Bwaha! I'm back with a one-shot!
(Dew): [monotone] Oh, joy.
(Char): [likewise] Joyfulness floods through me like a rabid turtle.
...rabid turtle?
(Dew): Just get on with it.
(Char): Thankfully this is a one-shot, so you can't cliffhang...
^_^;; hehehe... how about that, huh?
(Dew): I repeat, just get on with it.
Fine, fine, I'm going.
All right, if you didn't read the summary, this is flameshipping (that's Garet/Jenna), some mild language and kind of angsty (well, it's my first shot at angst, so it's probably not that bad. I'll let you be the judge of that!), so consider yourself warned! Also, this is in the POV of Garet, so try not to get confused when I start right off saying 'I', okay?
Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun, Camelot, Nintendo, or any other related companies.
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The gentle sound of rain echoed in my mind as it hit my roof and trickled to the ground. 'Great. Rain today. Mia'll be in high heaven, and if she's happy, Isaac will be too. Man... I hate rain. Nothing worse for a Mars Adept...'
I pulled myself out of bed and slowly pulled on my boots. I found my good casual tunic in my closet, and pulled it on. Then I slipped into a pair of pants and struggled to find my way to a mirror. You think a Mars Adept is clumsy in the morning? No way. Wait until you see me in the rain.
There I go again... Why do I insult myself? I guess it's because everyone else does. But why do I help them? It's not like I'm that slow, am I?
I reached a mirror and combed my hair up. Reached for some gel and made sure it stayed up. After I was reasonably sure it was decent, I meandered to the kitchen. My sister was already up.
"Nice to see you finally up and about, kid," she said, not even looking at me. She grabbed an orange and walked past me, without even halting to wait for my response.
"Good morning to you, too," I grumbled, though she was easily too far to hear me. I slumped into a chair and grabbed a banana. Peeled it and started to eat it. My younger brother came downstairs and stopped at the table.
"You're at it again, huh, chowhound?" he teased. I stared at him.
"I'm not a chowhound," I said indignantly. "I just happen to like food." My temper seemed abnormally short today. Maybe it was the rain, I don't know. It seemed like everything that had been bothering me was starting to form into one giant clump of emotion today.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, lardo," he laughed, poking me in the stomach. I glared at him, but he only laughed and ran away. I looked down at my half-eaten banana. Suddenly I seemed to have lost my appetite.
I walked to the window and saw that the rain hadn't improved any. I saw Isaac's house down the hill. I was supposed to meet him there... I think. I knew he had called the others over. Well, if he had called them over, surely I was to be there, too?
I looked around the hallway for anything to cover me in the rain, but saw that my sister had already taken the only umbrella in the house. Typical. So I opened the door and ran as fast as I could towards Isaac's. I was halfway there when I noticed that I forgot to close the front door. So I ran up the hill as fast as I could and pulled the door shut, making sure it was shut this time and getting all the more wet in the meanwhile.
I turned on my heels and ran down the hill. Just as I was about to turn into Isaac's walkway, my feet slipped. Apparently the heavy rain had caused the dirt to turn to very slippery mud. My feet came out from under me, and I fell all the way to the bottom of the hill. I stopped at the bottom, extremely muddy and hoping the rain would wash me off before I got there. This day was just not getting any easier...
I trekked back up the hill, this time making it to Isaac's door without incident. The rain had more or less washed me off before I got there, but I was still a little muddy by the time I knocked on his door. I rapped on his wooden door quite hard. I was extremely impatient to get out of the rain.
Knock.
No answer. I tried a little harder.
Knock, knock.
Still no answer. I was starting to get really impatient. I was getting all wet, and I hate nothing more than getting wet.
KNOCK, KNOCK.
CRACK. My knuckle went through the door. My hands were white from being outside for so long, and they had gone mostly numb, so I didn't really feel the pain much, but I could see a faint trickle of blood seeping from my knuckles. I yanked my hand from the door and saw a pair of familiar eyes staring at me from the other side.
"Garet?!" Isaac cried. "What are you doing?" he asked. He pulled the door open and I leaped inside.
"Good going, you clumsy oaf," Jenna scolded me. I looked at her, and blinked. I wanted to speak, but no words came out. I didn't mean to put a hole in the door, but I tried knocking lighter! Why is it that everything I did always ended up in me doing something wrong? And why was Jenna always the first one to criticise me? I mouthed at her, wordlessly, but Ivan, who was sitting in the far corner with Sheba, interrupter my silent banter.
"Can you not even open a door without doing something stupid?" he laughed at me. I flushed. "I mean, it's not that hard! Really..." I tried to defend myself, but Mia cut me off. I didn't even see her there, but it made sense. Anywhere Isaac was... Man, could I not catch a break here?
"You're all muddy!" she pointed out. Sheba stared at me, and then burst into rounds of silent laughter. 'She must have read my mind,' I realized. 'She's laughing at my travels to get to Isaac's house,' I thought. 'How dare she just intrude on my thoughts? Is nothing of mine sacred? When do I get some respect here?' I began to fume. My face turned a little red. Ivan noticed.
"Hey, Garet, are you okay? You're looking a little red, there," he said with a hint of concern in his voice. I almost smiled. Maybe I was overreacting a little? Then Ivan continued, "Maybe a nice mud pack could help. You know, tone the colour down and such." He burst into laughter, and the others followed suit. My face, however, soon began to glow as red as my hair. I thought these were my friends! Why did they always do this to me?!
I turned, and saw that Jenna still had a straight face. Maybe she noticed I was starting to hurt. Maybe she was going to go easy on me. Maybe she knew how I felt about her, and she felt like that too. Maybe... maybe she...
"If you want, I know a great place for facials," she smirked. "Maybe we'll go together one day. You can get a mud pack, and we'll see if they can do something with that hair... maybe make it all smooth and shiny. We could probably get it down to shoulder length..." she couldn't say any more, because she was laughing too hard. Soon everyone was in gales of laughter again, all looking at me.
These were my friends?! These were the people that journeyed with me to the edges of Weyard and back, who... who...
It meant nothing.
My anger overwhelmed me, and flames began to dance around me.
"I've had enough!!" I cried, desperate for it all to stop. The laughter slowed and came to a stop, all attention turned at me, all eyes wide. But my fury was too far, and I couldn't hold it back. My eyes started to water a little, and I bolted for the door. "I am not some toy for you to play with and laugh at. I'm not a jester for your amusement!! I'm as real and human as you all are!! I'm not some...some mindless automaton that can't feel what you're saying!! And I've had enough with your taunting... Just... just leave me alone!! I've had enough of you!!" And I burst out into the rain again. I ran, and ran. I don't know how long.
I finally stopped running near the river that ran through Vale's plaza. I knelt beside it. There was a large hill behind me, so the common passerby couldn't see me. I could stay here all day in the rain, and no one would care. No one cared about me, little old Garet.
No one cared.
-You're all muddy!- Stupid Mia. Why did she always have to be so critical of me? Why didn't she focus on Isaac? Oh, no, because Isaac is perfect: the perfect warrior, the perfect leader, the perfect person, the perfect friend... hah! Friend, that's a good laugh. Where was he when they were all on my case again? Laughing with them!
-Can you not even open a door without doing something stupid?- Damn Ivan. Stupid short kid who thinks he's better than me. So what if he's smarter than me? I'm twice his size! I could beat him up if I wanted to! Why is he always picking on me?! He's supposed to be one of my friends, too. What a load of garbage. I don't need friends. Not like them. I can live perfectly happy without them. Without any of them! Especially without Sheba and her pathetic mind-reading. My thoughts are MINE! Not hers! I thought she would have grown close enough to us all not to use that. Well, that's not totally, true, is it? She never reads the others, or at least I never catch her doing it. So to her, I'm not even on their level. I'm beneath them; some little puppet, some dog to dance to their whim...
"I AM NOT!" I burst. The rain trickled down my brow. I was drenched at this point. But I wasn't done. My rage was too deep now to be halted. I rose to my feet and stared up at the overcast sky.
-Good going, you clumsy oaf.- Jenna... Jenna, why? Why do you do this to me? Can't you... can't you see? Can't you see how I've felt about you for so long? And you take all my hopes and emotions and crumple them up and throw them back in my face... Why do you do this to me?! Can't you see what you're doing to me? I could handle it all if you were on my side, but you never help me. I'm always alone... alone...
I fell to my knees again. I couldn't tell if I was crying or it was just the rain falling down my cheek, but I was shaking like crazy. My mind reeled on overdrive. Why did they do this to me?
Jenna...
I heard the crumple of leaves beneath feet, and caught a glance of Jenna slowly walking up behind me.
"Garet..." she said meekly.
"Go away," I rasped.
"Garet, no..." she said. "Are you... all right?" she asked.
"How dare you even ask me that...?" I whispered. "I'm done with you... with all of you! Your insults, your laughter, everything!! I just can't take it anymore!!" I turned to stare her in the eyes. I whispered, "I just can't..."
And she stared back at me with the more sincere, penetrating, concerned gaze I've ever seen.
"Garet," she began, and I could see her eyes watering slightly. Was she... crying? No, no it had to be the rain. She didn't care enough about me to be tears. And yet... yet... tears? Why?
"You're... crying...?" I whispered. She kneeled down to stare at me, and I could see she was genuinely crying.
"Of course I am!" she cried. "Garet, I know I laugh and you and poke fun, but...Garet... you know there's no one in that room that I want to be with more than you!" I swallowed. My heart dived into my stomach. For the first time, I felt like I couldn't speak. I simply nodded, and she kept going, as if she had been meaning to say this for a long time. "Garet, I don't want to hurt you! I don't know why I do, sometimes! I just... I do it sometimes! And I can't stop myself. I didn't want to, but I did! And Garet... Garet, I'm sorry... I'm really, really sorry," she whispered.
And for the first time in a long time, I looked at her. I mean, I really looked at her. And there, kneeling in the rain, the element to opposite to her, water gently flowing off her and eyes blazing concern, I saw the most beautiful sight I've even been blessed enough to see.
"Jenna... I'm so sorry..." I said, but she cut me off.
"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't do that do you. Garet, I..." she drew a breath. "I love you, Garet."
I stopped. It was like time itself had just frozen. I stared at her, and smiled more broadly than I could ever remember.
"I love you, too, Jenna," I said. She smiled. "I just never thought..." I could have kept going, but her lips pressed against mine locked me into silence.
And I realized I had never lost my friends at all. They were always there. I just... didn't look for them. And now I realized that no matter what they said, they were worried about me, too. They were my friends, no matter what. No matter what happened, and especially no matter what they said.
But most importantly, I now was sure I had Jenna. I don't care what happens to me now: with Jenna here to stand by me, I will never buckle to anything again, especially my own self doubt and fear.
You know... maybe the rain isn't such a bad thing after all.
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There. Happy? Distinctive lack of a cliffhanger.
(Char): That's only because it's a one-shot.
Doesn't matter.
(Dew): No cliff, I'll take it.
Speaking of taking it, I'll be glad to take reviews. This is my first shot at a bit of angst, so tell me how it went over. I know it's not the greatest, but hopefully it's not that bad, right?
(Dew): ...whatever you say...
Excellent. I'll keep that in mind.
Also, to anyone who was wondering about a sequel to Faces of War, I have no such plans to write one, and I doubt I will. However, I am terribly grateful for the number of reviews I got and the reaction to it, so thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially the last chapter, and everyone who gave me feedback on what I wanted. I've already started work on a new fic, which I haven't given a name yet. That should be out sometime around Halloween, so keep an eye out for it, okay?
Great, then review, and I'll be happy. Later!