Monsters Are Real (A Rhett and Link Fanfic)

Chapter Eighteen

Jessie parked in her driveway, the two children in the backseat took off and ran into the house. Jessie ran after them and whispered to them. "They're in the guest bedroom. I warn you, Link's not doing well. Are you gonna be alright?" Lily and Lincoln turned, looking at each other. They nodded and turned back to Jessie.

"Y-yeah. We'll be strong. Thank you, Jessie. Very much." Lily smiled sadly and the two cautiously walked off to the guest bedroom. Both of them were afraid and wished that this had never happened. Lincoln opened the door and the two stepped inside. They saw their father lying on Rhett's lap. His eyes closed, beads of sweat on his forehead. Rhett was sleeping, quietly snoring every once in awhile.

Link could hear the door open and assumed it was Jessie. He wasn't sure if Christy was still here, but he doubted it. She had taken this so hard. "D-dad? Are you alright?" Lily. Lily was here. A small smile spread across Link's face and he beckoned for her to come, not knowing Lincoln was here too. He kept his eyes closed, he didn't want to frighten his daughter. Lily and Lincoln both approached Link and took turns hugging him gently.

"H-hey Dad. I'm here too. You can't talk?" Lincoln's eyebrows were knit together with worry, Lily was holding back tears. Link carefully shook his head, trying not to wake Rhett. "Oh wow. That's awful. I'm sorry, Dad." Link reached out his hand and soon it was met with two smaller, softer hands. The hands of his oldest children. He clasped his fingers tightly around them, trying to say he'd be alright. Telling them he loved them. They both understood and small smiles were given in return, even though Link couldn't see. 

They children visited their father for a while, until about an hour later, Christy showed up. They left to give their parents some privacy before departing from each other until Link was better. Tears were shed. Many hugs and kisses were given. Link would miss his family so badly while they were gone. He loved them so much. "Alright, we need to go, sweetheart. I'm going to miss you. Please be careful. I love you so, so much. You mean everything to me, Link."

Link pointed to himself, made a heart with his hands, pointed to Christy and held up two fingers. Christy smiled. "I love you too. You're so cute. I'll call everyday to check up on you, even if you can't talk, I'll talk to Rhett. Goodbye sweetie." They hugged and kissed one more time, Rhett was still sound asleep. And before he knew it, Rhett and Link's families were on a plane to North Carolina. Link started to cry again, he missed them so much. He just wanted this monster to be gone. Why did it have to get into Lando's room? Why did it have to get into someone at all? Link was glad it was him and no one else in his family. At least that was a plus.

The warm tears and sniffles caused Rhett to wake up. He saw a small note on the bedside table, but turned his attention to Link. "Brother? What's going on? What's wrong? Oh wait... you can't talk. I'm sorry. Whatever's wrong, I'm gonna help you through this. You're gonna get through this." Link took a shaky breath and opened his eyes, he still couldn't see a thing. His eyes were shadowed in the dark of the evil entity dwelling within him. He coughed and outstretched his arms, asking for a hug. Rhett immediately obliged and hugged Link tightly.

Link coughed again and forced himself past his weakness and hugged Rhett back. Once Rhett had laid him back down, Link decided to try to talk. He succeeded, but it made his throat sore and it sounded scratchy and weak. "The monster wants to kill you tonight...." Link started coughing hard. He wheezed a little. "I-I won't let him. Whe-" Link coughed again. "When he takes over me... 2:17 AM, he's going to try... I'm so sorry Rhett!" Link closed his eyes once more. "I know how to defeat the monster..."

"What? How? What do you need to do to defeat it?" Rhett brushed Link's hair away from his forehead and grabbed a glass of water from the table. He propped up Link's head and helped him drink the cool liquid. Link relished the feeling of the smooth water as it entered his body and gave a bit of relief to his aching throat. Link cleared his throat after Rhett had set the glass down on the table again.

"Happiness. Feeling safe and good. If I can be happy enough and fight hard enough, we can stop it." Link closed his eyes, feeling the heavy blanket of sleep slowly covering his body. He yawned and soon went limp, his mouth opening. He was asleep. Rhett gently patted his shoulder. Rhett was determined, he would make Link happy. Happier than he ever had been if he could. He would do his absolute hardest to get his brother well again. At least Link was sleeping now, hopefully that would help. And by the time he woke up, Rhett would work on making Link as happy as he could. He only hoped that Link would wake up before 2:17. 

He knew Link was going to fight the monster from hurting him, but he wasn't sure how strong Link was. Currently, he was almost too weak to even lift his arms much. That didn't bode well for fighting the monster. And Rhett had no defense. He couldn't hurt the monster, he'd only be hurting Link and he couldn't do that. He didn't want to hurt Link, he wanted to help him. Rhett adjusted Link's position and laid the younger man's head on the pillow. He pulled the blanket's up to Link's chin, a thin layer of stubble covered it. He smiled a little and decided to leave the room for a bit. Maybe take a shower and get something to eat. All he was thinking about was getting Link better. He didn't care about the danger he'll be in tonight, he just wanted Link to be okay.