Blinding Darkness - Zelda X Ganondorf

Chapter 15

     "What?!"

     Zelda inwardly winced. "You heard me."

     "But..." Ganondorf's face twisted in astonishment and no small amount of disbelief.

     "Yeah, yeah, I know, I should have told you earlier." She cast her gaze to her shoes. "And you probably hate me right now. That's ok, I deserve it."

     "I don't hate you." He responded immediately. "But... This child..."

     "...Is the Hero. And the failed Link of this era had awakened her early out of spite. That's why she was dying."

     Abruptly he turned away from her, frenzied thoughts and mounting horror barely held back by his waning self control.

     "Excuse me, I need to think about this alone." He pushed past her and slowly made his way to his room, his expression impassive.

     So Aria was the Hero.

     And he had known all along. He had known ever since he had looked into her eyes the first day at the Castle, the way those eyes like molten gold threw him entirely off guard.

     The day he had watched her spar, she had almost killed him. Because such was her instinct. 

     And his interest in her, his hours and hours of trying to think up ways to make her talk to him, without even knowing why he was so bent on doing so.

     It explained everything.

     He had only been unwilling to admit it. 

     His mind flashed back to every time he and Aria were alone together, and found that the amount had cut significantly after a few weeks or so. That must have been when Zelda had found out. And she tried to keep them away from each other.

     She had not told him, when, if she truly trusted him, he should have been the first person she would tell.

     This little factoid -- Zelda's apparent mistrust of him, Aria's true identity, and the fact that she had almost died trying to bear its burden -- shifted the entire situation.

     He couldn't not hold it against Zelda for keeping it a secret for so long, but he could understand, at least a little. Such a secret wasn't to be told before Aria knew herself. However, it hurt him where he never knew could hurt.

     No matter. That was hardly the most important thing at this point.

     The Hero had awakened. Which meant that his life, the Gerudo, and the entire concept of peace was at stake.

     Ganondorf wanted to break something. 

     The Hero's spine.

     No! She was just a child!

     A child that would take every advantage to kill you.

     Aria... 

     You are not safe unless the Hero is dead. So kill her.

     He shook his head, trying to ignore those thoughts that voice gnawing at his mind.

     Could he trust himself to go see Zelda or Aria again?

     If he couldn't trust himself, then who could he trust?

     He looked at himself in the mirror, gazing into his own hollowed eyes. 

     I hate myself.

     He wiped his eyes from the sudden rush of bitter tears and straightened, his face hardening into an unassuming mask.