Warning: This chapter deals with themes of domestic abuse
He gave up on sleep around one in the morning and went to his balcony for a smoke. The street below him was nearly empty at this hour. He liked the relative quiet on this side of town. In the distance he could see the bright lights of Central thought about texting Fi, but he didn't have her number. He would probably wake her anyway. Instead, he looked up the Forest Stage. It was a run-down looking community theatre on the south side of Woodland, not exactly a stage at the Goddess. It took him a bit of looking to find her. She was opening for "The Rosa Sisters present: The Kamaro." He could still buy a decent ticket ticket in the front section, so he did.
He was about to pocket his phone again when he remembered Midna. He took a drag of his cigarette and looked for a flower delivery service on his phone. He stared at the "special messages" box for a long time, wondering what to add. It needed to sound personal, but not too personal. He wondered if he should set up another date on the card or if he should leave it open ended and leave her in control. "Thanks for the night out, we should do it again sometime" he typed it out and inspected it for a moment before he was satisfied. He didn't want to appear clingy at such an early stage. He scheduled to have them sent to her condo that afternoon.
He finished his smoke and headed back to bed. Din had stretched out into his spot and he had to nudge her over. She snorted in response.
He laid in bed until five that morning and gave up on sleep. He put on a whole pot of coffee, he was going to need it to get through the day.
His phone rang around eleven just like yesterday. "Incoming call: Talo and Malo Law Firm."
"Hey, Ganon, it's your lawyer." Talo started. Ganondorf gritted his teeth.
"I know, Talo. Is the date set?"
"We have a mediation set for the thirteenth. This is it, baby!" He sounded too excited, he must be imagining what he'd be doing with his percentage, Ganondorf figured.
"Sounds good." He said. They hung up.
He took Din for a walk. He was stopped at an intersection when his phone buzzed. It was a text from Midna. "I love the flowers! I'll let you decide when we meet again." There was a black heart emoji at the end. At least now he knew she wanted him to take some initiative. He wondered where he could take her. Din tugged at her leash when the signal changed to "walk", derailing his train of thought.
By the time they reached his building again he was a bit short of breath. "Felling you age, old man?" He mentally chided himself. He could see his reflection in the doors of the elevator. The lines on his face hadn't deepened overnight, but his birthday had brought more of his attention to them. They were etched around his eyes like the hatch marked shading in an art student's sketchbook. They rippled thinly across his forehead. Two deep lines enclosed the corners of his mouth. At least he'd kept his hairline intact, even if a stray white hair was beginning to make an appearance here and there. His jawline was still strong but his cheeks were looking shallower than they used to. He frowned at the reflection, which only made the wrinkles more prominent. He decided the results could be worse and the elevator doors slid open on his floor, hiding his reflection from view. Din barked at him. "Don't be so quick to judge, you're getting white around the muzzle, girl." He responded as they stepped out of the elevator.
Zelda was standing outside his door, waiting. She was dressed discreetly and a large pair of sunglasses covered her face, but he recognised her. "Did some birthday wish for a social life come true while I was drunk?" He grimaced. "I take it back."
"Are you going to let me in? It might be trouble for both of us if I'm seen here." She started.
"Nice to see you again too, Zelda." He opened the door and let her go first. She stepped in and sat down on the sleek leather couch facing the window. "Make yourself at home."
"Nice view." She said, keeping her eyes fixed forward.
"You didn't come here to make small talk about my view, I hope." He sat down in the chair opposite her.
"I came to apologize for last night." She looked away from him and folded her arms, taking a very defensive posture. "I haven't been a good friend to you recently, but you deserve an apology in person."
"Is that all you came here for?" He leaned forward, trying to look her in the eyes. She averted her gaze and nodded. He'd known Zelda since she was a child in their first movie, when had she gotten so timid? "You have nothing to apologize for, Zelda. You didn't do anything wrong last night. Link should be if anyone."
"Link doesn't really 'do' apologies." She said. She slid her sunglasses slowly off her face. "Believe me, I did suggest it."
Ganondorf gasped. Zelda had carefully applied make-up around her left eye to effectively hide the discoloration, but there was no covering the swelling. She looked like she was fighting away tears when she looked into his eyes. "Zelda!" He moved quickly and sat beside her. He wrapped his arms around her.
"Don't touch me! I'm fine!" She shouted, but she leaned into his shoulder and cried. He felt her small body tremble and quake in his arms. For a long time, he stayed quiet and just let her cry. Din leapt up on the couch on the other side of Zelda and laid her head in her lap.
Finally, she pulled away from him. The make-up was gone and a dark purple patch glistened underneath the teary smudge. Ganondorf handed her a box of tissues. "Has he done this before? Does Rhoam know about this?"
Zelda shook her head and took a deep breath. "Of course dad doesn't know about this. My marriage is none of his business." She wiped her eyes and scratched Din between the ears. Ganondorf disagreed. If he had a daughter being beaten he knew he'd make it his business.
"Do you need somewhere safe to stay?" He asked.
"I'm safe at home." She insisted. Was she trying to convince herself or him? "Besides, the studio can't take any more bad publicity right now."
"I'll drop the lawsuit then." He said without missing a beat.
"No!" She answered just as quickly. "Really, I'm going to be fine. Link isn't dangerous, he just… loses his temper when he's drunk. Really, that's not him. You should've seen how sorry he was this morning."
"Zelda!" His voice rose, he startled her. "How many times does he have to be sorry before it doesn't mean anything?" She didn't answer him. "Let me drop the lawsuit. They can make whatever statements they want about some petty, washed up actor, it's not important. I need you to get out of there."
"You can drop it if you want but it's not going to make me leave him." She had stiffened now. She stood up and headed towards the door. He followed her. She put her sunglasses back in place. "All I came here to do was apologize for ruining your date with Midna, I did that. I can see myself out. Don't you say anything about this. I mean it." He watched her walk to the elevator and his heart sank. He'd always felt protective of Zelda, like a father, and he'd watched her grow from a wild child into a beautiful, respectable woman. There was a time he had the same feelings about Link. He'd always been proud of the boy but as he watched him grow into a man, he watched an arrogance grow in him that Ganondorf didn't like, and now it had come to this. He poured himself a glass of wine and wondered what he could do to help, if he could do anything to help. Ironically, he felt powerless.
