CHAPTER 8

Mia awoke to the pleasant touch of Issac's hand on her cheek. "Time to get up," he whispered gently in her ear. Mia yawned as she shifted her body and snuggled up closer to Issac who was sitting in their tent with her in his arms. I would rather just stay here like this forever; Mia smiled as she opened her eyes to look at Issac. "Good morning," she managed to get out, stifling yet another yawn.

Issac smiled after seeing her awake and returned the greeting. "The others are eating breakfast right now if you'd like to join them. We have a big day ahead of us and we want to reach Prox by midday." Taking this as a cue to get going, Mia gave Issac a quick hug of thanks for waking her up and left the tent to join the others.

She grabbed her breakfast and began to eat as Issac came out of the tent and sat down by her side, launching into a discussion with the group about how to handle Prox and the lighthouse. "Remember, we killed their heroes, Saturos and Menardi, so we don't know how they'll treat us when we arrive and need to be prepared for anything." The group pondered that thought for a moment, scowling. It wasn't something any of them had thought about before. "Furthermore, we need to be careful in this last lighthouse. It's very possible that we'll run into Agatio and Karst as well." The discussion went on in this manner, with many questions, but few real answers.

At last the discussion wound to a close and with a course in mind, the Adapts packed up camp and began to head in the direction of Prox. The town greeted them better than expected, mostly due to Felix's role as a hero among them. With his word to back them up, Issac's party didn't receive anything worse than indifference from the natives. After stocking up on what provisions they could in town, the group of adapts began to head for the Mars Lighthouse and their destiny.

On the way, the weather only intensified, slowing their pace to a crawl as they navigated the snowdrifts between themselves and their goal. Frustrated, Garet called upon his psynergy and attempted to melt a path for the group to travel on, shooting a large fireball into the snow drift in front of them. "Enough of this!" he yelled out in frustration. "Wait, Garet!" Issac called out to him, but it was too late. Garet's fireball managed to melt the snow all right as was signified by the torrent of water now rushing toward the adapts, down the remainder of the snowdrift Garet had incinerated.

Thinking fast, Mia drew upon her psynergy and flash froze the flood not a second too soon, stopping the water short of touching any of them. The group breathed a collective sigh of relief and thanked Mia while Garet was busy getting chewed out by Jenna for his stupidity. Another hour of drudging through the snow followed the incident, this time without any more attempts to make the journey easier.

At last, the Mars Lighthouse came into view between the swirling winds and heavy snow, as the exhausted adepts made their way up to the entrance. They were in no condition to attempt the ascent that night and they knew it. "Looks like we'll just have to camp out here for the night," Issac said to the rest of the group, getting weary nods of agreement or mumbled responses. "Get a good night's rest so you have your strength for tomorrow," Issac continued as the group began to set up camp under an overhang that blocked most of the bad weather.

It's a bit hypocritical for me to tell them that, Issac mused as he went around helping everyone set up for the night after putting up the tent he shared with Mia. I doubt I'm going to get much sleep tonight. I'm too worried about tomorrow and what might happen. I don't want to see any of my friends hurt, he thought with a melancholy expression on his face, while walking back to his tent.

Little did he know, his misgivings were being shared at that very same moment. As he entered his tent, Issac saw Mia wrapped in a blanket, staring at the ground with tears silently running down her beautiful face. He immediately moved to her, and wrapped her in his arms. "Mia?" He asked slowly. A small sob escaped her as she turned to him and buried her face in Issac's shoulder. "Mia…" Issac said again with a sigh. Her face turned up towards his. "I'm scared Issac." Issac was taken aback by her response. The Mia he knew was never afraid. She always braved the danger right alongside everyone else and never mentioned anything about being worried.

Until now.

"Don't worry Mia, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Issac replied hesitantly as he embraced her tighter.

A sad smile eclipsed Mia's facial features at his words. "It's not myself that I'm worried about." Issac again looked into her deep cerulean eyes, hoping to find some sort of meaning there. Shaking his head, he asked her, "What is it then?"

"I don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else, but there's nothing I can do to prevent it." She managed to get out.

Giving her a small squeeze to remind her of his presence, he replied, "I'm here for you and I always will be Mia. Plus, you're a great healer. I know we have nothing to fear when you're around." Issac pulled his glove off and reached up to wipe a stray tear off her check.

It was very flattering of him to say that, but it's just not true. I'm not infallible and I can't protect him from everything that's been thrown at us so far. What if he sustains an injury I can't heal? I don't want to live without him. The thought of losing Issac hit her like a sack of bricks and she began to cry again, even as Issac pulled her back into his warm embrace. Sobs racked her body as the embrace held and she cried past her tears, "I can't stop everything…what if you die?"

Issac moved his other hand up to her hair, gently stroking it to reassure her. "I'm not going to die Mia. And even if I did, it would be my own choice and I would die to protect you. There's nothing you could do to stop me from doing that."

"No! You can't die Issac," Mia exclaimed hysterically. "I don't care what your reasons are, you can't die. You mean too much to me to die."

"Mia-" Issac started.

"I can't lose you Issac! You're everything to me. I love you…"

In an instant, Issac's body became as stiff as a board as shock coursed through his every vein. He looked as if he just took a fatal sword blow and his hand was frozen in the action of stroking her hair. Mia continued sobbing into his shoulder, not daring to look up at his face. I've done it now, she felt miserably. I just ruined the best friendship I ever had over my stupid feelings.

Issac pulled her out of his embrace for a moment, looking deep into her eyes that were glued to the ground, refusing to meet his gaze. He just held her there for a few long, agonizing moments waiting for her to look up.

Issac's hand shifted slightly in Mia's hair, prompting her to tentatively raise her head and gauge his reaction for the first time. For a split second their eyes met in a torrent of unsaid thoughts and feelings before the moment was broken and Issac pulled her back into an embrace, his lips brushing gently against her own.

Mia's eyes closed and the moment seemed to expand, as time ceased to matter. A rush of emotion engulfed her like a flood, washing away the insignificant distractions that were her failure to prevent the Mercury beacon lighting, the impending Mars Lighthouse ascent, and her friends in the tents around them, as she was for an instant the happiest she had ever been.

And then the moment ended, however a magical feeling remained in the air around the two adapts intertwined in each other's arms with broad smiles plastered to their faces, looking into each other's eyes with joy. Mia let out a small giggle for the first time since the Jupiter Lighthouse, and leaned in for another kiss, which Issac happily provided.

They felt on top of the world, and not even the looming Mars ascent could darken their mood this night. Without a second thought, Mia snuggled up close to Issac, who wrapped her in his arms as they had so many times before and drifted off to sleep. The last thing she could remember was Issac's hand gently caressing her hair as she fell asleep in his arms.

The End


I've had a good time writing this fic and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I'd like to just put a comment of my own down here about the ending: I cut it short of the final lighthouse ascent and the battle with the doom dragon because I liked the ending I had and couldn't find a way to tie in the ending of the game without ruining the mood I set between Issac and Mia throughout the piece. Maybe someday I'll release an epilogue with that ending, but the story is officially done. Comments/Feedback are definitely welcome, so review to your heart's content. I hope you enjoyed!