"My father is going to kill me," Din said, her body going numb with an overwhelming experience of emotions.
"But, I can kill your father," he countered. She stared at him in horror. "I don't mean it like that. I mean if he tried, I could fight back. With this," he said, holding out his hand to admire the glow, "the sword will accept me, its power will return, and we can be together forever," he said, excited.
"Lucien, I'm sorry, you need to leave," she requested, stepping between him and the sword.
"But Din, this is perfect-."
"You don't get it," she interjected. "You are the one person I have been raised to hate, but I love you. So, please, make this easy and take what I have given you and leave."
Lucien refused to let her see it that way. He placed his hands on her shoulders and stepped closer. "OK, I know this would be difficult for you to live with, but why don't you come with me? We can explore the world, I can show you what evil your father has done. When you're ready, we can return."
Din could not look at him. The shame she felt at unintentionally betraying her parents, and the love she shared with Lucien, twisted knots in her stomach. There was only one thing she was certain of more than ever. "If you don't leave, you will die, Lucien. Please," she pleaded, "leave."
An arrow hissed through the air, striking the lid of the chest with enough force to slam it shut. Din and Lucien stared in shock at the King and Queen of Evil standing in the door way.
The trident flew at Lucien and he narrowly leapt out of the way. The weapon stuck in the wall, but Ganondorf appeared right behind it, and both he and his weapon exploded with dark, purple energy.
Lucien and Din were thrown back in opposite directions by the energy. She was back on her feet quickly, and shouted, "Lucien, you have to run while you can!" She ran to Ganondorf and grabbed his right arm holding the trident, just before he could swing at Lucien. "Daddy, no! Please leave him alone!"
Ganondorf thrust his arm across his chest and threw Din away from him. "Silence!"
Lucien rushed at Ganondorf, unarmed, and tackled him to the floor. "Don't hurt her!"
Dora rushed over to the king's throne and lunged nimbly over the table. Once she landed gracefully on the other side, she pulled the candelabra that triggered the table to sink into the floor and conceal it underground. After the table was mostly hidden, she ran to Din to help her up from the floor. "Tell me this is not the boy you wanted us to meet," Dora said, almost begging.
"I-I had no idea, Mom. I really didn't. You have to believe me," she cried. "Please don't kill him. I love him!"
Dora clenched her fist, trying to decide what to do next, trying to figure out what signs she missed that this was happening behind her back. "Why is he here?"
"Please forgive me," she said between her sobs. "I brought him here to show the Master Sword to him, and the Triforce started to glow. Trust me, if I had known who he was I never would have... I mean I shouldn't have..." Her fearful sobbing became so terrible she could barely speak.
Dora's face became stern, her eyes filled with anger and disappointment. "Are you telling me that you..?"
Din turned her eyes away, unable to face her mother while she used that gaze. Her only answer was a nod.
Dora groaned, and pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose between her eyes, while she said, "Your father is going to kill everyone."
Ganondorf and Lucien scuffled, throwing and taking punches, until the King of Evil tossed Lucien over his head using the staff of his trident for leverage. "She is my daughter, and you are my enemy, hero! Forfeit the Triforce of Courage to me immediately," he demanded, his voice bellowing in the emptiness.
"No! I am the only one who can change the world, and I won't give that up so easily," Lucien shouted back.
Ganondorf attacked him viciously with the trident. Its range was so wide that Lucien struggled to avoid its attacks. His back was pressed to the wall before he realized it, and Ganondorf thrust the trident to pierce his shoulder. Lucien ducked below the strike, raced around Ganondorf's side, and barely avoided another swing.
He ran around the thrones and hastened toward the castle's exist. Dora reacted with lightning reflexes and darted after him to prevent his escape. She was so quick, Din could not stop her, so she shouted, "Lucien, look out!"
He heeded Din's warning and glanced to find the queen chased him, her sword poised to strike. The sound of heavier footsteps behind him indicated Ganondorf rushed after him also. Dora's swing was perfectly aimed to slice his neck, but he lunged outside of her reach. Lucien felt his situation was hopeless, and prepared to fight to the death.
Din appeared behind Dora suddenly, and used her arms to restrain her mom's elbows behind her back. "Run!"
"Let go of me," Dora yelled, fighting fiercely to throw Din off her feet. She twisted and turned, but Din held on tight.
Lucien shared one last look of sorrow with Din, and then sprinted forward for his life. Ganondorf had just reached him, and threw screaming orbs of energy down the hall. One collided with Lucien's back and knocked him straight to the floor. He kept going, crawling frantically on his knees, despite the searing pain. The King of Evil approached him with quick, menacing footsteps.
Din released Dora's arms, only to shove her to the floor and race after Ganondorf. Dora was only down for a second, but it was long enough for Din to get a head start, and place herself like a statue in Ganondorf's path.
"Move," he ordered, scowling at her.
"No," she said, defiant, but tears streaked her cheeks. "I won't let you hurt the man I love, even if he is our enemy."
"Then I will destroy you both, for no daughter of mine would prevent me from obtaining the Triforce!"
Dora waited anxiously to see who would move first. Did Ganondorf really lack such a heart as to kill his own daughter?
The King of Evil raised his arm, his fingers spread wide. A small dense orb of energy exploded into his daughter with enough power to knock her unconscious. Ganondorf rushed passed her, down the hall to the castle's main gate. Lucien disappeared into the woods, wounded, but alive. The king turned immediately around and marched inside, where minions were suddenly filing into the hallway. "You are all worthless! You allowed the hero to sneak into the castle, and now he has escaped. Track him down and do not return until you can bring me his head!" The guards immediately exited the castle in pursuit of Lucien.
Ganondorf returned to the throne room to have an important, and possibly fatal, family meeting. He took in deep breaths to calm his overflowing rage before confronting his daughter. Dora had propped Din in the queen's throne, and was working to wake her.
Her eyes fluttered open at last, and she searched the room. If her mom and dad were standing there with her, then Lucien safely escaped. It was time to worry about herself. Her parents glared at her, angry and disappointed, and the pending consequences frightened her.
When it was clear she was lucid, Ganondorf growled, "Explain yourself."
Din closed her eyes, fighting back tears. This was definitely the end of her life. "Promise you won't get mad."
"You're lucky I spared your life once," he warned. "Don't keep me waiting."
Her hope at lightening the mood failed, and she might have made it worse. "I met Lucien a few months ago. All the girls were talking about him, how handsome and mysterious. He came into the market only a few times a week, and always disappeared into the woods," she explained, only briefly meeting eyes with her dad. "One time, I followed him, and some of the other girls had the same idea, but I was the only one able to keep up with him. I had no idea who he was, and he said he had no home. We started talking in the woods that day, and I found I could tell him everything. The best part was he didn't care if I was Gerudo, a princess, or a warrior, he saw me as just another person. Eventually, I couldn't stop thinking about him and I felt safe around him, like I belonged. He takes me fishing, horse riding, adventuring, and my time with him is like a dream." She paused, judging their reaction so far.
"Nothing seemed strange about him?" Dora asked, making her continue.
Din felt as though the world was against her. Suddenly, all the small things she took for granted seemed like obvious warning signs. "He sometimes said he feels like he was made for a greater destiny. Not to mention, he always did the right thing, was always helping out strangers, even when it would risk his life. I always just thought he was a nice guy, never that it could mean he is the hero with the Triforce of Courage. It wasn't until we were in here with the Master Sword that he told me he dreamt he wielded it in battle," she said to defend herself.
"Tell me why he was here with you," Ganondorf demanded.
Din recoiled into her imaginary ball, but there was no more avoiding the whole truth. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to be as courageous as Lucien would be. "He climbed in through my window," Din explained, staring her father in his evil, yellow eyes, "and I gave him my virginity."
"In your room?" Dora asked.
"Yes."
"In my castle?" Ganondorf questioned loudly.
Din only nodded, and silence filled the room. Ganondorf had imagined one day he would have to admit his daughter would become as physical as her mother, but never, ever with his mortal enemy.
The silence was killing her, so she had to fill the void. "I never meant to disobey you. I love you both, and I never meant to hurt anyone. You have to trust me when I say I regretted everything when I learned he's the hero you're looking for. I wanted to go back in time and stop myself from meeting him, but I can't. And now, I will never stop loving him."
Dora sympathized, and that made staying mad at her difficult. She understood how it felt to love a man so passionately, even if everyone warned her against it. "Love, or not, you disobeyed us!" Dora reminded her. "And then you let him defile you," she added with disgust.
"I know, and I'm sorry!"
Ganondorf's rage erupted into a roar that returned Din to tears. While he paced the room to unleash his anger as suffocating waves of energy into the room, Dora spoke the thoughts racing through his mind. "As vile as that is, you made an ever larger mistake. He knows where the Master Sword is, and you put your own life in danger to save his. We lost the Triforce of Courage! Now, he is free to grow stronger, and can attempt to steal the sword again, to banish or kill us! Is that what you want?" Dora shouted, trying not to scream.
"No, but I-."
Ganondorf interrupted her. "You allowed the concept of love and acceptance blind you to the obvious truths. Had you consulted with me, instead of waiting until you were ready to give away your purity, this could have been prevented. I cannot trust you. From now on, you are forbidden from leaving the castle, and you will not lift a finger without my consent."
"But, Dad I-."
"Get out of my sight!"
Din stood up to leave and glared at him. "I hate you. I hate both of you. I hate that I'm your daughter! I don't want to be the princess, and I don't want to be a part of your stupid revenge. You should have just killed me!"
"Don't tempt me," Ganondorf snarled, and then teleported Din to her chambers. He turned to the guards in the door way and ordered, "Make sure she does not leave, by the door, the window, or any other secret passage. If she moves, inform me immediately." The moblins rushed out of the throne room to guard Din.
Ganondorf sat in his throne, and Dora rested her hand on his arm as she sat with him. He trembled with rage.
"Dora, I wanted to kill her," he confessed, only staring at the palm of his hand. He rested back against his throne, one clenched fist on the arm of the seat, the other hand across his forehead, trying to wrap his mind around the night's events.
"I am thankful you did not," Dora said solemnly.
"How can this happen?" he wondered in disbelief. "My daughter, with dreams of our past, and nightmares of the tortures not only us, but our people, suffered at the hands of the royal family, the descendants of the Goddess Hylia, and her hero. Nightmares that were so bad she needed me to chase away the monsters under her bed."
"Love is blind," Dora stated simply.
"I'm more infuriated that she dared interfere when I was about to kill him." Ganondorf smashed his fist on the throne. "Is that anyway to show gratitude for everything we have done?"
"Din doesn't care about that," she reminded him. "She is young and selfish, and the only thing she cares about is being accepted, by someone other than us."
All the thoughts in his head swirled in tornadoes. He resented Din for protecting the hero with her own life, and for being a blind fool. It was obvious this Lucien was going to follow the same path as the others, and he needed to die sooner than later. Dora had done what she could, but she had not been strong enough, and her love for her daughter prevented her from doing what was necessary. The tornadoes finally began to slow, and one answer remained in his head, as well as one speculation. He unclenched his fist, and Dora instantly rested her fingers in the palm of his hand. The glow of their Triforce pieces was calm again, and the energy in the room settled. Ganondorf removed his hand from his head and looked over at Dora.
His gaze was strangely somewhere between fear and loathing, and it frightened her. "What is it?" Dora asked, leaning closer.
"The Goddess Hylia was always reborn in the princess of Hyrule," Ganondorf stated. "I blinded myself to the truth because I refused to believe it."
"How could this possibly be?" she questioned, still wanting to deny it.
"The goddesses are fighting against me in the only way they can."
Dora sighed and said, "We might have been better off having a boy."
Ganondorf stood from his throne, hate and heartache turning him to ice. "I never should have exposed my heart to you. Because of that mistake, I have been thwarted at every opportunity to obtain the Triforce. I will do this on my own now, and you can return to leading my minions as a general," he said soberly.
Dora jumped to her feet and stood before her husband. "Think about what you are saying. Are you punishing me for this?"
"I comprehend exactly what I have said, but it is you who does not. My compassion and sympathy has been the reason I have failed. It has led up to this night, where even my own flesh and blood would stand in my way of achieving ultimate power. This cycle ends now," he declared darkly, and snatched Dora's arm roughly. He squeezed so tightly her fingers tingled, and fighting nearly broke her arm. The palm of his hand hovered over the back of hers, and he siphoned the Triforce of Wisdom into him. She crumbled to her knees, as losing the Triforce's power weakened her, and the strength in Ganondorf's hold caused excruciating pain.
Her vision blurred and she closed her eyes. When she did, she was haunted by strange images, like a nightmare. There was a bed, and a fire in a hearth. A naked man and woman became clearer every time she closed her eyes. His moans and her screams filled her ears. Dora easily recognized the man was Ganondorf. The screams did not belong to her though. The woman's face was from a distant time, but once the haze was gone, she recognized it was Nabooru in his arms.
Once he collected his belonging, he released her arm, but she remained on the floor. He turned from her to exit the throne room.
Dora was so overwhelmed by rage and sorrow, she tried to decide if she should attack him or stay on the floor and sob her heartache away. She rose shakily to her feet and stood defiantly. Ganondorf paused at the sound of her sword sliding from its sheath.
"Don't be a fool," he warned.
She darted forward, lunged at him, and was blocked by the trident that appeared in his hand. Before she landed on the floor, Ganondorf spun as quick as a whip and punched Dora in her stomach. His fist exploded with energy and she hit the far wall to his left.
He felt the habitual urge to worry for her safety, but reminded himself he was better off without such petty emotions.
She coughed, sputtering blood from a cut inside her mouth. She was content to sit there, while the world spun and her body ached. "I'm no fool, Ganondorf, you are, to reject the one person who stood at your side from the beginning." A sniffle she could not fight made her head throb. "Thank you for crushing my heart, because now I know where I am in your priorities, and that you lied to me."
"Our union was a mistake," he shouted at her. "These emotions have always made you weak, have always made you react with little thought for consequence. I thought I could use you to be stronger, but I see how wrong I was. You made me weak, birthed a child who made me even weaker. I will find the Triforce of Courage, and finally emerge victorious."
"And what happens to me? Do I live out my natural life, until death takes me?" Dora asked, coughing weakly again.
"That is your choice. Your fate is no longer bound to mine." Ganondorf waited for a response, watching with disgust to numb the ache in his chest. She never replied, so he left her lie unconscious on the floor, and returned to his chambers to sleep alone.