Author's Note:

Hello and welcome to another Golden Sun story of mine. Playing through the original two games led to me being inspired to write this AU of them, focusing on Garet. I'm still writing 'Devouring Fire' and I'm planning to make the two stories be set in the same AU verse. I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

I do not own any aspect of 'Golden Sun'.

Chapter 1

Garet slowly opened his eyes, only to quickly screw them shut once more as sunlight assaulted them.

He groaned and turned over, then stretched with even more grunts. Slowly, he sat up and yawned, opening his eyes with more care this time. He sat there a moment, rubbing sleep from his eyes, until a sudden series of coughs erupted from his mouth.

"Garet, are you okay dear?"

Like magic, his mother was at the door, face creased in worry. He smiled, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

He quickly nodded, "I'm sure."

Regardless, she came over and pressed her hand to his head, ignoring his grumbling at this, she held it there a moment, then pulled it away.

"Well, you don't seem to be running a temperature or anything, so I guess you're right. I just don't like that coughing."

Garet smiled reassuringly, "You know I cough a lot now, its not a big deal."

She shook her head, "I know, I just worry. Its been three years and the Great Healer still hasn't worked out what happened to you."

Three years since the huge storm and the falling boulder from Mount Aleph, that changed several lives dramatically. Not only did Isaac lose his father and Jenna lose her parents and brother, but Garet also didn't come out unscathed. Somehow, both he and Isaac ended up unconscious further away from the river, though how was a mystery. At best, they theorised that they'd rushed to find help or to check if anyone had survived the boulder and been knocked out somehow along the way.

The biggest mystery however, lay with the effect on Garet.

When the two of them awoke in the healer's sanctuary after being found, Isaac physically recovered just fine, but he himself did not. For some reason, his constitution had weakened, he became tired more easily, was more susceptible to illness and was hit harder by it.

When he studied psynergy more thoroughly alongside his friends, he soon found that while his powers were about the same strength, they drained him quicker and overuse could lead to collapse. At this discovery, his now overprotective mother wanted him to stop using it at all, however, the joint efforts of his grandfather, father and the Great Healer himself convinced her to let him continue, though with greater care.

This was why she was now hovering around him in concern, though it had been decided that whatever his condition was wasn't life-threatening or that intrusive to daily living, provided due care was taken, she still got worried if he showed any sign of being ill again.

She checked his temperature once more, making absolutely sure he was fine, then sighed, "Definitely nothing wrong, but please don't push yourself too hard."

"I know Mom, I won't."

"Kraden, be careful, it's pretty slippery!"

At Jenna's warning words, the scholar returned to the main platform of the Sol Sanctum, but was clearly unhappy, "But I must examine the Elemental Stars…"

At Kraden's urging, because of things he'd learned from two visitors that had unsettled him, Garet, Jenna and Isaac had joined the old man on an exploration of Sol Sanctum. They'd journeyed into the heart of the sanctuary, using psynergy to make headway and fight off several creatures loitering within. Now, they found themselves in a large room containing the Elemental Stars, and Kraden was practically bursting at the seems to look at the legendary objects.

"Me and Isaac will get the stones for you."

Kraden looked at Jenna in surprise, "Are you sure…I mean…I couldn't really ask…"

"We'll be more than happy to do it." She turned to Isaac, "Right?"

Isaac simply nodded, and she beamed, "Of course you are." She looked to the other boy, "Now Garet, you stay here while we get the stones."

"What!" He stared at her, "Why do I have to stay?"

She sighed, "Because, you've already used a lot of psynergy and energy to get down here, you can't overdo it."

"But I'm fine!"

She shook her head, "Garet, you know full well that you need to rest when you can. Me and Isaac can fetch the stars just fine."

"It's just hopping across a couple of pillars!" He protested.

Ever since the events of three years ago, Jenna had become more protective of him because of his weakened state. While he understood why, he still found it frustrating from time to time. Yes, he was technically weaker than her and Isaac now, but he could certainly do more than she seemed to think he could.

Unfortunately, Kraden spoke up before he could argue further, "Jenna is quite right Garet. It would be better if you wait here with me. We still need to make it out of Sol Sanctum and back down to Vale once we have the Elemental Stars, it would be prudent for you to take a break for a while. Isaac and Jenna can fetch the stars themselves."

Outnumbered, Garet turned to his only other possible ally, "Isaac, you know that I'll be fine, don't you?"

His largely silent friend simply shook his head, causing Garet to pout, "Really Isaac, you too?"

Great, even Isaac, who usually was the one that didn't treat him like some fragile object, was against him on this.

He sighed, "Fine, I'll wait here then."

His two friends smiled, and once Kraden had handed them the Mythril bags for holding the stars, they began the series of jumps across the water to the four statues holding the stars. The first two were retrieved without difficulty, however, while the two waited for them to reach the third star, things went south.

The first indication they had was the sound of someone exiting the portal that had brought them here, Garet spun to see Saturos and Menardi from outside Kraden's cottage coming their way.

"Kraden!"

Even as he called out a warning to the scholar, Garet began preparing a psynergy attack, however, he suddenly entered a coughing fit and fell to his knees before he'd finished.

It seemed he had been close to overdoing it.

Kraden was immediately at his side, "Garet, are you alright?"

Getting his coughs under control, the boy nodded but didn't stand up, his energy drained for the moment, Menardi looked at him curiously, "How strange."

Saturos however, was focused on Isaac and Jenna, "Seems the other two have noticed us."

His companion was immediately distracted, "Shame, I hoped we'd be safe until they had all the stars."

"You! You mean to steal the Elemental Stars!" Kraden exploded from where he was kneeling beside Garet.

Menardi seemed unbothered, "Aren't you the one who used our information to get this far?"

Garet pushed himself to his feet, refusing to just sit there and do nothing to help himself.

"Garet, NO!"

He ignored Kraden and Jenna's joint shouts of alarm and cast Flare. However, it seemed to do next to nothing and sudden exhaustion came over him. He slowly fell forwards and succumbed to unconsciousness before he hit the ground.

PS-And so, the deviation begins. Please let me know what you thought and give 'Devouring Fire' a look as well. I'll hopefully update soon.