My head was killing me by the time I woke up. In fact, everything was hurting as I opened my eyes. It felt like I was wearing a really thick blanket, but at least it was soft on my skin. I lifted my head and gently shook it, taking in the dry air. My limbs ached as I pushed myself off the stone floor. Stone...? The memories of what happened back at the spring came to mind, and I looked down slowly to find two furry white forelegs instead of normal human arms.

I am a wolf. All things considered, this isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it'd be.

I breathed in with my nose, flinching slightly at the cold that stuck to the wet skin, and exhaled through my mouth. I felt a limp mass of muscle flop out and sag along my sharpened fangs and I gagged when I realized that it was my tongue. Groady…

I sniffed again with my nose and took in the many scents around me; stone, water, mud, the bale of hay behind me, my own fur, and a vague smoky smell, like a bonfire or something. I shrugged off my curiosity and looked down at the chain that bound me to the floor. I wiggled my paw a bit and saw the thick chain jiggle. I don't know if I can bite through… Wait a second… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I inspected the cuff on my left foreleg, just above the wrist, and nearly cried out at the sheer idiocy of it. The cuff was a slip-on, not a hinge!

How stupid can these creatures be?! I growled to myself. If they could slip it on, I can slip it off, but... I think this'll hurt a little. I steeled myself for the pain I was going to have to inflict in order to be free. I lifted my right paw and began sliding the cuff down my wrist, wincing at the squeezing sensation and the sting of my own claws cutting into my flesh. Ow ow ow ow ow ow... The digits of my left paw were clenched painfully against each other as the cuff slid down my fur. It was a macabre sight when my own blood served as a lubricant for the metal to slide on. After several more extremely painful moments of squeezing and tugging and clawing, the cuff fell to the ground with a loud clang, and I was free.

I inspected my begrudgingly self-inflicted wounds, thin red lines running along my wrist, and determined they were minor from the small trickles of blood running down my foreleg. I needed to get them healed, but I wasn't in danger of bleeding to death. Turning my attention to the shackle, I swatted it aside with my injured paw. It clanked and clonked along the ground before coming to a stop right in front of two tiny feet, one black, the other white.

A shrill giggle echoed around the room, but I merely looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "I found you!" she declared, her voice grating against my nerves. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead turning my head to her and taking in her appearance.

So this is Midna, hm? She was exactly as I remembered from the game, only in better quality than I've ever seen. Black and white skin, glowing symbols, yellow and red right eye, Fused Shadow, and fiery red-orange ponytail, it was surreal looking at the Twilight Princess herself after hours of playing the game she appeared in. I always held the notion that she resembled a Japanese child, like the ones from all those horror movies, and this only served to strengthen my belief. She was barely taller than me as I stood on all fours; only her helmet and ponytail gave her the height advantage. Her body was like a vase; thin chest, smaller waist, wide hips, and legs that angled inward slightly while her arms stretched down almost to her knees and made her look slightly like a monkey.

The imp flashed a smile at me, revealing the fang on the left side of her mouth, and leaped into the air. I didn't even bother to act startled as she landed right in front of me and patted the underside of my jaw. The scent of flames was much stronger now, possibly coming from her hair itself since it looked like slow-motion fire.

"Eee hee hee, you're not as stupid as I thought!" That was when I noticed something. I never really took notice of how the Ordonians spoke, and I realized that was because they had fairly regular American accents, which was strange in and of itself. Midna, on the other paw, rolled her r's and had an accent that I couldn't even guess at other than Twilian, but no one has ever heard them speak English so that was a useless comparison. Sadly, the finer details of her speaking patterns were irrelevant at the moment. I raised a paw and she blinked at it and tilted her head. I rolled my eyes and tried to walk forward, only to trip over my own legs and fall snout-first on the floor.

Ow. Again. I picked myself up and slowly put one paw in front of the other and stepped forward using one leg at a time, hissing when I put pressure on my left front paw. Easy does it... When I finally reached the bars of the cell, I sighed in relief and triumph and then heard clapping coming from behind me.

"You're so cute, taking your first steps," Midna said into my ear. I whipped my around and glared at her. It seemed to have worked since she backed off and winced as though seeing something unpleasant, but she quickly smiled and pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. "They grow up so fast."

I narrowed my eyes but ignored her as I moved over to the stack of gray boxes blocking the gap in the cell door. I looked back at Midna and pointed at her and then at the bars while nudging my head at the stack of boxes in the corner of the cell door. She nodded with another cheeky smile before vaporizing into bubbles and twirled through the gaps in the door. She reformed herself and beckoned me to come, then stretched her arms and yawned. I shook my head and cautiously pushed the empty boxes aside, revealing a small area where the bottom bars were rusted and bent and an indent in the stone floor would allow me enough room to escape.

Oh Gods... I took in a deep breath and began digging at the gravel, already feeling that tightening sensation in my muscles. My breathing grew faster and more panicked as my vision began to tunnel. I spotted the surface and almost frantically tore my way through. Once I was safely on all fours and my breathing went back to normal, I shook my body to get the dirt out of my fur. I hope my wrist doesn't get infected... I turned to Midna only to find that she was nowhere in sight.

She giggled again and I immediately stepped to the side, hearing a thud and a quiet "Oof!" after I did so. Midna sat on the ground, one hand rubbing her rump, and glared at me. I huffed in the closest wolf laugh I could manage while she floated into the air and tried to sit on me again, but I shot forward, remarkably agile considering my lack of practicing in my new body, and she crashed to the floor again.

"Hold still, furball!" Midna growled, hoisting herself into the air while glaring at me with her one visible eye. She must not have known what a wolf's smile looked like as she floated down and landed softly on my back. Her skin was cool to the touch but her overall body heat counteracted this as she got comfortable, gripping the fur on the back of my head as leverage.

Midna smiled and sighed loudly. "This is much bett-AH!" Her voice was quickly muffled as I rolled over, squishing her against my body and the floor. When I returned to my feet, she was still laying haphazardly on the ground, her one eye wide as she clawed at her face. "I got fur in my mouth!" she barked. I laughed because she was making more animal noises than I was. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to clean shadow silk?!"

I tilted my head at her and wondered, Shadow silk? Ahh, the dark spots on her skin must be shadow silk! I knew the developers of the game had to justify her appearance somehow!

Midna swiftly grabbed my jaw and forced me to look at her as she grumbled out, "Are you finished being difficult?" I nodded but laughed again as she landed gently on my back. "I was planning on helping you… if you were nice." I rolled my eyes at her and started walking over to the adjacent open cell, where a chain ending in a loop hung before a small gate. I was about to leap up and bite the chain but Midna pulled on my ears and leaned down casually, resting her chin on the top of my head. "So, I bet you're wondering, 'where exactly are we?'! Well, I'll make you a deal. If you can get out of this room without my help, maybe I'll tell you! Eee hee!"

I turned my head as far around as I could to look at her and gestured up at the chain. Midna seemed to understand as she tightened her grip on my fur. Once she was settled, I jumped up and caught the loop of the chain, nearly gagging at the taste of rusted metal and the pull of gravity against my fangs. The gate nearby lifted upward and I promptly let go, landing somewhat awkwardly on my paws.

"Not bad, wolfy, not bad at all!" Midna cheered and kicked her heels into my sides. I stepped over to the opening and peered inside. It was a tunnel that led down a ways and curved to the right, and as I followed it, I felt Midna lay down, probably to keep from bonking her head against the low ceiling. After the turn, I saw the exit and hopped out.

I landed in a somewhat spacious sewer canal with raised sidewalks and dirty water streaming below. "Huh, what's that?" She pointed over to an orb wreathed in green fire that hovered at the corner turn of the canal. "Take a look; you should know how to do this!"

I swallowed down my irritation and walked forward, only for Midna to speak again. "Want to know something interesting? I doubt you're used to your new body yet, so I'll just tell you... You're a beast; you can focus your senses and poke around-"

"Oh for the love of Gods, SHUT UP!" I snarled my frustration, even though I only thought that angry thought. I was about to continue on until I noticed the silence. I felt lightness on my back and when I turned around, Midna was no longer there. I faced forward only to bump noses with the imp, her one eye staring at me suspiciously.

"So," she started slowly, "You can speak after all." My eyes widened at her as I stepped back, but she caught the fur at the back of my head and glared into my eyes. "Maybe now you can explain to me what this is?" She held up a small white object that had a blue ring with a black dot in its center and I immediately panicked.

"It fell out again?!"

Midna's brow shot up as she grimaced. "You mean this has happened before? What is this thing?"

"It's..." I trailed off and Midna frowned. With a sigh, I mentally said, "It's my eye."

Midna snorted. "Wrong. I know how eyes should look and this is not-"

"It's a fake eye!" I barked to emphasize my anger. "It's a Goddess damned fake eye, okay?! Now give it back!"

Midna's eye widened for a moment before she scowled darkly and tightened her grip on the back of my neck. "First off, don't you dare yell at me. Second, how exactly do you plan on holding this thing? It fell out while you were transforming."

I sighed and clenched my jaw. She had a point but I didn't want to ask her to hold on to it. If only I had opposable thumbs... "What do you suggest then?"

"I'll hold onto it for you," Midna said with a shrug. She snapped her fingers and the disc-like object vanished into tiny black squares. "See? Easy as that, but I do expect a fascinating story about it later." The imp giggled and stepped back, releasing the vice-like grip on my fur. "So, now that we have a method of communication..." She bowed over-dramatically. "What's your name? I need something to call you besides Wolfy after all."

I stared at the change in demeanor for a little bit before I shrugged and nodded my head. Name's Zach. Instead of replying, she continued bobbing on the balls of her feet.

"Well?" Midna asked. "Don't tell me a cat's got your tongue! Eee hee!" I huffed in irritation and she tilted her head, eye narrowed. "I wonder…" She lifted one finger and pressed it into the center of my forehead.

I looked up at the finger and then at Midna. "Is this how you greet people? Poking them in the forehead?"

"Aha!" The imp laughed and petted my head. "You're not really speaking; I'm just hearing your thoughts whenever we're touching."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Spectacular, can we get moving now?"

Midna smiled and wagged a finger in front of my snout. "Ooh, someone's got a bit of an attitude." She made an exaggerated pout and cupped my jaw. "There there," she patted my head with her other hand, "you be a good boy now. No need to bite!" She lifted into the air and plopped unceremoniously on my back, then lounged forward against my neck. "Listen, I like you, so I think I'll get you out of here."

"Yeah, cause I totally needed help back in my cell."

Midna giggled. "Okay, I admit, that was clever," she sat up, "but trust me when I say you'll need my help getting out of here. But..." she grabbed my ear tightly and yanked hard, forcing my head back. "In exchange for my help, you have to do exactly as I say!"

I snorted and shook my head tiredly. "You know, I'm very tempted to scare you right now."

Midna scratched behind my ears and laughed. "Hah! You're just a ball of fluff, Person-Whose-Name-I-Do-Not-Know! How can you possibly frighten me?"

"Name's Zach, but we can skip the formalities..." I smiled, or I think I smiled at least. "Midna."

She gasped, and from the sound of it, she was genuinely shocked. "How-"

"We can work out explanations and details later; let's just get out of here first." Before she could get another word in, I darted down the sewer canal, completely bypassing the spirit orb.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Midna protested. "That was a spirit orb; it probably had helpful information for you."

With a roll of my eyes, I retorted, "We're in Hyrule Castle's sewer system, I don't need information." I turned the corner and saw my exit at the end of the hall, past a barred gate."Go over to the other side of that gate and wait for me. I'll need to take a detour."

"Hmph, since when are you giving the orders?"

"Since you weren't going to help me get through anyway." With a final huff, the imp floated off my back and coalesced on the other side of the gate, her flaming hair waving and beckoning at me. Women…

I trotted over the edge of the canal and studied the spikes in the middle of the intersection. Who the hell puts spikes in a sewer? Is this Megaman? There were no ledges or sidewalks I could use to cross the seven or so feet of spikes, so I had to improvise. At first, I considered looking for the chain that would raise the water level so I could swim across, but the lingering taste of rusted metal persuaded me not to. The slithering black creatures lurking nearby also helped convince me to do it the hard way.

Instead, I placed my paw between the gaps in the spike rows, taking note of the extra space there. I slowly edged my way forward, keeping all four paws firmly in between the sharp edges. It took over ten minutes and some inevitable cuts and scrapes, but I finally reached the end of the hall, where a ledge sat above me. I winced silently at the press of spikes in my hindlegs, but I ignored it as I coiled up my body and shot up, catching the edge and hoisting myself up.

What a pain in the ass.

I looked down the corridor and saw that the floor dipped into another sewer canal, with the gate and Midna at the far side. Beside the gate was a broken section of wall that formed a small tunnel, and as I made my way over, I heard Midna giggle at me.

"You're more stubborn than I thought you'd be!"

And you're just as useless as I knew you would be. I shook my head and looked into the tunnel, already feeling lightheaded at the prospect of squeezing through yet another tight space.

"You say something?" Midna mocked, cupping a hand around her pointed ear. "Can't hear you!"

I ignored her jabs and lay low to the ground. The tunnel was just barely big enough for me to fit, but I forced myself to continue forward. My vision blurred and I could feel my heart beating in its canine chest as my sides were pressed against the cold and jagged walls. I clawed faster and harder than I needed to but after several agonizingly tight moments in the stone death trap, I popped out the other side and into a small storage room filled with barrels of beer, judging from the scent of alcohol that flooded my nostrils.

Nearby was another spirit orb, probably drunk judging from its location near an opened tap and mug. I shuddered and hopped up onto one barrel, then another and then leapt onto the ledge that led to the other side of the gate. Midna was nowhere to be seen, but I knew she was waiting to slam herself down on my back, so I darted forward into the hallway, ignoring the "Oof!" that echoed behind me.

"Grr, stop doing that!" the imp screeched as she sat forcefully on my back.

"As soon as you stop trying to snap my spine," I replied. She said nothing as I inspected the spiral staircase in the room I entered. It was a wide space that stretched up high, with broken segments of stair in the water below. As I made my way to the first large break, Midna floated off my back and hovered over the stair past the gap, her hair hand beckoning at me.

"Come on!" she called. "I'll help you across! I wouldn't want my new pet to drown, would I?" She fluttered her eyelashes at me in mock innocence.

New pet? Oh hell no, I'm not your damn pet! I growled at her and leapt across the way, but as I reached Midna, she vanished and I landed on a crumbling stair that broke off and sent me tumbling into the water. My senses were clouded by how cold the water was and my limbs were flailing every which way.

Oh Gods, I can't swim like this! My mind grew fuzzy as my panic set in, my body sinking under the surface until I was completely underwater. I'm gonna die! I felt something large and warm grab around my torso and yank me out of the water, then drop me like a wet towel on the stone floor. I shivered in my fur and focused on getting my breath and sense back, all the while not noticing the imp standing next to me with her hand on my head.

Midna scratched my head gently as she wrung her ponytail out with her free hand. "I thought you could swim, since you know so much! Eeh hee hee!" I growled at her and shook the dampness off my fur, soaking Midna as I did so. She gasped at the cold drops on her skin and hit my shoulder, though not as hard as I expected.

"I think we're going to get along just fine," I thought, knowing Midna could hear. She shrugged and floated over to the piece of staircase across the gap.

"Alright, for real this time!" I nodded and ran up the staircase, and then flung myself at Midna. She drew her hands back in the 'Bring it' gesture, and my body was thrust across the gap faster than I expected, and I landed perfectly on the staircase. Midna clapped as she seated herself gently onto my back. "Bravo! Ten points!"

I snorted in a wolfish laugh and made my way up the remnants of the spiral stairs, occasionally coming upon another broken segment that Midna helped me cross. Before long, we reached the next floor, where three black creatures were shuffling about lazily. They were short and stubby, not unlike Midna, only they were completely black except for the red symbol on their chests and the dark silver helmets.

The symbol sent an involuntary shiver down my spine as I read it: It was the letter 'Z'. I shrugged it off, since they were part of Zant's forces, and focused on how best to destroy them.

I looked down at my paws and studied the claws attached to them; reasonably sharp, but not long enough to pierce their skin deeply. I sighed when I realized I would have to use my teeth to rip their throats out, already gagging at the taste. I shook my head and charged, knocking the first one down with a swift headbutt, but the second and third were already around me, swinging bizarre clubs at me. One caught me on the left side of my face, sending my vision into blurs, and I growled angrily at the culprit.

I pounced on the Shadow Bulblin, since I remembered that that was what they were outside the Twilight, and clenched my jaws around its neck, its slimy black hands sliding against my snout. I chomped down harder and blood spurted into my mouth as its limbs spasmed out before it exploded in wispy red smoke. I ignored the copper taste on my fangs as I stared down the remaining Shadow Bulblins, the first one already recovered from my headbutt. I lashed out with my claws and knocked the club out of one's hand, then rammed into it with all the force I could muster, sending it down the spiral staircase I emerged from.

Before I could attack again, my forelegs were swept out from under me, sending me snout-first into the ground. I looked up and saw the final Shadow Bulblin raise its club to crush my skull, only for a fiery hand to grab the creature's arms. The beast squealed in pain as I heard its bones break under the pressure, and I looked up at Midna, who looked both amused and angry at the same time.

"Now now, hitting poor helpless animals isn't very nice," she said sweetly, and then she flung the Shadow Bulblin out the nearby window, where it quickly fell out of sight. I slowly picked myself up from the ground, shaking the disorientation and pain away from my head.

I nodded up at her and thought, "Thanks." She smiled, her fang peeking out from her lip, but I noticed she was panting slightly. "You okay?"

She waved her hand at me carelessly and said, "Of course, just tired from all that heavy-lifting on the staircase," she winked at me... or just blinked, I couldn't tell with one of her eyes covered by the Fused Shadow, "not to mention saving you from the one that got away."

I nodded and mentally said, "Yeah, I'm still not used to this body. If I were human, I'd have done much better." I examined the room and found an open archway high above, with some rafters and support beams leaning against the wall below it. Midna helped me jump up, and once we were outside, I took in the blue and gray roofs of Hyrule Castle stained in a golden hue from the Twilight. Several enormous winged black birds swept across the open skies while thunder and strong winds boomed around us.

How did I go from the sewers of Hyrule Castle to its roof so quickly? To this day I have no idea. The game made that goof too.

"So, we were finally able to get out," Midna chirped, stretching out and yawning. "And look at the sky! Isn't the black cloud of Twilight looking beautiful today?"

"Meh, six out of ten."

"Hmph!" Midna kicked her heels into my sides and giggled. "Look, there's someone I want to introduce you to… but-"

"You need me to go to that tower to do it," I interrupted, pointing my paw at the citadel far away.

Midna scowled and crossed her arms as she grumbled, "Smarty pants."

I sighed and looked up at her. "Why do you want to introduce me to Princess Zelda anyway?"

Midna raised her visible brow and said, "She's not a princess, she's a Queen."

"Huh, she finally got promoted." I looked over to the tower and chuckled. "Took her long enough."

"Just go and talk to her." Midna paused and giggled. "Or rather, her talk and you listen, like a good boy."

I groaned at her and walked slowly along the slanted rooftop, watching my footing and the giant birds looming overhead. The rooftop I was on ended soon with a stone platform nearby, with a spirit orb floating back and forth along its path.

"So, there are even spirits up here, huh?" Midna cited.

I rolled my eyes and growled up at her. "Quit pointing out the obvious. I can see just fine." I leapt down from the blue shingles to the gray stone and trotted right through the spirit orb. It felt like walking through a fire, minus the burning and singeing part.

There was scaffolding just past the spirit, but it was too high for me to climb, so Midna helped me up. The scaffolding ended and joined with a small stone parapet that stood above the roof connected to the tower I was trying to get to. I coiled up to make the jump, but Midna's shriek of "Look out!" threw me off balance. I leapt off but the angle was wrong, and I found myself sliding down the slippery blue shingles, my paws unable to get traction or grips on broken tiles.

The edge of the roof was coming up fast and I couldn't find a way to escape, until a large black bird-thing flew directly at me from the left and collided with my body. I rolled over the top of the beast and nearly fell off the roof completely, if I hadn't chomped down hard on the damn thing's tail. With a roar that sounded like a deep trumpet, the Shadow Kargarok flapped its great smoky wings and soared higher into the sky, dragging me along behind it, with Midna clinging tightly to my fur.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she cried, her hair flailing behind like a great tapestry of fire.

"Attention Passengers, this is your captain speaking. We will be going through some turbulence so please fasten your seat-belt and lift your tray into the 'Up' position. Thank you." I ignored the taste of blood in my mouth as the Twilit creature took a sharp turn to the right, nearly snapping my neck from the whiplash, and began to deliberately spiral downward."Find something to hold on to!" I called to Midna. "Or just... float away! This is going to be rough!"

"Huh- ZACH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Her scream echoed in my skull as I released my jaws from the thing's foul-tasting tail just as it bucked up suddenly, causing me to be flung through the air like a ragdoll, right at the decorative window on the tower I needed to go to.