Chapter Eighteen

Family Tree

"Hello, Son."

Linebeck released Linette and whirled around while raising his gun. Slowly rising to his feet, Linebeck finally faced the man who made his life hell.

Jolon tsked, spreading his hands apart. "Is that any way to greet someone? Especially your father?"

"I think your actions gave up that blood tie." Linebeck returned, face stony and expressionless.

A sour look passed over Jolon's features. "Well, you may be correct in that I'm not your father…"

Linebeck felt his heart stutter at Jolon's word and an unfamiliar emotion rose in his chest, a mixture of confusion, shock and disbelief. He narrowed his eyes at Jolon, wondering if the man was insinuating what Linebeck thought he was.

"However, that is a part of this story for a later point." Jolon said. He motioned toward Linebeck with his gun. "For now, why don't you slide your gun over to me? So we can have a more… civil, conversation."

"Like hell I will." Linebeck thought, as his stomach gave an unpleasant twist. The captain only gripped his gun tighter, and gave a firm shake of his head.

Jolon sighed, tapping his fingers against his gun. "Let me put it this way. If you don't drop your gun. I'll simply shoot you both." He spread his hands. "And I know, you won't be able to do anything to me before I could kill you both."

"I wouldn't count on it." Linebeck spat, anger bubbling in his chest.

Jolon cocked his head. "But do you?" He replied, raising one eyebrow.

Linebeck's lips thinned, but he placed his gun on the stone. Standing back up, the captain kicked it toward the doorway. It skitters over the bones and rubble. The sounds echoed in the immense room before they fall silent again.

"There. I'm defenseless. Other than my sword, but I highly doubt it would be much use throwing the damn thing at you." Linebeck said in a poisonous voice.

Jolon studied Linebeck, gaze curious. "You have changed… I wasn't sure with my recent observations, but now… You're quite different from thirteen years ago." Jolon closed his eyes, sweeping a hand toward the twins while opening back up his eyes. "No longer are you that sixteen year old that set out to rescue his sister, Linebeck"

"Your point?" Linebeck said.

"And you have grown quite hasty as well." Jolon added.

Linebeck snorted. "Let's just say that I've had my fair share of monologues from people who only wanted me dead."

Behind him, Linette's eyes widen as she let out a shocked, "what?!" Linebeck winced, knowing that didn't sound too good and especially with the fact that he couldn't properly explain why he had experiance with that situation.

Jolon tilted his head down, still looking at Linebeck. "Well, it seems you have gotten in some interesting predicaments."

"Look, are you just going to try exchange bullshit small talk, or did you have a reason for kidnapping Linette and forcing me here tonight? Presumably to kill us both?" Linebeck snapped, frustration getting the better of him.

"My reasoning?" Jolon repeated in a soft tone, eyes growing distant. " Well, to make sense of it, it involves a very long story." Jolon looked back at the twins. "So make yourself comfortable next to your sister, Linebeck."

"I'd rather stand, if you don't mind." Linebeck said, not moving.

Jolon's eyes flicker over Linebeck. "I think you misunderstood me. That was an order, not a request." The gun in his hand twitched toward the floor. "I said, make yourself comfortable." An emotion that made Linebeck uneasy glittered in his eyes.

Linebeck grimaced, but did so. He didn't want to give Jolon any more advantages over him. The captain tried to comfort himself by telling himself that if Jolon did try to do anything, Linebeck had put himself into a position to be able to quickly move by crouching next to Linette. To further reassure himself, and to keep an easy balance, Linebeck placed one of his arms gently around Linette's shoulders, being mindful of her injuries, while also trying to commune to his sister that they would be getting out of here.

"Hopefully…" Linebeck thought, glancing to Jolon's gun, then to his own where it had stopped, resting among the bones and rubble. He had wished that he hadn't kicked it so hard. Linebeck hadn't wanted Jolon to pick it up.

"I met Marlene, along with her friend since infant hood, Adren, when I was nine."

"Adren… Why does his name sound familiar?" Linebeck thought to himself.

"My mother and I had just moved to Outset Island after… complications with my own family." Jolon began. "Being the only kids of our age on the island, we three quickly became inseparable. As we grew up, I found myself more and more attracted to Marlene and soon wanted her as my own. After more… complications among my family, I soon found myself an orphan. Marlene's family graciously opened their home to my sixteen year old self.

"By the age of twenty, I knew it was time. Marlene and I had grown quite close, and so I soon I asked for her hand in marriage. She had hesitated for several moments, before finally saying yes. I had put it down to shock then, her hesitation, but later learned it was due to an internal debate of whether or not to even say yes.

"But in the end, she did say yes, and so we were wed at the beginning of the winter season. Your mother looked beautiful in her gown, and glowed on her wedding day. Despite all that had transpired afterwards…. Marlene on her wedding day, knowing that she was going to be mine… It has always been a favorable memory of mine." Jolon admitted, a soft smile gracing his lips.

"And for a short while… we were happy. I picked up work with being a fisherman, along with Adren joining me. He however, remained closer to Outset, while my work began moving further and further out of sea." Jolon's smile slipped from his face. "And due to such circumstances… that happiness could not last."

"I was away at sea longer and longer. During such periods of time… A woman can get lonely in such times, and Marlene was no different. A year and a half since we were wed, she began meeting up with Adren more and more, due to him being on the island much more than I. Soon, their meetings grew more secretive, and it grew into an affair."

Jolon gave a humorless snort. "Frankly, I should have known. Even as children, the pair couldn't be kept from each other and something more kindled between them."

"I'll admit, they were good at covering their tracks and the other islanders, fearing the temper I had even then, kept themselves silent of knowledge of the affair whenever I had returned home. But none the less, secrets, especially ones like theirs, do not stay secrets for long."

Soon towards our third anniversary, Marlene wrote to me that she was with child. At such time, I had just set off on my longest trip of the year for a fisherman. I did not get her letter until I next made port on the island where I would rest and refuel between catches, which was three months after the fact, so she was five months along. I stayed on the island another month, but soon left, wanting to be by Marlene's side.

"I was excited to have this chance, to be the father that mine never was. Course, while problematic, he never had a chance to change and be a father, since my mother shot him in cold blood in front of me when I was nine." Jolon waved a hand. "Those were the 'family issues' that made my mother move us to Outset."

"Still, this was my chance at having a true family. I simply could not remain on my fishing trip to it's full extent, which would have meant that when I would have returned, you and Linette would have been going on two months old."

"If I had stayed, or if I had even let Marlene know that I would be coming home early, most likely, her and Adren's affair would have remained under wraps even longer. Or it might have even ended soon after your birth, and I would have been none the wiser. Many things might have been different if that had been the case."

"But I wanted to surprise Marlene, thinking that I would be arriving to a wife nearing the end of her term and happy to see the father of her children home much earlier than planned."

A dark look covered Jolon's face and Linebeck shifted in his spot, knowing what came next in Jolon's tale, just in his mother's point of view. The twins knew of Marlene's infidelity towards Jolon, being upfront with why they had to be wary with their absent father. She never told them the other man's identity, wanting that part of her history to die with their history on Outset.

Jolon glowered at Linebeck and Linette. "Instead, I find my wife in bed with my childhood friend, the best man at my wedding, and suddenly, the twins in the next room over I couldn't be sure were even my own children."

The glower Jolon leveled at the twins turned more and more venomous with each word spoken. And honestly, Linebeck could understand it. While Jolon didn't sound like a grade A husband, due to Marlene not willing to tell the twins the whole story, they didn't have complete understanding of the whole mess. As such, Linebeck couldn't help the tiny kernel of resentment toward his mother, deep within the darkest part of his heart. For if she had been honest with Jolon, telling him that she never truly loved him or didn't even start the affair; she might not be dead, nor the twins trapped in this bleak situation.

"After a rather… messy fight that woke most of the island, I left Outset. I had intended to never return, leaving the happy couple behind. Yet, as time passed, my anger stewed within me. That bitch shouldn't get away scott free after ruining our marriage. That was why I came back the first few times, intending to make her pay. But I was being too rash, my anger too raw. I wasn't thinking clearly, about what needed to be done.

"So, as such, Marlene and you two were able to escape under the cover of night, making me have to hunt for you for thirteen years."

"So how did you find us. Farqay Island, while now on new maps, wasn't on any of the maps of the Great Sea back then." Linebeck said, again shifting his legs to keep the feeling within them.

"Yes, that was true. Marlene was smart in that way. However, her downfall was her inability to make a clean break from her past.

"She would send letters to Adren, giving him progress updates on how the three of you were faring, recent events that he would find interesting. She never was sure if you were his sons, so in the off chance you were, she wanted him to remain the loop of your lives."

Jolon chuckled darkly. "Like I said, that was her downfall. By lucky chance, I managed to intercept one of the letters after you two turned thirteen. I used that letter to track you three down. But before I started on that… I had decided that my old pal Adren needed a visit from me."

"And when I found him, still living on Outset, I'll add, he had himself a brand new wife, a blond, pretty little thing, and two children. A four year old son and newborn daughter."

At Jolon's words, Linebeck suddenly went rigid, realizing why the name Adren had sounded so familiar to him. Bile rose in his throat and Linebeck hoped to Nayru that it wasn't true what seemed to be.

"What did you do to them." Linebeck demanded hoarsely. Linette looked to her brother, worried about the sudden change in his behavior.

Jolon shifted, bringing his hands together behind his back. "Well, I waited a few days, for the timing to be right. No messy trails to lead back to me. Then, Adren and his wife gave me the perfect chance to strike.

"They had went on a late night boat ride, just the two of them, leaving their son and daughter behind. Once they were far enough away, I simply pulled up beside them and jumped onto his ship.

"Since he had taken my wife away from me, I was going to do the same to him. I tied his wife up in the bowels of their little ship, set a few bombs to go off, and carried him with me to my ship. I was going to let him live, but the fool just had to try and save his wife and only got himself blown up in the process."

"My parents died at sea when I was four and Aryll was only a newborn babe. There wasn't any witnesses, based upon the wreckage that washed ashore, the people of Outset concluded that there was an engine failure, blowing the ship up."

The words rose unbidden in the back of the captain's mind, spoken to him on a quest that felt like lifetimes ago to him now. Linebeck's eyes narrowed in fury.

"So you killed them…" Linebeck hissed. He fought himself to keep his voice level during his next words. "What of the son and daughter? What did you do to them?" Too much information added up for them to be different families, but Linebeck had to be sure.

Jolon gave Linebeck a strange look, but answered any way. "Nothing. I briefly entertained the idea of going after them. Yet, they had been born long after that part of messy history and Adren was already dead. It would have been useless and I needed to finally finish with Marlene's part." Jolon shifted again in his spot. "Why do you ask?"

A bitter laugh barked from Linebeck's chest. "Given the odds, I know them. Good friends of mine. I was even Link's, the boy, best man at his wedding."

Jolon narrowed his eyes. "You're lying."

"Nope." Linebeck shook his head, giving a cruel smirk. "Link was here last night. Aryll is currently plundering some shoddy pirates and giving them firm lessons in proper pirating. But with Link, you might have seen him, sense it must have been you lurking in the bushes and giving my fiancee indigestion."

Jolon said nothing, trying to remain calm. However, his gun trembled in his hand, betraying his fury and nervousness. Linebeck picked up on this, and felt a tiny bit more brave.

"And if you had been able to hang around, you would know that he and his wife had swore that when they returned to their kingdom, your ass would be wanted on every last island." Linebeck rose to his feet, never breaking his gaze from Jolon. "You will have no where to hide."

"No one will no I was here. I've been hiding here 8 years since you had went off into that fog and mysteriously disappeared for three months. I only left for supplies from neighboring islands and to try and figure out where you had went." Jolon retorted, trying to look sure of himself.

Linebeck took a breath, knowing his next words would be taking a huge risk with the safety of Ciela. "However, while you may think that is true… it's not. One person will know that you were here. Before I departed, I left my fiancee a letter telling her where I went, along with the letter you left for me." Linebeck said. He crossed his arms to hide the fact that his own hands were trembling from anxiousness. "When she wakes, she'll find the letters and if I haven't returned by then, she'll know exactly where I am."

"Well, you only screwed her over." Jolon pronounced, sneering. "Since she knows of this little secret, and now I'll be needing a proper ship, I'll just kill her-"

"Like hell you will!" Linebeck snarled, rising sharply to his feet. He ignored the hissed, "you idiot, what the hell do you think you are doing?" from Linette at his feet.

"She won't be afraid of you. Ciela had been a spirit that had protected her realm before she left that life. You think a simple Hylian could frighten or overpower her?" Linebeck barked out another bitter laugh. "She would know you would be there long before you'd actually arrive and she'd fight you and she would win."

"And if you somehow defeat her, and decided to be stupid enough to try and finish the job with Link and Aryll, think again. They won't be afraid of you either, and again. Aryll's a fucking pirate captain with her own very loyal crew, and if you haven't realized it yet, Link's a king."

Linebeck drew himself up to full height, staring the man who's actions tormented his mind for the past thirteen years. He stared at Jolon, really examining the man before him. The next words spilled from his mouth without the captain really thinking about them.

"And to be perfectly candid… I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore."

Jolon became stone still except for his hands and gun quivering with fury behind him. "How good for you." He sneered.

Linebeck gave a half-hearted shrug, trying to play off some of his worry. "As much as you would hate to hear it, it's true." Linebeck took a few steps toward Jolon, testing the boundaries before Jolon became really pissed off. "I've faced oversized chickens, my own fucking shadow. Hell, I have been fucking possessed and nearly lost my soul and sanity to a demon from the darkest shadows of the fucking Shadow Realm." Linebeck took a few more steps, his outward fear falling of him like water. On the inside, he was still terrified that he wouldn't survive to see dawn, bit no longer of Jolon.

And it was true. Linebeck studied Jolon when the pair had fallen silent, Linebeck deciding to remain where he was at the moment. He put the man before him into perspective among the hellspawns he previously faced. And the gaunt and greying man before him could never match up with the evils Linebeck fought and won.

With that, any remaining fear Jolon had over the captain slipped away. Linebeck breathed out, long and slow, feeling a great weight be lifted off his shoulders.

Jolon gritted his teeth, noticing the loss of fear from Linebeck. He began to stalk forward, tucking his gun into the back of his pants. Then before Linebeck could properly register what the man was doing, Jolon squatted down and swiped up a broken off piece of wood from one of the pews.

Jolon lunged for Linebeck, swinging his makeshift weapon. Linebeck swore aloud and lunged off to the side, skittering backwards to make sure he didn't get hit. The captain faced Jolon again, drawing out his sword and reading it to fight against his father.

Linebeck breathed in once, and let it out, keeping his face determined. Jolon made another move toward him. Linebeck darted to the opposite side of Jolon's swing, swiping out his sword. This forced Jolon back, further away from Linette and closer to the back of the hall.

Linette strained against her bonds, trying to not cry out as she twisted her ankle and arm the wrong way, sending spasms of burning pain up the broken limbs. Despite her best efforts, Linette whimpered and was forced to settle against the alter. She stared at her brother and father fighting in horror, praying that it would turn out okay, that Linebeck would defeat Jolon and the two of them could just go back to the way things were.

Jolon's weapon held up well against Linebeck's blade. None the less, little notches created throughout the piece signified that it wouldn't hold out indefinitely.

Linebeck feited his blade, then when Jolon had his guard down, swung out his blade to land a nasty cut on Jolon's unprotected side. Linebeck let a flicker of satisfaction go over his face.

Jolon snarled, looking down at his side and putting a hand to it. It came away covered in red. He glared at Linebeck, only to see the blade headed toward him again. Jolon side-stepped the blade, or tried to.

Linebeck's blade cut into Jolon's right arm, where most of his power for his swings with the wood came from.

Jolon reared back, growling in pain and anger at being bested once more. Narrowing his eyes, Jolon followed Linebeck's idea. He feinted a swing at Linebeck's legs.

Linebeck jerked his feet away from the wood, but due to nearly becoming unbalanced, he was unable to avoid Jolon actually swinging the board at his head.

With a nasty crack, the piece of wood connected with the captain's head, sending him dazed to the floor. Linette screamed.

Jolon stood over Linebeck, rearing the piece of wood to again land a hit on Linebeck's head, which was already bleeding from the first hit. Linebeck, dazed and disoriented, raised his blade just in time to block the piece of wood from smashing in his head completely.

The blade sunk into the wood. Jolon gave a few yanks, trying to get it free, to no avail. Twisting his mouth into an ugly grimace, he yanked the blade out of Linebeck's hands and threw both the blade and piece of wood across the room.

Linebeck tried to roll away, and get himself back to his feet. Jolon noticed and brought a nasty kick to the captain's side. Linebeck let out a painful shout, trying to curl into himself. He was stopped by Jolon placing his boot on Linebeck's chest.

Linebeck weakly struggled against Jolon's weight pressing down on him. Jolon looked down, anger marring his features.

"Are you going to give up?" He asked, bending over Linebeck.

All he got was a rude hand gesture delivered by Linebeck.

Jolon twisted his hands into fists. "If that's your choice." He lifted his foot off of Linebeck's chest. He brought out his gun and aimed for Linebeck's knee. Jolon fired off his gun.

Linebeck screamed as pain blossomed and traveled up his leg. He involuntarily tried to clutch at his leg but Jolon was quicker.

The man grabbed Linebeck's shirt front and with surprising strength, pulled him up from the ground and rammed him against the wall.

"I never really got to why I went through all this messy business with you and your sister." Jolon growled. He wrapped one hand around Linebeck's neck, beginning to lightly choke him.

Linebeck struggled against Jolon's hand, vision flickering when he would accidentally put weight on his now bad knee, combined with his new head injury.

"You can see it, can't you?" Jolon tightened his grip against Linebeck's neck with each word he next spoke. "You aren't my son. You represent the fact that my wife. Never. Truly. Loved me!" Jolon finished with a shout, putting both hands on Linebeck's neck, dropping his gun to do so.

Linebeck scrabbled at Jolon's hands. Black crept in on the edges of his vision, and with it, tendrils of fear returning to sink into him.

"Get. The Fuck. Off him." A voice commanded from the entrance of the hall, her voice echoing in the empty space.

Linebeck's eyes managed to dart over to where the voice came from and was only able to discern a shock of red hair from the darkness rushing in.

"She followed me…Of course…" Was his last conscious thought before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Jolon released Linebeck in his shock at someone else suddenly arriving, and turned to face the intruder. He narrowed his eyes when he recalled Linebeck's words in alerting his fiancee of his whereabouts for tonight. Behind him, Linebeck collapsed to the floor.

Ciela stared down Jolon, face ablaze with anger and tears of rage formed in her eyes.

Jolon snorted. "You really think you can-" He cut himself off with a cry of pain when Ciela raised her gun and fired off one shot into Jolon's right shoulder, opposite of where his heart would be.

For the second time, Jolon raised a hand to his injury and stared at the blood that came from it as if he never saw it before. He looked back to Ciela. "You fucking bitch."

"Next time, I won't miss." Ciela replied, voice barely containing the fury underlying her words. Linebeck hadn't stirred and the ex-fairy was beginning to feel afraid that she hadn't made it in time. Knowing that emotion wouldn't do anyone any good, Ciela buried it under her anger and began advancing on Jolon.

Jolon didn't reply, choosing instead to grab back up his gun and began firing randomly at Ciela.

Due to Jolon's previous injuries and Ciela quickly darting to hide between the pews, most of his bullets miss. One, however, hit Ciela's left shoulder, just a few inches from her heart.

Ciela let out a pained gasp, collapsing against the rotting wood. She glanced down and gritted her teeth, before forcing herself back to her feet, allowing her fear, rage, and adrenaline to dull the pain to a manageable roar.

Ciela rose out from her hiding spot, striding out from between the ruined objects to stand in the aisle, knowing that Jolon had no more bullets. Her anger drove her actions as Ciela advanced upon Jolon, raising up her gun.

Her sea-blue eyes flickered over to Linebeck's still immobile form and all good conscious went out her moral windows.

Her gun fired off five more times. As each bullet pounded into the man's chest, Jolon staggered back with each shot. When it ran out, Ciela had still pulled on the trigger, letting her gun click uselessly for a few moments. Then, she spotted Linebeck's gun laying among the bones.

Ciela tossed hers aside and bent down to pick up Linebeck's.

In that time, Jolon fell to his knees, blood staining the front of his shirt.

"I can't let him get back up."

Ciela aimed Linebeck's gun, barely noticing the violent shaking of her hands. Her eyes took on a distant expression, mouth set in a grim line. She fired off five more shots. All the while, the ex-fairy kept walking closer to Jolon.

"I can't let him get back up."

As if she was on autopilot, Ciela switched Linebeck's gun to her other hand, before reaching and picking up another piece of the broken pews. Once close enough to Jolon, Ciela drew back the piece and swung it forward, whacking it into the side of Jolon's head, sending him to the floor.

"I can't let him get back up."

Ciela kneeled over Jolon, continually striking any part of Jolon's upper body that she could reach. The old wood couldn't hold up against this use, and soon splintered to hundreds of tiny segments.

Jolon let out a bitter, choked laugh. Blood bubbled out of his mouth and trailed down the sides of his face.

"I'll see you in Hell, bitch." Jolon gurgled out, grinning horribly at Ciela, his blood staining the stone around him.

Ciela forced herself back to her feet, eyes unwavering and unblinking from Jolon's. Linebeck's gun returned to her dominate hand and Ciela lined up the end with the center of Jolon's forehead, placing her finger against the trigger.

"I can't let him get back up."

Ciela didn't even recognize the voice that came out of her mouth that coldly replied to Jolon.

"Then let me escort you myself."

"I can't let him get back up."

Ciela pulled the trigger.

…

*low whistle*

Not really sure what to say after a chapter like this. But there you have it, the reason Jolon has been so pissy with the Brante family. And finally, I have reached the peak of the climax for this story. Now there are only five chapters left, all of which I have planned out, just not written. Also, they shouldn't be long ones to write, outside of the last flashback chapter, which is the next one.

As always, leave a review, comment, and/or critiques below, as it is fuel for us authors, and I will see you all, next chapter!

~Roses.

P.S. The title of this chapter is a song title, by Matthew West, and said song has always been the theme song, so to speak, to this story for me. So give it a listen after reading this chapter!