Mango harvesting, it turned out, consisted of Zelda twirling and dancing around while she used her staff to cut mangoes off sprouting vines, while avoiding spikes and in some cases, explosives. While she did this, Tourma, a bespectacled woman who performed research related to mango farming, watched her and hastily jotted down notes on a large clipboard. She'd asked him to count how many seconds after Zelda cut down one mango did it take for a new one to sprout. Ganon found the whole thing to be quite mad.

They had come here after bidding adieu to Dohna, who had given Zelda a fierce hug and then, to Ganon's surprise, given him an enthusiastic handshake and told him he would be welcome if he ever wished to visit again.

"Uh – thanks," he had said, then to his greater surprise, found that he liked the idea of coming back here.

"She's quite nice, isn't she?" Zelda had said while Dohna walked away, and Ganon had nodded slowly.

Now he continued to watch Zelda spin and cut mangoes, feeling dizzy watching her, though unable to look away. She was still wearing her new white dress, which rose up to her knees as she twirled, golden hair (and Tri) trailing behind her. She had a wide grin on her face.

"What count do you have?" Tourma asked.

"Huh?" said Ganon.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance then scribbled something onto her clipboard. Ganon attempted to read over her shoulder; though her writing was messy, he thought it said, Unknown time – monster unreliable.

He scowled.

Once Zelda finished harvesting the mangoes, she walked (unsteadily) towards him, giggling, then grabbed onto his arm to stabilize herself. Ganon looked down at her; her hair was a mess and mango juice had splashed onto her in multiple places. Despite this, he still thought she looked nice.

More than nice. Pretty. Lovely, even. Perhaps even beauti –

No.

Tourma was saying something complimentary about Zelda's performance, but he could not pay attention, focused on the dread mounting within him.

He was the Demon King. Demon Kings did not think these things. No matter that she was kind to him, and sweet, and amusing, and had never looked at him in fear even though he was a horrific monster.

No, he told himself again, sternly.

"Ganon," Zelda said.

He startled.

"Are you alright?" She frowned. "You look like you just swallowed a lemon."

"I am – fine," he said stiffly. "You look like a disaster. Go clean up. We need to get going."

She looked at him strangely, but nodded. She thanked Tourma for the mangoes and the two of them left her tent.

"Which way to Faron?" Ganon asked when Zelda had returned, now with brushed hair and zero mango stains. She had changed back into one of her purple princess dresses, which Ganon thought was just as well.

She did not answer his question, but said instead, "Did coming here help you remember anything?"

"Not really," Ganon said. "It is time we give up on my memories and return to our original goal."

"Oh, don't give up, Ganon." She smiled at him. "We'll figure something out."

He shook his head. "We go to Faron, and leave my memories for after Null is gone."

"Are you sure? We could go to Kakariko, talk to the meditator Impa mentioned." Seeing his unimpressed looks, she added, "Or maybe Eldin Volcano – you're so big and strong, maybe you were a Goron."

He thought he saw a flicker of nervousness in her eyes, and then he realized something.

"You're stalling."

"What? No –"

"You are," he said roughly. "Why don't you want to go to Faron?"

"I do want to go to Faron." She bit her lip. "I just – I –"

"You what?"

"I – Nayru…"

He crossed his arms. He had not intended to push for this until after they had repaired the final rift, but fine. He would have his answers now.

"What did Nayru say to you?" When she did not respond, he added, fiercely, "And what is Prime Energy?"

Tri's eyes went wide. "Don't tell him, Zelda!" they cried. "Lady Nayru does not want him to know about that."

"Answer me, now!"

Tri shied away, floating to hide behind Zelda's shoulder. Zelda looked at him in a panic.

Ganon narrowed his eyes. "Are you afraid of me?"

"No!"

"Don't lie."

She should be afraid of him. He would be glad if she was afraid of him. So why did the thought bother him so much?

"I'm not afraid of you!" she insisted, then, wringing her hands, added, "But I am terrified of what you might become."

"Explain."

She glanced from him to Tri and back again. She took a deep breath.

"The Prime Energy," she said, "is a great power, left behind by the goddesses after they created Hyrule. Part of the purpose of this quest – of repairing these large rifts – is to prepare me to use it. So that I can destroy Null. And Nayru…" She swallowed. "Nayru would have me destroy you as well."

She took a step towards him, reaching as if to take his hand. He jerked it away. She looked away, then took another shuddering breath.

"Nayru is convinced that if you regain your memories… you will destroy Hyrule." Tentatively, she rose her face back to him, but whatever she saw in his quickly made her look down again.

Ganon had a second realization, and this one made him furious.

"Everything we've done to restore my memories," he said coldly. "You never thought any of it would work."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"So, what then? You want to get my guard down so you can kill me?"

"No!" Zelda cried. "I don't want to destroy you! But if Null's defeat restores your memories, as I suspect it might, I thought…" She tugged on the sleeve of her dress.

"You thought what?" he hissed.

"I thought we might make some new ones first," she said, so quietly Ganon could scarcely hear it over the blood beginning to rush in his ears.

He thought back to all the places they'd gone, to playing in the snow, to feeding carrots to the horses, to dancing to the Zora band and participating in Dohna's practice drill. He thought about all the times she had teased him, laughed and smiled with him. To when she had told him that she wanted to trust him. Lies, all of it.

"You're trying to manipulate me."

She shook her head. He thought he saw the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes, which only stoked his building fury. How dare she lie to him and then feel guilt over it? Or were the tears another manipulation?

"I was trying to be your friend." She started as though to move towards him again, then held herself back. "I am your friend."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying! Ganon – "

"Get out of my sight!" he snarled.

When she did not, he turned and began to storm away.

"Ganon!" she called. "Can't we talk about this?"

He tore from his neck the purple sash she had given him and threw it to the ground. She did not say anything more.

This changes nothing, he thought to himself as he stomped through the desert. Null still needs to be destroyed. In the corner of his eye he saw a Boarblin approaching him as though to attack. He turned and roared, and watched the monster jump and run away. This did not bring him the amusement he thought it would.

Prime Energy… Zelda had claimed repairing the rifts was meant to prepare her to use it to destroy Null, had she? Well, she was not the only one who could walk in the rifts. He would go to Faron. He would repair the rift there. He would use the Prime Energy to destroy Null. And then, instead of giving this power back to the goddesses, or whatever selfless thing Zelda was surely intending to do…

He would keep it for himself.

He realized very quickly that he still did not know the way to Faron, so he returned to Tourma's tent to ask for directions. By the time he arrived, Zelda was gone.

Good, he thought. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone.

There was some tiny, little part of him that wondered whether he had overreacted, whether he should have stayed to let her explain herself. He stomped it out. She had hidden from him that she was considering destroying him – because she must have considered it, no matter what she said. She hadn't trusted enough to tell him about the Prime Energy, either. How many times had she grinned up at him while wondering whether she would even be allowing him to survive this quest?

By the time they had begun mango harvesting, it was already nearing evening, and now that he had been walking through the desert for some time, the air was becoming cold. Ganon hated being cold. At least now he could wallow in his misery without having a bundle of positivity next to him trying to cheer him up.

Stop thinking about her, he told himself harshly. Just think about Faron and doing what you need to do.

He knew little of Faron other than that it was a forest. Hopefully it would be warmer there. With any luck, he would not need to be there for very long at all. He had become very good at closing rifts, after all. He would have no problem doing it on his own. He was certain.

He continued through the desert, stopping only to consult the map Tourma had given him. He did not stop to rest for the night, as Zelda would have insisted they do. It wasn't as though anything would have the nerve to attack him. See? It is better without her. She had only slowed him down.

He wondered if there were people living in Faron, as all the other places he'd visited. Zelda had known little about the area. He tried to remember any forested locales in his past – perhaps he had been from Faron? – but could come up with little. Thinking of his lost memories made him frustrated anew, so he tried to think of other things to distract him, and ended up replaying in his mind his mock fight with the Gerudo guards to infiltrate the treasury, coming up with more suggestions he could give to Dohna if her ever saw her again.

He hoped he would. He had liked Gerudo Town and its people. They believed in strength, like a person should. Though, he thought bitterly, looking down at the claws on the ends of his fingers, I won't be allowed there again, will I? Dohna had invited him back, but he couldn't imagine the Gerudo Chief permitting him to visit without Zelda's supervision. He was beginning to get tired of this body, of being regarded with suspicion and fear wherever he went.

Eventually, he reached the desert's edge, and crossed back into Hyrule. He noticed then that he was exhausted, and promptly found a soft patch of grass somewhere so he could rest.

When he woke, it was light out, and he could see Hyrule Castle in the distance. He and Zelda had really come a long way. It hadn't felt so long; his walk out of the desert, though Tourma's lab had not been too far from the end of the desert, had felt much longer.

Because you are alone now.

No, he chastised himself. He liked being alone. And he wasn't supposed to be thinking about her, anyway.

His path to Faron took him closer to the castle, though thankfully he was still far enough from it that there didn't seem to be many people out on the path he was on. (Though, he thought, seeing people cower and run when they saw him might improve his poor mood.) After some time, the path split into branches. He thought one branch would lead him to the Hyrule Stables, and considered going to visit the horses. He especially liked the thought of visiting Zelda's still-nameless white horse, who they had left in the care of the ranch owner. She had been such a sweet horse; it was no wonder she had quickly taken to Zelda – Stop thinking about her! You don't have time for detours.

He took the right branch and continued on towards Faron, all the while huffing under his breath about how annoyed and bored he felt. He wished some monster would attack him, just so he would have something to distract him. Any monsters he came across either avoided or ignored him, and most of them looked so weak he would feel nearly bad for fighting them. He could not plan or fantasize about what he would do with the Prime Energy once he obtained it, because he did not know what it was. He even would have taken answering more of Tri's questions at this point.

By the time he actually arrived to Faron, several days later, his mood had improved little, though the change in scenery did snap him from his boredom momentarily.

It was a forest, of the jungle variety, and he could hear songbirds chirping in the distance. Listening to their singing did make him feel a little better, as did the knowledge that he was close to his destination now. He just needed to find the rift.

He did not find the rift. He did, however, find a village which was inhabited by… sentient plants? There were two of them talking at the entrance of the village when he approached (one of which was eating something), and they both gasped and burrowed themselves in the earth as he approached. A third saw him and ran further into the village, shrieking about a huge monster. Ganon rolled his eyes.

He approached the two that were buried. If he had not seen the creatures hide themselves, he might have thought them to be fallen leaves or bushes, though he never seen a leaf shake this wildly. He considered for a moment, smirking, then reached for one of the creatures – the one which was shaking more fearfully, of course – and pulled them back out of the ground.

"D-don't eat me!" the creature cried. They really did look like a plant, with skin that seemed made of wood and what looked like leaves stuck to their head instead of hair. They had a mustache made of leaves, which Ganon thought looked quite ridiculous. "I'm serious! Deku Scrubs taste bad!"

Ganon gave the Deku Scrub his most wicked smile. "Answer my questions and maybe I won't."

The creature shook fearfully. The second Deku Scrub took this moment to pop out of the ground and glare at Ganon. This one had, instead of leaves, twin bushes growing out of their head.

"Put my friend down!" Bushes said shrilly. "We don't have any more cotton candy!"

Ganon eyed the Deku Scrub. "Cotton candy?"

"Yes!" cried Mustache, still shaking in Ganon's hand. "Cotton candy tastes much better than Deku Scrub! My friend will give you the rest if you let me go!"

"I will not!" said Bushes. "Monsters aren't hip enough to have our cotton candy!"

Ganon could feel a headache coming on. "I don't care about cotton candy," he said harshly. "There's a huge rift around here somewhere. Tell me where it is."

Mustache shuddered. "I don't know what that means!"

"The holes that people get stuck in," Ganon said. At both Deku Scrubs' blank looks, he waved his free hand and added, "Big, purple, goopy-looking –"

"See?" Bushes shrieked. "He does want to take our cotton candy! Don't tell him!"

"But –"

"You can't tell him! It's a secret to everybody! Unless you have a membership card, and there's no way this monster does!"

Ganon held Mustache up to his face and bared his teeth. The Deku Scrub blinked fearfully.

"This forest has food for monsters that is much better than Deku Scrubs or cotton candy," they said quickly. "I can tell you where to find birds to hunt, big ones!"

Ganon tilted his head as if he was considering. Then, with an evil grin, he said, "I'm a vegetarian."

Mustache shrieked. "The north of the forest!" they cried. "There's a big building there; on the inside it's filled with purple goop; you can find all the cotton candy you want there but you need a membership card, just – please, please, please don't eat me!"

Ganon dropped the Deku Scrub, smiling. "Thank you," he said. Then he turned to Bushes. "And I've decided I want your cotton candy after all."

Bushes looked as though they wanted to argue. Ganon roared. Both Deku Scrubs took off running, Bushes throwing the substance they had been eating to the ground as they did so.

Ganon picked it up; it was a stick, which had white silk wrapped around it at the top. Ganon touched the silk and then scrunched his face in disgust. Are these creatures… eating spiderwebs?

He shook his head. It didn't matter – he knew where he needed to go now. And he would get into this building, no membership card needed. Though in many ways he was tiring of it, this monstrous body did have some benefits.

As he continued through the village, he wondered whether there was any possibility that he had been a Deku Scrub.

No – absolutely not. It cannot be. There is no way.

If it came to that, he'd rather stay a monster.