Chapter two: Looking Back and Moving Forward

He could hardly believe it. His daddy had died not but a week ago and already he had a new one. Kaid. He glanced over at the tall man, who gave him a stern look. He glanced to the side and Kiefer shot him a worried look. He pointedly sat up tall and nodded to his new stepbrother. Link got the hint and sat up straighter in the uncomfortable wooden chair and quickly got back to his breakfast.

After the wedding at the temple they had sat in the carriage for hours until they finally reached their new home. They lived on a secluded farm deep in the forest. There was a tiny village not far away. There weren't more than twenty people living there. They were hours away from any other village, town, or city. It was peaceful.

But Link was feeling lonely. He hadn't seen his mother all morning. Usually she woke him up by crawling into bed with him and hugging him. Usually both of his parents did that... But Daddy's gone now, he thought sadly.

As he stared down at his breakfast, popping the golden yolk of his egg and watching it run all over the crude wooden plate, an unwelcome memory popped into his six year old mind.

"DADDY!" He cried, holding tightly onto the flimsy branch that was the only thing keeping him from being washed down the river. "DADDY, HELP ME, PLEASE!" White water blurred his vision, but he was able to make out the sight of his big, strong daddy perching precariously on the bank, holding onto the thin sapling for support, reaching out to him.

"Link," he shouted over the sound of the rushing water, "Son, take my hand!" He was too afraid to let go. He would be washed away!

"Daddy, I CAN'T!" He sobbed, feeling his grip loosening. His father reached out, inched out farther over the ledge.

"Link!" He was screaming. "TAKE MY HAND! Son, PLEASE! Trust me!" He looked up at his daddy and mustered up every ounce of courage in his six year old body.

He reached out.

"LINK, NO!" Link felt the cold water take ahold of him, and knew he was going to die. But suddenly he was ripped out of the water by strong hands, and thrown onto the bank... He heard his daddy shout out, heard the loud crunch of wood breaking-

And he saw his daddy smile at him one last time.

"Be strong, son," he said before he was pulled under the by the cruel water and taken by the river.

"DADDY!" Link screamed. "DAAAADDDYYYYYY, NOOOOOOOO!"

"LINK!" A harsh voice snapped him back to reality. He looked up once again into the stern eyes of Kaid. No, not Kaid. Stepfather, he thought solemnly.

"Yes, sir?" He said quietly, forcing himself to keep eye contact with the man. He remembered how angry he had gotten the day before when his mother hadn't looked him in the eyes while speaking with him.

Kaid seemed to register the respect the little boy had for him. If he could call it that. Link wasn't old enough to understand. He only knew that if he didn't behave, if he wasn't good, Kaid would be mad. And he didn't like it when Kaid was mad. So he decided to make it a point to always be a good boy.

"Link," Kaid said again, calmly this time. "Eat your breakfast. Get your head out of the clouds and focus. We have a long day of work ahead of us, and I expect you to earn your keep, do you hear me?" Link nodded vigorously.

"Yes, sir!" Link was excited. He remembered his daddy telling him how important hard work was. If you don't work you don't eat. A man has to work to support himself and his family, or he hasn't even earned the right to call himself a man.

Kaid smiled at the boy's willingness. It was a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes, but it was a smile nonetheless. This was a boy who knew his place. He liked that. He stood off to the side and fried eggs for himself and watched the little boy get back to eating his breakfast.

The child took a big bite of bread and then gulped down some milk. But Link couldn't help but frown at the yolk pooled on his plate. The memories came unbidden, once again...

He remembered watching as his neighbors pulled his daddy out of the water. They had heard him scream and came running. But they couldn't find him... Until it was too late.

Daddy was dead. His still, cold body was lifeless when they dragged him into the riverbank. He remembered Chaz, one of his father's close friends, yelling his father's name, pounding his clenched fists into his chest, begging him to breathe.

"LEON! Dammit, man, don't die on us, Leon! We need you here," he had screamed, tears running down his bristly cheeks. The tall orange-haired man had never cried before, Link had thought. Chaz sobbed as water and bile spilled from Leon's pale lips and pooled around his head...

He looked down at his breakfast, unable to ignore the similarity of the watery pool of yolk to the lukewarm water that had spewed from his father's dead lungs. He shuddered, pushed his plate back slightly. He didn't notice when Kiefer raised his blue eyebrows at him, glanced over at Kaid worriedly. Link was too far gone in his darkest memory.

His father's once strong body lay like limp on the ground, his head angled oddly and his mouth and eyes wide open.

The sight unnerved him. His father's lifeless body beneath Chaz's as he begged him to breathe, say something, LIVE! Link watched in awe as his neighbor cried. Chaz was a mountain of a man, with muscles of steel and strong, wide shoulders. He had worked shoulder to shoulder with Leon since they were barely older than Link himself... Link hadn't believed Chaz COULD cry.

"Chaz, stop it," another man said. "He's gone. Chaz! You can't bring him back." Chaz had stumbled back from Leon's body, crumpling to the ground in a sobbing, shaking heap.

And then one of the other neighbors took him home. He remembered the man telling his mother what had happened. He remembered her screams of anguish, remembered watching her collapse... The fear that she'd leave him like Daddy did.

When she finally woke up she had taken Link in her arms and held him tight.

"I almost lost you, too, didn't I, baby?" She murmured into his soft blonde hair, so like his father's. "Thank Goddess your daddy saved you for me... I only wish..." Link had looked up into his mother's eyes and saw the unshed tears there.

"He's never coming back, is he, Mommy?" And Danika had cried then.

"No, Link," she had said as the tears began to fall. "Daddy isn't ever coming back. But it's going to be okay. I promise. We are going to be okay..."

"Psst!" Kiefer hissed in his ear, once again snapping him out of it. "Eat your breakfast. Dad hates it when we don't finish our breakfast. He'll think you're being an ingrate." Link looked at him blankly.

"What's an ingrate?" He asked the older boy. Keifer's silver eyes sparkled as he smiled.

"Someone who isn't thankful and takes things for granted."

"What's... Taking things for granted?" Kiefer's smile widened and he and his new stepbrother began to talk about words. Link would ask questions. Kiefer would answer them. And vice versa. It was like the floodgates had opened and suddenly they were talking to each other as if they'd known each other forever.

For the first time all week, Link was smiling and happy. Mother was right, he thought. Everything is going to be okay.

Teeeeaaaars! This was sad to write but I liked it at the same time. One more chapter of backstory left, folks. And then I will be fast forwarding time quite a bit. I hope you like this!

Preview please! Let me know what you like, don't like, would like... I'm always open to suggestions!