Disclaimer: I do not assume to own any of the characters, ideas or situations in this fic, including this chapter and all of the following chapters.
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"Mia?" Isaac asked after a while.
"Hmm?"
"Ever since the Bilibin Barricade... You seemed quieter than usual."
Looking over his shoulder, he saw her staring straight into the fire. He was about to bring it up again when she finally spoke, "It's... nothing really. It's just that I had been in those woods before."
"When?" Isaac asked, truly interested.
"When I was younger," Mia said softly, her voice clearly asking him not to continue on.
A blue-haired girl skipped through the forest south of her hometown. Her teacher had let her venture out to search for several healing herbs in the Kolima Forest, but instructing her to get out by sunset. Looking up through the branches, Mia's eyes widened when she saw that deep red and orange hues had already lit up the sky, 'I have to hurry! Teacher said that monsters come out at night!'
Mia had been taught to be a healer and how to use her psynergy at a young age, but she had only learned how to cast one offensive attack, frost. Unfortunately, that attack was not very powerful, but then again, she had never needed to learn how to attack.
Looking around, Mia decided the best way out would be to backtrack her way as best as she could. Turning around, she began to walk quickly through the trees. Snap! Turning around, Mia searched for the source of the noise, but saw nothing. Getting nervous, she doubled her pace, continuing onward towards what she hoped was the way out.
'There!' Mia smiled as she saw the path open up and lead outside of the forest. Taking a step forward, she was suddenly ambushed by two rat warriors.
Mia slowly stepped back as they advanced on her before she quickly turned and ran through the trees to reach the tree line. Looking behind her quickly, she managed to concentrate, "F-Frost!" the weak spell caught one warrior's feet in ice, but the other rat continued after her. 'Almost there...' Just as Mia reached the tree line, the other rat warrior managed to catch up to her and knocked her to the ground with its spear.
As Mia struggled to get up, the warrior bashed her with the spear, knocking her down again. They were not the strongest creatures, but they were still more powerful than she was. As she struggled up again, the other warrior reached them and together, the two beasts began to hit her with their spears, the attacks causing the girl to cry out in pain.
"Ice Missile!" Mia heard the familiar voice of her teacher call out. Soon after, the rat warriors were skewered by enormous ice shards that rained down from above. Mia looked up at her teacher as he approached and smiled at her before darkness overcame her.
Right after the Strom Lizard died, Mia had rushed to Isaac and managed to get him out from under the lizard with Iodem's help. While Mia began to heal Isaac, Iodem used the herbs, nuts and other healing items to patch up Garet and Ivan. After tapping out on her healing psynergy and djinn's power, Mia was in tears. She saw that the other two would be okay, but Isaac, the one who risked his life to save her, was still badly injured, and she could not heal him.
Standing up slowly from where she knelt in front of Isaac, Mia looked up at the sun, steeling her resolve. 'Mercury I beg of you, for all that I am worth, please let Isaac last the night...'
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Chapter Nine – Reoccurring Nightmare
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Closing her eyes, Mia focused what little power she had regained to probe Isaac. 'He's still bleeding internally, but he doesn't seem any worse than before,' Mia thought with relief, 'Thank Sol...'
Iodem poked his head in shortly after, "I just finished setting up the other tents. The others seem okay, how is Isaac?"
Mia offered him a small smile, "No change, but after having moved him, that is a good thing."
Iodem nodded, "Then I shall interrupt you no further. I will speak with you tomorrow before I set off to search for Lalivero."
"Alright," Mia agreed before again turning her attention to Isaac's labored breathing, hating that she could do nothing other than wait.
Mia awoke with a start at the sounds of birds calling in the early morning. Unlike most mornings however, the sound brought no comfort as she immediately berated herself for falling asleep as she checked up on Isaac's condition again. Mia frowned as she noticed no improvement, however. Concentrating, she felt that some of her power had returned over the night, 'I should have enough energy to cast ply once in case I need it,' she thought, hearing someone open the tent flap behind her.
"Garet and Ivan are awake, but they are still bedridden. How is he doing?" Iodem asked from outside.
"He's still the same..." Mia said, turning to Iodem, "Are you going to scout out Lalivero still?"
"I'm leaving just now, I just wanted to stop in and let you know how the others are," Iodem said, "Goodbye."
"Good luck," Mia said with a smile as she again turned to look over Isaac.
Mia frowned as she ran back to her and Isaac's tent. It had started raining when she went to check up on Garet and Ivan and was raining even harder now. Garet and Ivan had assured Mia before she left that they were both okay and could take care of themselves so she could watch over Isaac without worry. Closing the tent flap, Mia returned to her watch over the blonde Venus adept. Closing her eyes, she silently enjoyed the sound of the rain falling on the tent.
"M-Mia..?" A hoarse voice whispered, startling the girl.
"Isaac? How are you?" Mia asked once she recovered.
"I ach," Isaac admitted, looking up at the healer.
"Can I get you anything?"
Isaac shook his head a little, "What happened? The last thing I remember was attacking the Storm Lizard..."
"Oh Isaac... It attacked you and knocked you down. After that it turned on me, but the poison finally got to it and it collapsed..." Mia's throat constricted at the thought but Isaac understood.
"Why do I feel so weak?" Isaac asked, barely able to move his body.
"You are bleeding internally... I don't know how badly though. I tried to heal you fully with ply, but I couldn't yesterday and today I only have enough energy to heal you once... I don't want to do that unless there's an emergency thou-" Mia cut off as her eyes again filled with tears, "Isaac, I'm so sorry... It's my fault that you are injured in the first place..." she bowed her head in shame, unable to see the shocked expression on Isaac's face.
Despite the pain, Isaac reached up and raised Mia's head to look at him, "Mia, I chose to wield the cursed axe. I chose to use it to fight the Storm Lizard, despite the risks. Mia... knowing that you are unharmed and well now because of what I chose to do, I have no regrets." Isaac looked deeply into Mia's shimmering depths and wiped a tear from her eye. Feeling his hold on consciousness again fading, he lowered his hand, "Don't worry so much about me; take care of Garet and Ivan." With that, Isaac's eyes again closed and darkness overcame him.
"Isaac?" Mia croaked out as his eyes closed. She quickly checked his pulse, only to find it non-existent. "Isaac?" Fearing the worst, Mia closed her eyes again, "Ply!" Healing energies again rushed into Isaac, but like before, he did not regain consciousness. Despite this, Mia held onto the ply as long as she could.
Isaac coughed lightly just as Mia's ply ended. Taking this as a good sign, she listened to Isaac's breathing, relived to hear it was beginning to sound normal again. With that, Mia laid down in her bed, 'He seems a bit better now. I hope he won't need anything for a while...' were Mia's last thoughts as she slipped into unconsciousness alongside Isaac.
Mia awoke with a start what seemed like an hour later. Looking around, she tried to find what cause her to wake up. From behind her, she heard two sets of heavy footsteps steadily getting louder. Just as Mia readied her Angelic Ankh for battle, the side of their tent was split open by a wooden club, causing Mia to cry out in surprise. Raising her staff, she charged out, managing to surprise the monsters enough that they took a few steps back. Now outside in the rain, however, Mia began to feel cold, 'I must stay strong for the others, Mercury help me...'
The two adversaries turned, revealing themselves to be Kobolds. Holding her staff slightly in front of her, she waited for them to make the first move. The Kobolds ran forward and attacked, letting Mia easily dodge and hit one from behind with her staff. Turning, the Kobolds looked at each other before charging again. Mia continued her attacks, not noticing the meaning that passed between the two after every strike and when they healed each other.
Mia watched again as one of the Kobolds healed the other using a vial again, 'I need to end this, but I do not have any more psynergy... I cannot keep fighting like this, I am getting colder every minute I stay out here,' Mia thought as she shivered, the cloths plastered to her body doing little more than making her even colder. Mia crouched a bit as they began charging again, only this time when she jumped away, the Kobold she was going to hit dodged her and the other one changed course and swung his wooden club at her, knocking her down with a sickening crack.
Mia cried out at the pain coursing through her body. Straining to get herself up, she found that the Kobolds were not about to let her prepare herself that easily. After knocking her down, they began swinging their clubs at her, beating her hard enough to cause her night robes to tear.
Isaac woke up to a sickening crack, followed by a scream of pain. Recognizing it as Mia's, he quickly rolled over and crawled to the tear in the tent that he saw. He was appalled at the site that greeted him. Two Kobolds were standing above Mia while pounding her with their clubs. Anger flashed in his eyes, flaring his power to life.
In the tent next to Isaac's, Garet and Ivan also woke up to the sickening crack and scream.
"Ivan, you hear that?" Garet said quietly, still drained from the fight before.
"Yeah," Ivan replied, sounding slightly more energized, but still tired. While healing potions were just as effective as psynergy, they did not give the added effect of imbuing the injured with some of the spell's power.
Before the two could speculate as to what was going on, a sudden explosion of Venus psynergy could be felt where they assumed Isaac's and Mia's tent was. Shortly afterwards, the sun seemed to rise as the near blinding glow of Isaac's psynergy lit up the sky.
Isaac concentrated from his position on the ground, drawing up his psynergy into the shape of two swords. Raising his hand that was free of the axe, he took control of them, "RAGNAROK!" The yell got the attention of the Kobolds who stopped swinging at Mia and turned to the sound of the noise, a second before being skewered. The Kobolds shrieked out in agony as they were pierced, then thrown into the ground shortly before blowing up in a giant storm of Venus psynergy, completely vaporizing them.
Isaac quickly crawled over to Mia, his anger only intensifying at the site. Mia was curled up sobbing when Isaac finally reached her. When hw reached her, however, his anger dissipated, leaving nothing but concern for her. Concentrating again, Isaac called forth his most powerful healing spell, "Cure Well!" Isaac held his hand which burned with golden healing energy over Mia and poured his spell into the crying girl. Painfully slowly to Isaac, Mia's injuries were healed, her sobs calming down slightly as the pain lessened. After feeling that she was fully healed, Isaac took the crying girl into his arm, comforting her and helping her back towards the tent.
Garet and Ivan heard Isaac's yell followed the pained shrieks of two monsters as the two glowing swords destroyed them. Garet looked at Ivan, and while they were worried over what happened, they both knew that Isaac had it under control and so closed their eyes to return to sleep.
Mia continued to cry softly even when she was returned to the tent. While she no longer felt the pain, the memory of it still haunted her. She felt Isaac put his arm around her and hold her, the action comforting her greatly, knowing that he was there for her.
"Mia, are you okay?" Isaac whispered when she had calmed down enough. Mia nodded her head slightly, not trusting her voice yet. "Mia, we need to change clothes so we don't freeze or catch a cold," Isaac said as he felt the woman in his arms being to shiver. At the mention of clothes, Mia tensed. Though she was being beaten she still remembered feeling her clothes tearing. Looking down, she was horrified at the condition of her nightgown, only seconds before realizing the implications. Mia quickly raised an arm to cover herself, mortified at the thought of having been seen by Isaac and the Kobolds.
The first thought that came to Mia's mind after covering herself was to slap Isaac out cold, but as she turned to him, she saw that he was averting his eyes, giving her some semblance of modesty as he comforted and helped keep her warm. Mia's eyes softened as she turned back, glad that he wasn't trying to take advantage of her.
"Alright," Mia said, frowning slightly as Isaac released his hold on her.
"I'll check up on the others," Isaac said, beginning to open the tent. Really though, he only wanted to give Mia some privacy to change.
"No... It's alright, I trust you," Mia said a bit abashedly, her cheeks tinting red, "I don't want you to catch something if you go out there again." She explained when Isaac looked back at her oddly.
Isaac nodded and turned around, facing a canvas wall while focusing on drying himself off. Looking at her clothes, Mia was glad that she was not wearing her nice silk nightgown; there was barely an area without a hole. Pulling her exposing dress off, Mia quickly dried herself and put on another, thicker nightgown, immediately being relieved at the warmth it provided. Turning back to Isaac, she blushed lightly as she saw his bare back as he finished pulling on a new nightshirt.
"Isaac... Thank you," Mia said as she slipped back into her bedroll.
"For what?" Isaac asked, confused.
"For saving me."
'Why wouldn't I?' Isaac wondered, staring at the water adept as she slowly closed her eyes, "Good night, Mia."
"Good night."
Morning came with the gentle calling of birds, the rain having ended sometime during the night. Mia woke up pleasantly warm and bathed in sunlight, courtesy of the rip in the side of the tent. From outside, she could smell something cooking and she wondered if Iodem had returned yet. Finally deciding to open her eyes and get up, Mia was surprised to find Isaac's bed empty. Worried about his safety, Mia opened the tent flap only to find the object of her worries sitting in front of the fire, cooking some meat.
"'Morning," Isaac greeted, seeing her out of the corner of his eye. He was feeling even better than he had last night; he was now almost able to walk without any pain.
"Good morning," Mia returned the greeting, sitting down besides him.
Taking the skewer, Isaac pulled off some of the meat and offered it to Mia. Mia smiled graciously as she accepted the food and the two ate in silence.
Behind the two, Garet and Ivan peered out of their tent flap, spying on the couple.
"She's wearing a different robe," Ivan remarked, remembering back when she had checked up on them before the rain.
"She was outside in the rain, Ivan, of course she is!" Garet said.
"Good point... Do we know what attacked her?" Ivan asked.
"Not sure, but there were two monsters," Garet replied, recalling the two giant swords that Isaac had conjured in the sky.
"Should we stop guessing and actually ask them what happened?" Ivan asked, getting tired of not actually knowing.
"I guess, but are you sure you want to miss out on what might happen now?" Garet asked.
"Alright... But we go over before breakfast is over," Ivan said with a sigh; he did wonder if something had happened after all.
Not long after the two finished eating, Iodem returned bearing good news.
"Lalivero is very close. We pass through Venus Lighthouse on the way, so we can explore that first." Iodem told the two as Garet and Ivan walked out to join them. "So I see you all are alright. It seems that these potions are wasted now."
Mia smiled, "They seem to have recovered fully, though we can always use extra potions."
After getting Garet, Ivan and Iodem some food and explaining briefly what happened, they set off again for Venus Lighthouse and Lalivero.
"They aren't telling us something," Garet whispered to Ivan behind the group.
Ivan nodded, "Yes, but I'm not going to risk getting them angry by probing their minds. They will tell us everything later, when they are ready."
Garet grumbled, but agreed with Ivan. If they weren't ready, forcing it out of them wouldn't work.
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A/N: Meant to be a bit fluffy and to set things up later on... like possibly in two or three chapters? ^_^ As it is going, I will reach the end of the first book in 3-4 chapters, most likely the former, then things get fun. Here's where you get a say: Should I do a bit of selective Felix group moments, All of Felix's group's adventures with Isaac's group following, or skip to Jupiter Lighthouse? I can go either way, though I am opting for all of Felix's adventures with Isaac/Mia interspersed... This way we also get Jenna's side of the story. Finally, there may be some darker times up ahead as well, so keep an eye out for the next few chapters.
