Princess Viv: Thanks for all the reviews! Here's Chapter fourteen.
Aqua: This is probably the fastest update, excluding the very first three chapters when they came out…
Princess Viv: I had already written the three of them, and only just mustered the courage to post it up… And I put up all three of them in three days… lol.
Black Demon567: (wince) Sorry about your boss… lol… But thanks for your sacrifice. It's so touching!
Unknown-Character: Thanks for your review, U-C. And yup, you know I've got your chappies. Can't wait! I can't believe our fic is OUT! (That first reviewer was… annoying…)
chaos0619: Lol, I'm glad you're happy.
SirGecko: (swoon) … Omg… I can't believe you of all people reviewed my fic! I feel so… happy! (Damnit, I can't do emoticons on here! Gah!) (cough) Anyway, thanks very much. I'm glad you feel my writing has improved – of course, from my POV, there isn't much difference… I tried reading it again, but I can't see the improvement... lol… Maybe because it's my own fic. (smile) I'm also happy you enjoyed this story. Personally, I hate many aspects of this fic – many things that I wish I could go back on – but being my first ever fic published, it's bound to have its bad things and mistakes… I'll just have to put up with them, lol. And saying this reminds you of your first fic is a great honour, really, it is! I'm extremely thankful. Any of your criticism is welcomed, and I myself am very glad to be back too. Thanks for everything.
raitai: Well, hello! Nice to meet you! I'm so glad you admire my work… It's great hearing that from reviewers – a great sense of achievement and joy, lol. Thanks a bunch. And it's a coincidence we love the same shippings. (smile) About Songs of a Diary… The plan was that I'd start anew with a different storyline… I have such bad writer's block on it. And the story itself annoys me… I hope you won't be too disappointed if I start afresh. Hopefully I'll write something even better than it…
savinglifelessness: Yeah, I know… (sigh) I didn't really realise that fact until half way into the fic, and I couldn't do anything about it then… I hope you'll just go along with it, lol!
Golden Sun: The Fight for the Stars
Chapter 14: Bring Me Mia
"My master… I am most sorry for not being able to alight the Luna Lighthouse…"
"Silvia, what you have failed to accomplish has cost me… a great deal of time…"
"Master, let me make it up to you!"
"You can, and you will. But be grateful and satisfied that I will not punish you for your mistake. You are most valuable to me…"
"Thank you, my Lord… I am honoured to be of your service… What is it that I must do to please you, my master?"
"… I need you to do something you may find a little difficult because of who it involves…"
"I will do anything you ask, my Lord!"
"… Good… Your task is to bring Mia to me. Unharmed."
Mia awoke with a start, jumping up from her lying position on her bed; cold sweat shined on her forehead, and she breathed hard as she tried to remain calm.
"Mia! You're awake! Finally! How are you feeling?"
Turning, Mia saw Isaac sitting to her side; his face was smiling broadly, and his eyes were shining with… relief?
"I… Well… I feel fine… It was just a… a nightmare…" In Mia's mind, she recalled the loud and mocking laughter of a male and female resounding in her ears… And what made it a "nightmare" was that the female sounded very much like… Silvia.
"Mia?" Isaac frowned as his girlfriend spaced out, staring at the opposite wall, "Are you alright? Was your dream really bad?"
"No, no…" Mia shook her head, not wanting her boyfriend to worry, "Isaac… What… happened?" Mia asked, confused, as she drew up the duvet closer to her to keep herself warm. "I… don't recall much."
For the next quarter of an hour, Isaac quickly summarised to her what had happened while she was unconscious at the Luna Lighthouse; she took everything in as fast as she could, trying to absorb it all into her tired mind.
"I really did think I could beat her…" Mia cast her blue eyes downwards at her lap as she remembered everything, a few strands of her aquamarine hair falling out of place as her head drooped. "If I had, then…"
"Don't say that, Mia." Isaac held her hand and said firmly. "You did all you could, and we're all grateful for that."
"Thanks, Isaac." Mia whispered softly, then reached forward to hug the Venus adept tightly. "I'm… glad we at least obtained the Luna Star."
Isaac nodded in agreement and they separated. Mia looked up again, "Hey, Isaac, how many of us are awake? Are we all well? How are the others?" she asked, worried for her friends.
"Well, Piers, Sapphire, Kay, Justin, Megan, Lola and Lulu have all woken up since. However… Garet, Jenna, Sheba and Aaron are still unconscious. But Megan and Justin tell me that they should be up within the day." Isaac managed a grin at his final sentence.
"Poor Ivan and Kay must be worried sick." Mia shook her head sadly, her heart feeling her friends' ache and pain.
Isaac lifted his hand and touched her cheek gently, his eyes staring into hers, "Mia… You have no idea how worried and anxious I was when you had yet to awake… I've missed you."
Mia felt tears fill up her blue eyes, and quickly blinked them away, "Thank you."
That afternoon, the conscious members of the group sat around the dining table in the kitchen, all trying to figure out what their next move was.
"Well," Isaac declared, the only one standing; he was stationed at the top of the long table, his hands leaning against the mahogany wood as he looked around at his team, his blue eyes glancing from one person to another, "we now know the power of our enemy… We cannot underestimate them. Yes, them. We know that their leader, the so acclaimed "Sol Lord", will send more and more of his associates after us… We don't know what their next move is, so we must always be on the look out."
The team nodded, all concentrating hard on their leader's words.
"So, what's our next move?" Isaac questioned out loud, "Well… We all know that the Sol Lord will most likely hunt us down for the Luna Star, and at the same time, probably send his closest associate, Silvia, to the Sol Lighthouse. I'm assuming that the Sol Lord has healed Silvia himself, and will be sending her to do his dirty work immediately. He will waste no time."
Pyra nodded at his comments, agreeing with the golden-haired Venus adept. "Yes… He is swift and cunning… Like Isaac said, we must not underestimate him. To do so would mean inevitable failure. And failure cannot be tolerated while in such a sensitive situation – the world's future does rest in our hands…"
"To think," Mia spoke up quietly, "that so many people are living out there, totally unaware what danger lies ahead… Such ignorance is so… sad…"
There was an awkward silence in the group, which Isaac quickly broke a few moments after, "My friends… Here's the plan I have. We will continue on to the Sol Lighthouse, in order to prevent the Sol Lord from lighting it, and find the Sol Star. Of course, we must initially find where this lighthouse stands first. Once we have, we must travel swiftly for many reasons. One, we must not let the Sol Lord get there first. Two, we have to be careful, in case of ambush from any more of Sol's associates. Are you all with me? If in doubt with the plan, raise your hand and speak your mind."
There was a swift pause as Isaac gazed around the table; everyone seemed in mutual agreement. He could move on. "Good… Then the next stage now is… to find this Sol Lighthouse and the Sol Star."
"How are we to do that?" Sapphia asked, "Do any of us know where it is?"
Most heads turned in the direction of Pyra and the Luna twins. Seeing their comrades' questioning glances, Pyra spoke up, "I, for one, definitely do not know where the lighthouse stands… It has always been shrouded in even more mystery than the Luna Lighthouse and Star. As for the Sol Star… I wonder, with much anxiety, in whose hands it lies in now."
Lola shook her head in reply for her and her sister, "We are Luna adepts, not Sol adepts… Having never left the island, the Sol Lighthouse's position is beyond our knowledge... We are sorry for not being able to aid you…"
A worried silence once again descended upon the travellers, when suddenly, footsteps were heard echoing on the staircase; looking up in surprise, everyone saw Garet, Jenna and Sheba climbing down slowly.
"Sheba!" Ivan exclaimed, and rushed to hug his blonde-haired friend.
"Garet! Jenna!" Kay ran and fell into her elder brother's arms.
Everyone else also stood up and greeted the recovered adepts with embraces and words of love and worry. They were all extremely relieved and happy that the three of them were feeling much better, and in absolute fit condition.
"I see only Aaron has yet to awaken…" Megan stated sadly when everyone had calmed down from their mutual excitement.
"Don't worry though," Justin reassured the group when their faces fell, crestfallen, especially Garet and Kay's, "he is the youngest, and it is natural he should be the last to awaken. I would not worry too much." His last and repeated sentence was directed at Kay, who looked on the verge of tears. Slowly walking over to her, he gave her a smile of reassurance, and she managed a grateful lift of the lips in return.
As Garet, Jenna and Sheba were quickly updated on the events and news they had missed, Pyra stood against the wall to one side; her back was leaning against the wood, and she had her red eyes closed tightly, her beautiful face frowning slightly.
Noticing Pyra was alone, Felix made his way over to her, curious about her sudden change of behaviour. Reaching her, he stood beside the Mars adept and waited for her to open her eyes.
"Hello, Felix."
"Hi…" he turned to see her still with her eyes shut, her chest lifting up and down slowly in soft breaths. "Are you okay?"
Opening one blood red eye, Pyra smirked at her brown-haired friend, "What do you mean?"
"You seem a bit… subdued." Felix managed to find the word he wanted, and stared at the ceiling. "I'm just… worried…" he added quietly.
Turning to fully face Felix, Pyra opened both eyes and smiled genuinely and widely at him, "Felix, thanks for being concerned… It means so much to me. But I'm absolutely fine…"
It was Felix's turn to open his brown eyes and face Pyra, "I'm glad… How are you feeling from, well… Silvia's mind control…?" The Venus adept had been reluctant to bring the past events up, but he wanted to make sure his friend was definitely fine.
Pyra looked down, a few bangs of blood red falling too, "… I am regretful I hadn't been able to stop her, and very guilty for having turned against you… Felix, you and your friends mean more than you can imagine to me… I've never had so many people care about me so much before… My cousins, Saturos and Agatio, always hated me, as did Menardi and Karst, and though my aunt and uncle gave me a home, they never really loved me… I've never felt loved… I know you guys had your doubts about me at first, and I can't blame you, so the things Silvia made me do… If you had not figured it out, your friends would have never trusted me again… I betrayed you… If Silvia had gotten away with what she wanted to do with me, we would not be standing here now, alive and with the Luna Star in our hands…" she trailed off, and Felix managed to catch sight of the small tear drop that fell and landed on the floor silently.
"Pyra… Listen to me. We, as in me and our friends, we did trust you… More than you know. There were obviously doubts, but we oversaw them. And your actions against us was not your fault – it was Silvia's doing. So do not wrap yourself in self-blame… Do not wallow in guilt. We all trust you; after all, it was you who saved us in the end – you managed to disable Silvia. Trust me. Do not be unhappy, for we're all here for you, especially me." Felix said firmly, and reached forward to tuck a stray strand of Pyra's red hair away from her face.
Looking up, Pyra felt the tears in her eyes; furiously refusing to let herself cry, she began to frantically blink them away, and stared at the Venus adept, "Felix… Thank you so much…" Abruptly, she stepped forward, and let her head fall against Felix's shoulder, her blood red hair falling with her. "Thank you…"
Surprised at first, Felix smiled softly down at his friend as he let her cry silently into his cloak, and in his mind, he hoped that Pyra would feel better soon. "She deserves her happiness…"
After another couple of days of rest, Aaron finally awoke, to the delights of Garet and Kay especially. However, the team had still failed to find the location of the Sol Star and Lighthouse…
"Pyra, I remember you telling me about these special batch of islands before we came. Lunara here is one of them, right?" Ivan asked the older adept, who'd he become great friends with – they often spent many nights together where Pyra taught the younger adept much about things that fascinated him.
The irritated team, excluding the youngsters, Justin, Megan, Kay and Aaron, were once again assembled in the kitchen, all trying to figure out something none of them knew.
"Ah, yes…" Pyra mused, "I recall that. I forgot to tell you…"
"Well, could it be that Sol's lighthouse stands on one of these islands?"
"Hm… There are many many islands, Ivan… I regrettably do not know them all – there are too many to name! However, I have an idea now! I may know somebody on one of the other islands who could help us…"
"Who?" Isaac's head shot up, hope filling his insides, threatening to burst.
"He's a guy I met on my journey long ago…" Pyra replied, scrunching up her face, trying to remember something, "I was on the island Sunka, when I almost drowned in my ship – there had been a terrible storm, and being a Mars adept, I had no chance… I would've died, if it hadn't been for him… He said his name was Kent, and he happened to be a Sol adept. I stayed with him for a while as I recovered, and he turned out to know quite a lot about the islands and about alchemy. I was rather surprised… He was so young! Once I was well again, and prepared to leave, he asked me to visit him whenever I passed by… I think it's time to pay him that long-awaited visit."
"Then let's go!" Isaac stood up suddenly, causing the chair to crash on the floor.
"Chill, Isaac." Jenna smirked. "You're over-excited."
All of a sudden, the only window in the kitchen, which faced out to the sea, was shattered as a body flew through it, screaming at the same time. The red blur shot at Lola and Lulu, who both cried and dodged out of the way just in time; however, the screaming blob did end up hitting the person behind the girls – Felix.
"Aaron!" Garet roared angrily as everyone saw the Mars adept's younger brother sprawled against Felix, who was lying on the floor awkwardly. The young boy was definitely out like a light – and the high-pitched screaming that had obviously emitted from his mouth had died too. "I thought you kids were playing peacefully outside?"
"What in Venus…?" Felix frowned, staring at the bundle on top of him. Quickly, the older adept grabbed hold of Aaron and placed him on a chair, examining him to make sure Garet's sibling was unhurt. "Please don't tell me this was another prank of his and Kay's… It obviously backfired on him!"
A seething Garet turned towards the broken window, and stalked up to it, ignoring the crunching of glass below his new boots. "Kay!" he bellowed loudly, red in the face.
Kay, Justin and Megan appeared rapidly behind the corner of the house, Kay wearing a very guilty expression on her face. Kay shuffled her feet, "What's the matter, big bro?" she asked timidly, clutching onto Justin and Megan.
Garet stared at his younger sibling for a brief moment, then yelled, "Did you throw Aaron into our meeting room? Did you?" before Kay could even reply, he shouted again, "What in Mars did you do that for!"
Having obviously lost the gift of speech, Justin spoke up for her, "Well, us four were sparring, and it was my idea to have a small tournament, since we were all bored. First off, it was Aaron against me, and Megan and Kay. Then it was Kay against me, and Megan against Aaron. Finally, I went against Megan, and Kay was versus Aaron… But Kay judged her timing and strength badly, and ended up throwing Aaron through the window, and into, um…" the fourteen-year-old boy stared past Garet and into the kitchen, "er… into… Felix… as far as… I can see…" Kay winced as she heard this, and cowered behind Justin, her hand gripping Megan's tightly, visibly afraid of her older brother's unstoppable wrath.
There was an awkward silence, and Kay closed her eyes, knowing her doom was to come, when suddenly and surprisingly, it was broken by…
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Huh?" Garet turned around to see his girlfriend, Jenna, laughing very loudly, and whacking her elder brother on the back.
"You okay, Felix?" Jenna asked between breaths, "Haha, you're so cursed, ya know? It's always you getting hurt! These kids have so got it in for you! Haha!"
"I'm fine, Jenna." Felix replied grudgingly, sighing at his younger sister's behaviour, "Thanks for your great concern."
"It was funny though!" Jenna protested, then looking at everyone else, "Come on, wasn't it funny to watch Aaron fly through a window, screaming, then land on top of Felix?"
"Well…" Sheba began, smiling a little, thinking.
"It was kind of funny…" Ivan trailed of, smirking, his mind replaying the scene.
"Yeah, watching Felix get bowled over is rather…" Piers searched for the right word.
"Amusing." Sapphia grinned, finishing her husband's sentence.
Suddenly, everyone, excluding Felix, Garet and the younger children, were laughing loudly, much to the others' amazement. Garet unexpectedly started to chuckle quietly, and shook his head, "Trust Jenna to make a joke out of all of this…"
"Stupid Jenna… Damn her…" Felix cursed his Mars adept sister on his mind.
"Let me see if Aaron's alright." Megan jumped through the broken window and ran to the unconscious boy.
"I think we need to fix that window." Lulu grinned at her twin.
"Sorry…" Kay apologised, hanging her red head.
"Ah, it's okay, Kay, you silly girl." Garet patted his sister on her shoulder. "Now, let's make sure your younger brother's alright."
As the team set out the next day, with Aaron once again rapidly on the mend, the day shined brightly for them, and they all felt their spirits rise. Little did they know, the days set ahead for them was not going to be so great…
"Ah…" Aaron yawned, stretching, standing on the deck. "We've been on this ship for… ages… How long till we get there?"
"Not long, Aaron!" Lola replied cheerfully, her hair blowing in the cool wind, though she herself had no idea of the true answer.
"Actually, we have quite a while to go till we reach Sunka…" Pyra grinned at Felix; the two of them were watching the sights, the sea and the sky, feeling calm and relaxed.
"Don't tell that to Aaron, though." Felix smirked back.
Isaac, Mia, Garet and Jenna were below deck, playing cards to pass the time, while Sapphia and Piers manipulated the ship; Sheba and Ivan were situated in the mast, enjoying each other's company while on duty, and the others, namely Lola, Lulu, Felix, Pyra, Kay, Aaron, Justin and Megan, were all at the front of the ship.
As Felix, Pyra, Lola and Lulu chatted and enjoyed the view at the side, Megan lay under the sun, reading a book; Aaron was walking around, bored to pieces, and Justin was teaching Kay how to spar better.
"That's it…" Justin encouraged, as he hit back Kay's sword attacks, meanwhile dictating, "a bit higher, and quicker too… To the left! Yes! Now to the right! Careful, you'll hit yourself like that, and leave an opening for your enemy… Tuck the blade in, and then hit out. Yes! You've got it. Now--"
However, before Justin could complete his sentence, Aaron walked past, and Kay, not looking down, unfortunately tripped on his foot, and fell forward. The sharp sword she'd been using flew from her open hand, and fell, narrowly missing a shocked Aaron's leg; Kay herself landed hard on top of Justin, who fortunately had not let go of his own blade, and sent it flying.
"I'm so sorry!" Kay gasped, and fell off Justin, "Ow! … Aaron, damn you!" she swore, angry, and blushing bright red.
"Hey! You almost killed me!" Aaron protested angrily, pointing at the sword, which was stuck in the floor, blade down. "I can't even get it out! It's stuck in so firmly! That's how hard it landed! It could've killed me!"
"Shut up! You tripped me up first!"
Quickly hopping up, Justin reached for Kay's hand to help her up. Grabbing it, she thanked him, and retrieved the sword with ease. "Now that's one thing you don't want to do." Justin joked warmly, and laughed, and Kay found herself laughing along with him.
After a few days on board the ship, everyone had grown bored and restless, all wanting to get off as quickly as possible. So when Ivan hollered that land was in sight, and Pyra confirmed that the island was indeed Sunka, the team rejoiced gladly, and flew off the ship, relieved to be on land again.
"Hey, why don't I go and find my friend by myself?" Pyra suggested, smiling, "After all, all of you, especially the younger ones, don't want to toil around with me, do you? I haven't been here in ages, so I might need some time to find his house… Go have some fun – Sunka has some great sights. It's beautiful."
"No, I'll go with you." Felix immediately cut in, "It's not safe to go on your own. Everyone must travel at least in a group of two - then at least you have back up."
Isaac nodded in agreement, while Jenna rolled her eyes and smirked at her elder brother, "Yes, Felix is correct. If we split up, we must all stay in small groups." He turned to Pyra and Felix, his blue eyes excited, "So… We'll see you two later."
As the team split up, Pyra led Felix away to search for her old friend. Meanwhile, the groups were quickly sorted. Isaac and Garet were a twosome, as were Piers and Sapphia; Sheba, Jenna, Mia, Lola, Lulu and Megan decided to hang out in a large group, and finally, Justin, Kay and Aaron were together, much to Kay's annoyance that her younger brother would be accompanying them.
"Don't worry about him." Justin smiled at her, seeing her look of disbelief and irritation, "I'll look out for him, and hopefully he won't be too much trouble."
Walking to the shops with the other girls, who were all chatting happily, feeling carefree, Mia suddenly had an extremely awful feeling about something she couldn't quite place her finger on. Lagging behind, the Mercury adept felt a large unexpected headache building up, and she frowned, "What's going on? Am I ill? I barely get ill!"
Half an hour passed, and Mia's condition grew worse; not wanting to worry her friends, she kept her illness a secret, and suffered slowly as her headache grew worse, and her legs and body grew weak and tired, even though every now and again, one of the girls would ask if she was alright, obviously seeing she was not herself.
"Hey, do you think Mia's okay?" Lola asked the girls as they walked ahead, an anxious expression on her pretty face, "She seems a bit out of it…"
"Yeah." Megan nodded, frowning, "She's not normally like this, but she won't say that there's anything wrong!"
"Let's ask her again." Jenna suggested, determined.
"Yeah, you could probably force it out of her." Sheba smirked, and in return, Jenna hit the Jupiter adept lightly on the arm.
"Hey…" Lulu suddenly spoke up, worry laced in her voice, "… Where is Mia!"
Everyone turned to see that the blue haired girl had indeed disappeared from sight. Only the villagers of Sunka milled around, trading things, totally ignorant of what was happening to the group of worried girls.
"Oh no…" Jenna whispered, her face paling rapidly.
Meanwhile, Mia was well and truly... lost.
"Where am I?" the Mercury adept stared around at her surroundings anxiously, "I swear I wasn't here before…" Many large trees enclosed her, and she could barely make out the blue sky.
"That's because you weren't! I transported you here!" a feminine voice cried out, laughing mockingly, the sound seemingly coming from all directions, and answering the questions Mia's mind had asked.
"What the… Ah! … Ah…" Mia gasped as her head throbbed suddenly and sent a shock of pain through her.
"You're mine, Mia!"
There was sudden blinding silver light, lighting up the green forest in which the mystery person had transported Mia. As the light faded, the patch of ground which Mia had stood on a second ago was empty…
Mia had gone.
Princess Viv: Isaac is gonna be so worried… Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this. Please review!