A/N: Well, finally, another oneshot, my third one. After writing "Arrival of the Adepts" which hardly anyone read ): Quick, go to http /www. fanfiction .net /s/2312767/1/ (without the spaces) and read it! Sorry, shameless plug

Anyway, this was just something that that I wrote in one night during a sudden flash of inspiration. I actually wrote it AGES ago (like a year or more), but forgot about it, found it again and thought "I'll post it up and see what the world thinks". Anyway, hope you liked it. It's very inspired by the prologue of my (unpublished as of yet) Zelda fic. And if you read this far without skipping straight to the story, let me tell you I don't own GS. Bet that surprised you.

Final Showdown

By MoR

Rain fell from the blackened, stormy night sky, like tears for the pain and carnage afflicting the land below it. Isaac walked through this downpour, ignoring the cold, and the darkness about him the same way he ignored the cold and darkness within him. He focused on the final showdown ahead of him. He marched like a warrior would to battle… and death.

After they had though their quest was over, years after they split up, the terror known as Alex attacked the land, and they could not stop him. One by one, Alex killed off the only ones capable of resisting him.

Isaac picked through the ruins of Imil, nothing was left standing, wood, broken and splintered lay everywhere, covered by the bloodied snow. Mercury Lighthouse stood mockingly in the distance, casting its blue glow over the land.

At last, Isaac found who he was looking for. The only survivor. Barely alive, Mia was none the less able to look at Isaac as he gently shifted some debris of her body. Blood covered her wounds, a massive nail from whatever house had collapsed on her had pierced through her belly. There was still a thick trail of blood trailing from her pale lips from where she had coughed it up earlier.

"Hold still." He warned her. "I'll save you."

He cast his most powerful Psynergy healing spell on her… but nothing happened. It was too late. She was dying.

"…It's not use…" she choked out. "… nothing can save me now…"

"No, Hermes Water, some sort of potion, there must be something."

"…Forget it…" her voice was no more than a whisper, but Isaac shut up immediately. "… There's no time… Isaac… look at me…"

Isaac gazed into her blue eyes. Some how, he knew this was going to be the last time, and he wanted to remember this moment perfectly. Those sapphire gem eyes hadn't changed since the first time he had seen her. True, the years had taken their toll on her, her hair was now a very pale shade, almost a sky blue, and there was a lot of grey in it now. Her face was just beginning to show a hint of wrinkles, making her look a kindly old grandmother… but those caring, loving eyes of a healer, they hadn't changed.

"What is it?" Isaac asked, swallowing a lump in his throat. He knew what was going to happen, but he couldn't bear to face it.

"Alex did this…" she said softly, barely a whisper over the silence that was once Imil.

"Why? How?" Isaac didn't, couldn't understand.

"… he said it's because he has the power of the Golden Sun… and you do not…" she told him, almost no life left in her voice. "… you have to know this… the Wise One said… you're the only one who can do this… only you have proved your worth… please… save us…"

And then she was dead. Isaac lay her cold head back down on the rubble. Tears rolled down his face, and he had no idea what he was meant to do.

That all seemed so long ago, now. Maybe it was, it didn't really matter. Nothing did now. She was just the first. He was cold, all alone in the world, and he could only march onward to his awaited destiny, and face his final foe with what power, he didn't know.

Because Alex had the power of the Golden Sun. And he did not.

The path led him onward, the dirt turned to mud beneath his feet by the rain. He almost felt like crying, letting his tears fall with the rain, he was so miserable. But he had cried all his tears away.

The ruins of Vale were ahead of him now. Not the old Vale, destroyed by the collapse of Mount Aleph. New Vale. Rebuilt… and re-destroyed. Ruined houses were everywhere, and the bodies of people he had once known, and called friends, were everywhere. He walked through trails of blood, stepped over the body of the Great Elder who had first sent him on his quest, walked around other people he had once cared for.

But it all seemed so distant now. He had seen all this before. Alex had destroyed this place, for what reason, he didn't know. Why was he so determined to kill and destroy? What purpose did it serve? Why were all the attacks so personally aimed at Isaac?

He honestly didn't believe he could defeat Alex, not even put up a fight. But it didn't matter. What else was there left for him to do? If Alex refused to ever confront Isaac himself, then would he just wander around a desolate, desecrated land with nothing left in it, free to proclaim his empty victory over lighting the lighthouses to an unlistening world?

Seeing all the dead, and the melancholy of the last memory still lingering, brought back more recollections of Alex's dreadful toll against his self declared mortal enemy.

Lemuria had once been a great city. After the release of Alchemy, they had opened themselves to the outside world and flourished.

But no more.

The wrecks of once proud ships littered the coast. Only the ship that had once belonged to Piers remained on the coast where Isaac had anchored it. The city itself had been crushed to nothing but rubble. The bodies of individual Lemurians littered the streets. Bodies, as old as Lemuria itself. So old, that they had fallen like dead leaves to their foes, even though they did not look as ancient as they were. Isaac tried to ignore it, it reminded him too much of Imil. Where he had seen the last of Mia. He hoped not to see the same scene here… but he knew deep inside what was going to happen.

'There is no escaping fate.' He mused silently. All this was ineveitable.

He stepped over two bodies that did make him pause. Two children. A boy and a girl. The only kids in the whole city. Even they had been slain by Alex. The vile monster.

But even they were forgotten when Isaac finally found who he was looking for. There, among the wreckage of the palace, lay Piers. Next to him lay the slain bodies of King Hydros and Lord Conservato, but Isaac paid them no mind. They didn't matter.

Piers hadn't been alone either. Isaac now saw that, beneath a heavy stone pillar, lay the crushed body of Garet, slain fighting side by side with a man he had called friend. Blood lay in a dried pool around the Fire Adept who had been Isaac's childhood best friend. Garet looke older, a hardened warriors face writhed in his final agnony, red spiky hair streaked with grey.

"Dammit, Garet, you too?" he voice echoes meaninglessly through out the silent ruins of Lemuria.

"… I… Isaac…" Piers voice came out cracked from where he lay. Isaac rushed over to him. Piers hadn't aged a day, but then he drank Lemurian draught while the others did not.

"Y-You're alive!" Isaac asked in disbelief. He was about the cast a healing spell, the the Lemurian stopped him.

"D-Don't bother… it's too late…"

"No! What about the Lemurian Draught, or…"

"…Alex destroyed the fountain…" Piers told him. "… but it wouldn't have done me any good… my time has come…"

"No… This is too much like what happened to Mia, I won't allow it!"

"… we all regret what happened at Imil… but we had no warning… and now, Alex is too powerful for us to have stopped him…"

"Why?" Isaac whispered. "Why is he doing this?"

"… because of you…" Piers choked out. "… you have something he wants… he said… at the last… you would fight him… like the Wise One said… and he would defeat you… because he has the power of the Golden Sun… and you do not…"

"That's what Mia said…" Isaac noted sadly.

"… you're supposed to be the only one who can save us…" Piers was putting all his strength into his last words. "… and Alex has already proven that… you can't defeat him… when you fated showdown comes…"

"Then why doesn't he just come after me?" Isaac asked.

"… because he's evil and wants to taunt you…" Piers managed to scowl, even through all the pain, at that comment.

"But we saved the world… we can make sure that we save it again!" Isaac pleaded.

"We can't." was all Piers answered. "…if this is all that… was going to come about… it would have been better to let Weyard wither away… a softer way to die…"

"You can't mean that!" Isaac protested. "It's not true!"

"… I regret lighting the beacons…"

"No!" But it was too late. Piers was dead. Isaac hung his head in shame and defeat. He was fated to fight Alex. Only he could defeat him. But how could he match such unimaginable power? After all, as his friend had said… Alex had the power of the Golden Sun… and he did not…

When he was done mourning, Isaac gave Piers a burial at sea. Then he removed the pillar from Garet's body, and buried him in Lemuria's cemetery. No tombstone, no memorial for either… just like Mia. Heroes would not be remembered for their sacrifices.

When he was done, he left Lemuria on his ship. He would rally the rest of the team… and they would prepare for war against Alex. With the rest of his friends, surely he would have the power to face Alex in the final showdown that the Wise One had destined for him?

The war. What a waste that had been. Wasn't really much of a war. He and the surviving members of the party had hunted in vain for Alex, trying to stop him, but he always struck somewhere that they were not at. Isaac had seen so much destroyed. So many killed. And he began to realize, he was afraid of dying, of the inevitable end of eternal darkness. And so he ran away, because he couldn't bear to face his final foe, when he knew what awaited him. Besides, if Alex wanted him so badly, he would find him eventually. And that had ended so badly, Isaac would never stop regretting that foolish decision.

He followed the course of the river that had flowed peacefully through New Vale. There were people around here that Isaac had once known and loved. But this was growing old, he already knew that everyone was dead. He had seen it all before. He was all alone. Alex, his destined final foe, awaited him at the ruins of Mount Aleph. That was all that was left for him. He was as good as dead, so he may as well make his suicide march to his end.

But before he could do all this… there was one thing he had to check. Even though he already knew what he would find, he had to see it for himself.

He walked to the ruined hulk that was all that remained of the new home that he and his father had built. Inside, Kyle and Dora lay dead, covered in each others blood. His father still held his mother in his arms. Despite the fact he knew this was what would greet him, despite the fact that he had seen this much and worse before… he still broke down and cried, because of who they were. He had sacrificed so much to free his father… and now it was all worthless. His mother had been so happy for them to be together again… it all seemed so vain. Worthless. He had failed them when they had so much faith in him.

There was one way to redeem them. He wanted death now, would have greeted it, but there was only one honourable way to do it. He could face his foe, and fight for all that he was worth. He hadn't the strength to fight Alex… because he had the power of the Golden Sun, and he did not… but he would try anyway.

The Wise One had chosen him as the champion of this world, even though he had not the power to succeed… but, he may as well fulfil his obligations now.

With eyes as cold as the rain that fell from the sky, and determination as hard as steel, Isaac left his home, and marched onward to the ruins of Aleph… and to his destined battle.

As he went on, dreadful memories came back to him.

Beneath Tolbi Palace, there had once been a great laboratory where Babi had ordered his scholars to conduct experiments to discover the secret of Alchemy. When Lord Iodem had succeeded him, Kraden had moved in to try and research a means to fight Alex. Felix, Sheba and Ivan had been with him, still trying to deal with the loss of Isaac. Isaac had run away because he could not deal with his fate. After what he had seen, the prospect of facing Alex was all too much.

Now, after it was too late to ask for forgiveness, he wandered into the ruins of the lab where Alex had struck.

Ivan was the first he found. The Wind Adept lay lifeless on the stairs as though he had faced Alex when he first entered the room… and suffered a stab wound to the heart for it. Ivan seemed still relatively youthful for all the years he had aged. His skin was still smooth, and his blonde locks had no grey.

In the middle, Sheba and Felix lay aside one another. Sheba had been crushed by a falling chunk of the stone roof…Felix lay next to her, as though in his last moments, he had tried in vain to heal her, instead of saving himself. He given his life for hers… and it was in vain for now they were both dead. They were both older looking than Isaac wanted to remember them. Felix, in his fiftieth year, was getting wrinkled and grey… Sheba's blonde hair, now long enough to reach her waist, hid what was no doubt an old face haunted by visions of a future she couldn't bare to witness. Her purple eyes would see no more.

"Dammit!" Isaac cursed, slamming his fist into a nearby wall. The pain of the hard stone hurt, but he didn't really care right now. In fact, he just didn't care at all, altogether. "I tried, I came… I failed." he pleaded, but silence answered him. Likely they wouldn't understand him, anyway. He had run out on them, because he feared facing his destined battle with Alex, which he knew he'd only lose. Why had the Wise One chosen him?

Wiping away tears he hadn't realised he'd shed, Isaac walked over to the last body. Kraden's. Seems the Alchemy Sage had gone through on his promise to try and research the powers of the Golden Sun, and see if he could find a way to counter it. Of course, Alex wasn't going to allow that. So he'd killed him… and everyone who had tried to protect him.

'Why wasn't I here with them? I'm so stupid!' He though darkly. The one chance he could have faced Alex once and for all, and he'd been running, out of fear of death. So stupid. 'If Alex is so determined to get me, why won't he just come after me himself?'

Kraden, it seemed, had been stabbed through the heart. Blood was everywhere. He lay slumped under the desk he must have been working on at the time. In his hand, he clutched a piece of parchment, with a few splattered drops of blood. Isaac felt it must be a note, an important one. He picked it up from the old man's cold dead hands, and read.

Isaac,

Alex has indeed absorbed the full power of the Golden Sun as we'd feared. It seems impossible to stop him now. But the Wise One has told us, you're the destined hero who can fight him. Perhaps he feels you have what it takes to defeat him. I do believe that he put you through some kind of test during our quest, to see if you were worthy.

However, I have been dumbfounded as to finding a way for you to counter this power. If you really are the only one who can do this, you must find it within you to do something you can't do now, if that makes any sense to you.

Now, I don't know why you left us, I'm sure you had your reasons, but you must face up to the inevitable. You and Alex must duel, though why you and Alex, I am not sure…

The next part was written more messily and rushed, with drops of blood occasionally, as though it was written after the attack, and Kraden was desperate for Isaac to read the information.

Isaac, you must know that Alex said he has the power of the Golden Sun, and you do not. Don't let him get to you. The Wise One appeared and told us to tell you… (the next part was covered in blood stains) … so it seems you really are the only one capable of fighting him. Just fight with all your heart. He said he would await you at the ruins of Mount Aleph.

The rest trailed off in an unreadable scrawl, the disappeared entirely under blood. It didn't tell him much that he didn't already know, or rather, didn't know. He would have liked to read what it was the Wise One wanted him to know, or why the Wise One hadn't told him directly. Now that he looked closer; the blood covering that part seemed to have been placed there deliberately, as though someone didn't want him to read it. But they wanted him to read the rest, obviously. Alex, it seemed, wanted to taunt him.

'Well, there's nothing for it, then.' Isaac decided. Destiny, and defeat, awaited him. It seemed stupid for him to face Alex, fight and die, but that was what was wanted by both Alex and the Wise One.

Beside Felix, there was the sword that the Earth Adept had used and treasured. The Sol Blade. Felix would've wanted him to have it. Isaac picked it up, and sheathed it in place of his old one.

Well, there was nothing left for him anywhere else, so he stood up, and left the building. He began to walk slowly to New Vale.

The ruins of New Vale, and the bodies of its residents, behind him, Isaac marched through the heavy rain towards the rocky remains of Aleph. He looked like a spectre of a dead man, cold blue eyes and unfeeling hatred etched on his features. Lightning flashed and an ominous rumble of thunder sounded above him.

What was left to fight for? They were all dead now. Jenna, the woman he had loved, had disappeared after the Tolbi incident, and Isaac hadn't bothered to find her. He knew what he'd find. She was dead, and he couldn't save her. He didn't want to see that.

He saw the figure up ahead through the rain, and knew instantly who it was.

Alex.

Isaac walked just close enough along the rubble beneath him to make out Alex's features, and then stopped. They were standing approximately in the centre of the rocky rubble that was all that remained of Aleph.

"Welcome back, Isaac, I knew we'd meet again." Alex smiled coldly.

"I don't care what you have to say, Alex, all this ends tonight." Isaac tone was just as cold, lifeless, but at the same time, full of venomous hatred.

"Of course it does, but do you really think you have what it takes to defeat me?" Alex's sneering comment struck Isaac, but he didn't let it show.

"Of course not."

"That's right, I have the power of the Golden Sun, and you do not. It seems your little friends were able to pass my message along. Reliable little fools." Isaac suppressed an urge to growl with anger and hate. Instead, he spoke.

"I'm sick of running. It's time to face up to destiny. I don't know what the Wise One chose me for, but I'd rather die trying… because I've got nothing left to live for."

"Ahh, now you begin to see. If it eases your mind, I never challenged you directly because I felt you had to come see me when the time was right, and you were convinced of the truth of my power… and your lack of it."

"Well, you succeeded. Congratulations." Isaac sounded uncharacteristically sarcastic.

"Thank you." Alex replied as though he actually thought the Earth Adept was being serious. "So now you come to die? Very well, then. But you must see one more thing, then, I promise you, we'll begin our fight."

Alex stepped to the side, and Isaac saw the prone form lying behind him. Jenna's dead body lay there, blood pooling around her and glazed eyes staring at nothing.

"She was quite a fiery young girl, put up a good fight, for someone so pathetically weak compared to me as she."

That sight snapped Isaac's temper. He roared with rage, swung up the Sol Blade, and channelled all his strength into it. The Sol Blade began to glow a terrific bright light. With a mighty howl, the weapon unleashed it's most powerful attack, Megiddo.

The devastating ball of fiery energy collided with Alex, and exploded with incredible force. Shockwaves from the blast formed concentric circles around the two in the rubble of Aleph.

When the light faded, Isaac saw Alex with his hand outstretched, blocking the Megiddo. He didn't even faze the man. Isaac unleashed still more attacks. Ragnarok, Grand Gaia, Odyssey… but nothing could seem to hurt Alex. He dodged and blocked everything as though it was no effort.

Fuelled with burning rage, Isaac charged the Water Adept, swinging his sword wildly, trying to cut into the wretched beast's body. Alex used his own blade to effortlessly block and parry Isaac's attacks with speed and grace that would have been impossible for an ordinary Adept.

As Isaac swung and stabbed with raging speed and force, the Sol Blade began to glow once more. Making a downward thrust, Isaac unleashed another Megiddo, another devastating blast that could have destroyed many monsters with a single blow. Before the light even faded, Isaac summoned more attacks. A Grand Gaia blew the earth apart from beneath Alex, a Ragnarok flew into the light blast cloud and exploded with dazzling fury. Stone Spires tore themselves from the ground and flew at Alex with devastating force. Isaac attacked and attacked until he was completely drained of power and Psynergy.

Breathing heavily, he ceased his assault, only because there was nothing left inside of him to attack with. When the light faded, and the dust settled, Isaac finally saw Alex, and gasped in shock.

The Water Adept stood there, grinning like a mad man, and glowing with a Psynergetic shield of some kind, which faded as Isaac stopped.

"You can't defeat me!" he sneered. "You're already drained… I was hoping for a bit more, this has been a tad disappointing."

Isaac sighed with defeat, and stood unmoving. It was hopeless. He let his sword fall down to hang at his side.

"Can't you see how much power I have with the Golden Sun?" Alex continued. "Look! You see that storm up there? I made that. It's funny, when I first got this power, I couldn't even do that! But I figured it out. You see, Psynergy requires focusing the mind. This more purified power requires focusing the heart. Or more specifically, both heart and mind. But it doesn't matter; do you see now how hopeless this all was?"

"I'm amazed you even had a heart to focus with in the first place." Isaac snarled spitefully.

"We all have hearts, Isaac; some of them are just cold. It seems you have forgotten yours. Nonetheless, it's time to take from you the one thing that I really needed in the first place."

Isaac hung his head, looking down at his feet, in the puddles of muddy water. The Sol Blade fell and clattered at the ground beside him. It was over. He was defeated.

He saw Alex's sword stab into him, pierce his belly, felt it go all the way through and out the other side, up to the hilt.

Coldness emanated through his body from the sword, striking out through his body. He saw that his skin was slowly turning to ice about the sword blade.

"That's it, don't struggle, it will all be over soon."

Isaac, don't give in, he is trying to take your power away. The Wise One's voice echoed in is head. Alex only has half the Golden Sun, you have the other half! You must learn to use it!

"Impossible… I would have known…" Isaac mumbled. Alex ignored him.

Why do you think he never challenged you? He feared you would defeat him. He killed all your friends, made them convince you that you had no Golden power and made sure you would fight him when you were ready to die, and unable to use your heart to control the Golden Sun within you.

"What…?" still, Alex ignored him. The coldness enveloped his body, and he began to feel something, some life-force sucked away from him.

Alex manipulated you! Now, while he is vulnerable, strike with all your heart and power, and tear the power of the Golden Sun from Alex's body. You will kill yourself, but it would be an honourable sacrifice.

Coldness, lifeless, sucking from his body… Isaac struggled to keep an open mind. It all seemed impossible! Nonetheless, he readied himself.

Isaac's hand clamping on Alex's chest brought him back to the present. Before Alex had a chance to say or do or think anything, a pure golden power blasted through and into him. He felt his body torn apart, power ripping through and leaving him. No! The boy had discovered the power within him! After all his manipulation!

A brilliant explosion threw him and Isaac apart, both landing some distance away from one another. Isaac landed, without the sword sticking into him, on his back, feeling as though his soul had left his body.

Alex landed roughly, his own sword somehow embedded into his gut, painfully aware that was still mortal, and dying. That the Golden Sun had been torn from him. And in between the two warriors, the Golden Sun formed once more, whole.

Its glow enveloped Alex, and he felt himself leave the world. He was dying, and realised now, the folly of all his manipulations, how useless it was to try and rule the world. He felt pain… cold…

And then he left this world, and felt no more.

Isaac lived only long enough to see the Golden Sun reform, and float up into the sky, giving life and vitality to the world once more. Then it all faded in a beautiful light, and he found himself drifting away into the sky.

He saw his parents, Jenna, all the party and everyone who had died because of Alex, and was happy. He had succeeded.

Welcome home, Isaac.

MoR-

A/N: Meh,not as good as it could've been, but then, maybe I'm just being pessimistic. Now, review, curse you!