MK: I am ill. Again. Therefore, I am on a writing spree.

Ivan-chan: Which means we must sit here and rant about her writing.

Picard-chan: YAY!!!!

Everyone else: stare long and hard

MK: This is very angsty and is done in voices. The characters talk. When things are in italics, it's a character speaking.

Keeya: woohoo.

MK: Well, I've got about a million stories going right now...I have this one, Already There, Journal Enries, The Santa Catastrophe, and a really dumb Yu-gi-oh story in the works for my friend (hell, thought I'd try something new) and a couple originals.

Mia-chan: Lovely.

Isaac-chan: Weird.

Ivan-chan: I wanna kill Felix.

Felix-chan: What? Huh? What did I do now?

Ivan-chan: Said my sister was hot.

Felix-chan: That was a long time ago!!!

Ivan-chan: stony glare

Felix-chan: Not this again...

Keeya: Hehe.

MK: DISCLAIMER!!!!

Every1: MK does not own Golden Sun. If she did, she would rule the world.

Chapter One

You think your life is bad? Try being born on a ice flue.

I'm dead serious, that's what Imil is. It is so damn cold up there that even the stupidest people wont go outside.

Of course, I have to leave my house. I had to be the healer. I had to be the savior. I had to be everyone's everything.

See, it's harder than you think to wear a smile. You can't just plaster a big goofy grin on your face and walk around like the Chesire cat on steroids. You gotta play the part – you actually have to pretend to care. Even if you don't. You have to pretend that you don't mind running around outside caring for crabby old guys who get pissed when their back hurts and can't stop staring at you, or fixing up little kids' bloody knees before they freeze in the snow. I hate blood. I just wear a happy clown mask so I don't freak the kid out. If I did, my brother would hear about it, and I'd get hell from him.

My brother. He's supposed to be some version of a legal guardian. I honest to god think that he's being paid to drive me to suicide. Every time I mess up, I get his punishments. He always says after that he loves me and is only doing this because he cares and it pains him to do it. I have a bruise somewhere for everytime I've pained him.

Alex believes in tough love. I can tell he doesn't like to hit me. But it's not because he cares – it because I'm an annoying sister who he has to waste time disciplining. I piss him off.

But I still wear a smiley face. Gotta laugh, gotta giggle, gotta be so delighted and gay and happy about everything. Otherwise, everyone would know something was up. Everyone would know Alex was up. No one knows he beats me. No one.

I don't want to imagine what would happen if anyone knew. If I was lucky, my brother would kill me fast, with a knife or something, so I wouldn't feel much pain. . Most likely he would thrash me to death. That would hurt.

I don't like hurt. That's why I smile and make everyone think I'm all nice and happy. No one knows how much I hate everyone.

"Mia!!!"

17-year-old Mia Tunderen looked up at the call of her name. She was staring up at her celing, legs crossed, her silver dress pushed up slightly. The blanket she lay on was barely enough to keep her back from freezing over. It was definetly too damn cold.

'Mia!!" The voice came again, louder and angrier. Mia sat up. Her brother wanted her. That was never good.

"Coming!" She cried, and stood up. Bracing herself, she walked out of her room to where Alex was waiting.

Alex was standing in the middle of the main room of their cottage. His arms were crossed, and he was holding pieces of shattered porcelin in his hand.

Oh damn...he found out I broke a plate this morning Mia thought quickly. She was in for it now.

"Are you responsible for this?"

Mia's brother was glaring at her, his deep voice sounding harsh. He was mad, and Mia couldn't blame him. Tableware was expensive, and their broken little family didn't have much money. Mia's healing services were free, since it was a duty, not a job. Sometimes she found other ways to make money, but she wasn't particularly fond of what she had to do. Slaving for other people who gave her one coin for her work for them wasn't very worthwhile.

"I said, are you responsible for this? Did you break it?" Alex's voice cut like a blade through the wintery air.

His sister bent her head.

"Yes." She whispered slowly, crossing her arms.

"I figured as much." Alex growled. He dropped the broken pieces of china to the ground and made a fist with his long fingers.

"I'm sorry!" Mia cried, but she couldn't get the words out before her brother's fist connected with her jaw. She let out a cry that was silenced by another punch. This time, she heard a bone crack, and felt a searing pain charge up through her mouth.

"Don't do it again." Her brother said angrily, watching his sister fall to the ground in pain. He had accidentally fractured the poor girl's jaw, but he didn't care at the moment. She deserved it all.

"I wont." Mia sobbed, holding her jaw.

Alex nodded slowly. "Stay there. I suggest you don't move a muscle unless you want me to crack another bone for you."

With that statement, he walked out of the room, leaving Mia to cry on the floor. The girl watched him storm out and saw how he let the door slam shut.

She turned and looked on the weathered oak floor. There lay the broken plate. It had been split down the middle and cracked into tiny pieces that had chipped into more pieces.

The plate was shattered. Shattered like Mia's life.

She doesn't realize how much I love her, how much I hate hitting her. I'll fix up her jaw for her later, but right now she needs to learn her lesson. I can tell she's in a lot of pain, but it will toughen her up. She needs to be tough to survive. Everyone needs to, it seems.

Mia never used to be this depressed before our parents died. She never used to fake a smile – her grin used to be genuine. Now she walks around trying to be happy so the ones she heal wont suspect I hurt her, but if you look into her eyes, you can see the once beautiful sparkle in them has faded completely. I've beaten the life out of her eyes, the soul out of her body. She is a no one, just a dead heart still in her body. I hate to see her like this, but I cannot help but hurt her. I can think of nothing else to do with her that bring her pain, to watch her suffer, to see her bleed and bruise almost brings me some form of half-delight I cannot control. I watch her hold in her tears in front of everyone else, I see how she hides the scars I put on her. I have forbidden her to tell anyone of what I do to her, I've threatened her death if anyone finds out. I can't stop.

My parent's death has turned me into a monster. I want to bring her pain, yet I try to keep her safe.

I've turned both our lives into a hell. I'm sure Mia wants to die because of me.

Keeya: Whoa...

Ivan-chan: Umm...that was scary as hell.

Mia-chan: You're making Alex beat me up? WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU SICK MONSTER????

MK: Uhh...R&R?