Note: I apologize for the delay in delivering this chapter – I've been busy at work and have been fighting a very annoying, lingering cold. Thank you for all for the favorites, follows and reviews. I can't tell you how excited and inspired I feel when I get a notification. I hope this extra long chapter makes up for it! Content warning: Angst/violence/mature themes

Chapter 4 - The Perfect Weapon

Link quickly grew concerned he and Zelda might completely lose their minds. He had had a brush or two with the madness of sleep deprivation during his quest to free the Divine Beasts but at the time he only needed to remain awake until he reached the safety of a stable or random village. It never lasted more than 24 hours and it was more about finding a place to sleep not a lack of will to do so. He once crawled into a nest of tree branches to rest he was so tired.

They could be gifted a free night the Gerudo Town Inn and Link doubted even the comfort of the spa bed sheets would lull them to sleep. They trained their tired eyes to the night sky after the revelation over the bonfire and silently anticipated for the worst to come. Hours ticked away and still they did not sleep; vigilant to any subtle shift in the air or mysterious shadow on the face of the moon even when the glow of the sun began to peek from the east. Meeting with Impa the following day only made it worse. Her beloved scrolls offered nothing more than ambiguous clues. She and Zelda combed over them together for a couple hours after Link shared his epiphany and neither of them could find much information about the Blood Moon.

"I assumed it to be a part of Calamity Ganon's power. Succinct to his return and fall." Impa said finally. She delicately curled the parchment she had been scanning into itself. "But it appears to be a separate and rather mysterious phenomenon that has occurred throughout history…just not thoroughly documented or researched."

"But if we successfully sealed him away then it should not be a problem, right?" The exhausted hopefulness in Zelda's tone was heartbreaking. Link peeked up at them from the corner he tucked himself into and watched the wrinkles etched into Impa's face deepened.

"With so little known…I would hate to pass judgment and be wrong." Impa heaved a heavy sigh. Zelda met his gaze. Because if they were wrong it would mean Ganon had bested them once again. Because if they were wrong, Hyrule may not be prepared to fight the same war they already lost one hundred years ago.

Because if they were wrong he and Zelda…

They spent another day at Impa's insistence in the village. Zelda remained mostly by Impa side pouring over scrolls and books. Link eventually exited the hut in an attempt to shed the weight of his uselessness, a feeling he'd grown familiar with especially during the early days following his awakening. He spent the majority of the late afternoon helping a distressed Cado once again locate his flock of cuccos.

"These silly birds have such a flare for adventure." Said the old man as Link dropped the sixth cucco into the pen connected to his home. The bird flopped, a bundle of feathers and doltish squawking, into a cluster of peers before settling down abruptly and feasting on the spread of seeds Cado tossed out for the group. Link questioned the amount of forethought the pets held but did not bother to challenge Cado's statement. There was something fragile about the reverence with which he regarded his flock. Link wondered if it was the only sense of family Cado had in his life. Who was he, or anyone else for that matter, to try and take that away from him?

The last cucco eternally was a challenge to locate. After checking the underneath and rooftop nearly every hut in Kakariko, Link trekked the cliff top behind Impa's home get a better look at landscape and hopefully spot the stupid bird. Maybe if I threaten to cook you you'll think twice about leaving your pen. The village was calming down for the evening. All the shops closed. Villages began to tuck in blissfully unaware to the panic rising in his chest with the setting sun. Cottla and Koko finished up a game of hide and seek with a flurry of giggles. They spotted him and waved frantically before parting ways to their respective homes. The consequences they might face should Calamity Ganon return presented to him in a barrage of intrusive images made him sick. He managed a tiny wave back and spotted the last cucco nesting in the hollow of a tree trunk near the statue of the Goddess.

He growled and prepared to climb down when his ears caught the familiar jostling of claws and glass bottles from the wayfaring nighttime novelty shop. Kilton, per usual, seemed to appear out of nothing in the night air. A warm shrill echoed in Link's direction. Link mustered a smile. He was not particularly in the mood to listen to the Hylian's lament about the decline in monsters since they defeated Ganon. Eccentric was putting it lightly – Kilton oozed enthusiasm. A walking almanac for everything monster or obscene. He once talked to Link for an hour and forty-five minutes about the utility of Hynox toenails.

In their own way, Link suspected Kilton and Zelda might get along.

"Heyy-ayyy!" Kilton shrilled again, clawed gauntlets gripping tightly to the makeshift counter top connected to the balloon shop so he could lift his feet up in an eager staccato of short hops. "Link! Any new monster parts for me?"

Link closed the distance between then in a defeated slow trot. "No. All my stuff is back in town with Zelda. "

"Ooooh! The Princess! I heard she was quite the researcher like me" He quipped. "I'd love to meet her and pick her brain. I've been experimenting with plants lately in some of my elixirs. You'd be surprised how many plants there are in Hyrule! And the number of poisonous plants! The boils I contracted handling crimson nightshade have only just healed over. You won't believe what I had to trade to get my hands on it on Death Mountain. It's especially rare you know, only blooms high in the mountain during the Blood Moon so it has to be harvested quickly! The Goron have used it for—"

"Wait, what?" Link said.

"No, no. It's all healed, see!" Kilton pulled off his glove to reveal a rather delicate looking grey hand with patches of healing pink skin. "It secrets a toxic—"

"No, no, no. Kilton, I don't care about that. I mean, I'm glad you are healing." Link blurted. "The Blood Moon? Y-you know about the Blood Moon?"

"This is the most I think I've ever heard you speak!" Kilton laughed.

"Kilton!"

"Wah! Of course I know about the Blood Moon. Fang and Bone runs a flash sale."

Link's heart pounded between his ears. "Do you know when the next one will happen?"

"Oh, no. It is quite unpredictable. I heard there is a fellow that hangs around the Dueling Peaks Stable who has researched it a bit. Bit of a fanatic if you ask me. Oh, what's his name…Harold…Hinky…"

"Hino." The name of the odd man he met early in his journey bubbled to the surface of his memory. As if he could not feel any more worthless. How could he have forgotten the encounter? Granted, the man did not strike Link as all together but he talked about the Blood Moon with the same fervor as Kilton did his monsters. He had to know something that could help them.

"I owe you a Molduga fin! Thank you, Kilton!" Link barked and turned on his heel. He could hear the Hylian topple back into his shop at the mention of one of his favorite monsters but Link did not glance back. He ran full speed toward the edge of the cliff and furnished his glider.

After chucking the seventh cucco into Cado's pen he bound for Impa's and nearly crashed into Paya who was hovering near the front door. A bead of sweat slid the contour of his jawline as he finished telling Zelda and Impa about the chance conversation with Kilton. He and Zelda decided immediately to leave for the Dueling Peeks Stable. Impa promised to send word if she managed to find anything more from her records. She also sent a call for help to the Akkala and Hateno Ancient Tech Labs.

They shared a single horse again. Link steered while Zelda monitored the sky. Occasionally he glanced up himself but only briefly. He feared the moon would sense his gaze and decide to spite him by turning red. The journey only took a few hours. Link demanded a constant gallop of their horse. He felt guilty but he knew the horses would be rewarded well at the stable.

He inquired as casually as he could while registering their horses with the stable keeper about Hino. "Oh, Hino? Yes, he's out though. I believe he said he would be back in the late morning. Why don't you two get some rest while you still can? I'll cut you a deal for a soft bed since there are only a few more hours left until dawn." Link thanked him but declined. He and Zelda sat by firelight under the canopy of a tree as they had done the night before. The stable was quiet. The keeper disappeared back into the inn. A dog snoozed softly near the entrance. They were very much alone as the moon disappeared behind the Dueling Peaks.

"Do you think he'll have answers?" Zelda said quietly.

"I think he's the best chance we have right now." Link sighed and pawed at the fatigue that tugged at his eyelids. Zelda pursed her lips at him. "You should try to rest for a little while. Impa made me sleep after you left."

Link opened his mouth to counter her but instead his tired brain conjured a question. "You able to?" Zelda nodded and flexed her hands toward the fire. "For a little bit. It was easier to fall asleep during the day but the moon is setting…The Blood Moon usually occurs earlier in the night. We should we safe for another day. Do… you want to get a bed?"

His chest prickled with strange excitement. It must have registered on his face because Zelda blushed and caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She did not avert her eyes or try to clarify the statement which only intensified the feeling more. Link did not know how to describe it. What more could she be thinking about? Suddenly ,he wished he remained a fly on the wall in Kakariko village. Impa certainly had her thoughts about their relationship. Had they talked about her assumption further when he left? Was more written in her scrolls about the Hero and the Princess that he missed?

"They aren't very private." He said. It occurred to him that he classified what she said. This time she did break eye contact and he glared at the star-speckled sky. "I mean, I've never found these places particularly comfortable with people snoring right next to me. No walls."

"Yes." Zelda said. "Makes sense."

He shifted down to the ground and began to prop his head on the log they used as a bench. Zelda grabbed his shoulder and clicked her tongue at him. "Here, at least rest on my lap. You'll hurt your neck on that." He paused but sleep pulled at him eagerly. The hazy image of him resting on her lap one hundred years ago surfaced. He sighed. "You used to rub my head."

She smiled and settled on the ground with her legs outstretched. "Sometimes you purred." He blinked at her and she laughed, guiding him toward her. "I'm kidding." Link rested his head in her lap and immediately felt his body start to sink. Her fingers swept his bangs to the side of his face and she traced the spell for sleep across his forehead. He parted his lips to speak to her but he was fading too quickly into darkness.

"Link! Get up!" Link jolted up from the ground. His heart leapt into his throat; pulse pounding in his ears so hard he thought they start bleeding. Hyrule Castle was before him already bustling with life of the rebuild. Above it the Blood Moon hung full and swollen with a menacing glow. A deep fissure splintered over the surface and then cracked open wide like an egg. Slickly purple malice poured down onto the castle and splattered the walls with a hiss. Screams began to echo from those trapped inside. A giant clawed hand reached out from within the Blood Moon and searched for purchase. Link blindly reached for the Master Sword as a familiar howl shook the earth beneath his feet. But the Master Sword was gone. Gone!? Something told him it had finally abandoned him; tired of his failure to fulfill his destiny.

"Look out!"

He snapped his head in the direction of Zelda's voice to find a Guardian bearing down on him. More terrifying than the first generation, the Guardian felt more animal than machine. Similar to the version of Calamity Ganon he fought in the Castle. A grotesque fusion of purple flesh and metal, an actual piercing blue eyeball bulged at the sight of him. It lifted high above the ground poised on six long legs that clambered toward him. Somewhere from a mouth he could not see the Guardian screeched and instead of a beam of red light training on him, it lifted one of his legs and took aim. The four prongs fused together to form a single spear dripping with malice. It struck him fast, piercing his skin and burrowing deep into his right shoulder. Before he could scream another leg struck him in his thigh. Pain seared throughout his body and he scrambled feebly about his person for anything to fend off the Guardian.

But he had nothing.

It lifted him off the ground and he felt his flesh begin to split under the weight of his body. He let out a gurgled cry and the tasted of blood filled his mouth. Both hands pried at the leg in his shoulder, trying to wriggle himself free from the spear. Horrified, he felt the prongs separate slightly inside him and then spread wide, tearing flesh and eliciting a scream from deep in his throat. The Guardian ripped its legs free without warning and Link fell crashing to the ground. Blood leeched in dark patches through his clothing. Without trying, he knew could not stand.

Zelda appeared before him just as she had done a hundred years ago as the Guardian reared to attack again; her hand with fingers spread high above her head and the brightest light surging from her palm. Of all of the memories that returned to him, amidst the on-going confusion and struggle to find himself, it was this alone he could recall with crystal clarity. The body could never forget the feeling of itself dying. The slow pull atom by atom from the black hole of death once again began at the base of his skull. Breath rattled in the back of his throat unable to descend to his lungs. The pain dulled and instead was replaced with an emptiness he had only known once before. He assumed people were only meant to experience it once. Maybe that was why there were moments after he woke up that he felt a strange hollowness deep instead him.

Bits of his soul that could not be retrieved from death.

Zelda found him and gathered him into her arms. She tilted his head so he could make out her face. He prepared to say goodbye but the sight of her left him horrified. Tears of Malice leaked from her emptied eyes. She called to someone over him and her mouth glowed red. He recognized the resolve in her tone even though he could not register the words. She was going to send him back to the shrine where he would lose more of himself to preserve the physical vessel for the Hero. After all, the Hero did not need really memories. The Master Sword only needed an able body to wield it.

He tried to plead with her not to save him. To just let him die. Time lapsed quickly and suddenly he was being lowered into the pool at the Shrine of Resurrection. He was too weak to even struggle never mind stop them as they held him under. It was thicker than water. Felt alive. Hungry and eager to swallow him once again. When he could no longer hold his breath, he gasped and felt it fill him completely. The instinct to cough and sputter commanded him to do so but there was no air to trigger the act. He could hear Zelda chanting over him.

"Link... You are the light... our light... that will – in time –shine upon Hyrule once again."

.

..

.

..

.

"Link…"

.

..

.

..

.

"Link!"

A scream crawled out from inside him and thrust him into consciousness. Bright beams of sunlight pierced his vision and Link winced. He scrambled onto all fours and gasped for mouthfuls of air. When he discovered his lungs were clear and working, he feathered his hands over his body and found no wounds. His clothing was damp beneath his fingers but from sweat alone. They were still at the stable. Hyrule Castle was nowhere to be found. Zelda knelt at his side and as her concerned eyes searched his face, he checked to make sure she was human.

Someone called to them from the stable and she kept them away. Link stumbled to his feet in an attempt to put distance between himself, curious eyes and the nightmare.

A dream. It was only a dream. Link pressed his hands against his face and felt them trembling. His entire body shook still slave to the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Panic hiccuped from his chest before he could stop it. He bent over himself and hung his head trying to keep from falling completely into hysterics. He had never been more afraid in his entire life. He was sure of it. It wasn't the threat of a more terrible animal-Guardian or even the nightmarish rebirth of Calamity Ganon. Beasts could always been defeated. Link and Zelda proved that to the world.

It wasn't even the thought of dying.

He was panicking at the thought of surviving.

Another resurrection.

Link heard Zelda come up beside him. He stood up with his back to the stable and stifled a violent sob. Zelda grabbed his face in her hands. "Breathe with me." She emphasized her breath. Link tried to match it and failed, dipping his chin down to muffle another round of cries that racked him. Zelda wrapped her arms around him and buried one hand in his hair, the other sweeping back and forth between his shoulders. "Shhh, breathe Link. Just breathe."

"You can't—" He choked into her shoulder and held onto her. "Don't bring me back. I can't- I can't do it, again." Zelda allowed him a few moments to fall apart in the safety of her arms before she tilted her head and spoke his name softly.

"There will be nothing left-left of me." He continued in a desperate whisper. "If we have to do this again. I won't come back. My body will but…just don't bring me back." A new resolve took hold of him. He needed her word. Link shifted so he could see her. She returned her hands to his face furiously clearing away the tears from his cheeks. "I understand why you had to do it then. But do not bring me back. I'm supposed to be—" He whimpered and dipped his head down. "I'm supposed to be dead! I'm not even sure I'm fully alive..." Link gritted his teeth so hard it felt like they might shatter in his mouth. "Please."

Finally. It was an answer for both of them to the question she asked during the storm. It was not resentment that lingered within him in the wake of Zelda's decision to place him in the Shrine of Resurrection. It was fear. He was both enamored and terrified of her for what she had done. What she was capable of. The nightmare revealed to him that at its core his destiny said nothing about the quality of life he was owed. He was bound to the Master Sword by duty alone. His lineage programmed him with courage and loyalty that would not falter. He was a Guardian of sorts himself. The mortal part of him was what was weak.

In all truth the Shrine of Resurrection was the device to perfect the Hero.

What was he but a perfect weapon without his memory?

"I will give my life for you." He said fiercely. "Not Hyrule. For you, for Hyrule." Panic once against stirred within him. Wave after wave of it built inside taking more and more of his composure each time out to sea. "That is my choice. It has always been my-my choice. I—"

Zelda silenced him with her lips. The kiss was not gentle like he expected it might be given the way she soothed him to sleep or warmed his hands. It was frantic. There was a longing in the taste of her. His mouth parted with hers and he found his breath. It passed deep and steady between their lips in her brief pause perhaps to drink in the moment as much as he was and then disappeared as she kissed him again. His hands clutched fistfuls of her blouse. She made a tiny sound and cupped his jawline with her fingers.

Link found himself missing her now more than he ever had when she was gone. It was as if he waited a hundred years for this ...but he could not remember completely why. Had this happened before? Their bodies swung together in perfect time to a melody he recognized.

The fierceness waned slowly. He kept his eyes closed for a moment longer to feel her mouth linger over his. The last bit of panic dissolved in his chest. "I will not bring you back." She promised him. Their chests rose and fell together; her breath checking and steadying his back to baseline. Link looked at her finally. She was crying. "But you will not leave me again. This time we will protect each other. And we will win and we will be done with this."