Alexditto: ¡Grazias! Me gusta hablar español también. Pero… ¡no soy un señor! And, Sour, this might sound weird but I was excited. I had gotten so into it that I had an adrenaline spike along with Math. Bizarre. Hey, what do you want to say when you come into the story?

Khorne, the ChaosMage: Boomarangeantoodooloodoos! You're my first violent reviewer! I'm good enough to be threatened! WOOHOO!!!!! (P.S. See I'm keeping it up…so don't smite me! ::cowers in fear::)

Vyctori: You're on my favorite authors list! If I take a long time to update, will you get Menardi to hurt me? Not that I want you to, just wondering. His hair's not cut! Read on and find out! The blue specks were just for the Djinn (All Djinn have blue eyes except for Mercury) but that might work too. Just for a heads up on "modern day Proxans", check the world map that comes with the instruction booklet then check a real world one. 0 (I don't know why I find this funny, I just do.) Writing the accent will be fun! On the Math issue, not exactly. It'll be explained later.

Orchid the Jupiter Adept: I'm sorry about the confusion, but it seemed wrong to keep the same names. Seriously, I hate rebirth fics that do that! Still, I'm keeping it similar. Well, except for Math, but the only "F" starting name I could think of (besides Felix) was Felton. ::shudders:: Besides that, the names will had the same first letter or basic sound.

Vilya: Thanks! I had a lot of time to think this out. So much in fact that it only took a day and a half to write this. I nearly had to respond to you in the next chapter!

End of Response Section

To (attempt to) avoid any more confusion, I'm saying right here that flashbacks will be done in italics.

Disclaimer: Rallalon does not own Golden Sun, any of it's charactors, evil soccer balls, the month of June, a bench, a persistent irk, the phrases "Oh by the salt," and "Get back! Get back!!!", run-on sentences, a braid (hair's too short), an out of beat chorus, complete idiots, and sweet sleepy moments.

………

The park was nice and quiet at night. All the kids had gone home, taking their evil soccer balls with them. The stars were out, meaning no clouds, meaning no rain. Not that it would've been that bad. It was in the middle of June and unusually warm. All in all, it was a perfect night.

Then why can't I sleep? thought Picard Piers, staring up through the slats of the bench he laid under.

[Because you're excited we found three of them today?] Spring volunteered.

((And that none of them remembered us?)) added Flint gloomily.

((Felix remembered us.))

Shut up, Echo. Just shut up.

((Why? That was him! I had every right to . . .))

{We didn't. Not when we found Garet and Isaac. What gives you that right?!}

You nearly blew all of this for us! Oh by the salt, you might've already!

"Matthew, what in the blazes is going on?!" the old man yelled. "What happened to you?! A Djinni . . ."

Echo waddled closer. "Hello," he said in his mimicking voice, sounding like the out of beat chorus he always did when he spoke.

"Echo . . . " the boy had breathed, now calm.

He knew who Echo was! There was only one person he could be with the Psyngeric flames of Venus dancing in his veins. "You're back."

But while Felix's reincarnated form had calmed down, the old man hadn't. "Get back! Get back!!!" he ordered Felix, holding a broom in one hand like a sword and for a shield, an old folding chair, most likely rusted closed.

Echo had simply sat there, staring at Felix as Picard was doing. Felix simply stared back, his hazel eyes remembering their fear. Then he scrambled back again until he was behind the old man.

That was what struck Picard as the greatest change. Not that his hair was buzzed so it was more of a dark fuzz than his former mane. Not that Picard was taller than him. Not that he was scrawny, or looked way too young to be even fifteen, let alone eighteen. No, it was how his friend and ally was looking at him.

It was how one of the few people who had always been there for him was afraid of him. Picard knew that look; he had worn it nearly everyday oh so long ago.

Picard had been face-to-face with many a monster wearing that look. Maybe Felix was seeing a monster too.

{He was afraid of Echo! Afraid of his own Djinni! Felix isn't a coward; that couldn't've been him!}

Cannon, does everything have to be black-and-white with you? It's all gray area here; you can't go and get a simple answer.

((He recognized me for a little bit!))

And then he got scared. See? Grey territory.

Picard tried to block their conversation out. He thought of the events that had followed in the mishap.

He had grabbed a rather shaken Echo, who had immediately started fighting him. "Set already! Set!"

Most likely believing Picard was trying to hold the thrashing Djinni back from hurting them, the man "came to his rescue". With a yell, he had charged forward, holding the broom and chair as if he were jousting. Echo squirmed free half-a-second before, leaving Picard to dodge the blow.

He sidestepped and made a grab at Echo, still trying to get back to Felix. Felix who apparently had other plans. He ran for the door, yelling back "I'll get some help!"

That had thrown Picard for a loop. Felix, leaving a fight, to get help. Felix didn't do that. Felix isn't afraid of me either. Had he and Echo made a mistake? No, behind the fear there had been acknowledgement. That had been Felix. A weird Felix.

"Wait!" the old man yelled.

What?

Too late. He had been out the door and was most likely halfway down the street already. Echo sat on the floor disappointedly, finally letting Picard grab him.

"Oh well, probably better this way," said . . . What was that he been called? Oh yes, Dock. It seemed Lemuria wasn't the only place with water-based names.

"Uh, what?" Picard had inquired, rather confused from the whole ordeal.

"Is it yours? Venus isn't it?" Dock asked right back, intrigued.

Picard was at a loss for words. But Echo wasn't: "I'm mine," Echo responded haughtily. "And I'm a he, not an it."

Echo, shut up! he hissed at the elemental beast in his arms through mind link. He said aloud, "What exactly do you know about –"

"Everything in these books." He tapped a finger on a shelf for emphasis. "In other words," he paused, obviously trying to heighten suspense, "Alchemy."

There was something familiar in that pause. Irksome, but familiar. Picard studied this "Dock". He was tall and must've been elderly by the outsider standards. He had a bird-like quality to him with his gray hair flying in different directions, like the feathers of a bird recently flown through turbulent winds. So familiar but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"So then, he's your partner, I take it?" Doc continued, now questioning Echo.

"No." It was always strange when Echo said "no". It was shouts, whispers, and cries of protest and denial. There was one particular voice in the cascade of tones that always stood out to Picard. The last no Felix had ever heard. "That guy who just ran out."

"Matthew didn't seem to know you… Ack! He's going to be bringing others! Quick, Set yourself! You," he pointed at Picard, "hide."

For once, Echo followed orders. In a moment, Doc was blinking away the after-image of the Setting light. ((C'mon, if I have to do what he says, so do you.))

"Why?"

"I'll explain later. Get into the jon!"

"Who?"

"The bathroom!"

After that nothing had been explained; he was just to come back the following day. Doc had covered, saying that Echo had been some freaky dog. Luckily, Felix (or Matthew depending on your point of view) was known for an overactive imagination. Not so luckily for him, it was embarrassing at age seventeen. He had also told Felix to come back tomorrow too.

Was that what was irking him? No, it was the sense that he knew Pops from somewhere.

Hello, Djinni to Picard, Djinni to Picard! Are you a complete idiot? That was Kraden! Who else is that... Kraden-like?!

Yes! Yes to Kraden, no to irksome. It was something else . . . Breath, you can drop the illusion now.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.

((You did forget.))

Picard didn't bother to shush Echo; he was too happy at the irk being gone. Just to be sure, he reached behind his head and gave his braid a firm tug. The Jupiter Djinni's illusion was fully gone. With it in effect, he looked like a fairly normal guy with hair dye and contacts. Not too unusual. The downside was that not even Picard would feel the tightly braided length of hair, even if his hand was on it.

The tired Lemurian gave it another tug. Still there. . .

He lay looking up through the slats but his mind was far away. It was one of those sweet sleepy moments where reality and dreams mix. One of rare times he didn't worry that his plan wasn't fully complete, or what the senators were doing while he was away. He closed his eyes and sunk deeper towards the dream of flying on the Seamist. He smiled in his sleep, glad to be back with his friends.