Strength is…
DISCLAIMER: This is a fan fiction, meaning while the story is original, the characters of this story are borrowed from Nintendo and Camelot's game: Golden Sun.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: With the advent of Golden Sun 3 for the DS, this is a long overdue story. This is a re-write for my story "Strength of Solitude". I was surprised someone left a reply after three years ('07-'10) telling me to continue. Surprised and touched, so much so I'm continuing this. I am also re-writing the first two chapters because I think my skills have improved and I have a new idea for this story.
Furthermore, I am aware most fan fictions have their romantic pairings stated out in the beginning. I will say this story has a Felix and Mia line, although I will focus on the other characters as well...and as to how they will end up, you will have to read to find out (mostly because I'm not quite sure how I want them to end either.)
Enjoy, and thank you for reading. Please leave a meaningful review, hopefully with constructive criticism and/or praise. :) One can never have enough of that.
-End Notes-
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FELIX
Silence told him his sister was angry with him. There were times Kraden would speak and Jenna would reply him, but whenever Felix was near, she would fall silent. Felix had talked little to his sister when the Proxians were near. When he spoke, it was to relay commands from Menardi more courteously or ask for her health. Her answers were stiff.
Tonight Saturos and Menardi had left them in a small woods in the snowy lands near the Mercury Lighthouse. They would not have been far, they did not trust Felix to keep guard on their prisoners, but they trusted their judgment a green boy and a greener girl with an old man tired from relentless journeying would not wander.
Tonight, Felix would confront his sister. Kraden was out by the fire and Jenna was inside the tent, alone. Felix went in after depositing another batch of tinder in the fire. She was huddled in a miserable position. She lifted her head when she heard him come in and seeing him, her expression grew as cold as the climate around them.
He sat across from her, cross-legged, peaceably, and observed her. His sister had grown, from a sunny girl to this hard young woman. Yet he thought he could still see a familiar shadow of her when she talked to Kraden.
"Do you remember we used to have staring contests?" Felix said.
Her expression did not change, "What is it you want?"
"To know my sister whom I have not seen for three years."
Her eyes sparked, "Three years which I thought you were dead."
"I was not. And neither are our parents."
Jenna's eyes widen, "What?"
"Nor Isaac's father. Kyle and our parents are safe. But hostages in Prox. That is why I am with Saturos and Menardi. Work with me, Jenna, and we shall win back the freedom of our parents… and Kyle."
"Work with robbers, thieves." Jenna spat out poisonously at the prospect.
Felix understood his sister's venom. He remembered Vale's strict law against going inside Sol Sanctum. To rob the Sanctum of its secret treasures, the Elemental Stars themselves, was heinous, an almost personal violation to the sacred. Yet he no longer felt that way; the Stars were a burden with the weight of Weyard herself. No sane man would want them, not if their goals were that of the Proxians. Perhaps that, or he had been away from Vale too long, forgetting the verdant grass along with the codes of a Valean.
"Jenna, Saturos and Menardi have their reasons."
"What are they then?" Jenna challenged.
For a moment, Felix was tempted to reveal the truth. But he decided against it; the burden was heavy, not right for any girl of seventeen to bear. "That is not for me to say."
The young woman in front of Felix cracked then, beneath her cold and venom: fury. "Felix uf Vale, you have just helped the plunderers rob Sol Sanctum, kidnapped me and left our friends to die." Jenna corrected herself, "My friends, who have helped me when my family was thought dead by the whole world. I owe them my life, and you left them in a volcano which you helped to trigger to erupt. Do you not have the decency to tell me at least why?"
"It's for your own good-"
"FOR MY OWN GOOD?" Jenna was yelling now, "MY OWN GOOD? DRAGGED TO THIS FREEZING WASTELAND FROM MY HOME. BY MY BROTHER WHO WAS DEAD FOR THREE YEARS...WHO NEVER CAME BACK…" Tears unshed were in her eyes, "YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW I WAS FOR THE THREE YEARS YOU WERE GONE, FELIX? DEPRESSED, EVERY MOMENT WONDERING WHETHER I WAS RIGHT TO LIVE WHILE YOU AND MA AND PA WERE DEAD….It was Isaac and Garet who stayed by me and protected me… the other villagers, some pitied, some felt uncomfortable, some wished to court me or swindle me for the house-on-the-falls...and you killed them."
Jenna's tears were falling in earnest now. Felix moved toward her, but froze with the glare she shot him, and the words she said then: "Do not dream to wipe my tears away, Felix. I have shed too many over those three years which you cannot wipe away."
Silence between the both of them. Silence again, Felix thought bitterly.
"I am sorry. I shall take my leave for now." Felix said, and left the tent. When he went out, the old scholar Kraden was looking too intently at his book. Felix could not bear to sit with him near the fire, even though he was sure the scholar would not speak. He went deeper into the woods. Not too far, but he needed to be… farther.
Wasteland, Jenna had called his place. But she has never seen Prox, the land of ever blizzards and clouds. Felix was used to the cold by now, being a prisoner for three years in the coldest part of Weyard. The cold was calming and beautiful in a sublime way. In Prox, the cold was also lethal: layers of clothing could mean life or death. But here in the lands near the Mercury lighthouse, the cold was refreshing, and the snow was serene: a white mantle on the boughs and grounds. The sky was clear and the half-moon was bright.
Felix fell back on the thick snow, and closed his eyes. Just for a while, he promised himself.
In the cold, alone, was how Felix uf Prox learned to be strong. And in the cold, he found warmth.
Please leave constructive criticism and praise for what you think I did well. I'd like to be encouraged and growing as a writer. Thank you :)