Chapter 22
New Starts and New Family
Linette wrung her hands in her lap as she sat in the living room of the Brante Household while waiting for Ciela to return with family members she didn't even know. Linebeck was on the porch, waiting, to explain some things before formally introducing them to Linette.
Linette was thankful for the chance to be alone, so she could attempt to calm her nerves before meeting everyone, and without the worried looks from her brother.
Linebeck had been the one to suggest meeting everyone in the Brante household, since it would be familiar and hopefully comforting to Linette. Now, while it was comforting… Linebeck looked around the open floor. Even with all the cleaning, the house still smelled stale and she couldn't look at the stairs for too long without her mother's blank eyes flashing before her eyes.
But even with the…. minor bumps with the place, it still felt the most comfortable to Linette. She welcomed any chance to stay at her childhood home, especially since Maris and a few other had seen to it that her room was put back into order, looking exactly like she would have expected it to. Even with it being a painful bitch and a half to struggle up three flights of stairs, Linette forced herself to do so, craving the familiar room. The only downside was Linebeck also followed her up the three flights, putting more stress than necessary on his leg. And yeah, he would complain while following Linette. Linebeck simply going to sleep in his bedroom, again leaving both doors opened so that they could see each other, but he never demanded that Linette slept on the ship like Ciela was doing.
Ah, yes… Ciela.
Linette had no idea what to make of the woman who was engaged to her brother. With that first encounter at watching Ciela and Linebeck interact, Linette thought that while she was rather brash in her mannerisms and that she and Linebeck bickered a lot, she would be fond of the woman, that she would be a lovely sister-in-law.
Then when Linette officially met her, Ciela was covered in the blood of the man who tormented her, covered with scars and a look in her eyes that scream that she could easily kill again, and suddenly, Linette couldn't feel herself relaxing around the woman. Who could smile and joke like she hadn't beaten and shot a man to death. Yet… she saw moments where behind the facade, something glittered within Ciela's sea-blue eyes. Exhaustion and emptiness. And Linette could see that Ciela wanted to tell something to her brother when those eyes came out.
Yet, Linette would find herself calling out for Linebeck in those moments, a dark part of her not wanting Ciela around her brother, a form of older sibling protectiveness twisted and malformed within her. Or maybe it was that weird feeling of abandonment Linette got whenever she noticed how things had changed around her, like the fact that Max and Maris had gotten married, and had their own little girl, or like even now, looking around at a house that looked so similar and yet feel so different. Hell, even though Linebeck and Ciela weren't looking on the best of terms, seeing that ring glitter on Ciela's finger reminded Linette that her brother grew up without her.
So engrossed in her thoughts, Linette hadn't noticed the mummer of voices on the front porch until she heard the front door swing open and Linebeck cursing as he attempted to get over the doorway.
Linette swallowed, and placed her hands into her lap so no one would notice them shaking. She looked up and placed a warm smile on her face.
First was her brother, griping about being pushed by Link, remembering his appearance from the photos Linebeck had shown of Link and Aryll, so Linette would have some idea what they looked like. Link was smiling softly, letting Linebeck's words wash over him with ease, not really paying them any mind. He looked up and smiled more at seeing Linette. He parked a still grumbling Linebeck next to Linette before introducing himself, expressing his thankfulness on her being alive.
They were followed by Aryll, who was chatting with Ciela in a low tone, expressing concern for the bags under Ciela's eyes. Knowing that Aryll was a pirate captain, even with her older version of her island dress, it also put Linette on edge.
Linette internally frowned. Wasn't there another family member, named Beck? Whom Linette had no true clue on as Linebeck wasn't apparently sure to explain him without Beck actually being in person.
Then the person in question rounded the corner and it was like Linette had gotten transported back in time. She gaped at Beck, taking in his nigh identicalness to her brother, but in a more youthful time. Linette turned her gaze to Linebeck, who Link had wheeled to be next to each other.
"I don't understand… he looks like he could be you, or really, your son!" Linette gasped out. "Little bro… I know there's been a lot that you haven't told me but…"
"Linette, this is Beck." Linebeck took a breath before letting it out in a rush. "But his full name is Linebeck the Sixth. So no, not my son, but my five times grandson."
"Cause that is completely logical." Linette whispered, feeling very strange. "How… how can he be who you say he is?"
"You remember how I was talking about the quests, but didn't want to get into?" Linebeck said, taking Linette's hand. "That was because I wanted them here, as they played parts in one or both quests.
"Now, it won't be the whole things recounted, as we would be here all night… but it will explain how I came to know them." Linebeck finished.
Linette could only nod weakly, starting to feel overwhelmed. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opened them back up, while she didn't feel much calmer, she felt more in control of her emotions. "So, shall we tell them… the news now, since they know I'm alive?"
Three set of eyes looked confused at Linette and Linebeck. "What news?" Link asked. "You have more to tell us?"
Linebeck looked down at the picture frame he was holding, running a thumb down along the side. "Well, it was something we had learned from Jolon… and while I wouldn't normally take his words to heart, too many things added up for it to be fake."
"Link, Aryll, you're father, Adren, was childhood friends with my mother… knew each other since they born." Linebeck said, holding out the picture frame, revealing it to be the one that Link's grandmother had given him so many years ago. "Your grandmother was the first one to tell me. That was when I got that picture."
Link took the picture, both he and Aryll looking down at the old image.
Aryll was the first to look up. "If you already knew this, what did Jolon tell you?"
"Linette and I… we're not his children." Linebeck bluntly stated. "We were the result of an affair between my mother and Adren. Your father."
Silence fell over the group as Link and Aryll stared opened mouth in shock at Linebeck, the frame now loosely held within Link's fingers. Aryll was softly sputtering how beginning of sentences, never finishing them.
Linebeck took the opportunity to explain everything that Jolon had told them, and how his and Link's pasts were more entwined than anyone would have thought. Linette, Ciela and Beck remained silent.
At the end of it, Linebeck was leaning forward, hands clasped together, staring down at them. Link was back to staring intently at the picture in a new light, while Aryll had simply flopped back into the couch, still starting at Linebeck in shock.
"So… what happened with Jolon?" Link slowly asked, dragging his eyes away from the frame to look at Linebeck, Linette and Ciela. "I assume he's dead, but you guys looked like you barely made it out alive." He looked pointedly at the wheelchairs, and Ciela's arm in a sling.
Linebeck shifted. "We nearly didn't. If Sparkles had listened to me, we both would have been dead by dawn."
Link looked to Ciela, opening his mouth. Ciela beat him to the punch, however.
"I shot him." Ciela said. Then, as if an afterthought. "A lot."
Silence again fell over the group as Beck stared in shock at Ciela, while Link and Aryll's expressions became stony understanding.
"Well, guess that renders Tetra's and I bounty on his head unnecessary." Was all Link commented. He turned back to Linebeck. "So. Brothers, huh."
"Brothers." Linebeck returned, taking a sip of his now cold tea. "You're always gonna still be my treasure dog, regardless of blood shared or that you're a king, Kid."
Link snorted, before pointing a finger at Linebeck. "And you'll always be that asshole who stole my map I nearly died for, after lying about a broken ankle."
With that statement, the tension in the room dissipated as Linebeck chuckled and agreed with Link.
Aryll pushed herself back to an upright position, smiling warmly at Linette. "I always wanted a big sister. Somehow, this guy never seemed to quite cut it. He tried his best but…" She elbowed Link in the side, who gave off a sound of protest, sputtering into his tea.
Linette chuckled softly back, starting to feel more at ease with her new family, but still confused with the references to tales she had no knowledge of. "So… now, I need to know how you guys all met, and how exactly you are Little Bro's descendant in our time." Linette pointed to Beck. "Don't think I've forgotten that."
"Well, I guess I was the first to meet Linebeck at Windfall's bar when I was eleven and trying to rescue Aryll here, even if I wasn't formally introduced." Link said, carefully avoiding mentioning Linebeck's intoxication at the time. "I only learned his name a year later, at this temple he was trapped in and I needed his help."
"I met Linebeck about a week before." Ciela chimed in. "At the bar in Mercay, my home island really, even if I wasn't born there. At first, I was excited to be seeing a new face, since due to events happening at the time, there was almost no trading or ships traveling the seas." Ciela sighed. "But then I overheard that he was planning on going to the Ocean King's Temple and instantly thought him moronic."
Linette frowned. "How could going to a temple be stupid, unless it wasn't safe to go in?"
"Well, this temple had been cursed, and a lot of treasure hunters had lost their life in there, chasing after the sea maps hidden within." Linebeck explained. "I was after them myself, but like Link said, I got trapped, thankfully where I wasn't going to have the life immediately sucked out of me. If the Kid and Sparkles came, I would have been sunk."
Thus began the telling of the Phantom quest, before bleeding into the Three Heroes quest, with Link occasionally jumping back to his quest to help explain events in both quests. Some sections, however, Ciela, Link, and Linebeck withheld, trying to avoid upsetting Linette too much. Unavoidable, however, was Linebeck's near suicide. Linebeck had whispered to Linette that he would explain to her at later in the night, when they would have a chance to be alone.
When the conversation dragged and finally stopped, Ciela was the first to move, gathering up everyone's mugs and with Aryll's help again, walked back to the kitchen to begin making more tea for everyone. While there, she heard Linette excuse herself and out of the corner of her eye seeing Linette wheel herself out the front door with some difficulty. Aryll walked back to the living room to re-join the group while waiting for Ciela to finish in the kitchen.
As Ciela was pouring hot water onto the awaiting teabags in a teapot, she heard Linebeck follow Linette. She sighed, looking up at the window into the dark forest. She yelped and jerked back, tipping the kettle and inadvertently spilling hot water over her good hand, along with knocking a mug onto the floor, shattering it into pieces.
"I'm fine!" Ciela automatically called out, back pressed up against the island counter, heart hammering in her chest, desperately trying to get her breathing back under control.
Ciela stared at the window, again seeing her own reflection and not Jolon's bloody face. She gulped, squeezing shut her eyes. She bowed her head, feeling her hand burn from the water searing the skin, but not feeling like she wanted to do anything about it.
When she finally lifted back up her head, Ciela really wasn't surprised to see Aryll standing in front of her, arms crossed.
"Fine, huh?" Aryll said, eyes filled with skepticism.
Ciela swallowed, feeling strangely guilty at upsetting the 16 year old. She remained silent, shifting to the side. She banged her hand against the counter and hissed in pain, revealing the pink flesh.
Aryll's eyes soften. "Come on." She said, gently taking her shoulder and moving her to the sink. Flipping on the cold water, Aryll moved Ciela's hand so she was holding it under the stream, bringing relief to the seared flesh.
"Keep that there. I'm going to pick up the mug and spilled water." Aryll ordered, picking up a ragged towel.
Ciela started to protest, but silenced herself at being leveled with one of Aryll's "do as I say" looks.
The room was quiet as Aryll worked, the only sounds being the clinking of broken pottery and the running of the sink. Just above it, they could hear the mummer of Link and Beck's voices as they conversed.
Once Aryll was finished, she set the towel in the sink, making sure to not let any pieces of the mug escape. She snapped up a cleaner towel. Murmuring to Ciela what she was doing, Aryll moved Ciela's hand out of the stream, soaking the towel. Aryll wrapped it around Ciela's hand, mirroring when Ciela wrapped her brother's hand weeks ago.
"Let's go out back. The air will keep it cooler longer." Aryll said, motioning her head toward the door.
Ciela only nodded her agreement, knowing that the air wouldn't help any. Aryll just wanted to talk privately. She knew that look in her eyes. It was the same one as Link would have.
They remained silent for a few moments, with Aryll staring into the dark woods and Ciela up at the stars, as she held her scalded hand in her other.
"The first month after I killed Ganondorf, I couldn't sleep. The moment would replay over and over in my dreams, along with the more awful parts of the Trio Quest, but mainly that final moment where I sunk my blade into his head."
"It got to the point where I couldn't even look at my reflections, even in a stupid cup of water, too afraid of seeing his face with a hole in his forehead. I stopped sleeping, stopped eating. Kept worrying Granny when I kept refusing her soup. Four months after the quest was when I left on the King of Red Lions."
Ciela nodded her remembrance. She had just returned from the exploration crews and was at the castle with Link, Linebeck, and Tetra when the hero received the letter of Aryll's disappearance. Link had become frantic at the thought of his younger sister missing. Tetra was able to finally calm him down, saying that when Aryll was ready, she would return home.
"I sailed around for two months to the different islands, running through the temples that my brother did. Monsters still roamed the areas. Before winding back up at Greatfish Isle, I got hurt by one of them." Aryll continued, still looking at the forest. "It was even a particularly difficult beast… but in the middle of the finishing blow, Ganondorf's face again flashed. I hesitated at the worst possible time." Aryll trailed off, one hand unknowingly going for her right side.
"On Greatfish, a storm had hit, trapping me on the ruins. Plus, the injury got infected, even with my care. Two days I was stuck huddled in a small cave of rubble racked with fever. All the while I kept thinking about that last fight, how worried Big Bro must be, and if I had died there…" Again, Aryll trailed off.
"I was lucky. The storm broke and I managed to get to the Western Fairy Island, healing myself. When I emerged, I got the letter from Link, letting me know that I was going to be a aunt and would I finally please come home."
"I collapsed next to the mailbox and cried. Cried for the fact that if the storm had lasted another day, or if the monster had actually injured I worst… I would have let Ganondorf finally win. He may have not struck me down himself, but his memory controlled me to the point it almost didn't matter."
Aryll wiped at her eyes, breathing in deeply.
"You know the rest, I went home, let Granny know that I was okay, but leaving again for New Hyrule to see Link. I told him… everything. And he said that he had been the same way, his last words haunting Link.
"Killing Ganondorf… even though he murdered thousands, and by the time Link faced him, he had gone insane … He was still just a man. A very evil and powerful monster… but still just a man."
Aryll shook her head. "But I'm getting off-topic here. What I'm trying to say is… I understand wanting to bottle it up, not let anyone know that you're not okay. Keeping that image of the happy island girl or fairy guide that everyone knows." Aryll smiled humorlessly at Ciela, before turning her gaze serious. "I'm not going to make you talk. That only ends in tears and fighting. I just want you to know that when you are ready. Please come talk to me or anyone you trust."
"Because I don't want you hesitating. Not when it could mean ending in tragedy."
Ciela shivered, a sense of foreboding gripping her soul at Aryll's words. She returned her gaze at the stars. She swallowed, throat feeling dry and eyes starting to burn.
"I… won't promise anything…" Ciela rasped out, closing her eyes. "I can't... Not now… not anytime soon. But… one day, when I feel ready… I'll…" Words failed her and Ciela swallowed again, throat locking up on her. She forced herself to look at Aryll.
Aryll only nodded back, eyes full of understanding. "When you are ready." She reaffirmed, nodding.
It only made the sick feeling within Ciela twist up more.
"Look at you. Lying more and more to the ones that love you and only want to help…" An ugly voice, sounding too close to Bellum's hissed in the back of her head. "But perhaps it is prudent to do so… Maybe more demon blood runs in your veins than Oshus would have liked…"
"Shut up!" Ciela weakly shot back, trying to ignore the voice.
As they turned back to the house, Ciela remembered an object in the bottom of the S.S. Linebeck she had been keeping there for safekeeping, even though it wasn't hers.
"Aryll?" Ciela said. "Would you be willing to join me while I grabbed something from the ship? The dark… well, without my fairy glow, it's seems rather more… unnerving."
It was as close Ciela could get to admitting that she was messed up after murdering Jolon.
Aryll only nodded her agreement.
…
"I'm fine."
Again, the words echoed in Linebeck's head as he watched Ciela's and Aryll's backs disappear into the darkness, save for the lantern swinging in between them.
Those two simple words were really starting to piss him off. At least where Ciela was concerned. Every time he inquired about how she was feeling, she simply repeated them, along with giving him a "reassuring" smile.
Linebeck sighed, becoming tired of Ciela's bullshit attempts at avoiding talking to him properly and tired of wondering why he suddenly wasn't good enough for her.
"Green rupee for your thoughts?" Linette asked, breaking the silence between the pair since Linebeck had wheeled himself out the door. Neither of them wanted to talk, knowing that doing so would cause the darker parts of Linebeck's thirteen years would come out.
Linebeck was silent for a few more minutes, wheeling himself to be beside Linette's wheelchair.
"This feels like a dream." Linebeck admitted, looking down at his clasped hands. "So many years had passed… I just can't believe that, you're beside me again. My only wish is that it hadn't taken so long."
Linette reached out a hand, entwining her fingers with Linebeck's who didn't move. "I'm here now." Linette spoke firmly.
Linebeck's fingers twitched, before twisting his hand to properly hold Linette's. "I wasn't a good person, for a few years. Link and Ciela didn't mention it, out of respect, knowing that was my story to tell, but when Link was talking about our first meeting? At the bar?" Linebeck swallowed, still focused on his lap. "I don't even remember it because I was shit faced drunk."
"And it wasn't just a one night thing, no. From the time I was nineteen to twenty-one and meeting the Kid and Sparkles, I would drink to forget… everything. Everyone waiting at home, wondering if I was okay, mom's death, how I was a pathetic, greedy coward and bastard, the reason I was even sailing around…" Linebeck trailed off, throat locking up on him. He finally forced the last word out of his mouth with a choked gasp. "You."
Linebeck closed his eyes, turning more away from a silent Linette, trying to hold back the bitter sting of tears. "I had given up on rescuing you. I didn't tell people I had a sister, or that I had been sailing around to find her. I was a failure, and depended on booze to make me forget why."
"Hell, why I decided to ferry Link around was because I thought it would have gotten me the treasure… and later, made me feel worth something for once. That final battle, where I nearly killed myself… Part of me thought I was abandoning you to your fate, even though I asked Ciela to find you; but another half was, Goddesses, hoping that maybe I would be joining you in the Sacred Realm."
Linebeck's voice was low, and sounded more and more strangled as he fought and failed against the tears now dripping from his eyes. He still was refusing to look at Linette.
"Sometimes I wondered why Jolon didn't try and get me to fight him sooner. It would have been a lot easier to kill me, plus I wouldn't have had friends for backup. Sometimes I thought it was because he couldn't find me… but in low moments, when the nights were too dark and too long, I wondered he thought it wouldn't have been worth it, fighting a drunkard coward. That he got bored watching me spiral lower and lower into despair, knocked you off and gave up on playing that sick game with someone he thought wasn't worth it… or thought wouldn't have cared to come."
Linebeck finally quit fighting against the tears, letting them flow freely as his shoulders shook with his silent sobs. Guilt, shame, disgust and self-hatred rolled within his stomach, becoming worse when Linette slid her hand from his, thinking she was actually disgusted with him.
"Linebeck." Linette finally spoke, voice sounding equally choked. "Stop." She curled herself over Linebeck's bowed frame, sobbing just as much as her brother. "Stop this, you fool." She wrapped her arms around her brother. "You did come for me. Past is past. You made bad choices, was a bad person, but you made yourself good again. You're still my brother, and that's all I care about."
Linette tighten her grip. "With Mom dead, you're the only family I have left. You're all I have left. So all that matters is you came for me and saved me. Please don't think you failed. "
Linebeck leaned up and wrapped his arms around Linette tightly, burying his head into the crook of her shoulder, Linette echoing him. They remained that way for several minutes, frozen except for the strained breathing as they both cried into each other, all the strained emotions and turmoil that happened between the two finally overwhelming them.
After several minutes, Linette spoke, voice muffled by Linebeck's clothes. "So… there was something I was wondering. What exactly did you do to Jolene that caused her to chase you over the entirety of the goddamn ocean? I know Link said something about treasure, but knowing Jolene, there had to be something more."
Linebeck coughed awkwardly, pulling away from Linette as his face flushed even more. "I, uh, may have slept with her, after she confessed to liking me more than an adoptive family member… then left her on an island before she woke up."
Linette choked, sputtering out. "You did what with her!?"
"It just… happened so fast! Okay?! One moment, we were just walking back to our rooms and then the next thing I knew she was telling me she loved me and was kissing me and then suddenly I lost my virginity to Jolene!"
"Bro! One, kind of too much information! And two, Jolene lived with us for three years! She and her sister were like sisters to us! Ew, much?!" Linette cried out, face incredulous.
Linebeck looked at his sister and busted out in laughter at Linette's expression.
"Stop laughing, you prick." Linette ordered, trying and failing to not laugh with her brother. However, giggles kept escaping her and soon the pair's laughter was echoing in the forest.
However, even with her laughter, Linette had a sobering thought in the back of her head. "Guess there's another thing different between us now… I feel like we were once the Brante twins… Now we're just Linebeck and Linette…"
Linette shivered, feeling suddenly colder in the night air. This did not go unnoticed by Linebeck.
"Come on, let's go back inside while we wait for Sparkles and Seagull." He stated, motioning his head toward the front door.
Linette started to agree, then noticed a light growing brighter on the road. "Is that them now?" She asked.
Linebeck looked, then snorted. "Well, so it is. Speak of the Demise and the Demise will appear." He muttered.
When Aryll and Ciela joined the twins on the porch, Linette noticed the package in Ciela's arms. Her confusion grew when Ciela moved further to be standing in front of Linette.
"So… This is yours." Ciela stated, holding out the package. "I took the liberty of getting the bloodstains out and fixing it up for you."
Linette took the package, surprise written all over her face. Upon opening the package, Linette's mouth dropped open in shock. Her breathing went funny again as she lifted up her sky-blue coat, looking like the day it had been taken from her.
"Thank you…" Linette breathed out honestly. "I haven't seen this in years." Linette quickly slid it on, feeling settled with the familiar weight on her shoulders. However, she felt even more conflicted about Ciela. With the same hands that killed Jolon, she returned a treasure gift from Linette's mother.
"How did you get it so good looking again?" Linebeck question. His confusion deepen, remembering where he left the jacket. "In fact, how did you even get it? I had left it in my old tree house."
"Well, how I got it, Max helped me with. A few days after everything, I mentioned how I couldn't find the jacket, since its owner had been rescued. After explaining the last time I saw it, and where I found you, he helped me get it." Ciela explained. "As for the stains." Ciela gave a cheeky wink, tapping the side of her nose. "Fairy secret."
Linebeck rolled his eyes. "Fine, keep them. Now can we finally go inside before I turn into a statue?" He held a hand toward the door.
"Hush, drama queen." Ciela said. "Now help me get you inside. I only have one good hand and it got burned by hot water."
The group filed back in to re-join Link and Beck still sitting in the living room. The door snapped shut behind them with a quiet 'click'. The night fell into silence.