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Something was wrong.
At first Link had thought it was simply exhaustion or some lingering injury that was slow to heal. There was no particular complaint he could point to, he just felt tired and achy all over. However, his usual remedies of a nice meal and some sleep had failed to help. In fact, he was feeling even worse. The thought of Eldin hot springs had crossed his mind, but that was before he started to feel overheated for no apparent reason.
At this point, he would have preferred a clear wound, something he could have healed or patch up himself. Anything to explain why he felt weak and sore and hot like a sick kitten in the middle of Gerudo desert. As it was, the only explanation he could think of was some sort of strange illness. That, or his hundred years were finally catching up to him.
He couldn’t die, not now. He needed to defeat the Calamity, save Zelda and all of Hyrule, and figure out how to kiss a big red Zora with many, many sharp teeth. No mystery illness was going to kill him before he did all that.
The healers in Zora’s domain crossed his mind, but he wasn’t sure how knowledgeable they were about Hylian illnesses. Injuries were one thing; there was little difference between species in the matter of broken bones and torn flesh. For anything beyond that, he wasn’t sure how much they could help anyway. And if this was the result of his century spent sleeping, they would know even less.
There was one person he could turn to, though. Fortunately Purah had a travel gate right outside her lab, because Link wasn’t sure he could have made his way up the hill with how horrible he felt. As it was, just dragging himself to the door to knock was taking all his energy.
Link all but collapsed against the doorframe. He heard shuffling from inside, a few exchanged words, and then the door opened.
“Link? What the — Director!” Symin’s voice turned from confused to alarmed in an instant. The next moment Link was picked up, a slightly delirious part of his mind noting that Symin was rather strong for such an old man. That was the last conscious thought he had for a while.
What followed was a mess of sensations and impressions. Cool hands touching his skin, a dribble of water in his mouth, distant voices he couldn’t make any sense of. The whole time he felt like he was in the wrong place, he was supposed to be somewhere else, this wasn’t right and this wasn’t safe. However, he had no strength or presence of mind to do anything but endure. At least the hands touching him didn’t feel like a danger, though he wasn’t entirely sure how he knew that.
When he finally came to, it was to the silence of a dark room. After a moment he recognized it as Purah’s bedroom. There was nobody around, and he wa sstill too weak to get out of bed, but there was a small bell that had been left on the nightstand. Picking it up, he managed a ring.
Despite the clearly late hour, his call was answered almost immediately. Hasty footsteps were followed by the door being thrown open as Purah appeared with a lantern in her hand.
“Linky! Oh, finally!” Purah all but ran to the bed, pressing her free hand against his forehead. “You’ve been out of it for days. Not that I can blame you with everything going on, but still. You really gave us a fright, you know!”
Link let her fuss over him for a bit, fluffing pillows and tutting over his ruffled appearance. Finally he managed to sign, ‘What happened?’
Purah blinked, then sighed. “I suppose it makes sense you wouldn’t know, huh.” She gave him a serious look. “Did you know you’re an omega?”
Link stared at her for a moment. He shook his head. No, he had not known that. When he woke up with no memory, he had simply assumed he was a beta. ‘Wouldn’t I have noticed?’ Not that he had given himself too thorough of an inspection, but surely something would have come up by now?
“Not necessarily. Your scent didn’t even hint at it until now. I would guess your body was still recovering from the Shrine. That would also explain why you had such a difficult heat — that’s what happened, by the way, you had a very bad distress heat — since it’s your first one in who knows how long.”
‘Why didn’t anyone tell me?’
“See, here’s the problem.” Purah snapped out her fan. “You’re right, I absolutely would have told you, at least to make sure you know how to handle everything with your memories gone. Except I didn’t know, either.”
Now Link couldn’t even respond. How could she not have known?
“You see, back before the Calamity, you showed no signs of being an omega. No heats, no omegan behaviors, not even scent. I figured you were a particularly restrained beta, as I’m sure most people did.”
‘How?’ No, that wasn’t even the most important question. ‘Why?’
“I suppose we’ll never know for sure. My theory is, you were taking very strong suppressant potions, to the point it entirely repressed your omegan features. Your time in the Shrine allowed your system to reset, but it was still a big shock to your system. Hence, the terrible heat.” She pointed her fan at him. “As for why… well. There have been people who believe it’s bad luck for the hero to be an omega.” Her scowl made it obvious just how much she despised such an attitude.
‘So they had to hide that I was one.’ From what few memories he had regained, it certainly wouldn’t surprise him.
“That’s what I’m guessing, yes.” Purah narrowed her eyes. “And just so we’re clear, you’re not going to do that again. That sort of thing could cause permanent damage to your body. I’d tell you no suppressants at all, but that’s not entirely possible while you’re still on your quest. Still, I want you to only use them when absolutely necessary and get regular checkups.”
‘Understood.’ He certainly had no desire to cause himself any further harm. ‘What else can I do?’ Was there anything he could do to repair the damage that had already been done?
“Right now, you need to let yourself rest properly. You won’t be saving anyone if you rush out before you’re ready.” He ducked his head; clearly she knew him too well. “While you’re doing that, I can put together a guide on the basics. How not to make yourself worse, what you can do to ease your instincts, that sort of thing.” She tapped her fan against her chin in a pretense of thought. “Maybe I should also do some quick medical notes if you end up being treated by someone who doesn’t know these things. Say, a Zora.”
Link did not blush, absolutely not. He was just still somewhat overheated.
Still, he was going to take whatever information she could give him. Rhoam and everyone else would not get to steal anything more from him. He was going to be exactly who he was, an omega and a hero, and he was not going to hide any of it. He was going to defeat the Calamity and save Zelda and hopefully kiss a certain Zora and he was going to do it all as an omega.
He should probably start gathering nesting materials, too.