I do not own Golden Sun. It belongs to Camelot, Nintendo, and its other respective owners. This story focuses on a gay pairing and includes minor straight pairings, so don't read if you don't want to. It's also rated M because of some later chapters I have in mind, so don't read if you're not supposed to.

~o~o~o~

The Advice

Night begun to fall as Isaac and Garet reached the foothills of the Goma Mountain Range. The two were exhausted, having battled their way from Vault in a single day, but they both understood the urgency of their quest, so they both had pushed on past their comfortable limits.

The night was completely black due to the combined efforts of a new moon and a cloudy sky. Isaac knew they would have to stop soon, both from exhaustion and darkness, but didn't want to be the one to suggest it.

He was saved the trouble by a curse from ahead of him. Using the sound as a reference, he found Garet lying on the ground.

"Tripped on a root," Garet explained as Isaac helped him up.

"Look, it's simply too dark too see," Isaac sighed. "This place is as good as any to make camp, so let's stop for tonight."

"I'll light the fire for tonight's watch," Garet offered. Isaac merely nodded, too exhausted to talk. The two gathered all the firewood they could find, given the darkness of the night, and Garet built the fire. Isaac watched dazedly as Garet tended the fire to make sure that the blaze would last the night. When satisfied, Garet laid out his bedroll near the fire and fell asleep almost immediately, leaving Isaac alone in the night.

Knowing he had first watch, Isaac chose a spot near a tree so he could sit against it for his turn. After making sure his weapon was within arm's reach, he leaned back against the tree and got comfortable for the first few hours of the night.

It wasn't long before Isaac's mind was once more on the thing that had dominated his thoughts nearly all day. The young adept he and Garet had meet back in Vault.

~o~

Garet led the way into the Mayor's house as the two looked for a way to help them get through the mountains, and in particular to find this strange Ivan they had heard about while in the village. A young boy at the back of the house caught Isaac's attention. Even as Garet spoke to the mayor, Isaac stared at a young blonde with his back to the two adepts. Somehow he knew that this must be Ivan.

His cheeks reddened slightly as his eyes wandered down the blonde's beautiful frame. Quickly squashing those thoughts, he tugged on Garet's sleeve and walked towards the robed youth, who simply had to be the Ivan they had heard about. Isaac felt strangely drawn to him, for reasons beyond the more obvious.

As they walked up, Ivan turned to meet them. Isaac looked into the astounding violet eyes and suppressed a gasp. They were more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. And he knew then that he would never forget them. Isaac couldn't help but wonder what kind of strange powers such a person could have. Before either could say a word, Isaac noticed Ivan unleash what could be nothing but some form of Psynergy. After a pause, Ivan spoke, and to Isaac, it was the voice of an angel.

"Yes. I…I do possess strange powers," Ivan said, answering the unasked question. Isaac noticed more Psynergy.

"You have them too, don't you?" he asked, seeming to already know the answer. More Psynergy.

"What? My power… It's called Psynergy? I had no idea!" he continued, still seeming to need no more than his half of the conversation.

Dazed, Isaac and Garet could do nothing more than nod. Thinking that Ivan must be reading his mind, he also quickly pushed his earlier thoughts even farther back into his mind. Ivan then proceeded to confide in them about his troubles with his master's rod, and Isaac couldn't help but say yes to his request for help…

~o~

And the rest is history, Isaac thought, sighing. Ivan is off to Lunpa to save Hammet, and I'm continuing on my journey to stop Menardi and Saturos.

Isaac closed his eyes, instantly summoning the image of Ivan he had burned into his mind.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" a small voice asked with a yawn.

Isaac started, then, realizing who had spoken, turned to the small creature that had appeared on his shoulder. It was a light brown color, had large ears, small feet, a few spike-like appendages where arms would have been, and a tail that split at the end. It was a Venus Djinni. It rocked slowly back and forth, looking into his eyes with blue orbs that seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"You just about scared me to death, Flint. And why are you up at this hour?" Isaac whispered to the Venus Djinni.

"I'm trying to figure out why you're so pensive, although I bet I guessed right," the Djinni replied.

"Fine. You did," Isaac admitted, looking away from the djinni to stare into the fire. Flint was the only one who knew about Isaac's secret. "What about it?"

"Well, you can't dwell on this forever. You need to make a decision. Will chase after your love, or will you continue to work towards saving the world?" Flint said.

"You don't have to put it like that!" Isaac retorted, pushing the djinni off his shoulder and turning away angrily.

But Flint wasn't going to be deterred. "Well, that's your choice. I mean, anything else you try is going to be some variation on those two choices."

"Well-" Isaac started.

"Isaac," Flint interrupted. "I'm not trying to hurt or depress you. I just don't want you to hurt or depress yourself by continuing to let your thoughts be dominated by Ivan. I mean, I don't know anything about these matters, but I'm pretty sure your choice will be the latter – saving the world – so you need to make sure you don't keep yourself from finishing what you started when you set out from Vale just because you met someone along the way."

"Well, you're right that I won't quit my quest over this, but me thinking about Ivan isn't going to keep me from stopping Saturos and Menardi," Isaac said angrily.

"It will if you don't stop dwelling on him. You can think of him, but you fought sloppier today than the day I met you, and I don't want you to end up dead before this is all over," Flint explained. "That's all."

"You…" Isaac begun to argue, but then the anger drained out of him. "You're right. I guess this has been affecting me more than I wanted to believe. I'll do my best not to get distracted with wishful thinking in the future."

"That's all I ask," Flint replied, and hopped onto Isaac's shoulder.

"Thanks," Isaac said.

"Any time," Flint answered, and disappeared in a burst of golden light.

Isaac sat back up against the tree, and continued keeping watch. He didn't let his mind wander so much that he'd lose his attentiveness, but as the silence of the forest enveloped him, his mind turned again to Ivan.

~o~o~o~

This is my first fic, so I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are greatly appreciated. If you want more, let me know and I'll try to get the next chapter out more quickly.

Also, thanks go to Ark Navy for betaing this chapter after the initial publication in order to update it.