Love Bites

Isaac walked slowly and carefully dowm the stairs for some reason. He had a slight worry that his dream had been a premonition of some sort and he was not willing to find out what it was warning him of. He nervously tiptoed into the kitchen, looking about warily. There was no water on the floor waiting to make him slip up fortunately.

"Good morning, Isaac!" Mia bounced up to him with a wide cheerful grin on her face. "Are you ready to have breakfast then?" She looked at him with a deeply curious look and Isaac briefly wondered if she was on medication or something.

"I made some pancakes," Dora said brightly. "And there's syrup and lemon juice too, so sit down and eat."

"Um, I'd rather have toast," said Kyle hesitantly, he was already sitting at the table. Dora also was and she was already heaping some pancakes onto two extra plates, presumably for Isaac and Mia.

"Don't be silly, Kyle," Dora scolded him with a loving look. "You can't possibly pass up these pancakes, now eat up. They will make you strong and healthy!"

"I am already..." Kyle trailed off as he realised that he was fighting a losing battle and his wife had the upper hand as usual.

"Ooh, pancakes," Mia smiled brightly, flashing her dazzling white teeth at Isaac. "I'm looking forwards to trying some of your mom's delicious looking pancakes, Isaac!"

"Uhh..." Isaac sat down and grimaced slightly as he looked at the pancakes. Mia sat next to him and looked eagerly at hers. Isaac leaned sideways and whispered into Mia's ear. "She always uses way too much egg when making these... I never even missed them when I was away..."

"This actually makes Prox's food look good!" said Kyle as cheerfully as possible, cutting up the pancakes laid on his plate and bringing a piece slowly towards his mouth, speared on a fork.

"What is Prox's food like then?" Dora demanded haughtily.

"Nonsense," Mia said airily and immediately heaped a load of pancakes into her mouth. As she started chewing on her mouthful, her face gradually changed into a disgusted expression and she hurriedly swallowed. "Wow... it really does..."

"Lovely, Mom," said Isaac quickly. "Prox's food is wonderful and it's great! Very nourishing..."

"Then why," asked Dora as patiently as she could manage. "Did your father come back from Prox pale, thin and clearly lacking a lot of necessary nutrients? And don't get me started on Felix's and Jenna's parents..."

"Mom!" Isaac rolled his eyes. "He wasn't that bad, you're just being melodramatic..."

"You're exaggerating, Dora," Kyle smiled and continued to eat the pancakes bravely.

"Um, I'm on a diet," said Mia hesitantly, putting her knife and fork down after finishing her first pancake. "I'm so sorry but... I've decided pancakes are too fattening."

"You're not fat, Mia," Isaac smiled dopily at her. Mia turned to stare at him. He suddenly felt very nervous for some reason. "Uh... what?"

"Why are you saying I'm not fat?" demanded Mia. "You wouldn't say I was, unless you thought I was, and you'd be saying it to make me feel better!"

"No, Mia!" Isaac cringed. "I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. You aren't fat, you're beautiful!"

"We used to argue a bit when we were their age, didn't we, Kyle?" Dora smiled sappily at her husband, finding Isaac and Mia's almost argument somewhat amusing or at least memory provoking.

"Did we?" Kyle blinked as he tried to remember. "I suppose. We did have fairly long arguments, what with you being so strong-willed..."

"And you being so stubborn..." Dora looked away towards her spiky haired son who was currently in danger of being beaten up by the angry Mia. "Isaac's just like you in so many ways. Perhaps Mia's the one for him?"

Isaac and Mia promptly stopped what they were doing as they heard Dora's words. Mia flushed scarlet in the face, pushed her chair back and rushed upstairs.

"Um... I'm going too," Isaac said quickly, shoving his chair back and standing up. "Sorry, I'm just not hungry." He hurriedly turned and rushed from the house before Dora could realise that he had not touched any of the pancakes on his plate.

Isaac quickly ran, to escape the wrath of his mother when she discovered he had not touched the pancakes. His stomach was grumbling slightly, but Isaac really hated those pancakes.

However, he did not get far, before discovering one of the weirdest sights he had ever seen in his life, although it was not as strange as multi-headed dragons. Garet was also up and outside, sitting in the grass with a paper bag on his head and holes cut through for the eyes.

"Um... Garet?" Isaac tentatively kneeled down next to the Mars Adept and poked his shoulder. "Could you please tell me why you happen to be wearing a paper bag?"

"It's ALL Kay's fault!" lamented Garet moodily, idly tugging at the brown paper bag and staring mournfully through the holes at his best friend. "She nicked my diary and read it..."

"Your diary, huh?" Isaac shook his head. "I suppose you left it somewhere where it would be really easy to find?" Garet nodded slowly and Isaac tutted. "Thought so. So what does that have to do with paper bags?"

"She... well, I wrote that I wanted to propose to Jenna," Garet whimpered. "And Kay told me that the only way I could get her attention like that was by wearing a paper bag on my head. But I don't think it's working..."

"Jenna would think you were an idiot..." Isaac shook his head. "Not that she doesn't," he privately mumbled under his breath. "You really should take the bag off, it isn't doing any favours and you look like an idiot."

"I knew it!" Garet shouted, tearing the paper bag off and scrunching it up into a tight ball. "And if that wasn't bad enough, she threatened to tell Felix... unless..."

"Unless what?" queried Isaac, trying to imagine the methods of torture Felix might use on Garet if he found out.

"Unless I do chores for a week," Garet moaned, pulling his knees up to his chest and placing his head between his knees. "It just isn't fair."

"Would you rather get killed?" Isaac asked. Garet raised his head and vehemently shook it, his eyes widening. "Then be a good boy and do your chores."

"You're no help, Isaac!" Garet punched the ground with a broad fist. "How am I going to get Jenna to notice me?"

"Hey, you're already a couple," Isaac raised an eyebrow at him. "Does it really have to go on from there so soon?"

"But..." Garet scratched the back of his head, as he tried to think, and immediately failed. "I just want to be happy knowing she will marry me if I ask..."

"Listen, mate," Isaac clapped a hand down on Garet's shoulder. "Give it time, you've only been going out for, what, a year?"

"Only a year..." Garet crossly scrambled to his feet. "Forget it, I'll deal with it myself. I'm not going to listen to my sister anymore!"

"You still gotta do those chores," Isaac also got to his feet and grinned wickedly. "Good luck, and don't get your little brother to help."

Garet simply gave him a murderous look and slouched off to his house, mentally throwing his curses at everything in his way. Isaac silently watched him, and then his shoulders lifted into a casual shrug, an amused smile to accompany it. He then turned around and walked over the bridge, heading down, coming to a sudden stop as he was almost run over by a red haired girl who was notorious for tempers.

"H-Hi, Jenna," Isaac gulped. "Um, how are you this morning?"

"Where's Garet?" Jenna asked loudly. "I told him I wanted to see him this morning, but he's not here! That lazy oaf, when I catch him, I'm going to..."

"Garet can't see you this morning," Isaac nervously cleared his throat. "He's, erm, busy for a while..."

"What have you done to him?" wailed Jenna, grabbing him in a chokehold. "Tell me!"

"N-not me!" gasped Isaac, trying to pry her off. "It was his sister! Lemme go, Jenna!"

"Fine," Jenna released him and he collapsed to the ground, slightly surprised at her sudden movement. "But I'm going to find Garet and he's going to pay for standing me up!"

"You could just drop by his house," Isaac muttered and got to his feet, brushing dirt off his knees. Jenna ignored his comment and stormed up north, heading towards Garet's house. Isaac said a quick prayer for Garet before going further. He was however stalled by a fellow Venus Adept.

"Isaac," Felix threw his arm around Isaac's shoulders and started forcefully walking off with him. "I need to ask you something, got a minute?"

'Like I have any choice?' Isaac thought wonderingly. "Um, yeah, what's up, Felix?"

"I am a little worried about Jenna's... relationship with Garet," Felix told Isaac. Isaac's eyes widened as he guessed what Felix was going to talk about.

"What's that got to do with me?" asked Isaac, feigning innocence.

"Garet's your best friend, he tells you things, does he not?" Felix shot a steely look at Isaac, who meekly nodded and cursed whoever made big brothers like this. "Has he ever considered... taking it further?"

"Taking it further?" Isaac raised an eyebrow. "In what way? Do you mean marriage, or sex?"

"Marriage!" Felix said quickly, his eyes widening. "I'm not interested in sexual affairs thank you, but rest assured, if he tries to do that with her, I'll kill him very quickly."

'You'd probably do that if he married her,' Isaac thought. "So you think Garet could be considering marrying Jenna? Where did you get that idea?"

"Well," Felix shrugged. "It's inevitable isn't it? But I just don't want them moving too fast. If he broke her heart, I'd break every bone in his body."

"Quit it with the death threats, I'm not Garet," Isaac grumbled. "Yeah, I'd do the same, but Garet would never do that..." He shrugged off Felix's arm and stepped in front of him, facing him squarely. "I do not know anything, but I'm sure they are not moving too fast. Alright?"

"...Fine," Felix sighed. "But I'll be watching them. Thanks for the company anyway... I'll be... off..."

"Isaac! Felix!"

The two Venus Adepts turned in shock to see Kraden at the door of his cottage beckoning to them.

"You just had to walk here," Isaac whispered into Felix's ear. "Well done."

"Oh, shut up," Felix muttered, as they both disappointedly walked towards Kraden.

"Excellent, I am so glad I caught you two!" Kraden clapped his hands together. "I have some interesting paperwork relating to the recent unleash of Alchemy that I wish to show you two, and also some extensive research which you might not have seen, pertaining to how the elements act upon the world, as we really should be learning this sort of thing, for it could make a prospective future, with all of us using brains rather than brawns-"

"We get the picture," Felix interrupted quickly. "Ok, we'll... take a look."

"That's nice, Kraden," Isaac said in a dull monotone. "I'd love to see it."

And so, the two Venus Adepts were lured into the creepy cavern of doom where none dare go for fear they will be pulled into a void of endless knowledge, otherwise known as Kraden's cottage.