User blog:AustinDR/Review: Requiem for a Loud

If you were to find out that you had a terminal illness and had less than a week to live, what would you do with your limited time? Would you throw a pity party for yourself, and mourn until you close your eyes for the last time? Do you try to do everything on your bucket list? How will your passing affect your loved ones?

This is the question that Lincoln has to answer in Requiem for a Loud, a fanfic written by the UnderratedHero. In this fanfic, Lincoln is diagnosed with a terminal illness after he was hit in the head by a soccer ball. It turns out that Lincoln had tumors in his brain that were broken up by the impact of the ball, thus giving Lincoln two more weeks to live. As you would’ve guessed, his older sisters are taking it pretty hard. There’s Luna, who plays music in the garage to console herself, Luan had taken up a vow of silence, etc. Lynn has it the worst as she was the one who had thrown the soccer ball at Lincoln, so she feels that his upcoming death is her fault to an extent. She tries to avoid being in the same room with Lincoln, and she even starts to hurt herself in a mixture of anger and sadness. Additionally, Lisa is actually struggling to find a cure for Lincoln’s malady. Given the name of the fanfic, I feel that her efforts are futile.

Lincoln is angry at first that his time was cut too short, but he’s especially distraught by the fact that he’d never see his sisters grow up and go on with their lives. It isn’t until he meets a young boy - named Adrien - when he realizes that his sisters were his legacy. And so, Lincoln attempts to instill fond memories of himself with his sisters before his time runs out.

Jesus Christ, was this fanfic depressing. I mean, seriously it just rips my heart apart just thinking about it. What I love about this fanfic is that even though Lincoln wasn’t always on the best terms with his siblings, at the end of the day, they love each other. It is utterly heartbreaking to see them as shells of their former selves. Yes, the prospect of their only brother dying was hard to digest. It’s sad to see that they’re able to get along in a tragedy such as this.

The other characters also have sorrowful reactions to his upcoming demise. Clyde ends up nearly hyperventilating from the news, Bobby and Howard are driven to tears by the announcement... What’s worse is Ronnie Anne’s reaction. Lincoln pulls her aside to tell her about the devastating news, but she concludes that he’s dumping her when Christina interrupts him. Apparently, Christina now realized that she had a crush on Lincoln (which is odd, given the events of “Making the Case”) choosing the wrong time to tell him. Lincoln tries to tell Ronnie Anne that this wasn’t his intention only to end up getting slapped by the distraught girl. Her reaction to realizing the severity of Lincoln’s situation drives her to tears of remorse, and she even gets into a squabble with Lynn in a desperate attempt to apologize for what she had done. And then she finds out that kissing her was on Lincoln’s bucket list....Jesus...

The fanfic is very well written (albeit there are a few errors, but that’s to be expected as the author of the fanfic had to translate it from Spanish), as well as thought-provoking. If anything, the fanfic teaches the reader to acknowledge their own mortality, and how to deal with the passing of a loved one. My only complaint about the fanfic thus far is Dr. House’s appearance. While the fanfic is technically not a crossover, he shows up unexpectedly to tell Lincoln what he already knew, and then he just leaves. I just feel that it’s somewhat distracting to have an entirely different character appear without any hint and then just leave. I mean, sure, he does actually make Lincoln realize a few things about his condition, but I felt that the author should’ve made an OC that was a reference to Dr. House instead of just introducing him out of the blue. That, and a few of the explanations as to why no one picked up on Lincoln’s symptoms is a little dubious.

Overall, it’s a pretty good, but heavily depressing fanfic that I may drop eventually, not because it’s bad, but it’s simply depressing as hell. If you intend to read it for yourself, I recommend getting a box of tissue, and a few gallons of ice cream. You’re going to be in for a ride.