Disclaimer: It would be nice to own Golden Sun, but I don't, nor to I own any company or group affiliated with the production and sale of this game. I will own, however, that I really hope for a third game, besides that, I got nothing.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think.

A Voice in the Night

"Mia…"

The Mercury Adept stirred in her sleep, the psychic voice rousing her from her dreams.

"Mia..."

She moaned softly recognizing the soft tones of the voice in her head subconsciously as the psychic prodding edged her towards awareness.

"Mia, I'm waiting for you."

Her eyes slowly cracked open, the voice stronger now. It was urgent, almost pleading. It had been so long, so long since she had heard his voice, especially like this, so near, so, intimate. A shiver ran involuntarily down her spine as she sat up, pushing back the covers with one hand.

"Mia, please."

Mia took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, the wrestle back control of herself from her instincts and emotions, but even as she fought, she was rapidly dressing herself. She stole from her room silently, leaving the door cracked open so she didn't have to risk closing it and making unnecessary noise. The soft leather of her boots was quiet on the wood flooring as she crept slowly to the head of the staircase.

"Mia."

The Mercury Adept bit her lip as memories swirled through her of a hundred stolen nights, whispered conversations in the velvet darkness, and the faint stirrings of something that might be called fate. She hesitated only a moment at the top of the stairs, and then started down stealthily, her resistance crumbling to ruins about her.

"Mia, hurry."

She paused at the bottom of the stairs, her heart hammering with anticipation and something more.

"Outside, please hurry Mia."

Her breath caught in her throat, a soft whimper loosing itself as the memories flowed through her again, stronger this time, more insistent, as his voice caressed her name.

"Mia, is something wrong?"

Mia startled, flushing a deep crimson in the shadows at the base of the stairs as she blinked wildly at Isaac. He had risen slightly from the chair he had been sitting in before the inn's hearth. The firelight danced through his hair, burnishing it to shining gold and playing fitfully over his blue tunic. She couldn't help but smile and marvel as she always did when she looked at him. He was beautiful, he was perfect. He was hers.

The Mercury Adept blinked, confused as she felt a swirl of annoyance that wasn't hers wash through her, brushing that thought aside. Her smile faded slowly, and her blue eyes slid slightly out of focus.

"Mia!"

"Mia?"

She had to support herself on the nearby wall of the staircase, both voices reaching her at once, but the psychic pull was so much stronger now. Isaac stood up, taking a few steps across the room towards her, his voice lowering slightly as he questioned her, concern lighting his eyes. Mia closed her eyes, and sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady herself as the memories raged through her, not just her own, but his as well, nearly staggering her with the weight of emotion that slammed through her. "I-I'm okay, I-Isaac… I just need to go outside for a second, get some, some fresh air."

The Venus Adept looked at his wife with concern. She had retired to bed early tonight, complaining of a headache, and he had remained up, sitting before the fire in the inn's common room, too restless to sleep for some reason, and not wanting to disturb Mia's rest. Her pupils were dilated, her breath coming just a bit too fast, and she had a slightly feverish look about her. Yet, despite all this, he could still feel the familiar stirring within him, the warmth he felt whenever he saw her. "Do you want me to come with you? You don't look well."

His voice was soft with compassion, and Mia felt again that shadow of another's anger inside of her. "I, um, I-" She blinked, her eyes going out of focus again as the memories tore through her, shattering her the defenses she had been shoring up. "No, no, I'll be fine, don't, don't worry about it."

She thought for a moment he might object as he wet his lips, pausing a moment before finally nodding. "Alright, I'll be right here if you need me though, okay?"

"Mia."

She swallowed reflexively, nodding and barely restraining herself from running for the door. She cast a last glance back to where her husband stood as she slipped out the door and into the Imilian night. Distance and time had lost their meaning; she wasn't sure how long it was she staggered through the quiet, clear night, the stars burning in the sky above her like diamonds.

"Mia."

The Mercury Adept whimpered as a maelstrom of memory and emotion engulfed her, and she stumbled forwards and suddenly, he was there. Her resistance, her will, lay in shambles around her, and this, at last, was too much. She tumbled forward into his arms, the gentle breeze casting the soft scent of salty seas against her, his scent. "Alex." She gasped the name, pleading it into his chest as he cradled her against him, his arms supporting her.

"Mia."

She almost fainted, the sound of his voice in her ears combining with the psychic siren call lighting her aflame, chocking off reason, and smothering logic. "A-Alex, you're, you're al-alive." Her arms clung to him of their own accord, crushing her body against his as she somehow managed to choke out the words.

He smiled, the gentle smile she remembered from so long ago, not the icy, glacier smile from the recent past. "Of course I am Mia. I can't die, not as long as you live. I came for you, just like I promised I would, like I promised I always would."

"I, Alex, I don't understand…" The Mercury Adept blinked in confusion, removing her head from his chest to look him in the eye.

"I told you Mia, you and I are meant to be together, we are one and the same, now and forever." His eyes glinted, almost as bright as the stars twinkling above them. "Don't you see? I did it for you, all of it, for you, for us, for forever."

She blinked in shock, her mouth moving wordlessly as she tried to fathom what he was saying, what it was he was trying to tell her. All of this, for her? The Lighthouses, the deceptions, the pain and horror they had all been through, all to be with her? Her mind shied away from the very idea violently, a sliver of doubt managing to worm its way out of Alex's psychic hold.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching in the snow, and Alex was prevented further explanations as Isaac's voice rang out, hard as diamonds in the crystal silence of the night. "Let her go, Alex, get away from her!" There was the sound of metal scraping against metal, and a soft ringing as his blade leapt free of its scabbard.

Alex's right arm hardened about her, crusher her against him with the steady power of a glacier, his other arm coming up to face Isaac, palm flat towards him, water misting out of the air around him to wreath about his hand. His eyes and voice were hard as ice and he chuckled darkly. "No, I won't. She belongs to me."

Isaac growled angrily, leveling his blade steadily at the Mercury Adept. "She is my wife, let her go, or suffer the consequences."

The dark laughter rang out again, and Mia stumbled slightly away from Alex as he released her. "You don't understand, fool. I'm not holding her here against her will. She came to me, we belong together, its fate, and you cannot oppose fate."

The ground below the trio grumbled faintly with the Venus Adept's rage. "You're mad Alex, you've always been mad."

"Have I? She isn't running to you is she?" Both men turned their gaze to Mia, who had staggered a few more steps from Alex and was now glancing between the two. Alex's voice was cool now, reasonable. "How about this then? We let her choose. Between us, between fate and foolishness. Unless you're afraid of what will happen, that she'll reject you like the dog you are?"

The rumbling increased, growing stronger, and a fissure cracked open slowly several yards from the group. With a massive effort of will, Isaac managed to check his rage, though he still held his ready posture, just as Alex did. "You're mad." He paused, as though trying to figure out what Alex's game was here. His gaze shifted to Mia, eyes softening. "Alright, I agree."

Alex smiled, chuckling again. "Mia, Mia, come with me. Its destiny, you know that. I promised you we would be together, nothing can keep us apart; we are two threads of fate, bound together. You can't deny what you feel, what we had together. You remember, don't you? All those years, everything we shared together, doesn't that mean something?"

The Mercury Adept stared at Alex, entranced, taking a hesitant half-step in his direction, only to stop when she hear Isaac's voice. "Mia. Mia, please, don't go with him." She turned, half-facing Isaac. "Please Mia, the past is gone. Whatever you had together, whatever hold you think you might have had on him, that's gone. He's not the same; he's not the person you loved."

The chill Imil night grew colder around her, for now it was Alex's turn to rage. "Lies! He lies Mia! What we had, what we were, is not dead, it's what we are! Nothing changes that, nothing!"

She took a step away from Alex, blinking. The anger and hate he radiated was as palpable as the cold that flowed from him. His eyes glinted icily, burning with cold intensity. "No." Mia shuddered as she felt a cold presence flowing through her, causing her to jerk forward towards Alex unsteadily.

"Mia!" She halted somehow, but she could feel it, a cold, hard, insistent tug on her, pulling her towards Alex. She opened her mouth to cry out, to call for help, but she couldn't speak. Isaac called out for her again. "Mia, Mia, please, don't do this, come back. To me, to, to us. He's lying to you Mia, he has nothing on you, you're better than he is, you always have been."

She wanted to turn back, to break away from Alex, from the past, from what they had been and what might have been. She couldn't though; the memories were too strong, Alex's intrusions into her mind causing them to grow, overshadowing logic and reason, blotting out the memories of her happiness with Isaac.

"Mia, yes, come with me."

"No!" Isaac stumbled several steps forward, dropping to one knee in the snow, his sword driving into the ground. He reached out helplessly with one hand towards Mia. "Please, Mia, please." His voice broke with the weight of sorrow and need. "Mia, you have to see, he's lying to you, and he just wants to control you. Please, please." He was begging now, debasing himself in the snow, and not even caring how it looked, all he cared about was her, the fact that he might lose her forever, his voice broke in a ragged whisper, a single tear rolling from one eye to freeze on his cheek. "Mia, I love you."

She froze, suddenly locked in a crystalline moment of clarity brighter than the most blinding sun. He loved her, he loved her unconditionally, and she loved him, more than anything. He was right, the past meant nothing, and it was nothing before the future they would make together. She could feel it then, the unnatural cold that ran through her veins, the icy hold on her will. It's gone, the past is gone. He's right, the Alex she knew, the past, they're dead. Alex didn't love her anymore, not like he had, the past was gone, and nothing could bring it back.

The Mercury Adept jerked, feeling the spell that shackled her to Alex crack and shatter as she let go of the past, breaking the spells hold. She staggered away from him as he jolted forward as the force of the spell backlashed against him. "No! No! No!" Alex screamed in denial, stumbling forward in the snow after her, only to be blasted backwards by an arctic blast of wind from Mia.

"It's over Alex! You have nothing on me now. You are dead to me, dead. I've left the past behind, for the future, my future with Isaac."

Alex rolled over, propping himself up with his arms. "No, it's not over, it will never be over. I'll be back, Mia, you know I will, fate has already decreed my victory!" There was a wave of Psynergy, and Alex teleported away.

Mia stumbled through the snow towards Isaac, who floundered up from his knees to meet her, the two crashing together in a bone-jarring hug before toppling over in the snow, the Venus Adept landing atop her. They were both sobbing, tears tracking slowly down their faces. "I love you, I love you." Isaac whispered into Mia's hair. "I always have, I always will."

She pulled Isaac against her as hard as she could, and sobbing. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I love you."

She felt his hands as the gently released her, stroking her face and hair softly. "Mia, I love you, you know that. There's nothing to forgive. The past can hurt, I know that, and I don't blame you for any of it. It's over now, the past is gone, there's only the future now, only us."

She reached on hand up, smiling the angelic smile that warmed his heart, her hand stroking across his face and up into his hair. He smiled back at her lovingly, melting the coldness that sometimes threatened to chill her soul. He whispered it to her one more time, and then pressed his lips to his wife's tenderly, trying to convey more than any mere words could.

"I love you."