Warning: Briefly touches on traumatic events, and... PTSD, I guess. No graphic violence or swearing though, so don't worry about that :)

Rain

Link watched the large droplets thudding onto the window, brightened by the occasional flash of lightning.

"...You know, Hateno hasn't had a storm this bad in ages."

Link glanced at the two women, sitting placidly at his table.

"Really? I don't remember coming here before. Did we, Link?"

Link frowned. "Not that I-"

"Oh wait!" Zelda clapped her hands together as if the thunder had jogged her memory. "We came here for that festival! Father wasn't happy about it, but they wanted a member of the Royal Family, and he wasn't exactly free."

"Oh yeah! I remember that! That was when we theorized there were more functions for the Sheikah slate."

"Yes, that's right! And Link fought a guardian so we could research it better. He never did like them much…."

"Maybe that's his magical hero senses. He knew all along, didn't you, Linky?"

An inkling of recollection came to him. A feeling. A squirming, crawling feeling in the pit of his gut. I guess I really didn't like them much. Then again, that could be more current experiences tainting the memories.

"Sure, Purah. I don't think… what else did we do…?"

Purah grinned mischievously. "You and Linky danced together."

Though it was dim, Link saw Zelda's cheeks redden in the candlelight. "W-we did, didn't we?" She looked towards Link. "Do you remember…?"

Link leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and stared down at his wool socks. "I don't." Maybe that was a lie. The vague shape of a face, blurred lanterns, the glaring light of a guardian's eye… Run, Link, save yourself! Go! Don't worry about-

"-a way to get Linky's memory back?" The voices tuned in at random, bringing him out of the bloodstained moor and into reality.

"Locations have helped. Remember those pictures I took with the Sheikah Slate? Those helped, right, Link?"

Link closed his eyes. Eyes, watching his every move, laughing, mocking, judging. Eyes, painted in crimson over doorways, fresh and accompanied by the stench of iron. Flashing, bright, pain, pain, absolute agony.

Thunder rumbled from outside. Link stood up from his chair. "I'm going outside. I think I need some fresh air."

"But it's pouring out there! You'll make yourself sick!"

"Don't worry about me, Princess." He was at the door in an instant, plucking a warm coat from the hooks and throwing it over his shoulders, pulling his worn leather boots onto his feet. Before he knew it, he was outside, surrounded by the blissful, mind-numbing patter of the rain.

The streets of Hateno were quiet. The residents had never been the type to enjoy the cold, instead basking in the light and warmth of the sun. On an ordinary day children ran amuck, wives chatted idly by the marketplace, and it wasn't uncommon to see someone lazing beside the ponds. Now there was only the occasional passerby. A stable hand ushering a spooked donkey towards the stables, a man carrying dry firewood found in the storage shed and obsessively shielding it from the rain.

Link breathed in the earthy scent of the rain. No overwhelming scent of blood and burning corpses. No inhuman, tortured screams, crying for the sweet release of death. Just the rain and the distant lightning, pounding soothingly on his ears.

"Oi! Young man!"

Link whirled towards the voice, his hand reaching for a sword that wasn't there. Yiga? Why did I leave my sword behind? Idiot, idiot, idio-

...An elderly woman waved at him from where she sat on her porch, protected by the roof over her head. "What's got you out in this weather? Young 'uns such as yourself should be hiding indoors, gossiping and whatnot."

"You heard the princess, Uma." Link walked over and plopped down on the porch steps. "I'm not exactly young."

Uma barked out a laugh, slapping a hand against her knee. "I hardly think sleeping for a hundred years counts. You're still a young lad, like it or not."

Link smiled. "I'm flattered you think so. But I think a 'young lad' wouldn't have fought in near as many battles as I."

"Age is relative," Uma said, waving a hand dismissively. "Mentally you ought to be as old as I am. Emotionally, you're what, eighteen?"

Link frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, I've never been one for explainin' things well." Uma's fingers drummed against her thigh. "Hmm. You see, your mind is as old as that body of yours. It didn't do much growin' in that sleep o' yours. You may have lived through twice as much life as most folks your age, but that doesn't change nothing."

"So… my body has stunted my emotional growth?"

Uma chortled. "No, no! Well, maybe a bit. Um, you know your horses, don't ya?"

Link nodded.

"Some horses are bred. They're trained to run, they're trained to follow orders, they're trained to fight. Wild 'uns just graze and laze about. They might run from the occasional predator, but besides that, they don't do much. You followin'?"

"I think so."

"Good! Good. Well, if you take a wild horse and race it against a bred and trained 'un, the bred and trained 'un wins."

"Well-"

"I said the bred and trained one wins."

Link shrunk down, but he smiled nonetheless. "Yes, ma'am."

"So think o' your mind as a wild horse, and your life experience as a bred 'un. The wild horse can't keep up."

"So... my mind is slow?"

Uma burst out laughing. "Sure does seem like it! But that's not what I meant. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've seen and heard a lot. So much that your mind can't keep up."

Link mulled this over. "I guess I can see that. Still don't really get it."

"Ah, you will. Don't worry too much about it. Now, you never answered my question."

Link looked towards the amused Uma, tilting his head. "Um…" He scratched the back of his neck. "What was your question again?"

"Why are you out lookin' like a kicked puppy in the rain? Your ladyfriend leave you?"

Link sputtered. "Wha- no, no! I've never had one! At least not one that I..."

"Sure, sure. So then why are you out here?"

"That's…" He looked down at his lap. "That's a bit complicated."

"Well, if I'm allowed to go all philosophical or whatever on ya, I can handle somethin' 'a bit complicated' on your end."

Link looked out at the rain. "The princess and Purah were chatting. It was something they said, I don't know. But I felt claustrophobic, I felt nauseous... something they were talking about triggered a sort of dread in my gut… I had to get out of there."

"Were they talking about, oh, somethin' from before?"

"Before?"

"Before…" Uma waved her arms around in a vague motion. "Y'know. The Calamity."

"...They were. It wasn't exactly anything bad. A festival or something. I didn't remember much about what they were talking about, though."

"You saw things back then you didn't want to see?"

A pool of blood surrounding a woman lying at an awkward angle. With a blink, it was gone. "...Yes, I did."

"You ever wonder if there was a reason you forgot so much?"

Link frowned. "The Shrine of Resurrection took my memory."

"Maybe some of it. But memories go away for other reasons, too."

Link had known that, but he hadn't really thought about it. "I guess so. But-"

"But nothin'. Y'know, an older man used to live here, passed away a good while ago. He was a soldier durin' the Calamity. His memory was sharp as it gets… 'cept when it came to the months durin' and after the Calamity."

Link's eyebrows shot upward. "Really? Do you think the Calamity-"

"No, no! Why you gotta take everythin' so literally? Men." Uma rubbed her temples. "No, I'll use another example. You know Amira?"

"The shopkeeper's wife? The one that gossips with Nikki?"

"That's the one. Y'know anythin' about her background?"

Link shook his head.

"She's not from Hateno originally. She's from somewhere in Akkala, not sure where." Uma drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Her mother died while givin' birth. Amira's father blamed her. She did all the work at the house while her father was out tryin' to forget. He came home at the end of the day 'n beat her. One day he almost killed her, so she ran away. She's got a good memory for her gossipin', but if you ask her to recall somethin' from her younger years, there's a good chance she'll come up blank."

Link traced the grooves in the wood. "So… experiencing bad things can erase memories?"

"It's more like… bandagin' 'em. Better to heal without 'em, 'least, the mind seems to think so. They can come back up again, but forcing it is painful. Amira tried, y'know, but she broke for a few days. You just gotta wait it out."

"You seem to know a lot about memory loss."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, you learn a thing or two livin' life." Uma looked at a place above his head and smiled. "Looks like some'un missed you."

Link followed her line of sight and there, to his great astonishment, was Princess Zelda, drenched with nothing but a thin cloak to shield her from the rain.

Uma stood from her rocking chair and walked over to him, leaning to whisper in his ear. "I've also learned that friends help." She grinned, her nose crinkling. "Don't bottle it all up. It'll explode, and that's always messy."

"Link!" Zelda called when she caught sight of him. Shivering, she ran towards him, and he could only freeze when she threw her arms around him. "Purah wanted me to stay, but I was worried about you."

Link's heart was beating so fast, he was certain he was dying. Slowly, awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm… sorry I made you worry."

Zelda pulled away, but somehow she'd gotten ahold of his hand instead. "You better be. I'm dragging you home, and if you don't stay put, so help me, I'll force you to stay!"

Link smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Right."

As Zelda all but dragged him away, going on and on about how he could have died, how dare he, Link turned around and mouthed a 'thank you' to Uma.

Uma only smiled and watched as the sun peaked out from behind the clouds.

Hey guys! Remember me? Me neither! (I'M REALLY SORRY, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, JUST SET MY LAWN ON FIRE, I SWEAR IT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER)

A bit of a short one-shot, but this is probably the best (and only) piece of writing I've done in a while. I finally found it in me to procrastinate on my quarantine induced homework! Hooray! Chemistry sure is going to suck tomorrow!

I love developing random NPCs because you have so much freedom! Except I gave Uma a southern accent. Sort of. But you can't tell me you didn't read her dialogue in a country accent, with those proooloooonged voooweeels and whatnot! Unfortunately, her name did not come up in the Zelda character of FFnet, so I can't put that in the thingy... you know, the thingy? So just pretend it's there, because Uma is now my favorite character in BoTW... tied with Zelda, Link, and Purah.

I've had this idea for a one-shot for a really long time. It was inspired mainly by personal events. I went through some not-so-great things as a kid, and I don't remember a lot from back then (everything before seventh grade is fuzzy). Sometimes family members bring up perfectly normal events or quirks that weren't traumatizing at all, thank you very much, and for the life of me, I can't remember. When I force myself to remember, I'll get a headache and feel dizzy and nauseous. And when I do remember things, forced or naturally, it seems that the worst memories become more than just flashes. More than just a vague buzzing. Might be flashbacks to a lesser degree?

So... I guess I do have slight PTSD if the research I've done on it is to be believed. Lucky me! Because now I can write fan fiction more reliably! :'D Actually, this is probably why I relate to BoTW Link and OoT Link so much. They're traumatized as heck. Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO.

I'm probably going to do more one-shots when I have time. If you want details on Before (The Rewrite), I put an update on my profile. The joys of being a panster. Now I'm going to go drown in my quarantine homework, buh-bye!

Sincerely (for the most part),

Ari~