The Next Journey

Hiya! I’m back with the next chapter, and while I believe that I mentioned somewhere that I would have more time to work on this story since I was home for break, seems that I was drastically mistaken ^_^;; I ended up spending very little time at home and found that when I was near a computer with free time, lovely little writers block decided to savagely attack my imagination’s face.



Good news though! My roommate has a scanner so I should hopefully be able to draw a little sketch of Link in this story and maybe some other stuff that deals with it and put it up on Deviantart or something soon! ‘Course with how long it took me to update, don’t hold your breath for those…



Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY!!



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Linebeck blinked at the ragged blond youth clinging to the side of his dinghy. How did this person know him? His eyes glanced from side to side, trying to figure out how to respond to this strange greeting.



Link blinked up at the man through watery eyelashes, 'He doesn't remember me?' "It's me! Link! Remember?" he said, doubt plaguing the last word.



Linebeck stared at the young boy as if trying to find the little hero in the sea-soaked clothing and shaggy hair. His gaze turned to Link's deep blue eyes and paused there until a smug expression passed over his face. "Of course I remember who you are. You're the little kid who had me sailing all over this ocean so you could collect sand," he said in his familiar lofty tone.



Instead of getting mad like he normally would have, a smile broke out onto Link's face as he laughed with joy.



Linebeck was a bit taken aback with the boy's sudden laughter. That was not what he was expecting to hear and it unnerved him slightly that just his remembering the kid had caused such a reaction.



"So...Are there any ship parts on this island?" he awkwardly asked, trying to move to some other subject.



"Nope!" Link said happily which only unnerved Linebeck more. "I'm the only one on this island and I've scouted it out a buncha times and have never seen any ship parts." He was speaking fast and his words seemed to run together.



Linebeck worriedly stared at the boy and cautiously took his oars, 'This kid is creepier than I remember...' "I guess that I'll just have to look someplace else then," he said aloud, beginning to row away.



Fear washed over Link's face as he gripped the dinghy tighter to him, "No, you can't leave yet. You're the first person that I've seen in so long, you can't just leave, not yet. If you leave now then-"



"Okay, okay" Linebeck held out his hands in a calming manner to show that they were off of the oars. "I'll, um, come to shore then," he said, worried about Link's sanity. Goddesses this kid is scary. he thought. 'Oh come on, he's probably been alone for months on this island with no other human contact, give him a break.' a voice inside him said. Linebeck inwardly glared at the voice but couldn't say that it was wrong, so he helped the sopping wet boy into the dinghy and they rowed to shore.



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"And this is where I come for water and if I'm lucky something will be caught in that trap over there or that one."



Linebeck sighed and looked at where the energetic youth was pointing. He was hot, hungry, and covered in cuts from thorns that itched like crazy. Link had taken it upon himself to show Linebeck every little piece of the island that he found important. 'Which seems to be the entire thing,' Linebeck angrily thought as he once again extracted leaves from his hair.



Link shone up at the taller man, proud of himself for his island. Linebeck was growing used to the young hero's odd behavior and just walked toward the small spring.



"Quite a place you've found. Now do you have any food left over from those traps?" he asked, taking a sip from the clear water.



Link nodded rapidly and began to lead the way back to his little house. Linebeck grudgingly followed through the grasses and thorns.



When they reached the wooden building Link dodged into it's smaller twin and came out with some smoked jerky a moment later. Linebeck accepted a piece and cautiously took a bite. Yeah, he was hungry, but maybe not enough to eat some meat that Link attempted to smoke and then kept in a wooden shack for goddess knows how long. He was pleasantly surprised that the meat was in fact tender and much tastier than he had thought that it would be.



"Ish ahbit," Link said through a mouthful of meat.



"...Excuse me?"



He swallowed and repeated himself, "It's rabbit."



"Ah." Linebeck looked to the side and chewed the meat. Now that Link was quite, it felt a bit awkward to be standing on an abandoned island with Link who had been alone for what looked like a very long time. 'Well, I guess it's almost abandoned actually.'



"Looks like it's getting dark," he said, "guess I should be heading back to my boat now."



Link quickly looked at the older man, "You're leaving?"



Linebeck heard the fear and sorrow in the young boys voice and cringed, "Um...yes?" 'Why do I feel so bad for leaving him, it's not like he hasn't been fending for himself for months!'



Link bowed his head and then brought it swiftly back up a moment later, "You could sleep in the cabin! You could sleep in the bed and I'll go on the floor. I know my bed is comfier than the one that you have on the ship!" His face lit up with the solution.



Linebeck swallowed and looked at that hopeful face. He knew that he couldn't say no.



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"I will not take your bed from you."



They had moved inside and Linebeck saw the rocky floor and refused to let the underfed boy sleep on something so rough.



"I have more clothing and meat on my body, it will be less uncomfortable for me than it would be for you," he continued.



Link tried to refuse again, "But that's not right! You're a guest and you should get the best sleeping spot!"



Linebeck shook his head, "If you sleep on the floor, I'm heading back to my ship." 'Why am I arguing with him about this? Why aren't I just accepting the bed like I know I deserve it?' 'Because you know that he hasn't had enough rest or food to be healthy and it would harm you less to take the place on the floor than it would him,' the voice inside of him answered.



Link stood silent and then lowered his head in defeat, crawling onto the bed. A smug smile grew on Linebeck's face as Link covered himself with half of his bedding, the other half lying on the floor, ready to be used.



"Just promise me that if you get too uncomfortable that you'll take the bed," the boy said.



Linebeck sighed and nodded, "Fine."



Link smiled and cuddled into the mattress, eyes never leaving the other man. He slowly closed them and Linebeck could just barely hear him whisper, "Thank you."



Linebeck let out a sigh that was somewhere between exhausted and disappointed as he softly settled himself onto the hard ground. He fluffed his pillow and pulled his blanket tighter, thinking to himself, 'Dear goddesses, this ground is rocky. You'd think that he'd have swept some of them out, or at least walked over them enough that he would just crush them into more dirt...' He groaned and flipped over to his back, tossing the blanket back over his now bare leg. A minute later he moved to his left side, glaring at the wall as he struggled with the blanket to cover his back. Then to his right side, then again to his back, even onto his stomach before he finally just gave up.



Standing up, Linebeck stretched out his back and winced when he heard it crack stiffly. He gathered up the blanket and pillow, dusted them off, and then stood looking at Link. His messy blond hair was flayed on the pillow from his shifting, framing his soft face. Brown lashes brushed against sun-kissed cheeks below oddly dark brows. Linebeck has always wondered how the youth's hair was so pale yet his brows always so dark, but now the sight of them seemed to add perfection to the boy's face. Link let out a soft sound which brought the captain’s eyes down to the soft pink and slightly parted lips. He noticed that they were half turned up in the corners, he was smiling even while asleep.



Linebeck felt his face grow hot and looked away. 'He's not smiling because you are here, idiot, he probably always smiles while he sleeps,' he silently chided himself. He heard the other voice whisper in a sing-song voice, 'That's not why you're blush~ing.' He ignored it and instead focused on the problem at hand: sleeping in the bed.



Doesn't seem like much of a problem when you look at it, but Linebeck couldn't bring himself to wake up the boy. Yet he had promised that he would...and he really wanted to sleep...but Link just looked too peaceful.



He stood awkwardly for a few minutes, shifting from foot to foot, staring at the bed. 'Actually, I promised that I would take the bed if I was uncomfortable, not that I would wake him up if I was uncomfortable. So all I'd have to do would be to move him while he's still sleeping to the floor. No waking up necessary.' 'Come now, you can't really subject the poor boy to the floor,' his other voice said. He groaned and ran a hand down his face, stopping so that just his eyes were visible above the appendage. He dropped it the rest of the way with a sigh before walking to the foot of the bed and climbing in behind the young hero. 'There,' he said to himself, 'now I'm not waking him, making him sleep on the floor, or breaking my promise.' 'And you get to sleep next to him.' Linebeck glared and squashed that voice down. He fluffed his pillow, wrapped his blanket around him, made sure he was as far away from Link as possible, and fell asleep.



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Link blinked open his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of his home. He took in a deep breath and ran over what he had to do today: Bathe, eat, check traps, hunt, train Pego, eat, scavenge, fish, eat, smoke food, set more traps, sleep. He sighed and crinkled his brow, it felt like he was forgetting something. Then yesterday all came back to him, the boat that brought him Linebeck and showing the captain around the island and finally them going to bed for the night. He flipped onto his side and looked at the spot where Linebeck was supposed to be. His heart dropped when he saw nothing but dirt. Link lay there looking at that heart-wrenching piece of floor feeling like something inside him just died, leaving a thick, empty hole. He didn't know how long it was until he heard a mumble behind him, but the noise made him gasp the breath he didn't realize that he had forgotten to take and turn around. The sight that greeted his eyes burst a smile onto his face and life back into that hole.



Linebeck was drooling.



Link let out a short laugh and hugged the sleeping man, overjoyed that he hadn't left him.



Linebeck startled awake and looked down at the small boy who was wrapped around him, 'Okaaay...'



"Um, good morning. Can I get up now?"



Link realized what he was doing and jumped back away from the man, half embarrassed and half afraid that he might have just scared him off.



"Thanks." Linebeck reached up and wiped the drool off of the side of his face with his sleeve. He crawled off of the bottom of the bed, stretched, yawned, and moved over to his clothes. He began to put them on over his shirt and pants while explaining why he had moved to the bed. Link listened as he also got dressed and turned to the captain once he was finished, a smile on his face.



"Thanks, Linebeck."



The older man blushed, this was only the second time that the hero had ever thanked him and the first was just the night before as he was falling asleep. He wasn't quite sure why, but the fact that such a simple thing brought such joy to the squirt made him feel like he was doing too much when he really wasn't doing much at all.



"Do you want to come with me today? I was gonna hunt and stuff, you could help," Link continued, oblivious to Linebeck's blushing.



The other man laughed, "Hunt? I'd never waste my energy on land, the creatures run in fear the moment they smell me! They can sense my awesome hunting skills." 'You can't hunt worth crap.' a smug voice insinuated. 'Shut up! He doesn't need to know that!' Linebeck thought back. 'It's good of you to stay away though, you'd probably just make it worse...' another, friendlier voice added. 'I thought you were the nice one!' 'Not necessarily, I'm just looking out for Link.' 'Oh, that's great, you don't care about me!' 'I care about you.' that was the first voice. 'Not the way I want you to.'



Link was staring at Linebeck, watching his face as it went from smug to angry to angrier. The older man finally noticed that he had been silent for some time after his claim and brought himself back from his inner conflict with a cough.



"Anyway, I was planning to work on my boat today."



Fear washed over Link's face and Linebeck's heart skipped a beat.



"It'll take a couple days," he hurriedly added, looking to the side and trying to retain his haughty attitude. "I just want to get working on her now, get some progress made. No true captain leaves his ship broken and floating." He cautiously glanced out of the corner of his eye to see if Link still had that broken look on his face and inwardly sighed when he saw that it was gone.



“Yeah, so, you go do your thing and I’ll head over to my boat.”



“But what about breakfast?” Link asked, over his fear of being left alone.



Linebeck looked at the youngster’s sleep-tousled hair which, now that he was thinking about it, had grown a bit since he last saw the boy. He took in Link’s underfed and dirty body and tried to figure out why this little kid was worrying over him when he had clean clothes and was able to take warm bathes every once in awhile.



Shaking his head slightly, Linebeck said, “Right, I’ll eat meals with you here, just come out to the shore and wave me down when you’re ready to eat.”



Link smiled up at him, his deep blue eyes shining at the promised companionship. Linebeck hesitated a moment before reaching out a hand and ruffling the kids hair as he walked out of the hut.



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Author Notes:



Yay!! Finally done with chapter two. Sorry it took so long to type this up. I promise that the next one will be done sooner. And if you can't tell, this story is going to be a long one. At least as far as I see it.



Feel free to review! Criticism, praise, or even ideas of where you think the story is going or want it to go!



Oh, and about Linebeck's voices (no, he's not insane... I swear >.> <.<) He has three (at least for now) if you haven't really kept count:

Voice 1: Inner Linebeck; just him thinking thoughts to himself like normal.

Voice 2: Fatherly Linebeck; yup, it's Linebeck's inner parent, looking out for Link like the little boy that he is (awww....)

Voice 3: Pedo Linebeck; yeah, this is the Linebeck that wants Link in every sexual way possible and is trying to convince real Linebeck that that's what he wants too. Maybe this one and Voice 2 will get into an inner fight at some point...

Anyway, I noticed that in the last chapter, the first words out of Link's mouth was Linebeck’s' name, just like in my first little fic, AND I SWEAR THAT I DIDN'T DO IT ON PURPOSE!! I was just thinking back to it one day and was like... waaaaaait a minute... I didn't, did I? DAMN IT I DID!! So, yeah, didn't mean to do that...

Anyway, off to write the next chapter!! *whoosh!~*