●Rose●

Link stared at the girl, and with good reason. She was like no one he'd ever seen. Her clothes were as ragged and patched as a scarecrow's, her skin was nut-brown. She never stopped moving, whether it be tapping her fingers or twitching her head to the other side. She perched on her branch like a bird, and watched him with large, golden eyes.

After a while, she asked, "…Are you lost?" She had an odd, rasping accent, but otherwise her voice was bright and child-like. She continued, "You don't want to be lost out here. It's dangerous."

"Why?"

She tipped her head to the side, revealing a not-quite-Hylian ear. "You start to forget."

Link sighed. "Well I am lost, and I can't do anything about it now but look for a way out. Are you lost?"

There was something horribly malicious in the way she giggled. "Oh yes. We all are. That's what makes us what we are!"

"Well, what are you?"

She twitched her head back to the right, hiding the ear in a cascade of mahogany. She seemed to consider before answering, "Skull Kids."

Link felt his head swirl as all the stories of the Lost Woods came back to him. The odd ways it changed everyone who entered. The stories of those who never made it out…

"Memories are what makes us," his father had told him, "Skull Kids are lost children who have become saturated with the forest's magic and forgotten their memories of home. According to legend, as time passes, they become more like the trees that surround them. Their skin turns brown and leathery, all color drains from their hair and their eyes become those of a wild beast." If what his father said was true, than this girl, with her smooth skin and dark hair, must be a very new Skull Kid. Hesitantly, Link asked, "If you're a Skull Kid, can you show me the way out?"

She giggled, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. "I told you, I'm lost too!" Unexpectedly, she sighed. "Mother told me not to play in the woods, but I didn't listen. Doubt she'd know me now to scold me."

Link was startled. "You remember your mother?"

Her eyes were so sad… "Loosely. Not well. Hey, Mister?"

"Yeah?"

"If you get out, can I come with you?"

It was so off topic, and yet…Link smiled. "Well, I have to find a way out first, but sure. My name's Link…um, what should I call you?"

She twirled a lock of hair around one finger. "…Rose! I'm redder than any of the others."

He mock-bowed. "Alright then, Rose. I'll be sure to call for you if I find the way out.

She gave one last creepy giggle, before bounding off into the forest.

Over the next few weeks, Link wandered amongst the trees. Every few days, he returned to a spring he'd found to refill his canteen and check his reflection, to see if he was changing at all. As always, though, a young Hylian boy stared back at him. Link smiled at his watery self. "You and me, huh? If we don't get out soon, I think I'll go mad."

A hair-raising giggle sounded from behind him. "You're talking to your reflection! I don't think it's going mad you ought to be worried about!"

He turned with a small gasp of shock, "Rose! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

The giggle.

Link sighed and turned back to the pool of water. "I need some one to talk to, or I'll go mad sooner than planned. He seemed as good as any tree."

With a soft thump, the girl leapt from her tree. Though there were no footsteps, when Link looked up, the young Skull Kid was sitting next to him. She met his eyes.

"Tell me."

"-and just to top it off, I'm at exactly that age where I don't know if I'd be a Skull Kid or a Stalfos if I overstay my welcome in the Lost Woods!"

Rose had just let him talk, without interrupting once. When Link was finished, she whispered, "I used to search of a way out. But after a while, I began to forget. Important stuff, like my name. And when I saw my reflection, it wasn't me anymore. No one would be able to look at me and say, 'Yes, that's my daughter,'…And I gave up on my searching. There seemed no point to it. You can forget your promise, I don't know what I'd do if I got out now, anyway. I've got no place to go."

Link thought about this for a minute, then began fishing around in his pack. He produced a pen and a scrap of parchment. Slowly, carefully, he wrote a note. As he held it out to Rose, Link asked, "Can you read?"

The girl shook her head.

"Well, it says 'My name is Rose. I come from the Lost Woods. My friend Link told me to look for the Smith's house in South Hyrule Field. Can you help me?' Show that to anyone on the outside of these woods, and they can point you straight to my house."

Rose clutched the note to her chest. "Why?"

"So you never give up looking. Even if I don't make it, you can never give up, understand?"

The Skull Kid nodded. And then, her eyes overflowed with tears like honey.

I think it's needless to say that Link found his way out eventually. But though he stood in the entryway for hours calling her name, he never did see Rose again. And, of course, he had to go home before the forest changed its mind.

But I like to think that maybe, when he was battling great evil, and all hope seemed lost, Link remembered that day by the spring, and followed his own advice.

And as to Rose? Well, I believe she's still searching for her own way out, whether she remembers why or not.

So I suppose you could call this a tragedy.

Or you could call it a tale of hope.

I came up with this at 11:30 last night, waited for my parents to go to bed at 11:45, and wrote it all down in a little notebook by 1:20. I typed it up as soon as I woke up this morning, and I really wanted to get it out there as soon as possible. Or maybe it was that the story wanted to get out there as soon as possible.

If you don't like it, please don't draw and quarter me over why it sucks. I was very moved by the emotion flowing under all of it, and actually cried when I was writing it down.

I believe a story has its own desires, the author is just the vessel.