by Empress Dotdotdot
Disclaimer: Golden Sun and Golden Sun: TLA are not mine.
Comments and such:
This is set right after the beginning of the first Golden Sun. The first chapter is all about Sat and Men saving Felix, Kyle, and Felix's parents. This is also loosely based on the idea that Sat and Men were decent people during the game: they were just after a goal.
"Breathe into his mouth, you dolt!" Saturos yelled. "And ten, and eleven, and . . ."
"You want me to what!"
"You heard me! Now do it!" Saturos glanced up, then quickly shook his head. "Never mind! There are more people in the river!"
Menardi groaned as Saturos breathed into his patient's mouth. "You can't expect me to save all of them!"
"Do it, Menardi!" He began pushing down on the boy's chest again. "No one should die due to our mistake! We already lost our whole raid team to this storm! No one else must perish, especially not innocents!"
Menardi grumbled, lifting up her skirts and trotting back over to the riverbank. Three people were in the water; two men and one woman. One of the men was still conscious and trying to drag himself and the other two to shore, though a wound in his forehead was bleeding profusely.
Menardi looked down into the muddy water and wrinkled her nose. It was just like Saturos to make her do this, and in a new dress, too! She took a step into the stream and shivered as her Psynergy subsided, repelled by the cold forces of Mercury that churned in the water.
She stretched out one hand. "You there! Leave the other two and grab my hand!"
The man gritted his teeth and continued to drag his companions to the shore. "I won't leave them!" he yelled. "We'll all be fine! We'll find a doctor and go back to Vale! They still have Jenna to look after, even if Felix is gone now!"
Saturos' patient burst into a coughing fit before the blue-haired man helped him sit up. He had fluffy brown hair hanging around his shoulders, with a green tunic and a blue cloak.
"Menardi!" Saturos yelled. "If you're afraid of a bit of water, then get back here and take care of this boy! I'll save those others."
The blonde turned around and stomped over to the boy, flicking back strands of her hair. "Fine. So be it." She knelt down, taking Saturos' place as he rushed over to the river. "Now, you wretch, let's see your grubby little face."
The boy opened his eyes and looked up at her. His eyes were a soft chocolate brown, rimmed with tears from his hard coughs. He wasn't nearly as young as Menardi had thought at first glance; he was at least thirteen or fourteen. As Menardi looked at the boy, her spite faded away. "Let's get you out of those clothes," she said, taking off his cloak. She put her skirt in her teeth and ripped off a large piece, then continued to strip the boy. He was shivering too much and coughing too hard to stop her. When he was in nothing but his underclothes, she wrapped the skirt around him. "This is wool from the north, so it'll keep you nice and warm," she said. "We wouldn't want you to freeze to death."
Saturos returned from the river with one person over his shoulder, one under his arm, and the still-conscious man leaning on his free shoulder. The wool-wrapped boy looked up at the people Saturos held. His chocolate eyes widened.
"Mom? Dad? And Kyle? What are you all doing here?"
"F-Felix?" the conscious man answered, his own eyes as wide as the boy's. "Your parents were so worried! We got hit by the boulder, too, or don't you remember?"
Felix shook his head, and Menardi interjected, "He wasn't breathing when we found him, Mr.-- Kyle, is it? Well, Kyle, he must've been knocked out. He inhaled a lot of water. Not to mention he almost froze to death."
"What of your companions?" Saturos asked, laying them in the small cave he and Menardi had been using as shelter. "Will they be all right?"
Kyle was standing next to Felix, staring at the boy as though he had seen a ghost. "They should be all right," he said. "I believe neither of them was badly injured, and I tried to keep their heads above water as much as I could." As Saturos came back to stand beside the kneeling Menardi, Kyle looked between the two. "We owe you our lives," he whispered. "All four of us. The Mt. Aleph boulder hit us, you see, and--"
The sun rose as the rain slowly came to a halt.Felix was still shivering as he tightly clutched Menardi's skirt fabric around him.The dawn illuminated the faces of Kyle's two rescuers. He took a step back, his eyes wide. "What are you?"
Saturos brushed his white-blue hair out of his scarlet eyes. "My name is Saturos, and this is my traveling companion Menardi. We come from the North."
"Don't let our skin and eyes frighten you," Menardi said. "We only wanted to undo the harm we had caused.
"The North?" Kyle whispered. "As in Prox of the North, the cursed land without a sun, where the Mars Lighthouse is? And the harm you had caused! It was your fault that the boulder fell?"
"Hold still," Menardi said, standing up and placing some herbs on Kyle's cut. She quickly wrapped it in bandages. "If I have any say in the matter, there won't be a scar there."
"Tell me the truth!" Kyle demanded. "Was it your fault that the boulder fell?"
Saturos sighed. "I'm afraid so. But let me explain--"
"I don't need to hear an excuse! You could have killed people, don't you see?"
Menardi had heard enough. "You insolent fool!" she yelled. "It was because of us that no one did die! We saved four lives tonight! Four!"
"No, Menardi," Saturos interrupted quietly. "People did die tonight."
Her pink face paled, and she went silent. How could she have forgotten? Hathrok, Penambar, Limilai, Raknohl, and all the others, they were all dead! The curse of Prox had struck again that night.
"So I was wrong," she said. "Allow me to correct myself. No one from Vale died."
"They could have!" Kyle yelled. "In fact, they very well may have! My wife, Dora, my son, Isaac, and Felix's sister Jenna could all be dead!"
"No," Saturos said. "You four are the only ones we found in the river." He walked back to the unconscious Valeans and knelt down, looking over their injuries. "Both have heavy bruises, and the man has a cut on his chest," he called to Menardi. "I think the woman may have a concussion."
There was a period of silence before Felix spoke. "I'm cold."
"I am taking Felix back to Vale," Kyle said. "And then I'm coming back for his parents."
Saturos stood, his eyes shining with rage that Menardi had never seen in him before. "No," he said. "You will not leave."
"What will you do, stop me?" Kyle demanded. He took Felix's hand. "I am taking Felix, and we are going!"
Menardi, too, rose, suddenly understanding Saturos' fury. "You think we can allow you to leave, after finding out that we are from Prox, the cursed land of the North? You know what it is we came here for, don't you?"
"The Elemental Stars, you thieves," Kyle hissed. "You don't understand why we are guarding them, do you? If you fire the four lighthouses, war will be unleashed upon the world! Our peace will end!"
"If we do not light the beacons, it will be the world that ends!" Saturos replied. "We would have succeeded! But your clever ancestors built a trap into the Sanctum. Clever, yes, very clever, cleverer that you and your like, at least."
Kyle rushed up and grabbed Saturos' throat with one hand. "Be quiet," he said.
"Our world is on the brink of death!" Saturos yelled. His temper was getting the best of him again, Menardi decided; it was best to stay far, far away from him when he got like this. "Prox is about to fall off the edge of the world! If we do nothing now, Mars Lighthouse will be swallowed by the void, and then nothing can ever be done!"
"Let nothing be done!" Kyle replied. "If peace is ensured, then that is all that matters!"
"If peace is ensured, then it is all right if the world dies?" Menardi demanded. "It is all right that Gaia Falls devours all in its path? Think about it! You are in the center of the world! If Gaia Falls destroys all, your city will be one of the last to be destroyed. True, it could take ages! But by then, it will be too late to do anything!"
Saturos raised his own hand and wrapped it around Kyle's wrist. "Mars Lighthouse is about to vanish," he said. "After that, Mercury Lighthouse will be devoured. Then Jupiter, and Venus. The world is shrinking! We have proof!"
"I don't care!" Kyle yelled.
"You don't care if the world is destroyed?" Menardi demanded. "What kind of selfish fool are you!"
"You don't understand!" Kyle said again. "The adepts who sealed the lighthouses were sick of the war! They were desparate to end the war that had gone on for centuries!"
"You think we don't understand that?" Saturos asked. "The Sealing Adept of Fire was from Prox, you fool! Why else would our land be so cursed!"
Kyle's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. His hand fell from Saturos' neck, and he backed away.
"Are you an Adept?" Menardi asked Felix.
He nodded. "I know Cure magic, and I can make earthquakes."
Saturos drew in a breath. "A Venus Adept!"
"Everyone in Vale is an Adept," Kyle said. "Mostly Mars, but we have our share of Venus."
"No Mercury or Jupiter?" Saturos asked. Kyle shook his head, and Saturos sighed. "Well, I suppose one Venus will have to do." He turned around. "Come now. We must be on our way back to Prox, to consult with our leaders."
"How many times must I tell you that we're not coming?" Kyle said.
Saturos sighed. "I do hate to do this, but you leave me with no choice." He turned back around, one hand outstretched and glowing with red flame. "Pyroclasm!"
Pillars of molten flame engulfed the brown-haired man. Kyle fell backward, crying out in pain before the heat rendered him unconscious.
"Come, Felix," Menardi said, taking Felix's hand. "There's a secret cave just through here, where our ship awaits in a grotto."
Felix hesitated. "Why do you want me?" he asked at last.
"Did you listen to our conversation with Kyle?" Saturos asked, picking Felix's parents up and putting each over one of his shoulders. He lifted Kyle into the crook of one arm. "We're trying to rekindle the four Elemental Lighthouses. We need you with us in order to gain access to the Venus Lighthouse." He gestured with one hand, barely even wincing under the weight of Felix's parents and Kyle. "Let's go, before the others see us."
Felix started to follow, Menardi's skirt-fabric still tightly wrapped around him, but glanced back at the river and the massive waterfall. "But, what about my sister, Jenna?" he asked.
"You will see her again, boy," Menardi said. "It may be years from now, but we will return to take the Elemental Stars. Now come!"
Felix still stood, staring at the river and breathing heavily. "What about my aunt, and my uncle? What about my friends Isaac and Garet?"
"Boy, come, or I'll do to you what I did to Kyle," Saturos said, still walking. He shoved aside some branches near the waterfall to reveal a small cave opening. Menardi walked through, and Saturos glared at Felix with rage in his red eyes. "Come!"
Felix finally came, and Saturos followed behind him, letting the branches slap against the rock as he went.
And the sun rose higher over Vale, where two boys still laid unconscious in the grass, soaked with rain and wet with blood from now-healing wounds.