The Golden Sun One-Shot Panoply
Various Authors Listed in Intro

P/N: Hi again all! Apologies if italics and such do not show up on this chapter, if they do I'll replace it when I get the laptop back (it has that virus…that makes it shut down all the time…and stuff). And back when I got this, Jupiter Girl was still Jupiter Girl and not Jupiter Sprite, which she is now. Get it? Got it? I really hope so.

Firstly, credit does go to Griffinkhan for the scene with Kraden and the duck. It had me laughing until I cried and fell off the chair, Griff. Congrats. And please do hurry with that submission, yeah. After this, Akiko and myself, I'm out of stuff.

Secondly, to Smurf Cat, certainly, join in. Most definitely! More people are always welcome, that they are!

On to the story we go!!
*****
Never Again
by Jupiter Girl

A/N: This takes place after both games; Vale has been rebuilt. Sheba's moved in, and Ivan's there... um... visiting. Yeah. ^^;;; This one's got some fluff, but it's angsty. Just warning you. And I don't own Golden Sun or The Lost Age!

Sheba sat on her bed and cried. Was there no place she could be happy? Their adventure was over. Now was the time for the fairy-tale ending, the happily-ever-after. Why had it never happened for her?

Her first thought had been to return to Lalivero. But there she wasn't Sheba; she was a child of the gods, a precious treasure to be guarded and doted over. She didn't want that life.

She had thought Vale would be different. She had friends here, and she was surrounded by other Adepts. Not Jupiter, but Adepts nonetheless, and Ivan could always visit if she missed her element too much. And she was happier. Happier, but not entirely content. She missed her family. If it even existed. She longed for someone who would care for her. Ivan was orphaned, like she assumed she must be, but he had a sister. Sheba had no such luck.

Her heart felt like there was a giant hole torn in it, a missing piece. Would she ever find it?

She cried.

"Sheba?" Ivan's soft voice sounded through the door. "Are you all right?" Sheba took a deep breath, stood, and walked to the door of her room. She opened it and looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

Gently, he led her back to her bed and sat down beside her. He looked at her with eyes full of concern. "I hate seeing you like this."

Sheba leaned into him, breathing in his scent as she sobbed into his chest. It was Ivan. She would be all right. Sometimes she thought he was the only thing keeping her sane. They had so much in common, and their friendship was so strong. She felt like he was an extension of herself. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him. She didn't ever want to let go.

He let her cry, holding her gently. When she was done, he unfastened her hands from around his waist. He didn't let go of them.

"Sheba?"

"Ivan." She looked into his eyes. He was so close...

"I love you, and I don't want to see you like this. I don't want you to be sad like this anymore."

"I won't." She loved him so much.

"Never again?" He drew closer.

"Never again."

He placed his fingertips under her chin, and kissed her.

Sheba felt a tingling warmth spread through her. This was so right. She had never known anything in her life like what she felt for Ivan. She just wanted to be with him. The hole in her heart began to fill.

Maybe Vale wasn't so bad after all.

***

The next day, Ivan was dead.

Thieves had attempted a raid on the town, and the house Ivan was staying in was the first they came to. When help arrived, it found the last of the thieves retreating, and Ivan dead with a knife in his back. He had taken 13 of their number down with him.

The whole of Vale was talking about it. Many offered Sheba sympathy, and she politely accepted it - she never felt any of it. She hadn't seen her friends all day, either; it wasn't surprising. The majority of the day she spent locked in her room, trying to cry.

She needed to cry so badly, but the tears wouldn't come. She was in shock. She felt completely numb to the world - surely, this couldn't be happening. Soon she would wake up and look into Ivan's amethyst eyes.

She didn't.

When the shock wore off, the sobs wracked her body so hard she was sure the whole of Vale could hear her. Her heart ached, her mind ached, her body ached. She felt like lying down and dying, and for a while she considered it. In the end, though, she decided to give life another chance. It was what Ivan would have wanted her to do.

So she did. She remained in Vale for the next few days. She learned that Ivan's funeral was in a week. She felt empty.

It was like a part of her was missing. Ivan had come to be like a part of her soul, and now he had been ripped away from her. She found no joy in daily pleasures, no emotion in anything. She burned her finger cooking dinner, and hardly felt the pain. She didn't eat that night. All she thought about was him.

Finally, she came to a decision.

The night before the funeral, she crept into the house where he had died. His body had been salvaged, but everything else remained. Searching along the floor, her fingers found the handle of a knife. The blade was tinged red with blood.

Ivan's blood.

Bringing the knife up to her chest, she let a single tear fall to the ground. She prayed that she was making the right decision, and that she could be happy in another world.

"Never again, Ivan," she whispered.

***

Hours before the funeral, they found Sheba's body.

Next to it, there was a note.

I wanted to say sorry to all my friends and the people I care about who I'm leaving behind. I've tried to live and be happy, but I can't anymore. A part of me was already gone when the rest of me left. I can't explain it. Nobody I care about did anything wrong. Please don't blame yourselves. You were the best friends I could have asked for.
Please bury me with him.

Always, Sheba

The funeral was the most emotional one Vale had seen for a long time. Master Hama traveled to Vale for the occasion, as did Mia and Picard. Faran and his family managed to make it in time as well.

The two were buried on a hill overlooking the town where the air was sweet and the winds were strong. Many tears were shed.

On their grave were these words.

Ivan and Sheba
Two hearts
Two minds
Intertwined forever

end.

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I can't believe I did that! *sob* I'm sorry Ivan! T_T

******

Next chapter will be by Akiko. (At least that one didn't make me all depressed—just kidding JG, this was great!)