As Luck Would Have It
A/N: I actually do have the end, the very end, of this story planned. But that's not the point. The point is this: Elemental Adept is right. I lack description, sort of. So, hopefully, I can remember how to describe most of this. Some of it…well, I've never been very good at describing when one of the characters gets hurt…you know, what it looks like and all. But I will try.
Kaede: Not the 'try' thing again. Please, not again!
Vil: You be quiet! Now, I'm going to answer some of your reviews…cause you all ask questions! But I like that!
Feonyx: I plan to take this through the ENITRE game, and then have a sequel when GS:LA comes out. I already have the end of this story planned, as I've said. And I know there are supposed to be only seven Djinn of every type in the game, but for my purposes I'm creating more. Though I could use a word involving fire that isn't a Djinni already. A hybrid adept is a good guess, by the way.
General Failure: Yes, you do find out what kind of Adept she is. A long time from now. At the end which my big mouth and runaway fingers really want to reveal, but I can't.
Jupiter Girl and Elemental Adept: Thank you both for your reviews and comments and everything else, and the rest of you whose names I forget right now, sorry for that, but as I've said, internet downstairs, story upstairs. *shrugs* and now, ON TO THE FICCY!!
Chapter Eleven: Not Impossible. Just Very, VERY Unlikely. (I completely forget why I called it this…)
Isaac felt someone shaking his shoulder. He had collapsed into a bed at Imil's Inn the night before, though it had probably been somewhere closer to morning, after everything that had gone on.
"Whoever it is," Isaac mumbled, "the sun had better be pretty darn high by now or you're gonna be facing one really ticked off Venus Adept."
"Tell me," answered a cool voice, "has he always had that sense of humor, or is it a new thing?"
"Always, and before that, even," Garet's voice answered. "You wouldn't know it by looking at him, though."
"You're terribly funny, you know that?" Isaac shot back, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. His first thought was to glance out the window, and he noticed with some interest that the sun was at almost its highest point. "I've been asleep that long, huh?"
"Sleep isn't something we usually get," Garet explained to the girl standing behind him, and she nodded emotionlessly. Isaac blinked a few times, trying to remember who she was.
It came back to him in a rush of memory. Walking into Imil in the dead of night, barely a star in the sky. A single person there to greet them, this girl, her shining blue hair flying in the sudden wind and her sky-colored eyes concerned and curious. A Mercury Djinni had been perched on her shoulder.
Quickly, Ivan had told her of their problem and asked if there was anyone who could help them. The girl had smiled and nodded, and led them around buildings and over a bridge that spanned a frozen river. Opening two large wooden doors, she had led them into a large, well-heated room.
Isaac had sat down on chair and dozed off after that, but he remembered being woken up by Garet and paying for rooms at the Inn…still, something seemed to be missing.
Getting out of bed and stretching, Isaac locked eyes with the girl who was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, eyes level, hair tied away from her face.
"Three questions. One, who are you, two, what are you, and three, where is Zoe?" Isaac folded his own arms and met the girl's steely gaze with one of his.
"You'd do better not to argue," Ivan piped up from the other corner of the room. "Garet says arguing with Venus Adepts is like arguing with walls."
"Well then," said the girl, a small smile of amusement appearing on her face. "I am Mia of Imil, a healer. Your fourth companion, Zoe I take it, is…safe."
"You're hiding something," Isaac accused, eyes angry. He moved as though to reach for a weapon, but was interrupted by the blue flashing of a Djinni on Mia's shoulder.
"Indeed she is," said the Djinni, looking at Mia, who looked steadily back. "Your friend is and will be fine, and if you, Venus Adept, will ready yourself for the day, we will take you to her. Please, accept my apologies for Mia's hiding this from you. Her power is a strange thing to many…and yet a revered thing to just as many."
"Please, Fizz, stop complementing me like that!" Mia said with a laugh. She flashed a smile at Isaac. "Sorry for acting that way though. If you'll get ready, I will take you to your friend…and then there are some things I must do, but you might like walking around town a bit."
"Not this freezing little village," Garet muttered, shivering even in the warm room of the Inn. "I can't stand cold."
"Then stay inside," Isaac said with a grin. "Shoo, all of you! Unless you don't want me to get ready?" he added when no one made to leave. Quickly the others left, and Isaac changed into warmer clothes, wrapping a yellow scarf around his neck. Realizing something, he paused for a moment, his face a puzzled frown. Then he shrugged, grinned, and joined the others in the Inn's common room.
Together the four walked out into the cold, snow falling lightly as Mia led them again over a bridge and into a building with a yellow roof. Upon entering, Mia disappeared down a set of stairs. Garet sighed with relief to be out of the cold, and Ivan smiled at the two children who were also in the room.
"Hello," said the girl, who looked to be about ten. "I am Megan. That," she said, pointing to the boy, "is my twin, Justin. We're Mia's apprentices."
"Are you now?" Isaac asked, suddenly very interested. "And what are you learning?"
"How to do what Mia does," Justin said proudly, grinning. Garet reached down and ruffled Justin's hair, making him laugh. "She says we're much better than her first student!"
"Justin, shh! You know you're not supposed to speak of that!" Megan scolded him, and he blushed.
"It's alright," said Mia's voice, and she appeared at the top of the stairs again. The Djinni Fizz was running in front of her, along with another and more familiar Mercury Djinni. (Even if they all do look the same. ;])
"Torrent!" Flint's voice cried, and he flashed visible. Isaac glared at the Djinni, but couldn't find it in him to get angry, as he had just noticed the figure following Mia up the stairs.
"Zoe!" he called, smiling, and she smiled back. Garet forgot all about the cold, his brown eyes lighting up as she came towards them. Ivan, unable to resist himself, ran the short distance that still stood between them and hugged Zoe, then let go, face redder than Garet's hair.
"Good…afternoon, I guess," Zoe said, glancing out a window at the sunlight glinting off snow. "You guys miss me?"
"Maybe," Isaac said, a sly grin on his face. Mia, standing a bit behind Zoe, smiled also. So to them, she thought, maybe it is not so different.
"Why you little…" Zoe began, but her smile betrayed her thoughts. Finally she gave up on looking angry and began to laugh, hugging first Isaac, then Garet. "You don't know how nice it is to know you made it here in one piece! Well…I guess I mean three separate one pieces…oh, you know what I mean!"
"We do," Isaac said, his smile wider than Garet had seen it in months. Thinking of something, the Mars Adept turned his gaze to Mia.
"You did this," he said. She met his eyes and sighed. He was not accusing her, she knew. He was stating what he knew was truth.
"I did," she replied, ice-blue eyes steady. Garet's grin took on a more sarcastic edge.
"You are an adept," he went on, and she gave him a confused look. "A Mercury Adept, actually. One who wields the power of the Element Water."
"For one time in your life," Isaac said, grinning at his friend, "you're right. Though I don't think she's ever heard of Adepts, or Psynergy."
"But I have," Mia said, exchanging a grin with Zoe. "She's told me all about your quest…and about the Lighthouses." Going to a window in the far wall, she glanced out and slightly up at the peak of Mercury Lighthouse.
Torrent and Fizz landed on each of her shoulders and followed her gaze. "I remember this place!" Torrent said happily. "This is…where I come from!"
"It is," Fizz agreed. "Water once flowed from the fountain at the base of the Lighthouse, but the fountain has long since run dry. It is said that if the lighthouse is lit, the water will flow again…but the lighting of Mercury Lighthouse will be the herald of falling doom."
"You're no fun," Torrent said to Fizz, and Mia laughed. Fizz, rather insulted, made a 'hrmph' sound and flashed out.
"He is very serious, but then, he's a big help." Mia sighed and turned back to the window in time to see a blue flash at the top of the lighthouse. "Oh no!" she cried, and without another word ran from the building, Torrent flying from her shoulder and flashing out, then reappearing on Zoe's head.
"What was that all about?" Ivan wondered aloud, and the others shrugged.
"I don't know about you," Garet said, a determined glint in his eyes, "but I plan to find out." The others nodded and left the building, almost instantly getting lost. Ivan, not seeing the ice under all the snow, slid across the frozen river until he ran into a rock sticking up through the ice. The others followed him, though they knew the ice was there and were a bit more balanced in crossing.
"Look!" Zoe said, pointing. Just above them, in a wall that must have had water flowing over it in summer, was a split that resembled the opening of a cave. Isaac stepped forward to head over to it, but his movement made him slip and fall into Garet. The two of them began to tumble across the ice, with Zoe and Ivan skidding and sliding after them.
Only the light from outside lit the inside of the small cavern, or so the Adepts thought upon first glance. But Garet noticed a light behind some rocks, and quickly and quietly he went to investigate. Behind the rocks was a Mars Djinni, its fire creating a soft glow. Garet, about to turn back and tell the others, suddenly sneezed, attracting the Fire Djinni's attention.
Looking at it, Garet was halfway to drawing his sword when he realized that the Djinni didn't want a fight. Instead, it transformed into flames, which rained down on Garet but caused nothing more than a pleasant warm feeling. He felt the presence of another mind join his and grinned. Wait until the others find out, he thought.
"Garet! Come on! We're gonna go eat!" Isaac called, and Garet came out from behind the rocks, still grinning. Isaac caught the look on Garet's face and stopped whatever he had been about to say. "Alright, smiley, what did you find?" he said after a short pause.
"Another way to set your head afire?" Ivan asked expectantly, but Garet couldn't be bothered even to glare at him. He was too excited.
"Actually, you may be right," he said, and at a silent signal from him, Forge and the second Djinni appeared on his shoulders. The others gasped, and the new Djinni gave its form of a bow.
"I am Fever, Mars Djinni," she said.
"Bound to the power of the Fire," the rest of them finished, and Fever laughed.
"I take it you've heard this before?"
"Multiple times, though the words are always different," Ivan said. "By any chance do you enjoy setting things on fire?"
"Boy, I am a Mars Djinni. My life is fire. So, yes, I do enjoy setting things on fire. In fact, I might start with your hair, Jupiter Adept." At these words Ivan went white, his mouth dropping open and no words coming out. Zoe and Isaac struggled not to laugh, but in the end gave up and exploded in giggles.
"Now that is revenge to a remarkable degree," Torrent said between laughs. Zoe nodded, finally getting control of herself and glancing back at the entrance to the cavern. "Something's bothering you," the Djinni accused, and Zoe nodded.
"It's weird," she said, shivering a little in the sudden cold wind that blew through the cavern. "I just feel like something's wrong. And I know nothing is…not here, anyway."
"I know," Torrent said, shuddering a little, though not from the cold. "Being closer to Mercury Lighthouse…I feel something too. Something out of place."
"Isaac," Zoe said, and the boy stopped laughing at looked at her seriously. "I think we should follow Mia to Mercury Lighthouse."
"You think Saturos and Menardi are already there?" Isaac asked, and they all turned to look at her, Garet's Djinn flashing out in unison.
"Maybe. I just get a bad feeling…and letting Mia go off like that alone…I don't know if she can get to the top of the Lighthouse by herself."
"How do you know she went to the Lighthouse?" Garet asked. "She didn't tell us where she was going."
"No…she didn't, did she? Well. That's where she went, at any rate. And I for one intend to follow her!" With that Zoe turned and stepped back onto the ice outside of the cavern and pushed off, sliding about until she found herself on land again. Glancing quickly up at the lighthouse, she ran off, the others still staring after her.
"Come on, we have to follow her!" Ivan said finally, not even caring as he slid across the ice into another rock. Isaac and Garet were close behind, and when they reached land it was easy to follow Zoe's footprints through the snow. The sun had reached the horizon, and no matter what was happening, Isaac swore to himself that he would not climb a lighthouse in the dead of night. Not ever.
Leaving town, the three could see Zoe ahead of them stumble and fall in the snow, then get back up again and keep on running. Garet gritted his teeth against the cold and ran faster, keeping better pace with Isaac and Ivan. "Zoe!" he called, but a sudden wind stole his voice and carried it off.
Panting, Zoe at last reached Mercury Lighthouse, leaning against a stone pillar to catch her breath. She heard Isaac, Ivan and Garet come up behind her, but said nothing. She had spotted Mia standing on a section of floor up ahead, with most of the other sections either collapsed or just missing. Directly in front of Mia was a stone statue, some sort of soldier holding a sword. Mia looked frustrated and a bit frightened, and she held tight to a witch's wand as she glared at the statue.
Isaac walked up next to her and studied the statue as well, though not in an angry manner as Mia was doing. After a few moments, he extended his hand and whispered, "Move." Mia stood, aghast, as she watched what appeared to be a spirit hand reach out, grasp the statue, and push it to the side. Behind the statue was what appeared to be a portal, about the size and shape of a door but containing swirling light.
"I'm not even sure I should ask," Mia said quietly, still awestruck.
"You don't have to," Zoe said. "That's Move Psynergy, I think. Garet's better at it than Isaac is, though. And don't look at me like that, Isaac, because you know I'm telling the truth!" she added when Isaac gave her the 'what are you talking about?' look.
"Well…I'd better go see what's up," Mia said, shaking off her shock and jumping across the short gap to where the statue had once stood. Touching the wavering light of the portal, she closed her eyes and it became a doorway, which she walked through. The others looked at each other for a moment, then faced the doorway again as they heard a scream from inside.
"Get your Djinn ready to summon," Isaac called back as he jumped to the doorway and went inside. The others were quick to follow, and they found themselves in a long hallway. Either side was lined with statues of women holding water jugs as though they were pouring water from them. And in front of them was what looked like a giant lizard. Mia stood facing it, her witch's wand shooting sparks at it. The thing swiped at her, throwing her against a wall.
"Get it!" Ivan yelled angrily, running to face the lizard man. Isaac, Garet and Zoe quickly came to stand beside him, weapons ready. Pointing his Shaman's Rod at the lizard man, Ivan threw his other hand in the air and yelled, "Wind Seer's Ray!" As the giant bolts of lightning gave the lizard man a bit of a shock, Garet brought his hands together in front of his face and closed his eyes. His Djinn sensed this and appeared on his shoulders, each one glowing a fiery red.
"I summon the spirit of Kirin, mythical beast of flame, power of the Fire!" he cried. Slowly, a circle of fire appeared in front of him. A giant being made of living flames burst from the circle, a rider on its back. Garet, feeling as though all his power was draining out of him at once, held on desperately as the spirit of Kirin rammed into the lizard man. With a bright flash, the summoned spirit disappeared, and the lizard man fell to its knees. "Someone else get it!" Garet muttered angrily. "I ran out of power!"
"Right behind you," Zoe said, longsword raised before her. Charging the lizard man, flashes of the mauler entered her mind. She saw the claws on the lizard man and for a moment hesitated, but the fact that she was afraid only hardened her resolve. The others never showed fear, or at least they didn't usually. With an angry cry, she ran the lizard man through, its strange black blood dripping off her sword. The monster disintegrated, and Zoe sheathed her now-clean sword.
"Thought you couldn't lift that thing," Ivan said, folding his arms and giving Zoe a sly stare.
"I didn't think I could either," she admitted. "Guess maybe I am getting better after all."
"Which reminds me," said Mia's voice, and the four whirled to find her standing behind them, leaning on the witch's wand for support. "Where do you people come from? And wipe that surprised look off your face, Fire boy," Mia added at Garet's shocked look. "What kind of a healer would I be if I couldn't heal myself?"
"In answer to your first question," Isaac said with a grin, "Garet and I come from Vale. It's…far from here."
"I am from Kalay," Ivan said. "And in answer to your second question, not one at all."
"Very funny," Mia shot back, though she was smiling. "Zoe? Where are you from?"
"I…I don't know, exactly. I mean…I can't remember much before the day I met Isaac and Garet. For a while, I thought I came from Imil…but now I know I don't. It's…it's too cold here for me to live here, I guess." Grinning sheepishly, Zoe glanced at Garet, who was leaning against one of the statues. "Garet?"
"Don't mind me," he said, breathing hard. "That summons took power. More of it than a single-Djinni summons does. I'm alright."
"Liar," Ivan said, adopting a sly smirk. "And I didn't even have to read your mind that time."
"Very funny," Garet shot back, pushing himself away from the statue and glancing at the door beyond.
"Oh no! I forgot!" Mia cried, and ran on ahead through the door.
"Mia wait!" Zoe called, but Mia either didn't hear or ignored her. The four looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
"Well…I guess we follow her in," Isaac said finally, and as one they turned to face the doorway.
***************
Vil: YAY! Sorry that took so long—spent a lot of time studying lighthouses and summons and all that. Plus school, and tennis, and other stuff. So, I'm thinking two chapters of lighthouse-climbing, and one to fight Saturos, and then we're going back to Bilibin to do the Kolima thing. But I need five more reviews than however many I've got right now before I post the next chapter! (Which is halfway done, BTW.)
Kaede: So I think she's asking you all to review!!
Vil: That would be correct. And keep an eye out for Kaede's GS fic, which will be coming soon!!