Blessed

Chapter One: Reintroduction

A/N: Happy Forever Alone Awareness Day a.k.a. Valentine's Day! I'm back. Eleven days. I think it's a new record. I hope you enjoy the chapter! Now, excuse me while I get back to working on this story...

"Ghirahim?"

He immediately covered his mouth with wide eyes as though his first word had been some rotten curse.

How was it even possible? Why was he speaking now, of all times?

"Yes, that's my name - I'm glad you remember it," the man in white replied, brushing a lock of hair neatly into place. "I don't know what's going on any more than you do, I assure you, but I'm sure you're feeling the same thing. We know each other. From somewhere."

Link nodded slowly, letting his hand drop and trying to relax around...Ghirahim. The man's voice brought a tiny smile to his face.

"What is it?"

"I...I don't know. It's just...your voice. I've heard it before, probably thousands of times, and I...missed it. A lot." He turned away and rubbed his temples. "Which is odd, because although I remembered your face, I don't recall seeing you before now."

"You don't? I remember seeing you, although we were in an entirely different place. Some kind of temple somewhere, I think." Ghirahim tugged him over to the wall and rested his head on Link's shoulder as he stared towards the opposing wall, despite being a little taller. Oddly enough, Link didn't mind the gesture. "But you look a little older in these memories, so they can't be of this life."

"Brown eyes..." Link breathed. He suddenly shifted and leaned up, cupping Ghirahim's chin and peering into his startled gaze. Sure enough, they were brown.

The white-clad man tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Link drew away, blushing at the realization of their close proximity, and glanced towards the wall. "Your eyes. I keep seeing flashes of them in my dreams, along with another pair - they're blue, almost exactly like mine, but I feel...repulsed at the sight of them, for some reason."

"Strange...it was your eyes that I could never remember, somehow, but I recalled every other detail perfectly." It was now Ghirahim's turn to lightly grasp the blonde's chin and tilt it upwards. "What do you feel when you see mine?"

"I - I don't know. S-something I can't describe." He flinched when he heard his name called in Kiara's voice. "Crap! I forgot, I was following Kiara...um...when will I see you again?"

Ghirahim glanced up at the moon, then hummed. "Perhaps tomorrow afternoon, if you have time?"

"Yes, that's fine. Kiara will be out on a trip with her family then. See you later!" Link shut his mouth and turned away, trying to stroll casually out of the alley and not look back.

He had to remember not to speak now - and it felt impossible.

He couldn't just randomly start talking to Kiara and Andreas. They would freak out and ask what happened, and he couldn't exactly have that. He was already too confused to bother even trying to tell them who Ghirahim was.

So he joined up with Kiara and Andreas, and stayed as silent as ever, although he still smiled and made a couple hand gestures here and there when they asked him questions.

The next afternoon couldn't come soon enough.

~*~

"Link! Do you wanna do something before we leave?" Kiara asked, prodding his side. He cracked one eye open to peer up at her and shut it again, shifting onto his stomach and burying his head in his pillow.

She sat at his side. "Come on, we'll be gone for like, four days. That's the longest we've been away from each other since forever!" While she was speaking, she rested a hand lightly on his back. Usually it was soothing and tended to help wake him up, but this time he let out a soft hiss and she immediately drew away.

"Oh - oh, sorry. I get it. It's another one of your episodes." She looked upset at herself when he cracked open an eye to nod. "Well, hopefully you'll be over it later, so we can at least spend a little time together before I go."

He nodded again before squeezing his eyes shut, and Kiara kindly pulled the covers off of his shoulders before leaving the room, telling him she was making tea and offering him some. Link shook his head and burrowed back into the pillow.

This tended to happen frequently - typically once or twice every week. It ranged from a couple of hours to an entire day, and the days that it took that long, he tended to be unable to move at all, stock-still. Kiara had once related it to a woman's cramps, and even said that it may hurt as much as one.

Link wasn't a woman; otherwise, he may have been able to confirm that theory.

Kiara's little brother came into the room at some point that day, and, like usual, noted his extreme pain. Also as usual, he offered to be a teddy bear, and for probably the third time in all the years they had lived together, Link accepted.

Even if he was seven years old now, Kiara's little brother, Jaden, was still soft and gentle with everything - much unlike his sister. He was still young, and Link enjoyed that about him, even if it could get annoying sometimes.

Jaden crawled up next to Link and cuddled into his side, then pressed a hand to his forehead.

"You're warmer than usual. Is it worse this time? Is that why you agreed?"

Link nodded, hugging Jaden close and hoping that the contact would draw away from the pain.

"Hey, Link?" The blonde cracked an eye open and met Jaden's innocent green eyes. "What happened yesterday? When you came home with Kiara you looked a little different than when you left. Did you meet someone? Did you kiiiiss?"

Link rolled his eyes at the last comment, but shrugged at the others.

"So you met someone? But didn't kiss?"

Link wanted to say no to both, because how can you meet someone if you feel like you already know them? But instead he nodded and shut his eyes when his back shot another flare up at him.

"Well, I hope they weren't the ones to make you feel bad like this."

Jaden seemed pretty spot-on with his guess. Link remembered how the burning had started sometime after he had left Ghirahim and started to walk back with Kiara.

Instead of trying to answer, he tried to relax, hugging Jaden like his own personal teddy bear and falling into an uneasy sleep haunted with fierce stabs of pain.

He was feeling a little better that afternoon, although the burning still hadn't gone away. He was up and around the house, although he walked slowly and received the occasional comment from Kiara and Jaden's parents with hopes that he would get better soon.

"I'm sorry I don't have time to make that special soup," Kiara's mother apologized. "We have to get going."

Jaden wasn't going with them, but he had fallen asleep a couple hours ago. Apparently he had been singing a lullaby for Link on loop for awhile and had exhausted himself.

He waved as Kiara departed, blowing him a kiss as she buckled on her scabbard and followed her parents out the door.

"Keep an eye on Jaden, Link," she warned. "And don't burn down the house." He was about to retort that he didn't even come that close, and it was just one time, but he remembered that he couldn't talk to her and instead just waved them off before shutting the door.