Here's part two! Thank you so much for all of the views, follows, favorites, and comments - you guys are the best!

So this little story is a bit longer than I expected; I think we're looking at four parts total. And don't worry - it DOES NOT have a sad ending! Before that, though, it's definitely a bit dark, so... you have been warned!

Now, let's see if Link will be alright...

ICE

Zelda huddled over the little fire Link had built at the top of the tower, basking in the gentle warmth. Purah paced restlessly, glaring out at the snowstorm. "D'you think we'll see anything through all this?"

Zelda smiled. "Of course. All of the dragons are said to glow with power; I'm certain we'll see Dinraal."

Purah sighed heavily, plopping down by the flames. No longer a child, but rather the young woman Zelda remembered. Thank Hylia. "If Link was even telling the truth about dragons. I've never seen one - have you?"

Zelda's excitement faltered as she remembered. "Once. Link and I both saw Naydra as we were returning from the Spring of Wisdom. Had I… been in a more stable frame of mind, I might have -"

"Never mind," Purah said hastily. "Didn't mean to bring that up. Sorry."

Zelda smiled tightly. The memory wasn't all bad, though… because of Link.

She'd unburdened every last one of her tears and frustrations to him, and he listened, just like he always did, with those crystal-clear eyes soft with compassion and understanding. Though his exact words had faded with time, she could remember that he'd spoken to her, as a friend and not as a bodyguard, helping her feel better about herself than she'd thought possible after receiving silence from the goddesses yet again.

And he'd taken her hand in his… a gesture of support and friendship that she never had expected from him.

Her heart fluttered as she gazed into the flames - he was always there to protect her, even from herself.

"Merciful Din - look at this!"

Zelda gave a start, jolted from her thoughts, and hurried over to Purah's side of the fire, leaning down over the Sheikah Slate. Purah was flipping through pictures, photographs of the flora and fauna found across Hyrule, each accompanied by detailed notes.

Notes written in Link's lovable messy handwriting.

"You didn't tell me he was such a thorough record-keeper," Purah accused, raising an eyebrow at her.

Zelda blinked. "I, er… may have had something to do with that," she admitted with a sheepish grin. "After my father banned me from pursuing my studies, I still continued with my experiments. In secret, of course. I asked Link to take notes, and… apparently it became a habit."

"And you kept that secret even from your friends?" Purah continued scrolling through the pictures until she came to one of the dragon Dinraal, accompanied with a rough sketch of a map and a diagram of the dragon's route. "Ah! So that's how he knew to come here - I'd been wondering!"

Zelda felt a thrill of excitement, reading through the list of specific times near the photograph. "Only a few more hours now…"

Purah gaped at her. "'A few more hours?' You mean we could have been waiting somewhere nice and warm all this time? Why didn't he say something?"

"He's not exactly the chatty type," Zelda reminded her dear friend with a wry chuckle. "Haven't you noticed? Besides, I'm not entirely certain how much he remembers about science in general. Since this is a scientific expedition at Robbie's request, I'm certain Link must have felt rather out of place. We're the scientists; we asked him to help us find a place to obtain a dragon scale, and he's out doing that right now, isn't he? Perhaps the timing did not occur to him, or -"

Purah chuckled. "Alright, alright - I get it. But," she added with a smirk, "I can't help but notice how chatty you've become the instant we started talking about Link. Seriously! It's been, what, an hour? And this is the most we've talked!"

Zelda felt heat rise to her cheeks. "I… well, it's just that… I-I know him much better. Than anyone else around. Because… because he hasn't lived an entire life like the rest of you have; despite his memory loss he's actually, er, quite a bit… the same…"

"And now you're stammering!" Purah cackled, slapping her knee. "Is there another secret you're not telling me? Hmm?"

Zelda hastened to change the subject. "You said it's been an hour - shouldn't Link be back by now? He didn't say he was going very far…"

"But we were talking about your little -"

"No!" Zelda protested, a sudden very real feeling of foreboding descending upon her. "Purah, it's been too long. Something… something must have happened…"

Purah scoffed. "Oh, come on. What could've happened to him? He's the best warrior in the kingdom. You said you saw him defeat a silver lynel with nothing but the Master Sword and a shield! He can take care of himself, don't you think?"

"Then why hasn't he returned?" Zelda demanded, worry growing in his heart. "He… hasn't been himself this past week. Not at all. I mean, he was always reckless, but… this past week it was as if he… asif he wanted to get hurt…"

A sudden terrible fear gripped her soul, along with burning guilt. He was always there when I needed a friend. And yet when I saw him hurting, saw him sad, I did nothing.

No longer.

"I'm going after him," she decided, sliding the Sheikah slate into her belt and lighting one of the torches Link had left behind before handing it to Purah. "Toss this down after me when I reach the ground."

Purah nodded. "Only if you wait for me to get down, too. With all due respect… even with your powers, you're no Link. We should stick together. And I've enhanced the Sheikah Sensor on my own Slate - it can search for a person."

"Doesn't it… doesn't it require a photograph?" Zelda asked, beginning the climb down the tower. Purah didn't answer.

When the two of them stood safely on the ground, their torch crackling merrily despite the icy temperatures, Purah pulled out her Sheikah Slate. Zelda leaned forward and choked out a gasp when she saw the picture Purah selected.

Link. Shirtless. Flexing his arms. In the middle of a lovely forest glade.

Instantly Purah snatched the Slate away. "Mind your own business, Princess," she chided, but her eyes danced with mischief. The Slate let out a soft beep, detecting Link's presence somewhere in the area.

Zelda forced the image of her knight's surprisingly impressive physique out of her mind - a difficult task, to be sure. "How - er, why did you take that?" she managed as they headed out into the swirling snow.

Purah giggled. "I'd meant to tease him with it the next time he visited. I blame the fact that I was trapped in a child's body and thus more prone to immaturity and mischief."

That didn't answer Zelda's question. Apparently a more direct approach was required. "And… what were the… circumstances…?"

The Slate was leading them southwest, towards a small ridge. "It was his own fault! Shortly after he awakened he came to Hateno, undressed to swim with a couple kids when they asked him to, and afterwards… I guess he was surprised by how strong he was. You know - waking up after a century without any knowledge of who in Din's name he once was..." Purah laughed impishly.

Zelda wondered if she was envious. Shaking her head with a blush, she followed Purah through the snow, up a gentle rise and towards a swift-moving river. The Sheikah Slate's beeping intensified.

"He should be right around here…" Purah frowned, glancing from her Slate to the icy wilderness and back down.

Zelda crunched closer to the river and her heart lurched. All of a sudden she wanted to scream, but her lungs simply couldn't take in enough air.

She dashed to the river's edge and crumpled to her knees, heart pounding heard in her chest. Hylia, no!

Link lay curled among the pebbles, a light layer of snow dusting his clothes, which were stiff with ice. His hair, too, had frozen; his skin was cold and gray.

He wasn't moving.

He wasn't shivering.

His chest didn't rise or fall.

Purah cursed, rushing towards her and quickly laying two fingers to his neck, bending over his face. Zelda waited anxiously; then at last she saw it. Link's chest twitched, and she heard a shallow gasp. "Still alive," Purah concluded, though her voice was grim. "What do we do?"

Zelda recoiled. "You're asking me? You're the one who researched the Shrine of Resurrection - don't you know…?"

Purah swallowed tightly. "I have no clue," she admitted. "But he's still alive - we can't just sit here deliberating or he really might die."

Again. Zelda's heart shrivelled at the thought. She couldn't handle that - not again! She… she needed him, more than anyone else in her life. "He's certainly hypothermic, and we don't know how to help him," she said, closing her eyes and stating the facts. Oftimes when she found herself cornered by a problem, starting with what she knew allowed her to find the solution. "We don't know what to do… we need to find someone who does. And out here… the Rito? Would they be able to…?"

Purah shook her head. "They live out in the open. They're covered in feathers, and they wear clothing on top of that. It'll be too cold for Link in their village."

"But if we go someplace warmer, people won't know what to do to treat hypothermia," Zelda pointed out. "So we need somewhere warm, but with someone who knows what to do in the cold."

Link sucked in another slow, shallow breath.

"You literally just described opposites," Purah said anxiously, eyes narrowed. "Is that even possible?"

Zelda wracked her brains. Stables were open-air; they would not be warm enough. What we need is a cabin, or a village, populated by Hylians…

In desperation she pulled out Link's Sheikah Slate. She did not know the land; perhaps there was something she was overlooking.

Her eyes fell upon an area Link had described as 'Selmie's Spot' near the Shada Naw shrine in the Hebra Mountains. There were, of course, notes about the area - a great place for shield surfing, whatever that was, and apparently this Selmie had extra shields should he ever need a replacement. "Let's try this place," she said softly.

Purah raised an eyebrow. "I don't think there's time for try," she protested. "We need to be certain."

Zelda felt a shiver of doubt curl around her heart. Frantically she studied the map, searching for any other settlement, but… there was nothing. "I can't see anything else."

Link inhaled again, his chest barely rising at all. Purah bit her lip, her brow tightly knit with uncertainty. At last her shoulders slumped and she shook her head. "Let's do it, then."

Zelda's fingers slid across the Slate's glossy surface, and the three of them dissolved upwards, fading into spiraling blue sparks.

The instant they appeared at the Shada Naw shrine, nestled within a shallow cave, Zelda could see a cabin. More specifically, she could see a column of smoke rising from the stone chimney. A promising sign.

With a grunt she lifted Link's shoulders and Purah held his legs, and they carried him slowly towards the cottage.

"Cold makes things more brittle," Purah reminded her anxiously. "We have to be careful!"

"Hard to be careful when he's so Din-cursedly heavy," Zelda said breathlessly, her arms aching. Link might have been rather short and lean, but he was still quite muscular, courtesy of a life spent in combat and exertion. Though it was not far from the shrine to the cabin, the thick snow slowed the process considerably, and Zelda was terrified that she would trip on some submerged tree root or rock and drop her hero into the cold. Goddesses… guide my feet! Don't take him!

He was entirely motionless, still partially curled in on himself; his body was horribly stiff, as cold as death itself. No - don't think about that!

They hesitated a bit by the door; their hands were occupied, so knocking was out of the question. Purah kicked weakly at the door from the side. "Hello? Anyone in there? We could really use some help!"

Muffled footsteps. Then the door opened, and they were greeted by a blond-haired woman wearing gloves and a thick blue tunic. Her bright green eyes betrayed confusion, until her gaze landed on the unconscious hero. "Bring him inside," she said urgently, holding the door wide. "Put him on the ground."

Zelda and Purah obeyed as quickly as they could, lugging Link's deadweight into the flickering firelit warmth and lowering him onto the wood-panelled floor. Selmie got a small knife from a small drawer. "So what happened to him?"

Zelda bit her lip. "We… don't know. We were travelling together, and he went off on his own to find an area suitable for our experiments… and we found him like this, by a river."

Selmie raised an eyebrow, bending down at Link's side. "A river? How far did you carry him, then? There aren't many rivers around here…"

"We have special transportation technology," Purah offered vaguely. "Anyway… he's hypothermic, isn't he? And we don't know what to do."

Carefully Selmie ran the knife down the front of Link's tunic, sawing through the frozen material. "First we need to get him out of these wet clothes. You can help with that; I'll start making him some tea and heat a few blankets. We need to get his core body temperature up as quickly as possible." She left the knife on the ground and hurried to a cupboard, pulling out jars of herbs.

Zelda glanced at Purah, feeling her cheeks heating up at the thought of… of actually…

"I'll tease you about this later," Purah promised with a hint of a smirk. "But now we need to focus. Embarrassment won't save his life."

Zelda nodded, swallowing tightly.

"Be gentle," Selmie called, now standing by a kettle hanging over the flames. "Cold air makes things more brittle; he's very fragile right now. I'd recommend cutting the fabric away where his limbs are bent so you don't hurt him further."

"Right," Zelda murmured, offering another prayer up to the Goddesses before taking the knife and cutting along Link's clothes from his wrist towards his shoulder. Her skin prickled as it came into contact with his, ice cold against healthy warm. He did not stir as she peeled his sleeves, and then his tunic and undershirt, away from his lean, muscular torso. By then Purah had removed the clothing from his legs.

"What now?" Purah asked, her cheeks tinged pink as she looked towards Selmie.

"Put him on the bed and pull the blankets over him," Selmie told them, pouring water from the kettle into a mug along with a small bag of the herbs she'd been mixing. "One of you needs to breath onto his face; exhale when he inhales. The other - grab the pile of rags under the sink and bring them here."

Zelda quickly pulled the blankets away from the mattress before once again lifting Link's shoulders - it was much more difficult to hold on without any clothing - and she and Purah dragged him over to the bed. As Purah draped the thick quilts over his curled-over frame, Zelda knelt down at the head of the bed and gazed into Link's motionless face. "I… he's breathing very slow. Should I… should I wait for him to breathe in?"

Selmie glanced back at her, blowing softly on the mug in her hands. "Yes; we want him to inhale the warmer air. Watch his heartbeat - let me know if it gets any worse, alright?"

Zelda nodded gravely, gently pressing two fingers to his neck. Link did not stir at her touch; as she looked into his motionless face, at his slightly parted purple lips and slack features, it was easy to think that he was already dead. Thank Farore for the beat of his heart, faint though it is.

Purah and Selmie quickly returned with steaming rags that they placed beneath the blankets over his neck, brow, heart, and groin; still Link did not stir. His breath rattled in his lungs as Zelda breathed down over his face, melting the ice in his hair. She didn't notice Selmie coming up behind her until the other woman pressed a warm, dry towel into her hands. "Try to get his hair dry," she suggested; her voice was thick with worry.

There was silence for several minutes; Zelda gently rubbed at the hero's golden hair, soaking wet as the ice and snow melted from his head in the cabin's warm air. The others changed out the warm rags every several minutes, ensuring a consistent level of heat around his vital areas. At last Purah cleared her throat. "So… do you know him?"

Selmie nodded, moving the mug of tea she'd concocted to the hearth stones to keep it warm. "He was investigating that Sheikah shrine nearby. Very polite - apologized for interrupting me and asked permission to go near the shrine. So he went in, emerged after a while looking tired, and I urged him to stay at least until the snow stopped. We got to talking - turns out he's an avid shield surfer just as I was, before I retired…"

Zelda blinked at her. "You're retired? But you're not… that old… are you?"

Selmie sighed heavily. "No. I'm not. When my ex-husband and I had a… disagreement… about my passion… he left me. Or - I left him, more like. I've regretted it ever since, of course, but initially I felt only bitterness, and so I left the world and lived out here for quite a few years… I reached a point where I didn't know if it was possible for me to go back to the rest of the world, even though I… wanted to. Then Link showed up, and helped me see sense. He's… a very kind soul; he helped me find courage and purpose once again, simply by letting me teach him, and by… listening, and having such honest compassion."

Zelda's heart ached. He's kind enough to help a stranger. And when he needed a friend… I was too absorbed in my own life to see.

"So what about you?" Selmie asked. "Clearly you care quite a bit about him…"

"We're old friends," Purah answered with a slight smirk. "Very old friends."

Selmie raised an eyebrow. "You show up here with one of my friends near death, I tell you my life story, and… this is all you'll tell me? That you're 'old friends?'"

Zelda winced, gently dabbing at icy water dripping down Link's face. "You wouldn't believe the truth, I'm sure."

"I think I'll be the judge of that, alright?" Selmie sighed.

Purah huffed. "Fine. Here's the truth - you're the only one in here less than a hundred years old. I'm young because I created an anti-aging rune; Zelda's young because she spent a hundred years fighting Ganon and apparently that slows the aging process, and Link's young because he was essentially frozen in time for a century in an ancient shrine while his fatal injuries healed."

Selmie frowned.

"Purah," Zelda grumbled, eyes narrowed. "That's… not exactly how I would have said it. Now she'll never believe -"

"Actually, I do," Selmie interrupted, although she sounded surprised to hear herself say it. "He… he has a rather serious case of retrograde amnesia. Sometimes when he visited he just needed a friend, because he felt so alone without any knowledge of who he once was and who he once knew. Often he didn't want to come in, but he spent the night outside by a little campfire and I could… I could hear him whispering to himself. Mostly about a Princess." She met Zelda's gaze with solemnity. "I know who you are. I may be isolated way up here, but I could see, from a distance, as you sealed Ganon away. I'm not clueless. The fact that you're here, with Link, and the fact that he spoke of you… that is why I believe you are who your friend says you are."

Zelda nodded slowly, turning her attention back to Link, breathing down over his face as he inhaled. "He was assigned to be my protector a century ago, and our… our friendship grew from there. That is how I know him. Purah was - is - a Sheikah scientist, and one of my oldest friends as well. She helped us get Link to the Shrine of Resurrection after he was wounded - we didn't know if it would work or not, but..."

Selmie nodded slowly, fresh sadness plastered across her features as she looked down at the hero. "He never told me about his role in what happened before, or in facing Ganon -"

"He's just not one to talk a whole lot," Purah reminded them all. "And on top of that, he's painfully humble. I could never imagine him going around telling people that he was some fantastic warrior destined to save the kingdom."

Zelda rubbed her eyes wearily. "And so… most people credit only me, because they saw my power; they saw me sealing Ganon away. They don't give Link any credit whatsoever - many people don't even know he exists."

Selmie's eyes flashed. "And you just take all of that credit?" she challenged.

"No!" Zelda protested. "Well… I don't exactly know what to do about it, actually. I've returned to my studies and haven't really… paid much attention to anything else." Including Link. Guilt burned in her soul.

"He fought for you," Selmie hissed through clenched teeth. "He practically died for you. He lost every last memory he had - do you even know how broken he feels inside? I tried getting him to talk to me about it, but he said he didn't want to worry anyone. Don't you understand - can't you see what happened here?"

Zelda's lips moved wordlessly; she couldn't think of a response. Guilt boiled in her soul, causing her cheeks to burn with shame and her insides to coil into tight, uncomfortable knots. And beneath it all… a hint of fear.

Selmie's face was tight with anger. "You said you found him near a river. Was it, by any chance, a river flowing away from the Hebra Falls?"

"Yes," Zelda whispered, her blood running cold. "Wh-what are you saying?"

"Guys…"

Selmie didn't seem to hear Purah's voice. "I think it's clear that he… jumped." All at once the anger drained from her voice and she looked haggard and sad; gently she reached down and cupped Link's icy cheek the way a mother might hold her child's face.

Zelda's heart hammered wildly in her chest. Her knees gave beneath her and she crumpled against the bed, nausea rising up in her gut. "You think… he did this on purpose."

"Guys!" Purah exclaimed, snapping her fingers wildly. "Was that there before?" She pointed to the bedsheets; she'd pulled back the blankets to replace one of the cooling rags with a warmer one.

And there was a small puddle of blood beneath Link.

"Nayru's love…" Zelda whimpered, feeling the fear grow stronger in her soul.

"Blood loss will only make him colder," Selmie muttered. "We need to find that injury and close it. Have any of you stitched wounds before?"

Zelda closed her eyes. She'd seen Link wounded on their travels, in defense of her life or the lives of others, more times than she could count. "I… I can do it," she admitted. "Do you have a needle and thread?"

Selmie nodded, heading back to her cupboards. "Yes. Get him into a sitting position; if we turn him on his stomach he won't be able to breathe properly."

Zelda nodded; gently she put her hands under his arms and slowly pulled him upright, leaning him against Purah before examining his back. She winced; the sight of the scars twisting across his body never got any easier to bear. And nestled among the remnants of old wounds was a bloody streak across the small of his back, narrow at one end and wider at the other, still seeping blood. She swallowed tightly. So perhaps he was attacked before he… "I'll need some alcohol and rags as well," she said hoarsely, wringing her hands viciously in an attempt to bring her attention away from such dark thoughts. Selmie hurried around her little house, her face creased with worry as she gathered supplies and rested them on the little nightstand beside the bed.

Zelda inhaled deeply, preparing herself and praying that Link didn't wake up while she stitched his wound closed; then she took one of the damp cloths and softly pressed it to the wound, cleaning the older blood from his back. She poured alcohol onto another rag and dabbed at the wound, hoping that she was imagining his muscles tightening.

When the wound was clean she took a needle, sterilized by the boiling water, and poked a strand of thread through it. Her mouth dry, she began stitching the two sides of the injury together. It was still bleeding a bit, and she definitely didn't imagine the feeble grunts escaping the hero's blue lips as she put him back together.

"He's waking up," Purah said quietly. Selmie went to the hearth and picked up the mug of tea she'd brewed before returning to the bedside. Zelda swallowed thickly, wishing that hers was a task that could be sped along. Goddesses above… I haven't done this in a hundred years…

His skin was cold, but his blood was warm. Not as warm as it should have been, of course, but warm enough that Zelda could feel it on her hands as she sewed. She hated it, hated being the cause of the weak little groans he uttered - they tore furrows in her heart.

With great relief she cut the needle from the thread and wrapped a strip of white cloth around his midsection. Purah helped him lie down again; it was then that Zelda saw a glint of reflected firelight from beneath his closed lids. He was conscious, but barely so; his ragged, shallow breaths were painfully slow and laced with traces of pain, and they shook in unison with the violent shivers beginning once more to wrack his lean frame.

"Can you hear me?" Selmie asked slowly, leaning down over him. Link's chin dipped downwards in what might have been a nod, but his eyelids were slipping closed. Selmie patted his cheek several times, hard enough that he could feel it but not so much so that it would cause pain. "Try to stay awake, Link. Can you tell us about that tunic you wore?"

"Chhh… cham…." Link's voice was weak and slow, barely recognizable. It was clear that Selmie was trying to get him to focus on something, to increase the likelihood that he would stay conscious. All the while Selmie checked his pulse and gently lifted an eyelid, noting his severely dilated pupils.

Uncertainly Zelda took the blankets that had fallen around his waist and pulled them up to his shoulders. Link's eyes found hers and he gazed at her blearily, brow furrowed as he tried to focus. "Y… ssss...aved me," he whispered, his words badly slurred but still discernible.

Zelda felt heat rise to her cheeks; bashfully she shook her head. "That was… Selmie, actually…"

Link jerked his head feebly to the side, drawing in a weak, rasping breath. "Nnnn… y… hhhelp… me f-find…" His eyes scrunched closed; then his features went slack and he lost consciousness. Zelda's heart lurched.

"What happened?" she exclaimed, fear tightening like a noose around her soul. "Is he - is he alright?"

Selmie didn't answer right away. "He's hypothermic, young lady. He won't be alright in a few hours. Perhaps not even in a few days. Or ever. Especially if this is… what I think it is."

Zelda felt as if she'd forgotten how to breathe. "Can we do anything?"

"I'm doing everything I know," Selmie assured her. "This tea might help; it has yarrow, elder, and peppermint, along with warm safflina. But he needs to be conscious in order to drink it, and… I don't quite know when or if that'll happen again."

"A little optimism might help," Purah snapped. "This is Link we're talking about here - he's come back from worse. He'll come back from this, too. I'm sure of it."

Selmie blinked rapidly. "I hope so," she murmured, leaving the tea on the nightstand and bringing the bloodied needle back to the boiling water. "Someone as kind as he is shouldn't have to die like this."