Disclaimer: I don't own

AN: this may be my weirdest Fanfiction to date…

Link blocked one flute, made a strike for the skull kid's chest and retreated. He repeated the process 15 times still the skull kids. The already-warm air was just now getting to him as he tried to push one away. From where he stood, he could smell the rot in the air he breathed. It slowly began to sink in just how far-gone the environment was. The trees were decaying and most of the grass around them was dead. The trees that were alive seemed feral, viciously clinging to what life they had, even at the cost of other plant life.

Link could barely make eye contact with his opponents. Every time he did, he would imagine Mido or the Know-it-all brothers and everyone he knew in the Kokiri forest, decayed, and starved, with sallow skin but the strength of someone desperate to continue living.

Saria searched frantically for a large enough stick to serve as a club. Saria made a few swings but mostly stayed with him to pull him back. After each of their branches had broken in half, Link took Saria's hand and ran as far as they could go. Saria dully noted they were going uphill. Turning left and right, they tripped over logs, half-rotted through. The mud sucked at their feet, pulling them down. Everything around them felt like it was decomposing. Five miles later, Link turned back only to see that they weren't being followed.

"S-Saria? Wha- what happened? What are they doing just standing there?"

She turned, breathless, to see the Skull Kids just staring at the two forest children. Their orb-like eyes only expressed the desire to pursue…. But something seemed to keep them from continuing. Link backed up a step and bumped into someone taller. He turned around quickly to see his first "Grown-up".

She was beautiful even though her hair was so grey it was silver. That same beautiful hair reached the center of her back and was lined a dark green. Lines crinkled finely under her brown eyes. She stood at about 5ft 6". Her clothes were older but hardly faded; her forest-green and tan dress gave her an air of grace and elegance.

Link backed away from her in awe, as did Saria. Behind them The Skull kids were whispering one name over and over.

"Alra… Alra… Alra…"

"n-no way… NO WAY! IT'S A STORY!" Link shouted in disbelief.

"It's alright" the woman soothed"

She smiled comfortingly and opened her palm to face the smaller, Link. He backed up one more step before starting to run. He only made it a few feet before collapsing.

"LINK!!!" Saria screeched

She ran up to Link as the Skull children cheered.

"Link… Link please! Please wake up!" she pleaded, shaking him again and again.

The woman named Alra, picked the boy up gently and walked towards the Skull children

"NO! NO! WAIT!!" Saria screamed "GIVE HIM BACK!"

She ran after the woman with her shorter child-sized legs. The Skull Children followed her in a jerky run. The woman in front of her almost glided. Link's head flopped off the side of the strange woman's arm, dead to the world.

Saria panted in exhaustion as sweat poured down her body in rivulets. The scenery that had taken them hours to walk through now hardly took any time at all.

"A-Alra! Wait!"

At last the woman turned towards Saria

"pu-…put him down!"

"If I do that, he'll rot away faster than you."

Her voice made her sound wise even beyond her years; like a tired guardian, tending the land.

"wh-huh?! What do you mean rot away?!"

"Come on, you shouldn't be here."

"What did you do to him?!"

"Just knocked him out for a bit, he's fine. I'm not going to hurt him"

"You could have hurt him already!"

The Alra took Saria's hand with a smile

"You two came from The Great Deku Tree's forest right? You should heed his words more often. Do NOT come into the Lost Woods."

A gentle white light rose from the ground, over them. Saria winced and shut her eyes once. Once was all it took to miss everything. Looking up at the sky, she saw stars…. Heard crickets and owls… such sounds and sight she normally took for granted was now so overwhelmingly beautiful to her now. Only when Alra started walking did she remember Link

"Hey! Wait! Give him back!"

Alra smiled, irritated somehow

"Take him home. He won't remember a thing. Come back by night fall, tomorrow. All you have to do is walk in."

"But…. You just said…"

"Turn left and head straight as far as you can go. You'll get back to the Kokiri Forest safely."

"o-ok…"

The older woman set Link on the ground

"You have 30 minutes. Go."

"30min-"

"GO!"

Saria picked up Link and ran until she was certain her lungs were going to break though it was not from the increased weight. In truth, Link barely weighed anything. That alone scared her most. Even though he was at most an inch taller than her, he was roughly the same size, certainly the same weight. By the time she came back to the Forest there was a search party in motion. It seemed they were just about to go into the Lost Woods when Saria came into view. She handed Link off to another Kokiri.

Now it was clear why he felt so light. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days despite having breakfast that morning. Saria fell to her knees. Mido tried to help her up. Fear was sketched into his youthful face

"Once there was a great lady in green, who was friends with Farore. She would talk and dance with her while Farore's sisters formed the great land Hyrule….."

Her breath was still very reedy and her nerves rattled as she remembered the woman's hair, still green in places.

"Green hair… she had green hair…"

"Come on, Saria, are you ok? I'll help you get back home" Mido offered. She nodded and let him take her home. Mido smiled. Inside he was cheering. The Know-it-all brothers and another blonde Kokiri girl, in the mean time, agonized how to get Link back up to his house. They lasted 45 minutes before resorting to leaving him outside. It was warm out….

Saria woke up the next morning but didn't move. Link might not remember but she wasn't able to forget. The more The Deku-Tree's story ran through her head, the clearer their experience became.

"Green hair… that woman had green hair… why am I the only Kokiri with green hair?"

"But then who are they? You saw their clothes! They looked like Kokiri clothes! And the houses! What's going on Saria?!"

Link's panicked voice questioned her. Demanded an answer she couldn't give. The scene flashed past her then faded before the feeling did. Her original curiosity seemed so minuscule, it wasn't worth considering a second time. Saria still hadn't fully forgiven herself for putting the two of them in that kind of danger.

"…Alra would tell Farore of her day, what she did and what she liked in the new world. Farore loved this creature so much she allowed her to enter her favorite forest."

"What if …. grr! I have to ask him."

She tore off her blankets and went directly to the Deku Tree. This time she was the late one. She didn't care. She needed to know something important from the great tree. Coming in late even worked in her favor. She wanted to ask him something in private.

After everyone left, (Link included, with a few twigs still in his hair) She stood in front of him then bowed low.

"I'm sorry… I brought Link into the Lost Woods. I'm sorry."

He frowned in disapproval.

"That said, was the story you told us yesterday true? The story of Alra?"

"First of all, that was three days ago. Second of all, why is it you ask? What happened inside there?"

He had used a tone that told Saria that he knew already and was just waiting for her to say it.

"… we got lost…I went in looking for something, thinking there was more to the story. It was so believable so I…"

His stern look softened to interest. He DID know….She saw it on his face.

"Why do I have green hair? Everyone else has blonde. Link has an excuse, what about the others? That woman in the lost woods had green hair too!"

All her nerves poured out through her words. Still, the Deku Tree waited patiently until she was finished. Saria blushed furiously, embarrassed at how rude she was being. Here she was, a simple Kokiri child and she was accusing the Deku tree!

"I'm sorry"

"You met someone in the Lost Woods with the same hair color?" He asked in the same patient tone

"Yes…Alra."

"Three days ago, you asked me about the "temple" in the Lost Woods. I could tell you here and now, but its best you do as she says."

"You mean…Great Deku Tree, she isn't…"

The Tree smiled. Saria tried to.

As soon as night fell she snuck out of her house and into the Lost Woods. She was alone, as she preferred it. Only curiosity made her legs move towards the place she did not want to enter so soon. As promised, Link hadn't remembered a thing. He woke up and ate about three breakfasts worth, but he was alive and safe. Now all she wanted was some sort of guarantee she was safe.

Alra stood before her. Saria fiddled with her ocarina, nervously. The older woman saw the instrument and smiled, mysteriously and even mischievously

"This way."

Saria didn't protest. Alra lead her through a tree-tunnel, to the left, the right, then left again. She had gone this route before… they were going to her favorite spot. She also noticed there was even less wild life to threaten them than usual.

Alra never looked back once. She seemed to know where she was going, even more than Saria.

"Who are you?" she finally asked

"Alra… that has always been my name."

"who were those children?"

"All will be explained. Just a bit further."

"why are you telling me this? Why not knock me out too?"

"You wanted to know didn't you?"

"Kn-know?"

"We're here."

Alra sat on Saria's little stump. Saria took a spot on the grass, figuring it couldn't be helped anyway.

"What were those children? Those Skull Kids? What happened to them?" Saria looked up at the temple "And what's with this temple?"

"Kokiri… and I live here."

"What?"

"The children you call "Skull kids" were once Kokiri. I live in this temple… along with all the memories of the land. Not just in this forest but in the lands around it. Even as we speak, there are routes that lead from here to lands and races no forest child has seen. Every one of them is connected to this sacred realm."

Saria now felt weighted to the ground as Alra continued.

"Farore… The wonderful goddess of nature and life, daughter of Fohn, once walked this land. Din had just made the red earth and Farore was able to walk on it. From here, she created all life forms. That is why here, of all places, the ground is most fertile. The plant life is so healthy."

"The plant life was nearly dead down there."

Alra held up a hand and Saria continued to listen.

"You're correct. As you might have known…as The Deku Tree might have told you, Farore was the last to act. Nayru's laws were in effect. All living things must die one day."

Her tone was soft and sad as she said this.

"Yet the Kokiri live exceptionally long lives. They never grow old. Even a long happy life requires that you grow old at some point. If The Kokiri do not grow old, they fade. This is a Skull Child; a faded Kokiri."

"You told me that Link would fade faster than me…"

"And he would of. Kokiri, even in that state, live on. Hylians become skeletons… monsters."

"Stalfos." Saria finished.

"Correct."

She held out her hand, flat and pal facing upward. Above her hand, was an emerald that seemed to sparkle without the aid of light. On its surface were shapes of snakes in gold, one coming out of the other.

"This is known as the Kokiri Emerald. It was forged from the land Farore first stepped foot on. These golden snakes represent the immortal energy and consciousness engaged in the field of time; more specifically, the regenerating powers she has bestowed to the land. You are lucky to be one of the only race that regenerates. The Skull kid form is the closet to death you would have ever known.

"Why two snakes?"

"The second snake, which comes out of the first's middle is the newer level of the forest… yours. Sadly, the regeneration cycles overlap. The Lost Woods is always forbidden to the Kokiri for safety reasons; it has always been the older part of the woodlands. The Kokiri Forest is always the newer. The land regenerates… the Lost Woods takes in the remains. This includes Kokiri. The Skull Children have seen Hyrule 500 years ago, as you see it today. Your set… all you know and love all who you are familiar with… these Kokiri came from Hylia and have since assimilated… all but one. a fairy-less one.

"… Why are you telling me this? You don't look like you want to."

Alra was silent

"What is it?" she asked softly

"It is my duty to watch over this land in Farore's stead while she is away. That does not make me a goddess. I normally cannot see the future, only the past. However, things will be changing in this world. It will start here. I have spared you when I could have easily left you to die like so many before you, but the two of you will be needed."

"Why me in particular?"

Alra smiled warmly at last.

"You are closer to the forest's heart… your naturally green hair shows it."