one last war of the roses
Pipit stared at Zelda and Link wordlessly, eyes flickering between the sight of them entwined on the couch and his phone. Neither of them made sudden movements to scramble off each other, to feign shock or act like they were doing anything other than being wrapped up together. Pipit appreciated that. It felt honest.
"I got your text." He said to Link with a weak smile, lifting his phone. "I'm going to put my stuff away." He awkwardly rolled several of his suitcases through the door, pushing them towards Shad's room. He felt Zelda's eyes boring into him, and when he inclined his head to meet her gaze briefly, she immediately looked away. There it was. The guilt.
He closed the door behind him, exhaling sharply and pushing the cases to the side. He fell back limply against the wall. He wasn't sure if there were words to describe how he felt.
When he went to the living room again, Zelda and Link had been gracious enough to disentangle. Link was out of sight, but he could hear the shifting of blankets and pillows coming from the master bedroom. Zelda sat at the edge of the couch with her hands folded in her lap. He could practically see her body thrumming with tension. He said nothing, and went to the kitchen, rummaging through the pantry. He dropped a banana on a plate and started peeling it, then grabbed a butter knife to slice.
He heard Zelda's gentle footsteps as she approached him.
"Pipit," she began in a shaky voice. He didn't look up at her, only waited to hear what she had to say, but there were no words. It was like she had been waiting for him to cut her off, to argue, but he gave her nothing.
He popped a slice of banana into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "You aren't ready to talk to me." He said matter-of-factly.
"I wasn't." She admitted, "I didn't know what to say."
"Do you know what to say now?"
"No. But I'll start with 'sorry.'"
He nodded, eating another piece of banana.
"Apology accepted."
She waited expectantly, but again, he gave her nothing.
"I really did want to reach out, Pipit. I'm not just saying that. I wrote and deleted so many texts to you." She said eventually.
You are just saying that, he thought to himself.
"Zelda, please don't insult me." His grip on his plate of fruit tightened, as though it would poof out of existence if he let it go. "If I weren't standing in front of you right now, you would have continued ignoring me. Acting like I didn't exist."
"I –"
"It's been months," he continued, feeling the placid façade drop, his apathy morphing into something dangerous. "I don't know what happened when you went to Ordon. You left me in the dark about everything."
"It was complicated. Everything was complicated."
"Things have been complicated for a long time. But despite everything, I wanted to be there for you." His gaze was still fixed on his plate of bananas, but he knew Zelda was looking directly at him, waiting for him to lift his head up.
"You were good to me, Pipit. I know that I kept things from you, but you were still so patient with me. And flexible."
"Would you like to know what it felt like for me? Those days you were in Ordon?"
There was no response, just Zelda waiting and waiting and waiting.
"It was pure agony. Like my heart was being drawn and quartered. Except it never actually ripped, because there was just enough blind hope for me to believe you would come back to me. That we would be okay. Then you called me two days later and said that we were done. It was so sudden, and after that? Radio silence."
He sighed, finally daring a glance at her.
"And when you hung up, everything in me tore apart. I care for you deeply, Zelda. But are you even aware of how cruel you can be? You've always been content to keep to yourself without much consideration for how the people affected would feel about it. Even now, that hasn't changed. The least you could do is look a man in the eyes when you break his heart." He stuffed his face with more banana slices, leaning back against the counter.
He studied her carefully. She was speechless, as he knew she would be. But there was something else in her demeanor that he found unsettling. Something was… wrong. She was tense, and he had a feeling she had been tense long before he had come back to the apartment. He frowned.
Before he could ask about it, Link came out of his bedroom, seemingly clueless to their exchange. He went over to the kitchen, giving Pipit an amiable look before turning to Zelda.
"The room is ready, princess. Why don't you go lie down?" His hand hovered over her waist but didn't quite touch.
Cute.
Pipit crossed his arms.
Zelda nodded, seemingly overcome with emotion, then walked to Link's bedroom. Their bedroom.
"We've had a long day," Link explained once she was gone. "I'm hoping you and I can talk some more tomorrow. If that's alright with you."
Pipit didn't reply right away, staring at his best friend. He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to punch Link in the face, a much larger part wanted to give him the most bone-crushing but affectionate bear hug. But things were different now. Link's face was ashen, harrowed by whatever had happened during their 'long day.'
"Alright. You heading to bed?"
Link glanced at his bedroom door. "I don't know. Zelda's exhausted, but I… I've got a lot on my mind. I might take a walk."
Pipit nodded, pushing his plate towards Link.
"Banana slice? For energy of course."
Link shook his head, "Nah, all yours."
Pipit shrugged, "Why not take at least one? I thought you liked sharing."
»°«
It was late morning – or was it early afternoon? Nabooru lay on her couch, dressed in a long sleeve shirt and matching pajama pants, slumped over and half-asleep while reruns of Hyrule's Most Eligible played on the TV screen. Then came a loud, booming knock that rattled her to her bones. She jolted up, glancing at her door nervously. For a moment, she worried that it was Ganondorf. After her tenancy had ended, she moved from her university apartment to one that was on the outskirts of Castle Town. She needed a fresh slate and was ready to move forward with her postgrad life. But she knew Ganondorf would try to find her, especially after she gave Zelda the map to his hideout. He would know, then, that he had lost her for good. And now here he was, ready to tear her door down. Maybe even ready to tear her down. Perhaps she had overestimated how much he actually loved her, perhaps Naboris was truly more important and the fact that she dared to sabotage that for him meant she would be –
"Nabooru!"
She jumped to her feet at the sound of that voice. Not Ganondorf. Not at all.
Nabooru opened her door, heart softening at the sight of Lana. Her blue hair was tied up in a bun, her bangs swept across her forehead. Her chest was heaving from all the knocking she had done. She looked breathless, like she had been running. Something in Nabooru clenched. There was nothing in this universe prettier than her.
"Lana, what are you doing here?"
There were better questions to ask than that. Such as, How did you find me?, Would you like to come inside?, Are you okay?, or Do you have a girlfriend now?
Nabooru decided to stick to her initial question, though.
Lana gave her a once-over, eyebrows pinching at how modestly she was dressed.
"May I come in?" She asked, ignoring Nabooru's question.
Nabooru shrugged, moving back. She took a steadying breath. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and she could only hope that Lana didn't hear it.
Lana glanced around the room and then flopped over onto the couch.
Nabooru joined her, and tried to act like this was normal. Like they hadn't had a melodramatic falling out several months ago and practically ignored each other since.
"I called all of the landlords within Castle Town and asked for your name." Lana said, by way of explanation for how she was able to find Nabooru.
"Okay."
Lana looked at Nabooru for a long while. Nabooru wasn't sure if the blue-haired girl was just drinking her in, or casting silent judgment. Either way, she felt herself stiffen under Lana's scrutiny.
"I hear you're single now."
Nabooru quirked an eyebrow. "Always have been. But now I have even less fidelity to Ganondorf. What's it to you?"
Lana shook her head, trying to feign nonchalance, but Nabooru could see the way she sagged with relief.
"Your little tip-off was a bust. Mr. Dragmire was ready for us. We couldn't get what we needed." Lana said. Nabooru blinked at the sudden change in topic, wanting to backtrack, but also hung up on what Lana had just said.
Mr. Dragmire was ready for us.
She understood immediately why Lana had come to find her. Her eyes narrowed, and she could see Lana's defenses coming up. She was vulnerable, and she hated that Nabooru could see it now.
The last time they had seen each other was in Ganondorf's apartment. But the last time they had spoken to each other, Nabooru made a feeble request to Lana, knowing she had no right to do so. Lana did not hesitate to reject her, coldly and swiftly.
Now the tables of misery had turned. Lana was sacrificing her pride to ask for Nabooru's help. And from the uncomfortable expression on her face, Nabooru knew she was anticipating a 'no.'
"So what?" Nabooru smiled despite the way her heart was twisting. It had been an eternity since she and Lana had been alone together, and she would take any opportunity she could to tease her. "Have you come to seduce me into divulging all of his secrets?"
Lana blushed indignantly. "Never."
"But you want something from me."
"You aren't loyal to him anymore. But you two were close. The House of Thieves is gone, Nabooru. But please – there has to be some sort of concrete evidence we can use that will incriminate him. Please." Nabooru heard the crack in her voice, and it hurt.
"What do you mean the 'House of Thieves' is gone?" She asked.
Lana said nothing, her mouth open in a little 'o,' and Nabooru was not prepared at all for the waterworks that ensued afterwards. Lana burst into tears almost on cue, like she had been fighting the tears since she arrived. Nabooru could do little else but wrap Lana up in her arms.
"What happened, sweetheart?" She whispered.
Lana told her everything that had transpired a few days prior, from their flimsy plan to barge into Ganondorf's hideout, to Agahnim and Link's confrontation, and then the fire. By the end of it, Nabooru had felt her blood chill, filled with anger and disbelief towards her former lover.
She knew what it would take to put him in jail. The House of Thieves had truly been the secret weapon, and without it, the only way to stop Ganondorf for good meant Nabooru would have to forfeit the future she'd spent the last few years of her life working toward. Yet, as she stared down at Lana, whose tears were staining her shirt, she realized that doing so would benefit so many more people. All the students and future students of Hyrule University. Their futures certainly mattered more than that of one selfish woman. Nabooru stroked Lana's back silently, tears of her own dripping down her cheeks.
She knew, then and there, exactly what she would do.
»°«
The apartment was pristine. Not a speckle of dust out of place. Once Ganondorf rolled his final suitcase to the car waiting for him outside, it would be as though the place had never been lived in. He pressed his palms to the wall, steadying himself. The action felt weird. He had never been this unsteady before, did not know how to self-regulate when he was so accustomed to always being in control.
His underground study for Naboris was gone. Agahnim burned it, just as Ganondorf had ordered, if the worst were to come. Nabooru had called him the night before, berating him for what he'd done. There was no prevarication between them any longer. He knew she had helped Link and Zelda. She did not bother denying it. And if he knew her as well as he thought he did, he also knew that it was time for him to leave Castle Town for good. It didn't matter what little love still existed between them; she would hang him out to dry. Every secret, every act of deceit, even if it meant incriminating herself. Nabooru had changed a lot over the course of her senior year at HU. She was no longer as selfish as she used to be. Gerudo's laws would protect him from the crimes he'd committed here in Central Hyrule, but he couldn't linger.
He sighed, opening the door and rolling his suitcase to the car. Anche, one of Buliara's guards from home, sat in the driver's seat waiting for him. Something about the way she gazed at him left him unnerved, but he tried to ignore that feeling. He'd been on edge since his breakup with Nabooru, but it could very well be paranoia. He didn't know who to trust, but he had to be willing to put his faith in somebody.
"Going somewhere?" Someone from behind him asked. Ganondorf whipped his head back, trying to keep a stoic expression and failing miserably. A Hylian man with olive-toned skin was approaching him. Ganondorf's stomach dropped as he took in the man's attire: a police uniform.
"Are you Ganondorf Dragmire?" The man asked courteously. He knew the answer. Gerudo men were a rarity, and few denizens of Castle Town sported green skin. There was no lying, no mode of escape. When Ganondorf glanced at Anche, her green eyes were cold. She gave him a subtle nod.
Ganondorf sighed, shaking his head at her.
"Yes, I am." Ganondorf responded, keeping his eyes on the car door as he heard the officer pull out a pair of handcuffs.
"You're under arrest," the officer was saying, but everything quickly became white noise, hard to discern and pick apart as his ears buzzed.
Embezzlement, several counts of property destruction, bribery…
The officer droned on, rattling off crimes like he was reading a grocery list. How clever of Anche to throw him to the wolves after collecting his things. He was sure all his stuff would carefully be inspected once he was detained. Would Riju advocate on his behalf? Would he even have access to his accounts after this? If he had opened the door that day when Nabooru walked out on him, would everything be different? He should have known better than to blindly love her and let her leave without consequence. She had been the master key, the true one standing between his machinations and his ultimate downfall. Far more coveted than his study, his laptop and files, his vast thread of networking across Hyrule.
And yet, if he had a choice to do things differently, he wouldn't. He loved Nabooru. There was no universe where he would ever think of doing her harm or threatening her. If that meant this was all over, then he'd have to learn to accept that.
The car peeled out of the parking lot, and Ganondorf begrudgingly gazed out the window. A variety of people had stopped to see the commotion, pointing and gasping at him. He could see an elder Goron couple, some Zoras with shopping bags in hand, a strange, tiny man in a fairy suit jumping up and down like a maniac. He sighed and turned away, rubbing a hand through his hair.
It was the beginning of the end.
A/N: Very short chapter but an update is an update, right? Plus I miss the good ole days when the earlier chapters of this story only had around 3-4k words per chapter. I'll be honest, this one has been sitting in my drafts for a couple of weeks while I worked on Chapters 31 and 32. Mainly because I wanted to see how the last couple of chapters flowed before posting. Also, I'm capping this story at 32 chapters. There will be an epilogue, of course, but after that 32nd chapter, the story WILL be marked as complete.
I will always have love for this story but after 7+ years, I am definitely at the 'going through the motions' phase with it. Aside from crossposting this to monstrosity to AO3 and MAYBE revising the earlier chapters, I have no intentions of coming back. I am ready to move forward. As a writer, I know I am capable of so much more, and hope to write even better stories in the years to come.
I'll try to keep you guys updated on my new projects. The ones in my bio are all things that I am trying to work on. I don't feel comfortable/confident making a formal "announcement" about anything because I'm not the best at following through. Just know that my drafts are always filled with something.
As for life updates, I've started a new job that I hope gives me more life balance. I have been going through terrible burnout that has crushed my spirit. Being an adult is hard. The 9-5 life is hard. Especially when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep all day. But I'm figuring it out, one step at a time.
I will be seeing you guys soon, and as always, thank you for reading and supporting my work.
