Where there's light...
Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or any of the characters, I just like the games.
Wasabe!? Told you it would be quicker this time, and thanks to my two loyal readers for the names of those damn continents. Atteka and Hesperia, Atteka and Hesperia, Atteka and Hesperia, Atteka and Hesperia, Attek... ah! Got it now! Yes, so I'll have it right now. Chapter nine, ho!
Chapter Nine: Jupiter Lighthouse
The party landed at the Atteka Inlet with no mishaps, then set off for the lighthouse. They stopped for nothing, not even the little village nearby. As they approached the lighthouse, they could tell that the demon had already been at it for some time. The ground was getting softer and wetter as the went, no longer a flat windy plane but a bog. When they saw the lighthouse over the crest of a hill, they truly understood the power of these demons.
"By the elements..." Picard breathed.
"It's enormous!" Sheba exclaimed.
"What're we gonna do?!" Garet burst out angrily.
For almost a mile on any side, the lighthouse was surrounded by water. A veritable lake had appeared, holding dirty, foul-smelling water nearly twenty feet deep at the center. The lighthouse's entrance was completely swallowed up by the water, and the source of the water could easily be seen. At the peak, where the star still shone, what appeared to be an enormous fountain spewed out the water in all directions.
"We can't get in." Isaac said despondently.
"Could we swim?" Sheba asked.
"One, it's too far, two, the entrance is covered up, three, this water is most likely poison, and finally four; we can't climb up the side of the lighthouse." Felix replied sharply, almost harshly. Sheba looked down quickly, ashamed.
"Well, something in hell has to be done!" Garet yelled.
"What?! WHAT then, Garet?! Tell us, in all your wisdom, what!" Jenna screamed back.
"Well damnit I don't know, but SOMETHING!" Garet yelled.
"Guys, this fighting isn't doing anything! Please, stop shouting before you blow our ears off!" Ivan commanded.
The stood uncomfortably in silence for a long while before Mia snapped her fingers excitedly.
"Picard! How much psynergy do you have left?" she asked.
"I dunno, almost all of it, why?" Picard replied distractedly.
"We freeze it!"
Everyone looked at her like she'd suggested cutting down a dry with a kipper.
"Freeze it?" Isaac said confused.
"Yes! Not the whole thing, of course, but maybe a walkway over to the lighthouse. The Ivan and Sheba can use their psynergy to wind-blast us up!"
They all looked at eachother in consternation.
"But, it'll take too much psynergy! You'd need an army to do that!" Jenna exclaimed.
"And we have no psynergy crystals, so we'd only have as much psynergy as you two have..." Felix added.
"Not so!" A voice said.
Everyone jumped as a Djinn, Dew, suddenly popped out from Mia's hair.
"You can use our powers as a catalyst to magnify your psynergy!" The creature exclaimed.
"But won't that seriously drain you?" Felix asked worriedly.
"Well, yes, but the important thing is the lighthouse! That's the important thing right now! If you don't get in that lighthouse, then all is lost!" The party nodded solemnly in assent.
Thus the eighteen Mercury Djinn lined up on the shore of the foul lake. Mia and Picard stood behind them.
"Ready, Djinn?" Flint, the overall leader, called out.
The Djinn moved their tails in a gesture of readiness.
"Adepts, ready?" Mia and Picard nodded.
"Alright...now!"
As Mia and Picard cast Glacier at the Djinn, they combined their power with the spell and then reflected it at the lake. When Mia and Picard were finally drained, a nice, five-foot wide ice path glimmered in the setting sun.
The two adepts collapsed on their backs in exhaustion while the Djinn went into their stoic resting position to recover.
"Go...now...quickly..." Mia gasped.
"But, what about you two?" Jenna hesitated.
"We'll...be fine...for now...go!" Picard yelled.
"I'll stay with them," Felix suddenly proclaimed. "If some monsters attack, they'll be helpless."
Everyone looked at him oddly.
"It's true! Besides, so far I haven't too useful with the demons lately." He then looked around, unsheathed his Sol Blade, and gave it to Garet.
"Use it, I figure it'll be useful." He said.
"Hey, why does Garet get it?!" Jenna asked, hurt.
"Because, Jenna," Felix smiled. "He's the only one strong enough to have two swords."
With that, the reduced party of five set of across the ice bridge.
When they were at the new foot of the lighthouse, Sheba and Ivan stood to either side.
"Ready?" Ivan asked.
They all murmured their preparedness.
"Tornado!" Ivan and Sheba yelled together.
The wind picked up into two mighty tornado's, which combined into one huge one. The power of the attack spun them up to the top of the lighthouse, were they got off before the attack finished. (Which just involved being dropped from a very tall height.)
Now at the aeire of the lighthouse, the party beheld the Jupiter Star, now markedly smaller, its light barely pulsing as the energy was sucked out of it. Also, the continuous stream of water was shown to be coming out of the elevator shafts. Apparently the lighthouse was completely flooded.
"This is horr-" Jenna began. But before the sentence was finished, they were suddenly encased in ice!
They stood there, flash-frozen without even surprise on their faces. The reflections on the ice made them look like blue shadows in the evening twilight.
A swirling oval of water moved away from the Star and dissipated a few feet away, revealing an incredibly ugly demon standing there.
It was blue and covered in fishscales, with sharp fins standing out at certain points along its body. Giant black compound eyes stood out on its head, and purple tentacles waved where its mouth should be.
"Hurr hurr...My brother's killers, destroyed so simply. What a disappointment." The demon cackled. It then moved toward the ice block where Sheba stood encased.
"Now to shatter you like I will shatter the souls of all who oppose our God." The demon cackled. As it unfurled the razor-tipped fins on its arms, a cracking was heard.
"Eh?! What?!"
One of the ice chambers suddenly shattered, revealing Garet clutching the Sol Blade. It was pulsing slowly and rhythmically, glowing red. The Mars adept stood holding it in front of him, staring in disbelief at the sword.
"Sooo...A Mars Adept, eh? So like us..." the demon said.
Garet looked up sharply. "What the hell are you talking about, demon!? I'm nothing like you!"
"You do not know the alignment?" The demon asked. Garet shook his head, and the demon laughed darkly.
"Noo, you wouldn't know. And you will never know either, when I finish with you." The demon said.
"Mortal child, I confess I am weaker than my brothers, but I am not evil, either" It said soothingly.
"Not evil?! Liar! I can see what you're doing, what you've done..." Garet yelled.
"NOT evil, in comparison..."
Garet was confused now. "Comparison...?"
The demon nodded and then motioned to the four others trapped in the ice. "Them, Garet, these other mortals are your greatest evil."
Garet snarled. "Now I know you're lying! And how do you know my name?!"
"Ahh, Garet. I know many things. Your past, your hopes, your love for the girl, Jenna..."
Garet stiffened.
"Yes Garet, I know many more things, as well. I know the pain you felt loving Jenna but never getting the chance to speak. I know the anger you felt when you saw her and Isaac together on that night after lighting this lighthouse. The envy, even hate, you covered upthinking abouttheir wedding. And the endless insults and disrespect from the others. It was you who dealt that final blow to the Doom Dragon when everyone else was unconscious. It was you who rescued Isaac when he fell at Colosso. And it was you who killed the powerful enemies, took the brunt of the attacks, suffered in the cold on watch while they talked by the fire. You owe them nothing!"
Garet was silent. To his horror, part of him agreed with everything the demon said to him. He couldn't help it; the darkness that had grown within him so long...was coming out.
Yes, Garet. Let the darkness consume you! It welcomes you, it wants you like no person ever wanted you. It accepts you no matter what. Let it all surround you" The demon spoke coaxingly. Garet felt it growing within him, and suddenly it spoke through him.
"They've done nothing for me..." The darkness within Garet's own soul spoke.
"Yes..."
"And I've done everything for them..."
"Yes..."
And in that moment, the darkness had him.
A malevolent sneer spread across Garet's face. His eyes closed slightly as dark shadows appeared underneath them. His muscles bulged a bit, his hair turning from red to a deep crimson streaked with black. Garet stood a bit higher and let out a terrible laugh not capable by a normal man.
"Yes! My comrade, my lackey, my demon" The water demon chuckled in triumph.
"Master...what shall I address you by?" The demon formerly known as Garet asked.
"My name given to me by our Dark Lord is Aegir. You shall be known as Brokk, my servant for His resurrection!"
"What is your command?" Brokk asked.
"Shatter these pitiful humans, end their lives." Aegir commanded.
Brokk shuffled over to the first ice block. Raising the Sol Blade into the air, he prepared to strike it, breaking it and the body inside into fragments.
As he swung the sword down, he noticed something.
Inside the block, a red-haired girl about eighteen looked out into the world, at the demon about to shatter her.
Inside the ice, a tear drop slid down her cheek.
Brokk stopped the sword, as something teetered on the edge of his mind.
A memory.
But not his own.
A storm raged as a young boy about fourteen with red hair lay unconscious on a muddy little lane. A boy with brown-blonde hair lay next to him.
And a girl at thirteen ran up to the red-haired boy with an older woman behind her, calling her to come back.
"Garet! Isaac!" The girl sobbed as she ran to the prone bodies. "Nooo! Please, don't leave me too!"
She knelt at their heads, but over the red-headed boy she cried.
"Don't leave me..."
The demon Brokk twitched. A sudden upwhelling of emotion burst out of Garet's heart.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!"
"Leave us be!"
"Get out of me!"
"Damn human!"
"Demon! JENNA!"
An explosion of light. When it faded, the true Garet stood, panting heavily.
"What!? What is this?! My demon, purified!" Aegir screeched.
Garet turned to face the demon.
"I know now, demon. You tried to make me kill my friends, my love, my own soul, but I know that they care. The amount of good they've done for me outweighs the times they are harsh on me. But they care for me, AND I WILL NOT BETRAY THEM!"
With blinding speed, Garet raced up to the demon and sliced right through it.It was cut asunder and was no more.
He then sheathed the Sol Blade and bowed his head. "Jenna, I know now I cannot make you love me as I love you. Be truly happy with Isaac, and I promise to watch over you two. Forever."
With that he melted the ice surrounding his friends. They stumbled out of the slush, looking dazed. However, Jenna ran to Garet, hugging him tightly.
"I thought you were gone...when I saw...thatin there, I thought you had left us."
Garet just stood. This was all he'd wanted for so long.
"Please...don't ever leave us."
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The party exited the lighthouse via the elevator. With the demon dead, the water disappeared quickly, and the Jupiter Star glowed brightly once again.
When they reached the bottom, Picard, Mia, Felix, and the Djinn raced up to them.
"You guys did it!" Mia cried.
They all then talked among each other, but the most mentioned part was Garet's heroism. As he stood, the center of attention, he thought to himself.
'These are truly my friends. I have respect, and I respect them. This is what I wanted.'
Then Garet did something he hadn't done in two years; he threw back his head and laughed.
They others were a bit taken aback. "Whoa, Garet. You...laughed again! Why...?" Isaac ventured.
Garet looked him in the eye and replied. "Because, my friend, I'm happy again. For the first time in two years, I'm really happy."
The all were silent a while, then Isaac patted Garet on the shoulder, saying "Then welcome back, Garet. Welcome back."
Ahhh! What a happy ending! Of this chapter, I mean. I can't end this! Really, Garet is my favorite character, so I really wanted to do a chapter that dealt mostly with his inner insecurities. Hope you liked it, the fic is now heading to the downward stretch!