw Lincoln, tears flowing out of his eyes, his usually strong willed body shaking like a scared child.

"Derk, please, please don't leave me, don't leave us. We love you. I love you so much, big brother." Lincoln whimpered.

With that, Derek fully realized the consequences that he would have caused by killing himself. Heck, he was literally looking at the consequences that he caused by trying to kill himself just a few moments ago. A lump got in Derek's throat, and tears rimmed his eyes as he whimpered "Oh, Linky log."

Derek then got off the bed, got on his knees, hugged Lincoln close, and cried with him. Derek repeatedly said how sorry he was, and that he would never leave Lincoln because he loved him a lot too. As Lincoln and Derek cried together, they did not notice Luna and Sam shed more tears, and the usually not emotional Lisa shed a few tears herself, as all three of them watched their friends/brothers embrace, and cry it out. After Lincoln and Derek both reached a calming point, Lincoln spoke up.

"Please, never do that again, never scare me like that ever again. I love you, big brother."

"Never, never again. I love you too, little brother."

After what seemed like hours, Derek and Lincoln broke their hug. Derek then turned to Sam and Luna, and hugged both of them too, which they warmly accepted, as they were happy to be hugging Derek's warm body, instead of his cold, dead body.

"Thanks for knocking some sense into me, I love you both."

"We love you, too, Derk." Both of the girls said, and they meant it. They all meant it.

After the feels fest was over, Derek cleaned up his mess. And Luna, Sam, Lincoln, and Lisa decided to hang out with Derek unti his Mom came home at 6:30 PM. While they were hanging out, Lisa told Derek about some psychologists she knew that would gladly help Derek out with his situation, and Lincoln told Derek about Clydes therapist, Dr. Lopez, and how she would be able to help him too.

"But don't ever forget Derek; Me, Sam, Linc, Lisa and the rest of the family will always be here for you if you need to talk about something, alright?" Luna said while rubbing Derek's back as a sign of reassurance.

"I know, thanks guys."

"No problem, bro," Luna replied "it's what family does for eachother."

"I know I say this a lot," Derek sniffed "but I love you guys."

"We love you, too, Derk." Luna, Sam, Lincoln, and Lisa replied simultaneously, before they all joined together in a group hug.

EPILOGUE:

Luna, Lincoln, and Lisa Loud arrived back home at the Loud House at 6:40 PM. All three siblings were slightly exhausted, they had just gotten back stopping their dear friend/brother, Derek Gabriel, from committing suicide, and after reassuring their love and strong friendship with him, the three Loud siblings (along with Lunas girlfriend Sam) hung out with Derek for about two hours, before they all decided to head home. Before they left Derek's house, all four of them, including Sam, had reassured him that they would always be there for him, and that he would always be like a brother to them.

Sam headed for her home, and the three Loud siblings headed for theirs, intending on telling the family about the day's events. They knew that they would have to tell the family about Derek's situation immediately, as everybody in the Loud family felt that Derek was just as much a member of the Loud family as they all were, and they all loved him very much. Derek knew this too, and asked Luna, Lincoln, and Lisa to tell the rest of the family about his situation so that he wouldn't have to. Derek had been through enough pain for one day, so he didn't want to see the worried looks on everyone's faces if he told them. The three siblings told Derek that they would tell the family all about it, and Derek thanked them.

As Luna, Lisa, and Lincoln entered through the front door of the house, Lynn Sr. spotted them. "Luna, Lincoln, Lisa! You're home just in time for dinner! Say, Luna, why don't you call the rest of your siblings down? Lincoln and Lisa, you guys can help me set up the plates."

"Sure thing, Dad/Male Parental Unit," the three of them replied back.

While Lincoln and Lisa helped their father set the table, Luna grabbed a cordless microphone seemingly out of her butt, turned it on, and cleared her throat before yelling "YOOOOOOO FAMILY, ITS DINNER TIME, DUDES!!!"

It was a good thing that Lynn Sr, Lincoln, and Lisa had finished setting the table before Luna had finished yelling, because the second after she finished, the whole house began to shake a little as eight girls and one fully grown woman ran down the stairs and toward the kitchen, excitedly chattering about food. Dinner had become a lot more exciting ever since the Loud kids had convinced Lynn Sr. to put more variety into his dinner meals.

When everyone was nearly finished eating, Luna and Lincoln tapped their glasses a few times with their spoons, making the whole table fall silent, and put everyone's attention towards them.

After they made sure that everyone's eyes were on them, Luna spoke up.

"Family, me, Linc and Lisa have some important news. It's about Derk."

Everyone smiled.

"Did he get a record deal?" Lori asked.

"Did he get a pet wolf like he said he always wanted?" Lana asked.

"Did he finally pop that yucky zit on his forehead?" Lola asked.

"No, no, and no," Lincoln replied. "Look we'll tell you, but first, Mom, you need to take Lilly out of the room."

"Why is that?"

"Because Female Parental Unit, the news we are about to share might be too dark for her innocent ears." Lisa replied to her mother. Rita, along with rest of the family (sans Lincoln and Luna) raised an eyebrow at Lisa's response.

"Well...okay then." Rita replied reluctantly.

After putting Lily in the living room with her teddy bear, Rita returned to the dinner table.

"So, what's going with Derk?" Lynn asked, confused.

"Well, siblings and parental units, this is quite tough for me to say, but..." Lisa hesitated before she finished "this afternoon, our dear friend Derek Gabriel attempted suicide."

Lisa's statement was immediately followed by a chorus of gasps and quiet sobs.

"W-W-WHAT!?" Lori screeched "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

"Fear not, our dear friend Derek is just fine. Luna, her significant other Sam, Lincoln, and I were able to stop him before he could inflict any actual harm upon himself."

"W-well, How the heck did this happen!?" Lana shouted, tears in her eyes.

And so, Luna, Lincoln, and Lisa told the rest of the Loud family all about what had happened just a few hours before, and why it happened in as much detail as possible. By the end of it all, all 11 of them were either still crying, in shock, or just kinda angry at themselves.

Lucy was feeling a mixture if all three. How could she not have noticed how her beloved Derk was feeling? How couldn't she have sensed it with her spiritual powers? How could Derek possibly feel so worthless to the point where he thought that the best solution was to end it all? Didn't Derek know how much they loved him, how much SHE loved him?

By the time they all had calmed down, Leni spoke up. "So, is Derk, like, okay now?"

"Affirmative, elder sister. After Luna, her significant other Sam, Lincoln, and I reassured Derek of our love and familial-like friendship, He seemed to feel just fine. In fact, when Derek comes over tomorrow, I suggest that the rest of you do the same."

Everybody agreed. The next day, when Derek Gabriel entered The Loud House, he barely had the chance to yell his usual greeting, before he was brought into a warm group hug by the entire Loud Family, all of them reassuring him of their love and friendship. Derek smiled, when he had his friends/2nd family by his side, life was alright.

The End

(A/N: Whew, that was a lot to write. If there is anyone out there who is currently battling depression, and/or having thoughts about taking their own life, please message me (I've been in your shoes loads of times, trust me), or simply dial 1-800-273-8255 for help. Stay safe, guys.