Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 22

Dreams

Link was taken through the main room of the inn, and he tried to hide his wounds from the children Renado had apparently told to go to their rooms and did not listen, aside from Colin and Luda, who had remained behind to try to convince the others to do as told. Of course, hiding giant bleeding wounds wasn't easy, and the kids saw blood spilling from Link onto the floor. Link was holding his right arm to a slash on his chest and clutching that arm with his left in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding.

Link half stumbled, half got dragged up the stairs by the surprisingly strong shaman who wanted to get Link to wherever he was taking him as soon as possible. Renado was heading for the room at the end of the hallway, but when he passed the room Link slept in, Link began fighting him.

"No, wait…"

"Link, you are losing an alarming amount of blood! You need treatment now!" Renado scowled at Link, who managed to force his way to the door.

"I need to check on-" Link stopped in his tracks, hand on the doorknob. If he checked on Midna, he would reveal her to Renado, but if he didn't, something terrible could happen. He was stuck on a difficult decision, but the answer felt obvious. He could practically hear his gut screaming at him to go in, to be there like he promised, but he had never made a promise like that to Midna.

Link opened the door and staggered inside, nearly losing his balance. Midna widened her eyes in surprise but did not move.

"Link! I already checked on the girl! You are in far worse condition!"

Link ignored Renado and collapsed when he tried to crouch before Midna and took her in his arms. Link did not fight Renado when he began dragging Link out of the room. He had no doubt the man could lift him off the ground if he wanted to, and he was too weak to stop him if he did.

Link was forced onto a bed, and Midna was taken from his grasp and placed on one next to his. Midna's head lolled to the side, and the sight terrified Link. He had gotten some of his blood on her, and she looked lifeless, giving off the impression she had been murdered. If he couldn't see the life in her eyes as they bore into his, he would think she was dead.

"They hit her with something," Link groaned as he sat up to better look at both Midna and where Renado had gone. The room he was now in had multiple beds, and Renado was taking out some bottles, bandages, and some cases he didn't know the contents of, and Link wondered why all that was in this room. "I think it was magic."

"Magic?" Renado said, turning in surprise before quickly regaining his composure and taking his items next to Link. "Regardless, she is not in any immediate danger, so my main concern is you. Can you remove your shirt?" It was not a request but a question.

"I think so," Link said, trying to pull his shirt off while Renado set his items on a nightstand next to Link's bed. He understood why Renado was more concerned about him, but he desperately wanted to know what happened to Midna, and there was no one better to ask than Midna herself. "Midna, what did they do to you?" Link saw Midna's eyes widen in surprise, and he realized she had once again forgotten about this method of communication.

"I can't move!" She shouted, panic clear in her voice. "Link, I can't move! What's going on?! Who were those people?! What did they do to me?!"

"I don't know!" Link responded after pulling off his shirt, exposing his wounds for everyone to see. He heard Midna gasp in surprise, despite her inability to move. The room fell silent again, Midna stunned, and Renado focused on tying a cloth soaked in spring water around Link's right arm. Link grunted in pain when Renado tied the knot, tightening the fabric on his wound, before dabbing a cloth soaked in spring water on Link's chest.

Link raised his good hand to his head to try to calm his aching head, and it came back covered in red sticky liquid. Renado quickly checked the spot and sighed when he saw Link's head had not survived unscathed. He placed another damp cloth on the wound and instructed Link to hold it. After several minutes of work to slow Link's bleeding and bandage his wounds, Renado opened another unidentified container and took out a medicine bottle.

"Link, I need to sew this wound shut." Renado said with a serious look on his face, "I will give you something to numb the pain, but I need you to hold still." Needing stitches frightened Link, but he trusted that it was necessary if Renado said it was.

"Ok," Link said weakly. He was already in a lot of pain, so he hoped whatever numbing medicine Renado gave him worked. Renado dabbed the medication he took from a container onto Link's cut, and it stung, but soon his arm felt numb, and all the pain seemed to disappear. Renado inwardly grumbled over the fact that he had a more effective numbing agent and had left it at home. Renado reached back into the container and took out a suturing kit. He threaded the needle and moved to begin sewing the wound shut.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?!" Midna shouted, startling Link and earning him a scolding reminder from Renado to stay still. Midna watched with disgust as Renado pierced Link's skin with a needle and began to pull a thread through it. Link hissed in pain but did not pull away. "Oh gods, I'm gonna be sick! Why are you letting him stab you?!"

"He's stitching the wound shut. He's healing me!"

"What the hell is wrong with the light world's medicine?! Keep that maniac away from me! I don't want him poking my cuts!" Link rolled his eyes at Midna's outburst. She didn't need stitches. She was barely hurt. Physically, at least.

"How bad is it?"

"If I am allowed to work, you will be fine," Renado answered without taking his eyes off his work, finishing up stitching the top of Link's arm and moving on to the bottom.

"Renado, you don't need to sugarcoat it for me." Link said as he winced from the stitches, and Renado sighed.

"I am not lying. You will be ok, but you were nearly killed." A noticeable gasp came from Midna, and Renado lowered his voice so only Link could hear him. "I do not know what happened to your friend, however."

"They used some kind of magic weapon on her. She seems to be paralyzed." Link whispered back, not wanting to freak out Midna by confirming what she likely already feared.

"What are you whispering about?!"

Link lay on his bed, covered in bandages. Despite his wounds, he seemed to be sleeping soundly to Midna, who had nodded off as well. Her small cuts were easily healed by just a few dabs from spring water, but her paralysis was something no one knew how to deal with. Renado had left for the night, keeping the window closed and Midna a secret at Link's request, and had been promised answers the next day. Meanwhile, in Link's dreamland, he was trying to figure out where everyone went.

"Midna? Renado?" Link glanced around his surroundings, but everything was so dark. He had no bandages on his body, and he slowly realized he was standing in his previous room as the moon's light poured through the open window. Link quickly grabbed his sword and shield beside his bed, preparing himself for someone to come through the window. When nothing happened, he slowly inched forward and shut the window, locking it and sighing in relief.

Link turned to walk away and nearly smacked into a cold black mask. Link jumped back with a shout, slamming his back into the wall behind him. The figure before him raised its blade and slashed at him. Link raised his shield to block the attack, which shattered like glass when it met the blade. Link collapsed to the floor from the impact and quickly scrambled to his feet on the other side of the room. A small stone was visible in the figure's hand, purple lines glowing across its surface.

Link sidestepped a lunge, trading places in the room with his enemy. Link grabbed his opponent's arm to stop the stone from touching him and was forced to take several steps back, his back against the window again. Link quickly used his left hand to plunge his sword through the figure's chest and shoved him away.

The figure stood in the middle of the room, sword through his chest and blood pouring from his wound. The sticky red liquid leaked out from the empty rectangles in the mask, sending bloody tears down the figure's face. A shadow covered the room, and Link whipped around to see a second figure hanging on the outside wall. The figure's fist punched through the window, grabbing Link's throat and throwing him out of the room.

Instead of hitting the floor, Link fell into an abyss. All around him was pitch black, and his screams went unheard as he disappeared into the darkness. As he fell, a rocky surface came into sight, and he slammed into it.

A fall from that height should have killed him, but he lived. He lay on the rock, gripping it with all his might as he caught his breath, eyes squeezed shut. He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, but when he opened his eyes, he wasn't in a dark void anymore.

All around him, he saw a clear blue sky, and he felt the tug of gravity shift, leaving him holding onto the side of a rocky cliff. Link looked up and saw the cliff didn't go on forever, there was an end, but he would have to climb to it.

Unsure what else to do, Link focused on finding a handhold in a rock face. He grasped an indentation and then began solving the problem of where to put his foot next. When he looked down at his foot, Link couldn't see the bottom of the cliff he was climbing, but that didn't deter him. Slowly but surely, he made his way up the cliff, trying not to think about his lack of safety equipment.

When Link finally pulled himself onto the top of the cliff, he saw many bushes and trees around, and standing in the middle of them was a figure just like the ones he had fought. It calmly turned to Link and drew a sword from a sheath on their waist. Link responded by reaching over his back and grasping the hilt of a sword attached to his back.

Link awoke with a start, sitting up in his bed. He scanned the room with his eyes, unsure what time it was because he had shut the window to avoid killing Midna. He reached over his shoulder as he had in his dream, but as expected, there was no weapon on his back. The pain of Link's wounds suddenly hit him, and he stumbled back onto his bed.

"Link?" Link turned around to see Midna's red eyes on him, her head slightly lifted off the pillow and her eyes groggy.

"Midna? You're moving!" The sleepiness left Midna immediately as she realized he was correct. She made a grunt of effort and lifted her head higher, but a few seconds later, she dropped her head back to the pillow with a defeated huff.

"I still can't move my body! Just my head!"

"It's progress, at least. Maybe you'll be able to move again soon."

"Well, how long is that going to take?! We can't just sit around doing nothing!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice, Midna," Link said, rubbing his right arm. "Neither of us are in any condition to find the next Fused Shadow right now," Midna grumbled under her breath but did not have a comeback. Link set out a sigh at his predicament and thought about his dream. He had a few weird dreams before, but sometimes he suspected they were memories trying to make themselves known. If that was the case, he was very concerned with what he'd seen. The door slowly creaked open, and the shaman entered the room. Maybe Link should talk to Renado about his memory. He was a healer, after all.

"Link, how are you feeling?"

"Still pretty terrible, but she can move her head and talk now," Link gestured to Midna.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! And now I can ask what the hell is wrong with you!" Midna snapped, looking silly since her face was angry, but her body was still slack. "Why the hell were you stabbing Link?!"

"She doesn't know what stitches are," Link said to clear up Renado's confusion, "she thinks you were hurting me."

"How was he not?! He was shoving a needle through your skin and pulling a string through it!"

"Had I not closed the wound," Renado said with a patient smile, "Link would still be bleeding from it. "I need to examine the wounds and reapply spring water and medicine. I promise I will not 'stab him' again."

"I'll give you those answers I promised you while you do that," Link said as Renado opened his containers again. And so, Link recapped what had happened so far. He didn't tell him everything, though, leaving out the part about turning into a wolf and everyone being transformed into spirits. Midna threw in some snide remarks throughout the story, occasionally helping tell it. She also learned what Link had done before she found him, along with Renado, who stayed surprisingly calm throughout the story, but nearly fell out of his chair when Link mentioned he talked to the light spirits. "And there you go. My life story." Link said with a chuckle. "I know that was kind of long, but I figured a lot of it would be important if I want your help with my memory."

"That… is quite the story." Renado said, rubbing his head, "If I did not know of the hero's legend, I would likely not believe you." Renado gave another thoughtful expression and changed the topic away from his surprise. "I heard of your amnesia from the children, who are very happy to see you again, I might add." Renado closed his containers and returned them to their place, done with Link's check-up. "Memory loss like yours is very rare. Forgetting an entire life is nearly unheard of. You mentioned you think dreams might have something to do with your previous life. Dreams don't always make sense and are likely unrelated but tell me them if you wish."

"Well, the first one I had was about some guy making me fight something. I don't know what it was, but I remember being so tired I got knocked over. Apparently, he was impressed, though. The second dream was of the same voice telling me to get up and told him he couldn't control me, but he seemed confident he could." Midna visibly clicked something in her head.

"So that's what you were talking about…" she mumbled.

"Yes, but you shouldn't have been acting like that anyway," Link said, earning a scowl and an impending comeback, but Renado spoke first.

"Assuming the dreams are true, what do you think they mean?" Renado inquired. Link leaned back and sighed deeply. He suspected something but didn't want it to be true.

"I didn't want to admit it, but I think someone was obsessed with training me." Link sighed sadly, "Maybe my father? Someone had high expectations of me, but I don't know why." Renado crossed his arms, looking like he was just reminded of something disturbing.

"The legend of the hero is well known, and sometimes a parent is too eager to be involved. Sometimes a parent will try to force their child into a hero, thinking it will bring their family fame and fortune. This has been a problem for many years, but it is nearly unheard of." Link thought on that for a minute, and Midna fought with more emotions, refusing to feel pity for a light dweller. "Link, there is no reason to think these are more than just dreams. It would make sense if you had nightmares since memory loss is a very traumatic event. Sometimes dreams feel so real we think they are. There is no way to know if any of your dreams happened." Renado said with a frown, sorry he couldn't be of any more help.

"Thanks, Renado," Link huffed. "but I think the first were real. Sometimes when I really need a way out of a situation, I just do something crazy. Like during that fight. I lost my weapons, but then I started using some kind of martial arts. I'm not sure if it was my father. It feels right and wrong at the same time if that makes sense."

"We can try to recover your memory, but for now, you should rest. I will bring both of you some food."

"Uhm," Link said, turning to Midna, "how is she going to eat? She can't move her hands."

"She will need some help," Renado said, closing the door and leaving the two alone in silence.

"I am not having someone feed me!" Midna shouted, after a few seconds of stunned silence, her face red in embarrassment.

I planned out this story, ensuring I had every detail worked out… and I didn't realize a paralyzed person can't eat until writing this chapter…