Part II – Evil Sands
Chapter XII – Secrets
Ganondorf looked behind him at the ever-fading light of the previous room as he trailed behind Gita. First and foremost in his mind was his less than ideal exchange with Nabooru. He realized far too late that his little stunt back then could have tipped someone off to the secret they were trying so hard to keep to themselves. It was bad enough that people within the compound whispered in the hallways, but they didn't need their own squadmates suspecting them. He felt terrible and had this nagging urge to go back and apologize.
But Ganondorf realized that to do so would probably be worse than the original offense. Disappearing without any word to his current teammate would definitely be seen as weird. The others may start to suspect, if they didn't already, and he doubted that Nabooru would be very forgiving no matter how many times he apologized. Not to mention, Gita was right there, a fact he just conveniently remembered. She would definitely suspect something was up and was also one of the biggest rumor mills in the compound. If she found out, it would be over for both of them.
Then again, this tomb was full of traps and tricks. He could just sneak away and blame it on a quick trap door. Anything is possible in these tombs, Gita said it herself. Then all he would need to do is get to Nabooru, tell Devika to go seek out Gita, and then it's just him and his best friend without any distractions. They could search together and they might even be able to complete the mission faster since they're the best at everything in their class. Ganondorf looked back again to visualize the caper. The hall had many shadows, the floor might have a loose tile, He probably wouldn't even need to run either. It would be easy.
Too easy. After looking at the confined space of the hallway and the lack of any real nasty traps in this particular one, it would be really hard to convince Gita that he got surprised by a trap door. And even if he could, it wouldn't explain the lack of sound and evidence of a trap door or why the trap triggered on Ganondorf and not Gita who was ahead. Ganondorf turned around again away from the entrance as the idea seemed really stupid now and he felt some kind of self-induced embarrassment for even thinking such a thing.
This internal war of weather to go or stay waged in Ganondorf's head for a long time. Each time he wanted to go back, he would talk himself out of it and keep walking ahead. Sometimes his ideas were very thought through and the only problem in the plan was a loose end that could unravel the whole operation. Other times the ideas were so inane and ridiculous that he couldn't help but mentally berate himself for the foolishness. He had no idea why his mind did these strange things when he was near Nabooru and it was driving him insane. He was also thankful that Gita decided to take point so he was fairly certain she hadn't noticed his constant hindsight. He was secretly hoping that at some point he would see Nabooru walking down the hallway with the good news that her hallway was a dead end.
"I know we're supposed to be watching our backs in here but I think your overdoing it a bit, private."
Gita's observation took Ganondorf by surprise as he didn't realize how often he was actually looking back. Nonetheless, he decided to nonchalantly continue walking with his arms folded as if he hadn't been doing anything weird this whole time.
"It's ok, you can talk to me. I don't bite." Gita tried to reassure him.
Ganondorf deeply sighed before finally deciding to respond, "It's nothing."
"Well, something has to be eating at you, you've been looking back at that doorway ever since we split from the others."
"Trust me, it's nothing." He reiterated, unsure as to why Gita was so keen on pressing the matter, "I just thought I heard something is all." He looked down at the floor.
"Uh-huh… What'd you hear?"
"Uh, I-I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"Yeah…" Ganondorf shrugged.
"You sure?"
"Yep."
"So, there's nothing you want to talk about, the thing you keep looking back at is really nothing, but it's pressing enough that you might continue to do so. That about sum it up?"
"…Y-yes?"
Gita huffed and continued on. Ganondorf rolled his eyes and huffed himself. Gita normally was much more inviting than this. She was almost hostile towards his answers and something really did seem to be bothering her. He didn't believe his behavior recently warranted this kind of reaction.
"… You know that makes as much sense as a leever with wings." Gita started anew.
"Really Gita? Again with this?"
"It just doesn't alright."
"I told you, it's nothing. There's no sense to be made."
"And what will it be when someone else catches on with your peculiarities?"
"Peculiarities?" Ganondorf snapped his gaze up to Gita, "I thought I heard something. Anyone with ears would do the same."
"Yet I haven't heard a single thing this entire time."
"Our ears can deceive us."
"Ten times in a row?"
"Maybe?!"
"That's still not very convincing."
"Why are you pressing this so much?"
"Maybe it's because I know already and just want to hear you admit it!"
Gita's final outburst shocked Ganondorf into silence. What did she want him to admit? He was sure there wasn't anything about him that Gita didn't already know… unless-
"Well? Anything to say for yourself?"
"I… I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh yes you do! You've been able to hide it from the squad, but I've been watching closely and I've caught on."
A pit opened up in Ganondorf's stomach and it sucked out his soul. He finally realized what Gita had figured out and she was right, he was terrible at keeping it a secret.
"How… how long have you known?"
"For a while now. Ever since you joined the squad, really. You know you'll get in a load of trouble for this right?"
"I know." Ganondorf mumbled.
"Not to mention what Naberna would do to you if she found out."
"I know." He said with more force.
"Anyone else finds out and you're-"
"I know!" he finally yelled, unable to contain his embarrassment, "Dammit, I know. It wasn't like that at first. I just… we were friends and we kept meeting in secret and at some point, me and Nabooru just… we didn't realize the feelings we had for each other would grow into something we couldn't handle. I don't know Gita, we tried to keep it a secret as best we could and maybe I've been too careless lately but it gets harder and harder to be apart. I make stupid decisions and dumb mistakes and at some point, it's going to get someone hurt. Maybe it's a good thing that you… you…" Ganondorf turned around to find Gita standing completely motionless in the middle of the hallway with her eyes wide open and her mouth agape even wider. Every so often she would stupidly blink as her eyes dried.
"What?" Ganondorf put his hands out as Gita continued to look on, dumbfounded.
"Ganondorf," she finally said, calmly yet shakily, "I… was talking about your ability to use magic."
The pit in Ganondorf's stomach was replaced a pain much like a heart attack. Gita hadn't been talking about his forbidden relationship and, in hindsight, he should have confirmed exactly what her suspicion was. Gita made all manner of strange faces and sounds as she tried to completely process the information she was just unwillingly presented with.
"You?" she was finally able to croak out, "Y-you and… Naberna's daughter?" Ganondorf tried to put on his most apologetic face but it did little to calm the large woman. "… What in the actual FU–"
Ganondorf rushed forward and covered Gita's mouth with his hand as she continued to yell and say many expletives despite their inability to escape her mouth.
"Shut up Gita, you want the whole crypt to know!?"
Gita forcibly removed Ganondorf's hand but kept her voice to a low yet extremely distressed whisper, "Do you realize how absolutely illegal this is?!"
"I know the laws, yes."
"Does Nabooru?!"
"She came up with the idea!"
"Oh, I highly doubt that!"
"Ok, maybe it was both of us thinking the same thing. But you're the only other soul that knows!"
A small bit of panic left the woman's eyes and her breathing slowed, "Nobody else?"
"Nobody even suspects it."
Gita looked at Ganondorf like he imagined his mother would look at him. Eyes lit with anger and fear and mouth pursed, locking inside words that could murder a person. But, instead of continuing the argument, Gita simply closed her eyes and sighed heavily while rubbing her temples with one hand.
"Fine." She resolutely said, taking a step past Ganondorf into the ruins, "But if this is something you two want to do, you need to mitigate how much you show it. Make sure that you limit the amount of people who see you two together if you're having trouble keeping the secret a secret."
"I think we've been doing pretty good so far." Ganondorf shrugged as he followed suit.
"That stunt you tried to pull back in the other room wasn't really subtle."
"You're just saying that because you know now."
"Maybe, but it doesn't negate the fact that it was sloppy, impulsive, and strange. Strange leads to gossip, gossip leads to rumors, and rumors lead to public punishment."
"Being a little harsh there aren't y-"
"No, I'm not. These are old laws. Respected and feared laws. Even the king would have trouble changing them.
Ganondorf rolled his eyes at the prospect of a king being unable to change laws. That was what kings did, its right in the name.
"But, if you are as stubborn as she is," Gita continued, "that won't stop you. So, I'm not going to lecture you, I just want you to promise me one thing."
"Uh, ok." Ganondorf reluctantly agreed.
"Don't hurt her."
Ganondorf was confused by the request, "Why would-"
"Just," Gita interrupted, "don't do it, ok? She's been through a lot and her relationship with her mother is bad enough. She held it together when you disappeared but… she doesn't need more hardship. You said it yourself, someone could get hurt. I just want you to promise that it's not Nabooru. Alright?"
"Fine. Yes, I promise. Ok Gita?" Ganondorf nodded.
"Good. Now let's go find whatever treasure this tomb has. The sooner we get what we came for the sooner we can leave all this behind us."
Ganondorf slightly sighed as he continued ahead of Gita and took her lantern to light the way. Physically, he looked as if he was unshaken and focused on the task at hand. But Ganondorf's mind was filled with a constant stream of frustrations and invasive thoughts. But one thing stuck out and was repeated over and over causing the worst headache.
Someone knows now.
