Hello again!

Thanks to everyone that reviewed!

And, sorry, Felix, Sheba! You'll come later. Not too much later, though.

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING:

BLACK ALBINO DOVE DOES NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN. THIS MAY CAUSE EYE IRRITATION, RINGING IN THE EARS, IMAGINARY CANCER, NONEXISTANT TUMORS, AND 0 CHANCE FATALITY (ROUNDED DOWN)

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Alex blinked.

It was freezing, freezing cold.

His was inside a snowdrift, with his legs poking out. He climbed out, any looked around for Mia.

He found her waking up as well after the sudden gust had come, well, suddenly. They began to rebuild shelters.

Isaac blinked. He was dead, and yet, he wasn't so dead.

He sprang up. How? He thought, and then he remembered. I must be in the realms of the gods.

He looked for the gate. Sure enough, there it was, and there was the statue of Daedalus, which the legends say created all of humanity.

He walked, unable to contain his sadness that it was really all over. His life down there, he wouldn't be able to go back to it, would he?

"See, I was right. Now pay up."

Isaac jumped.

Someone sighed. "All right, you old moneybag. But you won't be right next time."

He turned around, and there stood two knights. He recognized them immediately. Lord Catastrophe and Lady Judgment. The Lady, however, wasn't wearing her lane's head gauntlet. It was slung over he back.

He began to bow, but Catastrophe intervened. "Oh, none of that now. That's not necessary."

Judgment nodded. "Now, you want to go back, yes?" When he nodded, she said, "Few try it, because few want to go back, but we don't deny them the privilege. You know about the Roads of Time, no?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't," Isaac replied.

"Tch, earthlings." Catastrophe muttered. "Well, there are two roads - the easier one, which is a long, two-day walk. But, ease comes at a price. You will lose almost 50 years off your life. And you'll be in a different place, different world, with different people. The other road, only a few have passed. It is a road of trials, of fears, of temptations. It is the shorter of the two - you will lose only a day or so, and be in the same place. Still, the path will show you your greatest fears, your greatest desire, your greatest dreams. You must ignore all of these in order to succeed. It is a short, three-hour walk down a narrow but unwinding road, yet if it takes you more than 5, you will surely perish. Surely. Daedalus didn't make it that weak."

Isaac nodded. "And where will I find these roads?"

Judgment smiled at the young man's courage. "We can take you there. We will even travel with you during the first half-hour or so."

The warped him along with themselves onto a crossroads. Then they began trekking along the left-had route.

Jenna lay back on her soft mattress, thinking about Isaac.

"Why, why, Isaac? Why must you leave me all alone?" she whispered into the night air.

I'm stronger than this. I've lost my entire family once. Surely one person can't make this much difference.

Oh, but it can, her mind seemed to reply. Your mother, father, your brother, Felix, they meant much to you, surely. But remember who was there to comfort you. Remember who was there to help you up when you were down? Remember who would comfort you, who would give you peace, who would give you caring, and even love? Who would have even given you his heart if you asked?

"Isaac…" she whispered softly, and silently, tears began to flow from her eyes.

She cried herself to sleep that night.

She floated, suspended in midair. She saw Isaac, parting ways on a strange road with two strangely dressed knights.

"ISAAC! She called out, but no sound came from her lips. She wanted to go to him, to let him hold her, comfort her, to snuggle up to him, but her body was immobile.

She could only watch.

When they finally separated, Isaac began walking as fast as he could down the path. It looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere.

When the first image appeared, it made Jenna want to scream in fear. It was a horrendous, eighteen-headed, thousand-tentacled, goop-covered beast that made Haures look like a joke. It was the stuff of nightmares.

He ignored it, and kept walking. The image faded from sight…

And then a new one appeared. She saw everyone in the party, herself included, lying in the road, all dying but still savable. She saw him glance forlornly at them, then step over their bodies, ignoring their cries, pleas, and accusations. She could see it wrenched his heart.

When that faded, in it's place stood the Doom Dragon, but this time it held all the comets its paws. And instead of dragon heads, the people were seen. Their faces torn and bloodied, a wild frenzy in their eyes.

After he passed it by, the illusion was replaced by one of failure. One by one the party members fell, and she could see that each could be saved if he had intervened.

How and why she could see these things, she didn't know. She only knew that someone wanted her to know.

When she woke up from he troubled sleep, she realized it had been just a dream. Just a dream. It had seemed so real, so clear in her memory, that she doubted herself for a minute.

She went outside and immediately regretted it. She saw Isaac's body propped up by the tree he had died by – she hadn't had time to bury him yet.

Just seeing him brought another lump to her throat. The man she loved, killed by something so small, so harmless, and yet so dangerous that it had brought a great warrior like him down. It was too much for her to bear, and she sat on a nearby stump and cried, emitting sad, sad tears.

Before she knew what had happened, a flash appeared and Coatlique, Goddess of Life, appeared next to her.

She smiled. "Why do you seem so glum, child? You must know he is in a happy place, a place of joy."

Jenna nodded, ruefully. "I know. I know he must be happy up there. I know he will miss us, and I know it would be selfish to ask him to come back. Still, I miss him." She turned a question on the Goddess. "Why are you here?"

"To ask you that question, my dear. And now, it's been answered. Thank you."

Before she could respond, the Goddess disappeared.

Moments late, light descended upon Isaac's body. A circle of immortals gathered around him as Coatlique performed an incantation.

Jenna strained her ears and heard murmurs spoken by the gathered gods and goddesses.

"I can't believe he made it. And so quickly, too."

"You should have seen the little guy. I say we make a constellation, I do."

"Huh! Little shrimp did pretty good on that road yonder."

" We should complain to Daedalus. His illusions aren't tempting enough."

"Oh, do shut up, Thor. You know, this one has one of the strongest wills I've seen. He plowed through like it was made of butter and mud."

"Well, actually, Atalanta, part of it is made of butter and mud. See, I ran out of building materials because Thor here refused to get me more."

After a while, Coatlique stood up, looking happy. "There. It'll take his soul another minute or so to descend, but his body is ready for it. Now, no need to scare him back to death with a throng of immortals, is there?"

Mumbles of "no," "sure," and "whatever," were heard.

Then, all the immortals simply disappeared.

A single, shapeless form began floating toward the body, and within seconds they merged, and Isaac opened his eyes.

When his eyes took in his surroundings, he bolted up, then promptly fell back down again.

It took Jenna a while and several pinches before she absorbed what had just happened. Then, she dashed toward Isaac, and wrapped him up in her arms.

"Hey, not…so…hard…"he choked out.

"Oh…sorry." She replied, letting go.

Slowly, he got to his feet. Then, he looked around himself and began smiling.

"So. I'm back. Good, good place to live."

Then, he wrapped Jenna in his arm and they headed happily toward the tent to spend the rest of the day together, perfectly happy.

Sorry, I meant to keep Isaac dead longer, but I changed my mind.

And I will indeed update with more Lighthouse and Imilshipping.

Ciao

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