-Ganondorf Dragmire-

For what seemed to be the longest moment, they all stared at each other. Harken Dragmire stood against Solitare Sheikah, Ganondorf Dragmire, and Link. No one moved. Harken adjusted his grip on his massive black sword and locked his eyes with Ganondorf. Ganondorf breathed in and out, keeping his rage carefully on the edge between powerful and controlled. Solitare lowered his presence as best he could and virtually disappeared out of thin air. Link's triangle lit up as he called on what power he could, causing the world to seemingly slow to a crawl for him.

Harken's eyes briefly glanced over on seeing the light on Link's hand. And an eyebrow raised itself.

"Interesting," Harken said, knowingly. "How very interesting you two should share company, Ganondorf."

"I take it you know me."

"I should say I do. I was there when you were born. I recognized you by your mark on your hand. It is identical to his." Harken nodded his head in Link's direction.

Link grit his teeth angrily and charged in. "Don't you ignor-"

Harken spun, lowered himself to be at eyelevel to Link, and looked into his eyes with his Dragmire red ones. It was so fast Link was left stunned. Even with his power making the world seem to slow down for him, the man had moved almost instantaneously. Link could not keep up with it.

All he could think was, 'How?' How was it possible for a man to move this quickly?

Harken spun his blade upwards to cut Link. Link managed to reverse his momentum and bring his sword up to block it, but even catching the very edge of the blade against his own, while absorbing it into his chest, felt like he was being slammed with an anvil. Link was thrown into the air and into the rock. His bones rattled and his teeth shook on the impact. Link crumbled to the ground with all the grace of a semi-conscious noodle.

"Link!" The unit called out in surprise.

At the same moment, Solitare reappeared at Harken's legs and swiped at him. Harken leaped into the air over him, spun backwards, reached out, grabbed Solitare by the head, and slammed him into the ground. It was as if Solitare's tricks and distractions had no effect on him.

Harken pressed down to crush Solitare's skull, and the boy cried out in pain, but Ganon had managed to step in and make a wide swipe at Harken. The man had to release the boy and raise his blade with both hands to block it, and even then Harken was forced to take a step back. Kagami followed up his master's attacks with trying to bite at the man, but Harken swiped at the wolf and the wolf wisely retreated back.

It had lasted all of two seconds and already two of the unit's strongest were stunned and injured.

"Stay back! None of you can fight him!" Ganondorf roared. "Call for help! Get those two back!" He looked to Kagami. "That goes for you too."

Kagami growled and barred his teeth at Harken. Ganon repeated, "Stay back! You can do nothing!"

The peasant army hesitated, but snapped out of it as he repeated himself, and they moved Link and Solitare to a semi-safe distance. Link resisted and struggled, not wanting to be pulled back, but nor could he move well. His legs were wobbly and his head shook. A few men ran a far distance around to call for Matsubi and his unit. Kagami continued to growl furiously at Harken, but obeyed his master and retreated.

"Tell me, Ganondorf. How developed is your mark? How far has it grown?"

"I'll show you how far it's grown!" Ganondorf roared.

Again and again Ganondorf struck at Harken, throwing all care to the wind and using all of the strength and speed he could muster. Ganondorf was angry. He had been too late to stop this man from killing some of the unit. Ganondorf did not have friendship with them, nor did he see them as individuals, but he saw them as his responsibility to a degree. They may be Link's unit, but Ganondorf also saw them as his, and he didn't like his stuff being touched. Ganondorf was greedy and selfish like that.

In addition, Ganondorf remembered the stories told to him. The Dragmire were dead and part of the blame was cast upon this man and the other elders. This man was partially responsible for everything the Dragmire had to endure. This man was partially responsible for Malon and her mother's suffering.

Ganondorf was a little irrattional with anger, unable to discern where the line was drawn between reality and fiction, whether this man was to blame or not, but then... Ganondorf was always angry, and seeing this man shedding blood of the men he bore responsibility for was the final nail to truly send him over the edge.

Dragmire struck at Dragmire. Ganon felt his power igniting itself and his triangle lit up as he called on it to its fullest. He had fought strong men and monsters before, but he felt that this was the strongest he had ever fought. So he pushed himself. For the first time in perhaps many years, he pushed himself. The full potential of Ganondorf Dragmire was called to bear, and slowly the single triangle sparked into two, and then three, as he drew on more and more of it. Fire exploded from his blades with his strike and the ground shook under the weight of his blows.

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The unit cheered on Ganondorf's endless onslaught, declaring him to be winning.

Ganondorf knew differently. Harken had yet to strike back. He was on the defensive, yes, but not because he was forced to be. Ganondorf was forcing Harken to use his inhuman strength to block and his incredible speed to keep up, but Ganon still had enough warrior sense to know he was outmatched. Ganon was leaving himself too many openings in order to make strong blows, and Harken was choosing not to exploit them. Ganon was being toyed with.

The thought only made him angrier. The mark on his hand ignited into a full three triangles. With a roar he struck at Harken, tendrils of Twilight erupted from the ground and held Harken down so he could not evade, and the man was lifted into the air when he was forced to block it. Harken landed squarely on his feet a few feet back. He looked at his blade. Ganondorf had managed to chip it. Ganon panted in equal parts bloodlust and exhilaration. Red-hot adrenaline pumped furiously in his veins at the same rate sweat poured from his arms and chest.

"You have grown strong, Ganondorf," Harken complimented. "How is it that one so mighty as you would help Qin? And by sheer irony of destiny, help 'him'?"

Ganon was unsure who 'him' was. "Because I choose to look to the future. Our ancestors wanted to join others in the plains, and so I wish to try it once more."

"Right, because that worked so well last time."

Ganondorf huffed. He needed time. Time for the reinforcements to arrive. Should be any minute. Ganondorf knew he was outmatched, so he might as well try and get what he came for. "Because of you? Or because of the Qin?"

"What do you ask?"

"I ask who started it." Ganon flashed his teeth at him. "What started the rebellion? Was our rebellion a response to the prejudice or was the prejudice a response to our rebellion!"

Harken turned his head to the side slightly, contemplating it. He lowered his blade. "What if I were to tell you it was both? Or neither? Would that satisfy you?"

Ganon laughed mockingly. "Nonsense."

"Did the two witches who raised you tell you nothing? Yes, I know them. They were there to witness your birth as well."

"They told me enough!"

"Clearly not, you seem bursting with unanswered questions. Makes me wonder why you are truly here... Are you here to help Qin, or to help yourself?" Harken looked into Ganondorf's eyes to perceive his thoughts.

Ganondorf panted in raw fury. He didn't know why it was getting him worked up so much. There was indeed a question he wanted to ask, but dare he? It didn't matter in the end who started the conflict, whether they be Qin or Dragmire. In the end the Qin had won and the Dragmire were scattered. No... what troubled Ganondorf was that his clan had turned to demon worship.

Harken's eyes briefly glanced down to Ganon's hand and noted how the triangle was three. He didn't know how, but Ganon had such a prodigal talent with power that he could draw on it from the others. In all fairness, he didn't care how either. What mattered to him was that it was blossoming.

Ganondorf finally said. "I want to know if you, and your generation, has damned the rest of us to the hells for power. Did you truly sign away our souls to demons? Do I have the blood of a demon-worshipper? Is this why my blood pumps with so much fury and hate? I must restrain myself at all times so as to not injure someone or alienate them with my speech. Is this because my blood and soul is tainted by you? If you were an elder to the Dragmire, then answer me this! Answer me, and I promise you a worthy death."

Link struggled to his feet and shook himself. He felt like his entire body was bruised. This man was just as strong as Ouki. He helped Solitare raise himself and together they neared, but did not go near enough. They saw they were outmatched. Only Ganondorf could keep up with his fellow Dragmire, but Link wondered how long that would last. He felt his power on his hand dim, almost seem drawn away, and he noted how Ganondorf's triangle had grown with it. Link recognized that the Majora king was drawing on his power temporarily to boost his own.

Harken stared at Ganondorf a good bit. A chuckle released itself from his lips and he grinned.

"You think this funny!? What you did was far worse than anything the Qin could have ever done to us!" Ganon declared.

"I do find it funny. But it is not that. It is that you seem to have come here knowing... nothing." Harken grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Ganon felt a chill go down his spine.

Harken said, "I cannot tell you who started it, as in my own eyes, it was a spiral of events that neither side were willing to step in and stop. No one truly started it. It is true, we sold ourselves to a demon. For this, the final clash was inevitable. But we gained power for it! The Dragmire now have the blood of demon-worshippers once more. But you..." Harken waved his sword. "You are so much more!"

Harken struck at Ganondorf from a far range, so Ganon did not see it coming when the blade extended itself into pieces outward like a whip. Ganon managed to block a part of it on his left, but the blade wrapped itself around him, cutting into his back and sides before interlocking at his front. Ganon had managed to block a portion of it, but now he was effectively wrapped in blades that gripped him tightly. His hands were stuck together. He managed to hold the grips on his blades, but he could not moved his hands.

Harken gripped the whip-blade and inched his way forward to him, making sure to keep the grip tight, until they were face to face.

"Have you never wondered why you used Twilight on me just now, yet could use Din's fire as well? Have you never contemplated the possibility that this is something that makes you unique, even among the other Dragmire? Anyone who practices one knows not to practice the other, lest they die. But you... you haven't. You have grown well, and have blossomed with Din's power greatly, but your potential... is so much more."

"Ganon!" Link yelled. Kagami also rushed forward to jump on Harken.

"Stay back!" Ganon yelled back.

Harken ignored them. He raised a hand. A purple mark appeared on his palm. Ganon looked at it and feared. Something about it gave off a smell he knew, a sight he recognized intimately. It was Twilight. He could use both, as the man said, but something about what the man was doing terrified him. Ganon did not fear death. What he was doing, though, felt like so much more.

"You are not merely the son of a demon-worshipper. You are the demon!" Harken murmured. A Twilight blade appeared in his palm, and he plunged it into Ganondorf's hand. The opposing hand to the one bearing the mark of the Goddess.

Ganondorf felt his heart stop. His eyes locked with the blade as it wounded him. It did not pierce his heart, but his heart stopped all the same. His sight turned red. He felt the blade seep into his hand like a poison, and at the same time the mark on his opposite hand poured itself into his hand like a hot fire. His heart kicked back into motion again, his eyes rolled back into his head, his body shook as conflicting forces seeped into his veins and fought, and he felt his body being torn in two.

Ganondorf lifted his head and cried out in agony.