Whoops. Forgot about this. Standard disclaimer--I own none of this. Nope, not even the original premise--see, WoofBlackHayate and I cooked it up after she had an odd Golden Sun dream (she blamed it on playing too much Golden Sun right before bed). Anyway, I just... well, took the bunny and wrote it. So... warnings ahead! A little touch of homosexuality, i.e. slash... dude, if you don't like hints, don't read. Period. I mean it. Also, erm... this won't come until later, but there's... death. Duh. Well, if you read the summary, anyway, that's how it is.

Sorry... it's exams week, so I'm a little high-strung. For those of you who don't mind this pairing... enjoy! (Pssst... for the Isaac and Jenna fans, I snuck in a little, haha.)

First Step

How had it come down to this? Piers set his burden gently down on the top of a hill, Felix doing the same besides him. Jenna and Sheba lay comatose, drifting closer to true death with every passing minute. They had run into some unusually strong monsters, and both of the girls had succumbed to the creatures' power. Neither Felix nor Piers had managed to best any of them—they had simply taken the girls and run. What other choice did they have? Still… it was not the act of running away that bothered them now. Between the four of them, there was not a single Water of Life, and perhaps it was that particular fact that kept the frown from leaving Piers' face. Not to mention that Balm was still recovering…

If only Mia were there, he thought. He was not particularly close to her, but her healing abilities would have been invaluable in this tight spot they'd been forced into. The fiends had driven them to the hill, where while they were able to see anything coming it was not easily defensible with only two able to fight. They were miles from the nearest sanctuary—it seemed as if something was determined to kill them both that day, and had formulated a good strategy on how to do so quite far ahead of time.

"So… any ideas?" the Lemurian asked. "We're stuck here for the time being. I believe that it would be in our best interest to make a tactical retreat to the closest village, but unfortunately we would have to take on the same monsters that nearly killed us in order to get there."

Felix shook his head. "We're not going anywhere for a while. At least until the monsters get tired of hunting us and go look for easier prey."

Neither needed to voice the grim thought that passed between them. With only two of them, there probably wasn't easier prey around for miles.

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Night fell, taking with it the last rays of the sun Felix took comfort from. A chill breeze blew through his hair, toying with Piers' clothing and finally departing with a playful flip of the water adept's headdress. His shiver was noticeable—certainly enough for the older man to take notice and move a little closer. It wasn't anything particularly effective, but the teen felt better anyway.

As he leaned into the warmth besides him (they hadn't bothered with a fire, since they had nothing to burn and had no intention of leaving the other party members unprotected) the Venus adept couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him for a while now. "Do you think we'll make it?" His voice was quiet, his tone grim. As much as he tried to be flippant about it, he had no control over the genuine worry that crept into his voice.

It wouldn't help, but Piers couldn't answer any other way… it didn't feel right to deceive the brunette with white lies to instill false hope. "Our odds of survival… do not look very good right now," he replied, somewhat helplessly. "Perhaps if we can keep the creatures at bay until morning…"

"Has Balm recovered yet?" the young man asked, abruptly.

Taking a mental inventory, the Lemurian noticed that indeed the Mercury djinn had set itself back into its slot. "Yes," he replied, leaving the earth adept's side to walk over to the bodies of Jenna and Sheba. "Shall I revive them now?"

No answer came. Piers whirled around as a twig snapped, sword drawn, and only the sight of Felix's limp body in the man's arms stopped him from impaling him where he stood. "You!" he snarled, hating that he couldn't do anything to the man for fear of hurting Felix in the process.

Then he felt the sharp-yet-blunt impact of a sleep psynergy hit him, cursing the fact that he'd completely forgotten that the man's partner was always nearby. As he crumpled to the ground, his sight unfocusing, he spent the last of his strength fighting the spell's effects before he blacked out, Agatio's mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

"Wake up, Jenna, please…" The Mars adept cracked open her eyes and blearily sat up. "Thank goodness! You really had me worried, Jenna." Isaac met her confused gaze with a slightly teary expression of relief that he tried to hide, once he realize he had tear tracks running down his face.

"What… happened?" she asked, confused. Sheba was sitting up, Mia having just finished attending to her; Piers lay unconscious some distance from her… and Felix was missing. That woke her up properly. "Where's Felix? What happened to my brother?"

"We should probably ask Piers that. Jenna, what's the last thing you remember?" Sheba asked quietly.

"We… we were fighting some strange monsters. I've never seen anything like them… and they were just a little too strong. I remember one of them casting a spell, and then… I woke up here."

"Yeah… that's just about what I remember, too. We're not at the site of that battle, so either Piers and Felix managed to defeat them, or they just took us and ran. I suppose the latter is more likely, considering that neither of them were having much effect. In any case… they brought us here, and then something happened… Felix is gone, and Piers is out cold. Who votes we should wait until he wakes up to ask him?" Sheba said wryly, her worry showing in her eyes.

"Well, it's hard to ask him while he's out. What kind of fiends were they, anyway? I thought it was almost impossible for you guys to have your asses handed to you on a silver platter by just monsters," Garet told them, off-handedly.

Mia healed Piers' sleep affliction with a spell. "Why don't we ask him? He'll wake up soon," she added, seeing the looks everyone gave her.

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"Nngh…" Piers groaned and sat up. Six pairs of eyes seemed to bore holes into his head as he opened his eyes, blinked, and punched the ground in frustration. "Gods damn them, they got away…"

"Who got away? And where's my brother? Tell me!" Jenna seized the Lemurian by the collar in a vice grip that Piers could have sworn came out of absolutely nowhere. "Tell me before I roast you!"

He laid his hands on hers and began to pry her fingers off of his shirt collar. "Please let go of me, Jenna. I did try to stop them, but… they hit me with a Sleep spell, and here I am. I wish they'd taken me instead of Felix." Grimacing as earlier wounds began to catch up on him, he failed to notice the stricken look the female fire adept was giving him.

"Who took my brother away? Tell me! You saw them, didn't you?"

Taking a mental inventory of his injuries and realizing just how beaten up he'd gotten the night before, Piers paused mid-wince to reply, his voice grave. "Do you remember a pair of Mars adepts who gave us quite a bit of trouble?" At Jenna's nod, he continued. "The last thing I remembered was Agatio laughing at my…" he growled at the memory "pitiful helplessness. I didn't even see that spell coming. I am sure that if you were to find Agatio and Karst, you would also find Felix…" He stood, shakily, checking his equipment. At least Agatio hadn't bothered to steal anything from him…

"Agatio and Karst? But… what would they want with Felix?" Sheba wondered.

"If they've touched one hair on his head I'll kill them both," Jenna snarled. Behind her, completely forgotten for the moment, Isaac wondered just when she had become so protective of her brother—although perhaps the fact that she'd thought him dead for some years had something to do with it.

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Quietly healing himself with one of his djinn, Piers thanked the little being and slipped away. He had to find Felix—it seemed utterly stupid, if one thought about it, but he had an odd feeling that if he just followed where his instinct led, he'd find the earth adept. Unsheathing his sword, he began to walk away from the group that was too busy watching Jenna stoke her murderous intent.

Sheba felt the sheer need to find the Venus adept in Piers' thoughts, and read his plans. 'Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?' she thought—but she let him walk away. If he felt he needed to do this alone so strongly, then it didn't seem like she was in any position to try to stop him. It was just a sort of gut feeling she had—something terrible was going to happen… "Stay alive," she told him, even though he was out of earshot now. "It would break his heart if you died."

A/N: Okay. Next chapter will be less sloppy, I promise. See you all next time! Please, leave a review, let's see what you've got to say about my first shot at GS fanfiction! XDD Albeit facilitated first shot, but nonetheless... hope to see you again soon!