Epilogue

~One Year Later~

A faint noise roused Aeris from the very pleasant dream she had been in the midst of. Normally, she would be woken by Ganondorf rising and kissing her on the forehead before drifting back to sleep for another few hours, but the bed beside her was still warm, and the arm wrapped around her waist told her that the man beside her was still sound asleep.

Her eyes remained closed as the faint sound of their bedroom door clicking closed filled the otherwise silent room. The soft patter of a four-year-old trying and failing to tiptoe across the wood floor made the corner of her lips curl into a soft smile.

"What's wrong Juju?" The footsteps stalled as Aeris finally cracked her eyes open, Riju stood just by the edge of the bed, tightly gripping her stuffed sand seal Patricia. Her bright green eyes were wide with an expression that only a four-year-old could manage.

"Bad dream," Her speech pattern had greatly improved over the past year, she was managing much longer sentences and the slight lisp she had developed was fading.

"Come on sweetie," Aeris lifted the comforter and the small girl climbed clumsily into the bed, tucking herself tightly against Aeris's side.

Aeris's arms wrapped easily around Riju, pulling her close and shielding her from whatever evils had plagued her dreams. "Go back to sleep, hun,"

The small girl nodded as she buried her face into her stuffed animal, already slipping back into the lull of sleep. Aeris kissed the top of Riju's head and tucked herself back against Ganondorf's side, content to get a few more minutes of sleep. The man behind her shifted and kissed her shoulder as he was roused by her movement.

"I'll never get used to this," She could hear the smile in his voice as she hummed contently.

"What's that?" She turned to face him as he lifted himself up onto his elbow.

"Waking up to a four-year-old in our bed," Aeris laughed as he leaned to kiss her. "As much as I love her, I miss waking up to just you,"

In the six months that the girls had lived with them full time, Riju had only managed to sleep the whole night in her room less than half of the time. The poor girl was plagued with terrible nightmares, though they were seemingly growing less frequent.

"I know, me too," She hummed happily as they parted. "You have morning breath,"

She laughed as his nose crinkled. "Well, so do you,"

"Hush, I'm still asleep," She buried her face into her pillow and the top of Riju's head. "See sleeping,"

"Sleeping my ass," They both chuckled as Ganondorf slid out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom.

Aeris sighed contentedly as she inhaled the gentle smell of milk and honey that wafted from Riju's hair, and her eyes slowly drifted closed as sleep reclaimed her mind. She stirred slightly as the sink was turned on, but quickly settled back into the first hazy phase of sleep.

Until panicked footsteps came thundering down the hall and their bedroom door was thrown open.

"Riju isn't in her—" Urora froze, breathing heavily, still holding the door handle as Aeris bolted upright, startling Riju awake. "Oh,"

"Take a breath, Bo," The teen nodded and let out a shaky breath as Aeris gently shushed the toddler in her arms. "Everything is fine,"

"I see that now," Urbosa settled easily back into her usual moody teenager persona, but her actions had spoken loud enough. She loved her siblings more than anything in the world, and she would do anything for either of them.

"So much for getting a little more sleep," Aeris rose from the bed, holding Riju close to her chest. "You two should be getting ready for school anyway,"

"I've got her," Urbosa met Aeris halfway across the room and took the still sleepy toddler from her. "I'll get her dressed while you finish waking up,"

"You're a lifesaver, Bo," The teen was used to caring for her younger sibling, but Aeris and Ganondorf both tried their best to let her be a normal teen while she still could. Her help was wholly welcome at times, though.

The sun was finally beginning to peek over the horizon, casting pink hues across the city as Aeris turned and smiled fondly at Ganondorf who was leaning against the bathroom door grinning. "We don't deserve you,"

"Of course you do," She crossed the room to him and pulled him down into a soft kiss. "You deserve the world,"

"Only to give it to you," She laughed mirthfully as he spun her up into his arms. "I think we have a little time before Bo wrangles the little one into her clothes,"

"Oh?" Aeris chuckled, still wrapped tightly in his arms. "And what do you suggest we do with it?"

"I have and idea or two," Aeris squealed as she was pulled into the steamy bathroom, and her laughter echoed through the halls of their home.

"Breakfast!" Urbosa and Riju both cam barreling down the stairs dressed in their school uniforms, though Riju's hair was still a wild mess of tangles, spurred on by the promise of bacon and eggs. Ganondorf followed closely behind, fastening his cuff links as he went, much more subdued than the two girls with a lazy satisfied grin on his face.

"Sorry Aeris she wouldn't let me brush her hair," Urbosa smiled apologetically as she lifted Riju up onto one of the barstools and Aeris pushed two size appropriate plates of food to both of the girls.

"That's alright, we'll get it done, won't we Ju?" The toddler nodded, unable to respond further through her mouth full of scrambled eggs.

"Here," Urbosa handed Aeris the comb she had been using in her attempt to tame Riju's hair.

Aeris took the comb as Ganondorf wrapped his arm around her waist and gently kissed her shoulder. "It smells amazing in here,"

"Bacon, two over easy eggs and three pieces of barely burnt toast, just like you like it," Aeris chuckled as she passed him his plate. He was the pickiest person she knew when it came to his toast, any other food he would take however it was given to him, but his toast had to be just on the verge of being burnt.

"You're amazing," He kissed her on the cheek and tapped Riju on the nose, causing the small girl to laugh as he leaned on the edge of the island to eat his breakfast.

"Aren't I though," The girls giggled as Aeris flipped her now chin length hair and waggled her eyebrows, playing up the compliment.

She watched them eat, smiling softly to herself for a moment before turning to start cleaning up the morning's mess. The front door opened and closed, drawing all of their attention toward the sound.

"Morning all!" Dark appeared in the arch way to the kitchen with a chipper grin plastered to his face. "Something smells great,"

Each of them gave the slight man their own little greeting. "You hungry Dark?"

"Uh no," He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Aeris offered, "Thank you though,"

"You look like there's something on you're mind," Ganondorf swallowed his mouthful of food and nodded toward Dark.

"It's nothing that can't wait till after you've eaten," Something about the man's face told them that he was lying.

The larger man sighed and pushed himself from his position leaning on the island. "My office, now," He placed a kiss on each of the girls cheeks and wished them a good day before disappearing up the stairs, followed closely by Dark, who simply waved as he left the room.

It was going to be one of those days.

Aeris followed them with her eyes until they had both vanished from view, then quickly rinsed Ganondorf's forgotten plate and placed it in the dishwasher. "Alrighty Jujube, let's see about that hair of yours,"

The toddler giggled through a mouthful at the nickname, but otherwise seemed unbothered as Aeris began quietly combing her hair and pulling it into a thick braid. The girls ate in silence as Aeris worked, Urbosa was smiling softly at her phone and Aeris thought it may have something to do with the heart emoji's that littered her phone screen. She wouldn't say anything about it though, the teenage girl deserved her privacy, but seeing her happy made Aeris smile.

"Alright you two, get upstairs and brush your teeth the driver with be here any minute," They had managed to get both of the girls into a prestigious school that would give them a much better education than the public school they had been attending could offer.

Aeris once against watched as the two girls dashed up the stairs, before she began tending to the rest of the dishes. She worked in relative silence, with only the sounds of the girl's echoing footsteps on the floor above her and the clinking of dishes as she loaded the dishwasher, filling the home.

Once her task was complete, she turned her attention to the stack of mail left unattended on the counter top nearest the door. She sorted through it, dividing it between the occupants of the house, until a familiar handwriting caught her attention.

Her name written in her mother's neat slanted scrawl tugged at her heartstrings. Lying to her parents had been the hardest thing she had ever done, well, one of them, but it was better for them to believe the lie they had been fed than know the truth about the past two years.

Thankfully, they had believed her when she told them that she'd had a stress induced nervous break down just before she had left to visit them and had spent the subsequent few months in a hospital. Once she had finally reached out to them, they had demanded she return home, but she couldn't face them, not yet. She had instead assured them that she was fine and with friends that were keeping a close eye on her, and they had finally relented.

They still sent her weekly letters of well-wishes and pictures of the goats.

The goats had always cheered her up when she was little.

The girls rushed past her as she read the letter and hurried out the door with a brief farewell, leaving Aeris alone with her thoughts and the rest of her daily chores.

She sighed as she carefully folded the letter, before pouring herself a much-needed cup of coffee, just as the front door burst open with a flurry of noise and raised voices. "Aeris!"

"In here!" She took a long sip of the dark, robust liquid as a group of men carried in one of their companions covered in blood and pale as a sheet. Nabooru followed closely behind with a maniacal grin, seemingly unscathed, but also covered in quickly drying crimson stains.

"Lay him down," She quickly cleared the island as they moved to lay the injured man down. "What happened?"

"Shot, upper left abdomen," They had worked with her long enough to know exactly what information she needed.

"You," She motioned to one of the men standing idly by the rest of them. "You know where my bag is, go get it," He dashed off in the direction of her supplies. "The rest of you get out,"

They were quick to comply as she reached for the kitchen sheers and removed the man's shirt with little regard for the fabric or the dark red that was quickly forming a puddle on their kitchen floor.

She reached for her cup of coffee and downed the rest of it as the man she sent for her bag returned.

It was definitely going to be one of those days.