Disclaimer: I do not assume to own any of the characters, ideas or situations in this fic, including this chapter and all of the following chapters.
A/N: This chapter's Author's Notes have been updated, but the story is the same. Look for chapter two soon!
A/N: I have realized upon beginning to work on this fiction again and reading "The Angel and the Slayer" that my ideas and the plot line for this story mirror but are not the same, so I do not take credit for the ideas in this story being original. Also, I have decided to use some ideas from TheOneAndOnlyT's ideas, and while it may seem similar, I have made sure to change it so that it is how I envision the series. Finally, I would like to add that I will also have flashbacks to the past, interludes in between events and, I hope, a more complete picture in my story. I also plan to write more than just the first half of the series, so I will get into "The Lost Age," but take it from Isaac's perspective as opposed to Felix. Now, to my story:
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Isaac rushed to the sanctum after the old couple told him to get Mia, the town healer.
He had woken up with a bad dream about Jenna being taken away again, and so he decided to go outside for a walk to clear his head. He was passing a house near the inn when he heard someone coughing loudly. Shortly afterwords, an old woman burst out the door and spotted him.
"Please! Go find Mia!" she begged, "My husband is sick!"
"Okay!" Isaac answered and so took off running through the town to the sanctum. When he burst through the sanctum's doors, he saw a beautiful girl with blue eyes and cerulean hair in blue and white robes sitting at the head of the sanctum, surrounded by two kids who seemed to be reading from a book. The girl looked up when she heard the sanctum's door burst open.
"Can I help you?" she asked in a soft and angelic voice as he approached, slightly out of breath.
"There's an old couple by the town entrance, they were looking for Mia." Isaac said, looking at the three.
"Grandma, grandpa! I'm coming!" The blue haired girl quickly stood and ran out of the sanctum with Isaac following behind...
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Chapter One - Memories
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Isaac sighed as he sat up, watching over the two tents and fire that constituted his new group's campsite. Guarding the campsite had begun on the second night that Isaac and Garet had ventured into the wild. The first night they were attacked by two monsters and were ill-prepared to take them on, having just woken up.
Isaac smiled at the memory; things had sure changed a lot ever since Mercury Lighthouse... Ever since Mia joined their group... When Mia decided to come with them, it was hectic for the first few days. Things have settled down since then, but while being different from how things used to be, Isaac didn't mind her as much as Garet or Ivan seemed to. 'Though they didn't see her when she completely healed the old man and woman from the epidemic,' Isaac thought.
Generally, the two disliked her joining because she was always shy and only seemed to be and extra mouth to feed. However, they eventually warmed up to her when she healed their wounds after battles with a few particularly difficult monsters, or the time she managed to purge the venom in Garet from when he had fought a poisonous cuttle in Mercury Lighthouse.
Now, the guys are happy that they have a Mercury adept in their group who was particularly good at healing people. Also, while she is a shy healer, she is also a skilled fighter on their team and everyone has grown to count on her.
Isaac looked at the two tents, imagining the people inside. In the green tent were Garet and Ivan. They had that tent ever since the journey began, but they were forced to buy another when Ivan joined their group.
Before Mia, the three used to take turns sleeping alone in the second light blue tent. When she first joined, all of the guys were stuffed together in the green tent because they didn't want to intrude on her privacy. Although after a rough night where the boys barely slept, they decided as a group to allow one person to sleep in the same tent as Mia. With that allowance, however, there were a few obvious rules, such as giving her time alone to change and to respect her privacy at all times.
At first, they had taken turns sharing the tent with Mia, but eventually, things changed. Ivan decided on the second time that he slept in the same tent as Mia that he was uncomfortable with sleeping so close to a female, so he was given permanent residence in the boy's tent. The second incident occurred a few days later when Garet "accidentally" walked in on Mia changing. While he swears it was an accident and while he did not see anything, Mia no longer felt comfortable sharing a tent with him, so that left Isaac.
Another change that happened due to Mia was a more easy guard schedule. Now that there are four people to choose from, they decided split duty up into three shifts and let one person sleep the whole night. This worked out well and allowed everyone to have one night when they wouldn't lose any sleep, helping them out in the long run.
Isaac smiled while looking up at the moon, things were going smoothly now, despite the bumpy beginning. Looking back down at the map that he had purchased in Imil, Isaac saw that they were just about to reach the Bilibin Barricade. At this rate, they would reach the Kolima Forest in no time, letting them continue on with their journey.
Suddenly, Isaac heard a snapping twig behind him. 'Must be another zombie,' he thought, 'I wonder what's with them? I had to kill two already...' Hearing the padding sound of feet on grass close behind him, Isaac tensed, and in one movement, swung around while drawing his Elven Rapier from his back sheath, ready to strike.
"Ah!" a familiar voiced yelled in surprise.
Isaac's eyes widened at the cerulean-haired beauty before him, "I'm sorry, I thought you were a zombie," he said, sheathing his rapier and settling back down in front of the fire.
Mia nodded and sat down across from him. "It's okay," she said, giving him a small, teasing smile. "But a zombie, come on, do I really look that bad?"
Isaac smiled back, "No," he answered truthfully, "But... What are you doing out here? It's not even your night to guard."
Mia looked down and stared into the fire, "I just couldn't sleep."
Isaac looked at her and saw a small frown on her face. Getting up, he walked over and sat down next to her, "Mia, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, really. I don't want to burden you with my problems," Mia evaded, looking everywhere but at Isaac.
"Mia," Isaac said, finally calling her attention to him, "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay, but I'll always be here to listen."
A tear fell down Mia's cheek as she turned back to gaze into the flames, "It's just... I feel so useless and weak... I couldn't accomplish the one duty set forth to me by the Mercury Clan... I was betrayed by one of my apprentices... I can't even fight that good compared to you guys..." By now, tears were streaming down Mia's cheeks.
"Mia... It's not like that at all..." Isaac began, putting an arm around her shoulder in comfort. "We all fail sometimes... Me and Garet, we couldn't stop the elemental stars from being stolen by Saturos and Menardi... After that, we were tasked with recovering the stars and stopping tem from lighting the lighthouses, and we messed that one up too. But what matters is that we are still trying, and that we are not helping them light the beacons. And Alex... You can't be responsible for what he does. When he was your apprentice, you always told him to never light the beacons, right?" Mia looked up through tear filed eyes and nodded, "Then he chose to light them himself, against what you taught him to do."
Mia smiled a little, but still felt a little down, 'But he never said I was a good fighter... Maybe he doesn't think so as well...'
"Mia... You're not a bad fighter either," Isaac said, almost as if reading her mind, "You fought with us whenever we went into battle, and your water Psynergy kicked Saturos all over the aerie!"
Mia giggled a little at the picture, "Thanks, Isaac..."
"No problem," he responded, eventually turning his attention back to the night sky.
"The stars look beautiful tonight," Mia commented after a while. Isaac stiffened as his mind wandered back to another time when he heard someone say that...
Flashback
"The stars look beautiful tonight," a feminine voice said to Isaac's right. He was sprawled on the front of his lawn, hanging out with Jenna after training most of the day. Not feeling like talking much, he grunted an affirmative. Jenna giggled, "I can tell you are impressed."
Isaac smiled and turned his head to look at the fire adept. She was looking at him and smiling that small smile that he enjoyed seeing on her face and that brightened his day. Slowly, she began leaning towards him while closing her eyes as he slowly closed his own.
"Hey, Isaac! Jenna! Where are you guys?" Garet's voice suddenly rang out nearby, causing the two to jump apart....
End flashback
"Isaac... Isaac?" said boy finally looked over to Mia, who was calling his name. "Isaac, what's wrong?
Flashback
Isaac stood atop the Mercury Lighthouse aerie when he suddenly heard Jenna's voice.
"Isaac! Garet!"
Isaac's head whipped over to Jenna, but when he saw her, something was missing. He stood still as he tried to remember back when he was with her in Vale, and it finally hit him, 'I... I don't feel that warm glow I always felt whenever I looked at her anymore...' Time seemed to lapse as Isaac thought about it, but he couldn't think of anything. Suddenly, Saturos came out from behind the lighthouse beacon.
"Garet, get back!" an angelic voice called as Saturos approached the group. That angelic voice broke Isaac from his reverie and he turned to find the owner of the voice.
'Mia...'
End flashback
"I-it's nothing," Isaac attempted to smile at Mia to put her at ease, but the water adept saw right through it.
"No, there's something wrong... You listened to my problems, let me help you with yours," Mia smiled gently.
Isaac looked at her for a while before seeming to come to a conclusion. Slowly turning his head to gaze upward at the stars once more, Isaac began speaking.
Ivan woke up with a gentle wind from his djinni Gust. 'Time to start the watch...' he thought while stretching a bit and grabbing his witch's wand. As he knelt down to open the tent, he heard Isaac speaking softly to someone. Curious, he quietly opened the tent a little and peeked outside.
'What's Mia doing up..?'
"... cury Lighthouse, I've been confused... I used to like that girl that we saw on the elevator, but that time that I saw her... I didn't feel anything..." Isaac said.
"... You mean Jenna?" Mia asked slowly, remembering the beautiful girl with scarlet hair and brown eyes.
"Yeah... I used to think that I... loved her... I began this journey not so much to save the world as to save her, but when I saw her on the aerie, I didn't feel anything for her, not like I used to..." Isaac trailed off.
"... I... I haven't had much experience when it comes to relationships... But I think that... what you were feeling... w-wasn't... love..." Mia started off hesitantly, "It sounds more like you had a crush on her, and once you spent time away from her..."
Isaac was silent for a while, pondering Mia's words. Beside him, the water adept fidgeted slightly, thinking she might have said something wrong or to offend him. She was about to say something else when Isaac spoke.
"Is that what you really think?" Isaac asked in a soft voice, his mind seeming to drift into the past as he laid back and looked up at the moon, now halfway up in the sky.
"I-...I don't really know... I think so, but... I have never been in a relationship with anyone before..."
'Not even Alex?' Ivan thought, still eavesdropping.
"I just don't really know what to think anymore," Isaac admitted, "Ever si-"
Isaac stopped when he heard movement in the bushes surrounding the campsite.
"I-Isaac? Wh-what is it?" Mia asked nervously as the earth adept stopped talking and turned his head to the bushes behind Mia. That's when he saw them.
"Mia! Run!" He yelled as he scrambled up and unsheathed his Elven Rapier. The frightened girl quickly turned and froze when she saw a band of three ghosts and two zombies coming forward. Coming at her.
The monsters seemed to have finally noticed her and ran forward to attack. Mia couldn't move as they closed in on her and just as closed her eyes to brace for the attack, she heard a grunt in front of her followed by a howl of pain. Isaac had ran in front of her to protect her, but with only his rapier he wasn't able to block all of their attacks. Panting, Isaac swung the blade, sending two zombies flying backwards, only to have the other three monsters fill in. Isaac stood his ground, blocking and parrying the five monsters, holding them back as best he can. Without his shield, it was near impossible to stop all of the hits aimed his way, but he managed to block most of them.
Mia felt like she was frozen in place as she fell to her knees and stared in shock at the blood dripping from Isaac's wounds. Isaac quickly spun and beheaded a ghost that had snuck around to try and attack Mia, but was hit by the other four monsters, causing him to collapse to the ground. He quickly got up and began to attack the remaining four to protect Mia.
'But... why..?' She wasn't given much time to wonder as Ivan ran forward with his witch's wand glowing purple with his psynergy.
"Plasma!" he called, the spell shooting from the wand, encompassing the three zombies and destroying them. Isaac collapsed after the zombies were destroyed, leaving him open to the last ghost.
Mia finally found her voice as the ghost moved to attack, "ISAAC!"
Ivan quickly turned when he heard Mia's scream and saw the ghost approaching his friend. Acting quickly Ivan sprinted over and jumped up, raising his pulsing wand, "Stun Voltage!"
Mia watched as Isaac turned around in his sleep, facing her from across the room. After the battle, nobody had asked her any questions which she was grateful for. Instead, she had helped Isaac back into their shared tent and had examined his wounds, managing to heal all of them with Ply. A few hours had passed since then, but she still couldn't fall asleep. 'Why did I freeze up like that? I never had problems when I was fighting alone before, why now?'
Mia felt tears prick at her eyes as she recalled Isaac getting hurt protecting her, 'Why did this have to happen when I could have helped Isaac?' She rapidly blinked away the forming tears as she sat up on her bed roll and concentrated, bringing the healing power of the Mercury Clan to her hands, causing them to glow lightly blue. Placing her hands gently on Isaac's back, she whispered out, "Ply," and his body was slowly surrounded by a light blue aura. After a moment, her powers dissipated and she smiled a little, sure that he was now completely healed. Climbing back under the covers, Mia closed her eyes and pushed all of her doubts away, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before sunrise.
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