Thank you guys for being patient. I've been feeling sick the past two weeks and I've been busy with work and writing a novel. I'm sorry about the delay in the chapters. But enough dillydallying, on with the chapter.

After a long and exhausting day, Aryll as finally out like a light. All Linebeck needed to do was but his oldest to bed, and the could finally get some sleep. How did he do this before, Linebeck wondered.

Link was already in his pajamas. He was curled up in bed waiting to be tucked in for the night. Link's green eyes began to droop as he waited.

"Can you tell me a story before bed?" He pleaded with his big green eyes.

There was no way Linebeck could say no to something as adorable as that, no matter how tired Linebeck was.

"Sure. Why not?" He said as he sat down beside his son. "What do you wanna hear about."

The little boy bit his lip and narrowed his eyebrows as he thought.

"The Hero." Link stated as he grabbed his stuffed bear.

Linebeck thought for a minute. There were so many stories about the many heroes of Hyrule. Which would be the best one to start with? Ah ha, he had just the one.

"A long time ago, long before the Great Ocean, there was a great kingdom. It was called Hyrule." Linebeck started. "Even before Hyrule there was always a great warrior that kept the land safe from darkness. Whenever the land needed him he would be reborn. Every time he was just an ordinary boy until he was needed to save the day."

"Just like me?" Link asked with big eyes.

Part of Linebeck wanted to tell the boy about his future, but that would be too much for the four year old to comprehend. Besides, if he filled his head with all the great things he was going to do before he did them, it would end badly. But Linebeck didn't want to lie to his son either, so he'd be a little ambiguous.

Linebeck smiled, "All the other heroes, were just like you." At least he was being honest, although he wasn't telling the whole truth. "But every once and a while, the darkness would try to take over Hyrule. For a while, all hoped seemed lost. Little did the people know, that their hero was fighting back the forces the darkness. Little by little, he helped bring the light back to Hyrule. And with the help of the Princess Zelda, they were always able to stop the darkness and Hyrule would be safe for a long time."

"Did they live happily ever after?" Link asked as his green eyes began to droop.

"Uh huh." Linebeck nodded. "Now you need to get to sleep."

Linebeck wrapped his arms around his son and pulled him into a hug. He felt a kiss on his cheek as the boy yawned.

"Good night daddy. I love you." Link said sleepily.

Goddesses Linebeck missed this. The Link he was used to was past the age of all the cute affection little kids gave. He never really got hugs from the twelve year old Link, and he didn't think he had ever initiated a hug during their long journey. Sure he had rustled Link's hair, but by then Link was at that point where affection to or from a parent was few and far between. It made Linebeck realize how much he missed out on initially, but now he had a second chance to do things right.

"I love you too Link. Good night." Linebeck replied as he returned the kiss on the cheek.

Linebeck really missed having little ones, even though they could be a handful sometimes.


The sailor had been sound asleep when the sound of Link's terrified screams pulled him awake. Linebeck was used to being woken up by his son's night terrors, but there was something unsettling about hearing his four year old cry out because of a bad dream. He rubbed his eyes and meandered his way into his son's room. Linebeck hoped that Aryll wouldn't wake up. He didn't need two crying children at this hour.

"No! It's not! Not real! It's not! It's not!" Link cried out as he opened the door.

Link was widely thrashing about. To Linebeck, this sight was something he was used to, except now it was a much smaller version of Link freaking out. The boy let out a loud sob in the time it took Linebeck to close the distance between the two of them. Chills ran down Linebeck's spine as he recognized the words his son was crying out. This was the same thing his older Link had been dreaming about.

Link was now sobbing uncontrollably, "Just let me go! Please! It hurts!"

Oh Goddesses. This was bad, really bad.

"Link." Linebeck said as he tried shaking his son awake. "You have to wake up."

"Not real! Malladus! It hurts! Help!" choked out a distressed Link.

Malladus? That name was certainly new, and that worried Linebeck on a whole new level. That meant that this was going to be something that Linebeck couldn't prepare Link for. Goddesses help them.

"Link! You need to wake up." Linebeck pleaded as his son thrashed in his grasp.

With one last cry, Link's green eyes snapped open. His tiny arms wrapped around his father like his older counterpart had done on countless occasions. Link's sobs quickly turned into hiccups. Dreams like this were a common occurrence for the older Link, but this night terror was the worst one Linebeck had ever seen. Come to think about it, this was probably the first night terror Link had ever had. As Linebeck was rubbing his son's back in an attempt to comfort him he noticed a dark spot on the bed. When Link had calmed back down, his face grew a deep scarlet when he noticed his wet sheets. Link started crying out of embarrassment instead of out of terror.

"Hey." Linebeck's words were quiet. "It's okay. It was an accident. You were having a pretty bad dream a few minutes ago."

Link pulled his arms and legs closer to his body as his eyes cast down at the ground. Poor kid. Linebeck rubbed Link's back for a moment longer before rummaging through Link's drawers for some new pajamas. After helping Link change into dry clothes, he went off to get Link new sheets for his bed. Once that was done, he picked up his son and carried him to the kitchen. Link had his head resting on his shoulder and he was still looking down at the ground. As he walked a rubbed the kid's back.

Linebeck pulled out a bottle of milk and poured a bit into a pot. He set it on the stove and turned the heat on low. As the milk warmed up, he riffled through the cabinets. Linebeck smiled as he pulled out a thing of chocolate powder. He poured some of the powder into the warm milk and stirred it around. Once the milk was warm enough, he divided it into two mugs. He handed Link the smaller mug, and the boy gratefully accepted. A small smile worked its way across Link's lips as he sipped at his hot chocolate. The two of them sipped at their hot chocolate in silence, but that was fine, they didn't need to talk.

Once their hot chocolate was gone Linebeck carried a sleepy Link back to bed. He pulled the sheets up and tucked Link into bed. Link's green eyes slipped shut as he clutched his stuffed bear. Once he was sure Link was asleep, Linebeck went back into his room for some well deserved rest.