Such great reviews! I didn't think anyone would want to read another silly GS romance, but I guess I was wrong. Thanks so much for all the great feedback!
Disclaimer (in a sing-song voice): I love Camelot 'cause they made this great game, and I wouldn't dare steal it because I want them to make many, many, more!!
*Chapter 7*
"It's getting really late," said Sheba. "Where could they be?"
The sun's last rays faded as night enveloped the land. Garet, Jenna, Ivan and Sheba had all gathered on the beach near the ship, waiting for Isaac and hopefully Mia as well. But so far there was no sign of either of them, and the others were starting to worry.
"They'll be here," Garet said with more certainty than he felt. "It probably took them awhile to hash everything out and they lost track of the time."
Jenna frowned. "I knew this was a bad idea. We should've let Mia go and stayed together when we explored."
Ivan gave her a nasty glare. "You have no one to blame for this but yourself. If you hadn't chased Mia away, we would've stayed together!"
"Ivan!" Sheba cried. "You can't!"
"Hey, I didn't make any promises to Mia," Ivan said. He looked back to Jenna. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
"What are you talking about?" Garet asked.
"Why don't you ask Jenna?" Ivan implored. "She knows perfectly well what I'm talking about."
"Don't look at me!" Jenna said nervously.
Sheba crossed her arms and sighed, resigned to the fact that this couldn't remain a secret any longer. This wouldn't end well. "It's a long story, Garet, and I don't think you're going to like a word of it."
"How come I am always the last to know about these things?!" Garet demanded. "Come clean right now before I get really mad!"
"Go ahead and tell him, Jenna," said Ivan. "Tell him how you hounded poor Mia until she was so hurt and broken that she left. Tell him how you called her a pathetic, cowardly home wrecker and an unworthy thief of hearts. Tell him how ever since you joined our crew you've been out to destroy her relationship with Isaac!"
There was a long, uncomfortable pause. The two Jupiter Adepts stared at Jenna with focused eyes, but Garet was visibly confused. Jenna wouldn't do all of that, would she? Why would she want to anyway? Surely she could tell how much Isaac and Mia loved each other.
"Say something, Jenna," Garet said. "Tell me that you didn't do anything like that!"
"He...he's exaggerating," said Jenna uneasily. "I did say some things to Mia, but I never intended for her to leave."
"Liar!" Sheba cried. "Take responsibility for it!"
Ivan outstretched a hand. "The only way you'll ever know the full truth is to look into Jenna's memory. Allow me to show you."
"Right." Garet took Ivan's hand and was able to peer into Jenna's memory with Mind Read. Neither Ivan nor Sheba had exaggerated at all. Jenna shrank a bit when she saw the way Garet was looking at her. She had always thought she was immune to his anger since they were so close, but now his eyes burned with the full fury of the flames he commanded.
"So the force Ivan predicted was none other than you," Garet said all too calmly. "Tell me, Jenna--at what point did it seem like a good idea to break Isaac's heart?"
"That wasn't my intention," Jenna said meekly.
"Oh really? Then why on Angara did you say such awful things to Mia? Didn't we all tell you that he loved her? Or did that just not get through that hard head of yours?"
"I...I was trying to look out for him. Isaac's always been such a good friend to me and I didn't want him with someone who wasn't worthy of his love. I'm allowed to protect him as a friend, aren't I?"
"Friends don't do what you did!" Garet roared. "Admit it, Jenna! You were just jealous of Mia!"
Jenna felt her own blood boiling in angst. "All right, so I was jealous--jealous of all the time they were spending together, jealous of the way Isaac looked at her, and jealous of how she was pulling him away from me! Don't you remember the way things were back home? The three of us used to be inseparable! And it felt like I was losing Isaac's friendship because of his new infatuation with Mia. I don't know why I said all those things to her. I only know that I love Isaac too much to have him taken away from me!"
"That's not love, Jenna," said Sheba. "That's selfishness."
"Surely you couldn't have truly believed that Isaac would forget all about you just because he fell in love with Mia," Ivan added. "He's not that kind of person."
"I know, I know!" Jenna exclaimed. "I don't know what I was thinking--I just didn't want to lose him!" Her eyes watered as she began to realize the severity of her deeds. "What have I done?"
Garet, still quite enraged, blasted one of the nearby rocks, reducing it to rubble. He turned and looked right into Jenna's eyes. "I hope you're happy with what you've done. Because of you, Isaac's missing. If he's been harmed in any way, I'll never, ever forgive you!"
"It wasn't supposed to be like this!" Jenna cried. "Please, you have to believe me--I didn't want it to be like this!" She broke down into sobs as she finally admitted to herself that she had been wrong to try and separate Isaac and Mia. And now Isaac, the one she'd wanted to protect and keep close, was missing. Full darkness had settled over them and only a small crescent moon illuminated the sky.
"We have to go look for him," Garet said, getting his temper under control again. "Only this time, we stick together."
"Yes," said Ivan, nodding. "I saw him going west, so let's see if we can find his trail."
So the four of them set out in search of their missing leader. Jenna lingered behind everyone, knowing that they were all still angry with her. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have gone anywhere near Mia. How could she have let her fear and jealousy blind her to the obvious truth? Mia herself had told her many times to look into Isaac's eyes and see how much he loved her. But Jenna hadn't looked--she hadn't wanted to accept it. And now I may have lost him for good, she thought. Even if we do find him, he may never trust me again after this, and Garet probably won't either. My best friends in the world--how could I betray them like this? Mia wasn't the unworthy one after all.
After a few hours, the group came to a small forest clearing where there was evidence of a struggle. Chunks of stone were scattered about and the ground was quite soggy, as if a massive gush of water had flooded through.
"Water and earth powers…" Sheba trailed. "They were both here."
"Perhaps," Ivan said a bit more skeptically. He sloshed through the mud and picked up one of the stones. "These are from Isaac's Stone Spire attack for sure, but Mia's Douse attack never creates this much water. I have a feeling that Isaac may have found a different Mercury Adept instead."
"You mean Alex?" Garet asked.
Ivan nodded. "These trees are missing some of their lower branches too, as if they were hit with Psynergy." He looked to Jenna. "Did Felix tell you any of his plans?"
"Not really," Jenna replied softly. "He said that he was unsure of where the remaining Lighthouses were, and that he'd have to do some exploring to find them. But other than that, he wouldn't discuss his plans."
"I remember him saying something about the Jupiter Lighthouse being next," Sheba added. "If he and Alex are here, than we might be in Hesperia."
Garet looked concerned and agitated at the same time. "Those jerks! I hope that Isaac gave them a run for their money!"
"This day keeps getting worse," Ivan sighed. "First Mia leaves, then Isaac turns up missing, and now it looks like he may have bumped into our enemies by himself. This doesn't look good at all."
"Ivan, you don't think that he's…" Sheba trailed.
"Don't even think it!" Garet exclaimed. "Isaac's out there somewhere and we're going to find him. I don't care if an army of Fenrirs tramped through here--he's alive!"
"Of course," Ivan said with a forced grin of optimism. But he could tell that Garet was probably more worried than any of them.
Jenna peered through some of the bushes and found a steep bank with a briar patch at its bottom. She carefully took a few steps down the bank to get a closer look and noticed a piece of yellow cloth stuck in the thorns. "Hey guys, come look at this."
The others followed her voice to the spot. "Watch yourself, Jenna," said Sheba. "That bank looks slippery."
"There's something trapped in the thorns," Jenna said, inching down the bank. She got close enough to reach the stray scrap and yanked it free from the nettles.
"What is it?" Garet asked.
"It's a piece of Isaac's scarf," Jenna said quietly, clutching it tightly. "I'm sure of it."
"What?!" the others cried in surprise. They carefully followed Jenna down the bank to see for themselves. Garet snatched away the scrap to see it first hand, but he'd have recognized the yellow material anywhere.
"There are more scraps here too," Ivan said, reaching for a blue-colored piece. "This looks like it came from Mia's robe. I'll bet they fell down this embankment during a fight with Felix and Alex."
Sheba winced. "And they landed in those briars? Ouch!"
"And I'll bet that they used the opportunity to escape," said Jenna. "Do you think they're still hiding from my brother?"
"We'll keep looking," Garet said. "With any luck, they're together someplace safe and Felix is far away from here. Let's go."
With that, the Adepts cautiously traveled through the briars and continued deeper into the woods.
----------------------------------------------------
Ack! Another short one, but I hope it was at least halfway decent. I told you that Jenna might redeem herself (although she still has some apologizing to do…)! So where'd Isaac go anyway? And what about Mia and her captors? Well, these are more things that must be revealed with time, so be patient while I work on chapter 8. Later! ^_^