O, Thou hast damnable iteration; and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint.

- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, part:I, act i, scene ii


The albino ran through the forest, tall trees and mossy logs birthing strange faces.

Luna stopped, panting heavily, lungs burning yet also piercing from the cold air. She fell to her knees, face curtained by her ghostly hair. She caught her breath, moving her hair aside. She noticed that a shaft of moonlight created a spotlight before her, somehow reflecting her. She calmed down, seeing her ghostly reflection below herself. Her reflection gradually became angelic, eyes spheres of glass, all veins under skin and in the eyes blackening.

"Ughh...hi."

Do you want the past or the present?

Luna's head tilted. Her reflection stared attentively. "I want...something else..."

Will you return to your home, or find a new one?

"Neither, something else."

To pass on, into your next awakening?

"Hunh? Well, whatever... I don't want to be awake, I want to...sleep forever."

Luna's reflection nodded and climbed out the spotlight, Luna sitting up to give her room.

Come…over here. This is where it all started.

Luna stood then followed her reflection, shiny even in darkness. "Where what started?"

Where the gap between dimensions fell… Where the black knight faced Legion and the phantom.

"Wait, what? Who?"

You don't remember.

"Well, can you help me out, then?"

If you wish to sleep forever, you will forget everything and begin again.

"So I have to...wake up?"

Then you will meet her...one last time, for all time.

"Meet who?"

The reflection lowered her head and shoulders. Her eyes closed, teardrops trickling.

"Are you alright?"

Please, come with me.

"Did I hurt you?"

No reply.

Up ahead leered four massive tree trunks, similar to the homes in Kokiri Forest, though each rotted into a frightening face, ugly maws exhaling fog, eye sockets rimmed with dried sap. The distorted hulls creaked as if unhappy to see Luna, or perhaps to welcome her?

Luna's reflection wiped her face then went to the nearest disfigured tree. Inside, you will change the past and create a new future, but everything that grows will inevitably die.

"Why?"

More fog billowed out the malformed trees, reaching Luna's knees.

The reflection went to the next deformed trunk, pieces of bark crumbling until bare wood remained. In this one, you will create a new past to change the future, but everything that grows will inevitably die.

"What's the point, then?"

The trees creaked, more fog blowing, rising to Luna's waist.

The third tree's sap dripped as Luna's reflection walked over. What inevitably dies creates a new past and also a future.

Luna didn't reply, distracted by fog swirling up to her chest. "And that one?"

Her reflection go to the fourth tree. The reflection stared blankly, hair waving in the wind.

"Well? What about that one? You hear me?"

I don't know. You never went inside.

"I never went into the other ones, either."

You just don't remember, but I do.

"Hunh?" Luna moved her hand through her hair. "Are you even...real? Or am I just going crazy?" She approached her. "Can I touch you..." Luna felt the warmth of the reflection. "So you are real..." Luna carcassed her reflection's cheek. "I don't know...what you want from me. But you're very pretty." The albino smiled, though her other self disheartened. "What's wrong?"

You don't remember.

"Well, sorry... I can't help it. I can't know why I don't remember."

Because you searched for the fifth tree.

Luna blinked. "I did? Where is it, then?"

You don't know.

"So...you're gonna show me where it is?"

The fifth way was always within reach, yet never obtainable.

"Well, that's too bad... But you know where it is, right? What's inside the fifth way?"

The forest breathed fog, enshrouding Luna and her reflection up to their shoulders.

I will show you… And you will remember everything…one last time, for all time…

"Oh? Well, I guess that's good. Then what?"

We will part ways, and the gap between us will close forever…

"I want you to be with me, tho!" Luna walked through the fog, grabbing her reflection's arm, turning her around. "You hear me?"

The reflection lowered her face, trickling tears again.

Luna let go. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Luna shed a few teardrops. "Are you alright?"

No answer.

Luna softly held her reflection's moist face, the angelic being keeping her eyes closed. "I want to help you."

You can't help me.

Luna lifted her reflection's face, leaning so their foreheads touch. She whispered, "I will still try."

Her reflection stepped back, face cracking, some pieces sprinkling, wet redness underneath.

Luna let her hands drop. She noticed her palms were...red? She opened her hands, redness dripping from them. She looked back at her reflection, blood leaking down her closed eyes.

Blood continued dripping onto Luna's hands. She blinked; Luna herself cried blood. She coughed, a mouthful of blood spattering out.

Amid swirling fog, the reflection calmly stared, eyes open but sockets empty and bloody. Skin mapped with cracks, her bones and tendons crackle as more and more tissue revealed.

Would you really try to help me?

Luna approached her reflection, both bleeding out their mouths and eyes. Luna hugged her reflection, the two bleeding over each other's shoulders. "Even if it kills us."


Luna did not know where she ran, but at least she went somewhere, everything returned to normal. She did not care about anything and just went through the morning's forest dew. Cold, moist leaves and twigs scratched her face and skin but she didn't stop. Birds chirped overhead, and for the first time in her life, Luna hated those noises. She later sat on a log to take a break, watching a translucent fairy fly by. How he headed towards Kokiri Forest made Luna's skin crawl; she darted off.

Luna had ran so far off she was somewhere in the outskirts of the forest, where no fairies could be seen. The trees became smaller and smaller, and she could see the forested mountains to the north-east. Had she finally escaped the forest? At that thought, she stopped and breathed heavily, face flushed with red from so much exertion.

"You've ran a long way, didn't you?" Luna asked herself with a chuckle. Once she caught her breath, she smiled and sighed with relief.

Luna swallowed hard and was quite thirsty. At least at home, it was pretty easy to find food and water. Fortunately nearby, Luna found wild raspberries so gobbled up everything she could find, only to realize that there was a vast field of the red berries over yonder.

The little red berries tasted sweet and great. Luna also devoured rose petals and juniper berries until she felt a little sick in the stomach but rejuvenation came.

Fingers and lips reddened from the berries, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Her nose got runny, so she blew her nose onto the ground rudely, then continued to eat berries, sniffling once in a while.

Buzzing insects and jumpy grasshoppers spotted the field everywhere, giving Luna the kind of company she liked. Sometimes, the flying bugs flew near her face but she did not mind the creatures.

After feeling sick again from too many berries, Luna decided to move on, eating a few more big raspberries that looked too good to ignore. Filled with berries, she continued her quest to find-or escape-freedom.

The albino Kokiri girl left the final breadth of the forest. Up ahead was the edge of a cliff that overlooked a vast field. Eyes bright and eager, Luna darted forth, excited to see what waited for her. She ran to the opening and stood on the threshold of a new world! Up ahead was not a forest, but endless fields and hills, unfolding into the horizon of new lands.

Towards the horizon, Luna saw a ranch atop a plateau, and beyond that, the tops of the citadel of Hyrule far to the north. The fields ascended in height towards the ranch, but also varied here and there.

Luna began her journey; her first step out the forest, her first step into freedom. Luna paused, one foot outside the wall of trees, and the other inside the forest. She turned around and took one last look into the forest, her former home and friend.

"Aww... Kibou, I will really miss you...but this is the way it is supposed to be."

Luna looked at the rising sun overhead the canopy. She took a breath, sighed, then jumped down the cliffside. Upon landing, she walked onto the fields of Hyrule for the first time. She couldn't figure out why fewer trees grew on the fields. In fact, the fields were almost like a steppe. Perhaps the citizens kept cutting down trees that grew near their territory, though Luna did not see lumber camps.

The runaway girl walked through the grasses and wheat heads, surrounded by chirping grasshoppers. Wind blew into her direction and rippled across the wheat. How the birds and insects sang, how the vegetation swayed, was just so different from the forest. Luna stopped to experience the sensation of the field. The wind picked up and blew her hair back. Luna spread her arms, closed her eyes, leaned back, and felt the breath of this new life...


Meanwhile, back at the village of Kokiri Forest, the forest folk continued their party all night and into the dawn.

Kibou flew around and stumbled upon a Kokiri who wore a moon mask and black gown.

"Hey, Luna, where've you been?" Kibou asked, though the child just walked on.

Puzzled, Kibou flew in front of the child's mask to stop her.

"Hey Luna! Is everything alright?" he asked. The child looked at him, took off her mask, and revealed she was someone else, a blonde girl with straight hair and wearing a green headband.

"Oh, umm?"

"Oh, sorry, thought you were someone else." Kibou flew off.

The black fairy flew around and looked for Luna, but amidst so many unique costumes, he wondered if he remembered Luna's guise correctly. His friends were nowhere in sight, and Nina was with Vera somewhere.

"I'm pretty sure she wore a moon mask and a glittery black robe, or maybe not?" Kibou asked himself.

Kibou searched for Luna, high and low, but did not know where she was.

"Maybe she changed costume?" Kibou noticed that before the bonfire, the Kokiri set-up a pedestal (a tree stump), probably to announce the winner or something important.

Mido went atop the pedestal. The bonfire burned behind him where the flames gave him an imposing appearance despite his skinny frame.

"Alrighty then, kitties! This night, we celebrated our festival, we enjoyed ourselves and each other's company, we made and adored costumes, but there is something else that is very important. Not only did we celebrate this festival, but we also celebrated the return of one of us!" Mido gladly stated. The costumed Kokiri looked at him and most had no idea what he talked about (not that he could notice).

The Kokiri stared upon their boss attentively. One of the yellow Skull Kids sneezed and his hat almost fell off.

"He's talking about Luna," Kibou remarked quietly.

"Who's Luna?" a Kokiri boy in a Zora costume asked.

Mido put his hands on his sides, signalled he was about to continue. "As many of you know, one of us has been lost, but is now found and one of us again. We finish this festival in memory of her return as one of us, as well as her reconciliation with her bully."

Vera rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

The Kokiri looked around and murmured, but some didn't know what was going on. Gödel, the Skull Kid, just sat on a log, lifted his mask, and chugged beer.

"Yes! We also celebrate Luna's return to us as one of us! Let's give her a round of applause, please!" Mido exclaimed gladly, and everyone applauded, including Mido, the fairies and the Skull Kids (except Gödel, who continued chugging).

The applause gradually finished, but Luna did not appear. Kibou looked around.

"Come on out Luna! I know you're there somewhere, we are waiting for you to stand on this pedestal! Don't be shy, we are all eager to see you up here!" Mido called.

Everyone looked around.

"Luna wore the Zora outfit, right?" a boy asked.

"I'm pretty sure she wore a moon costume," Axel remarked.

"Yeah, she wore a moon mask and a black gown, or something like that," a boy said.

"Luna is just really shy, she's somewhere around here. Or not, hih-hee!" Fado stated as she lifted her Skull Mask. The two yellow Skull Kids looked at her and reared, as if surprised that she was a human.

"Hm, maybe she already went home to sleep?" Kibou asked himself, so he flew off while Kokiri murmured.

Luna's guardian made his way across the village, flew up to the higher level of the forest, and went amidst the trees up there. He eventually reached the last tree home, Luna's dwelling, and flew up. The morning sunlight shone through the canopy as to welcome him home. He reached Luna's dwelling and noticed her carving in the branch, illuminated by a ray of sunlight.

Kibou flew to the carved shape to see what it was. Carved into the bark, was an image of a smiling girl with long hair, one arm waving. Beside the girl, was the carved image of a tilted fairy. Stabbed into the girl's head was the knife that carved the images.

Kibou slammed his hands into the bark and collapsed upon it. He jumped off and flew into the forest. And thus he began his own adventure without saying goodbye.