Blessed

Chapter Eleven: Devious

A/N: Look! It's Friday! I updated!

"Master Link, do you require assistance?" Fate asked, appearing from the scabbard beside the bed once Ghirahim had left.

"Could you...pass me that glass of water?" the blonde coughed, falling to one knee as he struggled to suck in breaths.

"Of course."

Within a moment she had handed him the glass and rested her slim, ebony hand lightly on his shoulder as he took tiny sips from it, choking back his coughs.

Fate waited until he had calmed before questioning gently, "Are you okay?"

He hesitated, and his shoulder visibly quaked for just a moment. "I wish I was. I thought that I could trust him now, and I know that I love him, but I just recalled a memory that tells me I definitely can't, or at least couldn't. Some part of my mind is reminding me he's different, but there's another part that's questioning if he ever changed at all."

"What was it?" the sword spirit asked, softly combing through his hair with her fingers.

"Simple. He tore my dearest friend's soul straight from her body without a single regret, and with a smile on his face. Taking someone's soul is..." Link shuddered slightly. "...worse than death. How am I supposed to trust someone who would do that without a second thought?"

Fate hesitated. "I am unsure, Master, but one thing I am positive of is that once you realize that he truly did change permanently, you will be more sure of the situation and less likely to mistrust his judgement."

Link looked about to reply, but another coughing fit struck at him, and by the time it ended, not only had he forgotten what he was going to say but he had paled considerably.

"Master, perhaps you should - "

Fate hadn't even finished her sentence before he slumped against her, falling unconscious. A sense of urgency flooded over whatever she had that conveyed emotion, and she gently picked him up and set him on the bed before trying to contact Ghirahim.

"Creator? Creator, please answer."

After a few moments, she sat down on the end of the bed, crossing her legs and scowling with worry.

"Creator, can you hear me?" She shook her head and vanished into the scabbard, sending out a search signal for his presence and finding nothing within her range.

He's gone too far, Fate thought to herself, reemerging to watch over her master. I only hope he returns before Master Link's condition grows worse.

~*~

"No, not there," Ghirahim muttered, looking over a map of the eastern hemisphere. He stuck a blue pin into place, marking down where Link lived, and then placed red pins on the locations of all of the temples across the country. He trailed one finger across the map and marked down a few other landmarks before straightening back up.

"Alright, listen, because I will not repeat my instructions." He ran his simmering gaze over the small collection of Bokoblin captains, Moblins, and Shield Moblins alike, who all stood at attention. They had been goofing off and quickly discovered that he had a mood when he arrived, so they had sobered down eventually - although at the cost of a few captains.

He stuck a black pin in the center of a swamp to the north and kept his pointer finger atop it. "Here is your primary target. Take out anything that moves within a two-kilometer radius of this point. I may not be here for awhile, so the red pins are for if you happen to get bored and want somewhere to pillage while I'm away. Whatever you do," he hissed, his eyes glinting red in the firelight with a warning, "no matter what the situation is, if you attack here at all - " He pointed to the blue pin. " - I will kill all of you without remorse, and without mercy. No questions asked. Your deaths will not be quick. Do you understand my words?"