Dawn and Twilight
A/N: This is the sort of companion story to Sunlight and Shade. Obviously, you didn't have to read that one in order for this one to make sense. It'd still be nice if ya did, of course. But you'll get this one without reading SS. And, for you SS readers, some holes will be filled in.
Disclaimer: Well…there will be some upcoming things that I own. I do own the Apojiian boat here…and the sludge bit…ok, that's enough. You all know Golden Sun isn't mine.
Chapter One: Apojiian Catastrophe
"Picard, I thought…I thought you were banished from Lemuria," Ivan said, glancing at the Lemurian and pausing in his current endeavor, attempting to polish the scratches from the wooden table. Not happening, said a voice in his head. Probably Smog, he mused.
"So did I. Apparently Conservato was…overruled in that matter," Picard said with a grin. Of course, the only thing that saw his grin was the cloudless blue sky. For some reason, that sky was leaving Ivan with an ominous feeling these days, but for Picard it was nearing the level of a fixation.
"Good for you, bad for us. I don't know that Garet could handle another trip through the Sea of Time," Jenna said, smiling. Her job, along with Garet, Felix and Sheba, was a form of inventory. This wasn't Picard's ship, after all. First off, it had both Psynergy-propulsion and a set of sails.
This included a mast. It had been a ship docked at Apojii and left there, and the owner had made it quite clear that it was useless on windy days. "Non-Adept owner," Isaac had said, and with a bit of planning had managed to get the people of Apojii to loan Picard the ship for the trip he'd be taking to Lemuria.
He had originally wanted to use his own ship, but the waters of the Sea of Time had grown quite dangerous, even for as good a sailor as Picard. He didn't like to admit that, but it was true. He'd likely not come back to Apojii anytime soon if the boat wrecked, but at least it wouldn't be his boat.
Of course, the moment he'd said that he had been asked to go to Lemuria, there had been a chorus of, "I'm going."
"No, you are not. The very reason they are so angry with me is because I brought outsiders inside." Picard had been very clear on this point.
"Well you can't think we'd let you go alone," Jenna countered. Felix had sighed in impending exasperation.
"They way you two argue, you'd think it was fun," Garet had said. This had incurred Jenna's wrath for a few moments, and Garet had promptly exited the conversation. Jenna was probably the one person that truly scared him. Not that his sister didn't come close.
Then there had been the whole business with Kraden, who had come to Apojii and insisted on inspecting every inch of the ship. It was his fault they were cleaning like this.
Sheba was currently up as high as she could get on the mast, checking the ropes that held the sail. It would be easier, said Whorl's voice, to just balance on the wind for this.
"I don't like to use up Psynergy when I can just do it the normal way," Sheba muttered, reaching for the next rope. "That way I'm ready in case I need it."
"Talking to yourself again, Sheba?" asked Felix from below.
"I want to know how you heard me," Sheba retorted, both answering the question and giving no direct answer at all.
"That's a good question," Felix remarked quietly.
"Hurry up, you three," Kraden said, coming onto the ship via the gangplank. Sheba had found herself using many more nautical terms than she'd ever expected, even with the unreliable ability to see the future. Five months ago, she hadn't even known what a mainsail was. Not that she was getting that right anyway.
She also thought, for a moment, that Kraden had miscounted. It was only Felix and she…Sheba happened to glance down at that moment and glimpsed Isaac, scrubbing furiously at the deck at the bow of the ship. There's another one, Sheba thought. The bow. The stern. Port, starboard…keel, right? She didn't bother questioning why she was reciting those in her head. As much as she was a Jupiter Adept, she was not fond of extreme height.
Well, really, height didn't bother her. Falling didn't even bother her. It was what came after the fall. The landing bothered her. Hard, sharp, painful, possibly fatal landings really bothered her. And she had just looked down. It was the favored joke of Ivan, that she didn't like being in high places often.
"How did this thing get so dirty, anyway?" Isaac muttered to himself. "And whose idea was it to suddenly appoint Kraden leader?"
"I heard that, boy," Kraden said warningly.
"His fault that the Elemental Stars were stolen from Sol Sanctum in the first place," Felix added in a low voice. "He let you in." Felix had walked over to where Isaac was. Isaac resisted the urge to glare at him. Felix's job was to look for any holes and, with the help of whichever Mars Djinn he'd borrowed, get rid of them using Growth Psynergy. Isaac would have much preferred this over scrubbing the deck.
"Isaac," said a voice above him; he looked up and met Ivan's eyes. "You're scrubbing hard enough to give Felix more work to do," Ivan said in a serious voice.
"Yes, you noticed," Isaac said venomously. Ivan took a step back on reflex. Few things had ever made Isaac noticeably cross. Ivan could count them on his fingers and still have plenty of fingers left over. Whatever it was, Ivan knew he should stay far, far out of the way. For a good long time.
"Anyone have a good rope-fixing Psynergy handy?" Sheba called down, running her fingers along a section that was nearly frayed through. "I don't know if Growth would do it for rope fiber…then again, I don't know what this rope's made of," she added.
"I can see if it does work," Felix offered. Sheba shook her head.
"Never mind it. This one's wrecked all over the place. Better off with a new rope." So saying, she pulled out a small dagger and sliced the complicated knots that held the rope in place on either end. Easier than untying, I suppose? Gale quipped. Sheba ignored her.
Mia would usually have no qualms about being stuck in the lower levels of a ship on water. Today, however, was quite different. The water was shallow, first off, and second, the inner rooms of this particular vessel were crawling with things she couldn't name. Neither fire nor earth powers had been deemed practical to use in clearing them out, and wind powers were havoc in enclosed spaces. Picard was busy doing whatever it was ship captains did—or Commanders, or Admirals, or whatever class he's at, at the moment, chimed in Dew's cheerful voice—so it was left to her to clear this…whatever it was…out of the lower levels.
Mia took a deep breath, aiming one hand at the floor. "Deluge!" she said, calling up the most potent, unfrozen Psynergy she could think of. Forge had willingly agreed to switch places with Fizz while Mia did this. She didn't know why, exactly, unless Forge (and Garet) wanted to taunt Isaac. Which they did, probably.
Water instantly filled the room, leaving Mia completely submerged, as well as every other creepy crawly thing that did not belong on board. Those other things were washed out through a large hole in the side of the ship, and Mia was nearly taken with them.
Soaking wet again, she let out a long sigh and sat on a now-clean wooden crate. "Talk about disinfecting," she muttered. There were still some ugly green things in that corner over there. "What I wouldn't give for something larger and more substantial to actually bash around. I wonder if I should call Garet down here," she added with a wicked grin.
Is talking to yourself a constant thing? Apparently Forge would rather not have noticed Mia's muttering.
Sighing again, she rose and went about getting rid of the remainder of whatever sort of moldy, grimy thing was taking over the ship's holds.
Garet wasn't faring much better himself, though it might not have done Mia much good to know that. He was in one of the previously-de-scummed rooms, stacking boxes one on top of the other. A great pile of them had just come crashing down on top of him, burying him under splintered wood and several pounds of food.
Groaning, Garet shoved the pile off him and grudgingly began putting the food back in what boxed remained. He'd ask Felix or Isaac to fix the rest of them later. Stacking them again, and cursing Ivan for being so willing to give over the Carry Stone and Lifting Gem, he turned to the next pile of boxes and wondered if it was standard for one to feel beaten after using such Psynergies repeatedly.
"I don't know how Picard ever did it," he mumbled.
"I do," said the Adept in question, coming down the stairs loaded with more boxes.
"Not more," Garet said, horrified.
"More, I'm afraid," Picard said sullenly. "But I thought you could use a hand down here, anyway, so I came to help. But perhaps I did not need to come after all," he added, hastily beginning to back up the stairs. Garet, almost faster than he had ever moved when not under the influence of Zephyr, Coal or mortal peril, grabbed the Lemurian by the out-of-place red armband he wore and practically threw him back down the stairs.
Picard made a sound that was half a shout, half a gasp, and sat on the floor looking at Garet as though he was crazy.
"Er…sorry there, Picard…" Garet mumbled, turning to Lift more boxes. "There hasn't been anything to vent on down here, you know, and I can't very well take it out on Kraden, even if it is all his fault…"
"Quite alright," Picard said, standing and looking around. "Just how many boxes have you knocked over?"
"Don't ask."
"Too late."
"Eighteen."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, that's what I said too. All twenty-three times."
"But I thought—"
"Eighteen boxes. Twenty-three attempts to stack."
"You really are just as clumsy as Jenna sa—I mean…" Picard took the look on Garet's face to be one of impending doom. Quite fortunately, for him at least, he was saved the aftermath of this by a sudden scream.
"That's Mia," Isaac said casually from where he was scrubbing; now far to the right of where he had been before. His words seemed to take a moment to hit even himself. "That's Mia!" he said again, with a bit more feeling in it, standing and running for the stairs.
Ignoring the height, Sheba leapt from her perch and landed gracefully on both feet, easily converting her momentum into a fast run. She shot by Felix, who gave her a dirty look. Balance, while not based on element alone, was one of Sheba's stronger points.
Reaching the most recent mold-infested room that Mia was dealing with, Ivan and Jenna found they were the first to arrive. The green sludge had somehow collected itself into a sort of lumpy shape with two large, three-fingered hands and a couple of glowing red eyes.
Ivan saw those eyes and his stomach flipped. Something about them was just…familiar. Don't be silly, Ivan, he told himself. Nothing you've fought yet has had eyes like that…like they're lit by some inner fire…now where did that thought come from?
"Weyard calling Ivan!" Jenna said, giving him a good shove. "Stop spacing!"
"Uh…sorry, Jenna…something just hit me, that's all…" Ivan waved away her impending question. Supposedly, Ivan had the ability to predict the future. He didn't seem to be excelling at this; very rarely, he'd get a flash of something, but even more rarely were these flashes useful. This time was probably one of those useless ones.
By this time, Sheba, Isaac and Felix had made it downstairs. The sludge monster was rather foul smelling, and as it currently had one grimy hand holding Mia against a wall Isaac couldn't say much for its demeanor, either.
"Everyone duck," Felix muttered as Picard and Garet finally arrived. "Isaac's on the warpath."
"Oh goody," Garet said, evilly smirking. "Something to thrash."
"Who, Isaac?" Ivan asked incredulously.
"No, Jupiter boy, he means the slimeball," Jenna said hotly.
"He's going to thrash himself?"
"Ivan!" Garet yelled. While this was going on, Isaac and Picard looked at one another. They exchanged resigned sighs.
"They really have got to stop arguing in the middle of something vital," Picard said, speaking for both of them. "Every time we fight something big, and possibly threatening, an argument breaks out."
Resignedly, Isaac stared at the slime monster. He couldn't use Psynergy in here—Grand Gaia would completely destroy this room and several around it, let alone trying Stone Spire, Odyssey or Quake Sphere. He seriously doubted that Potent Cure or Revive were worth even considering.
Picard, on the other hand, had an idea. He did not have Deluge, as they had wanted to avoid any serious Djinn-swapping…the last time, Ivan had ended up at Chaos Lord class and had lived up to it quite well, and had retained very few memories of the event afterwards. Picard refused to think about afterwards.
However, Douse would be enough for what he was planning. Quickly, he spoke it aloud to Isaac and Sheba. Isaac shook his head.
"It'd hit Mia too," he said, obviously disagreeing for this reason alone. Sheba nodded; this was true. Picard nodded also. He then explained to Isaac exactly what his part would be in the plan.
"And I know I'm crazy, before you tell me so," Picard said, struggling to hold back a smile. "Come on, we are stalling. When Isaac gets there, fire away, Sheba," he added, and Sheba nodded again.
Isaac took off at a run for the hand that held Mia captive. He reached it, drawing the Sol Blade and beginning to hack, unleashing Granite under his breath. Picard, meanwhile, had called upon Douse, aiming it directly at the creature's face and distracting it.
Sheba pointed directly at Picard's water stream and fired a concentrated Plasma blast. This was the brilliancy of Picard's plan. Isaac drove his sword into the floor, grasping it with one hand and, revulsion written on his face, grabbed hold of the sludge hand with his other one. A potent electrical charge rippled through him, but his Venus Psynergy and the added reinforcement of calling on Granite beforehand stopped it from doing much but being very irritating and making his hair stand on end. Granite's main order had been to surround Mia, anyway, so that the electrical charge didn't zap her.
However, Picard had made one slight, suddenly horrifying miscalculation. In his experience, and obviously in everyone else's or they would surely have seen the flaw, Psynergy most often traveled in the direction, and only the direction, it was aimed. This of course excluded things like Pyroclasm, which hit everything, and Glacier, which went in all directions.
This time, however, Picard's plan quite literally backfired. The Plasma charge surged forward along the stream of water, but it also surged backward, blasting into Picard's hand and making him feel as though his whole body had been set aflame.
"This can not be good," Jenna said, hearing a noise that was somewhere between a strangled yelp and an all-out scream. She turned to find the sludge monster reduced to smoldering bits of something she'd rather not see on a full stomach, Mia looking at her grime-covered clothing in utter disgust, Isaac trying to wipe the muck from his hand onto his shirt, and Sheba staring with horrified eyes at where Picard lay motionless on the floor.
Garet, Felix and Ivan stopped bickering the instant Jenna turned, and Isaac and Mia looked up as well.
"What did you do?" Felix asked in a quiet voice. Sheba looked stunned, and quite hurt, until she realized he was asking Picard. Odd of him, she thought. He knows Picard couldn't possibly answer.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"Honestly, Isaac! What were you thinking?!" Isaac winced. He didn't think he'd ever been berated like this before, not even by his mother. Worse, it was Jenna who was shouting, with Mia staring icily at he and Sheba as they looked up from where they'd been completing the last of the scrubbing.
"It was Picard's plan," Sheba said calmly. Jenna raised an eyebrow.
"I thought Jupiter Adepts knew a bit more about electricity, and could have told if it were going to backfire like that," Mia said frostily.
"Well Picard's alright, isn't he!" Isaac snapped, well aware that losing the fragile control over his temper that he had wasn't going to help him any. Mia made a sort of sniffing sound.
"Alright, as you put it, could mean anything! Three days, Isaac, and he's still giving off residual charges!"
"Only when he's around Ivan, though," Sheba pointed out. "Or me."
"I don't want a word from you, Sheba," Mia said, and Sheba's face became one of shock. "This is your fault."
"I hear two people defending me and I do not at all like the way they go about it," Picard said, emerging from below deck. "Good morning, Isaac, Sheba. Mia, Jenna, leave them alone. It was my plan, and I thought that the Psynergy would act like it always did and head in a single direction. Jenna," he continued, noticing the fiery look in her eyes, "before you start in on me for being here, let me remind you that I am not without powers of my own."
"Picard," Mia began, but his raised hand cut her off.
"No. Not only is this the first time I have ever seen either of you actually verbally assault Isaac and mean something by it, I am quite surprised at the way you accuse Sheba of being at fault. Either I took a serious drain on your Psynergy or you are fed up with Kraden, both of which I understand completely, but that does not mean that you lay the blame on Isaac, who did not agree to the plan in the first place, and Sheba, who also had no idea that such a thing would happen."
Jenna and Mia looked stunned. Ivan, watching from atop the mast, had the distinct feeling that a slight breeze would have taken either of them down in seconds. Picard wasn't known for long speeches like that unless he was seriously provoked.
Isaac, seemingly snapped out of whatever daze he had been in, stood, now appearing to be the leader he truly was.
"We have got to stop this constant arguing," he said firmly, snapping Jenna and Mia out of it, too. "If there had not been such arguing going on, perhaps we would have had a better plan and Picard wouldn't be sending sparks between himself and either resident Jupiter Adept each time he passed their way. But it's happened already, it's over and done with, and we cannot change it. Get that through all of your heads nice and clear. It was no one's fault, and blame won't solve anything. Blame shouldn't be going about anyway—no one was seriously hurt."
"Speak for yourself, Isaac," Picard said, a shadow of a grin on his face.
"The ship is clean enough, in fact perhaps too clean, and we can get going to Lemuria!" called Felix's voice. Everyone looked at each other.
"You cannot go," Picard said softly. "I will risk no more trouble."
"And you can't go by yourself," Isaac argued.
"We could always split off," Sheba suggested, brightening a little. "You know, four and four."
"But what would the other four do to occupy themselves?" Ivan asked, assuming that when Sheba said split off, she meant into their original groups. That left Isaac, Garet, Mia and himself with nothing to do.
"And there's Kraden to think about," Jenna added. All trace of arguing seemed to have been forgotten, and Mia was reminded yet again of exactly why Isaac was a good leader.
"That man is not going to Lemuria again," Picard said fervently.
Kraden himself strode onto the ship then, and after a few inspecting moments, drew Sheba aside.
"Listen, Sheba. There is another reason I wished that Picard take a different ship to Lemuria. You see, I have gathered some information that may prove very beneficial to you," he said. Sheba looked at him curiously.
"Information?" she asked.
"Yes. It concerns your past."
"I decided I would be content with the wonderful family I was raised with in Lalivero, Kraden," Sheba said coldly.
"I know, but I also know that you are still curious about exactly where you come from. If a group of you goes to Hesperia, I believe you will find answers there, Sheba."
Sheba looked at the deck, confused. Did she truly want to know, now that she had set her mind on sticking to the friends and family she had, exactly what her life would have been before? More importantly, would any of them stand behind her?
Of course they would, silly girl, said Blitz in her mind.
What friends would they be if they didn't? Haze added.
"Right," she muttered, the looked up at Kraden. "Alright Kraden. But if you land us in trouble again, none of us are going to be happy about it."
"I assure you, Sheba," Kraden said gleefully, "nothing can go wrong."
************************************************************************
Famous last words, aren't they? Oh…you thought I was stopping there, did you? Nope. It goes on.
************************************************************************
Sheba, of course, did not believe him for an instant. Still…her curiosity and long-running desire to know where she came from were overrunning natural caution and the nagging instinct that there was certainly plenty that could and would go wrong.
Currently, the expression, "Everything that can go wrong will," was known, to the eight of them at least, as, "Adepts' Luck."
There were a few moments of spirited debate, of course. It was Felix's idea, and it seemed like the natural thing to do anyway, that if they were going to split up—Sheba had told them what Kraden said—it had to be into fours, one of each element in each group.
Kraden himself had been banished to the deck, under the pretense that Picard had spotted a hole and wondered if Kraden could find where it was, as Picard himself had forgotten. This at least gave the eight Adepts a few moments' worth of peace.
"Sorry about earlier," Mia and Jenna said at the same time.
"We're over it," Isaac promised, smiling. Sheba nodded her agreement. Her mind was still on what Kraden had told her, and it was at this point that she revealed it to the others.
"Well…sorry, guys, but I just don't have it in me to trust Kraden a second time," Garet said, almost as though he dreaded their reactions to that. "I mean…the last time I trusted his judgment, I ended up on a quest to save the world and nearly got myself killed by the scariest Mars Adept in Weyard."
"Karst didn't get anywhere near you," Ivan protested.
"I wasn't talking about Karst," Garet remarked, shooting a glance at Jenna before looking guiltily nonchalant. Jenna resisted—barely—the urge to smack him a good one in the back of the head.
"Well…if Sheba's going to Hesperia and Picard is going to Lemuria…" Mia began, counting off on her fingers, "then Ivan is going to Lemuria and I am going to Hesperia."
"What?" Ivan asked suddenly. "Why?"
"Elemental divide," Picard said.
"Oh yeah."
"So…we've got Mars and Venus Adepts to split," Sheba said, quite suddenly getting into the idea of actually taking a long trip to Hesperia.
"Hesperia," Isaac said in record time.
"Right on cue," Felix mumbled. "Lemuria for me, then."
"Me too, if Felix goes," Jenna said. Garet sighed.
"Hesperia," he muttered. "Against all trust of Kraden upstairs," he added, just so his point was clear.
"Sure?" Isaac asked.
"Sure," Garet said glumly.
"Sure," Ivan mocked.
"There will not be any more of this 'Kraken' business," Mia said firmly.
"Tomorrow, then, Picard, you can take this boat off to Lemuria. Watch out for angry old senators," Isaac added, grinning. Picard smiled back.
"Oh don't worry. I have Megacool now," he said, smiling maliciously. They all knew he was joking, of course.
"And the rest of us," Isaac continued, "can Teleport back to Lalivero and grab Picard's ship, and then head out for Hesperia. And we'll all meet back in Lalivero again. Understood?"
"Yes."
"Sure thing, Isaac."
"No problem."
"Yep."
"Leave the dead out of it, Jenna," Ivan said mock-sourly, wondering if they'd get the joke. Jenna glared at him. Ivan, looking frightened, held up his hands in surrender.
"Better watch it, Jupiter boy," Jenna cautioned evilly. "We have to survive a whole trip to Lemuria and back."
"Jupiter help us all," Ivan muttered, glancing at the ceiling.
************************************************************************
Well, that is the end. Like it for a first chapter? It did get a bit…er…long…but hey, that just makes it more enjoyable, right? I hope so. In case you forgot, this is subtitled "What Isaac, Garet, Mia and Sheba did while Felix, Jenna, Picard and Ivan were off saving Sinelsol Island." Don't know what Sinelsol Island is? Go read Sunlight and Shade, if you're curious. Oh, and Yepp, remember him, that guy from Yallam who died? That's what the joke was referring to. We clear? Oh good. See button? Press button. Or else.