fic: Every Happy End (chapter 4)
Jun. 5th, 2009 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bonnefoisTitle: Every Happy End
Fandom: Golden Sun
Day/theme: June 27 [2009]: Misery and mountains, arrows and bows
Rating: PG-13 for later parts
Summary: Ivan returns to a rebuilt Vale five years later with much on his mind. Eventual Isaac/Ivan, sideline Garet/Jenna, Felix/Piers, Sheba/???
Wordcount: 3,645 this chapter, 18,543 / 51 pages total
A/N: Sorry for the wait! I’ve been working on this, I swear but it got to a difficult part to write and, well. It got sidetracked. Basically, the shorter chapter is due to the fact that I’ve split the last chapter(s) into parts to be more easily read (and more easily written) Countdown to the end!
I am really having too much fun with Sheba. And Alex. And all of them.
For Lin, as always.
VI.
By the time Alex had finished his tale, Ivan could only gape at the things he had heard. The Gold of the gods? The Sunfire disk? The sum of alchemy? These esoteric terms were things Ivan had merely glanced through and deemed myth while reading. And to think, that Isaac held a half of it.
(He remembered a hint of gold that Isaac had held. Ivan had thought it had been a broken bauble, some heirloom that had only nostalgic value. He hadn’t asked, and Isaac, being Iaaac, hadn’t offered any reasoning.)
“Isaac had a reason. He must have been guarding it,” Ivan said.
Alex leaned upon his elbows and studied Ivan. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really,” Ivan shot back.
“While touching, your loyalty shows your ignorance. He’s most certainly keeping it for himself and his descendants. Even halved, the Golden Sun acts as a prism. It focuses energy into a much more pure and powerful form. Isaac could have the world in his grasp with one single earthquake that would rip across Weyard, splitting it into many pieces.”
“But he hasn’t,” Ivan said. “And he won’t. He’s not like that. Like you.”
“Not yet, at least. Really, your devotion to him is surprising, considering he’s merely a comrade...isn’t he?”
Ivan ducked his head to hide his flaming cheeks. “Isaac is... He’s... m-my friend.”
Alex chuckled. “How intriguing. The plot thickens.....”
--
The little girl pigtailed girl – Keyla, was her name – stumbled down to Vare. It took some time to get back on her stubby little legs and by the time she got there, it was already turning to twilight.
She had a message to deliver!
Before she could get help, her elder brother found her and summarily took her home for punishing. A short time later Jimmie too returned, with the same sort of fanciful tales of a man who lived in the mountain with whitish blue hair and eyes like ice. The man had even tried to steal his little Spotty away! But then he’d managed to fight him off (alone, of course) and he and Spot ran away from that place.
The imagination of children these days.
In houses far not so far away, certain eyes strayed to the window, awaiting a return. Some strayed more than others.
--
“It seems they didn’t take the bait. Children really aren’t the best choices for messengers.”
“I’m bait?” Ivan said, more surprised than he should have been.
“What did you think you were? A companion? I didn’t keep you around for your good looks, you know,” Alex deadpanned.
Ivan stewed over that silently.
“Ah, what to write...” Alex lifted the quill thoughtfully.
“I have captured your damsel and will only relinquish him if you deliver the other half of the Golden Sun by–”
Ivan choked on his tea. “What?”
“You prefer ‘companion?’ or perhaps ‘comrade’?”
“It would be more accurate,” Ivan replied testily.
“Suit yourself,” Alex said. He did not cross out the original, but added to the margin. Ivan’s mouth went dry at the small margin that added the full reading of ‘damsel, companion, comrade and/or concubine’.
“A shame I don’t have another peon to be a messenger. I should’ve kept the boy around. At the very least he could’ve fetched me some more crumpets to go with this tea.”
Alex focused a long moment. He pressed his palms together and created a thing. It looked like a bird, but was made of snow and frost. It was living, it breathed, though it was ice that the thing exhaled.
“What is–”
Alex smiled. “Ah, my pet. I learned how to create this just last year. You see...Power lies within Mount Aleph and I learned to tap into it. All these years Vale never even used the power right next to it. You all ate and slept next to enough power to change the entire existence of the world.”
“They were guarding it,” Ivan said.
“They were wasting it. Imagine how the world could change if it had been used years ago... Well, no need to imagine. Soon enough it will be time.”
--
Garet, Jenna, Sheba and Garet’s siblings had gone deep into a game of cards. They shouted at each other from time to time, and Sheba was, more than once, accused of cheating.
Isaac didn’t take part. He sat in a corner, sipping at boiled molasses and taking subtle glances towards the window every so often. From near the fireplace there often came cries of “HAHA You snooze you lose!” and other victory cries. Jenna at once particular thrashing of Garet felt the need to express her happiness with interpretive dance. Sheba joined her, just because.
“Hey, you’re right. Ivan is missing,” Garet said.
“I thought he was sleeping at your place, Isaac?” Jenna said.
“No, he never came home,” Isaac said.
“Maybe he went back while you were there,” Aaron piped up.
Isaac shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Who was the last to see him, anyways?” Garet asked.
“I saw him going up towards the remains of Mount Aleph before sundown,” Sheba cut in.
“Mount Aleph?” Jenna wrinkled her nose. “Why on Weyard would he go up there? It’s dangerous. There’s nothing here but rocks and ruins.”
“Meditation I guess,” Sheba shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“But that was some time ago,” Isaac said slowly. Which means he’s been up there for hours...”
“He could’ve fallen in!” Garet said.
“We should go in pairs. I call Felix,” Sheba said.
“Let’s go, Isaac,” Garet said. “It’ll be just like old times.”
“Jenna opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it. Sheba shook her head and muttered something like idiot but Garet didn’t see or hear it.
--
Sheba lead the way. It wasn’t until some time that Felix realized that they were in fact going the opposite direction. He thought it a mistake, despite it being Sheba. She wasn’t from around here. It was dark. Inexplicably, he gave her the benefit of the doubt.
“Wait, Sheba. We’re not going towards Mount–”
“That’s the point,” Sheba said. “We’re not supposed to be the ones to find Ivan. Besides, I wanted to talk to you about something...”
She turned about with the latern in her hands until he could see the expression on her face. It was the same knowing, often smug grin that she often carried, but this time the darkness gave it more of a sense of malevolence.
“I thought you’d finally done with that whole angst thing. You’re living with Piers, but when I asked him how the honeymoon was going and he had not idea what I was talking about. Also, the implications bewildered him.”
Felix cringed on Piers’ behalf – and his own.
“So let me get this straight – You’re in love with him, you’re not together as lovers, but you live together?” Sheba said.
“Yes,” Felix replied.
“That’s insane, and the kind of thing only you could do,” Sheba said. She shook her head and looked far at the darkened countryside.
“You know, I used to have the biggest crush on you,” Sheba mused. “And then I realized you were gay, or at least Piersexual and the whole time I had a crush on your sister too. Funny thing.”
Felix said nothing. When it came to Sheba there often was no words to be said. Now was one of those times.
“Seriously, though, aren’t you going to do anything? It’s been five years. Are you just going to sit around and mope the whole time?” Sheba said. “Also, if you answer ‘yes, I’m going to keep angsting’ I’m going to hit you. Repeatedly.”
Felix still said nothing. Being the Tall Dark and Silent Hero was his thing, after all. More than that, anything he said she would jump on with an AH-HAH! YOU DO REALLY LOVE HIM even if it was innocuous as “Nice weather today” for talking about the meant that he was changing the subject which meant he really was in love. Then again, she could read minds so maybe she had gotten more on this than he knew.
“I can’t believe all of you! Ivan, Isaac, Garet, Jenna – all of you! You’re running around pining and doing nothing about it. Obviously you should just kiss them and get it over with. If they like it, then you’ve got yourself a mate. If not, then you at least got a good kiss out of it and can move onto someone else.”
“Not everyone can read minds. The rest of us have to guess,” Felix said.
“Yeah, but Ivan can. What’s his excuse?”
“Loving a male is taboo. Not everyone is as shameless as you are.”
“Pah, screw taboos. You saved the whole damn world. You deserve somebody to grow old with,” she said.
“....Everyone does,” Felix said after a pause.
“Besides, you’re lucky. You have that beautiful pyromanic for a sister. If anyone ever said anything remotely bad about you, she’d fry them to a crisp.”
Felix did have to admit she had a point.
“I’d pull in too. Not just because zapping people is fun – friends help each other like that.”
“It’s a complicated matter,” Felix said.
Sheba snorted. “It always is. And most of those complications are ones you set for yourselves. Though, it is funny to watch from the outside. It wouldn’t have been half so amusing if you guys just went out and told each other. In fact, I should thank you guys for being idiots about each other. It made it so much more entertaining that way.”
“...I see,” Felix said.
“So will you?” She said point blankly.
“Will I–”
“Tell Piers already? This is getting boring even for me.”
“I’m waiting for the right time,” Felix said.
“Felix, Felix,” she said. “Listen to me here. It has been five years. More if you count the time of the journey along with it. The right time has been sitting irritated right there the whole time. Do it now or I’ll help it along a little.”
Sheba’s form of ‘helping’ proved to be highly frightening. When she had thought Isaac and Jenna were a thing, those two had found themselves locked in closets by ‘accident’ and catching each other for errant brush that lead to tripping.
Sheba could cause a whole lot of havoc when she was ‘helping’. And who knows what depths she might fall to when trying to ‘help’ two men along. The mere thought made Felix cringe in horror.
“I’ll do it...just not yet,” Felix said carefully. “Ivan is missing. It’s not the time.”
“I guess I’ll accept that for now,” Sheba muttered. “Well, at least I can cross this one off.”
She pulled out a small battered piece of paper. Felix could just make out the details in the remains of light. She had crossed out Make Felix stop being an angstbucket and kiss Piers already. Beside it, and yet to be filled were Make Jenna marry that big lug already (but steal a kiss first – as payment) and Make Isaac and/or Ivan admit to being utterly gay for each other. Neither one is fooling anyone
Felix knew better than to ask.
--
It was Jenna who was stuck with Piers, thought it wasn’t so much an inconvenience. Piers was calm, and kind. More than that he had a deep sense of maturity and a great knowledge of things that made him a fascinating person to converse with. She enjoyed his company very much, and if she hadn’t been loving Isaac back then, she might have even developed a crush on him.
Maybes, what ifs.... But now Piers lived with Felix, as friends. They traveled – as friends. Sometimes she thought she saw things that weren’t friendly. They fell into a grey area that Felix and Piers seemed to dance about.
While other groups may have been left with lanterns, hers was of a flame caught in her palms. Even when a cold wind fell through and the flames flickered, the flame did not go out as it was fed by her power.
Piers was quiet, stuck in his own thoughts – or perhaps merely very concerned about Ivan’s well-being. She couldn’t tell which.
--
Garet and Isaac didn’t have the same lantern problems that some of the crew did, mostly because Garet was a walking lantern and always quite happy to play with fire.
Isaac hadn’t heard the creeping behind him and though Garet had just begun to say his friend’s name in warning, it was interrupted by a rush of psyenergy used on him. Mind read. It tingled and shimmered over Isaac before disappearing into nothing.
“Ivan? Is that you–? ” Isaac turned to face a short Jupiter Adept which was most definitely not Ivan.
“Sheba?”
“Oh I’m sorry Isaaac,” she said too sweetly. “Was I reading your mind? I meant to use reveal because I thought I saw something shiny in the ground. They’re so easy to mix up sometimes.”
Isaac cleared his throat. “Uh, yes...”
There was a rustling as Felix emerged of the bushes. His face was not merely blank, but pointedly so. Garet frankly didn’t want to know.
“We got lost,” Sheba said. “Any luck finding Ivan?”
“...Not yet,” Isaac said. It was fairly redundant, as she probably already gleaned that. Even Garet was catching on that this must be a rhetorical question.
The smirk Sheba gave him made Isaac shift on his feet, as if he felt a deep sense of unease. That look implied that was likely she’d gotten far more than a mere knowledge that they hadn’t found Ivan yet. Garent didn’t think too much on it though. Sheba did strange things but she was a good kid, albeit a mischievous one. Then again, Garet never thought too hard on anything.
“Come on, the ruins of Mount Aleph are just ahead!”
--
Piers was the first to notice. It was there, a floating light coming towards them.
“Is it a ignis fatuus?” Piers said. “I’ve heard of them but never seen them.”
“It looks like a bird?” Jenna said.
“Wait, it’s flying right towards us– It’s a monster!”
It swooped down just over Jenna’s head. She growled and lifted her staff, her hair whipping about in the wake of the gathering energy.
“BURN!”
A serpent fume of Jenna’s creating flew towards the thing. Flare and spark hit against living ice. The ice bird screeched in pain, diminished, but did not fully disappear.
“Volcano!”
A rising wall of fire engulfed it. A last shriek came from the Ice Bird as it melted into the water it had come from.
Jenna and Garet cheered and fist bumped in a fit of Mars pride.
“We make a great team!”
A bit of paper fluttered down, miraculously unburned. It was Sheba who reached it first.
“Dear Issac. I have captured your damsel, companion, comrade and/or concubine and will only relinquish him if you deliver the other half of the Golden Sun by morning then I cannot guarantee his safety – or your own.”
“Sheba!” Jenna said. “Read the real thing, this isn’t the time to be joking about.”
“That IS the real thing. I like this guy.”
Piers’ brow furrowed in thought. “But who would kidnap Ivan?”
“Couldn’t Ivan merely Shine Plasma his way out? I mean, he may be a fey little waif who could be blown down by a stiff wind, but he can zap like it’s nobody’s business,” Sheba said.
“Maybe it’s a place that resists alchemy? Or he’s locked underground where his Jupiter power would be severely diminished. Or the person, or persons in question.”
“Whoever it is, they’re on Mount Aleph,” Isaac said.
In the distance there was a faint glow, similar to the Ice Bird, but not quite the same.
“Isn’t that a light? Maybe it’s another monster,” Piers said.
“Whatever it is, we’ll see when we get there,” Isaac said.
--
They came upon the light sooner than they thought they would. It looked farther than it was, and it wasn’t long before they came upon Alex of all people sitting with a teacup in hand. Ivan was close beside him, frowning in Alex’s direction.
Alex turned to them and smiled, a low, slow smirk “Well, you’re just in time for tea.”
“Isaac! E-everyone!” Ivan said. “You came!”
“Ivan! You’re alright!” Jenna said.
“Why didn’t you just fry him instead of making us rescue you?” Sheba said “You interrupted a great card game. I was winning.”
“Well, I— I- couldn’t–” Ivan began. “Isaac, be careful, he’s going to—”
“Quiet,” Alex ordered. A light of psyenergy floated over the air, and ice formed over Ivan’s mouth, ice formed over his mouth and neck, effectively silencing whatever he had been trying to say.
“Ivan!” Isaac said. “Alex, what are you planning?”
“I suppose you aren’t up for crumpets? What a shame.”
Alex drank the last of his tea and set the teacup aside with finality.
“Well, I did so want to be reacquainted with all of you, and he does seem dear to you... It’s a simple enough trade. Ivan for your half of the Golden Sun.”
“What would you want with the Golden Sun?” Isaac said.
“Well it should be fairly obvious. I’m going to take over the world. Alchemy will usher in a new era of prosperity and I will be its king. Everyone will benefit that way. I get to be king, all of you get the honor bestowed of me being your king—”
“Really, just that? That’s so uncool,” Sheba said. “You forgot the whole ‘enslave the race to do your bidding’ for one. Any villain worth their weight would remember that.”
Alex frowned. “Yes, I was getting to that...”
“I thought you said you weren’t being a generic villain,” Ivan said.
Alex sniffed in their general direction. “You’re simply jealous.”
“Of your hair maybe, but your villainy needs some work,” Sheba said.
Alex frowned, muttered a I’ll show you before he took a deep breath, as if he had gone into his happy place (a place which was probably an arctic wasteland with him as king with a huge harem of beauties, both male and female).
“Now, hand over the other half of the Golden Sun.”
“I refuse,” Isaac said.
“Then, say goodbye to your dear comrade. He’ll make a nice ice sculpture.”
The ice on Ivan grew until in came over his shoulders and arms in a coat of pure cold. Ivan’s eyes were wild, but whatever sound he made was muffled by the thickness of the sheeting over him.
“Ivan!” Isaac said.
“You’re crazy! It’s Eight against one plus a whole village full of psyenergy users?” Jenna said.
“Most villains are crazy, and I’ve been underground for so long, my powers may have just consumed what little sanity I had left.”
“Crazy or not, we’re not backing down,” Isaac said.
Alex shrugged, “Let’s get on with this, then.”
The air suddenly became colder by degrees. Everything became white, a horrible, clear and cold white that ate up everything around it. Piers shivered and clutched at his bare arms. Jenna stared up, and Sheba caught a snowflake on her tongue.
“I suppose no one ever taught you how to truly tap into the elements, did they?”
Alex was gone, as was Ivan. There was nothing but the arctic cold that spread through the countryside, leaving pale, powdery snow in its wake.
“He must be tapping into his half of the Golden Sun and even the power of Mount Aleph. I wish Kraden was here, or Hama...Or both!” Jenna said.
“Yeah, but Kraden is in Lemuria, remember? Hama’s in Contigo and while Mia might’ve known something about how to defeat Alex, she’s guarding Imil. Too bad, I miss her.”
Jenna tossed her hair. “Well you’re welcome to walk to Imil right now if you miss her so much.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Enough with the UST already, we’ve got some cliche plot of doom on our hands and Alex wants to make us ice all ice sculptures in his villaincastle,” Sheba said. “I could’ve sworn I’d read something like this ten times before.”
“We’re going to have to split up and look for him,” Isaac said. “Piers, you go with Felix. Jenna, you go with Garet. Sheba, you’re with me.”
Piers and Felix both nodded in unison. “Understood.”
Garet and Jenna, still in mid fight-mode, refused to look at each other
“Fine.”
Sheba grinned. “Cool.”
“Everyone be careful. The Golden Sun even halved increases Alex’s power tenfold. You can see the effects of it for yourself.”
Isaac gestured to the swiftly falling snow which had come upon Vare. Already it was a mirror of Imil during the coldest of months.
“Alex is the one who’s going to have to be careful when I get ahold of him. I can’t wait to set fire to that prettyboy hair of his and watch as he screams,” Jenna said.
--
Hope to update more soon :3 Even if I don't, there will probably be more coming soon! If not more of this, then at least more GS themed.
Fandom: Golden Sun
Day/theme: June 27 [2009]: Misery and mountains, arrows and bows
Rating: PG-13 for later parts
Summary: Ivan returns to a rebuilt Vale five years later with much on his mind. Eventual Isaac/Ivan, sideline Garet/Jenna, Felix/Piers, Sheba/???
Wordcount: 3,645 this chapter, 18,543 / 51 pages total
A/N: Sorry for the wait! I’ve been working on this, I swear but it got to a difficult part to write and, well. It got sidetracked. Basically, the shorter chapter is due to the fact that I’ve split the last chapter(s) into parts to be more easily read (and more easily written) Countdown to the end!
I am really having too much fun with Sheba. And Alex. And all of them.
For Lin, as always.
By the time Alex had finished his tale, Ivan could only gape at the things he had heard. The Gold of the gods? The Sunfire disk? The sum of alchemy? These esoteric terms were things Ivan had merely glanced through and deemed myth while reading. And to think, that Isaac held a half of it.
(He remembered a hint of gold that Isaac had held. Ivan had thought it had been a broken bauble, some heirloom that had only nostalgic value. He hadn’t asked, and Isaac, being Iaaac, hadn’t offered any reasoning.)
“Isaac had a reason. He must have been guarding it,” Ivan said.
Alex leaned upon his elbows and studied Ivan. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really,” Ivan shot back.
“While touching, your loyalty shows your ignorance. He’s most certainly keeping it for himself and his descendants. Even halved, the Golden Sun acts as a prism. It focuses energy into a much more pure and powerful form. Isaac could have the world in his grasp with one single earthquake that would rip across Weyard, splitting it into many pieces.”
“But he hasn’t,” Ivan said. “And he won’t. He’s not like that. Like you.”
“Not yet, at least. Really, your devotion to him is surprising, considering he’s merely a comrade...isn’t he?”
Ivan ducked his head to hide his flaming cheeks. “Isaac is... He’s... m-my friend.”
Alex chuckled. “How intriguing. The plot thickens.....”
--
The little girl pigtailed girl – Keyla, was her name – stumbled down to Vare. It took some time to get back on her stubby little legs and by the time she got there, it was already turning to twilight.
She had a message to deliver!
Before she could get help, her elder brother found her and summarily took her home for punishing. A short time later Jimmie too returned, with the same sort of fanciful tales of a man who lived in the mountain with whitish blue hair and eyes like ice. The man had even tried to steal his little Spotty away! But then he’d managed to fight him off (alone, of course) and he and Spot ran away from that place.
The imagination of children these days.
In houses far not so far away, certain eyes strayed to the window, awaiting a return. Some strayed more than others.
--
“It seems they didn’t take the bait. Children really aren’t the best choices for messengers.”
“I’m bait?” Ivan said, more surprised than he should have been.
“What did you think you were? A companion? I didn’t keep you around for your good looks, you know,” Alex deadpanned.
Ivan stewed over that silently.
“Ah, what to write...” Alex lifted the quill thoughtfully.
“I have captured your damsel and will only relinquish him if you deliver the other half of the Golden Sun by–”
Ivan choked on his tea. “What?”
“You prefer ‘companion?’ or perhaps ‘comrade’?”
“It would be more accurate,” Ivan replied testily.
“Suit yourself,” Alex said. He did not cross out the original, but added to the margin. Ivan’s mouth went dry at the small margin that added the full reading of ‘damsel, companion, comrade and/or concubine’.
“A shame I don’t have another peon to be a messenger. I should’ve kept the boy around. At the very least he could’ve fetched me some more crumpets to go with this tea.”
Alex focused a long moment. He pressed his palms together and created a thing. It looked like a bird, but was made of snow and frost. It was living, it breathed, though it was ice that the thing exhaled.
“What is–”
Alex smiled. “Ah, my pet. I learned how to create this just last year. You see...Power lies within Mount Aleph and I learned to tap into it. All these years Vale never even used the power right next to it. You all ate and slept next to enough power to change the entire existence of the world.”
“They were guarding it,” Ivan said.
“They were wasting it. Imagine how the world could change if it had been used years ago... Well, no need to imagine. Soon enough it will be time.”
--
Garet, Jenna, Sheba and Garet’s siblings had gone deep into a game of cards. They shouted at each other from time to time, and Sheba was, more than once, accused of cheating.
Isaac didn’t take part. He sat in a corner, sipping at boiled molasses and taking subtle glances towards the window every so often. From near the fireplace there often came cries of “HAHA You snooze you lose!” and other victory cries. Jenna at once particular thrashing of Garet felt the need to express her happiness with interpretive dance. Sheba joined her, just because.
“Hey, you’re right. Ivan is missing,” Garet said.
“I thought he was sleeping at your place, Isaac?” Jenna said.
“No, he never came home,” Isaac said.
“Maybe he went back while you were there,” Aaron piped up.
Isaac shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Who was the last to see him, anyways?” Garet asked.
“I saw him going up towards the remains of Mount Aleph before sundown,” Sheba cut in.
“Mount Aleph?” Jenna wrinkled her nose. “Why on Weyard would he go up there? It’s dangerous. There’s nothing here but rocks and ruins.”
“Meditation I guess,” Sheba shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“But that was some time ago,” Isaac said slowly. Which means he’s been up there for hours...”
“He could’ve fallen in!” Garet said.
“We should go in pairs. I call Felix,” Sheba said.
“Let’s go, Isaac,” Garet said. “It’ll be just like old times.”
“Jenna opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it. Sheba shook her head and muttered something like idiot but Garet didn’t see or hear it.
--
Sheba lead the way. It wasn’t until some time that Felix realized that they were in fact going the opposite direction. He thought it a mistake, despite it being Sheba. She wasn’t from around here. It was dark. Inexplicably, he gave her the benefit of the doubt.
“Wait, Sheba. We’re not going towards Mount–”
“That’s the point,” Sheba said. “We’re not supposed to be the ones to find Ivan. Besides, I wanted to talk to you about something...”
She turned about with the latern in her hands until he could see the expression on her face. It was the same knowing, often smug grin that she often carried, but this time the darkness gave it more of a sense of malevolence.
“I thought you’d finally done with that whole angst thing. You’re living with Piers, but when I asked him how the honeymoon was going and he had not idea what I was talking about. Also, the implications bewildered him.”
Felix cringed on Piers’ behalf – and his own.
“So let me get this straight – You’re in love with him, you’re not together as lovers, but you live together?” Sheba said.
“Yes,” Felix replied.
“That’s insane, and the kind of thing only you could do,” Sheba said. She shook her head and looked far at the darkened countryside.
“You know, I used to have the biggest crush on you,” Sheba mused. “And then I realized you were gay, or at least Piersexual and the whole time I had a crush on your sister too. Funny thing.”
Felix said nothing. When it came to Sheba there often was no words to be said. Now was one of those times.
“Seriously, though, aren’t you going to do anything? It’s been five years. Are you just going to sit around and mope the whole time?” Sheba said. “Also, if you answer ‘yes, I’m going to keep angsting’ I’m going to hit you. Repeatedly.”
Felix still said nothing. Being the Tall Dark and Silent Hero was his thing, after all. More than that, anything he said she would jump on with an AH-HAH! YOU DO REALLY LOVE HIM even if it was innocuous as “Nice weather today” for talking about the meant that he was changing the subject which meant he really was in love. Then again, she could read minds so maybe she had gotten more on this than he knew.
“I can’t believe all of you! Ivan, Isaac, Garet, Jenna – all of you! You’re running around pining and doing nothing about it. Obviously you should just kiss them and get it over with. If they like it, then you’ve got yourself a mate. If not, then you at least got a good kiss out of it and can move onto someone else.”
“Not everyone can read minds. The rest of us have to guess,” Felix said.
“Yeah, but Ivan can. What’s his excuse?”
“Loving a male is taboo. Not everyone is as shameless as you are.”
“Pah, screw taboos. You saved the whole damn world. You deserve somebody to grow old with,” she said.
“....Everyone does,” Felix said after a pause.
“Besides, you’re lucky. You have that beautiful pyromanic for a sister. If anyone ever said anything remotely bad about you, she’d fry them to a crisp.”
Felix did have to admit she had a point.
“I’d pull in too. Not just because zapping people is fun – friends help each other like that.”
“It’s a complicated matter,” Felix said.
Sheba snorted. “It always is. And most of those complications are ones you set for yourselves. Though, it is funny to watch from the outside. It wouldn’t have been half so amusing if you guys just went out and told each other. In fact, I should thank you guys for being idiots about each other. It made it so much more entertaining that way.”
“...I see,” Felix said.
“So will you?” She said point blankly.
“Will I–”
“Tell Piers already? This is getting boring even for me.”
“I’m waiting for the right time,” Felix said.
“Felix, Felix,” she said. “Listen to me here. It has been five years. More if you count the time of the journey along with it. The right time has been sitting irritated right there the whole time. Do it now or I’ll help it along a little.”
Sheba’s form of ‘helping’ proved to be highly frightening. When she had thought Isaac and Jenna were a thing, those two had found themselves locked in closets by ‘accident’ and catching each other for errant brush that lead to tripping.
Sheba could cause a whole lot of havoc when she was ‘helping’. And who knows what depths she might fall to when trying to ‘help’ two men along. The mere thought made Felix cringe in horror.
“I’ll do it...just not yet,” Felix said carefully. “Ivan is missing. It’s not the time.”
“I guess I’ll accept that for now,” Sheba muttered. “Well, at least I can cross this one off.”
She pulled out a small battered piece of paper. Felix could just make out the details in the remains of light. She had crossed out Make Felix stop being an angstbucket and kiss Piers already. Beside it, and yet to be filled were Make Jenna marry that big lug already (but steal a kiss first – as payment) and Make Isaac and/or Ivan admit to being utterly gay for each other. Neither one is fooling anyone
Felix knew better than to ask.
--
It was Jenna who was stuck with Piers, thought it wasn’t so much an inconvenience. Piers was calm, and kind. More than that he had a deep sense of maturity and a great knowledge of things that made him a fascinating person to converse with. She enjoyed his company very much, and if she hadn’t been loving Isaac back then, she might have even developed a crush on him.
Maybes, what ifs.... But now Piers lived with Felix, as friends. They traveled – as friends. Sometimes she thought she saw things that weren’t friendly. They fell into a grey area that Felix and Piers seemed to dance about.
While other groups may have been left with lanterns, hers was of a flame caught in her palms. Even when a cold wind fell through and the flames flickered, the flame did not go out as it was fed by her power.
Piers was quiet, stuck in his own thoughts – or perhaps merely very concerned about Ivan’s well-being. She couldn’t tell which.
--
Garet and Isaac didn’t have the same lantern problems that some of the crew did, mostly because Garet was a walking lantern and always quite happy to play with fire.
Isaac hadn’t heard the creeping behind him and though Garet had just begun to say his friend’s name in warning, it was interrupted by a rush of psyenergy used on him. Mind read. It tingled and shimmered over Isaac before disappearing into nothing.
“Ivan? Is that you–? ” Isaac turned to face a short Jupiter Adept which was most definitely not Ivan.
“Sheba?”
“Oh I’m sorry Isaaac,” she said too sweetly. “Was I reading your mind? I meant to use reveal because I thought I saw something shiny in the ground. They’re so easy to mix up sometimes.”
Isaac cleared his throat. “Uh, yes...”
There was a rustling as Felix emerged of the bushes. His face was not merely blank, but pointedly so. Garet frankly didn’t want to know.
“We got lost,” Sheba said. “Any luck finding Ivan?”
“...Not yet,” Isaac said. It was fairly redundant, as she probably already gleaned that. Even Garet was catching on that this must be a rhetorical question.
The smirk Sheba gave him made Isaac shift on his feet, as if he felt a deep sense of unease. That look implied that was likely she’d gotten far more than a mere knowledge that they hadn’t found Ivan yet. Garent didn’t think too much on it though. Sheba did strange things but she was a good kid, albeit a mischievous one. Then again, Garet never thought too hard on anything.
“Come on, the ruins of Mount Aleph are just ahead!”
--
Piers was the first to notice. It was there, a floating light coming towards them.
“Is it a ignis fatuus?” Piers said. “I’ve heard of them but never seen them.”
“It looks like a bird?” Jenna said.
“Wait, it’s flying right towards us– It’s a monster!”
It swooped down just over Jenna’s head. She growled and lifted her staff, her hair whipping about in the wake of the gathering energy.
“BURN!”
A serpent fume of Jenna’s creating flew towards the thing. Flare and spark hit against living ice. The ice bird screeched in pain, diminished, but did not fully disappear.
“Volcano!”
A rising wall of fire engulfed it. A last shriek came from the Ice Bird as it melted into the water it had come from.
Jenna and Garet cheered and fist bumped in a fit of Mars pride.
“We make a great team!”
A bit of paper fluttered down, miraculously unburned. It was Sheba who reached it first.
“Dear Issac. I have captured your damsel, companion, comrade and/or concubine and will only relinquish him if you deliver the other half of the Golden Sun by morning then I cannot guarantee his safety – or your own.”
“Sheba!” Jenna said. “Read the real thing, this isn’t the time to be joking about.”
“That IS the real thing. I like this guy.”
Piers’ brow furrowed in thought. “But who would kidnap Ivan?”
“Couldn’t Ivan merely Shine Plasma his way out? I mean, he may be a fey little waif who could be blown down by a stiff wind, but he can zap like it’s nobody’s business,” Sheba said.
“Maybe it’s a place that resists alchemy? Or he’s locked underground where his Jupiter power would be severely diminished. Or the person, or persons in question.”
“Whoever it is, they’re on Mount Aleph,” Isaac said.
In the distance there was a faint glow, similar to the Ice Bird, but not quite the same.
“Isn’t that a light? Maybe it’s another monster,” Piers said.
“Whatever it is, we’ll see when we get there,” Isaac said.
--
They came upon the light sooner than they thought they would. It looked farther than it was, and it wasn’t long before they came upon Alex of all people sitting with a teacup in hand. Ivan was close beside him, frowning in Alex’s direction.
Alex turned to them and smiled, a low, slow smirk “Well, you’re just in time for tea.”
“Isaac! E-everyone!” Ivan said. “You came!”
“Ivan! You’re alright!” Jenna said.
“Why didn’t you just fry him instead of making us rescue you?” Sheba said “You interrupted a great card game. I was winning.”
“Well, I— I- couldn’t–” Ivan began. “Isaac, be careful, he’s going to—”
“Quiet,” Alex ordered. A light of psyenergy floated over the air, and ice formed over Ivan’s mouth, ice formed over his mouth and neck, effectively silencing whatever he had been trying to say.
“Ivan!” Isaac said. “Alex, what are you planning?”
“I suppose you aren’t up for crumpets? What a shame.”
Alex drank the last of his tea and set the teacup aside with finality.
“Well, I did so want to be reacquainted with all of you, and he does seem dear to you... It’s a simple enough trade. Ivan for your half of the Golden Sun.”
“What would you want with the Golden Sun?” Isaac said.
“Well it should be fairly obvious. I’m going to take over the world. Alchemy will usher in a new era of prosperity and I will be its king. Everyone will benefit that way. I get to be king, all of you get the honor bestowed of me being your king—”
“Really, just that? That’s so uncool,” Sheba said. “You forgot the whole ‘enslave the race to do your bidding’ for one. Any villain worth their weight would remember that.”
Alex frowned. “Yes, I was getting to that...”
“I thought you said you weren’t being a generic villain,” Ivan said.
Alex sniffed in their general direction. “You’re simply jealous.”
“Of your hair maybe, but your villainy needs some work,” Sheba said.
Alex frowned, muttered a I’ll show you before he took a deep breath, as if he had gone into his happy place (a place which was probably an arctic wasteland with him as king with a huge harem of beauties, both male and female).
“Now, hand over the other half of the Golden Sun.”
“I refuse,” Isaac said.
“Then, say goodbye to your dear comrade. He’ll make a nice ice sculpture.”
The ice on Ivan grew until in came over his shoulders and arms in a coat of pure cold. Ivan’s eyes were wild, but whatever sound he made was muffled by the thickness of the sheeting over him.
“Ivan!” Isaac said.
“You’re crazy! It’s Eight against one plus a whole village full of psyenergy users?” Jenna said.
“Most villains are crazy, and I’ve been underground for so long, my powers may have just consumed what little sanity I had left.”
“Crazy or not, we’re not backing down,” Isaac said.
Alex shrugged, “Let’s get on with this, then.”
The air suddenly became colder by degrees. Everything became white, a horrible, clear and cold white that ate up everything around it. Piers shivered and clutched at his bare arms. Jenna stared up, and Sheba caught a snowflake on her tongue.
“I suppose no one ever taught you how to truly tap into the elements, did they?”
Alex was gone, as was Ivan. There was nothing but the arctic cold that spread through the countryside, leaving pale, powdery snow in its wake.
“He must be tapping into his half of the Golden Sun and even the power of Mount Aleph. I wish Kraden was here, or Hama...Or both!” Jenna said.
“Yeah, but Kraden is in Lemuria, remember? Hama’s in Contigo and while Mia might’ve known something about how to defeat Alex, she’s guarding Imil. Too bad, I miss her.”
Jenna tossed her hair. “Well you’re welcome to walk to Imil right now if you miss her so much.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Enough with the UST already, we’ve got some cliche plot of doom on our hands and Alex wants to make us ice all ice sculptures in his villaincastle,” Sheba said. “I could’ve sworn I’d read something like this ten times before.”
“We’re going to have to split up and look for him,” Isaac said. “Piers, you go with Felix. Jenna, you go with Garet. Sheba, you’re with me.”
Piers and Felix both nodded in unison. “Understood.”
Garet and Jenna, still in mid fight-mode, refused to look at each other
“Fine.”
Sheba grinned. “Cool.”
“Everyone be careful. The Golden Sun even halved increases Alex’s power tenfold. You can see the effects of it for yourself.”
Isaac gestured to the swiftly falling snow which had come upon Vare. Already it was a mirror of Imil during the coldest of months.
“Alex is the one who’s going to have to be careful when I get ahold of him. I can’t wait to set fire to that prettyboy hair of his and watch as he screams,” Jenna said.
--
Hope to update more soon :3 Even if I don't, there will probably be more coming soon! If not more of this, then at least more GS themed.
