Masters of Alchemy

by Dannondorf

Hefty oneshot, set after TLA. I won't give away the plot, so you'll have to read to find out. Mud, flame, lighthouse, and Proxshipping toward the end. Please read and review. I'd love any criticism you can throw at me.

Masters of Alchemy

By Dannondorf

"Blah" is talking. 'Blah' is thinking. The symbol 1111111111111111 means a transition in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Golden Sun. This story is strictly for entertainment purposes and not for profit.

Author's Notes: For all you mudshippers and flameshippers reading this, the romance doesn't really happen until near the end, so I am sorry. And for the lighthouseshippers, there isn't much in the way of Felix/Sheba in this fic, just a couple of hints. Keep in mind that the story starts out a tad slow at the beginning (A few points have to explained, such as where everyone goes after the end of the second game.) and gradually picks up, so if you find it boring or uneventful at first, I promise that it gets better. If you take the time to read this, please also take the time to review. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like. I am trying to become a better writer (read my profile), so any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Now, on with the story!

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It had been strangely quiet that morning, and no one knew why. The chosen eight were nervous about something, as if they could all sense that a big change was going to happen by the end of the day. At length, Sheba broke the silence and confirmed their fears. "Guys, to be honest, I was waiting for someone else to say something first, but I think it's time for me to go home." The others looked at her in surprise. It hadn't been that long since they had defeated the Doom Dragon, had it? Oh, wait…it had. It had been two months. "I'm going back to Lalivero, and Felix has agreed to come with me."

Everyone turned to Felix, who had the slightest of blushes adorning his face but was still trying to maintain his ever-present serious expression as he nodded to let the others know that he did indeed plan on leaving with her. Normally, a blush from him would have garnered teasing from his friends, but the situation was much too serious for such actions.

Mia was stunned. "Sheba, are you sure?"

"Yes. I love being around you guys, but I have to return to my old life. Felix and I are packing today, and we'll set off tomorrow morning."

Jenna was outraged that no one had told her. "Brother, do mom and dad know about this!"

His response was calm. "Yes, they do. I told them last week."

"Any reason you didn't tell me!"

"I just didn't want to bum you out. Please don't be mad."

His request was, of course, ignored. Jenna let out a "hmph" and grumbled. Felix sighed, and he and Sheba left to go pack. The disgruntled fire adept turned to the others. "Does anyone else have any plans?"

Piers nodded sadly. "I'm afraid I should be leaving as well. It has been far too long since I've seen my friends in Lemuria."

"And I'm going to Contigo to live with my sister," Ivan piped in.

Jenna and Mia gaped at them. Why were their friends leaving so suddenly? Isaac and Garet, however, were strangely stoical about it; they were both deep in thought, as they too planned on leaving and were wondering how to bring the matter up appropriately. So the two girls babbled to each other about how unbelievable this was, and Isaac and Garet stared at the ground, neither a smile nor a frown upon their faces. This persisted for a minute until Garet, tired of getting nowhere with his thinking, reverted to his usual brusque methods and just stated his intentions. "I'm not staying in New Vale either; I want to train with Master Feh in Xian and get stronger."

Ivan watched Jenna's reaction to this statement. It contained just as much shock as her reactions to the others leaving had, but for some reason it held more sadness and less anger. "You're leaving too, Garet?" Jenna's tone was much softer than normal.

To Ivan's surprise, Garet seemed just as sad about this as Jenna did, though nobody else noticed. "Yeah, and I'm leaving as soon as possible; I want to be away from New Vale by the time tomorrow's storm comes. I already packed, so I'll see you guys."

Isaac stepped forward and hugged him. "It won't be the same without you around, man. Good luck with your training. We'll miss you." Ivan and Piers then had their turn to hug him. When Garet and Jenna embraced last, it lasted a little longer than the other embraces had. "Goodbye, everybody. I'll be back when I'm stronger." Without another word from anyone, he left the village. Nobody saw that as he turned away his emotionless expression had become a frown.

Now it seemed that Isaac, Mia, and Jenna were the only ones without plans. But Isaac messed that up soon enough. "Well, I'll stick around until everyone leaves, but then I'm leaving on a journey to develop my healing powers. I'm going to learn everything I can from the healers in each town of Angara. I also want to visit everyone we made friends with on our quest, particularly Tret and Laurel."

Mia's reaction to this was similar to Jenna's response to Garet's announcement. "You are? But Isaac…" she trailed off, not knowing what she could say to prevent him from walking out of her life. 'Why does this have to happen?'

Noting her sadness, Isaac hugger her. She melted into his touch and hugged him back fiercely, willing herself not to cry. Soon the others joined the hug, and they stayed in that position for a while until Isaac pulled away. "Guys, listen to me. I know it stinks that everyone is going separate ways, but we're all restless to return to our old lives or do whatever it is that we want to do. No one can be blamed for this; we should all be allowed to chase our own dreams."

Everyone took a moment to digest this. "Isaac, this may sound strange, but…mind if I come with you?" Mia asked timidly.

He smiled warmly, to her relief. "I'd like that. I could use the company, and I bet you could teach me a lot about healing. But what about Imil?"

"I will visit Imil again some day, but I don't know if I could live there again after seeing the whole world. I have some friends there like Megan and Justin, but I don't even have a family there. But you, Isaac, you…and the others," she said with a slight delay, "are family to me."

"You're free to come if you like. Jenna, any chance I could get you to come too? You'll be the only one of us in New Vale for a while if you don't."

She sighed. "No thanks. I'm going to stay here with my parents and help out with building new houses." (New Vale's construction was still not entirely finished.) "Have fun, though. I'll miss you all."

A day passed. Everyone who had plans to leave had left, leaving Jenna alone in New Vale. Why had she believed that everything would turn out happily after their quest ended? Everyone was splitting up, and they would drift apart. She did not want to meet them all again one day and feel like she was around complete strangers. Most of all, she did not want to lose Garet. 'Garet…I should have gone with him. Mia went with Isaac, after all.' But it was too late to change that. 'Oh well. I have my family here. I can be happy, right?' She spent every day from then on waiting for the return of a certain fire adept. She was happy and she enjoyed herself, but there was an unexplainable hole in her heart. It didn't interfere with her daily activities, but it grew more and more every day until finally she vented her emotions out one night and cried herself to sleep. 'I wonder if he ever thinks of me…I miss him so much…'

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One year later…

Ivan had been living a relatively normal life ever since he moved to Contigo. "Normal," of course, in the loosest sense of the word. For the past year, he had been learning more about his psynergy from his sister, Master Hamma. She knew very little about using wind psynergy as an attack, but she was wise and knew how to train the senses and use her powers to read minds, sense the presence of nearby sources of psynergy (sort of a sixth sense that Jupiter adepts have), and even predict the future in a few very rare cases. Of course, Ivan had already been able to read minds and sense others, but she helped him strengthen those abilities. He used to have to close his eyes and maintain absolute concentration to see the thoughts of other people, but through Hamma's training his powers had become almost second nature to him; he no longer had to close his eyes or concentrate very hard to do it. This helped because now it was less obvious even to adepts when he was using Mind Read. (He had even caught Hamma off guard once or twice.) Also, he could delve deeper into minds than he used to be able to; no longer was his access restricted to the most dominant thoughts running through a person's head. He could explore the memories and desires printed onto their subconscious. His 'sixth sense' had grown as well. It was still nowhere as good as Sheba's or Hamma's, but he was proud of the progress he had made.

Ivan was currently sailing on the ocean to Lalivero. Ever since he moved to Contigo, he had made bimonthly visits to Lalivero to visit Sheba and Felix. Part of this was so that he and Sheba could share anything new they had learned about their powers. They would have little contests to see whose psynergy was stronger. (For example, they would try to read each other's mind without the other noticing.) Sheba excelled ridiculously at reading minds and sensing others, and she always beat him in these categories; but he was better at summoning psynergy for attacks. In Contigo, whenever he wasn't learning from his sister, he would tinker around with his wind powers.

And of course, Felix was always up for a sparring match. Ivan didn't train in this area very often since he was usually busy perfecting his mind's abilities rather than his body's, so he cherished the opportunity to practice his swordplay, even though Felix beat him almost every time.

Soon Lalivero's port came into view. He smiled in anticipation. The smile only lasted for about a minute, though, until it was replaced by a look of confusion; his sixth sense had picked up something unusual. He could sense that there were two huge sources of power in Lalivero. Those, he knew from experience, were the two adepts he had come to visit. But there were two other enormous powers in the town, and he had no clue who they were. They certainly weren't inhabitants of Lalivero, or he would have sensed them on a previous visit. 'Hey! Maybe it's Isaac and Mia! They're travels must have finally taken them here!' Excited at the prospect of meeting more of his friends, the smile returned to his face.

After tying up his boat at the port, he let his sixth sense take over. It seemed that three of the powers had convened just outside the village and the other one was somewhere…near the center of town, probably in the house Sheba and Felix lived in. He identified the lone adept to be Felix and quickly ran in the direction his mind pointed to find the other three. He ran for fifteen minutes until he was a good mile outside the village. 'I can almost see them! I wonder who—'

He stopped running. He blinked to make sure he was seeing correctly, and he stared at the three figures moving away from Lalivero. When he recovered from the shock, he hid behind a rock before he could be seen. There, thirty feet in front of him, carrying Sheba in their arms, were two dead men, or rather one dead man and one dead woman: Saturos and Menardi. His blood ran cold, and for about a minute he was frozen in place, completely unable to move as he watched them walk away from him. Finally he snapped out of it, but he was still scared out of his wits. 'Crap, crap, crap, crap…they've taken Sheba? What do I do?' With a great amount of will power, he forced himself to calm down. Saturos and Menardi hadn't seen him yet, so maybe he could rescue her. 'No, that's stupid. There's no way I could beat both of them by myself, even if I catch them by surprise. I need to get Felix.' His decision made, he quietly slipped away and ran back to the village.

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Ivan burst through the door to Sheba's house. "Felix, Sheba's been kidnapped!" He shouted from the doorway.

Felix, who had been preparing food, dropped his knife and stared at his visitor. Ivan liked to play jokes on people, but Felix knew he would never joke about something as serious as this. He also knew that Ivan was aware of how badly Felix would hurt him if he did joke about Sheba's safety. "When? Who did it?" His eyes bore into those of the smaller young man, clearly saying something along the lines of, 'If you don't tell me right now, I'll kill you, even though we're good friends and you helped save the world.'

Ivan looked panic-stricken. "Just now. I know this sounds crazy, but it was Saturos and Menardi. Hurry and get your weapons and armor. They already have a good head start on us, and—" he was cut off as a fully equipped Felix grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.

"Did you see which way they were headed?"

"Yes." He yanked his arm out of the impatient man's grasp. "They went west."

"They'll pay for this. Come on." Felix took off at a half sprint, and Ivan followed. As a Jupiter adept, he could sense all the angry emotions that Felix was radiating, and it scared him; all the brunette's thoughts centered on different ways he could kill the two from Prox.

Eventually Felix was winded and stopped for a quick breather. Ivan, on the other hand, was fine; he was the fastest and the best runner of the chosen eight, after all. Getting over his fear, Ivan reassured Felix to calm him down, partly because his anger would do them no good right now and partly because he had never seen Felix this angry before and it frightened him. "We'll find them, don't worry. I'm a Jupiter adept, so I can vaguely sense the location of strong sources of psynergy. They won't disappear from my radar unless we fall too far behind."

Felix sighed. "You're right. Thanks, Ivan. I'll calm down." The angry emotions he emitted slowly diminished and were almost gone by the time he had caught his breath. "All right. Let's go."

They continued the chase for several days. Though they never came close enough to their enemies to see them, Ivan sensed that they were gradually gaining on them. Their path led west and north to Angara. When they arrived at the Karagol Sea, they followed the kidnappers around its perimeter on Silk Road. From there they traveled east past Kalay and eventually to the Lamakan Desert. Unfortunately, because Saturos and Menardi were fire adepts, they were able to cross the desert much more quickly than their pursuers, adding to the distance between the two groups and making it a bit more difficult for Ivan to track them.

What worried Ivan the most throughout this trip was that he couldn't sense Sheba at all. This meant that either she was dead or that she was under some kind of spell, like a sleep spell or psynergy seal, that lessened her mind's strength and made it harder for Ivan to track her. This second possibility was entirely plausible, for Ivan's ability to sense others was not very acute yet. (He could almost hear Sheba gloating about how much better than him she was in that area.) Still, it did not shake his concern, and he voiced it to Felix, who, not wanting to face the chance that Sheba had been killed, promptly told him to shut up and focus on finding the enemy.

Soon they came onto Xian, where Ivan sensed that a strong new presence from the nearby Mogall Forest had joined the two Mars adepts. Since Ivan and Felix both knew that Garet had taken up residence in Xian, they feared that he was the new presence and that he had been kidnapped. They took a brief break from their chase to ask the inhabitants of Xian if any of them knew where Garet was, but none did, and this only corroborated their fears. Accepting the loss, they trekked for three days, passing Kolima Village and arriving at the cave that separated Bilibin from Imil…

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About halfway through the cave, Felix stopped walking. "Hold on for a second; I have to pee."

Ivan nodded and turned around as his friend let out a stream of yellow water. He walked away a bit to give the man some privacy. 'I wonder if Sheba's okay…if they've done anything to her, I know for a fact that Felix will kill them, but I hope he lets me get a few hits in first. … … Of course, I say we'll kill them, but they're supposed to already be dead. How could they have possibly survived the beating we gave them and then falling down Venus Lighthouse's beacon? There has to be an explanation—' A loud thump, a pained gasp from Felix, and the sound of a body falling to the ground snapped him away from his thoughts. In an instant Ivan had turned around and assumed battle stance, and the sight he was greeted with frightened him.

Felix was lying facedown on the cave floor with his pants still partway down from when he was peeing so that part of his butt crack was visible, but that, although terrifying, wasn't the part that frightened him; standing triumphantly over Felix, with an—'evil? That's not like him at all…'—an evil smirk on his face, was…

"Garet?" Ivan sputtered. "What are you doing here? What did you do to Felix?"

Garet did not answer these questions. Instead, he allowed his smirk to grow bigger. "Looks like I caught him with his pants down."

If it weren't for the fact that his friend had just been knocked out, Ivan probably would have laughed his butt off at Garet's wisecrack. 'Heh heh. Crack. Like butt crack.' Ivan almost chuckled at his own immature wordplay, but he reminded himself of the situation and managed to maintain a serious countenance. "All right, look, if you and Felix have been fighting about something, I'll stay out of it, but now that you've gone and hit him, you might as well stop playing around and help me carry him out of here."

The blond young man walked over to the fallen one. As he was crouching down to better position himself for the lift he was about to perform, Garet brutally kicked him in the side, sending him flying into the wall and then into the pile of urine Felix had left.

"I'm not playing around."

'Owwww…' Ivan was only able to ignore the fact that he was soaked in pee-pee because the pain from the blow he had received was so immense. He once again assumed his battle stance, despite the objections of his bruised body. "What is wrong with you! Are you looking for a fight or what!"

Garet crossed his arms and stared down haughtily at the shorter boy, relaxing despite the shorter boy's battle stance, seemingly bragging that Ivan would lose if he attempted to put up a fight. "If you don't want to end up like butt-boy over here," Garet yawned as he pointed to the downed adept, as if to indicate that taking him out had required very little effort, "then I suggest you comply with my terms."

Still unable to believe that Garet had just willingly harmed him, Ivan struggled to decide what to do. "And what would your terms be?"

"Let yourself be kidnapped by Saturos and Menardi."

"WHAT!" he took a step back in alarm. 'He's sided with THEM! He wasn't actually kidnapped: he joined them willingly!' Since reasoning was obviously impossible at this point, there were only two options: either stay and fight Garet (and possibly the two Proxians if they showed up) by himself, or run. The adept from Vale had always been much better at fighting than he was, and there was no telling how much stronger he had become while training with Master Feh; therefore, fighting would give his opponent a definite advantage. Nevertheless, as the fastest member of the chosen eight, he was positive he could outrun Garet, who was the slowest member, so he at least had that option if he was desperate. "You really mean to fight me, Garet?"

"You've already proven you won't cooperate, so yes. Of course, it won't really be much of a fight."

Ivan ignored the insult, though he was angry because he knew it was true. Hiding his anger, he allowed himself a moment to think. "Well, then, I guess, I have no choice…" During the past year, he hadn't changed much physically. Sure, he had grown a bit—that's what teenagers do—but he hadn't changed nearly as much as Garet had. Ivan's mind, however, was a much different story. Ever since he had moved to Contigo, he had been developing his psynergy under the instruction of his sister. Her psynergy wasn't very powerful, but she was still able to teach him a lot about his abilities. Because of this, coupled with his bimonthly trips to train with Sheba, he had mastered a new move. An attack that not even Sheba could claim to imitate.

He made his decision: he would use it. In what he hoped was a surprising maneuver, he raised his left hand and mentally shouted, 'Omega Plasma!' As soon as it hit its target, he turned and fled down the passageway. Although Ivan hadn't stuck around long enough to witness the result of his attack, it would have pleased him to know that it had sent his opponent flying across the cavern. That was why, as he raced down the narrow tunnel, he had the relief of discovering that he couldn't hear Garet's heavy footsteps following behind him. But sadly, he was forced to skid to a stop when he found that Saturos and Menardi were blocking the way. 'No!'

"We cannot allow you to go any further." To emphasize her point, Menardi cast a fireball and burned Ivan's right arm.

"Yeooow!" He was about to head back the other way, but Garet, whom he had not even heard approach, had already caught up and was blocking off the part of the path that the two Proxians weren't blocking. Ivan was trapped.

'Why is he working with them?' Had Garet become evil? Sure, he carried a lot of anger around (such a trait was common among fire adepts), but Ivan refused to believe that this was the same person he had saved the world with; the cocky attitude with which he had spoken was completely unfit for his character. 'That's it; time for some answers.' Ignoring the pain in his singed arm, Ivan focused.

As carefully as possible, he prodded into Garet's mind, but the thoughts that he found…didn't seem to belong to him. They seemed like they were coming from someone else, someone nearby…

"You know, it's not polite to look inside other people's heads without their permission."

'Is that Alex!' Ivan stopped his mind-probing and confirmed his fears, eyes going wide at the side before him. 'This is unbelievable! First Saturos and Menardi come back, and now Alex!'

Said person seemed quite amused at Ivan's reaction. "I'm afraid that bad children must have their privileges taken away." He stepped forward. Ivan closed his eyes and braced himself for an attack, but instead of striking, Alex surrounded him with a purple light.

Abruptly the light vanished. Ivan opened his eyes and blinked. 'Huh? Was that supposed to hurt?' It took a few seconds for him to register just what had happened. 'Aw, crap, that wasn't an attack, he just sealed my psynergy!' In a desperate attempt to invalidate his suspicions, he held out his hands and focused on creating an Omega Plasma attack, but nothing happened.

All four bad guys laughed cruelly. "Trapped like a rat!" Menardi cackled.

"Don't bother waiting for the seal to break; it's a special one that only I can remove." Alex looked even more conceited than he usually did.

"It's time to join Felix," Saturos stepped toward Ivan, who was already backed up against the wall with nowhere to run. "But first we're going to have a little fun with you."

Had he been willing to let them see his fear, Ivan would have gulped. He did not like where this was going. He frantically looked around for something, anything that would help him, and at his feet spotted a tiny crawlway. He hadn't noticed it before because the darkness made it blend in with the rest of the cave. Miraculously, it just happened to start at the wall he was leaning against.

Fear increasing his speed, he turned so that he was facing the wall and crouched down. Saturos, who had not noticed the hole, assumed that Ivan was just going to curl up in a ball and cower, (Author's Note: Think Mario RPG when Mario cowers in the corner after having that dream at the Nimbus Land inn about Toad being a monster. Props to anyone who knows what I'm talking about.) so he stood there relishing his opponent's cowardice instead of closing the distance between them. This changed, of course, when the kid started disappearing into the wall.

Instantly the smug expressions the evil party of four had been wearing changed. "What the—?" Saturos dove in an attempt to grab their escaping prisoner's legs, but the prisoner scrambled just quickly enough so that he was able to drag his legs out of reach. Ivan heard cursing behind him and slithered across the ground as fast as he could. He only prayed that the passage would take him somewhere he could flee from.

"Don't just stand there cursing, get in there and follow him!" Alex shouted.

Garet volunteered, but when he crouched down he discovered his enormous muscular body wouldn't fit. He punched the wall in rage. Saturos let out a growl of frustration, realizing it was his own arrogance that had allowed the short blonde to get away. Behind him, Menardi hissed, though she was angry at the fact that he had gotten away, not angry at her longtime companion. Alex was also visibly peeved, but he retained his cool. "Everybody calm down. There are other ways to make sure he doesn't cause trouble." He smiled in satisfaction at his plan.

Meanwhile, Ivan had not traveled very far down the tunnel, and already the ceiling was less than a foot high. But he had heard what Alex said, and this spurred him onward. All he could do was try to wiggle his way around the twisted path. Constantly scraping against the ground hurt his burnt arm tremendously, and the space was so tight that he felt like he was being crushed on all sides, but he kept going; he had to tell the rest of the chosen eight about what had happened to Sheba and Felix so they could be rescued.

He paused briefly when he felt a trickle of cold water run into him from behind. Although it brought relief to his burn, it worried him. 'Where's that water coming from?' He tried to turn his head around and look back, but there wasn't enough room. And then, to his horror, he realized exactly what the Imilian had meant.

As if to corroborate this, Garet shouted at him, "If you don't come out now, you little rat, we'll drown you!"

'Crud!' Alex was using his water psynergy to try to flood the tunnel! Ivan shifted into panic mode and moved faster than he thought was possible in the limited space. Sharp rocks, stalactites, and stalagmites scratched his skin like claws trying to hold him back. As he went, he became increasingly aware of the rate at which the water level rose.

It slowly inched higher. Soon it was halfway up to the ceiling, and since it was flowing, it often made it difficult for him to grip things. In thirty more seconds it was up to Ivan's mouth, and he had to breathe through his nose. 'Come on, give me a way out of here! I need an exit!'

But no such relief came. The water covered his nose, and he now had only the breath he was holding to live on. Thirty seconds passed, and the water was just under his eyes. There was no air left in his lungs, and his movements were becoming much slower. 'No! I can't die here! Felix, Sheba, please forgive me…' Right when he was about to give up hope, though, he saw that the tunnel arched up just a little bit. 'Wait, I might still have a chance!' With a great deal of effort, he reached the incline and went up it. As he went to the higher altitude, his nose came back out of the water and he was able to breathe again. 'Thank god! I will never again take the air for granted as long as I live!' (Author's note: You'd think a wind adept would already have a great appreciation for the air, wouldn't you?)

Unfortunately, the water was still rising, and it wouldn't be long before his nose was once more submerged. He hurried, and found to his horror that the end of the incline was also the end of the crawlway; directly in front of him was a solid wall. This time, he was not able to contain his thoughts of panic inside his head. "Nooo!" He screamed and took another deep breath right before the water covered his mouth and nose another time. Searching urgently for somewhere else to go, he noticed a small opening in the ceiling right above the dead end. He was able to stand up, and he climbed out of the hole into an open room, much to his relief.

By a stroke of luck, he had wound up near the entrance of the cave, and he didn't need to be told to get out. He ran out the mouth of the cave and didn't stop running until he was a mile away. Only then did he halt to catch his breath and check his status. The burn on his right arm hurt, a heavy and painful bruise had developed from Garet's blow, he was covered in cuts, some little and some not so little, from the sharp rocks in the tunnel, he was winded, he couldn't use his psynergy, he was muddy and soaking wet, and it was cold outside. "Great," he muttered sarcastically.

There was only one thing to do: he had to get the others. Only together would they have a chance to rescue their friends and return Garet to his senses. He didn't know where Piers, Isaac, and Mia were, but he was positive that Jenna was in New Vale right now. He'd look for her first, and with any luck she'd know where the others were. Taking one last slow breath, he started the long run toward New Vale.

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Back in the cave, Alex stopped pouring water into the tunnel, having clearly overexerted himself.

"Do you think that killed him?" Menardi asked with a touch of worry in her voice. This was unusual for her, but she had good reason; after all, even though Ivan wasn't the strongest person in the world physically, he and his friends had beaten her and Saturos before, and if he had gotten away, then surely he would gather his friends and try to do it again. Alex had grown more powerful after receiving part of Alchemy's power, but he was still in a weakened state from the beating he had received from the Wise One. He was in no condition to fight.

She was about to speak again, but Saturos voiced her concerns for her. "Alex, if Ivan escapes, he will warn his friends. If they all band together, they may be able to beat the four of us. Garet is a great addition to our forces, but do you think you can use your mind control on Felix and Sheba as well? We will need a healer other than you on our side, and Felix would do nicely."

Alex shook his head. "I already told you, right now I am only strong enough to control one mind at a time. As it is, I've already been stretched to my limits; placing the psynergy seal on that little vermin and then flooding the tunnel took a lot out of me. I apologize, but despite the change in circumstances, we still must go to Mercury Lighthouse first so I can recover. If I weaken much more, my hold on Garet's mind will weaken, and his subconscious may be able to break it. We cannot afford that at this stage."

"I can definitely agree with that. Shall we pick up Felix and Sheba and be on our way, then?"

"No, don't worry about them; I put a pretty heavy sleeping spell on them, so they won't be bothering us for a while. We won't be using Sheba to locate the others for us until after we visit the lighthouse, anyway."

Menardi was still concerned. "But still, it doesn't seem like a good idea to just leave them there; someone might find them, or they might wake up sooner than expected."

"You think they need guarding?" Saturos asked.

She nodded. "I do."

Alex was frustrated. 'Darn that stupid midget. This wasn't supposed to happen!' "Okay. How about this, then: you two go back and watch over them. I'll have Garet take me to the lighthouse, and I'll meet back with you as soon as possible. Just keep yourselves hidden."

"We will. You be careful too."

And with that, the four of them parted ways. The two from Prox left together one way, and Garet placed a tired Alex on his shoulders as he left in the other direction; he was more than willing to carry his master out of the cave.

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Ivan had been running for an hour, and he was pooped. 'Time for a breather.' He stopped at a small stream and drank greedily from it, then sat down to rest. Trying to take his mind off his fatigue, he examined his surroundings and determined that he was halfway between the cave and Vault. But New Vale was still a far ways away. 'Going there on foot will take…let's see…at least four more hours.' He frowned. 'But that's only if I somehow manage to keep up this ridiculous pace. I know that's not going to happen; I'm already tired enough as it is. But I have to try. 'I was tired' won't be a very good excuse if Alex and his cronies get to Jenna before I do.' After his breathing returned to normal, he stood up and set off at a jog. 'This is going to be a VERY long jog.'

For forty minutes he ran, not paying a bit of attention to the scenery. But right as he was about to stop to examine the area and figure out his location, he spotted a wagon, along with three men and a woman who looked like she was in trouble. Ivan hid behind a nearby tree and decided to scope out the situation.

"You sure are a pretty one. What do you think, guys? Is she a keeper?"

"A keeper if I ever saw one!"

"Ha ha! Help me carry her into the wagon."

"No! Let me go!"

Ivan struggled with this dilemma. He had to find Jenna as soon as possible, but this woman needed help. 'What should I do?' He already knew the answer. Even though he couldn't summon his psynergy, even though his physical body alone may not be enough to win a fight, he had to help this person. 'Isaac went out of his way to help tons of people while we were on our quest, so I'll do the same.' He was extremely tired, but at least he had caught his breath. Without his psynergy, he was no match for someone like Saturos, but he was still stronger than the average person, and hopefully that would be enough to deal with a couple of thieves. Unsheathing his Swift Sword, he calmly approached the group.

One of the men noticed. "What do you want, small fry?" Ivan scowled. ('Is it a fad now for villains to make fun of my size?') The other men looked at him fiercely, apparently trying to intimidate him, and the woman, now tied up on the ground, looked at him fearfully. Her scared eyes seemed to scream at him, 'Run, you fool!'

"I want you to let her go."

"And I want money and power. Too bad. Why don't you just run along now?"

Ivan rolled his eyes. 'I don't have time for this; I need to wrap this up quickly.' Without warning he dashed forward and swung his blade. The thief he swung at, obviously surprised by his speed, barely managed to bring his own sword up in time to block. Ivan took advantage of his surprise and punched him in the stomach before he had a chance to react. The thief lashed out at him in anger with his fist, but Ivan sidestepped and swung his sword at the thief's arm. Not with enough force to do any permanent damage, but enough to cut him badly and let him know he was not messing around with an amateur.

"Ow!"

"You know, you're not very good at fighting. If you and your friends don't want to lose any limbs, you should get out of here."

The injured one's two friends were now angry. "You'll pay for that, short stuff."

'Again with the short comments! Geeze!' All three of them advanced on him, but they were no match; they weren't particularly skilled at sword fighting, and besides that Ivan was simply too fast. It took tremendous effort on his part because of how tired he was, but he dodged everything they threw at him. The fight was even more difficult because Ivan was trying not to kill them. When all was said and done, the three were on the ground, various cuts from the Swift Sword covering their bodies. They had lost a lot of blood. "Go home," Ivan commanded. "Your movements were already slow and clumsy to begin with, but now you can hardly swing your blades. Get out of here before you hurt yourselves more. And while your injuries are healing, think about the crimes you earned them with."

The three thieves stood up and talked among themselves. Then they turned around and started walking back to Vault. Once they were out of sight, Ivan cut the ropes binding the young lady. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. Thank you. I have to be honest with you, though; when I first saw you, I didn't think you would stand a chance against them, but after seeing you fight, I'd say you're in a league of your own."

"Most people think that when they first look at me. It's annoying, but it actually kind of works to my advantage at times; my enemies underestimate me and I'm able to take them by surprise."

"Even so, you did take a pretty bad hit on your left arm." She pointed to a deep gash under his shoulder. "Though by the looks of it…" she noted the burn on his right arm and the various cuts he had acquired in the cave, "this isn't the only conflict you've been in recently."

He sighed. "It's been a long day, and it's not over yet, unfortunately."

"That's a pretty nasty burn there. You should go see a healer."

"I am. I have a friend from New Vale who's a healer, so I'm going there to find him."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're going all the way to New Vale on foot? That's quite a ways."

"Yes, and I need to get there as quickly as possible; I have an important message to deliver. I apologize for my rudeness, but I need to get going again. I'll see you."

"Wait. Would you like a ride?"

"Huh? Sure! That would be great! I've been running for a pretty long time now." His shoulders sagged a bit as if to emphasize this point.

She smiled. "Hop in the wagon then, and I'll take you. Consider it thanks for rescuing me."

Ivan happily obliged. He sprawled out beside the cargo and instantly dozed off. The woman eyed him curiously, studying his burn and all his cuts. 'What could have happened to him? I better get him to this healer friend of his as soon as possible.' Now that she had a good look at him, she noticed that beneath the blood and dirt that covered his skin was an impressive collection of old scars. 'I wonder where he got all those. This guy's no stranger to fighting.'

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Ivan woke up to someone poking his side. "Wha—?" 'Uhhh…need sleep...but wait, where am I? …Oh yeah. Crap. Life sucks.' He reluctantly recalled the events of that day, from losing Sheba and Felix, to confronting Garet, to almost drowning, to running across Angara for a very long time, and finally to meeting the woman who had woken him up.

She smiled. "You fell asleep almost as soon as you got in the wagon. I have no idea what all's happened to you today, but I take it you needed that nap sorely. I almost didn't want to wake you up, but we've arrived at New Vale."

"Oh. Thank you very much."

"Since you saved me back there, it's only proper that I learn your name."

"Oh yeah. Heh…sorry. I'm Ivan." He realized that he had been in such a hurry to find Jenna that he had forgotten his manners, so now he tried to make up for it by extending his hand.

She extended her own and they shook hands. "I'm Nernst…wait a second, your name's Ivan? Are you the guy who caught the three thieves in Vault back when Mount Aleph erupted?"

He smiled. "I am."

"Well then now I owe you double. They stole a lot of money from my family, and we were able to get it back after you caught them. I don't have much, but please take this." She handed him a beautiful star-shaped stone. "I've heard folks in New Vale call it a 'psy crystal.' I don't know what it does, but they say it has the power to help great warriors like you; so I want you to have it."

Ivan blushed slightly. He had never been called a 'great warrior' before; even his friends in Contigo teased him about his weak physique. Knowing full well what the psynergy stone did, Ivan pocketed it and smiled, still a bit red in the face. "Thank you."

"Now go see that healer of yours; you look terrible."

He nodded, jumped off the wagon, and sprinted into the village while Nernst turned her horses around and started back to Vault.

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Ivan was too tired for his sixth sense to be effective, so he had to search for Jenna the old-fashioned way. Though he hurt all over, he burst through Jenna's door with the same urgency with which he had burst through Felix's door in Lalivero. "Jenna?" He shouted. No answer came. "Jenna, are you here!" Her parents came down the stairs, looking quite agitated at having been summoned by such a loud and rude visitor.

"Mind telling me who came into our house without even knocking and then—oh my Lord, Ivan! What happened to you?" Her father asked. His expression had softened when he saw who the visitor was. "Where did you get that gash in your arm? And all those cuts? And is that a burn on your right arm?"

'I don't have time for this!' "I'm sorry for intruding like this, but I have to find Jenna now. Do either of you know where she is?"

The mother nodded. "She is hanging out with some friends at the plaza. Why do you need her? What happened to you? You're covered in blood and mud."

"Saturos, Menardi, and Alex are back." The parents stared in disbelief. "Please just trust me on this, and don't you dare tell me that it's impossible, because I just had a little run-in with them and barely escaped with my life. That's where I got my injuries. They've kidnapped Felix and Sheba and brainwashed Garet. Thank you for telling me where Jenna is. I have to find her and the others so we can rescue our friends!" He said this as quickly as he could and then left the bewildered couple behind. Ivan could tell they had many more questions for him, but he had to leave; time was of the essence. He ran to the plaza, his eyes darting every which way frantically in search for the girl. The people he sped by stared at him, not knowing what to think of such a sight.

Finally, he located her talking with a group of girls next to a small pond. They were all laughing and smiling until they saw the dirty young man with armor and a sword coming at them full speed. One of them screamed, and all the girls but Jenna backed away from who appeared to be a madman. When he reached Jenna, he skidded to a halt and panted, placing his hands on his knees and doubling over.

"Ivan?" She asked, surprised. Something in her mind snapped, and she put on a giant smile. She captured him in a bone-crushing hug before he could catch his breath, apparently not noticing in her glee that he was cut up and covered in mud. As she squeezed the life out of him, she started speaking at an abnormally fast rate. "Oh-my-gosh-it's-so-good-to-see-you-it's-been-so-long-since-I've-seen-you-or-Garet-or-Felix-or-Isaac-or-Sheba-or-Piers-or-Mia-and-I'm-so-happy-to-see-one-of-you-because-I've-missed-you-all-so-much-and—"

"Jenna!" Ivan yelled and somehow escaped her grip. When he did that, she at last noticed his disheveled appearance, and her joyous expression faded into one of concern.

Once Jenna had called him Ivan, the other girls recognized him as one of the adepts who had teamed up with Isaac, tried to rescue Jenna, and ended up helping to light the lighthouses and save the world. Now that they knew he was not a danger to them, they circled around him and gawked at his injuries.

"Oh, no! What happened to your arm?" One of them asked. She walked up to him and touched the deep cut on his left arm.

"And your cute little face?" Another girl placed her hand on a cut that went across his cheek.

Soon Ivan had five girls very close to him and softly touching random parts of his body. He was suddenly glad that his face was muddy, for the mud hid the blush that was developing underneath. All his mind could process at the moment was, 'Awkward…'

"Girls, leave him alone! He's injured!" Jenna barked irritably. The girls jumped back as if they had been caught committing a crime. Ivan smiled appreciatively at her and then remembered why he had come to find her as his blush went away.

"Jenna, you have to listen to me!" He proceeded to spill the details of everything that had happened to him in the past few weeks, starting with his arrival in Lalivero. He left out the part about Nernst and the three thieves, though, since it wasn't really relevant to his mission.

"Oh, Ivan, you're so brave!" One of the girls put her hand on his chest.

Ivan was beyond nervous. He wasn't at all used to receiving this kind of attention, so he said the only thing he could at the moment. "Uhhh…"

"Leave him alone!" Jenna's trademark temper was taking over. The girl sighed and backed away from him. Jenna rolled her eyes at her friends' flirtatious behavior. "Come on, Ivan, we have to get you healed."

He shook his head. "Before we do anything, we have to find the others. Do you happen to know where Isaac and Mia are?"

"Yes, I received a letter from them just last week. They're almost done with that journey they went on to develop their healing powers, and last I heard they were going to stay in Vault for a few days and then come here."

"They're in Vault? That's great! We can get there by the end of the day!" 'And then I can finally sleep…' "Let's pick them up. We'll need all the strength we can get right now, and I'm basically worthless in a fight without my psynergy."

"Okay. Come to my house first. I'll get my sword and armor, and I think I have a Vial leftover from our quest that you can have."

"Great. Let's go."

The two adepts left the group of girls and ran to Jenna's house.

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After drinking the Vial, Ivan felt worlds better. He had thrown up and collapsed after the run to Jenna's house; having done so much running in the past few days, his body wouldn't tolerate any more. But now he was on his feet and running once again, this time to Vault. The Vial had by no means restored his full health; his wounds were still there, and he was still sore and hurt all over. But a sizeable portion of his fatigue had vanished, and for that he was extremely grateful.

After some twenty minutes of running, they came upon a wagon which Ivan identified as the one which belonged to Nernst. She had apparently stopped for a while to let her horses rest. Just when the horses started dragging the wagon again, Ivan cried out, "Nernst, wait up!"

"You know who's driving that?" Jenna whispered.

"Yes. She lives in Vault, so I'm sure she'll take us there."

The vehicle stopped, and they ran to meet it. Nernst stuck her head out and recognized the male. "Oh, hello Ivan!" She hopped out of the wagon to greet him properly. When she looked at him, though, she frowned and put her hands on her hips. "You still haven't seen a healer, have you?"

He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well, no…but he wasn't at New Vale like I thought she'd be. It turns out he's in Vault right now, so I was wondering…if you're going there, do you think you could give me and my friend a ride?"

"Well, sure." She faced Jenna. "And what's her name?"

Jenna stepped forward and shook her hand. "I'm Jenna. It's nice to meet you."

"And I'm Nernst. Any friend of Ivan's is a friend of mine. Hop in, you two. I'd be glad to take you there."

Jenna was glad to not have to do any more running, but nowhere near as glad as Ivan. He lay down and let sleep overtake him.

When they heard soft snoring, both girls jumped in surprise. "He fell asleep like that the last time he was in my wagon too. He must've had a really rough day."

Jenna shook her head. "Not just a rough day; he's been chasing down a group that kidnapped some of our friends for weeks."

"Oh my, that's awful! Did that group give him all those injuries?"

"Yes. He and another man confronted them a short time ago, but they were too strong, and he was the only one who escaped. Now he's gathering some friends of his who are warriors like him so that he can challenge the group again."

"I must say he's quite the hero."

"Yes he—wait a sec. You said 'last time'…when did he ride with you last?"

"Oh, right before he arrived in your town. I'm assuming you're from New Vale, correct?"

"Yes."

"He didn't tell you about how he helped me?"

"Well…I guess not. What did he do?"

"A few hours ago, I was driving this thing around and got ambushed by three men with swords. They tied me up and started talking about how pretty I was. I didn't know what they were going to do to me." She shuddered. "But then he came out of nowhere, approached them, and demanded they let me go. When they didn't, they had a three-on-one swordfight, and he cut them up so badly they couldn't swing their swords anymore. Then he told them to go home and think about the crimes they had earned their injuries with. After that he cut my ropes, I found out he was headed to New Vale, and I gave him a ride as thanks."

"Wow. That must have been exhausting after all the running he did before that." 'I can't believe he fought them and won without psynergy. He's stronger than I thought.'

"Are you sure that this healer friend of his is in Vault? He doesn't need to be running around with all the injuries he has."

"Yes, don't worry about that. The healer's name is Isaac. In fact, Isaac is one of the warriors he's looking for to help him face the kidnappers."

"Good. He can't just keep running from place to place like this and then falling asleep immediately whenever he stops. That worries me."

A few hours passed, and the trio arrived at Vault's gate. Jenna gently shook her companion.

"Wha—?" His eyes opened slowly. "Oh, are we there?"

"Yes."

He sat up, a bit embarrassed that he had fallen asleep. "Cool. Thanks again for the ride, Nernst."

"No problem. I owe it to you."

"Well, I'll see you."

Nernst put her horses in a stable and walked to her house, and the adepts walked toward the town's inn. Once inside, Jenna approached the innkeeper. "Excuse me, do you know if two people named Isaac and Mia are staying here?"

"Why yes, I believe they're upstairs right now if you want to see them."

"Thank you very much."

As the two warriors climbed the stairs, they heard what sounded like quiet sobbing. "Maybe we ought to come back later," Ivan suggested. Jenna ignored him and quietly opened the door at the top of the stairs.

When they walked through, they were greeted by the sight of Mia crying into her hands. At the sound of the door opening, she turned and saw her visitors, and they saw her tear-stained face; apparently she had been crying for a while.

"Mia," Jenna walked over to her and put an arm around her. "What's wrong?"

"It's Isaac," she sniffed. "He won't wake up. He's sick and he's been asleep for days, and I don't know what to do." She cried even harder as she said this. She looked at the bed she was sitting beside, and the other two noticed for the first time that Isaac was in it. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow.

Ivan looked at her sympathetically. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's something we can do."

She shook her head. "No. I've tried everything. I used two Waters of Life on him, but they had no effect. Same thing with Potions. My psynergy hasn't helped at all. I got Vault's healer to come here, but he wasn't able to do anything. I even gave him some Hermes Water from Mercury Lighthouse, but he still wouldn't open his eyes." She cried into Jenna's shoulder.

Ivan examined him and very gently shook him the way Jenna had shaken Ivan earlier to wake him up, but no good came of it. "How did this happen?"

She sniffed again. "A week ago he started coming down with something. It was no big deal at first; all it did was make him a bit more tired than usual. But it grew worse; five days ago he was unable to get out of bed, and we had to rest at a nice old man's house that was on the way here. He offered Isaac a bed and he took it and fell asleep, but then the next day he wouldn't wake up. The old man and I tried to get him to stir, but we couldn't. The man took the two of us here so that I could get him some proper medical attention, but Isaac's only getting worse. Guys, I'm really worried. I'm scared. What if he's in a coma and never wakes up? What if he…dies?"

No one knew how to answer this, so Ivan changed the subject. "Mia, I know you don't need any more bad news right now, but we have trouble." He and Jenna told her about their current situation. "Since they have Sheba, they may force her to use her powers to locate us for them, and if Isaac's unconscious when they find us, well…we'll have to protect him or they might, uh," 'Don't say kill him, don't say kill him, don't say kill him…' "do something to him. I can't use my psynergy until Alex removes the seal he put on me, so if they fight us, it will basically be you two and a non-adept versus Saturos, Menardi, Garet, and Alex. Garet has been training for the past year, so I've no doubt he's much stronger than he used to be."

"We won't be able to win that fight," Mia said despairingly. A tear fell to the ground.

"We'll have to," Jenna said to her. "If we don't, we'll lose Isaac."

"No!" Mia wept on his chest. "Please wake up, Isaac! I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"We don't either," Ivan stated. "That's why we're going to give our all when they arrive and defeat them. Okay, Mia?"

"You don't understand." She spoke to Ivan, but she didn't face him; she still had her head on Isaac's chest. "I never told him. I never told him how much he means to me. I never told him that I went with him on his quest to develop his healing powers just so I could be close to him. And now I may never get to."

Jenna's gaze hardened. "Mia, listen to me."

"Yes?"

"Get your head off his chest and look at me." She obeyed. Jenna put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm scared too. You know why I'm scared? Garet is being controlled. I never told him I loved him, and just like you and Isaac, I may never get the chance to see the real Garet again and tell him. But I will not let him go, and you will not let Isaac go. That's why we will get through this." The two girls clasped hands. "We'll do it together. And when it's over with, when Isaac's awake and Garet has his own mind back, we'll tell them. Deal?"

Mia sniffed one last time, then wiped her eyes and stopped crying. "Deal." They shook on it and then hugged. "Thank you, Jenna. And you too, Ivan." Ivan smiled at her, and Mia suddenly noticed his appearance. "Are you okay? You look like you need healing."

"That would be wonderful, Mia." 'Finally, the moment I've been waiting for.' She stood and used Ply on all the parts of his body that looked damaged. His wounds closed up, leaving only scars, and he felt his energy returning to him. For the first time in far too long, he was healthy again. "Thank you. You have no idea how good it feels to finally be healed." He stretched and rotated his arms. "Now all that's missing is," he yawned, "a good night's sleep."

"I'll pay the innkeeper to let us stay here," Jenna offered and headed downstairs. Ivan thanked her, got in a bed, and soon was asleep. When Jenna came back upstairs, she talked to Mia for two hours, just catching up with the events that had happened since they had last seen each other.

Jenna yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed. I think we ought to stay here for a while, either until Isaac gets up on his own or until we figure out a way to get him up. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

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The four of them stayed at the inn for the next three days, and Isaac showed no signs of improvement. The conscious adepts talked about possibly looking for Piers, but to do that they would either have to abandon Isaac or lug his body around Weyard and risk damaging him further. They were willing to do neither, so they had no choice but to stay put and brainstorm ideas.

During this time, Ivan was becoming more and more angry with himself and the fact that he couldn't use his psynergy. 'If I hadn't been a wuss and closed my eyes back in the cave, I would have seen that Alex was about to create a psynergy seal, and maybe I could have dodged it! Then I could just use Mind Read on Isaac and maybe find a clue as to what's going on!' He sat on his bed and put his face in his hands.

Mia didn't need to be a Jupiter adept to sense the frustration coming off of him. "Ivan," she said quietly, "don't be so hard on yourself. Your powers were taken away, but you were able to get away from them. If you hadn't escaped and run to New Vale to find Jenna and warn her, she and I wouldn't know about everything that's happened, and we would be unprepared for an attack." He didn't respond. "Ivan, please tell me what's wrong."

"My cowardice guided my actions. If I hadn't flinched when I saw Alex, I could have dodged his seal and I'd be able to help more when it came down to defending Isaac. If I were brave like Isaac and Garet, I would have stayed and fought. Neither of them would flee the way I did."

"Garet and Isaac are brave, but I think they'd be smart enough to recognize in a situation like that that fleeing is the best option. Well, Isaac would be smart enough, at least." They laughed at the teasing remark, and Mia was glad to have cheered him up."

"Thank you. You know, I've been thinking, and I know why Isaac is such a good leader. He keeps a level head, he believes in our strength, and he never gives up. We must do the same."

"Mm-hm." She smiled at Isaac's sleeping form.

"I'm going to find Jenna and get her to spar with me. I'll be relying on my sword for this battle, so I'll need to prepare." He left the inn in high spirits.

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That night, Jenna and Mia went out for a walk while Ivan stayed behind to guard their other companion. Even though it was night, the village was noisy, and the girls wandered just far enough beyond the village where they couldn't hear the shouting of children anymore. They were talking to each other when they heard a third voice. "Nice night, huh?"

They turned to face the one who had forced himself into their conversation, and they froze. "G-Garet?" Jenna almost couldn't get the word out of her throat.

Instead of answering, he launched a Volcano at Mia, who managed to dodge it, despite her surprise. But the Volcano was just a feint, for even before the attack was finished he was already running to the spot where he predicted that Mia would jump to. His prediction was correct, and, to Mia's horror, she discovered that he was much faster than he had been a year ago when she had last seen him.

He reached her before she could regain balance and kicked her in the stomach, sending her sailing through the air. Over her shock now, Jenna came at him with her sword. ('It's not really Garet, I have to fight to bring Garet back, it's not him, it's not him, it's not him…') She got his arm, but he had known she would strike him and managed to cast a Protect spell on himself before the steel made contact with his skin. Thus the only damage done was a small scratch. He unsheathed his own sword, and the two fire adepts attacked and blocked each other.

Meanwhile, Mia was on the ground in pain. 'Uhh…Garet is a LOT stronger than I remember.' Fortunately, she was a healer, and she used her powers to take away the pain in her stomach, leaving only a bruise and a dull ache. Then she got to her feat and joined the fray. It was time to whip out her trump card. She smirked, which was very unusual for her. 'I haven't been training with Isaac for the past year for nothing.' During her training, she had learned a new water attack, and now was as good a time as any to use it. "Frost Bite!"

Garet looked in the direction of the scream to see a beam of blue energy coming at him fast. He had no time to dodge, and the blow, doing extra damage because it was being used against a fire adept, sent him flying. It felt like ice was cutting into every part of his body, and he let out a scream of pain that was cut off as his unceremonious landing knocked the wind out of him. Nonetheless, he was back on his feet the next instant like nothing had happened. "Awesome attack, but now it's my turn again. Let me to show you what true strength is."

He shot a read beam from his palm at Jenna, but she did not move. She and Mia may not have had a sixth sense like Jupiter adepts, but all adepts can sense the strength of a psynergy attack that's coming right at them; and Mia and Jenna could sense that the attack not coming at Jenna was not very strong. Thinking that this was just a feint like the one that was used on Mia, Jenna stood still, preparing to intercept the attack instead of dodge it and make herself vulnerable.

They thought they knew Garet's plan of attack. That is why both Mia and Jenna were shocked when the attack knocked her off her feet and hurt her severely. "What?" Mia asked to no one. 'Why couldn't we sense the attack's power?'

Garet laughed. Well, more like cackled. "I can do a lot better than that!"

Mia took a step back. 'I have to heal Jenna, and then we have to get out of here and warn Ivan. Alex and the others might have already found him!' She turned to Jenna and gave her some sort of signal.

Garet stopped laughing when he saw this. "Huh?"

Jenna closed her eyes. Then without warning she and Mia vanished from sight.

"What the heck?" He scanned the area, thinking perhaps they were sneaking up behind him, but saw no one. He let out a roar of frustration.

Mia and Jenna, invisible among the shadows of the night, ran back to the inn. 'I am SO glad I decided to take Isaac's Cloak Ball from his pack,' Jenna thought. They opened the front door, and to anyone else it would have looked like the door had opened on its own. The innkeeper saw this and was a bit unnerved. They then rushed up the stairs (quietly, so as not to further freak out the innkeeper). When they arrived to their room, Jenna removed the Cloak spell. Ivan saw them, and they told him Garet and possibly his three traveling buddies had arrived. "What do we do now?"

"Cast Cloak on the four of us and stay put," Ivan said. "If we're lucky, they won't find us. And before you cast it, get Isaac out of that bed so it doesn't look like there's a hump under the covers." Mia gently pulled Isaac out of the bed, laid him on the floor, sat down, and put his head in her lap. The other two crouched on the floor as well, and Jenna cast Cloak so they were invisible to everyone but each other. Then they all scooted as close to the corner of the room as they could so that there was less chance that someone searching the room would trip over one of them and discover them. They discussed the situation in hushed whispers.

"This is so wrong. That is NOT the Garet I know. He acts more like Alex."

"That's because Alex is controlling his mind."

Ivan scratched his head. "Hmm…I think it would be more accurate to say that he is inhibiting Garet's thoughts rather than controlling them; he's diminishing their influence and then projecting some of his own thoughts into Garet's head."

Jenna held her head in her hands. "I don't understand…even Mia and I together might not be able to defeat him. How could he have gotten so much stronger?"

Ivan pondered this for a moment. "I think it all goes back to the beginning of our journey, when it was just me, Isaac, and Garet traveling together, chasing Saturos and Menardi. None of our powers were very well-developed at that point, and as practice I would secretly try to read Garet's mind without him noticing. And what I found almost all of the time…" he turned to face Jenna, "…were thoughts of you, Jenna."

"M-me?"

"Yes, you. All day, every day, his thoughts centered around worry about your well-being and what Saturos and Menardi were doing to you, how he was a wreck without you, anger directed at himself for not being strong enough to rescue you while he had the chance in Sol Sanctum, and most of all, silent promises that he would do whatever it took to get you back."

Jenna was silent, touched that he had worried so much about her. 'Why didn't he ever tell me?'

Ivan continued. "Throughout our quest until we finally met up with you and Felix at Jupiter Lighthouse, Garet and I would play a little game to pass away the time when travels were dull. He would make fun of how small and weak I was physically, and I would tease him about how weak he was mentally and how stupid he could be sometimes. Of course, neither of us really meant what we said, and I thought we both knew that. We just did it for an occasional laugh. But a couple of days after we failed to prevent Mercury Lighthouse from being lit, I figured out that my insults had hurt him more than he was willing to admit." Ivan felt a surge of guilt come over him. "He knew that his psynergy was the weakest in the party, and that, combined with the fact that we had once again failed to rescue you at Mercury Lighthouse, made him even angrier at himself. He felt inadequate and useless. In subsequent mind readings, I sensed a great desire to improve his abilities, and this was also apparent to Isaac and Mia, though none of us mentioned it to him."

Mia nodded in confirmation. "I remember. He suddenly started exerting himself more in battle, much more than was necessary."

"It went beyond that, though," he explained. "He started experimenting with all kinds of psynergy. Every time we received an item that would help teach a new technique, Garet would take it upon himself to master it."

"You're talking about all the techniques like Catch and Force that he learned, right?"

"Yes."

Jenna was confused. "But if he wanted to make his fire psynergy stronger, why didn't he just practice that more instead of learning new types of psynergy?"

"He was hoping that by learning more about all psynergy in general, he might find ways to improve his fire psynergy, make it more efficient. And it worked. After a while, his fire psynergy suddenly became much more powerful. Garet, Mia, and I were all equally surprised, and Garet was happy with his success. Isaac seemed to be the only one not taken aback by his abrupt increase in mental power."

"I still don't see your point here. What does that have to do with why Garet is so strong now?"

"The point is that he developed a sort of…inferiority complex, and it never left after we found you or even after we all defeated the Doom Dragon. Though our quest is over, I'll bet you anything he's still been working himself to the bone since it ended."

"So he could have trained so much that he's gotten a lot more powerful in a short amount of time, is that it?" Jenna asked.

Mia shook her head doubtfully. "But that still doesn't explain why we couldn't sense the full power of his attacks. It was like they were being magnified somehow. Do you think that Alex is giving him some of his own power?"

"No. If he were, we would still be able to sense how powerful the attacks were. Besides, Alex is weak right now, and can't afford to waste his energy." Suddenly, Ivan had a brief flash of insight. "But maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Do either of you know what Garet hoped to achieve in Xian?"

"He just said he was going there to get stronger. Why?"

"The first time we went to Xian, he had been fascinated with the concept of Chi."

Jenna, having not been with Isaac and the others the first time they went to Xian, was again confused. "What is Chi?"

"It is the ability to concentrate the energy of your body into your hand and then release it as an attack," Mia explained.

"Right. The concept of attacking with his body's energy naturally appealed to him the most because out of the four of us, his body was the strongest. Now, I'm just guessing here, but what if while he was training in Xian the last year he successfully learned Chi? And what if he found a way to combine it with his psynergy so that whenever he used a psynergy attack he could attack with both the energy of his mind and the energy of his body at the same time?" Ivan fell silent for a moment to let the information sink into the other two.

Mia gasped. "Not only would that make his attacks stronger, but it would also mask their true force. Psynergy grants adepts the ability to sense the power of psynergy attacks, but not any other types of assaults."

Jenna caught on as well. "So when he shoots both psynergy and Chi at us, we can only sense the psynergy portion of the attack?"

"It makes sense, but like I said, this is just guesswork. But if it's true, it's going to make fighting him a whole lot harder; Garet's tough enough that even without his djinn and psynergy he could probably enter Colosso and do well. None of us can match his ability."

Mia's gaze drooped to the floor and a tear slid down her face and onto Isaac's. She wiped it off of him. "Isaac could have if he were well…" Jenna put an arm around her to comfort her, but she too was on the verge of tears. Just the thought of having to fight her friend again was too much for her.

Ivan didn't like it any more than they did, but his sorrow was momentarily overshadowed by the hope that Mia's last sentence had brought him. "You really think that Isaac could do it?" He asked, amazed by the idea that anyone could stand against Garet as he was now.

"Mm-hm. I don't know how to explain it, but on me and Isaac's journey to become better healers, he became much more skilled in just about everything."

"Everything?" Jenna asked. "But I thought he only left to become better at healing."

"He did at first, but he actually mastered it within a month's time."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that somehow, as he and I practiced together, his ability grew so rapidly that he surpassed me. First he realized that he could heal poison. That in itself was a shock to everyone in Imil, because up to that point we had thought that such a technique could only be mastered by members of the Mercury Clan. But then he learned how to cure all the other things I was capable of curing, like delusion. It was strange; it was like he just picked it up out of nowhere. But the biggest shock of all was when he learned to use my Ply techniques, all the way up through Pure Ply."

"I don't get it; Isaac's an Earth adept, so why would he be able to do any of those things?"

"I don't know. But he mastered it all in that first month, and it doesn't stop there. One day while we were at Mercury Lighthouse, he cast a Frost spell. During the next six months, he completely mastered all of water psynergy. He can wield it almost as well as I can now."

"That's incredible! Did anything else happen after that?"

"Yes. Shortly afterward, we left for Kolima. Isaac and I decided to camp out in Kolima Forest for a few days and visit Tret and Laurel. As an Earth adept, he was invigorated by the forest, so he decided to train and burn off some energy. He had been working with water psynergy a lot recently, so he practiced at his Earth psynergy instead. Since then he has been training in both disciplines as well as in swordplay, and he has improved dramatically."

Suddenly they heard the downstairs door opening, and they silenced themselves. Heavy footsteps could be heard calmly walking up the stairs. The door to their room opened, and everyone held their breath as a head peaked in. Everyone's eyes went wide as they saw it was Garet, and no one dared to breathe. He searched the room, looking under beds and behind large objects. Finding nothing, he was about to leave when one of the wooden boards under Mia creaked. Garet froze in his tracks. Ivan started sweating.

They would have been safe if any one of the other bad guys had been searching the room; Saturos, Menardi, and Alex, didn't know about the Cloak technique. But Garet did. Even if his mind was being controlled, he still had memories of using it to sneak into Lunpa Fortress. He looked in the direction of the noise and smiled wickedly. "Hmm, what to do, what to do, what to do…" The others were now tremendously nervous. Did he actually know they were there, or was he just messing around? "Ah! I know! Heh heh." He held out his left palm and created a flame in it that illuminated the once dark room. The light neutralized the Cloak spell, and the people it had been protecting were now visible.

'Shit! He can see us!' Ivan and Jenna immediately got to their feet in a defensive stance. (Mia took a bit longer because she had to gently take Isaac's head off her lap first.) They stood between Garet and Isaac.

Garet laughed. "By the way, did you like that special attack I smoked you with earlier? It's my favorite! I call it 'Unistrike' because it attacks with both the body and mind. Would you like to see it again?" He acted like he was going to do it, but stopped and laughed smugly when they flinched. "On second thought, it might be more fun if we summon our friends here." Directing his face toward an open window, he yelled as loud as he could, "THEY'RE HERE!"

Jenna chucked a smoke bomb at the ground at Garet's feet, and Mia nailed him with Frost Bite while he was wrapped in delusion. Before the smoke cleared, they fled the scene, Ivan and Jenna carrying Isaac. Just when they were about to open the front door, though, it opened of its own accord, and in stepped Saturos and Menardi. Having regained his vision, Garet came down the stairs. "Good job, Garet." Saturos complimented him. He faced his enemies. "Now hand over Isaac."

Ivan, Sheba, and Mia stared blankly at him. "…Huh?"

"We are willing to spare you if you hand over the blonde brat."

"…Why do you want him?"

"Are you so quick to question our generosity?" Menardi interrogated. "We are not known for our patience. Please consider our offer quickly."

"Hey, what's all this about?" The innkeeper called from his station behind the counter. "One of you, speak up! You folks better not cause any trouble at my inn."

Menardi rolled her eyes. Garet pointed an index finger at the counter, which straight away burst into flames. The innkeeper yelped and climbed out a window in his haste to get away from this man with strange powers. "So what will it be?" Menardi asked as if nothing had happened.

No one replied, as was expected. Garet yawned and pretended to examine his fist in boredom. 'They must have been after Isaac all along, but why?' Ivan could come up with no answer. 'Hm…Mia said Isaac has special powers…could that have anything to do with it?'

"Allow me to answer that thought for you, Ivan."

The voiced belonged to Alex, who appeared behind his bodyguards and looked straight at Ivan. He, Saturos, Menardi, and Garet had Isaac's defenders surrounded. "Huh? Since when can you read other people's minds?" Ivan asked suspiciously, wishing his ability to read minds hadn't been taken away.

"Where are Sheba and Felix? Why are you controlling Garet?"

"That's not important right now," Saturos said harshly. "What's important is that you hand over Isaac to us."

"NO!" Mia hugged Isaac's unconscious form protectively. She looked like she was about to cry. "You can't take him away!" She held him to her with one arm and shakily held her weapon pointed at Saturos with the other. 'Isaac, please wake up!' she mentally pleaded.

Having read her thought, Alex laughed. "He's not getting up, milady. Hmm…" He seemed to ponder for a moment. "…You have already tried healing him, I assume. I'll wager you even used the Water of Hermes on him, right?"

"How do you know that?" She asked guardedly.

"I know because Isaac and I basically are in the same situation. We are both in a weakened state and cannot be healed by normal means. He has something I want. Once I obtain it, I will be able to heal myself, and if you let me take it from him, I will heal him as well. How does that sound?"

"What does he have that you want?"

"I cannot say. It is not something that he can simply 'hand over,' because it is not physical. If I maintain contact with him for a minute, though, I can take it from him."

"Fat chance," Ivan retorted. "We're not letting you anywhere near him, so go away!"

"You're in no position to make demands, little man!" Menardi said in that superior tone that she and Saturos didn't seem capable of speaking without. "You're nothing without your psynergy, and that leaves only two capable fighters on your side."

"Please just let me see him for a moment. I would prefer to do this peacefully."

Ivan called bullshit on that one. "Yeah, right. That must be why you kidnapped Sheba, possessed Garet, and knocked out Felix. Such are not the actions of a peaceful man."

"If you had truly intended to avoid a fight, you wouldn't have brought your bodyguards here," Mia added, referring to the revived Proxians.

"So you will fight us, then?" Garet spoke for the first time, frightening Isaac's three defenders. "Have it your way. But you can't win. I can beat all three of you by myself if it comes down to it."

Jenna stared at him in disbelief. His eyes had none of the usual friendliness, only the same coldness that emanated from Alex's glare. 'Alex…how dare you do this to him!' She tried her best to get angry at the fiend's manipulation of her friend, (as Mars adepts fought better when they were angry) but she just couldn't. Instead, she was enveloped in sorrow, a desperate desire for Garet to just wake up and return to normal taking over. She could no longer hold her gaze; she had to turn away from Garet to keep from crying. 'If I can't even look at him, how will I be able to fight him? Oh, please come back to us, Garet! Come back to me! I swear I'll never get angry at you again!'

"Don't worry, Jenna. I shall give Garet back to you as soon as I possess that which I came for. I will also release Sheba and Felix. Just allow me to see Isaac for a moment."

Mia would have none of that. "Go away, Alex!" She conjured as powerful a blast of water psynergy as she could muster and shot it at the Imilian. Alex, still too weak even to take a blow from a psynergy attack of his own alignment, was scared for only a moment until Garet dove and took the hit for his master. Being a fire type, he was affected greatly by Mia's attack and fell to the ground with a pained gasp.

"Garet!" Jenna screamed and rushed to help him up, but he stood up again quickly and growled at her, causing her to back off. He placed himself between her and his master, protecting him from any other sudden attack that might come.

Alex grinned. "If you try anything like that again, I'll make sure he suffers from it."

Saturos was getting annoyed. "Forget trying to do this peacefully, Alex. They've already refused your offer."

Menardi agreed. "Besides, they're clearly outmatched. I would enjoy watching your puppet kill his friends." She pointed to Garet, who did not respond at the insult because his master did not wish him to.

"Hmm…very well," Alex said, "but it is stuffy in here. Why don't we take this fight outside?" He snapped his fingers, and Garet shot flames at the walls of the wooden building. Mia tried to put out the fire with Douse, but she wasn't fast enough. Part of the back wall collapsed, and Mia, Jenna, and Ivan rushed Isaac outside through the new exit before the building collapsed. The four others had also left the building, and after it collapsed, Garet, laughing like a maniac, shot pillars of flame at several other buildings in the village.

The children who had been playing ran away screaming in fright, and families rushed to escape the houses which were now on fire. One brave village man swung at Garet with a sword, but he was hit with a blast of Chi and just like that, he was down for the count. This failure convinced the other villagers to run away and hide instead of confront this beast. Screams and the roar of the fire melded into a frightening din that was only interrupted when Jenna yelled, "Stop it!"

Rather than obey, he lunged at her, catching everyone off guard. Instead of attacking with his sword, though, he readied his fist, because his master wanted to watch her suffer for a while rather than have her immediately die. She tried to predict where he would strike so she could block, but the speed of his surprise attack was too much for her to follow. As his fist collided with her stomach, Ivan dashed to strike him while he was off balance, but Saturos knocked him away with a beam of psynergy into the range of Menardi, who wasted no time toasting him with a fireball.

Garet calmly marched over to where Jenna had landed. She tried to sound tough so that her voice wouldn't betray how much her stomach hurt. She stood up and held out her palm in a way that said stop. "Stay back, Garet! I don't want to fight you!" But he paid her no mind. He continued to walk toward her, eyeing her with a terrifying calm. Seeing that she had no choice but to fight, she silently prayed that he would forgive her for what she was about to do to him. When he had almost closed the distance between them to five feet, she let out the most devastating Dragon Fume she could muster. But without even moving or flinching, he cast a Protect spell before the attack hit, and he came out completely unscathed. "What? How—" Since he was only two feet away now, he had no trouble landing another blow on her, this time in the face. A sickening crack was heard before she flew back; her nose was broken.

Meanwhile, Ivan was having his own troubles. Without his psynergy, he had no long distance attacks, and Saturos and Menardi always hit him with fire before he could get close enough to either of them to strike. Mia did her best to help him by sending attacks at the Proxians, but she would not venture far from Isaac for fear of Alex taking him. Still, Ivan was hanging in there, as he was much faster than his attackers; at the beginning he had taken a quick series of blasts from them, but after that he remembered their attack patterns from the fight atop Venus Lighthouse, and he was able to dodge them.

Saturos was getting frustrated. He would not give this rat a chance at victory by fighting him close range, but trying to hit him with psynergy from afar wasn't working. 'Hold still, you!' Stealing a quick glance at his partner, he realized that she was equally annoyed. Meeting each other's eyes briefly, they silently agreed to change their strategy. They reluctantly gave up their long distance effort and charged at him together. Although this gave Ivan a better chance to hit them, it effectively prevented Mia from attacking from far away since Ivan was now fighting them close up and she might accidentally hit him. So she turned her attention to Garet.

Said Mars adept was continuing his assault on Jenna. Her attempts to beat him in hand-to-hand combat had failed spectacularly, resulting in a quick sequence of blows that bruised her badly, broke her left arm, probably fractured one of her ribs, and left her on the ground. She could not get up; even though she had healing powers, they were meant for healing a group of people, not just a single warrior, so she only felt minimal relief from the pain when she whispered "Heal Aura."

Garet smirked and looked down at her. "Ha. I didn't even have to use my Chi." Jenna's lip quivered; she was completely helpless. She could not move. All she would be able to do now was use her psynergy, but if he got close enough to her, it would all be over. So she focused and once again used Dragon Fume, her most powerful attack, but Garet had predicted this and countered with Unistrike. The two attacks collided. Jenna's cancelled out the psynergy portion of his, but it had no effect on the Chi portion, which continued at the same speed toward its target. Jenna was hit hard, and her body skidded a few feet across the ground. He threw his head back and laughed, but right when he was about to finish her off, he was hit from behind by an icy blast. Annoyed, but not seriously injured, he turned to face Mia, who was about twenty feet from him. "Why don't you come over here and heal your friend, Mia?" he taunted. "She looks like she's taken a mean beating." Then he laughed again.

Mia didn't know what to do. Isaac and Jenna were both equally helpless. If she stayed in her spot to protect Isaac, Jenna could die. But if she left Isaac, Alex would have a chance to take him. She glanced to her left. Saturos and Menardi looked like they were finally starting to wear Ivan down; he had taken too many hits to concentrate on the fight. Her side was losing. She realized that if she didn't rush in and heal someone that she'd soon be the only good guy standing. But she couldn't leave, for standing calmly with his arms crossed five feet in front of her was Alex, exactly as he had been the entire fight, waiting for her to rush to the aid of her friends. Instead, she sent him a blast of psynergy, as she had been doing on and off as long as Alex had been standing there. But he dodged it, as per usual. She was about to fire another shot, but he looked around happily, gestured to the surroundings, and said, "Well would you look at that?"

Mia froze. Ivan and Jenna had been defeated. She was the only one on her team who could still fight. Saturos, Menardi, and Garet walked to Alex, Saturos dragging Ivan with him and Garet dragging Jenna. The four of them surrounded her before tossing the crushed adepts to the side. Close enough that Alex could keep an eye on them in case they woke up, but not close enough for Mia to be able to heal them. Mia hugged Isaac and closed her eyes, and now she was sobbing. "Please don't do this…"

Alex was briefly overcome by pity. He could kill the other members of the chosen eight without remorse, but he could never bring himself to kill her. He and she had been like brother and sister once, and despite the cold front he had spent so many years maintaining, seeing her crying like this tugged at his heartstrings. He was annoyed at this, because he knew he should not be feeling such qualms, but he couldn't help it. "Mia," he spoke softly and intimately, which startled everyone, his current speech was so different from his usual aloof attitude. "Please let me at least tell you why I'm doing this."

She didn't look at him. She only hugged Isaac tighter. "Nothing you could ever say…will make me forgive you." Despite the fact that she was crying, her voice was emotionless.

"I know. But I owe it to you to tell you my side of the story. When you and your friends lit the Mars beacon, I was on top of Mount Aleph, waiting to be bathed in the light of the Golden Sun so I could obtain its power. I did indeed receive a power boost, but I was cheated from receiving the full power of Alchemy; the Wise one appeared next to me and said that I had only obtained half of Alchemy's full power and that he had given the other half to someone else. Then he incapacitated me, and I went down with Mount Aleph when it crumbled. I awoke a long time later underneath the rubble that was once Vale. The only explanation for that I can come up with is that my powers had been enhanced so greatly by the Golden Sun that they had been gradually and subconsciously healing me while I was knocked out. Even so, I was incredibly weak when I awoke, but I was able to use what little strength I had left to get out of the natural tomb which had been created for me. Half-dead, I managed to make it to Mercury Lighthouse without anyone from the Mercury clan discovering me. I drank some of the Hermes Water, but to my horror I found that it did not heal me. At first I had thought there was something wrong with the water. But hidden in the shadows, I watched as the sick and elderly traveled from Imil and were restored to full health by the water. This frustrated me to no end. I realized that without the water's power, the only way I would be able to heal properly was to remain at Mercury Lighthouse until the beacon slowly rejuvenated me. I was incredibly weak from the trip, so I knew it would be a while before I was completely restored. But even after a week of lying atop the lighthouse, a week of nothing but eating and resting, I found that I could only be partially healed by the lighthouse, items, and my healing powers." His voice became angry. "That 'Wise One' cursed me! I don't know what he did, but I know it was his doing! This revelation devastated me. On the way to the lighthouse and the entire week I had been resting there, my thoughts had only centered around one thing: getting healed. But when I realized that I couldn't do that in my current state, I was forced to focus on something else. My thoughts were mostly about the Wise One and how he had taken my health away from me. I needed it back; I refused to live a half life, refused to feel fatigued and weak for the rest of my days. SO I devised a plan. I clung to the hope that if I sought out the other holder of Alchemy and took his half so that I controlled all of Alchemy, I would be able to heal myself. I knew that in my crippled state I wouldn't be able to travel safely by myself, so decided to get help. I got a wandering merchant to take me to Lalivero. From there I entered Venus Lighthouse. Just as I had hoped, I found the skeletons of Saturos and Menardi. Using my half of Alchemy's power, I gave them flesh and revived them."

Menardi smirked. "We were more than happy to help him hunt down the ones who killed us."

"Yes, and besides," Saturos added, "it was the least we could do to thank him for bringing Menardi and me back together." He grasped her hand in his, and the two Proxians stared at each other and smiled. Not smirks, but genuine warm smiles.

"I don't get your meaning." 'Weird…' Mia had never before suspected a romance between Saturos and Menardi. She had always assumed they were too cruel and monstrous to have feelings for anything.

Saturos looked at her, and Mia saw his eyes glaze over with sadness. "We were in love before you killed us, but let's just say that the afterlife is not so kind to evil people like ourselves."

Mia was amazed to see tears coming down both of their faces. Menardi picked up where Saturos had left off. "As part of our punishment for the evil deeds we committed during our lives, our souls were to be forever separated from each other. We were to spend all eternity on opposite sides of hell, never to see each other again." They squeezed each other's hands.

Alex continued his story. "They were so happy when I revived them. They wouldn't let go of each other for hours, but eventually I managed to convince them to help my cause. In order to locate the one who held Alchemy's other half, we figured that we would need someone with a powerful mind. Someone like Sheba."

"What have you done with Sheba and Felix?" Ivan yelled from his position on the ground.

"Shut up. I'm getting to that." Alex spat out angrily. He thought about having Garet kill him, but decided it would only upset Mia further. "Since the three of us hadn't seen any of you in a while, we had no idea where any of you were. We could only guess that Sheba was in Lalivero. So we went there and learned to our delight that she did indeed still live there. We weren't expecting to see Felix as well, though. Since I was weakened and we didn't want to risk pitting Saturos and Menardi against both Sheba and Felix, we hid ourselves and waited until Sheba was all alone. Then we kidnapped her and fled back toward Angara; I was feeling weak, and I needed to visit the Mercury Lighthouse again. We eventually wound up in Xian, where we were surprised to find Garet. I quickly cast a very deep sleeping spell on Sheba so she couldn't interfere with our plans. Garet was training under a kung fu master there. I believe his name was Feh. We secretly watched Garet practice everything from kung fu to swordplay to using his fire energy. When he trained with his psynergy, many of the town's inhabitants watched him as well. Apparently he was quite respected for his incredible physical strength and his psynergy. The people called him 'Garet the Great.' Anyway, we were very impressed with what we saw from him, so we decided to…add him to our forces."

"You bastard! What did you do to him?" Jenna was just as immobile as Ivan at the moment, but that didn't stop her from cursing her enemy.

Alex chuckled to himself. "We waited until he was alone. One evening he decided to take a walk through Mogall forest, and we attacked him then. While Saturos and Menardi distracted him, I managed to gain control of his mind. It was surprisingly easy, considering how simple-minded our target was." He turned to face Jenna and sneered. "When I went in his head, all I found were thoughts of you. There was scarcely anything else. All I had to do to take over was modify his thoughts just a bit. Make me appear to him as you, and he obeys my every command."

Ivan hated this. He really hated this. Here he was, lying uselessly and completely helpless on the ground while he and his friends were being taunted by their enemy. But suddenly, he was struck with realization. 'Oh my god.' "So," he called out as casually as he could, given the ridiculous amount of pain he was in and the impact of his revelation, "I take it Isaac is the one who controls the other half of Alchemy, am I right?"

Mia and Jenna stared at Ivan in shock, contemplating the significance of such a thing if it were true. If Alex was surprised, however, he did a good job hiding it. "You're smarter than I give you credit for if you've already figured it out. Yes, Isaac is the one I'm after. That is why nothing you have tried will heal him, Mia. He and I are cursed; Hermes Water restores health to all living things, but he and I are no longer part of that class. We are more like gods now, closer to being like the Wise One than we are to being human, and so the water has no effect on us. However, now that we are higher beings, neither of us has the ability to heal properly with only half of the Golden Sun each. The only way to fix this is to have one of us take the other's power away. The one who takes the power will then be able to heal himself, and the one who loses his power will become a normal human again, and he will once again be affected by things like Hermes Water and healing psynergy."

Mia looked at Isaac's face. "He has control over alchemy…that must be why he's been able to master water psynergy even though he's a Venus adept. All he needed to start learning it was a little boost, and he probably got that by being around me and Mercury Lighthouse."

Ivan filled in the rest. "And since you also control alchemy, Alex, I bet that's how you are able to read and control minds and use psynergy seals; you've developed powers that are only supposed to be used by Jupiter adepts."

Alex's eyes shone with self-satisfaction. "You are correct. Jupiter adepts are most sensitive to the presence of other adepts, as you know, so that's how, when we were in the cave leading to Mercury Lighthouse, I was able to sense that you and Felix were following us and set a trap accordingly."

Ivan smirked despite the fact that he could barely move. "But your Jupiter powers must not be very well-developed if you needed Sheba to track the rest of us down for you."

"It doesn't matter now."

"So after Ivan escaped," Jenna began, "I'll bet you continued on your way to Mercury Lighthouse so you could rest, and afterward you forced Sheba to use her powers to track Ivan down."

Alex shook his head. "No. Sheba could not track Ivan because of the seal I had placed on him. So we had her tell us where you were instead."

While Mia was distracted with Alex's story, Garet suddenly stepped toward her from the side and backhanded her, sending her to the ground. He used Unistrike on her before she could get back up, and Saturos pointed his sword to her throat when she looked ready to conjure a spell. "Don't. I would hate to have to clean your blood off my sword. And don't try any healing spells either." She let the energy she had summoned fade away. Tears slid down her face as she watched Garet pick up Isaac and present him to his "master."

"Thank you, Garet," Alex spoke to him like a loving father to his son. "You have done well." He ran a gloved hand through Garet's spiky hair, and the slave leaned into his touch, cherishing his master's approval and swelling with pride at having done well in his master's eyes. Jenna's eyes burned with fury; she hated Alex more than anything at that moment. "And now the time has finally come." Alex reached out his hand to touch Isaac's. He did so very slowly to savor the hopelessness that he sensed coming from the fallen warriors.

Ivan struggled against his own weakness, trying to get up, fighting to do something, anything, that would delay Alex's victory, but he could do nothing. He could not even push himself off the ground.

Alex's hand closed in on Isaac's. When they were about an inch apart, however, an unexpected event took place. The two halves of Alchemy, so close to each other, became as one for an instant, and filled both Alex and Isaac, bathing them in a golden light. It was healing them! "Whoa…" Alex felt his power, his full power, returning to him. He was so wrapped up in his feeling of euphoria that he didn't notice that Isaac too was recovering and now had his eyes open.

Isaac, having no idea what was going on, saw Alex and immediately cast a Ragnarok at him, knocking him away. The surprised Garet dropped him. Saturos and Menardi stepped forward to attack the newly awoken man with their blades, but Mia and Jenna struck them with Frost Bite and Dragon Fume when they were distracted. Isaac stood up at the same time as Alex. He looked around to see three people he thought were dead. "What's going on!" He shouted before Garet struck him from behind.

Ivan shouted out, "Isaac, stay away from Alex! You don't know it, but you have half of Alchemy's power and he wants it!"

"Stay away from Garet too!" Jenna said. "Alex is using his half of Alchemy to control his mind!"

Saturos and Menardi recovered and stood up. They, Garet, and Alex surrounded Isaac and stood motionless, waiting for his next move. Ivan, Mia, and Jenna were still incapacitated. Isaac took in the situation. 'Hm…if Alex was able to control Garet's mind with his half of Alchemy, then maybe I can use mine to free him…ha!"

Alex felt the mental link between him and Garet snap, and the next moment he was punched in the face by an extremely pissed off Garet. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Garet was easy to annoy, but it was rare that he was ever truly angry. Now was one of those times, and even the two Proxians had to admit it was a bit intimidating.

Isaac flung a burst of water psynergy at the Proxians, who backed off a bit to separate themselves from their enemy while they recuperated from the blow. Meanwhile, Mia had used Pure Ply on herself and was healing Jenna next, restoring her energy and mending her broken nose.

Alex stood up, and everyone had the satisfaction of seeing his face bloody and mutilated, like Jenna's had been earlier. Isaac assumed his leader position. "Garet, you and Jenna take Saturos and Menardi! Mia, heal Ivan and then come help me with Alex!"

Even though Garet would much rather be killing Alex, he obeyed. "You think you can match us?" Saturos asked him seriously.

Garet unsheathed his sword and felt his rage channel his adrenaline. "Bring it on, whelp!" He exclaimed, mimicking the words Saturos had used on him atop Venus Lighthouse. Now Saturos and Menardi were just as enraged as he was, and with that, the four fire adepts threw themselves at each other.

Alex was more powerful than Isaac, but Isaac managed to hold him off while Mia cast a Pure Ply on Ivan. 'Yes! I can fight again!' "Thank you, Mia." The two of them came to reinforce Isaac.

Alex laughed as he saw Ivan enter the fray. "What can you hope to do with my psynergy seal keeping your powers at bay?"

He continued to laugh, but little did he know that he had just given Isaac the information he needed to fix his friend's condition. Isaac closed his eyes and focused, mentally hacking away at the barrier that Alex had erected around Ivan's mind. When Ivan felt the barrier brake down, the first thing he did was fry the still-laughing Alex with an Omega Plasma.

Garet and Saturos battled one-on-one. Saturos was faster and the better swordsman, but Garet was stronger and his Unistrike blew all of his opponent's psynergy attacks out of the water. Each tried to play to his strengths: Saturos tried to engage the other fire adept in close-range combat so that swordplay would be a major part of the fight, and Garet tried to distance himself so he could win with Unistrike. Their opposite efforts cancelled, and for a while neither one could gain an advantage. But just when the tide started turning in Garet's favor, Menardi used Heal Aura and placed Saturos back on an even playing field with him.

Jenna was not doing quite as well as her teammate. She had not been training for the past year like he had, so her skills had declined somewhat during that time frame. Still, she was no pushover, and she held her own against the female Proxian.

Mia swung her weapon at Alex, but he teleported away and she only cut through air. Ivan, having sensed where Alex would reappear, sent an Omega Plasma at the spot, and Alex appeared there only to get hit by it. Isaac tried to hit him with a Mother Gaia while he was down, but he teleported away to safety.

"Menardi!" Garet's voice rang across the battlefield. The female Mars adepts stopped there bout, and Menardi's eyes widened as she saw that Garet had his sword in a position to chop off Saturos's head. "Drop your weapon !" Garet shouted. She looked from Garet to the man she loved and slowly dropped her weapon.

"No, Menardi!" Saturos shouted. "Run! Get out of here!"

"Please don't kill him," she pleaded. "I'll do anything."

"Turn around," Garet ordered his prisoner. The blue man obeyed, and Garet struck him in the back of the head with his palm, knocking him out the same way he had knocked Felix out earlier. "I won't kill him," he told her. "Don't worry."

As Menardi faced Garet, Jenna smacked her in the back of the head with her sword's hilt, and she too fell to the ground unconscious. Then Jenna and Garet joined the others against Alex.

Alex had increased his speed, making it impossible even for Ivan to keep up with his movements. Every time someone shot a blast of energy at him, he teleported away just in the nick of time. "You think you can beat me!" he shouted. In response, Mia and Jenna charged him from different directions. Isaac hung back, apparently gathering energy and preparing his own attack. Ivan called upon the strength of his element and boosted the resistance of his party. Garet did the same, raising the party's overall defense.

Alex sensed the stat increases, but it did not intimidate him. A surge of water and ice even more powerful than Mia's Frost Bite flew from his fingertips and overwhelmed Jenna, and with his other hand he used his weapon to block the one Mia swung at him. He was stronger, and he managed to push her back, but Garet immediately took her place, and Alex wasn't strong enough to shove him away. Then Ivan came in swinging his Swift Sword, and Alex wasn't skilled enough to deal with them both simultaneously in a swordfight; so he teleported away, but that put him in the range of Mia. She sent a Frost Bite his way. He was about to teleport again but was hit behind by Jenna's Serpent Fume, causing him to lose his concentration just long enough for Mia's attack to contact. Unfortunately, it didn't do much since Alex was of the same clan as her, and he was back up and fighting her much sooner than she had time to prepare for. He hit her with a Shine Plasma and then teleported before Jenna's second Serpent Fume could do any damage.

The sixth sense that he had received from his half of Alchemy kicked in, and he recognized that Garet and Ivan had shot something at him. It was a combo attack: apparently they had combined a Unistrike and an Omega Plasma into a single beam of energy, and it was almost upon him. Acknowledging that the end result would not be good for him if he were hit by it, he reacted with a combo attack of his own. He had to do something, but there was not enough time to teleport away; he had to block it. With his left hand he generated wind psynergy and with his right he generated water. The two converged and met the opposing beam. Alex's beam was stronger, and it completely annihilating the other and kept going.

"Whoa!" Ivan and Garet leapt out of its way. 'How can he have so much power?' Ivan thought in amazement.

Alex mad e to dash toward Ivan but found that he was unable to move. 'What?' He turned to face a grinning Isaac. Isaac was done gathering energy and had executed his most debilitating maneuver: Ground. 'No! I knew that with the other half of Alchemy he was the most dangerous! I should have kept an eye on him.'

"Now!" Isaac shouted. "I've got a hold of him; hit him with everything you got!"

Garet, understandably, was the first to oblige, and the others soon followed. "Unistrike!"

"Dragon Fume!"

"Frost Bite!"

"Omega Plasma!"

Alex fought to escape the Earth Adept's hold on him, but all for naught. He could not move, could not even teleport away, and he realized the fight was over for him. He suffered the full impact of the attacks as they all simultaneously struck his form, then he suffered two more rounds of it. Finally, the Ground spell wore off and he collapsed, no more capable of supporting himself than a rag doll would be.

"Quick! Take his portion of Alchemy from him while he's still down!" Ivan told Isaac, who nodded and approached their enemy. The remaining adepts closed in on their prey.

Alex tried to get away, but all he could do was twitch on the ground. 'Just like after the Wise One attacked me,' he thought grimly. His eyes narrowed in determination. 'No! I won't let this happen again, not when I'm so close!' He focused his psynergy to execute a Pure Ply, but his psynergy faded out before it could serve its purpose. 'Huh? What happened?' He turned to face an extremely smug Ivan, and realization dawned on him.

Ivan almost laughed. "You sealed my psynergy earlier. It's only right that I return the favor."

Before Alex could recover from this realization, Isaac grabbed his hand and held it for some thirty seconds. A golden light, the light of the Golden Sun, passed from Mercury Adept to Venus Adept, and Isaac let go.

"Did it work?" Even as he asked, Ivan knew the answer from reading Alex's mind and listening to his mental curses.

Isaac nodded.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

Garet already had his sword pointed to the offender's throat. "I say we kill him." He wasn't serious, of course. He was just trying to scare him as revenge for the whole 'mind control' thing, and judging from the look on Alex's face, it worked.

Mia almost agreed just to spook him further, but her kind nature wouldn't allow it. "No, Garet. There's been too much bloodshed on his behalf already. There has to be another way."

Isaac grinned. "I think I have an idea." He raised his left palm, and a purple light shone around Alex. When it disappeared, everyone waited for an explanation. "Now he can never use psynergy ever again." Ivan was satisfied to hear another round of mental swear words.

"That's a good start," Jenna mused, "but we can't let him off that easily."

"You're right." Isaac's grin grew. He surrounded the Imilian with a red light this time. "Now his physical strength has been greatly diminished; a child could beat him in a fair fight."

"Good, but we can't just let him go again," Mia pointed out.

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure Vault's mayor would be happy to keep him in jail after the way he destroyed the city.

"I'll go tell everyone it's safe to come out," Garet offered.

"Don't," Jenna said quickly. "They might be scared of you since you wrecked some of these buildings while Alex was controlling you. Let me do it." Minutes later the adepts were surrounded by a crowd of Vault's inhabitants. Jenna led the mayor to the center where the adepts were. That was the last thing Alex saw before he fainted.

"I still don't understand what happened, but thank you for apprehending this man. Hm…he seems to have lost consciousness." He turned to the crowd. "Call the guards and have them carry this man, the blue guy, and the woman to the healer's sanctum. Once they wake, we'll take them to the prison." Guards were summoned, and they carried the three unconscious bodies away. "Now, let's see…three of the villains are unconscious, but the townsfolk said there were four."

Mia's eyes widened. "Four? Oh no…"

Garet frowned as the eyes of the adepts, the mayor, and the crowd of civilians all looked at him. The faces of families who had lost their homes and barely escaped with their lives were fixed in uncontained ire. Many people had burns. 'Crap.'

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"But sir, please let us explain. He was being controlled…"

"That may be, but I'm afraid he must still take responsibility for his actions. I have to put him in jail." Garet's face fell. "But I might be able to shorten his sentence since he helped apprehend the real villain in the end."

Garet still did not like this at all. "How much time are we talking here?"

"I don't know yet. I'll have to talk it over with the townsfolk and survey the extent of the damage that was done. Until I can arrange a trial, though, we'll have to keep you locked up. Part of your sentence will be spent helping to rebuild the houses you destroyed. Perhaps if you do additional community service during your sentence, we'll let you out a bit early, but for now I just don't know. In any case, come along. The quicker you comply, the quicker we can get your trial arranged." The mayor called three guards, who escorted Garet into the prison. The crowd cheered.

"Garet…" Jenna shook her head, a torn look on her face. 'This isn't right. He's going to go to jail for something he didn't do. I hope I can make him feel better.' The mayor was still talking to them about something, but Jenna wasn't really listening. When she saw the guards leave the prison, she rushed inside to see the prisoner.

After the mayor excused himself to consult the town elders, Mia looked like she was going to go inside the prison as well, but Ivan stopped her, having sensed Jenna's need for privacy. "Don't," he said knowingly. "I think she wants to be alone with Garet for a moment."

"But…we have to do something…this is horrible…"

"We will have our turn to cheer Garet up," said Isaac, "but we also need to concentrate on finding Felix and Sheba. The mayor's going to want one of us to stay around and answer more questions about the fight."

Mia volunteered. "I'm going to take a trip around the village and heal everyone who was burned, and then I'll catch up to the mayor."

"Okay," Ivan said. "Isaac and I will stay at the healer's Sanctum with Saturos and Menardi. When they wake up, we'll ask them where our friends are. We'll let you and Jenna know as soon as they tell us, and we can plan something from there."

Mia left to follow the mayor, and the two blondes began the walk to the sanctum. Isaac finally asked the big question. "What the hell is going on, anyway?"

Ivan smiled. "I suppose it must've been weird to wake up in Garet's arms with three people you thought were dead standing right in front of you." He told his bewildered friend the whole story.

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Garet was sitting with his back against the wall in his cell. The guards were locking his cell door. His eyes were fixated on a point on the ceiling but he wasn't really looking at anything; he was too sad and deep in thought. 'To think, I'm in the same prison that we put those three thieves in who robbed Vault after the eruption. Am I on the same level as them now? Am I on the same level as Alex now? What the heck am I gonna have to do to make the people here see I'm one of the good guys? How long are they going to keep me here? … Should I try to break out? I could easily melt the iron bars with my psynergy, and the guards aren't strong enough to capture me. It's not right that I'm being kept here, but would it be right for me to free myself? Part of me says yes, but the other part…well, I don't know. This sucks.'

He heard the cell door finally lock, the retreating footsteps of the guards, the opening and closing of the door to the prison, and then nothing. Garet was left alone. It was almost completely dark, but the single torch did provide a little light. A little. Garet was about to let himself cry when the door opened and Jenna came in. Seeing her reminded him of how ferociously he had beaten her while under Alex's control. Images of her bloodied face, the sound of her pained voice pleading him not to fight her filled his brain. 'She didn't deserve that. She's so beautiful, so wonderful, and I beat her like a target at Master Feh's. I deserve to die for what I did to her.' He did not dare look at her, so he hung his head in shame. Despite his effort to suppress his sadness, several tears leaked down his face, though he made no sound; he didn't deserve to be in Jenna's presence, so what right did he have to make her worry about him?

She sat down in front of the bars that separated them. "Don't worry, Garet," she cooed. "Everything will be okay."

He didn't answer, and an awkward silence followed as Jenna couldn't think of anything to say. Luckily, Garet started the conversation. "I don't believe it. All that training, and my strength gets used for something like this," he said, referring to how he destroyed people's houses."

"Once everyone understands the situation, though, I'm sure they won't keep you here long."

The anger characteristic of fire adepts flared up inside him. "Well they should!" The way he suddenly looked at her and shouted made her flinch. She was about to scoot back until the light of the torch revealed the traces of old tears on his cheeks, and she tried to get closer to examine them, knowing full well she couldn't because of the bars.

Realizing he had accidentally let her see his face, he hung his head once more, staring at the floor. Although he regretted the way his looking at her had caused concern to creep into her face, this new sensation did nothing to quell his anger. "They should keep me in here for life." His voice seethed with frustration. "For all the training I've done, I was completely helpless against that jerk's mind control. If I weren't so useless, if I weren't so damn stupid and weak-minded, maybe I'd have had the intelligence needed to resist his efforts, and none of this would have happened!"

Now it was her turn to erupt. "Don't you dare talk like that! You are not useless! In case you didn't notice, you just helped us beat the crap out of the one who had a grip on your mind! Sure, you did some bad things, but it wasn't your fault! It was Alex doing those things, not you! He was just doing them through you."

"Jenna, I completely destroyed your face! Don't you remember! I think I broke one of your ribs, too! I…" as he realized he was going to cry again, his rage disappeared. "I'm sorry," he said and then broke into choking sobs.

Jenna, nonetheless, was still mad. "I'm fine now, Garet! Mia healed me! My face will be bruised for a while, and she couldn't completely mend my rib; but those things will go away eventually. Damn it, listen to me! I said it wasn't your—"

"Please just go," he said miserably.

"No! I said listen to me, you—you big idiot!" Her words seemed to echo endlessly, and she immediately regretted saying them.

The echo was stopped when he replied. "Jenna…do you really think I'm just a big idiot?" She did not answer. She did not know how. Her silence saw the return of his anger. "Is it? Well guess what! I am! I am just a big idiot! And don't you dare lie to me and tell me I'm not!" Now their roles had been reversed: Jenna's anger was gone while Garet was yelling. "Do you know why I went to Xian? I went there to learn Chi hoping that I wouldn't be useless when I came back!" His voice softened abruptly as he looked her straight in the eye. His next words were almost a whisper, but they were more powerful than anything that had been yelled thus far. "I left to train so that when I came back, I might be something more than just a 'big idiot' in your eyes."

Another pause. Jenna's heart felt like it had exploded and shrunk at the same time. "Garet…come here," she said compassionately. They hugged, and awkward as it was with the bars between them, it made both of them feel better. "Don't call yourself useless, because you mean everything to me, and I'm going to make sure you never run off to another town without me again. Everything will be okay, all right? However long you're stuck in this rathole, I'll stay in Vault and visit you every day. Please don't cry."

He didn't stop crying, though. He cried as they hugged for the longest time in the semi-darkness.

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He was having a nightmare. He was with the woman he had spent his entire life with. The glowing red hands of demons came up from the ground and were trying to grab their ankles and pull the two of them down into hell. The two of them screamed and got on top of a bed to avoid the hands. They unsheathed their swords and hacked away at the grasping limbs, but the swords went through the hands as if they weren't really there. It was obvious that the hands were real, though, because as they came in contact with the legs of the bed, the legs burned away.

He and the woman with him gasped as the bed legs collapsed, lowering the bed and bringing them closer to the ground. He could only think of one thing at the moment: this wasn't fair. All his life, he and this woman had been the masters of fire. They had thought that they were the greatest warriors in all of Weyard. But now nothing they did could keep these enemies away from them. Even though they had spent their entire lives searching for strength, their strength could not save them. And to think that their enemies, these damned hands, were masters of fire just like them. If they went to hell, would they become just like these demons? If they did, they would become more powerful, but they would also be condemned to an eternity in hell, never to leave. He became disgusted at himself, for he had spent his life searching for power without acknowledging the consequence. Now he and his best friend would become demons. But as his life flashed before his eyes, he realized that they already were demons. They had traveled across Angara and Gondowan, using their strength and fire to destroy lives and frighten, just as these damn hands were doing to him now. Suddenly he heard the demons laughing wickedly from below the ground, as if they knew of his revelation. A million cackles filled his ears, and then the roar of a great fire. He snapped out of his reverie and noted to his horror that the ground had split, and he could see the hell he had already been to once. He and his best friend, his love, were going there again, and this time they would stay forever. There would be no Alex to rescue them from eternal damnation.

They knew what was going to happen next, but they still tried to fight it. They held onto each other tightly, wrapping their arms around the other's midsection, and held on for dear life quite literally. But the hands grabbed both of them.

The dream ended. The crusty eyes on his blue face slowly opened to find a blonde midget staring at him.

"Good. You're finally awake."

Saturos came to his senses, recognized the person in front of him as Ivan, and registered (to his incredible relief) that he was not in hell. But then panic set back in. What about his best friend? "Where am I? What have you done with Menardi?"

"You're in the healer's sanctum. After Garet and Jenna knocked the two of you out, we took you here. You've been asleep for a day. Menardi's in the bed behind yours."

Saturos craned his neck to look in the indicated direction. Sure enough, there was his partner, dozing peacefully. "How is she? I can't move. I can't get up to look at her. How is she?"

"She's fine. She was knocked out like you. She just hasn't woken up yet. Don't worry; Isaac says it won't be long until she's up too. And when she does you two are going to answer a few questions for us." Ivan sensed the anger radiating from him. "And don't even think about attacking. Isaac sealed your psynergy and decreased your strength, so it wouldn't be too hard to take you out again." More angry vibes were emitted. Ivan sighed and spoke calmly and apologetically. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to anger you. I'm just making sure you know what's going on so we won't have to attack you again."

Saturos calmed down. "Where is Alex?"

"He's already been healed. Isaac did the same thing with his strength and psynergy, and we put him in the jail here."

Saturos's spirit plummeted, though it wasn't particularly high before that. 'I was hoping he would win or at least manage to escape. If he lost, then…' "So, I take it Isaac has the whole Golden Sun under his power now?"

"Yes."

'No…then there is no longer any hope for us…'

Ivan read the thought. "So, after he revived you, how did he convince you two to join his little quest?"

"We already told you. Menardi and I were more than happy to help him hunt down the ones who killed us."

"I don't believe you."

"What's so hard to believe?"

"I don't believe that after being revived, you and Menardi would be so ready to kill again. I'd think that a man who just got out of hell would be too scared by what he had experienced to ever want to sin again."

"You're a fool."

"No. I'm right about this. Alex must have done something to convince you to follow him. What did he do?"

Presently they heard a moan. Menardi had woken up. "Where am I? Saturos?"

"I'm right here. Don't worry; we're not dead."

"I know, but I can't help worrying. I had that dream."

"So did I."

"What's going on? I can't even move my head to look around the room."

"We're at the healer's sanctum. We were knocked out, and Alex lost. The twerps took away our special abilities and brought us here to rest. Ivan's here right now."

"I've been waiting for you two to wake up." He faced the door and yelled for Isaac to come to him.

"Yes? Oh! They're awake!"

"Yep." He turned to the Proxians. "Now, we need you to tell us where Felix and Sheba are."

Neither answered. Isaac sighed. "Listen, this town is pretty angry at you right now, and so are we. I think it would be in your best interest to cooperate."

"Fine," Saturos gave in to their request. "Alex put a heavy sleeping spell on them. Then we hid them in this little cave near the one we first encountered Ivan and Felix in…"

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Isaac watched over the bedridden Proxians while Ivan and Mia left the village to retrieve their friends. They found them tied up and sleeping soundly. Felix was snoring lightly, and Sheba was unconsciously hugging him and snuggling against him in her sleep. Mia used her healing powers to wake them, and Ivan cut their ropes.

Sheba woke up first. She yawned and looked around. "What—?" She quickly released Felix from her hug and stood up, looking quite disconcerted that Mia and Ivan had seen them in such a position. Ivan laughed. Sheba tried to regain her composure. "So, uh, I guess you rescued us?"

Mia giggled. "Yep."

Then Felix came to. He saw Sheba and immediately jumped to his feet. "Sheba, are you all right? Why do you look so embarrassed?" Ivan snickered at this, and Felix noticed him and Mia. "Hey, what gives? Ivan?"

"You were knocked out in that cave by Garet. Alex was controlling him, but we beat Saturos, Menardi, and Alex and freed Garet's mind."

"Wait, ALEX! He's alive too!"

"Come on," said Mia. "We have to get back to Vault. Garet's having a trial, and I'm worried. We'll explain everything on the way."

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By the time they arrived at Vault, Felix and Sheba were up to date on all that had transpired. The next day a public trial was held. The chosen eight (minus Piers), Saturos, Menardi, and Alex were there, and the latter three and Garet had their hands bound and were being watched closely by a handful of guards. Garet looked like he had made himself sick with worry.

Ivan volunteered to give his take on the story first, since he had witnessed every event except Sheba's kidnapping. He knew that a few things would have to be explained first. "I know this is unusual, but there are a few things everyone must know before we begin or else my story won't make any sense. I'm afraid all of this will sound pretty unbelievable, but please listen. First of all, as I'm sure everyone that watched the fight is aware, my friends and I have special…powers, as do the four people whose hands are bound right now. We are called 'adepts' because of those powers. I'm sure those of you who were burned a few days ago already know of Mia's healing abilities." He proceeded to list everyone's name, powers, and location of dwelling, followed by a demonstration of the powers from the adepts who weren't being charged. (Ivan and Sheba had a lot of fun demonstrating Mind Read.) "However, after the fight Isaac, the most powerful adept here, has placed a seal on Alex, Saturos, and Menardi that keeps them from using their powers; and though we claim Garet is innocent, Isaac has also placed a seal on him for the duration of this trial to appease the mayor." Ivan then told the crowd everything that happened from his point of view from the time he set sail from Contigo to when he and Mia found Felix and Sheba just one day ago. He left out a few details, however, such as the fact that he and his friends were the ones who had killed Saturos and Menardi, (He just said that they were dead and had apparently gone to hell.) the part about Isaac now having control over all of Alchemy, (If he told them that, it would just lead to more questions, and people might think Isaac was dangerous.) and the part about Felix still having his pants halfway down after Garet had knocked him out. (It would have been just plain mean to mention that.) It was obvious when he finished that the crowd was skeptical, but he had told the truth.

Nernst was called upon to answer a few questions, and she confirmed what Ivan had said about him rescuing her and then her giving him a ride to New Vale and a ride to Vault. She supported his statement that Jenna had been with him during the ride to Vault. Her explanation of her rescue also supported the idea that until about the middle of the fight in Vault, Ivan had been without his powers since he had only fought with his sword while rescuing Nernst.

Felix's story agreed with Ivan's and ended up with him saying that while in the cave connecting Imil and Bilibin he had been knocked out from behind and that he had only woken up yesterday thanks to Mia and Ivan.

Jenna's part in this tale started when Ivan arrived in New Vale, and her story agreed with his.

Isaac confirmed that he had become sick and fallen asleep over a week ago and only woken up midway through the battle in Vault, not having any idea what was going on.

Sheba said that she had been kidnapped by Saturos, Menardi, and Alex, and that Alex had exercised control over Garet's mind when they found him in Mogall Forest. She then claimed that she had been placed under a deep sleeping spell, then woken up and forced to reveal to Alex Jenna's location, then put under a sleeping spell again to be woken up along with Felix just yesterday by Mia and Ivan, as Felix had already explained.

Mia's story agreed with everything else that had been said.

All the adepts that had spoken so far made sure to mention that Garet was their friend and had been for a long time. This was especially true for Jenna and Isaac, who had known him their whole lives.

Now it was the villains' turn to speak. Garet was first. He stated that one day he had been taking a walk in Mogall Forest when he was ambushed, and Alex had used a form of mind control on him. While in that state, he could see everything he was doing, but had no control over his actions. Only when Isaac woke up and broke the mental link between him and Alex did he have control over himself once again, and after that he helped defeat Saturos, Menardi, and Alex.

Menardi was next. She talked about her experience in hell and how glad she had been when Alex had revived her and Saturos. To the amazement of the chosen-eight-minus-Piers, she did not mention that it was Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia who had killed her and Saturos in the first place. Her final statement, however, was the most shocking. "Alex promised Saturos and me that once he obtained Isaac's power, he would be able to grant us eternal life so that we would never have to suffer in hell again." A tear escaped her left eye. "That is why we followed him."

Ivan stared at Saturos in shock and read the thoughts he was projecting. 'I am sorry for not telling you earlier, Ivan. You were right earlier when you said Alex must have done something to convince us to follow him.'

Alex took the stand next. He admitted to the crimes he had committed, except he claimed that Garet had joined him of his own free will. He also claimed that Isaac was the one who had killed Saturos and Menardi, and that he had only taken up this quest to avenge them.

Surprisingly, Saturos denied this when he took the stand. 'If Menardi didn't accuse them, then neither will I.' "Menardi and I did fight Isaac once atop the Venus Lighthouse, but he did not kill us or mean to kill us. Our deaths were accidental; when we were fatigued from battle, we collapsed and fell down the beacon of the lighthouse. Also, Alex did take over Garet's mind. When we found him in Mogall Forest, Alex had Menardi and I distract him by fighting him. Only when he was distracted could Alex do his work."

Several civilians, adults and small children alike, who had watched the fight from their hiding places were called to speak, and they spilled the details of the exact moment when Isaac woke up and the exact moment when Garet switched sides. (Garet almost smiled at the memory of punching Alex in the face.) The innkeeper talked about how Mia, Ivan, and Jenna had tried to escape from the inn with the unconscious Isaac in tow, how they were stopped by Saturos and Menardi, and how Garet had scared him away with fire.

By this time the secretaries, who had been writing everything was said, were exhausted, and the mayor called a two-hour recess so that he could discuss the verdict with the elders.

When the recess ended, and everyone had returned, one of the elders spoke up. "This is an extremely unusual and extraordinary case. I'm sure we can all agree on that based on what we saw that night. We've seen for ourselves that these 'special powers' that have been spoken of do in fact exist, but that is only one facet of the story that makes it so odd. We will also have to wade through issues of murder, hell, the reanimation of dead people, and mind control, something that has never even been suggested to exist. Plus we must send someone to Xian to ask the population questions concerning Garet's character. As such, I'm afraid we will need an extended amount of time to come to a decision. We will call a town meeting as soon as we reach a verdict. Until then, the four charged 'adepts' will wait in jail, coming out only during the daytime to help with the reconstruction of Vault. This court is adjourned."

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Two weeks passed, during which Garet, to his disgust, had to share a prison with Saturos, Menardi, and Alex. Saturos and Menardi weren't the ones that were bad to have around, though. ('Now that I think about it, they seem to have changed since their trip to hell. They're…nicer. I've actually had some very pleasant conversations with them during our time in jail together. They just don't give off the same evil vibes that they used to.) Alex was the problem. Though the Imilian didn't talk much, Garet was so angry at him that he had to restrain himself from breaking out of his cell and into the Imilian's to beat him up.

The prisoners were let outside (under close guard, of course) for seven hours each day to help rebuild the village. Isaac, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, and the townsfolk helped too. Even a sizeable portion of the adults from New Vale came to their aid. (After all, Vault had helped build New Vale after Vale was destroyed, so it was just common courtesy to return the favor.) Those who had lost their homes lived with those who hadn't when they weren't outside working.

At length a town meeting was called, and everyone, including the jailbirds, gathered around the town elders. The chosen-eight-minus-Piers had their fingers crossed. The elder who had ended the trial cleared his throat. "It's taken quite some time, but we have reached a decision regarding the fates of Alex, Saturos, Menardi, and Garet. Alex is sentenced to ten years in prison. Although Saturos and Menardi were on his side, and although we are still debating whether we can take this story of going to hell and back seriously, it has come to our attention that they are not guilty of anything except assisting Alex in the kidnapping of Felix and Sheba and the supposed mind control of Garet; they did not destroy any of the buildings, and they were taken out of the fight before they could actually harm anyone. And since they have already had their powers and some of their strength taken away, the court is willing to show lenience. If Sheba, Felix, and Garet forgive them, then the pair will only be sentenced to three months in jail. However, if one of them does not offer his or her forgiveness, the sentence will be more along the lines of Alex's. If they have already decided, they may come up and announce it. Or they may request a few days to think it over. Let us start with Garet."

Garet nodded. A guard led him to where the two Proxians were standing. They locked gazes with him, and the fear was evident in their eyes. Garet's face was so serious. It was easy to tell he was angry. 'There's no way he could forgive us.'

"You have my forgiveness."

The Proxians' jaws dropped as Garet walked away. The other adepts were equally stunned. Sheba and Felix had been considering condemning them, but now they were having second thoughts. 'Garet has the most reason to be upset with them. If he can forgive them, then so can I.'

Sheba and Felix, following their friend's example, gave their forgiveness, and Saturos and Menardi looked like they were about to faint from shock.

"Very well. Saturos and Menardi are sentenced to three months in prison. Finally, we come to the most complicated issue: Garet." Garet closed his eyes. "Xian has nothing but good things to say about him. He is Master Feh's top student in his Kung Fu school, and Master Feh praises Garet for his kind, though sometimes rude and impatient, character and his willingness to help new students. Feh's daughter, Feizhi, told us a story about how Garet helped save a young man named Hsu by using a power called 'Lift' to free his leg from the crushing weight of a boulder. He has helped many other citizens of the town at some time or another and is especially popular with the children. Apparently he is so well-known for his strength and deeds in Xian that he has been dubbed 'Garet the Great.' Given this testament and Ivan and Sheba's demonstration of their mind powers, we decided after much heated debate that the possibility of mind control had to be taken seriously. All adept witnesses save for Alex claim that his mind was indeed being controlled, so we have decided to acknowledge that. Hence we cannot punish him severely. However, it was still he who destroyed our buildings, so some punishment must still be dealt. Since learning of his mastery of Kung Fu, several citizens here have expressed interest in learning martial arts. Therefore Garet is hereby sentenced to three months in prison, under the condition he dedicate a combined five hours a day to building and to teaching Kung Fu. Court adjourned."

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That night, Garet, Menardi, Saturos, and Alex were alone in their separate cells contemplating the significance of the day's events when Menardi broke the silence. "That was a very kind thing to do for us, Garet."

"Yes. Our thanks will never be enough."

"You've given us another shot at life."

"Yeah, well…it wasn't just me. Felix and Sheba forgave you, too."

"Yes, but they might not have done that if not for your example. You saw how shocked they looked when you did what you did."

Garet grinned. "Yeah, but their faces were nothing compared to yours. You looked like your bottom jaws were going to fall off."

"Well how would you react if you had been in our position? One of our greatest enemies just up and forgave us out of the blue. It was even more surprising because of how angry you looked at the time."

"Well, I wasn't angry at you two. I was angry at that jerk over there," he said, pointing to the silent Imilian.

"I must ask, though: why? Why did you forgive us?"

Garet sighed. "I guess it was because of something I thought of the other night: you two have changed. It's pretty easy to figure out why: you were both in the underworld, separated from each other, separated from the one you loved, for two years, thinking you would never see each other again. Although I can't really relate to that situation, I know what it's like to be separated from the one you love. Plus, I mean, come on, you were in hell. I think that anyone who spends a year there has suffered more than enough."

Menardi laughed despite her awful memories of that place. "It was so terrible, I don't think I could ever describe it accurately to you. The best way I can think to relate it to this world is constantly experiencing absolutely nothing but the most utter pain, regret, confusion, loneliness, and fear, and knowing that those are the only emotions you will ever feel again."

"But," Saturos added optimistically, "that's over for now. I am back in Weyard with the one I love, even if we are separated by iron bars. And in three short months, we can say goodbye to the bars." The Proxians smiled affectionately at each other.

"And in three months," Menardi addressed Garet, "these bars will no longer separate you from whomever it is you love."

Garet smiled. "Yeah…hey, what did you mean 'that's over for now?'"

Saturos's smile faded. "When we die again, our souls will return to the underworld."

"Huh? But can't you prevent that by living righteous lives from now on?"

Menardi sighed. "I'm afraid we've done too many terrible things for whatever god or gods exists to forgive us."

"That's ridiculous. I forgave you, didn't I? I'm not very religious, but surely whatever god or gods exist are righteous, so I bet they'll forgive you too so long as you don't go back to old patterns. You won't have to dedicate every moment of your existence to helping others to make up for your mistakes, either; you should just try to live normal lives and help those around you when they need it. I'm sure if you do that, you'll be forgiven."

"…Thank you, Garet." Never in a million years did Garet think the two people he was talking to would smile at him, but they proved him wrong.

"Yes, that was very sweet of you. You know, you're a lot nicer than I had you figured for back when we were lighting the lighthouses."

Garet chuckled. "Well, you did kidnap the girl I love."

"Speaking of which," Saturos said to his partner, "I don't know if I've ever directly told you this, but I love you, Menardi."

"I love you too."

"Oh, get a room!" Alex whined irritably. Garet used a miniature version of Chi to slap him in the face.

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Garet wouldn't say that the next three months flew by, but they definitely didn't drag on. Being in a cell was infinitely boring, but he had good company in the cells next to him. Plus, Jenna and the rest of his friends visited him almost every day. He enjoyed teaching the townsfolk Kung Fu, (especially the little kids who wanted to be big and strong just like "Garet the Great" when they grew up), and that added to the building kept him in shape. To his delight, Jenna attended all his Kung Fu teaching sessions. 'Hey, I might as well get some exercise, right? I mean, it's not like I trained for a year in Xian like he did. I'm probably the only one who didn't train during that year after the Doom Dragon.'

During those three months, Isaac's party and New Vale's citizens helped with Vault's reconstruction, and by the end the town was much like it had once been. The debris had been cleaned up, and several houses had been completed.

Finally the day came for Garet, Saturos, and Menardi to be released, much to Alex's anger.

"You guys have NO idea how happy I am to be out of that cell for good!" Garet was in the happiest mood anyone had seen from him in quite a while.

"You three aren't the only ones who are happy," Sheba said. "Now that you're out, we can all finally leave this place! Do you have any idea how worried Faran back in Lalivero must be about me and Felix?"

Garet rolled his eyes and turned to the Proxians. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well," Menardi said thoughtfully, "we've been cooped up for so long that we think we're going to travel a while until we can find a place to settle down."

"That's nice," said Mia. She gasped as she felt a pair of arms slip around her from behind.

"I can think of someone I'd like to settle down with," Isaac, the perpetrator, said as he rested his head on hers. Realizing it was him, she blushed and relaxed against his hold.

"So that's it, then?" Ivan asked. "What are we supposed to do now? We've said our goodbyes to everyone in this town. Does that mean we're going our separate ways again?"

Isaac released Mia, and she turned around to find out why. She found a face full of worry and indecision. "Isaac, what's wrong?" Everyone looked at their leader.

"The nine of us can't part ways yet," he said, though not sounding entirely sure of himself.

"Why not?" Saturos asked. Surely they were not going to put him and Menardi through more punishment?

"Guys, can't you sense it?"

"Sense what?"

"Imbalance," he replied simply. "The world is in trouble again."

"What!"

"Don't you see? When the sanctuary that held the Elemental Stars collapsed and Mount Aleph erupted, all kinds of crazy stuff happened: psynergy stones fell from the sky, animals became aggressive and dangerous, monsters flooded the town of Altin with saliva, a forest popped up out of nowhere next to Xian, and the Lamakan Desert became evil. Then when the lighthouses were lit, climates changed, there was a giant earthquake, and continents broke apart and collided… all because the power of Alchemy was disturbed. Now it's happening again, and I think it's because the power of Alchemy has been concentrated in a single person. I can sense strange sources of energy in random spots throughout Weyard."

"You're right," Sheba added. "I can feel one of them in Bilibin."

Isaac nodded. "They've also appeared in several other places, but the locations aren't very clear to me right now because they're too far away."

"Do you think it was meant to be your duty as the keeper of Alchemy to correct these problems?" Mia asked thoughtfully.

Isaac nodded. "I do. But I'm going to need everyone's help on this. If I'm ever going to get the hang of having all of Alchemy's power at my fingertips, I'd like to have an adept of each element instruct me in their area of expertise."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Garet gave a goofy smile. "I'm with you, man."

"Traveling around the world with you all again?" Sheba asked, elated. "It'll be just like old times."

"Speaking of which," Felix interrupted, "we ought to pick up Piers from Lemuria. Even though there won't be any evil ridiculously-powerful Proxians against us this time around," (the Proxians flexed in mock response) "if we're going on another journey there's no telling how much power we'll need."

"Yeah, and besides," Mia joked, "Mercury adepts are underrepresented in this group right now." (Author's note: Dang. Now I feel really bad for leaving Piers out of this story. Oh well…)

Saturos and Menardi, who had been whispering to each other, spoke up. "We have decided we'd like to help you. That is, if you don't mind teaming up with your past nemeses. We think this is the perfect way for us to begin our path to redemption. Besides, we'll be traveling just like Saturos and I wanted, and after spending three months with Garet, we don't think your company would be so bad," she teased. "So how about it?"

Isaac agreed. "No problem. I'm guessing we'll need all the help we can get. Besides, I bet you're dying to be able to use your psynergy again," he teased back. Felix still looked untrusting, but a glare from Garet convinced him to be more open-minded. "Let's all do whatever preparation needs to be done and meet back here in two hours."

They split up. Most of them went off on their own, but Mia was following Isaac from a distance. She remembered her deal with Jenna, that they would reveal their feelings to Isaac and Garet after the trial. She knew she had to go through with her part, but she was feeling pretty timid about now. Up ahead of her, he had stopped, apparently sitting down to rest for the next two hours. 'Well, here's my chance. He's not occupied, and we're alone for once. Here goes.' She walked, and when she was within fifteen feet of him, she slowed her pace so he would not hear her. He was slightly surprised when he saw her appear seemingly out of nowhere and sit next to him, but he quickly relaxed and put his arm around her. This did nothing to soothe her timid state.

"Hey, Mia."

"Hello, Isaac." In her shyness, she was having trouble feeling comfortable with his arm around her. He noticed and removed his arm, muttering an apology. A strange silence followed. Just when she was about to open her mouth, he started talking.

"You know, Ivan told me what you did for me."

"What?"

"He told me about how much you went through to try and heal me after I fell into that deep sleep. He told me about how you stayed by my side and how you protected me from Alex during the fight before I woke up."

"Oh, well, uh," Mia was a bit nervous. She didn't want it to sound like she had done nothing but stay by his bedside while he was out; (though that wasn't far from the truth) he'd think that was creepy.

"I wanted to thank you for that. Actually, I wanted to thank you for a lot of things. Like going with me on that journey after we built New Vale. When I was planning it, I'd planned on going alone, but I'm really glad you came. Looking back on it now, that trip would have been pretty uneventful without you there. And apparently I was able to learn water psynergy because I was so close to you, and that's what I want to talk about."

Mia's heart sank. 'He wants me to help him some more with water psynergy? Is that all he wants from me?'

"I want to talk about being close to you."

Now her heart had risen and she had the butterflies. 'Wh-what?' If his goal was to make her nervous, he was doing a fine job.

"Even though we've been through a lot together, I know that sometimes you still feel uncomfortable around me. Like when I hugged you from behind earlier and when I put my arm around you just now, I felt you go stiff. Which is why I'll understand if you kill me for what I'm about to tell you." She listened intently, as if his words could end her life at any moment. "I love you, Mia. Before I got sick I had been hoping I could take you to New Vale and tell you there, but things happened, and I didn't think I could wait any longer. I've been attracted to you for a long time, but only during the last few months we were traveling alone together did I realize my feelings for you went beyond that. I love you, Mia, even if you don't feel that way about me or anyone. Even if by saying that, I just ruined our friendship and made it so you'll feel awkward around me from now on and won't want to be near me. We've always been close, but I want to be closer to you, if you'll let me."

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Garet and Jenna walked off together side by side. "So," she said slyly. "What's the first thing you're going to do now that you're a free man again?"

He gave her a goofy grin and kissed her. She didn't object.

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Ivan ambled back to the meeting spot after the two hours were up. Remembering how he had vomited and passed out in front of Jenna's house from exhaustion, he used the two hours to stock up on healing items such as nuts and vials. 'By god, if I ever have to run, fight, and crawl through narrow passages that much in one day again, I'm going to be prepared.'

When he arrived, Saturos and Menardi were already there waiting for him. Soon the others came, and right before they all left together, Ivan noticed something odd. It all started when he saw that everyone looked much happier than they had two hours prior. And then he saw why: Mia and Isaac were holding hands. So were Garet and Jenna. And Saturos and Menardi. And Felix and Sheba. When all this information collected in his mind, he came to a startling realization. 'Aw, man, I'm the only one here without a significant other! I bet even Piers has someone for him in Lemuria! Is this some kind of conspiracy? Is it because I'm short?' Then he recalled the way Jenna's girl friends in New Vale had acted around him, and he mentally shrugged. 'Meh. No biggie. I'm still cool.'

Indeed, Ivan was still cool.

And so, after Garet, Isaac, and Jenna said goodbye to Kraden and their families in New Vale, they traveled through Xian (allowing Garet to thank Master Feh for the training and say goodbye to the friends he had made there) to Lalivero (where Felix and Sheba did the same thing) and left on Ivan's boat. They did not go to Contigo, for Ivan had a feeling his sister already knew about their new mission. They picked up Piers, and the newly formed chosen ten left on their next journey. Once again, (except for Saturos and Menardi, for whom this would be a first) they would be the world's saviors.

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Back in New Vale, the scholar Kraden had just finished writing his book. As a historian and researcher of Alchemy, he had deemed it vital that the journey of the chosen eight be recorded as a part of the land's history. A while ago he had completed the story of Felix's journey starting with the lighting of Venus Lighthouse. He had compiled the story from notes and journal entries he had made during his time with Felix. That book was his proudest achievement. He titled it "Golden Sun: Book Two." Since then, he had been meaning to write its prequel, "Golden Sun," which would start from the terrible storm in Vale three years before Isaac set off on his own journey and end where the second book started. Unfortunately, he hadn't actually been on that quest, so he would have to wait for Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia to gather together near him and tell him about it before he could start writing. Oh, well. He would get it done eventually.

Presently he heard a knock at his door and got up to answer it.

"Here is your package, sir."

Kraden's face lit up much like it had when he first discovered that the Elemental Stars were real. "Thank you very much. I've really been looking forward to getting these." He paid the delivery man handsomely and set the package on his writing desk as the man left. He opened it, revealing a copy of everything that was said during Garet's trial, including the story Ivan had told explaining how the disaster in Vault had come to be. With Isaac's explanation from that afternoon of why he, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Saturos, and Menardi were going to pick up Piers and go on another journey fresh in his mind, he dipped his quill in ink. "I may have a lot to catch up on, but this still needs to be done. If only I were young enough to travel with them again and not be a burden…oh well. It is the cycle of life! Nothing can be done about it." He scribbled a title onto the cover of a blank book: "Golden Sun: Book Three."

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THE END

Dannondorf: Finished! Finally! I spent a LONG time working on this, so please tell me what you think of it. Good? Bad? Vomit-inducing? Did the story flow smoothly? Were the characters and story believable? Let me know; I will love you forever. By the way, if any of you were too lazy to read the story, here is a succinct summary:

1. Ivan is a pimp.

2. Garet is the man.

3. Alex is a jerk.

4. Saturos and Menardi deserve to be in more stories.

5. I like mudshipping, flameshipping, and lighthouseshipping.

6. Nernst is a very cool name.

Yep. That's the whole story, all right. Please let me know how I did on my first Golden Sun fanfic. Dannondorf out.