Important notice:
KARST DID NOT DIE DID NOT DIE DID NOT DIE DID NOT- I could keep going...
Hi guys! Long time no see, eh? This one might not be Duskshipping, but my next one will be- said next one was also FINISHED when my computer crashed several months ago, so yeah. I have reasons. Been replaying GS1 in preparation for DD, which's why I feel like writing some stuff set DURING the first game. I usually stick to TLA, which I shall also be re-playing after GS1.
WOOO Dark Dawn!
Alpine Crossing
The flight from Mercury Lighthouse had been harrowing at best. They couldn't stop in any one place for more than a few hours, and even once Saturos and Alex caught up with them there was no slowing down. Not even a night, just a short rest and a meal before they had fled Bilibin, taking things a little slower while avoiding Kolima at Alex's behest- he'd examined the Tree-Man outside of Bilibin, and he and Menardi had deemed it unsafe for them to risk stopping through.
"The Sage is more important than mere curiosity." They were en route to Mogall when he decided to quietly share this idle thought.
"Do you think Psynergy would matter to a curse?"
"Of course I do, and it would. Psynergy was the difference between Saturos losing and Isaac dying for daring to challenge him."
"Could Psynergy reverse it then? You can heal a limb, why not a tree?"
"I could ask the same of you." Fair enough, they conversation ended with Alex more tight-lipped than usual, a peculiar quirk in his mouth at the mention of healing before he excused himself and lay down for the night to rest.
Alex wasn't a healer, at least not self-proclaimed. Saturos's condition irritated him immensely. That wretched cough and wheezing also irritated Menardi, and caused Jenna to take chances Felix had to keep on the ready for in-case she went too far.
"Why do you defend him!" She hissed at him one time, during the day when they stopped in Mogall forest. They had been lost with no direction until Saturos had finally grown fed up and begun setting fire to the underbrush and trees to carve a straighter path. His Psynergy had spluttered out after only an hour of this new method, Menardi covering his weakness with her own abilities until Jenna grew too confident and called him on the infirmity. If Menardi hadn't been as genuinely worried about Saturos as Felix had been terrified for Jenna, there was no way his sister would have gotten off with simply joining Menardi at the head of the party blasting the flora.
"You know why I defend him."
"I wish Isaac had killed him!" He didn't know what she thought that would accomplish, would Vale raise an army and march all the way to Prox for their parents? Impossible. They'd take the Stars back and that would be the end of things.
"The beacon almost did, now be quiet and drink." It had revolted her the first time he had given her the heavily diluted mixture of whiskey and water, and once they had moved back south of the Goma Range he had put the alcohol away again as the weather warmed. She needed the jolt now though, temper alone wouldn't keep her going in the woods.
Breaking through the woods brought them all the way to Xian, a bizarre but colorful town that grew up along the river and spread like a red and white ribbon into view as they approached. This time when they paid for their rooms, they stayed the entire night. But it wasn't because they wanted to.
"I'm calling the doctor."
"No!" Felix wasn't privy to the conversation, he was in the room with Jenna and Kraden across the hall, keeping an eye on them while the voices boomed through the other door. The only way he could keep the Sage from jumping up and scampering across the hall was by promising them he'd tell them exactly what was said. His throat closed as he locked the door on their faces, but the drama was too loud to ignore.
"Saturos, you are injured and need medical attention." Alex was saying, eyeing Felix critically before continuing on in his even, disinterested tone. "I have done all I can, and dare-say I have aggravated the condition."
"I'll show you aggravated!" The Martian roared back, Alex glancing off at some piece of china hanging on the wall. "If you two don't drop this I swear by Mars I'll-"
"Not with that welt on your shoulder you won't, Saturos." Menardi cut in, jabbing one pink slender finger into his chest for emphasis. Felix had to give his would-be mentor credit, Saturos's blue skin paled considerably, but he didn't double over or make a sound.
Felix only knew what the problem was because Alex liked to talk too much (perhaps it made him feel superior). During the battle on the Aerie Saturos had been injured by Isaac and Garet, and the presence of the beacon had overwhelmed him and saturated the wound. Alex, Menardi, and Felix himself had been able to treat most of the injuries ranging from minor nicks and bruises to that serious chunk that had been cut out of his chest and shoulder. Alex had postulated that it was a piece of Mercury Lighthouse itself that had been imbedded in the Proxian's chest, and was at a loss as to how they could remove the offensive object without killing him or calling a professional to do the cutting for them.
Saturos would have none of it. They were over-reacting, underestimating him, and more importantly were letting themselves become distracted from their mission to not only reach the next lighthouse, but work on finding a Jupiter Adept along the way.
Felix's presence was then noticed by Saturos, who gave him a very explicit order to go back to the hostages.
The Silk Road was the final straw. Saturos had become stronger the further from the Lighthouse he moved, then weaker again as they delved into the wet, swampy Mogall forest. Their night and a day in Xian had done him good, but the harsh climb up the Silk Road was just piling sticks and feathers onto his back. Sooner or later, Saturos was going to break. He was a soldier, a swordsman, a warrior, a soldier, and a leader, but Saturos of Prox was still only human.
And if he died? That would be it, the end. And if not the end then the start of an experience even more wretched and demeaning than the one they were already enduring. Eventually they would come up against Isaac again, and it would either be at Isaac's discretion or their's when they finally needed the Mars Star. They would face Isaac with their hostages- Felix's own sister, and Isaac's teacher, and they would have to threaten them in all the ways Felix himself couldn't bear to think about. Isaac wouldn't stand for that, and even if he did Garet wouldn't.
Menardi couldn't fight off four adepts, Menardi and Felix couldn't take on four adepts. Menardi, Felix, and Alex together might stand a fair chance, but Jenna would never let him draw swords against Isaac and Alex had been hesitant enough about revealing himself to the blue-haired girl from his Clan. Their mission would end if they challenged Isaac without Saturos there to even the odds, and he would not accept failure because of one man's fear of weakness!
"Saturos!" It was hot out, a sign that they were coming closer to the fabled Lamakan Desert, but while the increasing heat had been a good thing for Menardi and Jenna, it hadn't been giving their leader much of a boost. Even Alex was faring better.
Felix felt better seeing that Saturos didn't turn around immediately after hearing his name. The Martian was mad but dropped his head, breathing heavily and trying to hide it as they'd been going up an incline for the past three hours since setting out for the desert. There was one last rest-stop along the way.
"What now, boy!" Felix swallowed as the Martian hid every ounce of fatigue that his previously slumped shoulders had indicated, but he seized on his earlier anger and went with it.
'I should have done this earlier.' Before they'd left Xian, but now wasn't the time to-
"Speak, you idiot!" Out with it.
"You'll die if you cross that desert."
"What!" Felix as sucking in air before the Proxian took two steps towards him.
"I said you'll die!"
"Stop- Do I need to teach you a lesson, boy?" Menardi's voice was two-pronged, a hiss for Saturos to stop his advance and then a scathing tone for Felix. The resistance made him push harder.
"Lesson? Teach him!" He stuck an accusing finger in Saturos's direction, Menardi hanging back and her red eyes flashing between him and her companion. "He wants to give Isaac the pleasure of killing him, running him into the ground, so he-"
"Felix!" Jenna's shocked voice was a hiss in the hot air, but it became a lot hotter as Saturos came barrelling down on him.
"Dissenting little worm!" There was no sword, but two iron-hard fists came screaming towards him, Felix backing up and jumping twice to keep just out of the Martian's reach. He wasn't allowed to stop moving and didn't have the guts to fight back- Saturos was injured, badly so, but he was still in another league.
"I can stop Isa-!" A wild swing caught him under the chin and Felix felt hot pain blossom up from his jaw and up through his teeth. A surge of blood came down from inside his lip where he'd bit into it, and he stumbled a little before dropping down onto the ground. A punch didn't put him out, but he wanted Saturos to hear him, not kill him.
His eyes came away from the cliffs overhead and saw the sword-!
"Enough- ENOUGH I SAID!" Alex's slim arm cut across Felix's blurred vision and snaked around under Saturos's shoulder, with a push and a twist the sword was violently retracted through the air, the Martian giving a breathless yowl in pain as he jerked around to untangle himself from the Mercurian. Alex rarely, if ever, troubled himself with physical contact. His non-chalance as Saturos heaved and swore at him was bellied by him having touched the man to stop the attack.
"Felix is very sorry for what he said... Aren't you?" He waited for Saturos to stop swearing so loudly before speaking again, half-smiling, half-disconcerted with the events unfolding in front of him. He was slippery and cold, but Felix didn't have the nerve to say as much as he nodded mutely at Alex, then remembered who he was supposed to be speaking to and nodded to Saturos instead.
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"And right." Huh?
"Alex, don't you dare-!"
"I'm afraid I can't argue with the facts, Saturos. If we take you into Lamakan as you are you will die."
"Alex!" Not in front of the hostages, was that part of what was making Saturos so violent?
"Please, Saturos, just listen to-"
"Shut up!"
"Um... if I may..?" The Sage's voice was quiet, cutting through a bit of the tension as Felix stood wiping his lip on his shirt to get rid of the blood. Saturos hadn't lifted his sword again, but hadn't put it away either, Alex standing cool and unperturbed between his two companions. Kraden stepped up, frowning and glancing around at shy intervals. Was it an act?
"Speak, Sage." Menardi's first words in a while.
"Thank you." Kraden nodded his hooded head to her, absently touching his forehead to wipe away some of the perspiration. He looked at them all as a group and picked his words carefully. "Have any of you ever crossed a desert?"
A pause.
"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH-"
"Only."
"In my vast experiences... no."
"I've never left Vale." Felix nodded to Jenna as she answered last, then shook his head as Kraden confirmed his hypothesis.
"In that case, how many of you have journeyed in the far north?"
"Kraden..." What a stupid question, they had all gone to Imil together, Alex had been born there and Saturos and Menardi were both from Prox. The Sage lifted his hands and made a calming gesture. It wasn't as effective as the hand Menardi put on her partner's shoulder to keep him still.
"My point then, is that we know everyone here, excluding myself, is capable of enduring extremely cold temperatures, our Martian friends especially." Felix would never understand Kraden's ability to call his captors 'friends'. "But in a sandy desert that blessing may become a curse."
"...Are you implying that Mars Adepts can't handle a little heat?" Alex was smirking in that way he always did when he felt superior. It happened a lot whenever the Sage began to speak.
"Not exactly, but if travelling in cold weather depends on exerting more psynergy to keep warm, then travelling in hot weather demands the opposite. I'm sure you'll be able to help us locate water in the desert, Alex, but tense emotions will only make it easier for-"
"Heat exhaustion," Menardi interrupted. "You don't want Saturos to over-exert himself and die in the heat." She looked bored with the conversation, but then took a quick look between Saturos and Felix. Then followed the latter's eyes up to where he had been looking at the canyon cliffs again.
"If Saturos rests at Lama Temple, and gets better, then he won't die."
"I won't d-!"
"Shut up. Saturos can't rest if Isaac could swoop in on us at any moment. We'll meet again, but now's too soon. He can't be very far behind." Felix pulled his eyes down from the rocky landscape and saw Menardi focused solely on him. The attention was uncomfortable.
"Yes?"
"How are you going to stop Isaac?" He balked. "Come now, it's what you were trying to say, isn't it? 'I can stop Isaac'? Tell us how, maybe we'll listen."
He hesitated, the idea had been half-formed and dribbled past his lips when he saw that huge Proxian fist coming at him. Everyone was looking at him now, even Alex who could have just as easily been examining a squashed flower on the roadside. He turned his eyes back up to the cliffs and felt his voice immediately quiet down to a fumbled whisper.
"Speak up!"
"The cliffs, if we bring them down then Isaac can't follow." He pointed up at the rocks and boulders overhead, already a step ahead of the group and frantically trying to think of a way he could actually bring the rocks down. Could he manage it alone? It was a lot to move... "He'll have to wait until the road's clear, or take a detour."
"Detour, eh? How far would that take him?"
"Altin, I suppose." Felix was glad Menardi hadn't asked him about the routes, the woman looking at Alex as he postulated and used other ungainly words. "It's several days at least, ten or more unless he's already moved on from Xian." It seemed unlikely, but not impossible. It was enough of a fire for Felix to convince himself that he could manage the slide on his own. He'd have to: anything to avoid confronting Isaac again sooner than he had to.
"Alright then, it's decided. Felix will block the road and meet up with us tonight at Lama Temple. We'll let the monks cut that rock out of Saturos and then be on our way once he's strong enough to continue."
"For the last time, Menardi, I will-"
"Do exactly as I say!" She shook her head at him, growing fed up. "We've given you plenty of time to get better on your own, now suck it up!" And that was the end of it, no more discussion, decided. The rest of the party began to move on almost as soon as Menardi finished speaking, Saturos trudging along at the head of the small train, Alex next to him and half a pace back, then Kraden and Jenna- his sister checking repeatedly back over her shoulder as they topped the next rise and moved out of sight.
Menardi lingered, watching them disappear and not turning to look at him.
"Felix..." He winced at the sharp slap she scorched his face with, instinctively reaching up with the back of his hand and touching his wrist to the tender area. He thought that was the full of it before he felt his world flip and had a cry choked out of him- his arm was hoisted up and behind him painfully held by the wrist as she planted a foot on his back to keep him down. Her scythe was out and the weapon spat dust in his eyes as he looked up and found the blade lined up perfectly between his eyes- almost impossible to see. If she'd aimed a little closer she could have slashed his face in half.
"Challenge him again in front of the others and we'll find someone else to replace you. You were the optimal choice, not the only."
She released him, left him there, walked away. She called back over her shoulder after a few yards, something about not taking too long past dark to get the job done. He didn't really hear her, his ears ringing too loudly and watching that curved blade rest against her back like a fatal promise. It wasn't fair, he'd gotten his way and yet he still felt trapped, had been given the chance to showcase his skills, and he felt like a henchman.
He stayed down in the dirt like that for a good long while before he finally got up and went to work. His ears were still ringing so loudly that, combined with the sound of shifting stone and the dimming light, he neither saw nor heard the young man walking back along the road before it came tumbling down.
Fin~