ME: Hello readers, I apologise for the delay in the posting of this chapter, but it did take a while for the doctors to put my spine back in after the Trogdor 'incident'. (Shudders.)

CHIBI GARET: In other words, the authoress was just too damn lazy to get this chapter finished.

ME: Tell me, Chibi Garet, do you want to die slowly and painfully?

CHIBI GARET: No.

ME: Then shut up. (Smacks Chibi Garet with her staff.) But anyway, the disclaimer!

NO, I DON'T OWN GOLDEN SUN. BUT I DO WANT TO MARRY GARET, DOES THAT COUNT FOR ANYTHING?

ME: Right, enough stalling, get on with the chapter!

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Garet sat, or rather perched, perilously on the narrow branch. Damn it, trees were just not made for Mars adepts to climb in!

Still, he didn't doubt that it was a great deal safer up here than on the ground.

"I swear, if you don't get down from that tree right now, I'll be forced to use lightning to remove you instead!" Came a sharp, angry bark from ground level.

Yes, much safer.

Peering down through the branches, he could just make out Ivan's furious face glaring up at him. Obviously, last night's little 'prank' had not been well received.

"How do we manage to get ourselves into these situations?" He asked Isaac, who was sitting on a branch above him.

The Venus adept just shrugged. "Luck?"

Garet snorted. "Yeah, this is very lucky. And totally your fault, may I add."

"I suppose I am to blame."

"You suppose?"

"Yes. Though by agreeing to participate, it's partially your fault too." Isaac looked down at him, grinning. "And you've got to admit, it was hilarious when he saw where we put the pages of his diary."

"Yeah." Garet laughed a little. "He just about popped a blood vessel!"

"Get down from there, now!" Ivan attempted to blast the entire tree into dust with Shine plasma, but was restrained by Jenna and Sheba.

"Don't even consider it, Ivan." Jenna said warningly. "You just let me deal with Garet. I know how to really hurt him."

Garet paled.

"Yeah, and I'm sure Mia will deal with Isaac. As soon as she's finished packing, that is." Sheba added, nodding.

Isaac's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and all the colour drained from his face. "Oh, Venus, no. I can't believe I forgot about that!"

"Forgot what?"

"It's Sunday today."

"Yeah, so?" Then realisation slowly spread across Garet's face. "Oh..."

"Oh no, oh, no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..." Isaac started to rock back and forth on the branch like a crazy person.

"Calm down Isaac, you're shaking the tree!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..."

"Isaac! Stop it, I'm gonna fall...whoa!" The branch the heavy-set Mars adept was sitting on gave way and he plummeted to the ground. "O-Ow..."

"Garet!" Isaac looked down. "You alright?"

"What the Hell do you think?! I just fell out of a tree! But apart from that, yeah, I'm having a great bloody time!"

"Wait there, I'm coming down." Uneasily, for climbing trees was not a habit of his, Isaac clambered down. "Damn, it's much easier to get up than down."

"Well, it wasn't for me!" Garet snapped, still lying on the ground. Suddenly, he was grabbed and pinned up against the tree by his charming fiancée.

"Now, any last words before I kill you?" She said, smiling pleasantly. But anyone who knew Jenna could tell you that it was the sugary-sweet smile of the executioner while sharpening his axe.

"Uh...I love you?"

Holding her staff at his chest, she made to hit him, but at the last moment her hand wavered and she smacked the tree angrily instead. "Dammit, you get me every time with that one!"

"Hey, why isn't there any pain happening?" Ivan asked incredulously. "Of course he loves you, he's marrying you! Why else would he want to marry you, for protection?! Although, that may be a factor now I think about it..."

"Shut up, Ivan."

"Yeah Ivan, shut up." Garet stuck his tongue out at the younger adept. "You can't get me now!"

"Oh, I never said that." Jenna released him and stepped back. "Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean I'm gonna save you from anyone else."

Sparks flew from Ivan's hands and he grinned maliciously. "You're going to get it now, Garet."

"Eep." Turning, the male Mars adept ran for his life.

"Hey! Get back here!" Ivan sprinted after him.

Isaac took this opportunity to hop down from the tree onto the ground. "Ah, that's more like it. Solid ground again. Now I can focus solely on my emotional problems." He fell to the ground and curled up into a ball. "Mia...please don't leave me..."

Garet ran past again and stopped to stand over his best friend. "You sir, are pathetic. Tell her how you feel already!"

"It's too late...too late..."

"I can do it for you, if you like."

Isaac was on his feet instantly. "You wouldn't dare!"

His friend laughed evilly. "Oh, but I would. I might just go see Mia right now..."

"You're not going anywhere!" Isaac tackled Garet and twisted his arm back.

"Ow! Get off me, you maniac!"

"Promise you'll not tell?"

"I promise nothing!"

Isaac twisted harder. "Promise, dammit! Promise me you won't tell Mia!"

"I...promise...nothing!"

A little way off, Ivan, Sheba and Jenna watched them with eyebrows raised.

Jenna shook her head and looked at the other two. "Y'know, I think it's about time we took matters into our own hands."

MWAHAHAHAHA! Later on, at Jenna and Felix's house:

Garet walked into the living room, a large purple bruise on his right forearm blooming beautifully. Everyone else had refused point-blank to heal any of his Isaac-inflicted injuries...

"Jenna! Hey, Jenna! Dammit, are you in here, woman?" He looked under the settee.

"I don't think she's under there."

Garet jumped up like someone had just poured ice on him. "Felix, don't scare me like that!"

"Why not? It's very amusing." Felix said, smirking. "Oh, and I also know that you're scared of snakes, the sky falling on your head and the wrath of my sister when she's angry."

"How the Hell do you know that?"

"I keep my ears open. Also, remember when we were younger and you cried for hours because your sister put that tiny grass snake in your bed?"

"It was huge!" Garet snapped back defensively. "And plus, I was only a kid."

"You were thirteen, Garet."

"So? I happen to know that you're afraid of ponies and daffodils."

Felix gasped. "Jenna told you, didn't she?!"

"Yup."

"Damn her! That girl couldn't keep a secret if it was hidden up her skirt!"

"Nope, I'd find it easily."

"What?!"

"Erm, forget I said that..." Garet backed away a little. "But anyway, this is all besides the point, have you even seen Jenna today?"

"No, not since she left with her 'Kill and maim Garet and Isaac party' this morning anyway. I would've went too, but I needed my morning vodka."

"Morning vodka?"

"Yes, I got into that bad habit while travelling with Saturos and Menardi. They only packed limited amounts of water, and instead carried bootleg Gondowan-style vodka. It's good stuff, y'know."

"Really? You got any in the house?"

"Of course." Felix smirked again. "Though I doubt you could handle it."

"Oh yeah? Well, we'll see about that! Bring out the alcohol, smart guy!"

Felix nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, emerging moments later with a large clear bottle, full of liquid, and two shot glasses. He set them on the table and then sat down on the settee.

"Come on then, now we'll see who can't handle it." Garet took a glass and poured some of the vodka into it. He downed it in one go, and then fought hard to actually keep it down. It was ridiculously strong.

"Oh, you're gonna regret this when you're sober." Felix said gleefully, also taking a shot.

"Shut up and pour me another."

Meanwhile, Isaac's house:

Sheba, Jenna and Ivan were all sat at the kitchen table. Mia was still upstairs packing (How long does it take?) and Isaac had disappeared, but it was thought that he was either under his bed, being generally pathetic, or dead in the river.

The latter was unlikely though, no matter how much Ivan wished for it.

"I can't believe we're actually helping Isaac after what he and Garet did to me!" He exclaimed, after watching Jenna write some ideas down and then burn them when she realised how stupid they were.

"Hey, this isn't just about Isaac. Mia deserves happiness too." The Mars adept shot back, writing something else down, and then burning it, along with the entire sheet of paper.

"Stop burning all the paper!"

"Make me!"

"Never mind..."

Jenna wrote something else, burnt it, and then stood up so suddenly that Ivan almost fell backwards off his chair. "This is useless!"

Sheba snorted. "You're telling me."

"I think we need the help and advice of someone with a history of pulling off big plans and scams."

"You mean Felix?" Sheba sat up a little straighter in her chair. Ivan noticed this from where he was sitting and scowled.

"Yeah, I mean, he'll know what to do."

"Okay then, let's go to Felix." They rose and departed, Ivan trudging slightly behind the girls.

He just didn't get it, Sheba had seen the diary pages too, but had brushed it off like nothing had happened. Just what was going on with that girl anyway?

"Ivan, hurry the Hell up!"

He gulped nervously. Jenna was scary. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Back to Felix and Garet (Like a yo-yo.):

"And another thing, y-you know those guys with the *hic* beards, who live in those big places and c-cure you from *hic* illnesses?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Do you think they can cure *hic* hiccoughs?"

"I-I don't know, but the one in La...Lalive...Lalivero didn't have a beard..."

"He *hic* didn't?"

"No, he just had a moustache."

Garet giggled stupidly. "Moustache is a *hic* f-funny word."

Felix started to giggle too. "Yeah, but you know what word's even f- funnier?"

"W-What?"

"Weevil."

"Hee hee hee, weevil...h-how do they come up with this *hic* stuff?"

"I don't know." Felix shook his head dismissively and reached for the vodka bottle, only to find it empty. "Aw, that was the last one..."

All around the drunken pair were empty bottles, all with the words 'Saturos' vodka, keep your damn hands off! This means you, Kraden.' Written in black, scrawled handwriting on the side.

Then somewhere nearby (They were too out of it to tell exactly where.) a door slammed, and three (Or possibly nine, ten, eleven...) pairs of feet could be heard walking into another room.

"Hey, there you are, Felix! We've been looking all over for...what the Hell happened here?" Jenna, Ivan and Sheba walked into the living room.

"F-Felix, what the Hell happened here? Jenna wants to know." Garet asked the older man, who was slumped on the settee next to him.

"I-I don't know. Maybe a, a...dragon! Yeah, a dragon...came and blew some stuff up, o-or something..."

"Are you guys drunk?!" Jenna looked horrified.

"F-Felix, are we drunk?"

"Well, I don't know about you, Garet my good man, but I'm absolutely hammered!"

"Then that's the answer." Garet turned to face his now fuming fiancée. "Yes, my dear Jenna, we're positively wasted!"

"I can't believe you guys! How could you?!"

"W-Well, it was fairly easy. All we had to do was get the vodka, pour in into a glass and then..."

"Shut up, Felix! I'm going to kill you both!"

"Why Jenna? Don't you love me anymore?" Garet's lower lip quivered, and he burst into tears. "You don't love me!"

Felix hugged him. "Don't cry, Garet, I'm sure Jenna will come around. And if not, she doesn't deserve you!"

Jenna's jaw just about hit the floor in shock. I mean, not only was Garet crying like a baby, but Felix was actually being nice to him!

Talk about weird...

"Felix, let go of Garet before I break your arms. Garet, yes I do still love you, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to kick your arse for getting drunk."

Garet wiped his tears on his shirt. "Y-You do?"

Jenna sighed. "Yes, unfortunately."

He jumped off the chair and engulfed her in a huge bearhug. "Yay! Jenna loves me!"

"Urgh, get off me. You smell like your Dad!" Jenna pushed him back down onto the settee.

Garet sniffed his shirt. "Hey, I do smell like Dad! Damn, and he always tells Mother that it's his new cologne..."

"Well then your mother's a gullible fool." Ivan snapped, annoyed at the current situation and how it was putting all their plans to a halt.

"Oy! Don't you say that a-about my Mum! I'll fight you, I will." The drunken adept jumped to his feet again, but lost his balance and fell over. "I'll...erm, I'll fight you in minute, once I get up."

"I don't think you're in any state to be doing anything. But unfortunately we need your help." Sheba took a seat on the edge of the table, careful not to sit on any of the empty bottles. "You guys know about Isaac and Mia's current 'situation', right?"

"Of course we do. Me and I-Isaac have been making plans to get Mia to stay in Vale all *hic* week. Hey, my *hic* hiccoughs are back!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, along with some *hic* other stuff too. Y'see it all started when me and Isaac made a *hic* deal, saying I'd help him find a w-way to make Mia stay in *hic* Vale if he *hic* helped me find a way to ask J-Jenna to marry me." Garet grinned drunkenly from where he was still lying on the floor. "Of course, neither of us got any of our *hic* plans in motion, seeing as we're both useless *hic* prats..." He giggled. "Prat is a funny *hic* word."

"Y-Yeah, so is weevil!"

"Quiet you. I'm not *hic* finished..."

"Oh but you are, you need to go to bed now, Garet. Sleep off the effects of the alcohol and all that guff." Jenna held him roughly by his shoulders and helped him to his feet. "Come on, you can sleep in my bed."

"That's not *hic* unusual."

"Shut up, Garet." They walked out. Or rather, Jenna helped Garet walk out, seeing as he seemed to be having major difficulty standing up in general.

This left Ivan and Sheba alone with an extremely inebriated Felix.

"Do you guys think that weevil is a f-funny word too?"

Safe to say, they weren't gonna get much planning done.

Tum tee tum, back to Isaac's house again:

Mia hummed a merry little tune to herself as she packed her bags. Garet had tried to teach her to whistle once, but it was one of those things she just couldn't seem to master, like climbing trees.

Or figuring out the workings of the male mind.

And, for all you less observant people, it was fairly obvious that our dear, cowardly friend Isaac was also a member of that particular species of being that Mia wondered about so much. At first, she'd found it notoriously difficult to notice the little things about guys that knowledgeable woman tell you to look out for. Like being able to tell whether they're looking at your face or your...yeah, well you know what I'm talking about.

But it was when Mia became friends with Jenna that these 'little things' became far obvious. The female Mars adept prided herself on being an expert on men, and all their workings, though she had admitted that she couldn't for the life of her figure Garet...but that's another story for another time.

And it appeared that Mia's time in Vale had run out.

Picking up her staff, she slung one bag over her shoulder and held the other one tight in her left hand.

"Oh, Mia dear, you're leaving so soon?" Dora stuck her head in the door and smiled at her. "I thought you were going to stay a little bit longer at least."

"I wish I could, ma'am. But the people of Imil need me."

"You're such a sweet girl. But I thought perhaps you were going to stay here for good, with Isaac."

Mia smiled faintly. "Me and Isaac are just friends. I'm sure he's told you this before."

"Yes well, I thought maybe he'd see sense in time." Dora shook her head disapprovingly, before departing.

Mia followed her to the door and watched the older woman walk down the stairs. She knew what Isaac's mother had been hinting at. But unfortunately, it didn't look like it was going to happen.

And so, with a heavy heart, Mia picked up her bag once more and walked down the stairs for what looked like the last time.

'You've had your chance, Isaac."

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ME: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sunday's a two-parter! Aren't I just evil?!

CHIBI GARET: Ooh, they're gonna murder you for this one, Dragon.

ME: Yeah well, it looked like this chapter was going to be too long, so I've split it. (Hides from pitchfork-wielding reviews.) Please don't hurt me! I'll get up the last bit as soon as I can, I swear! Waaaaah! (Runs like Hell.)

CHIBI JENNA: Review!