IOE: Hi, everyone! I was inspired, and so decided to write this little one-shot. Summer is awesome. I hope you guys like it. It's rated T for alcohol use. Please understand that drinking is part of the culture of the time period the Golden Sun universe is set in, so it's not unusual for them to drink like this. Well, it seems like most of them are pretty savvy with a pint, anyway. Anywhoo, this fic is really just supposed to make you feel happy without being cheesy. I wrote the end first, and then worked my way to the beginning. Enjoy!
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"Sheba and Mia are leaving tomorrow. Once they're gone, it's just us, Felix, and Jenna. I guess that means…everything's back to normal," said Garet uncertainly, as though he wasn't sure if he was pronouncing the word "normal" properly.
Isaac shook his head.
"It'll never be the same as before the storm. Everything's different now," he said, but it mostly sounded like he was talking to himself. It was almost silent. Insects buzzed. A cool breeze blew.
"You know what we should do?" asked Garet. He folded his arms. Isaac looked at him.
"Let's all hit the inn tonight. Celebrate," he said.
Isaac raised his eyebrows and bit his lip.
"Get some drinks," he said.
Garet grinned and nodded.
"Yeah. Let's do it."
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A while after sunset, five Adepts entered the inn with coins in their pockets. They all sat at the bar and ordered.
"I'm having fun already! Let's toast!" exuberated Jenna, raising a pint of rum. They all lifted their glasses.
"What do we toast to?" asked Sheba.
Garet thought.
"To us?" he asked the group.
"To us!" they shouted, and drank deeply. Isaac nodded appreciatively to Jenna and Garet on either side of him. They beamed over their rums back at him. Isaac glanced down the bar at Mia and Sheba. Mia, who didn't drink alcohol too often, sipped at her beer uncertainly. Sheba was contentedly guzzling down her beer in contrast. She wiped the foam off of her lips and turned to the Valeans.
"Felix is so lame for staying at home," the Jupiter Adept declared.
Jenna chuckled.
"He's had…issues with alcohol since I got him wasted one night in Alhafra," she giggled. Isaac was in disbelief.
"Wasted? Felix? Now way," he said. Jenna nodded. Garet slapped his arm on the bar.
"You have no idea how badly I wish I'd been there," he said, shaking his head.
"It…was…the best thing ever," Sheba said dramatically.
Garet and Isaac exchanged open-mouthed looks.
"Tell us," said Isaac, "now."
Jenna giggled. She leaned close and shook her head.
"I'd never seen anything like it. I mean, a lot of the time, my brother really has a stick up his ass," she said.
Sheba leaned in, excluding poor Mia.
"This was like a completely different person. He professed his undying love to the male bartender," she said, and began making a list:
"Started dancing to music that wasn't there, yelled and cursed at the trees outside…" "You've never heard such swearing," Jenna added before bringing her rum to her lips. "…accused Jenna of hitting on me…"
The Flame Master laughed.
"That was the best! And there was this girl who'd passed out, see, and he ordered her a drink," she snickered.
"You guys are making this up," said Isaac, but he bought another round and urged them to continue.
Jenna drained her first rum and downed the second while Sheba pulled up a chair to be better included in the conversation. Garet's size acted as a sort of wall for the poor Wind Adept.
As she positioned her chair, it was noticeable that she was starting to loosen up a little, but wasn't quite tipsy yet. The humidity of the hot night air made her blonde hair thicker and frizz out, which seemed to bother her a little because she was constantly messing with her hair. She sat down with her empty beer glass, leaving another empty beer glass at the bar. Apparently she'd finished her second beer so quickly, none of them had noticed.
Jenna drummed her fingers on the bar.
"What else did Felix do?" she asked Sheba, thinking. Mia scooted over and replaced Sheba at the bar.
"He rounded on me and started mocking me. He said I was cute, but really heavy. 'And I should know,'" the Jupiter Adept quoted in a slurry, gruff voice, "'I had to rush over to help you, 'cause you're so puny the wind could carry you off'a the damn lighthouse, and you held onto me for dearrrr life!'"
"Oh yeah," Jenna cackled with fresh laughter, "He was so plastered."
"What happened next?" Isaac asked.
"He threw up and passed out. We had to drag him to his bed. He's cute, but heavy," replied Sheba deadpan. They all snickered.
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A few rounds and reminiscing later, they all decided it was time to stagger home. At this point, even Mia was inebriated. She and Sheba stumbled up the stairs of the inn to their room. With a little bit of difficulty, Jenna, Isaac, and Garet managed to make their way to their homes. Vale was still being rebuilt, so their makeshift little straw houses were much smaller than the original homes. They were in the same area, only a few feet away from each other. All of the lights were out. As they made their way to them, Garet turned to Isaac and held up a finger to his lips.
"Shhhh! You-don't-want-to-wake-up-Dora!" he said stupidly, jerking his head at each word. Jenna and Isaac burst out laughing. Garet stormed off.
"He'll be okay," Isaac waved off, and then grabbed Jenna's arm, "Hey, I don't wanna go home yet."
"Me, neither," said Jenna.
"Let's goooo!" said Isaac, and he led her away. Jenna giggled and said he was acting like a little kid. He stuck his tongue out in reply. She wasn't sure where they were stumbling to. They were going through trees and tripping over roots. Their rums were still with them. She couldn't remember how exactly that had happened, but didn't bother thinking about it.
Eventually, they reached a clearing. Jenna gazed at the indigo skies. The stars were spinning a little. The heavens were beautiful tonight. Isaac smiled at her. His face was flushed a little.
"I'm so glad we're friiieeennndddsuh," he slurred. Jenna giggled.
"Me, tooooooooo," she replied. They laughed.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," said Jenna, throwing out an arm that nearly knocked the straw-haired boy over. She whipped her head really fast so that she could feel hair long, auburn hair fly out, and looked at him, licking her lips.
"You know what we should do? Yeah," she said, as the idea seemed better and better, "We-we should do…we should…hold hands…"
Isaac held out his right hand. It was holding the rum. She stared at it, as if trying to comprehend, and then removed it from his hand and placed both of their pints on the ground. She took his right with her right, faced him, stumbling a little, and snatched for his left. They faced each other, arms crossed. Isaac's brow furrowed and he frowned, as though he completely understood.
"Yeah. Uhuh," he said, nodding.
"N-no! Wait, wait! And-and we should run around in a circle and see how long we can go before letting go," she said, instructing slowly so that he could understand, as though this was very important.
His eyes widened and he nodded.
"Ohhhhhh," he said with realization, "like we did when we were kids!"
She was ecstatic that he remembered.
"Yeah, yeah! Like that! You ready?" she asked.
He grinned broadly and nodded vigorously.
"Go!!" she yelled louder than she expected she would, and they raced around, or they would have, but they ran in opposite directions. They immediately collided into each other and toppled to the grass. Jenna didn't think she could stop laughing. She held her sides.
"I think I ate some dirt," she said.
He flicked her nose.
"You-you ran too slow!" he accused.
"Awwww," she said, looking up at the spinny stars, "Do you remember when we were little, and we went, like, everywhere together?"
"Yeah," he said, and giggled. He slurred:
"And-and remember that time when I had you over for dinner at my house for five nights in a row?" he asked, and held up two hands. He fell over a little and sighed.
She nodded.
"A-yup," she said, "And your mom said to get it over with annnduh…propose. You got all….defensive, you know."
"I was-I was a…a…," he waved his hand in drunken circles, searching for the word, "You know…a frustered…flusted…kid."
Jenna knew what she was trying to say, but those words weren't right somehow. She continued with the story.
"And-and your mom just wanted to tease you a little, s-so she said: 'Isaac'," Jenna tried to imitate Dora's voice, but it sounded completely wrong, "'I think you're in love!"
Her imitation made her crack up into fresh laughter. Isaac held up a hand to interrupt.
"And r-right away, I yelled 'No! I hate her!', which-which was so dumb because we were like in…sssep'rable," he added. Jenna laughed.
"You said 'the day I love her, the world's gonna end!'" she quoted, giggling madly. She remembered a red-faced little Isaac screaming at the top of his lungs. The image was so cute now, but when she was little, it was the most hurtful thing she'd ever heard.
He nodded with such vigor that he seemed to get a little dizzy. His mouth was in a straight, matter-of-fact line, but his voice slurred.
"I-I said the oceans would boil and the sky would fall," he said, making a grand gesture with his arm. He made a silly exploding noise with his mouth. A little spit flew from his lips. He seemed to be talking to himself now. Jenna nodded, and pointed at the air.
"I remember. That's exactly…what you said," she said, and nodded. She could hear her words slurring, but didn't mind too much.
"Yup," he said, and made a 'puh' sound, "And D-my mom, she spanked me ssso…hard for that, and made me apologize."
He chuckled. Jenna did, too. She felt bad that Isaac was punished just for being a bashful little boy.
"I think it's in everyone's best interest, then, you know, the world's best interest, if you con-control," she said, and felt very silly as she mock-passionately grabbed her heart, "your wild passions."
They laughed so hard they couldn't breathe, groped around for their pints (they were, miraculously, not tipped over) and toasted the remains of their pints to that.
"For the world!" they hollered. Jenna spilled the rest of her rum by accident, but tilted the pint almost 180 degrees in an attempt to collect and straggling drops. Isaac watched her.
He was trying to hide his smile, but the rum wouldn't let him. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"Y-you know what?" he asked.
"What?" she said really loud.
"Don't…look up," he said. She instinctively started to disobey his order.
"Why?" she asked, giggling, but before his could lift her gaze, his hand left her shoulder and gently repositioned her head so that they were face to face. She was looking straight into his cerulean eyes. They glistened with a strong emotion, but it wasn't sorrow. She could count the five…six freckles that dotted his face. The flush from his cheeks was lessened now. He looked serious. The chirps of the night-time crickets seemed far away.
He whispered:
"The sky is falling."