A/N: Hi guys! Sorry about the really long wait, had a bit of a writer's block and exams (I'll admit, I also procrastinated a bit with this chapter). Not much to say really, just hope you like it! Reviews would be great thanks, I'd love to get some feed back!

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda or Legend of Spyro

Edits:
- Minor grammatical, phrasing and formatting corrections
- Gave the Wraith a reason for messing with Link and Zelda and more prominent magical abilities
- Altered the interactions between the Wraith and the two: I was never happy with the original version, however I've found this rendition more fitting
- Altered Zelda's dialogue to sound more formal and less personal, as well as some of Cyril's to allow his sarcastic side to shine through

Chapter 4 - Bargaining

"My my, now what have we here?"

The stranger's icy cold breath caressed the back of Zelda's neck, causing the hairs to stand on end. She could feel the little colour she had left draining from her face, and soon found herself holding her breath. Both the princess and her companion remained still, not daring to move, as if their next would be their last. She could feel the stranger hanging over her, their eyes boring into her.

"Hm hm. Didn't you know it's rude not to answer someone when they're talking to you?"

They both remained silent. Zelda quickly glanced down at Link, his presence reassuring her somewhat, despite his injuries. He didn't meet her gaze however. The hero glowered at the stranger, his normally soft azure gaze now hardened and piercing, laced with venom. The princess would've found him rather intimidating, if it weren't for how vulnerable he was right now…

The stranger sighed; rather disappointed at the lack of responses he was getting from these foreign creatures. After all, he was hoping that he might get have a little fun with these two - life on Dante's Freezer did get a little dull and exasperating when you were constantly surrounded by imbeciles. Whatever these things were, they seemed to half a brain. Perhaps toying with them for a bit would prove entertaining; his kind fed and thrived on the pain and anguish of others, and it had been quite some time since his last meal.

The stranger heaved another sigh before nonchalantly placing a bony, fleshless hand upon the princess' shoulder, allowing his magic to course through her being, paralyzing her.

"You know, we don't often get very many visitors around these parts, least the likes of you two. Nor have we seen creatures such as yourselves before."

The stranger looked back down at the two creatures, a wicked smirk playing upon his skeletal face. He could feel one of the creature's shoulder tensed in fear beneath his hand, and the venomous look the wounded thing was giving him had increased in its ferocity tenfold. He observed the creature more closely, and could soon sense every single emotion emanating from its crippled form. Regret, helplessness, fear and a need to protect were aimed at its companion, but anger and hatred were directed at him. This amused him somewhat, but soon pieced together the emotions to learn something else about the wounded creature, and how to further incite his anger for his own gain.

He tightened his grip on the creature's shoulder, his magic sending jolts of pain through her body.

"It'd be quite the shame if anything were to happen to either of you..."

He watched the creature's expression as she began to writhe under his touch, looking desperately at its wounded companion for some kind of support. Eager to see how the other would react, he shot a glance in his direction.

He smirked inwardly.

He had struck a nerve.

Hard.

"Don't you dare touch her..."

The stranger smirked. "Oh look, it actually talks,"

Sitting up, the creature glowered at him, waiting for him to release his friend, whose breath had grown shaky beneath his vile magic.

"What if I don't want to? Perhaps I'll keep her. She seems a lot nicer than you anyway."

"What do you want from us, Stalfos?"

A perplexed look crossed his face. "What do you mean, 'Stalfos'?"

"That's what you are… isn't it?"

The stranger sighed in disappointment. "Perhaps you aren't as intelligent as I thought you were. Any fool would know what I am, and as far as I'm concerned there are no such things as 'Stalfos'."

It was the wounded creature's turn to look confused. He knew that it wasn't a true stalfos, for, oddly enough, it was just a hovering, skeletal torso. He'd thought it was just some sort of uncommon variant of the said creature, but obviously he was wrong.

"Oh well, I suppose you can pay for your ignorance with your friend's life. And please, put the dagger away before you hurt yourself."

The wounded creature glowered at him, lowering the blade he'd just drawn.

Not that it would help the two, anyway. It takes a bit more than that to kill a Wraith.

The wounded creature cursed under his breath and then continued to give him his death stare. He could sense futility radiating for him now, and it was delicious. He was already beginning to break, but the skeletal torso was sure that as long as the girl lived he'd remain steadfast; all the more for him to feast upon.

He heard the girl muttering something to herself, and he felt the atmosphere change rapidly. The emotions and auras he could feel the two creatures emitting were suddenly drowned out by this new, unknown force. He could feel it gathering within her lithe form, pulsing some sort of energy. He didn't know what it was, but judging by the painful sensations his bony form were receiving from the energy, he could tell that it was of a nature that was meant to destroy the very essence that he'd been created from.

The skeletal torso drifted back several paces, his once mischievous mood souring into a subtle rage. He could see the male creature smirking at him and shifting to get more upright, a black piece of cloth held to his gory wound. The female stood, but kept her back to him. He could see a triangular insignia glowing brightly on the back of her right hand; the source of whatever magic that had overpowered his own.

"Perhaps I'm not the only that should listen others more often,"

Whatever holy magic she'd just launched at him, it had quite a bite to it.

The hovering monster hissed at the girl, his fleshless hand held to his now blackened and smoking collar bone. He'd never intended to physically harm these foreign creatures, let alone start a fight with them; hence why he'd taken the stronger of the two first. The skeletal creature had already decided that after watching her battle those apes. Despite her apparent inexperience with battling with the moronic creatures, one could tell she was skilled in the field of combat, even without her magical abilities.

However, he could also tell that she was weakened. Summoning her light magic must've drained her somewhat, for her previous ferocity had been undermined by the spell. It looked as if she were struggling to remain upright.

Despite her weak state, the female creature shifted into a rather poor battle stance, ready to defend her wounded friend.

To the ghoul's relief and slight annoyance, a familiar, icy voice intervened.

"How about we break this up before someone gets hurt?"

The two creatures looked in the direction of the voice, and he could easily sense fear and recognition emitting from them.

The formidable ice dragon held his head high, peering down over his nose at the odd collection of creatures standing before him. The Wraith was easily recognizable, but the other two were completely foreign. They both rank of the alien blood he'd been following, but it only took a quick glance to tell which of the two it belonged to.

The scaly creature glanced at the skeletal ghoul and growled. "Perhaps you should leave now, before I add to the injuries that have been inflicted upon you by your new acquaintance."

Cyril watched the fiend slink back into the shadows of the fortress, glowering as he did so. He didn't hold much against the Wraiths, nor did they hold much against him, but they still knew who was boss, despite how much they resented the fact.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

The frankness and bluntness of his questions seemed to take the two aback. The female looked slightly offended but watched him warily. The wounded male eyed the dragon with suspicion, but he could see a hint of curiosity beneath his scrutinizing gaze.

"Why should we answer you? You bear the blood of your victims upon your own hide, so how is it that we can come to trust one such as yourself?" The male retorted.

Cyril felt rather embarrassed at the accusations. He spoke the truth, for the ice dragon was still covered in ape blood, and if the situation were to be reversed he would certainly feel the same way. There was no way he'd try to explain it though, for it would be a rather piteous sight for him to be making up excuses about spilt ape blood. Volteer would surely get a laugh out of it.

"Don't you think it's a little dangerous to be wandering about Dante's Freezer without a guide, or at least some proper protection?"

The question sounded more like an insult than anything, and the female immediately took offense.

"I'm sure we can take care of ourselves, thank you very much."

"Oh yes, you seemed to be doing quite a fine job of protecting yourselves from that Wraith. You would've had him had I not intervened."

As vexed as she was by the dragon's arrogance and sarcasm, Zelda knew he was right. They were lost and vulnerable, and it appeared that this proud beast might be the only way to get Link to safety.

"Well then, perhaps you could be so kind as to offer us some assistance."

Cyril could still sense the resentment in her voice, but he could that she was asking for help whilst trying to keep her dignity. Both she and her companion were in pretty bad shape, and despite the ice dragon's pride, Cyril couldn't just leave them there to be attacked by another unearthly creature that roamed the fortress. He had to help, but first he wanted answers.

"Perhaps I could, but first I'd like you to answer my questions."

"Very well then, but only if you answer the same questions yourself, for our sake."

"In case you haven't noticed, you're not in the position to be bargaining."

"Perhaps not, but I'm sure a proud and intelligent creature such as yourself wouldn't go out of your way to save a couple of strangers for no reason; you must have some interest vested in us."

As much as it displeased Cyril, she was right; it was his duty to watch over Dante's Freezer for any abnormalities or conflict, and since the appearance of the two had brought both of these to the icy wasteland he was obliged to investigate. Wraiths were also known indulge their sadistic pleasures upon unsuspecting travelers, and Cyril held no desire to watch the two suffer at the wretched beast's hands. Unwilling to admit defeat, the ice dragon simply shifted his gaze off to the left, knowing that the insightful creature would understand.

He saw the female smirk as she perceived his silent answer, and then proceeded to keep her end of the bargain and, figuring that they were no longer in Hyrule and well out of Ganondorf's reach, revealed their identities to the fearsome beast.

"My name is Zelda Harkinian, and this is my friend and guardian, Link. And as for why we're here… look, to be completely honest, we're not actually sure where 'here' even is."

"Lost, I presume?"

Zelda shot him a guarded look, "I suppose you could say that. Perhaps you ought to uphold your part of our agreement before I elaborate."

"Very well then, Zelda. I am Cyril, the dragon Guardian of Ice, and 'here', Dante's Freezer, is my dominion. I suspect you'll be in need of some shelter from the cold?"

Zelda gave a curt nod. "It would be much appreciated, thank you."

She then proceeded to help Link get to his feet, who'd gone rather quiet during her negotiations with the dragon, who was now wiping the blood off his back on the snow.

"That was rather formal," Link said, his voice just under a whisper.

"Yeah, I guess. I suppose that's what happens when you spend your entire childhood surrounded by politicians and nobles," Zelda replied, as she supported her friend on her shoulder and led him towards the now clean ice dragon. "You feeling okay? You don't sound too good."

"Hm? Yeah, just bit light-headed and a little nausea, that's all."

"…You sure?"

"I'll be fine Zelda, I promise."

The princess laughed lightly. "You know Link, you shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

"And what makes you think that I can't look after myself?"

"That giant gaping hole in your shoulder, that's what."