Yuja: Why do I keep doing this?

Isaac: You mean coming up with new fanfic ideas when you still have others to finish?

Yuja: Yeah.

Isaac: Beats me.

Yuja: -.-;; Then again, why do I even bother with you muses?

Originally, I had been writing a fic where an OC got stuck in her GS:TLA game. But then I came up with the idea of her being caught and turning bad after leaving the group. And then I had the idea of her always being one of the villains from the moment she entered the game. Then I had the idea of an OC who was originally from the GS world, was already a villain, and she could just duke it out with Felix and the gang. End result: This. And I still have over 30 pages of the original story, which will either never reach the net or will just be hosted separately at my website. Not sure what to do with it yet.

Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun. If I did, I would have Isaac and Felix plushies, Isaac and Felix mugs, Isaac and Felix mouse pads, Isaac and Felix posters, Isaac and Felix…

Isaac: THE HORROR! MAKE IT STOP!

NOTICE: I know the format to this is probably a little…okay, really confusing. Basically, this prologue is the memory and thoughts of the OC. Words in italics are what the OC is thinking at the moment, everything in quotation marks is being said by a brother and sister in the memory, and italicized words in quotation marks are what the village kids are singing. Catch all that? Don't worry if you didn't, 'cause it all comes together before the end.

Since both are so short, the Prologue and first chapter have been posted together. And don't forget to check the notes at the end for some important warnings/notices.

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Prologue

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"Sister! Sister, come back!"

I once heard that nothing lasts forever. But sometimes I wonder. Does that include misery…or joy? Will this darkness last forever?

"Brother! Help me! Don't let them take me!"

Sometimes, I can still hear the children's voices, chanting the rhyme as they played and ran through the village. If only I had known then what I do now.

"Now you see us, soon you won't.
The master of shadow rides on smoke.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
He shall soon be upon us.
Into his shadow we shall go.
After that shall be Unknown."

"Sis!"

I tried to forget.

"No!"

How long…is forever?

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Chapter 1

(Yuja: Wow, what a fast update! And please forgive the lousy dream sequence or lack there of.)

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"Help me!"

Hold on.

"Hurry! I'm slipping!"

I'm coming.

"Please! I--I need you!"

Who are you?

"Aaiiiiieeeeeeee!"

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Felix woke with a start. That dream again. A girl's voice, crying for his help, but there was nothing he could ever do. And then the voice would fade as though falling away.

"Felix? Are you okay?" Felix sat up and faced his sister. Jenna sat on a log on the other side of the now dimmed camp fire, taking her turn as the night's lookout. The red-head studied her brother. "Having trouble sleeping again?"

"You could say that." The Venus Adept moved to sit next to her, accepting the drink cup she offered to him. "But it's just a dream. Nothing more."

"Really? You know, Felix, you can tell me things. I am your little sister."

Felix shifted uncomfortably. "There's nothing to talk about." Jenna sighed, giving up. This wasn't the first time he had closed up to talking. In fact, he was more closed up than not.

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Meanwhile, in a hard to reach and hardly known area in the world of Weyard, a plan was being put into action.

"So, you're saying that he has the Jupiter and Mars Stars?" questioned a female voice, the owner's eyes studying the image of the Venus Adept beside his sister in her master's sphere of light. "And you almost had me thinking this would be a challenge."

"He might not look like much, but he has got experience. He lived in Prox for three years, after all."

"So, he's had past training as a warrior." The woman studied the image some more.

"Think you can take him and his three companions on? I have never asked you to do something like this before. It will be your first battle with an Adept."

"You're right. You never did ask." The woman thought some more. "I can handle it. Dead or alive?"

Her master was shrouded in darkness, but she could tell that he was nodding with his usual smirk. "Dead or alive. And you can take as much help as you desire. Have some fun. I do not care how you do it. I just want you to bring me those Stars."

There was a glint in his servant's eyes. "Consider it done." The woman, already well hidden in the shadows, faded out and was gone. The master remained, the shadows moving around him as he watched the figures of the siblings in his viewer for a moment longer before his shadows extinguished it.

The sound of creaking bones could be heard in a corner. "Do you really think she can be trusted with so much freedom, Master? After all these years, I still sense some resis-."

"It's not a matter of trust, my dear Deimos. It's a matter of how much longer she will be worth my time."

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"Just whose bright idea was it to make the distance between towns so dag-on LONG?"

Sheba looked up at the taller and older adept. "Jenna, we've hardly gone one mile this morning."

"Yes, but does it look like where getting anywhere quickly?"

"In Lemuria, I remember how long the walk from one side of town to the other seemed to be when I was young."

"And just how long ago was that?"

Piers refrained from answering. The other group members were constantly trying to catch him off guard and trick his age out of him. Instead, he seemed to be concentrating very hard. A bird flew overhead, the first he had seen since earlier that morning.

Felix noticed the suspicious look on his companion's face. "Something wrong?"

Piers thought a moment longer. "There is a strange tension in the air."

"Are you sure it's not just Jenna's complaining?" asked Sheba, pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

"Hey!"

Piers shook his head. "It may be nothing. Perhaps I have become overly cautious since our visit to Lemuria." Nothing else was said on the matter.

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Figures he would want me to do some thieving while I'm at it.

"'Ey Michi! W'en we gonna get a move on?"

Stupid bag of bones for an underling. "Fine. Let's go." No wonder it's already dead.

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Piers sat silently, contemplating something as he occasionally drank from his mug at the table in the Inn's dining area. The travelers had arrived in Naribwe before nightfall, having to divide the distance between the town and the beach into a two-day journey. Jenna had suggested steering the Lemurian ship up the river, but Piers had been too protective of his beloved water vessel to take the risk just yet.

"Gold coin for your thoughts," said Kraden as he too sat down at the table with his own drink.

"I doubt my thoughts would be worth much at the present time."

"Thinking of home?"

Piers was silent at first. "Somewhat. However, there is something else concerning me, though I am unsure of what it is. If anything were wrong, I am sure Sheba would have sensed it by now."

Felix now entered the front entrance, made his way to the table, and sat down as well. "No luck at the Fortune Teller's at this hour. We'll have to go tomorrow when he's open."

Kraden nodded his agreement and looked around. "Where in the name of Gaia have the girls gotten off to?"

Felix shrugged. "I think they went to their room for a while. Something about 'freshening up'."

There was a loud clang as a tin plate of food hit the floor two tables away. One of the table's occupants, a young woman about Felix' age with brown hair and wearing a dark cloak, quickly kneeled to gather what she could of her meal. The other occupant, who Felix assumed was a man from his build, sat quite calmly, not budging to assist the girl. Instead of piling everything back on the plate, she scooped the pieces up and placed them in a small cloth pouch she drew from a pocket inside her cloak. As she reached for her bread roll, however, her companion, also wearing a cloak but with the hood pulled forward to conceal his appearance, kicked out a booted foot, knocking the roll out of reach. The girl gave him a quick glare before she moved after the piece of bread that had made its way near Felix's chair.

Felix leaned over and picked up the roll. "You aren't planning on eating this, are you?"

The girl gave him a rather displeased glance, muttering something about feeding animals, and put the roll in her pouch before tying it shut. Without even looking at Felix, the girl mumbled a small "Thank you" and hurried back to her table where her companion was already preparing to leave.

"See? You can't even catch a lump of food on your own," Felix overheard the man telling the girl in a raspy voice as they left.

"Whatever. Let's just go."

Just then, the doors were shoved open and a man in official attire marched in. Spotting the girl, who had quickly lifted her hood but not fast enough, his heavy mustache actually seemed to bristle. "Stop right there!" He drew his sword and moved forward cautiously. Felix now recognized him as one of the town guards. "You are under arrest!"

The two people stepped back. At the sound of the commotion, the other guests at the Inn had stopped eating and moved away, watching intently. Felix and Piers stood at their table, Felix's hand already on the hilt of his sword, waiting for any reason to draw it.

The woman stared at the officer. "Might I ask on what charges I am to be detained?"

"On the charges of theft and murder!"

"Are you certain you have the right person?"

"I've heard enough about you and the price on your head to know without a doubt. You're the assassin and thief Michi." There was a gasp from nearly every onlooker in the room when the name was said, though Felix couldn't really see why. The girl didn't seem like much standing there, but looks could always be deceiving, especially since so much of her was hidden. "Unfortunately for you, every town has a watch out for you, and we received a tip earlier today that you might show your face in our area next."

The girl grinned mischievously. "Interesting. So you humans actually do have some sense. And here I thought my job was getting boring." The guard swung his sword clumsily, but the girl had already flipped backwards and crouched on the table that had been behind her. "Amateurs." The guard swung again, this time the girl jumping and flipping over his head as he lunged, tapping his shoulders with her hands only briefly to propel herself. Now there was nothing between her and the exit.

"Is that truly all that Naribwe's finest can do? Maybe you mortals are as foolish as I thought."

"Michi, quit playing around and get a move on," ordered her hooded companion, standing forgotten near the door.

"Like I want to waste my time." Without another word or glimpse over her shoulder, the girl raced from the Inn and the two suspects disappeared into the night.

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Yuja: Dun dun DUN! Isn't the suspense just killing you?

Isaac: You really are crazy.

Yuja: You say that like it's a new discovery or something. Anyways, updates for this story will most likely be slow at first, since I'm having way more fun writing the middle to the end right now, and the only reason I'm uploading the start of this story now is to see what people think of the idea. One advantage to having some of the key parts written already for far away chapters is that I can give reasonable amounts of warning about this story ahead of time.

Warning #1: This story is a mix of action/adventure, drama/angst, slight suspense, a bit of a mystery that isn't fully explained until much later, tragedy in a few spaced out portions, and, yes, my first actual attempt at a semi-romance.

Warning #2: Many parts of this story will be confusing when they first appear. Don't panic. This is part of the suspense/mystery side of the story. Those who know me also know that the one thing I like the most about M. Night Shyamalan films (i.e. Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, etc.) is the fact that nothing really makes since until the grand revelation where everything comes together at the end.

Warning #3: The only actual attempt at romance in this story is between the OC (Michi) and one of the usual GS characters. If you don't like and/or refuse to read OCxcannon pairings (I know there are people that do), then I recommend you quit reading now. I don't mean to sound mean, but this story has been in the making for a long time and I'm pretty much set on how I want this story to be.

OK, so don't forget to R&R, please, and let me know whether or not this is something people might be interested in reading. Thanks ahead of time! n.n