Finally getting to a text that I can live with, I have concluded: This computer is turning into a piece of crap. At least I'm not using my upstairs computer, the Windows 95… Though 98 hardly seems any better. A little burst of inspiration came across me when writing this. I have considered every pairing there is possible, only one seems right. Mudshippers, forgive me for this.
Warnings: Isaac/Jenna. Slight Mia/Isaac in later chapters. Character death.
An hour later: Sadly, this story won't write itself, so I must be put through the pains of typing.
Four months later: FINALLY EDITED!
Fog hung thickly in the air, enshrouding everything in a white mist, nearly impenetrable to see through. It was like the sky had descended only upon them for this day, with their heads in the clouds. Quite literally. It was colder than normal for a day like this, only a few days into autumn. You could basically sense the chill in the air, vibrating between the insides of the body and body heat. There weren't many places that the cold spared, even in the warmness of Picard's Lemurian boat's cabin.
The boat rocked gently, back and forth, in no discernable location. The fog, impenetrable to see through, also caused a problem in seeing anything. Thus, Felix's eyesight was provided a challenge as he squinted at a map, turning it every which way.
Felix growled a few curses here and there, shivering as he looked for some discernable landmark. His breath froze as he swore, adding to the ice crystals. His body felt the heat evaporate quickly from his body, until it was far out of reach. The Venus Adept tried many ways to keep himself warm, although none prevailed in the end. He considered waking Jenna, or at least one of her Djinn to keep himself warm, but thought better of it. Even if he was awake half the night, keeping the boat afloat in the waves, he had enough decency to let the others sleep. At least for a few minutes more, before his patience snapped and he yelled for the others to help him.
Felix groaned, deciding that if it were up to him he'd never see another boat in his life after his 'quest to save the world' was through. The others couldn't see why Felix seemed to loathe boats with such contempt. After all, they weren't the ones steering the whole time. They just enjoyed the lapping of the waves, the violent rocking of the boat in storms, and the unexpected adventures one would face on the boat. They never had to stand outside in the rain to float the boat during the storm, being hit with rain droplets that may as well be golf balls. They never had to stand in front of the wheel in calm days where he's much rather be relaxing, just as the others were. The Venus Adept suddenly became aware that such complaints made him sound very vain and jealous, and quickly tried to push them out of his mind.
"I need an adventure," Felix muttered, forgetting that he was sick of such adventures. "I need something to spice up my life today- it's much too… annoying when it's calm." Felix searched for the right words. He seemed to always fret over what words go where, even when he was just talking to himself.
"I know." Isaac's voice seemed muffled in such a fog, as he emerged from the cabin. Felix jumped, startled, slightly shaking the boat. He wasn't aware that he was talking so loudly, or that Isaac had such good hearing. "Life on this ship is a little boring, isn't it?" Isaac gave a soft smile, and then went into the cabin again. Isaac, after stepping out for a moment, and deciding that it was too cold, jumped back into the cabin. Felix sighed. There was no one that could stand this weather for long. A creak heard ten minutes later signified that someone came back, and that Picard's cabin door needed to be oiled again. As Isaac returned, Felix saw that he was dressed warmly and for the weather- something Felix could never do, especially while captaining a ship that wasn't his.
"It's kind of cold out, don't you think?" Isaac asked, walking over to where Felix was trying to focus on steering the ship. Felix glared at him as they met eyes, hard hazel eyes meeting a dreamy accented blue colored pair of eyes. Isaac finally broke away from eye contact, shrugging. "I'm sorry if you want to kill me for speaking my mind. I really do apologize. However, I'm not a fan of crazy people catching their death of the cold."
"Apology accepted," Felix growled. "But please, Isaac. Don't state the obvious when I'm irritable enough on my own." His voice softened a little, as he went back to focusing on steering the ship- although there was no point in steering in the fog.
Isaac sensed that the topic was closed, so he stared at where Felix was staring. It's an instinct of humans to think that if you stare at a place long enough, no matter how clouded over it is, you can eventually see it. So they stared and stared at the fog, but the fog didn't pass away or lessen up. In fact, it seemed to cloud over even more, until the air felt thick to breathe in.
"Can you drown in this mist?" Felix asked, feeling the dampness of the air form water droplets on his skin. "I breathe in, and instead of air, I get this foggy, damp, water."
Isaac, surveying the fog that gave him a view of white, sank into deep thought. Even with Felix standing right next to him, the older Venus Adept seemed a clouded figure. "This fog…" He said slowly, contemplating every word. "It doesn't seem natural."
Felix rolled his eyes. "Nothing we encounter is natural. Me living through the boulder, surviving drowning twice, and my parents left unscathed in unnatural. Mercury Adepts in a long lost civilization reemerging claiming they have insanely long life isn't natural. Heck, us adepts aren't natural in this world anymore." Felix shrugged. "Not that it matters. When this journey of ours is over, I'm probably never going to leave Vale again. I don't care if it's going to be dull after all we've been through, I'm just never going to leave and go on anymore of these crazy adventures."
"Life is boring enough here, Felix." The blue-eyed blonde looked at him once more, and Felix instantly averted his eyes. "I mean, you might not think so, with all the hardships we've been through, the majority being monsters." Isaac sighed. There really were no hardships that they encountered. "Sure, we've seen their friends faint and nearly die more times than we can count. We've seen others killed for doing what they believed was right. We've seen death- from farm animals, to monsters, to humans- so many times we might as well have gotten used to it."
"They're not really hardships, Isaac. Plenty more people are worse off than us. I mean, we couldn't be better off. We're rich, we're powerful, and well respected." Felix sighed. "I guess it sounds too selfish if we claim more things for ourselves. It makes you feel a bit guilty, doesn't it? People are dying out there because of our slow pace, and we're having a relatively good time, visiting villages and such." Pausing, the Venus Adept stared at the non-clearing fog. "You're right. It is a bit boring here. Especially the guilt that eats away at me."
Isaac stepped back a little, if shocked. His heart had told him such a thing before, though he couldn't put it in words as well as the adept standing right next to him had just done so. "But other than the guilt, Felix. It feels so calm, although we carry our weapons close to us, and monsters attack our ship daily. It's becoming routine, like in Vale. We'd wake up, do our chores and such, and do whatever happened to come across." He sighed, the breath coming out of him sounding exactly like what Felix did a few minutes earlier. "It's a bit deadlier now. I'm not sure if I've turned into a monster or anything. Just slashing and blowing up things these days. I'm relying way too much on luck- I mean, whenever one of our group members gets severely injured, it's a little feeling like I don't care. Well, I care for them as a friend and all, but not really for their well-being. They've pulled through so many times, so why not now?" Isaac paused, to contemplate what he had just said. "We're killing on instinct, not worrying whether or not we're harming others out there by doing so. … I… I once felt that one day, all my luck would run out on me. I mean, you lived, and everyone has pulled through so miraculously before, and it seems the dead are coming to life… but… It seems like there's a limit to all this fortune. Everyday, I mutter to myself that this would be the day where everything we worked toward comes crashing down on us, like one of our friends gets killed, or our parents really die. I guess this worrying is part of the repetitiveness of our lives."
Felix suddenly wondered how the conversation had come to such a point that Isaac was acting way too serious for the morning. "Isaac, you were saying something about the fog being so unnatural. I don't see what's so unnatural about it, other than it's part of weather." His voice sounded kind of compressed, smothered within the layers of fog and dew that surrounded him and Isaac.
"I'm not sure, Felix. It's something in the air that feels out of place. Over time, I've learned to rely on my intuition. It hasn't failed me yet, and I doubt it'll fail me now. When we were all on the deck last night, the air was so clear. There was no sign of clouds, or such a mist that would come our way. I'm pretty sure that there was no wind, so there could be nothing that actually would cause such a rapid fog. Unless you got us dearly out of course and landed us in Lemuria, I don't know what else it could possibly be." Isaac swatted the air, almost playfully. "The air's so thick today. There are clouds overhead, and it seems like such a stormy day." Isaac closed his eyes, trying to remember the weather of the previous day. Felix marveled at the young leader for that matter- Isaac had a brilliant memory. "It was such a clear night. I don't think Ivan said anything about any significant weather coming- he should know."
Felix had no time to wonder over weather problems as of the moment. He felt a slight disturbance in the body of water they were in. Another ship had entered within a two-kilometer distance of them- nothing major. Felix's senses were always triggered when someone was nearby. "Feel that, Isaac? Some ship's around us."
"Well, there's something new." Isaac answered. He felt the ship's presence too. Isaac tried calling upon his magic, to extend his vision to pinpoint the exact location of the ship. If the ship was close, then they'd be having as much trouble as they were to get through the fog.
The psyenergy didn't come.
Isaac tried over and over again, until he grew annoyed. His psyenergy felt separate from him in many ways. There were a few ways that he hadn't experienced before, although the sensation as a whole felt familiar. It was those times when he ran out of psyenergy. "That's odd. I felt my psyenergy fine when I as in the cabin… And I feel so strained now…Separated from something that's part of me." Isaac paled, realization coming to him. "You wanted something new, didn't you?" Isaac asked, his voice calm despite his expression.
Felix looked at him oddly, then decided to check his psyenergy himself. He expected a little orb to form at his hand- the most simple psyenergy trick there was.
Nothing came. Felix's eyes widened as he experienced the same as Isaac.
"Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it," Isaac murmured, quoting a saying that had been used over and over again in Vale. "We're in trouble, aren't we?" Felix and Isaac met eyes again, the second time this morning. One glance at Felix's eyes made it clear that they were in trouble.
"Damn."
Well, that was a rather uneventful beginning. I'm sorry, and I apologize to the readers if they were looking for something more eventful- I believe that it will be a bit more exciting later on in the fic. I hope this will be updated a bit quicker than the other fics I have carelessly, accidentally cough abandoned.
I'm still arguing over who should die. Please review, and happy late New Year's!
Mayara
Edit, four months later: I finally got around to editing this. I think you'll see that the grammar problems aren't so glaring anymore, and I added a few phrases here and there. Rest assured, I'll continue… before my birthday. That means, expect Chapter 3 soon!