Still don't own Golden Sun, wish I did, but I don't!
Trust: Chapter 3 Forgiveness... or so it seems...
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It was morning. The sky was a still deep blue and the sun had yet to come up above Weyard. Alex lay in his bed. He had been up for some time now contemplating on the upcoming day. He would not try to run this time. He was still weak, but strong enough to flee far enough away from Mia this time that she would not find him. He had told her that he would not run this time and thus, he wouldn't.
As he looked out at the sky, he could begin to see the appearance of things as the darkness lifted. He could see the lighthouse in the distance. The figure alone plagued his mind with the vivid memories of the day he had left Mia. It had been warmer than usual that day, being summer in Imil. The snow still clung to the ground, but it had not been so frozen, as it had been the rest of the year.
He had told her while walking into the lighthouse that he would have to leave her soon, but that he would return. Mia had not believed him. She seemed to think that he would be there forever. It was shortly after that that he left. He remembered the look in her eyes when they had seen each other, the fist time in nearly a year, atop the Mercury Lighthouse aerie. He had never meant to hurt her...
As Alex looked back, he shunned the memories away. They were unwanted; only a sign of his weakness. And yet, they still hurt. He had had to live with that same memory every day until he would forget her face after not seeing her for so long. Then once he would catch a glimpse of her when the two parties would meet up, and the image would plague his mind yet again. One thing that he had never forgotten on their journey was the look in her eyes. They were so sorrowful, so distant. He only wished that he could take away her pain, but he couldn't. he would never be able to do that.
Now he only sat there. He waited for dawn when they would set off to leave Imil. They would be gone for a long time. The people here had the Water of Hermes now. They had no need for the Mercury Adepts anymore. Slowly dawn came. The sun came over the western mountains as its rays shone down into the deep valleys. It was now that Felix pounded on the door.
"Get up!" he yelled from behind the door. "Breakfast is ready..." he paused and then added in a low voice, "we're ready to leave after that."
Alex quickly got out of the bed. He had been ready to do so for hours. As he got up, he dressed and gripping his sword and putting it onto his belt, he left the room and headed down to breakfast. As he looked over at the mayor, he could notice something about his expression. It was different than it had been before. It was almost stern and almost as if he was trying to remember something that he had forgotten in previous years. Alex only hoped that he would not remember him. After he had left, Mia had gone into a state of depression. Anyone who wold hurt their Mia was an enemy.
"I see you are feeling better." Began the mayor. "What is your name, boy. You look familiar."
It was Mia who saved Alex before he could be found out. "But sir," she reasoned. "He is still too weak. He probably won't remember anything anyway. His fever last night was horrible. Had it not been for the water..." she trailed off, glanced at Alex, and resumed. "We are taking him away from Imil. He needs to be somewhere away from all the snow to fully recover."
Mia looked down after she was finished. It was the first time in years that she had remembered deliberately lying about something of this nature. Alex looked over at her and caught her eye. Then he looked away. Felix only sat there, silent.
The mayor looked back at Alex then at Mia. "I can see it in your eyes, my dear, that you are hiding something. You needn't tell us if you really don't want to. Go then. After breakfast leave. We have the Water of Hermes here now. We no longer need you as our healer. If you would like to stay, however, you may. You are hereby released from the position of head healer in Imil."
Mia half felt rejected. And yet, she became happy with the words. She was being released from service, though she did not want to leave Imil. She looked over at Alex once again and then ate. After breakfast they set out. As they walked out onto and down the streets of Imil, they could feel the stare of the people there. They weren't directed toward Mia, the people were saying their last good-byes to her, shouting out and running up to her as they made them. They all seemed uneasy at the sight of Alex however. They all knew him, all recognized him, but from where they knew not.
At last a boy in the crowd yelled out as his mother took him out to watch Mia leave, "Mommy! That's Alex!"
He had said it loudly and when he had, the entire company of Imilian people turned their gaze in an angry fashion toward the Mercury adept. Mia stopped dead in her tracks as both Alex and Felix nudged her onward. Then another voice rang out from the crowd. It was the voice of a man and as he spoke, Mia could see the Mayor as he ran outside his home to see what he dare not believe to be true, "Alex betray us all! He should be burned, beheaded, anything as long as he is put to death! He deserves no life!"
The Imilian people almost roared as man after man surged forward from their homes and from the crowd to grab Alex. Alex grabbed Mia and set an arm on Felix, bracing himself.
"Please, no!" yelled out Mia. The company stopped, as if they remembered all of her service to them. Then Mia took up her voice again as she looked out over the heads of the small mob, "if not for him, you'd all be dead! You all know it!"
"If not for him, we'd have our healer." The mob jeered at her as the leader spoke the words.
"You have the Water of Hermes now. It's better than having me. I am only a simple Mercury Adept, there are some things which I could not heal, the water heals all of your injuries." Alex looked down on Mia as she spoke. Neither knew that she was capable of such harshness, especially toward her own people.
Then he leaned down and whispered into her ear, "I could warp us to some other place. You don't have to do all of this for me."
Mia looked up to him so that she could see his eyes. She looked into them only briefly and then nodded, seeing his trust and seeing that he recognized hers. The mob came forward in a wave as the three vanished into midair, reappearing in Bilbican seconds later.
The villagers all stared at the place where Alex, Mia, and Felix used to stand and then the mayor spoke, "let them go for now. If Alex is ever so foolish as to come back, we will have our vengeance."
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Mia sighed as she sat down on a log outside the city of Bilbican. "I thought they were going to kill us."
Alex looked down at her face and then spoke. "They would not have killed you, Mia, only me." Then after a long, awkward silence, Alex spoke again, "why did you stand up for me like that?"
"Because I care." She answered. Then after a pause, "Because I didn't want you to die."
"You used to act different when the lighthouses were still not all lit." Alex answered.
"I was scared of what... they would think." Mia bowed her head as Alex came close to her side.
It was now that Felix shifted, both the Mercury adepts looked up at his tall figure. He looked down on them both with his dark brown eyes. "Alex, you're a fool. You warped me, but promptly forgot the expensive horse."
Alex smirked. "I wasn't thinking."
Felix's face became grave. "Why did those people want to kill you like that, Alex?"
"The people have always hated me." Said Alex. "When I was younger, they rejected me for my powers. They were afraid of me."
"They accepted Mia." Answered Felix.
"Mia has a different nature than I. She is calm and nice. The people see me as a brute because I was more focused on the type of Psynergy that could cause wounds rather than heal them." He glanced at Mia and then back at Felix, "Mia was always dedicated to protecting the Mercury Lighthouse. She became friends with her patients and the people of Imil. They too began to want to protect the lighthouse.
"She told them about Alchemy and about what it was said would happen when the lighthouses were rekindles." Alex half laughed, "All lies! She didn't know that they were lies back then. The villagers probably think the world will come to an end any day now. They know that I was the one who ignited that beacon..."
"I see." Confirmed Felix.
"It wasn't only that." Alex went on. "Whenever Saturos, Menardi, and I would come through their town, the two Mars Adepts would stir things up."
Felix nodded. "I know about that reason. I was there when it happened."
Felix looked back toward Imil. "I'll go get the mare. Now that I've seen you're both safe, I feel like I can leave. Beside, I have to make sure Isaac isn't getting too close to Jenna." He smiled, moving on.
Mia smiled back at him. "I'll be worried for you, Felix. They've see you with Alex and I."
Felix nodded and walked off, leaving Alex and Mia alone.
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The rest of the day for Alex and Mia was spent traveling away from Bilbican toward any other town a safe distance from Imil. They talked little, not knowing the other's intentions. Mia felt as though she could trust Alex now, but tried to tell herself not to be so sure. It wounded her heart to think like this. Alex went through the same.
"Why didn't you tell me about the lighthouses before you left me in Imil?" asked Mia.
"It's a really long story."
"We have time." Answered Mia.
Alex glanced over at her as if to ask if she really wanted him to tell her. She gazed back at him. "If I must."
Mia gave him a look as if to say, 'go on'.
"I knew that you would never understand at that point. You can't tell me that you would have been able to. You needed to see that lighthouse lit before you could understand. I knew if I told you of my plans that you would never peaceably let me carry them out. Then there are the people of Imil. You were loyal to them. You wouldn't have left had I asked you. We've always been told that the rekindling of the lighthouses would bring about destruction, but so far, has any come?
"I saw the truth behind the matter when I began to read the ancient Mercurian texts. What our parents and our past generations have told us is a story to keep us afraid to light the lighthouses. The Wise One didn't want us to, perhaps because he knew that whoever possessed the Stone of Sages would ultimately become more powerful than him in time. He could defeat me on Mt. Aleph only because I had only just received the power and had no idea how to use it, I still don't. Isaac has something to do with unlocking it I'm sure..."
Mia coughed. She was slightly annoyed that Alex was going off topic and telling her what would happen if the lighthouses were lit. She only wanted a simple answer as to why he did not explain things to her. "I didn't ask you what would happen when and if the lighthouses were lit, only why you didn't tell me you were going off to light them."
"Because I knew you would not understand. My choice was you or all of Weyard. I knew that you would more than likely be right where I left you if I chose Weyard. Would you rather the entire planet die, or for me to never leave your side. Either way I would have lost you, only I knew there was hope down one of the two paths. I would have told you, but like I said, you would not have understood. I didn't want you to get hurt either. I wouldn't have let you come alone even if you did understand. It was just too dangerous..." Alex looked over to Mia who was now looking him in the eyes. They both stopped walking.
"You're forgiven." Answered Mia.
"As are you." With that Alex leaned down and wrapped his arms around Mia's small frame. Mia hugged him back, holding him. She didn't want to let him go. She remembered that she to had done wrong against Alex. She had denied him and supposedly hated him. In a word, she had deceived, but beyond that, a more truthful word: lied.
Moments later Alex released her from the hug. Mia missed the warmth of his body as soon as it was taken away from her. She didn't ever want Alex to be gone from her side ever again.
"Mia," Alex began and he looked into her eyes. "What made you want to help me?"
"I love you." She answered. "When I saw you sprawled out on the ground at the foot of Mt. Aleph, I could almost feel my life drain from me. I thought you were dead. I've always cared about you. I guess I'm too loyal sometimes, but the real reason is because I trust you."
Alex looked down. "You have no reason to trust a criminal like me."
"You're not a criminal, Alex." Then Mia was silenced as Alex's finger fell to her lips.
"I've done things that you're not aware of. Killed people for alchemy. You don't know what a criminal is..." his eyes were sorrowful. Mia could see that he was living to regret everything he was speaking of.
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DUN DUN DUN! Evil cliffie!
Alex: I'm not a criminal! That's Picard!
Picard: what?! I'm innocent!
Malik: new muse?
No, OUT Picard!
Alex: I better turn back good!
Don't worry, everything will be fine by the end of the fic.
Malik: It better not be sappy.
I could use some ideas from the reviewers...
Alex and Malik: REVIEW!
A/N: I seriously do need more reviews! I've hardly gotten any. It really discourages me when I'm not getting them and it normally takes more time for me to update if I don't feel like writing, so please REVIEW!
Trust: Chapter 3 Forgiveness... or so it seems...
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It was morning. The sky was a still deep blue and the sun had yet to come up above Weyard. Alex lay in his bed. He had been up for some time now contemplating on the upcoming day. He would not try to run this time. He was still weak, but strong enough to flee far enough away from Mia this time that she would not find him. He had told her that he would not run this time and thus, he wouldn't.
As he looked out at the sky, he could begin to see the appearance of things as the darkness lifted. He could see the lighthouse in the distance. The figure alone plagued his mind with the vivid memories of the day he had left Mia. It had been warmer than usual that day, being summer in Imil. The snow still clung to the ground, but it had not been so frozen, as it had been the rest of the year.
He had told her while walking into the lighthouse that he would have to leave her soon, but that he would return. Mia had not believed him. She seemed to think that he would be there forever. It was shortly after that that he left. He remembered the look in her eyes when they had seen each other, the fist time in nearly a year, atop the Mercury Lighthouse aerie. He had never meant to hurt her...
As Alex looked back, he shunned the memories away. They were unwanted; only a sign of his weakness. And yet, they still hurt. He had had to live with that same memory every day until he would forget her face after not seeing her for so long. Then once he would catch a glimpse of her when the two parties would meet up, and the image would plague his mind yet again. One thing that he had never forgotten on their journey was the look in her eyes. They were so sorrowful, so distant. He only wished that he could take away her pain, but he couldn't. he would never be able to do that.
Now he only sat there. He waited for dawn when they would set off to leave Imil. They would be gone for a long time. The people here had the Water of Hermes now. They had no need for the Mercury Adepts anymore. Slowly dawn came. The sun came over the western mountains as its rays shone down into the deep valleys. It was now that Felix pounded on the door.
"Get up!" he yelled from behind the door. "Breakfast is ready..." he paused and then added in a low voice, "we're ready to leave after that."
Alex quickly got out of the bed. He had been ready to do so for hours. As he got up, he dressed and gripping his sword and putting it onto his belt, he left the room and headed down to breakfast. As he looked over at the mayor, he could notice something about his expression. It was different than it had been before. It was almost stern and almost as if he was trying to remember something that he had forgotten in previous years. Alex only hoped that he would not remember him. After he had left, Mia had gone into a state of depression. Anyone who wold hurt their Mia was an enemy.
"I see you are feeling better." Began the mayor. "What is your name, boy. You look familiar."
It was Mia who saved Alex before he could be found out. "But sir," she reasoned. "He is still too weak. He probably won't remember anything anyway. His fever last night was horrible. Had it not been for the water..." she trailed off, glanced at Alex, and resumed. "We are taking him away from Imil. He needs to be somewhere away from all the snow to fully recover."
Mia looked down after she was finished. It was the first time in years that she had remembered deliberately lying about something of this nature. Alex looked over at her and caught her eye. Then he looked away. Felix only sat there, silent.
The mayor looked back at Alex then at Mia. "I can see it in your eyes, my dear, that you are hiding something. You needn't tell us if you really don't want to. Go then. After breakfast leave. We have the Water of Hermes here now. We no longer need you as our healer. If you would like to stay, however, you may. You are hereby released from the position of head healer in Imil."
Mia half felt rejected. And yet, she became happy with the words. She was being released from service, though she did not want to leave Imil. She looked over at Alex once again and then ate. After breakfast they set out. As they walked out onto and down the streets of Imil, they could feel the stare of the people there. They weren't directed toward Mia, the people were saying their last good-byes to her, shouting out and running up to her as they made them. They all seemed uneasy at the sight of Alex however. They all knew him, all recognized him, but from where they knew not.
At last a boy in the crowd yelled out as his mother took him out to watch Mia leave, "Mommy! That's Alex!"
He had said it loudly and when he had, the entire company of Imilian people turned their gaze in an angry fashion toward the Mercury adept. Mia stopped dead in her tracks as both Alex and Felix nudged her onward. Then another voice rang out from the crowd. It was the voice of a man and as he spoke, Mia could see the Mayor as he ran outside his home to see what he dare not believe to be true, "Alex betray us all! He should be burned, beheaded, anything as long as he is put to death! He deserves no life!"
The Imilian people almost roared as man after man surged forward from their homes and from the crowd to grab Alex. Alex grabbed Mia and set an arm on Felix, bracing himself.
"Please, no!" yelled out Mia. The company stopped, as if they remembered all of her service to them. Then Mia took up her voice again as she looked out over the heads of the small mob, "if not for him, you'd all be dead! You all know it!"
"If not for him, we'd have our healer." The mob jeered at her as the leader spoke the words.
"You have the Water of Hermes now. It's better than having me. I am only a simple Mercury Adept, there are some things which I could not heal, the water heals all of your injuries." Alex looked down on Mia as she spoke. Neither knew that she was capable of such harshness, especially toward her own people.
Then he leaned down and whispered into her ear, "I could warp us to some other place. You don't have to do all of this for me."
Mia looked up to him so that she could see his eyes. She looked into them only briefly and then nodded, seeing his trust and seeing that he recognized hers. The mob came forward in a wave as the three vanished into midair, reappearing in Bilbican seconds later.
The villagers all stared at the place where Alex, Mia, and Felix used to stand and then the mayor spoke, "let them go for now. If Alex is ever so foolish as to come back, we will have our vengeance."
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Mia sighed as she sat down on a log outside the city of Bilbican. "I thought they were going to kill us."
Alex looked down at her face and then spoke. "They would not have killed you, Mia, only me." Then after a long, awkward silence, Alex spoke again, "why did you stand up for me like that?"
"Because I care." She answered. Then after a pause, "Because I didn't want you to die."
"You used to act different when the lighthouses were still not all lit." Alex answered.
"I was scared of what... they would think." Mia bowed her head as Alex came close to her side.
It was now that Felix shifted, both the Mercury adepts looked up at his tall figure. He looked down on them both with his dark brown eyes. "Alex, you're a fool. You warped me, but promptly forgot the expensive horse."
Alex smirked. "I wasn't thinking."
Felix's face became grave. "Why did those people want to kill you like that, Alex?"
"The people have always hated me." Said Alex. "When I was younger, they rejected me for my powers. They were afraid of me."
"They accepted Mia." Answered Felix.
"Mia has a different nature than I. She is calm and nice. The people see me as a brute because I was more focused on the type of Psynergy that could cause wounds rather than heal them." He glanced at Mia and then back at Felix, "Mia was always dedicated to protecting the Mercury Lighthouse. She became friends with her patients and the people of Imil. They too began to want to protect the lighthouse.
"She told them about Alchemy and about what it was said would happen when the lighthouses were rekindles." Alex half laughed, "All lies! She didn't know that they were lies back then. The villagers probably think the world will come to an end any day now. They know that I was the one who ignited that beacon..."
"I see." Confirmed Felix.
"It wasn't only that." Alex went on. "Whenever Saturos, Menardi, and I would come through their town, the two Mars Adepts would stir things up."
Felix nodded. "I know about that reason. I was there when it happened."
Felix looked back toward Imil. "I'll go get the mare. Now that I've seen you're both safe, I feel like I can leave. Beside, I have to make sure Isaac isn't getting too close to Jenna." He smiled, moving on.
Mia smiled back at him. "I'll be worried for you, Felix. They've see you with Alex and I."
Felix nodded and walked off, leaving Alex and Mia alone.
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The rest of the day for Alex and Mia was spent traveling away from Bilbican toward any other town a safe distance from Imil. They talked little, not knowing the other's intentions. Mia felt as though she could trust Alex now, but tried to tell herself not to be so sure. It wounded her heart to think like this. Alex went through the same.
"Why didn't you tell me about the lighthouses before you left me in Imil?" asked Mia.
"It's a really long story."
"We have time." Answered Mia.
Alex glanced over at her as if to ask if she really wanted him to tell her. She gazed back at him. "If I must."
Mia gave him a look as if to say, 'go on'.
"I knew that you would never understand at that point. You can't tell me that you would have been able to. You needed to see that lighthouse lit before you could understand. I knew if I told you of my plans that you would never peaceably let me carry them out. Then there are the people of Imil. You were loyal to them. You wouldn't have left had I asked you. We've always been told that the rekindling of the lighthouses would bring about destruction, but so far, has any come?
"I saw the truth behind the matter when I began to read the ancient Mercurian texts. What our parents and our past generations have told us is a story to keep us afraid to light the lighthouses. The Wise One didn't want us to, perhaps because he knew that whoever possessed the Stone of Sages would ultimately become more powerful than him in time. He could defeat me on Mt. Aleph only because I had only just received the power and had no idea how to use it, I still don't. Isaac has something to do with unlocking it I'm sure..."
Mia coughed. She was slightly annoyed that Alex was going off topic and telling her what would happen if the lighthouses were lit. She only wanted a simple answer as to why he did not explain things to her. "I didn't ask you what would happen when and if the lighthouses were lit, only why you didn't tell me you were going off to light them."
"Because I knew you would not understand. My choice was you or all of Weyard. I knew that you would more than likely be right where I left you if I chose Weyard. Would you rather the entire planet die, or for me to never leave your side. Either way I would have lost you, only I knew there was hope down one of the two paths. I would have told you, but like I said, you would not have understood. I didn't want you to get hurt either. I wouldn't have let you come alone even if you did understand. It was just too dangerous..." Alex looked over to Mia who was now looking him in the eyes. They both stopped walking.
"You're forgiven." Answered Mia.
"As are you." With that Alex leaned down and wrapped his arms around Mia's small frame. Mia hugged him back, holding him. She didn't want to let him go. She remembered that she to had done wrong against Alex. She had denied him and supposedly hated him. In a word, she had deceived, but beyond that, a more truthful word: lied.
Moments later Alex released her from the hug. Mia missed the warmth of his body as soon as it was taken away from her. She didn't ever want Alex to be gone from her side ever again.
"Mia," Alex began and he looked into her eyes. "What made you want to help me?"
"I love you." She answered. "When I saw you sprawled out on the ground at the foot of Mt. Aleph, I could almost feel my life drain from me. I thought you were dead. I've always cared about you. I guess I'm too loyal sometimes, but the real reason is because I trust you."
Alex looked down. "You have no reason to trust a criminal like me."
"You're not a criminal, Alex." Then Mia was silenced as Alex's finger fell to her lips.
"I've done things that you're not aware of. Killed people for alchemy. You don't know what a criminal is..." his eyes were sorrowful. Mia could see that he was living to regret everything he was speaking of.
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DUN DUN DUN! Evil cliffie!
Alex: I'm not a criminal! That's Picard!
Picard: what?! I'm innocent!
Malik: new muse?
No, OUT Picard!
Alex: I better turn back good!
Don't worry, everything will be fine by the end of the fic.
Malik: It better not be sappy.
I could use some ideas from the reviewers...
Alex and Malik: REVIEW!
A/N: I seriously do need more reviews! I've hardly gotten any. It really discourages me when I'm not getting them and it normally takes more time for me to update if I don't feel like writing, so please REVIEW!