Author's Note: The last two chapters weren't edited, as you can likely tell with all the typos. I'd like to apologize for that. Having read through them again myself I can honestly say I'm very sorry you all had to deal with that issue. I had time to edit this one a little more.


Beauty and the Beast


Chapter 7: A Glimpse of Sunlight

"Where are you going?" Ganondorf made an about turn. His matted hair whirled about behind him.

Zelda stilled and turned. She was several steps back in the direction of Castle Town. "The waterway is through another gate."

Ganondorf frowned. "We're not returning inside, princess." They lacked the power to kill the beasts within aside from his magic and he had no want to be sent back to that cell. No doubt a second escape would not be as easy. Or perhaps the Twili controlling the castle would just have them killed to spare himself the trouble. He would have done that to his captives, after all. It was far easier than having to worry about the little termites. Past experience had taught him that taking prisoners was a recipe for disaster. Past incarnations of Zelda and her little hero had taught him that.

Damn kids.

"Then how do you propose we leave?" Zelda raised an eyebrow. It was a rhetorical question. She knew there was no other way. "We cannot simply hop over cliff sides and walls with nought but a please and thank you."

Heaving a great sigh, Ganondorf raised meaty, calloused fingers to pinch the wide bridge of his nose. "I don't know, princess." His yellowed teeth ground together. Zelda winced. It was an awful sound. Ganondorf didn't seem to care. In fact, at that point if it annoyed her he seemed content to just keep doing it. "Damn it, woman. Give me time to think."

Zelda opened her mouth to say something scathing and... paused. She raised a hand to him and motioned to one side. Voices from outside the twilight. One sounded decidedly male and the other childish; high pitched yet oddly sinister in some ways. No. Wait. Not sinister. Just sarcastic. Zelda looked to her companion. Ganondorf stared back.

A silent decision was made.

Ganondorf approached the barrier with caution, laid a hand against it and spoke clearly: "Can you hear me?" Stiled and apparently ineffective since no answer was forthcoming. The voices had stopped at his words, but no move was made to respond. "Useless-" He'd turned to speak to Zelda when a great shudder ran along that section of the barrier. "Damn!" The Gerudo spat, launching himself forward towards the princess in a mad dash to escape the black particles that had impacted the ground right where he had been previously. Breathing heavily, a hand flew to the hilt of the sword at his hip. He gripped it with white knuckles.

Zelda, effectively weaponless aside from the piece of metal tray in her dress, fisted her fingers and watched with narrowed eyes.

The wolf that emerged from the darkness was too tame to be normal. There was intelligence in its bright blue eyes and for a moment the beast and Ganondorf stared each other down. The moment was broken when an imp-like creature landed upon the beast's back. "Hey. You two." The imp smirked, flashing little fangs. "Not spirits, huh?" Whacking the wolf's back, she urged her 'steed' forward.

"And glad of it." Ganondorf returned. "If that is the fate that Hylians have been given in this worthless world, I'll be glad to have avoided it."

The imp smirked again. "What's so bad about it?"

Ganondorf sneered, about to draw his sword again when Zelda glided between them. "Calm yourselves before you make a mess of this situation and call those foul creatures down on us." The Shadow Beasts screeched ominously from beyond the gates of Castle Town. All turned to eye the large doors warily. They remained resolutely closed. Moments passed before Zelda could breathe a sigh of relief, continuing conversation in a hushed tone. "We need to escape. Please. Can you get us out?"

Rising up, the imp pushed off the wolf's back with her little hands to float towards the princess. "Hmmmmm. Alright. But just to the outside." Raising her little hands to the forbidding sky, a portal of black opened above them all. Ganondorf, able to see it, made to grab Zelda's hand, unwilling to be separated from her when they'd already come so far together.

The world went black. Thankfully it didn't stay that way for long. Soon both the Gerudo and the princess were stumbling across the soft, sun lit grass of the true Hyrule Field. Zelda breathed a shaky sigh of relief. "Thank you." She spoke to the imp, a hand running through her snarled hair.

Shrugging, the creature raised a little black hand to wave as if dismissing them. "Go on! Link and I have places to go, princesses to save..." She trailed off.

Zelda stepped forward to still their advance. "No! I am princess Zelda of Hyrule. Avoid that place if you can for now. There's a man there. He's taken-"

The imp cut her off. "Oh! You're the princess? Lucky us!" Yet the mention of the 'man' made her float forward. Though in their world she was nought but the wolf's shadow. "I know. The man is called Zant and he has a dream of turning your world into twilight. We were coming to you to see how to turn Link back to his Hylian form. He's cursed." The shadow indicated the wolf.

Tilting her head slightly, Zelda approached. "I have not the power to break this curse. But I know something that can. You must travel to the Sacred Grove and obtain the Master Sword - the sword of evil's bane. There is such a great light within it that it will break the curse. But... only if he can wield it."

"He can." The imp seemed certain of it and it made Zelda straighten, raising her chin to peer down at the beast.

Ganondorf came to her side. "So this is supposed to be Hyrule's hero? And what are you, imp? I'd half expected a whiny ass fairy." Shaking his head, heavy steps took him past the imp and onward into the field. "Zelda. We need to leave – find shelter before night sets in."

A frown creased the princess' delicate lips. "Forgive him. He lacks the ability to be a polite member of Hylian society. What may I address you as?"

A grumble came from the shadow imp before she shrugged. "Let him go. The monsters will get him eventually, I figure." Except not. He'd stood some distance away to wait for Zelda. The imp retreated back into the wolf's shadow, indicating the conversation was coming to a close. "My name is Midna. Come on, Link. At least we know our next stop."