Wrath of a Goddess
Story by Mikaa
Characters by Camelot and Nintendo

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or world presented in this story (the rightful owners are Nintendo and Camelot).

Warning: This story is rated T for Teen, primarily for violence and descriptive gore, with mild language thrown in. You have been warned.

Chapter 8 - Should Have Gone Towards The Light, Kid

He did not want to open his eyes. No, that was untrue: he did not wish to open his eyes. In all the years since he ventured out of his home to seek glory and power, never did he envision himself nearly killing his childhood girlfriend, cheating death, smacking around guards, betraying those that "trusted" him, being beaten by a rock, being thrown into the bedroom of one of his most annoying "friends" by the woman he wanted to forgive him, killed several people against his will, and now decided to not open his eyes after opening them and seeing nothing but white. Pure, untainted white. No sky, no hands, no nothing. The entire world was bathed in it.

He was dead. That had to be it. And Alex knew he had asked for it. Somehow.

But if he was dead, why did he see Felix? He did not see the dark haired Venusian with his eyes, or at least not with normal vision. It was though he was able to sense him, sense his presence through the nothingness that was existance. Was it an illusion? If it was, why did he alse "sense" Mia walking away, and Isaac laying on the ground? Why was he seeing these in his mind? Were they dead too?

The roughness of the hand that grabbed his shirt to pull him up told a different tale. Practically dragged lifeless to his feet, Alex was unable to stand strait, still dizzy from when Isaac clubbed him with the sword. Despite what he wished to do, Alex opened his eyes, trying to blink as the brilliance of the morning light burned his eyes. How the natural light was more brilliant than the false light, he did not know, nor did he care once he saw Felix's face:

Felix's features were one of pure fury and distrust. Eyes that had earlier held sympathetic support when Alex was being attacked by the barbarian of a Martian now had a cold lock on him. His stance was rigid, and if he had a sword on him, Alex might have actually died right there. Not that he thought he was alive now; he was quite convinced he was in hell.

Forever it seemed that Felix held him, their standoff of staring going nowhere except at making Alex worry about if he would survive any longer. Woozy from the blow to the head, Alex barely noticed the throng approaching from behind Felix. What he did notice, though, was the dark grumblings in the air, several of which involved Alex being handed over to Garet.

Barely able to focus, Alex was unable to defend himself as Felix's grip vanished and a set of massive fists began to pummel him. Falling to the ground, only pitiful cries of pain came from him, and even they were silenced by a combination of the sounds of his body being hit and the cheers from the crowd.

"STOP IT!"

Was that Mia's voice? What?

The pain lingered, but the attacks stopped. Alex was unable to move, and was not sure of what he saw when a figure approached him. At first he thought he saw Isaac kneeling over him, the Venusian having a look of pity on his face. Yet at the same time, and here was why Alex was sure he was delusional, he could have sworn the look in the eyes was that of Mia's. The warmth, the caring.

Alex heard Garet hollaring and spitting out foul words in response to Isaac's interruption (which seemed non-violent, though Alex could barely tell). His body throbbing in pain, it took him a minute to realize the pain was dying down, With his sight barely back, he looked up at the face over him, eyes wide with shock.

It was Isaac kneeling next to him, a light aura healing the wounds from both his own efforts and Garets. Yet though it did seem to be Isaac over him, those eyes still had a look of Mia's. For that matter, every so often they had the same appearance as Isaac's. That blow to the head must have been worse than he feared.

His efforts netting results, Isaac turned to look at the group, Alex trying to look around while not moving, hoping that people would forget about him. Yeah, right.

"No one is to harm Alex."

Alex had to admit, the silence that followed that statement certainly would have made him pause to wonder if he heard right. And as if on cue, scores of yelling followed the all-too brief silence. Figured.

"Isaac," bellowed Garet, "he killed DORA! Your own mother!"

Pain flooded Isaac's face, but the reaction was wierd, at least to Alex. Being close enough to study it well, he noted the controlled coolness in the eyes, but the flenching of pain in the jaw was that of Mia's. Something told Alex that he was not dreaming, much as he wished he was.

"He was being controlled by a higher power." A few murmors, and a lot of questioning looks from where Alex lay.

Garet, though, was not quite a master of tact: "What the blazes does that mean? Have you lost it?"

The response did not come from Isaac: "Garet, you moron, do you even THINK about what you see?" Alex quietly praised the speaker (he thought it was Sheba, but it was hard to tell; could have been Ivan for all Alex knew). "The Wise One was attacking Mia, and Elements knows she never could have attacked like that on her own."

Felix abruptly spoke, "Everyone go back to the village. We will have a meeting at noon." The hard edge in the voice was nothing like the Felix as Alex remembered him. Something in his voice was different. Was it just Alex, or was something very, very wrong going on here?

And for that matter, why was Isaac focusing on him, and not Mia?

End of Chapter

A/N - Again, I wish to thank all of you, the readers, and give a big batch of cookies to the reviewers. I love the feedback, and have enjoyed the various opinions about what I have done (I still have to chuckle about how many people were actually glad that I spared Alex... Or was it Isaac you were worried about? ha ha). To be blunt, I almost went with the original idea with this story, but given how much you like it, I think I will go with my other idea.

What is that, you ask? Curiosity killed the cat. That's what I heard, never seen it proved; if it was true my cat would be dead about... how many days since The Lost Age was released? Something like that. In any event, don't fret that I will give up on this story; Elements knows I have dropped more stories than Camelot has pranked about Golden Sun 3. However, Chapter 009 is in the BETA stage, and I already have the outline for ten and eleven. That, and the mp3s of One Wing Angel (Advent Children), Neodammerung (the final battle theme from Matrix 3... what?), Paper Maio 2's Bowser battle, and the Halo 3 trailer's music for several inspirations thus far (One Wing Children gave me the idea for the Alex/Isaac fight, after all), and I already have several sketches (in my mind, I am looking for someone to draw them... sigh) of possible battles. And how does the fic end? Why spoil that? Why not? Isaac dies.

Ha ha. Or am I?

Signing my death aside, I will do my best to churn out the next few chapters in a timely matter. I regret that I do not communicate with all of you reviewers on a more frequent basis, but with work, preparing to move, looking for a second job for the evil known as student loans, researching the upcoming Wii and PS3 to be invaluable to work, AND playing NEW Super Mario Bros. in-between Brain Age, I just have to go as I go.

In closing, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and am really looking forward to seeing what feedback I can get on THIS. I have to say, I'll probably be dead from suspense when I get off work tonight, but should by some means I return reanimated by the muses I trained for such a task, I will read with joy.

Wow. I sure could have ended that better.

Adios, and hope you continue to read!

Mikaa, Hunter of Metroids