Saving You From the Darkness

Hello! Okay… Erm, this fic is sorta weird.

Garet: 0_0 One of her freakiest ones, I can tell ya that. I mean, since when does Isaac get the urge to rape Mia?!

Garet! I thought you were only supposed to do the disclaimer this time!

Garet: Hey, relax. I'll do it now! Golden Sun belongs to the one and only Camelot! Squaresoft is better though. Alright Cloud! You rule lots more than Isaac!

…How can he? They look the same, use a big fat blade, and talk the same amount!(meaning they don't talk at all)

Another story where they've already beaten Alex, but Felix is good, and this is set two years after they've beaten Alex.

BTW, I wrote A Day in Vault in a moment of insanity, kay? I'm not gonna plan on continuing it either. It's just about one day in Vault. (And my second chapter happens to be a pile of shit) Of course, this is probably more screwed up, but that's okay.



Anger. Anger at the darkness around him. He wanted to break out, to see the sunlight again. Until he remembered. He remembered. Her. She had been scared. She had been terrified of him. He had loved it. Every minute. The chase, the hurt, the fear, the rape…

He would remember. Remember. And he would know again, that he did not deserve the right, the right to break out, to even try. His only friend was the darkness. His only shelter was the darkness. His world had been shattered when he had raped her…

Mia. He could remember her. Her name. The beautiful blue-eyed angel, with the soft strands of blue hair. Nothing else penetrated the shield of darkness. He deserved what he got, for destroying an angel's innocence. They had not tried to shackle him, oh no, the villagers were too kind, too cruel to allow this devil to be bound. He was free… to endure torture every day. The glares. The cruel mouths set permanently against him. Him, who used to be their friend. The only barrier between him and them was the darkness. The sweet everlasting darkness. He didn't deserve to put it up in the first place. The pain from those people, he deserved. But if he didn't, then it would happen again… His rage. His anger. His howls would be heard once again, and him, a demon that should never have been born, would terrify the people, would terrify her, and he would enjoy every single second of it. So he endured.

This barrier, constructed of hatred, of loneliness, of darkness, he hated for having to put it up, and loved for never having to hurt them, never having to hurt his angel. He shackled himself to a wall unbreakable by anyone, even him. He could imprison himself in the shield of darkness. He could keep himself bound by the shackles of hatred, hatred directed at himself. The world didn't need to see the real him, the savage part of him, anymore. It would just bring another disease, another taint, to their world. He should've joined Saturos and Minardi when he had the chance, the chance to break himself, so he wouldn't have to break his friends' trust, wouldn't have to break his mother's heart, wouldn't have to… wouldn't have to break her. Her and her innocence.

But, it still hurt. Yes, it still pained him, still broke him every day. Every day without his shining angel to look forward to meeting. It didn't matter though, wouldn't matter ever, after all these years. She was safe. Unable to be allowed near him. He wouldn't try to break the part she still had left anyways. But it hurt…

Isaac, once hero of the world, now avoided past rapist, cried.

~*~*~

Mia stared at him quietly. She'd decided to stay around Vale, even after the incident. Besides, she didn't want to meet her fiancé in Imil. She didn't think she'd even heard of him. Her heart still cried out to Isaac. She'd known he hadn't meant to. It had just come out. His frustration, his love. It was maddening. She'd loved him too, still loved him, but he wasn't allowed anywhere near her.

At the trial, he hadn't denied anything, just stared at Mia with sad eyes, eyes that still shone with love and lust to her, eyes that would commit themselves to never ever hurt her again. And that meant staying away from her…

Even after the elders and the council leaders declared he couldn't go anywhere within 25 feet of her, she'd tried to sneak out and talk to him. But he ran, every time. Only once, had she been able to corner him, in which Mia finally saw the deep resolution to keep her safe from everything.

His eyes, they were blank with self-hatred. He was nothing to himself in his eyes, he thought he was nothing in his friends' eyes. Mia supposed only she saw the need, the need to come out into the light. Only she regarded him as something more than a creature to be despised. His Djinn had loved him too, because they could understand what he did, and why he did it… But from what Fizz had told her, he had sent them away, sent them free, ordered them to leave. Because he wanted to protect them from him, even if he didn't need to worry.

But the way he did it, it was terrible. It tore her heart out. He'd put up a great shield of darkness, and a near unbreakable wall. Only that once when she'd talked to him had she been almost able to breach that wall, to shatter it so Isaac could see the light, but he didn't want to come out. He was scared. Of what his friends thought of him. Of what he could to do to her. His willpower was too great. He didn't want to see her reaction of his true self. He didn't want her to see what he thought was a demon.

In reality, it was a perfect angel. A perfect angel, broken. Broken in body, broken in spirit. In reality, she had actually liked it when he had taken her. In reality, the world was a harsh place that they should never have tried to save.

Another letter had arrived from Imil. It pleaded for her to come back, as it had been at least two years since they had stopped Alex and Felix from lighting the Jupiter Lighthouse. It was sort of stupid that her fiancé was still waiting for her. She didn't think she remembered what he looked like, but from what the first letter said that the first time she had passed his house he had become smitten with her. Tossing its contents into the trash as she had been doing for the last two years, she walked out of the house.

The moon was beautiful tonight. A solitary tear made its path down her face as she imagined his face in it. She wouldn't allow this angel to live in this hellhole. She wouldn't.

~*~*~

Run. Run. Run. Sticks thrown at him, rocks bruising him. So what else was new? Each pain, dull. He was near immune to physical pain by now. He passed by Garet's house. He sat with Jenna talking. They saw him. Stared. At the inhumanity he was. Pity-filled eyes, angry eyes, sorrowful eyes. He went on past. It didn't matter, did it? Mia was safe.

~*~*~

Garet and Jenna just watched him, sadly. They didn't know why. It hurt them, hurt them deeply how much he'd changed. The thin and gaunt face didn't contain any fierce battle spirit the hero of the world should've possessed. It was as if he was a shadow, to come out when needed, and then to be forgotten again.

His devotion to Mia was maddening. He stayed away from her. He loathed himself. But couldn't he see that he was hurting her every step he wasn't with her, every step he avoided her? Couldn't he see? It hurt her, it hurt him. Didn't benefit anyone that way, ever.

Jenna spoke up quietly.

"We should help him. It's the least we can do after acting like he didn't exist after these two years. Nothing's the same without him anymore."

Garet just continued watching the passing figure, fading into the distance on his two legs, straightened up but head bowed down, bent in spirit, broken in soul. At length he replied in a sorrowful tone, "We have to. It'd be a sin to not save an angel like him."

~*~*~

Lonely wouldn't leave him alone, wouldn't leave him be. It followed him like a plague from the past, a blessing in the future. Lonely was the life of a warrior, the life of a man who's lost everything and nothing more, ever.

He'd tried to lose it once, by running down the highway, but it trailed after him, unrelenting, unforgiving in its lesson. The lesson he still had to endure and would endure for the rest of his life. Loneliness never truly followed him. It appeared before him, ran behind him, shimmered beside him, but it never truly followed him, because it was him. Lonely wouldn't leave him alone. Ever. The only way lonely would leave him be would be to kill himself, but lonely would intervene, stop him, make him remember, make him suffer. It would make him the keeper. He couldn't. Lonely was his and his alone, and no one else could touch it, no one else could fell it wrap around them if the keeper kept it inside. He would bear it. He could. Lonely wouldn't leave him alone, but it was a suitable companion, because it was him. Lonely. That's what he was.

~*~*~

Another week, another torture, another letter. To make it even worse, her fiancé had finally decided he would come get her personally. But she had to wait for Isaac. Wait to help him.

Help. It was what everyone needed, and no one gave, except for him. She'd tried to match up to his strength by healing people when they needed it, but that didn't compare with his mental and physical strain nearly enough. She gave them soothing, love, healing for some time. He fought, cold, angry, vengeful, but ultimately, alone, so they could have lasting peace. Which was something this world could just not seem to do.

Help. No one gave it, except for him. No one thanked him for it, except for a handful. Garet. Jenna. Ivan. Kraden. Felix. Sheba. She would find them. They would help. Because they had felt the brushes of a true angel.

~*~*~

She'd called them first. They had been the easiest to find, seeing as they had lived right across from her. There was silence for a time, which, while at another time would've been very uncommon for Garet, now always happened. It was just another sign how much Isaac changed them, how much he was needed. The pain, the sorrow in their eyes was enough of an answer. They would help. They were cowards, all of them, including her, before, but they needed to help him. They didn't know why, they just knew they needed to. It was what Isaac would've done. Act on his emotions.

At length Garet said that he would go get Kraden, Sheba, and Ivan, who were learning to control their powers even better over there. Jenna agreed to getting her brother Felix. Mia would go with Garet. Once, they had been powerful. Together, they could be powerful again. Powerful enough to pull Isaac from the deep hole he had dug for himself, powerful enough to break Isaac's great shield, powerful enough for maybe one, just one person to finally break down his walls and let him go. The ties. Meant to be broken if the one person holding them fell. They were being fixed again. A shining light was being sent forth, so this angel could come out.

~*~*~

Memories. So many. Memories of pain, horror, glee. Memories.

Shadows. So long. Shadows of his sins, his demon, his darkness. Shadows.

Light. So far. Light stretched far away forever, light to keep him sane, light that she basked in. The light. It teased him. His fingertips brushed it, to recoil, to remember. His anger reached it, to be bounced back, to be hated. The light. It couldn't make space for him. So he lived in the shadows. As a shadow. The darkness was his home.

Footsteps. Approaching. Run. It was a silent call. A call to freedom. Run. He followed it. Until he whizzed right into Mia. The shocked look on her face. The emotions rising up. It was too much to handle. His insanity… it was coming again. Desperately, he flung up one last shield. A shield of her face. It was straining, cracking, bending, but it was working. Yet… he was losing. With a final mental creak, the shield broke. Now, to him, Hell, Heaven, death, life, it all didn't matter anymore. It was only kill.

~*~*~

Mia knew that look. It was what he'd looked like when he raped her. It was the look of an angel's fury being let loose. It was the look of death's eye. She knew. To him, nothing mattered anymore. Only pain, blood, and slaughter.

It would continue. Continue until screams lit the air on fire, and someone brought him back to humanity, or knocked him out. It would continue like this forever, unless he learned to control it. And right now, he wasn't doing so well. She had to help him. It was a mutual instinct. But first, she needed to defend.

~*~*~

The glaze in his eyes made him see nothing, nothing but the instinct to kill. He used psyenergy long unused, and shot Mother Gaia behind him. There were more. More there. More to kill. He grinned a murderous smile, one of a being who has been tortured beyond comprehension. Isaac was no more right now. There was only a fighting creature. Understanding was not his nature. Only to kill, to spill blood, to spread fear.

He shot Ragnorak into the group. A brief image flashed in his mind before he heard the screams. The person's face was one of pure horror. Good. He licked his lips hungrily. There were more. More to destroy, to show them what pain felt like. One of them shot him. It didn't hurt though, as one's body should if fire invades it. Without missing a beat he shot Clay Spire into the being. The victim's shocked and scarred face flashed into his view of nothingness for a second. A malicious smile lit up his grim, angry features. Now this was what he lived for. The kill. It was always the fear that made it killing. As for the others, they were weak. One earthquake could take care of them all. A rumble sounded as he summoned the powers of the earth, terrifying powers, terrifying the victims of it, terrifying the very existence of nothingness.

The most powerful being in the universe had been let loose. And no amount of fighting could stop him.

~*~*~

Mia had clenched her eyes shut the entire time. She had thought she was dying. But when she heard the screams of Garet and the others, she hesitantly opened her eyelids. A surprise met her. Garet twitched on the ground, a great scar marring his face. Jenna had deep gashes all over her. All of them seemed to have broken bones from earthquakes and the like. She ran over to them, planning on healing them. When she reached them though, it seemed Ivan was bent on telling her something.

"D-don't worry about us. You need to stop Is-Isaac. H-he'll destroy the village if you d-d-don't."

Mia shook her head. What was her worth as a fighter anyways? She told Ivan this. Garet choked out a laugh at this, although he abruptly stopped when the pain on his face hit him full on. Before passing out from it, he gasped out, "You can fight much better than me. But you have to go because it won't be fighting that stops him. It'll be you. Please go… As a true friend would…"

There wasn't anything she could do. They wouldn't let her. They told her to go. Because she was a true friend. So she walked away. Stopping a little ways off, she turned back to look at them. The approval they had of her decision and the pain they still bore everywhere was too much. She ran.

~*~*~

An aura of cruelness lit his features. His mouth was set in a straight thin line. He could sense the last victims' life force. They were still alive. It didn't matter though, they would die soon. And so would these beings. He could see the shades he had to kill in the nothingness. He carelessly cast Quake Sphere. It killed more of the shadows. Shrieks pierced the air. Pleads filled it. He heard none of it. Only the urge to kill.

More of them fell. Each of their frightened faces flashed into his view for a second before disappearing. He didn't remember any of them. Just the pleading, sorrowful, scared looks on their faces. And the fact that there were more. More shadows to destroy. He continued the slaughter.

~*~*~

Mia gasped at the carnage. It wasn't possible. People littered the place everywhere, people she had gotten to know. And ahead of her, not even 15 feet away was Isaac, murdering everyone. She ran up to him, and grabbed his shirt.

"Stop this Isaac! You have to! If you don't, this world will have been saved for nothing! Please!"

Isaac had felt a shadow behind him. What it said didn't matter. Only the fact that it had grabbed him, and was disturbing his elimination of everything. He held it in an eagle's grip away from him, and drew his sword. He ran his sword through its left arm once. Its face flickered into his view for a second before he prepared to give it the final blow. What he saw though, made him drop his sword.

Its face… It didn't show any pain, any fear. It showed concern. For him. It showed love. For him. It radiated light onto his face. So that he saw reality again. He saw what he'd done. He collapsed to his knees. What he had done… He could see one of the people behind her. His mother… He had been about to kill her too. He really was a monster. Sobs wracked his ragged breath. He needed to get away from here.

He staggered up onto his feet and started stumbling blindly out, until a soft hand caught his and turned him around. He found himself face-to-face with his angel, his angel, who he had nearly killed too.

His face. He didn't want to live anymore. He didn't think he had a reason to anymore. But he does… She stared up at him, her eyes softening all the while, and finally asked, "Where are you going?"

His reply was what she'd expected. "Somewhere… Away from here…"

"Why? Why can't you face these people? Are you a coward?"

"…Yes…"

She kept on watching him, with his head bowed down. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. Softly, she said," No… You aren't a coward. You never have been. Look how brave you were when we faced the Fusion Dragon. Look how brave you were when you saw your best friend turn on you when he was possessed. Look how brave you were when you lost your pride and your sense of happiness…" She ran her finger lightly along the lines of his jaw. He shuddered at this, but didn't move away. "You've never been a coward. You're not a coward, because you're Isaac. You wouldn't be if you were. If you were a coward, you wouldn't be the Isaac that I love…" He raised his head with a snap and met her with startled eyes. She continued talking, letting her hand fall onto his shoulder. "I want to help you get out. I want to make you happy. I want to make you whole again. I want to be with you forever. I love you…" The last sentence came out a whisper, and then she kissed him. Isaac only hesitated for a second before responding, kissing her with as much passion and love as she did him, and wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like that for a while, until the both finally broke off. She rested her head lightly against his shoulder. Isaac remembered something then. Tentatively he asked her," Tell me… Did I kill Garet, and the others?"

Mia then remembered them too, and brought her head up with a start. "No, but they're badly injured." Isaac released his arms, and murmured," I have to heal them. It's the least I can do, especially as it's all my fault…"

Mia said," I'll come with you." Isaac shook his head, and told her that she needed to stay here to heal anyone else that was alive, to which she replied," You are. And everyone else that was hurt is, well… they're probably dead… You made sure to kill them when you came here." Isaac drew in his breath, remembering what he had done, and painfully turned around to face her again, with his eyes closed, and asked," Do you really think I have any hope of being healed again?"

Mia turned her eyes toward him. He still doesn't believe in himself… She answered instantly," Maybe not entirely, but you can heal. Unless you don't want to…" Mia trailed off, unsure what to say. If he didn't, she wouldn't know what to do anymore.

Isaac quietly replied," I do want to heal. I want to. It's just that I've been so long in the darkness…"

Mia shook her head.

"Don't worry. I'll help you. You'll never hurt again."

"Never?"

"Never."

See? If you actually read to the end of this, you have my permission to flame me as much as you want! Of course, I wouldn't be able to stop you anyways, but oh well. As for where this idea came from, I don't know… I think it came from trying to write a second chapter of A Day in Vault. o_O I ended up quitting the second chapter cause it was stupid and writing this instead. And yes, I happen to know its very confusing.

I want to do something not Isaac/Mia next! Any ideas? I'll do any couples! Really! (Or I could do a deathfic, hmmm… I've never tried a funny deathfic… I really don't think you can do a real one though…)

Okey dokeys, byebye!