Linebeck's Remedy For A Good Night's Sleep (Isn't A Bottle Of Rum)

It was a beautiful night out on the ocean, ideal even, for a perfect night's sleep.

So it was with great irritation that Linebeck was suddenly found himself inexplicably awake.

He could vaguely recall a dream about a giant Reapling trying to steal all of the Rupees he had so carefully and painstakingly hidden away around his cabin. Same old lose-all-of-your-treasure-during-some-terrible-catastrophe nightmare that had become all too common since he had agreed to take on this little adventure.

The ship was securely tethered off of Zazu's island but their brush with the Ghost Ship hadn't been all that long ago. Being anywhere on this side of the map wasn't going to sit well with him for a while. The chill in the air felt too much like that haunted fog…

It was enough to put Linebeck in a foul mood, not to mention cause a bit of (warranted!) paranoia. It also explained why he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. The bags under his eyes were beginning to interfere with his facial features in a way he wasn't sure he liked.

But something didn't seem right.

Cursing everything he could think of under his breath, he pulled himself into a quasi-upright position and shivered, before reaching for the half empty bottle of rum he had left on his bedside table before going to sleep. Nothing looked out of place in his cabin and the ship seemed quiet-there! The slow creak of the floor boards.

cccrrreeeeaaakkk...ccccrrrreeeaaaakkk...ccccrrrreeeeaaakk...

Linebeck paused, and lowered the bottle.

The noise was too constant to be the natural sway of the ship. Someone had to be onboard. He may not go so far as to call himself a coward, but it was his firm belief that there were millions of Rupees out there with his name on them, and in order to enjoy said Rupees he would have to be alive...

ccccrrrreeeeaaaaakkkk...

Damn! Linebeck threw himself out if bed and hurried over to the spare create he had stashed in his room for just such an emergency. He pulled the spare length of rope off the top and threw it recklessly behind him. He heard the distant and somewhat muted sound of his lamp crashing to the floor and felt his worry grow when the creaking floor boards stopped just outside his room.

The sound of his door opening slowly sent him into a panic and the lid on his create refused to open. He yanked up once, twice...on the third he pulled with so much force, his finger's lost their grip and he flung himself backwards and on to floor, in a particularly vulnerable pose.

Too late.

The door had opened fully to reveal the shadowed silhouette of what appeared to be a small humanoid monster. It wasn't a Reapling, he didn't really want to know what it was, and he was painfully aware that he didn't have a weapon...

Then the shadow moved inside his room and quietly began shutting the door and Linebeck suddenly felt his fear and panic subside. He felt disinclined to move more than his head, which he turned towards the approaching footsteps until his breathing could be considered normal again. Link was only a few steps away when Linebeck rediscovered his irritation at being woken up.

"What do ya want? It's cold, and shouldn't all the kiddies be in their beds by now?"

Link pouted.

It was second on his list of Least-Favorite-Expressions-Of-Link, topped only by that damn obnoxious blank stare he sometimes got whenever he stared at his little stone friend.

"I wanna sleep with you."

Linebeck, who had began picking himself up off the floor faltered, then climbed right back into bed. The warmth was pleasant, although his pillows smelled a little bit like drink. He could already feel himself calming down.

"No, go back to..."

Too late.

Link had already climbed into bed, HIS bed, and had made himself a cocoon with the rest of his blankets. He wasn't asleep though. His wide eyes were looking right at him. This wasn't going to work.

"Listen, kid. I'm tired. Call me paranoid but I can't ever *yawn* relax enough around someone else. Jolene..." Linebeck paused. Links eyes were still open and he seemed to be listening.

"Never mind. That's a tale for a different day. Point is, I am tired."

Link nodded again in what Linebeck guessed was an understanding way, and then the little brat curled up, and was a snoring softly within seconds.

Linebeck grumbled, finding to his surprise that his foul mood was slowly beginning to disappear despite the prospect of another long, wakeful night. He reached for his bottle again but found he would have to disturb Link if he wanted a drink. He briefly considered leaving the boy in here and relocating to the guest room himself but the idea of being caught sleeping while in the same room as the fairy might give him a whole new set of nightmares.

'Linebeck is forced to watch as all of his wonderful, shiny treasure falls into the ocean while a malicious ball of sparkles continues to scream in his face and dive bomb his head'

Linebeck laid back down and could feel his limbs going slack. His eyes were trying to close but the kid was still there. He could feel the warmth coming from the small boy and wondered if the chill of the ocean had ever kept him awake. Turning on his side, he watched Link snore softly in time to the sway of the ship and thought it was going to be a long night...

When Linebeck woke up the next morning, he realized that he had in fact fallen asleep. He was being used as a pillow, his lamp was broken but all things considered, he was in a pretty good mood.

Dimly, he thought he could hear the fairy's panicked screaming from outside his doorway and chuckled. Maybe it didn't have to be a source of his nightmares after all.

COMPLETED 10-24-2010