DB: Hi! I'm the Dancing Bagel, and this is my muse, Crimson Canary!
CC: FYI, I am NOT your muse, so stop saying that!
DB: But you're the lame writer, not I!
CC: You forget that I've actually READ your fics…
DB: Touché.
Okay. I know they probably don't have coffee shops or ice cream shops in Weyward… oh, well…
This chapter is dedicated to a very special garbage can named Melinda…
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Golden Sun or any of the characters… oh, well…
Chapter 1: Expedition into the Unknown
The moment those nine words escaped his lips, words which were sure to damn any relationship, Isaac regretted it.
"You think what?!!" the normally calm Mia screamed at him. Despite the danger he was now in, Isaac couldn't help but notice how lovely the blue-haired adept looked when she was angry. "This dress does not make me look fat!"
Knowing that nothing he could say or do would remedy the situation, Isaac remained silent.
"Why you… aren't you even going to apologize?!!" Mia yelled, clearly in a rage. Isaac realized his mistake too late. She was already gone, leaving a faint scent of lily blossoms in her wake. He could still hear whispers in the air… "Isaac, you jerk."
"What am I going to do?" he moaned. A single tear dripped down his cheek, leaving a painful, shimmering mark in its wake. "I just lost the woman of my dreams."
*~*~*
Ivan skipped along the road, wondering what he was going to do today. Suddenly, he saw something that would continue to disturb him for the remainder of his natural life, and maybe even after that, too.
Garet was standing with a large black rock in his hand, his eyes locked onto two white eyes that had been drawn onto the rock's surface. "Melinda… you're so fine."
Garet paused, leaning his spiky-haired head towards Melinda's smooth, dark surface. He appeared to be listening, and then with a smile he gave it a kiss right where Ivan judged its mouth would be. Ivan cringed.
"I gave him that rock, hoping that it would make him quit following me around wherever I went. It worked… a little too well," someone said from behind Ivan with a sigh, causing him to jump. He turned around and saw that the speaker was Jenna, a look of remorse in her dark eyes.
"Really?" Ivan asked, feeling sorry for Jenna. Garet preferred a rock to her?
"I suppose that he just wanted someone with brainpower more equivalent to his own. They get along so well…" Jenna sighed.
"Lets go get ice cream!" Ivan exclaimed, losing interest.
"Sure, kiddo. Lets go," Jenna said sadly. She was in the mood for some comfort food anyway.
*~*~* Jenna Flashback *~*~*
"Would you STOP FOLLOWING ME?!" Jenna hollered at her fellow Mars adept.
"But Jenna… I want to keep you safe! What if a monster suddenly attacks you? Then what?" He sounded concerned.
"Careful, Garet. Your smart is showing," Jenna remarked sarcastically.
"Where?" he wondered aloud, looking about. Either he's trying to be funny…Jenna thought, or he really is the king of idiots. She hoped, for his sake, that it was the former.
She had had a crush on Garet's best friend, Isaac, for as long as she could remember, but Isaac had never returned her feelings, and when he'd found Mia… She looked at Garet with a sigh. He wasn't Isaac, but he was the next best thing. He was her muscle-bound, spiky-haired idiot, which Isaac would, no, could never be. A two sided coin, she thought. He can never be Isaac, either. And it was Isaac she loved, not Garet. She knew, however, that she could never be happy without Isaac, so she might as well make others happy as best she could, since Isaac was Mia's.
She was getting tired of Garet following her everywhere. Since they had started officially "going out", he had become extremely protective of her. Suddenly, her eyes fell upon a smooth, ebony rock and inspiration struck.
She ran home as quickly as she could, the black rock in her hand, Garet still following behind. She ran into her house, slamming the door shut behind her, to Garet's dismay. She could hear him yelling something about Mars adepts who were in need of his protection. If I need protection, what does he need? Jenna wondered.
Upon searching her room, Jenna realized that she didn't have what she needed. I guess that means that I have I have to enter the beast's den… Reluctantly, she left her room, struggling to make her feet move. She whimpered softly as she stopped before his door. "FELIX", a wooden plaque on it proclaimed.
"You know what?" she told herself. "This isn't worth it. I don't need to go in here." She was about to throw the rock away when she heard Garet yell, "Don't worry, Jenna! I'll save you!"
She took a look at the rock, crossed her fingers, and rushed into the room, the scent of rotten eggs assaulting her senses. She knew from prior experience that it was best to take it all at once, rather than gradually entering the room. If she took her time, she knew that she would never get inside. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room, she saw her quarry: a bucket of white paint. She groaned, noticing that in order to reach it she had to cross the room.
How does he SLEEP in here every night? Jenna wondered. It's unhealthy. Cautiously, she took a step, yelping as her leg sunk into the layers of old, discarded items on the floor, including an array of sharp objects from Felix's adventures. The real floor hadn't seen sunlight in ages. It was covered in so much junk that Jenna was certain that not even Felix himself knew what kind of floor there was.
"Eeeew," Jenna said in disgust as her hand brushed against a forgotten banana peel. She was ready to turn back right then, but she remembered Garet waiting for her and gathered her courage. "Only a bit further, Jenna-girl."
She noticed a manila folder that was untouched by the dirt that seemed to coat everything else in the room. It's in the opposite direction of the paint, but if it's got some good dirt [no pun intended…] on Felix…
She turned around, wading through mountains of rotting equipment ("Felix, what a packrat you are!") until she reached the folder, and gently picked it up.
"Jenna! I'm home!" Felix yelled.
"Shit!" Jenna exclaimed. She grabbed the folder, ran across the room (as best she could), and seized the paint, then rolled outside the room and back into her own, slamming a door shut behind her for the second time that day.
"Jenna?" he said through her door. She could hear him turning the handle of the door.
"Don't come in!" she cried, wishing for the millionth time that she had a lock on her door. "I'm not decent!"
"Were you in my room again?" he asked, his rich voice muffled by the door.
"Gross!" Jenna said, trying her best to sound offended at the idea. "That garbage dump?"
"I'm missing something very… precious to me," he said in a manner vaguely reminiscent of Gollum from Lord of the Rings when referring to the Ring. With those words, he turned and left; Jenna could hear his retreating footsteps.
Jenna looked from her left hand, which was holding the paint can, to her right hand, where she held the manila folder. Deciding that he couldn't possibly have been referring to the paint ("Even HE isn't THAT weird…"), she set the can aside and opened the folder. Upon seeing its contents, Jenna immediately regretted her decision to take it with her.
The top page was a huge image of a girl with a simple, short bob wearing a sort of smirk on her face that said, "I know what you're thinking… and it ain't pretty." Next came an official looking document that read:
Name: Sheba
Birthdate: unknown
Age (approx.): 15
Hair: blonde
Eyes: green-blue
Other info: Jupiter adept, fond of puppies and small children.
There were other things in the folder, including items Sheba had "lost" recently, as well as a lock of her hair.
It was not as though Jenna hadn't suspected; ever since she had learned of Felix's leap of faith off the Venus lighthouse, she had been expectant, to say the least. "But… a stalker? How could she not have noticed?" Jenna wondered out loud.
"Give me that," a calm voice breathed in her ear. Jenna jumped and turned, finding herself face-to-face her brother. She must have missed his stealthy entrance in her preoccupation with the Sheba files. "You weren't in my room, eh?"
"Why don't you tell her, Felix?" Jenna looked into his calm eyes [what color ARE his eyes???].
Before he gratified her with a response, he seized the folder and stroked it spasmodically. "My precious… you have returned to me," he mumbled. Turning to Jenna, he said, "Tell her? Are you mad? What if she doesn't like me back?"
"'Like'? Felix, you don't just like her… you're obsessed!"
"So?" he responded, stroking his folder protectively.
"Look. I'm going to do you a favor," Jenna announced in that tone of voice that all younger siblings use right before doing something positively awful to their elder brothers and sisters. "Flare!" she yelled, and the folder burst into flames. He's going to KILL me…
"NOOOOO! SHEBA!" Felix screamed in an eerily high, feminine voice. "I NEVER TOLD YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU!!!"
Jenna decided to leave while he was still crying over the ashes of his folder. She hurried off, careful not to run for fear that she would attract his attention, distracting him from his "final moments" with "Sheba." Miraculously, she still had the paint can and the rock.
In the kitchen, Jenna found a paintbrush and gave the rock a face and a name: Melinda. "Garet's just going to love you! I know it!" Suddenly, she heard a loud FWACK, and there Garet was, plastered against a window. Speak of the devil…she thought sarcastically.
"JENNA!!!" he cried. I wonder if Felix got the stalker thing from Garet… It was time to implement her plan.
"Garet! I can't come out, but my friend, Melinda, can!" she told him, throwing the rock out the window.
"Melinda…?" he said, testing the name.
"Yes, that's my name!" Jenna said, making it sound as though the rock had said it. Good thing I took those ventriloquist lessons, she thought.
Garet walked over and picked up the rock, a bewildered look on his face. "Did you just… speak?"
"Yes I did, Spiky! Got a problem with that?"
"No… do you wanna go get lunch?" Without waiting for a response, Garet walked off, "Melinda" in hand. Jenna snickered deviously. It's about time he left me alone!
*~*~* end flashback *~*~*
Jenna walked into the local ice cream shop, Ivan close behind. It feels good to have someone following me around again! "What would you like, Ivan?"
"Rocky road! It's the best! And I want chocolate frosting with chocolate sprinkles and…"
"That's enough!" Jenna walked to the abandoned counter, calling, "Hey! Is anyone back there? I'd like to order some ice cream!"
"I'm right here!" A figure with long, dark brown hair stood up from where he had been hiding behind the counter.
"Felix!" Jenna exclaimed.
"Not so loud… she might hear you."
"She? She who?" Jenna asked.
"Her name's Wild… and she's been stalking me…" he shuddered. "And… crap! Is that her djinn?" He threw himself to the floor, but was not quite quick enough, as the mars djinn had already spotted him.
"Wild! He's in here!" it yelled.
Felix stood up and ran out the door as fast as he could.
"What about our ice cream…?" Ivan wondered.
*~*~*
Mia sat in the coffee cream shop, wondering what she was going to do now. I can't go back to Isaac… not after dumping him like that…that uncivil cretin, she thought. Unknown to all of her friends but Sheba and Ivan, the Jupiter adepts, she often used her kind, giving exterior to hide a devious, plotting mind underneath. Of course, normally she used even that to good ends, but now, she wanted some sort of vengeance on Isaac. Seeing everyone's favorite blue-haired antagonist seated at a nearby table, she walked over and asked, "Is this seat taken?" She indicated the seat across from him.
"Go away," he responded without looking up.
"Awww… come on, Alex. Can't I sit down?" Mia pleaded, not even sure why she was doing this herself. He looked up, saying, "Mia?"
*~*~*
"Jenna! But I wanted ice cream!" Ivan yelled.
"I know… but you're going to have to settle for a nice mocha latte."
"Stupid Felix… running off and leaving me to this…"
"You say it like it's a bad thing!" Jenna smiled, but she was disappointed. She'd been in the mood for a triple-scoop of chocolate, cookie dough, and rainbow sherbet ice cream. They were her favorite flavors, and just what she needed right about then.
She placed an order, getting hot chocolate for the already energetic Ivan ("Yay! Chocolate!") and some water for herself, then sat down.
"It is so good to see you again…" a male voice said softly. She knew that voice. It belonged to Alex! She stood up and snuck around the counter and saw the last thing she had ever expected to see. Mia and Alex were sitting across from each other, reminiscing. Only one thought crossed her mind. If she's with Alex, then Isaac… Ivan saw a red blur flash by him, out the door, and down the street.
*~*~*
SS: I can't believe I proofread that… oh, well… getting bagel made it all worthwhile… ^^
CC: Oh, yes… heh heh heh…
DB: * is tied up and chained at the bottom of the sea* MMPH! (translation: VENGEANCE!!!)
CC: This is the part where I say "Please Review! I don't mind flames if it's your honest opinion ^^"
DB: MMMMMPH!!! (translation: I SHALL HAVE VENGEANCE ON YOU, SS AND CC!!!)
CC: Thank you and GOOD NIGHT!!!