The tome Sheba had her arms wrapped around was enormous, heavy, and looked like it had seen better days. The leather binding was cracking and peeling away from the book itself, which had allowed moisture and moths to get in to the ancient pages. Thankfully it was still legible enough to be deciphered. Or at least that's what she hoped.
At the moment Sheba was hurrying from far end of Vault to the bell tower where she knew Piers was likely hiding. The local priests had dug out this book that they assumed might have something to do with the new Guardians of the Elements, but they lacked the knowledge to read its faded text. They were hoping that it was written in a language that a Lumerian might be able to translate. She looked down at the book that she held, and it looked for all the world like it was about to fall apart any minute. Sheba sprinted up the stairs to the bell tower loft. True to her original hunch, he was there, leaning on a support beam while overlooking the sleepy town.
"Piers!" she gasped for breath, "I've got it!" Sheba collapsed on the floor and dropped the book in front of her.
Piers gave the molding tome a questioning look. "Hasn't anyone ever thought to keep important documents in some place other than the cellar?"
"The priests said that they can't read it." She sighed as she opened it up. "So I don't think preserving a book written in a dead language was on the top of their 'to-do' list."
"It's not a dead language yet." Piers said indignantly, "It's clearly an early form of Lumerian, not that it's really changed all that much in thousands of years."
"So you can read it?"
"What doesn't have holes in it, yes." He sat down next to her and took the book in to his own hands. "We're looking for anything referring to elemental guardians, correct?"
"Mmhmm." Sheba peeked over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages. Even though she had no idea what all the strange characters meant, the detailed illustrations gave a vague idea as to what was going on. It really was a shame it hadden't been kept in better condition.
"How's everyone doing?" Piers asked offhandedly as he skimmed paragraphs. Sheba shrugged in return.
"Okay for the most part. Well, not really. It's hard to tell when everyone has such strong and mixed emotions- And then they broadcast them and I can't hear myself think!"
"Haven't got quite a handle on your new found power yet?" Piers was smiling, and that strange but wonderful feeling came over her and her stomach did a little flip.
"S-something like that."
He went back to reading and Sheba prayed to which ever god was listening that she wasn't turning red. She'd always liked Piers, from the first time in Madra, and then in the shadows of a tribal ceremony, and then with the group out on the open sea… Sure, there had been that brief puppy crush she had on Felix when Saturos and Menidari had kidnapped her. That had dissolved soon after when she accidentally mind read him, and her head had been filled with some images that had made her flush, like she probably was right now.
That was the problem with being a Jupiter Adept. It was hard sometimes to filter out unwanted content when poking around in someone else's head. And Sheba had thought it was bad enough before when she'd get random flares of emotions, or a memory that obviously wasn't hers when she was around other adepts- It had to be five times worse now that she was the Guardian of Jupiter.
Alex was still out cold after Mount Aleph. So Felix was stressed, Mia was simultaneously worried and pissed and overjoyed, and Jenna was worried about Felix and pissed at Alex for making them worry, Isaac and Garret where on edge because Mia was in a bad mood and apparently she wasn't one to anger in such a state, Ivan was still very, very confused over just about everything and he was a little hurt that everyone was being so snappy when he just wanted an answer to why everyone was so upset, and then Felix was also being more sulky than usual which was causing his parents to worry and then they were talking to everyone else's parents and-
Sheba held her head in her hands and groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"Everyone's still freaking out. I swear I'm going to go crazy soon if they all don't shut up."
Piers chuckled and threw and arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there's something in here than can help."
Felix had barely moved for two days. He sat in the same chair in the same corner of the small room, with his knees drawn up to his chest with his chin resting on them. Jenna had come in multiple times to complain that he needed to go get some rest in a real bed and someone would come let him know if sleeping beauty woke up and-
"No." he grumbled, again. "I'm not leaving."
Jenna stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, glaring down with an intensity that could have lighted a fire if she had willed it. He ignored her.
"Felix, it won't kill you to go lay down for a few hours, but just sitting there forever might!" becoming the Guardian of Mars had done nothing to improve her classic fire adept attitude. Jenna was still full of attitude, passionate about what she believed in, and had one of the most easily set off tempers. Felix fully appreciated that she cared about him and was honestly worried for him, he really did. But it wasn't nearly enough to change his mind.
"No."
She threw up her hands in frustration then stomped out of the room in a rage, slamming the door behind her so hard he always thought it was going to fall right off the hinges. But it didn't matter much as the man on the bed next to him didn't even stir, and Felix went back to what people had began calling 'sulking in the dark'. He had said he wasn't going to leave until Alex woke up and anything short of a worldwide apocalypse was not going to move him from this spot.
The fallen Mercury adept wasn't the only reason he refused to leave, surprisingly enough. It was spring again in Vault, and every time Felix tried to venture outside it was suffocating. Sure, as earth was his element he was used to the sensation of knowing when plants where in bloom and when the ground was thawing out- This was so much more intense than any of those barely there sensations. It was a sensory overload last time he stepped outside, with everything coming at him all at once and with no way to sort it all out so it made any sense. At least in here, inside a man made home made of processed objects that where 'dead' by an organic viewpoint, his head didn't hurt so much.
And he had an excuse to stay by his side.
"Duck and cover."
"What-"
Isaac pulled Garret behind a house just in time to avoid the raging Jenna who stormed by. She was mumbling and cursing about one thing and another, kicking stones out of her path with a vengeance. The pair hid behind the brick house until they could no longer hear the temperamental Mars adept. Isaac peeked around the corner first just to make sure.
"What was that all about?"
"Beats me. Any little thing seems to set her off lately." Isaac frowned. "And I can't help but feel as if we're not done with this alchemy issue yet."
Garret groaned. "Aw, c'mon! Didn't we already do what we were supposed to?"
"We where originally told not to light the Lighthouses. Look how that turned out." Isaac sighed, looking at the giant gold orb that hung in the sky where Mount Aleph used to be. "I just hope we can handle this.
/AN:
Hey guys! Guess what? Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is coming out for the DS at Christmas! I'm so excited! 8D
…I think I know where I'm going with all of this. O.o Maybe. We'll see. I'm also working on a huuuuuuge fic for the Black Jack anime fandom, and I kinda want to finish my Cyborg 009 one that's been dragging on for decades. ::shrugs:: Something will get done eventually.
I want to thank Osprey Eamon for the amazing review. I'm glad someone agrees on me with the Alex sentiment. It's really depressing that people set him up as the unforgivably evil bad guy in their fics. I mean, I see the torture warning on some of them! That really bothers me… I'm replaying through both games now and I still can't find anything supporting that view point. ::sigh:: I'll keep my eye out for anything I might have missed though. I might also just have to use some of your suggestions! (I lol'd so bad at evil undead Babi. XD )
And thank you Phantom Thief Zel for reviewing as well! 8D I'm totally with you there! I did happen upon the Felix and Piers community here on FF today and I was surprised to find more fanbase than I thought had existed. Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble finding Alex and Felix, so I feel like I'll be writing more of them in the future. XD I have this attraction to characters that have the potential for good but do so many bad, bad things. :3
Thanks for reading! ::heart::
