Jupiter Adept

By: Avaria

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I hit a writer's block the size of the Great Wall of China. But I think I've managed to knock it down. So here we go!

Chapter Five: Darkness

            "You're thinking about Squall again," Gust observed as they made their way towards Goma Cave. Ivan sighed with a resigned nod. "What, did you hit your head or something?! She didn't die or anything! You don't remember?"

            "I guess he doesn't," Torrent mused, jumping from Picard's shoulder to the top of his head. "Ivan, you don't remember Jupiter Lighthouse?"

            "I try not to, actually," Ivan said, mind wandering back to the fiasco Jupiter Lighthouse had been. "All that power kind of made me sick. It was a bit too much."

            "Imagine how Mia felt," Picard said with a laugh. "All that Jupiter Psynergy…nightmarish, really."

            "Nightmarish, huh? I remember fighting Nightmares in Venus Lighthouse. One of those things took me out with one swipe. And they were tall. Hugely tall."

            "Ivan, I've seen Nightmares. I'm the same height as one of them. So's Garet…almost."

            "It would follow, then," said a voice from behind them, "that Picard is also 'hugely tall'." Ivan and Picard whirled, and Gust laughed to herself. She knew that voice anywhere. It was an odd coincidence, happening right at this moment, but Gust chose to take it as good luck.

            "A Jupiter Djinni?" Picard asked aloud.

            "Obviously," said the owner of the voice. "And a rather annoyed one, right now. Talking about me behind my back, Gust? You of all Djinn…"

            "You're not!" Ivan cried, and the Djinni looked puzzled.

            "Not what? A Jupiter Djinni? I most certainly am. Annoyed? Most definitely, though it's wearing off. Hugely tall? Well obviously not, then."

            "Squall?" Ivan whispered, blinking several times as though in amazement, but really to hold back the tears that threatened him. He hadn't seen Squall in ages, and had truly forgotten that day at Jupiter Lighthouse.

            "Well who else would I be?" Squall asked, fighting to hide the excitement and impending outburst that edged into her voice. Slowly and with a great deal of show, Squall dissolved into swirling winds that floated above Ivan's head, then disappeared. In seconds, she reappeared on Ivan's head.

            "What is it with Djinn and peoples' heads?" Picard asked rhetorically, and the Djinn laughed.

            "I think it started with Flint and Isaac, actually," Ivan thought aloud as they continued walking. "Isaac would get so…annoyed, when they sat on his head and messed up his hair. And then there was Garet. After his hair grew back, the Djinn would get lost in the mop! I think we actually did lose Ember in there once, for a day or so."

            "Ember was always one for getting lost," Gust reflected. "Never could quite get the distinction of left and right, or up and down."

            "She could so, she just wasn't all to good at getting out of what she'd gotten into."

            "Mars Djinn are even worse than Jupiter Djinn," Torrent remarked, a smirk in her voice though Gust and Ivan couldn't see her face. Gust took the moment to stick her tongue out at Torrent.

~^~^~^~

            "Goma Cave," Ivan whispered as they felt the cool breeze come from inside. "Good times."

            "I take it that was blatant sarcasm," Picard said in an equally cynical tone.

            "You take it correctly."

            "All these rocks and dirt," Gust muttered, shuddering as they passed under the initial archway and into the cavern. "Not to my liking, really."

            "Do I need to remind you that I found you underground, Gust?" Ivan asked, the Venus element making him just as testy as it had the last time he'd been in a great cave like this one.

            "I was put there! It wasn't exactly my location of choice, you know."

            "Come on, Ivan," Picard said, fighting to control his laughter at the way the Jupiter Adept was affected by the great presence of stones and dirt. "The faster we go, the sooner we leave."

            "I really don't mind it," Torrent remarked. "There are rivers in here. Fast ones," she added as they hopped across one to the opposite shore. "Rapids are always the best."

            "Are they?" Picard muttered. "Rapids. I remember rapids. They took a certain Djinni and her partner down a VERY high waterfall, did they not?"

            "Don't go there," Torrent said darkly. "As much fun as it was for me, I can't imagine it was much fun for the other Djinn."

            "Water wouldn't be so bad for a Jupiter Djinni," Gust said, flitting to Picard's head and looking down at Torrent, who was on Picard's shoulder. "After all, Mercury's weak to Jupiter."

            "Don't remind me," Picard said, shaking his head dismally. "That's how I ended up with YOU for a Djinni for a while, Gust."

            "She bullied you into it?" Squall and Ivan asked at the same time. Picard nodded, the action shaking Gust off his head. She flashed out and did not reappear.

            "That one got her," Torrent remarked, fighting the smug arrogance that wanted to overtake her voice.

~^~^~^~

            "How many stairs, Picard? HOW MANY STAIRS?!" Ivan cried, looking to the high ceiling of the cave with a 'why me?' gesture.

            "It's not that terrible, Ivan. Calm down!" Picard said with a laugh. "We've got to cross that bridge and then we're almost out. You know if it were lighter I'd be able to see whatever it was that Troll did to you, but it's dark in here."

            "Hmm, really? Never knew it was dark in caves," Ivan spat. He didn't know what had happened to him either, but it had involved a Troll's axe and a terrible pain across the back of his shoulder.

            "The bridge has grown old," Torrent remarked as they came to it. It was wooden, held together by ropes, but the constant spray of the rushing river had brought on rot and decay. This was nearly impossible to notice in the dark, however, and even Ivan's sharp vision picked up only the slightest traces of rot.

            "Avoid the center of the three logs in the middle," he cautioned as he slowly stepped onto the bridge. "They're almost rotten through."

            "The three logs in the middle, he says," Picard grumbled. "What's he want me to do, count until I hit the middle? I can't even see half the logs…oh, Mercury help me, I'm babbling."

            "It's good for you," Ivan remarked. He was past the rotted logs, and turned around backwards to make talking easier. "You know, one time I told Garet that walking backwards was bad for his health. Almost right after that he—" There was the sound of splintering wood, and a splash in the water below.

            "He what?" Picard asked, mind intent on not stepping on a rotted log. "What did he do, Ivan? Ivan?" Picard looked up, suddenly aware that his friend was not on the bridge with him. Looking through a hole in the bridge, he saw the swift river below him and the flash of purple that was quickly rushing away.

            "Ivan no!" Picard yelled, and without a second thought dove in after him.

            Ivan saw Picard jump right before he was taken under. He'd tried to cry out, but the water was moving too fast and he ended up with a mouth full of water. His head broke the surface again, and he searched for any way to stop himself from being carried completely away.

            The water was cold, he realized, as he tried to feel for handholds with numb fingers. The temperature of the water mattered for a very short time, however, as Ivan, being pulled backwards by the current, slammed headfirst into a rock and, world darkening, went under.

~^~^~^~

Avaria: I don't know, should I stop here? I mean, this would make for a very suspenseful chapter, albeit short…and I'm not sure I know how to continue…

Norli: But I have to know the end! And Vil will have your head if you leave it here, and so will Jupiter Girl and Feonyx and anyone else who's been reading this!

Avaria: Alright, alright, fine…

~^~^~^~

            Ivan came to slowly, instinctively keeping his eyes closed until he figured out where he was. He searched his memory for what in the world had happened to him, and groaned as he remembered the river and his own stupidity.

            His eyes flew open as another memory came to him. Picard had jumped into the water too! Gasping, Ivan sat up and instantly regretted it as dizziness and pain flooded his head. He felt hands pushing him back down and a calm blue light filled his mind.

            Picard sighed as Ivan dropped back to sleep. That water had been cold! His shirt was spread out on a rock, but with the sun setting he doubted it would dry very fast. And the night, despite it being the height of summer, promised to be a cold one.

            "Clouds are gathering southwest of here," Gust reported as she landed by the fire Picard had built. "How's Ivan?"

            "Alive," Squall muttered, shivering. "That's about all I'm worried for. I really don't want to go through the whole 'death' thing again."

            "You didn't die the first time," Torrent remarked.

            "Shut up Mercury Djinni."

            "Give me a good reason."

            "All of you!" Picard shouted suddenly, and the three Djinn snapped to attention faster than Picard's eyes could follow. "Why in the name of Boreas are you arguing every minute of every day?!"

            "I can't answer for every day," Torrent said thoughtfully, "but as for right now, it's because we know what both of you are thinking. That is, I'm worried and irritable because you are—"

            "I'm not irritable!"

            "—and Gust and Squall are, well, whatever Ivan feels like right now is how they feel too. You knew that, Picard."

            "It almost makes me miss Zap," Gust muttered to Squall, who nodded her agreement. "He was stuffy and wise-guy-like, but he was at least a Jupiter Djinni."

            Picard shook his head and vowed to himself for what felt like the millionth time not to get involved in Djinn arguments anymore. Sighing and sitting down, Picard stared at the darkening sky, watching as the first stars appeared.

            The river's current had thrown him into the same rocks as Ivan, only he hadn't hit head-on. He'd found Ivan virtually smashed on a rock, and had figured that the Jupiter Adept had been thrown there by something.

            His brain now well into the thought process, Picard added into this the toll of whatever that Troll had done to Ivan, almost slapped himself in the forehead for not thinking of it sooner, then realized he'd probably covered that and then some with the amount of Psynergy he'd had to use. He felt drained. And it was getting colder. Sighing, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

            "Picard? Picard?!" Torrent's voice cried, and Picard started awake. I must have dozed off, he thought as he glimpsed the first rays of the rising sun.

            "He woke up," Ivan commented. Picard realized that a blanket had been thrown over him at some point. "Alright, Mercury Adept, since when do you take a nap in the middle of a freezing night with no shirt on?"

            "Since I ran out of Psynergy healing you," Picard shot back, grabbing his shirt and pulling it on. "Which obviously worked."

            "Bilibin," Gust said. "Now."

            "Why?" Squall asked, her mood much brighter after a night of actual sleep.

            "I just…have a bad feeling."

            "That line may become famous someday, the way you always say it," Ivan commented as he grabbed his bag and the Luna Staff, which he imagined he must have held on to throughout the entire rapid experience.

            "Oh shut up."

            "She says that a lot, too," Torrent said, flashing out immediately afterwards, leaving Picard and Ivan, now headed towards Bilibin, nearly doubled over in laughter.

~^~^~^~

            Sheba stood on the bridge that led from Kalay to Vault, a piece of paper clutched in one hand. That paper had made up her mind more than any ideas would have.

            Salen and Rilion stood behind her, knowing the nature of the note but not the exact words it contained. They knew they were off to find Ivan, and that he had gone to Lama Temple. They also knew that the Lamakan Desert entrance was blocked.

            "The long way," Salen muttered darkly. "Rilion and I could have just moved the rocks out of the way, but no…"

            Without a word, Sheba began walking again. Dark storms were brewing, she knew, of more than one kind.

~^~^~^~

Avaria: the end, before Vilya kills me!