Thunder boomed outside and lightening light up the sky. Rain pounded against the windows, drenching the world outside. But inside, it was toasty warm as the fireplace crackled with a roaring fire. Linebeck walked into the blanket fort his kids had put together. The fire illuminated the smiles of the kids inside of the blanket fort.

"This was a good idea dad." Link said as he stuck his head out of the blanket fort.

A huge grin was plastered across Link's face. Aryll popped her head out of the blanket fort. Link playfully leaned up against her sister and bumped into her. She flashed a smile and bumped back into her older brother. The kids had really grown up over the past five years.

"Is the hot chocolate done daddy?" Aryll asked.

Linebeck nodded as he handed his daughter a mug. She sat up and eagerly took the warm mug. Link's smile grew as he was handed his own mug. The boy scooted back to allow his father to sit down in the fort.

"Did you and mom really do this as kids?" Link asked as he took a sip of the chocolaty liquid.

"Yep." Linebeck nodded. "Whenever the weather got bad we would go over to each others house. If I was at her house her brother, your Uncle James, would tell us stories, and if she came over to my house your Uncle Kirk would be the one to tell us stories.

"What kind of stories did they tell?" Aryll asked.

Linebeck sipped his hot chocolate as he recalled the stories from his childhood. Which story would be best to tell? Linebeck had been telling Link about the various stories about the past heroes of Hyrule, but there was one that he had been saving for when Link had gotten older.

"You guys know about the Hero of Time right?" Linebeck asked.

His children nodded, taking more sips of their hot chocolate.

"Well, there is more to that story than what most people know about." Linebeck started.

"When the Hero of Time, defeated Ganon, it caused a tear in time. That tear created, three distinct worlds. Their stories each have their own versions of what happened the Hero of Time when the Hero of Time fought Gannon. In one world, the Hero of Time perished at the hands of Ganon. But in our world, the hero of time was victorious. The Hero of Time was sealed in the Temple of Time for seven years until he was strong enough to defeat Ganon. After Gannon's defeat, the Princess Zelda, sent him back in time to relieve his lost years.

In another world when the Hero of Time was sent back to his childhood, he left Hyrule to seek his companion Navi. In his search, he stumbled upon the land named Termina." Linebeck was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder.

"He saved it from the wrath of Majora, an evil entity sealed away in a cursed mask. Majora's mask was worn by a Skull Kid. The spirit of Majora took over the Skull Kid and gave him great, but terrible powers. He managed to turn that Link into a deku scrubb. In three days, the Skull Kid was able to bring down the moon itself to destroy Termina." Linebeck started.

His children gasped and drew themselves closer into their father. All three of them jumped as another loud clap of thunder boomed nearby.

"B-but" Linebeck continued. "The Hero of Time used his ocarina to reverse time. He then learned the song of healing and was able to return to his normal form. The Hero of Time was able to fix everything the Skull Kid had ruined or destroyed in three days. He was able to reunite the spirits of four lost heroes. With their help he was able to defeat Majora and free Skull Kid from its powers. According to one version of the story, the Hero of Time resided in that realm until his death. But in our world, while the hero still stayed sealed in the temple to grow and defeat Ganon, he no longer existed in the timeline after his defeat of Ganon. Hyrule was then flooded and became the world you know as your home. I don't know how, but we are related to the Hero of Time. Personally, I think that that Link came back from Termina to start a family.

Link tilted his head to the side and asked, "How do you know that story? And why did you call the Hero Link?"

Oops. He really slipped up. Linebeck had been so careful not to let Link know about his future as the Wind Waker. Would now be a good time to tell him? Link was only seven and had a few more years to go before Linebeck wanted Link to start his training. A few years back, Linebeck decided that by having Link start his training at the age of ten, it would give him enough time to hone his skills, but still have a childhood.

Linebeck let out a small sigh, "I didn't want to tell you until you were older, but now might be the best time to tell you."

"What do you mean?" Link asked hesitantly.

Linebeck was quiet for a moment before he continued, "It's a long story, but I think you are old enough to handle most of it."

"Most of it." Link repeated, a hint of frustration in his voice.

This was probably going to be the hardest thing Linebeck was going to have to do, well besides give his kids the talk, but that was its own can of worms.

"After your mother died, I went on one last trip out to sea." Linebeck said as he looked at his children, "As far as you know, I never went back out to sea and I started working at the tavern." He was only met with a look of confusion, but pressed on.

"But like the Hero of Time, there was another split timeline. Originally everyone on that ship was captured by the Ghost Ship. We were forced to be a part of its crew or else. Bad things started happening on the ship and we tried to escape. But it turned out the Ghost Ship sent us to another timeline.

The Ghost Ship would kidnap sailors from all three timelines and bring them to one place. It was the world where the young Link, the Hero of Time went to Termina. But I digress. We set up an escape plan, but things... didn't go as planned. I was the only one to escape. For eight years I tried to figure out a way to get back to the Ghost Ship and figure out how to get home. It was eight years later when I ran into an older version of you.

"During the eight years a lot happened in this version of the timeline." Linebeck rubbed the back of his neck, "And this is the part where I wanted to wait for you to hear, but... its probably best to get it out of the way now. Gannon returned. He started to bring darkness back across the world."

Link and Aryll looked at each other. Their confused looks now held a hint of fear in them. This was the exact thing Linebeck was trying to avoid.

"It turns out that the great sea is the land of Hyrule. It was flooded by the King to prevent Gannon from taking over when the Hero of Hyrule didn't return.

It won't be too much longer before Gannon comes back. Things started to change around your twelfth birthday. Gannon was searching for the Princess Zelda so that he could obtain her Triforce of Wisdom. He sent out the King of Helmlocks to find young girls that matched her description. One girl, named Tetra, that's about your age was caught just off the coast of the island. But after her crew fought the bird she fell into the forest. Your other counterpart went into the forest to save her. Before the girl could get back to her ship the King of Helmocks attacked and grabbed another girl." he let out a heavy breath, "It was that timeline's Aryll. So that version of Link and Tetra went out to rescue that Aryll.

A lot of things happened on that journey. Gannon brought back his monsters to try to stop the Hero of Hyrule. Aryll was rescued. Not long after rescuing Aryll, that Link and Tetra discovered that she was the recent incarnation of Zelda. Together they were able to beat Gannon. During the fight, the King of Hyrule, who had been in hiding, made sure that Hyrule would be forever flooded to prevent Gannon from ever controlling it. He then commanded that that Link and Tetra go out into the world to find a new land and rebuild Hyrule.

It was on that trip that they came across the Ghost Ship. Tetra had been captured but that Link had been able to escape it. He then found me, and we were able to stop the entity that controlled the Ghost Ship. The crew I was with that got taken by the Ghost Ship was sent back to the point in time before our capture. We came home and lived our lives like the whole mess never happened. Only this time, we have a vague idea on what's going to happen.

Originally, I wanted to wait until you were ten to tell you this Link. I was worried that telling you too soon would put too much pressure on you. But with something like this, there was never going to be a right time to tell you. The Link from the alternate timeline had no training before he went out to fight Gannon. He got to live his childhood without the knowledge of the future. I wanted you to have as much of that as possible, but also have the opportunity to learn the skills you would need before you set out. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you have that fate, but you won't have to go through it alone. I'll be with you every step of the way." Linebeck fell quiet as he looked at Link.