Author's Note: I'm producing this new fic inspired by Billy Joel's famous hit song "The Piano Man". Naturally, it's an alternate universe fic that places our GS heroes and heroines in a 1920s- 1930s time period in good old Angara. I figured it was time to try to change the pace from the normal medieval time period without going science fiction. So, I figured the realist environment of that period was a nice change. Enjoy!
And by the way, to all you GS newbies with Lost Age, the one known as Piers in the game is known as Picard in this story. This is because I hate his American name and prefer his Japanese name. I mean, he sounds like a total wimp with his American name. And if you would be so kind, do not call him Piers in reviews either. Please use either Picard or Leon (which was his original American name until they decided to change it.) Picard is the preferable of the two. Thank you.
EDIT: Yeah, this is a small edit here to the first chapter. Considering new rule about songs in stories, that means that I had to remove the song The Songless Nightingale from this chapter. This also means you won't be seeing Billy Joel's famous song being quoted later on in the story, as I planned to do... though you may catch a great deal of references to it throughout. Think of it as a tribute, eh?
Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or any of the related characters. They are property and copyright of Camelot Software Inc. and all rights are reserved to them. I don't own Billy Joel's "The Piano Man," so any quotes, references, etc. refer to his work. Any resemblance between the characters or events in this story to real people or real events is purely coincidental. Whatever above that this story does not apply to belongs to me.
It was nine o'clock on a Saturday, and the regular crowd would soon shuffle in to the bar known as the Tavern of the Golden Sun. There was a young man behind the bar, pensively wiping out a beer mug with a soft cloth. The man was very tall and well built; he looked like he could take on an elephant in a wrestling match and win. His hair stood nearly straight up, and it was the same burning crimson color of his eyes. Those eyes didn't burn as though his hair did; they were more withdrawn and seemed to reflect a near perpetual melancholy. His clothes were fairly simple; he wore a brown apron over a brown vest and white shirt, and his pants were mat black. The man's shoes were also black, but they had seen so much weathering, they looked almost gray with age; like the hair on an ancient scholar's head. This man's name was Garet; and he was now an orphan. His parents both had passed away from an outbreak of cholera three years before, and since then he had been living with the owner of this same tavern where he made what little salary the establishment could afford to pay him. However, this didn't make Garet unhappy for many reasons.
There had been problems in Tolbi for many years now. Many struggled to find work at all, and most were either unemployed, starving, poverty- stricken, homeless, or any combination of the four. This economic depression came at a time of unparalleled prosperity for the major economic city, Tolbi. Many companies oversold their stocks to investors, causing massive inflation and the inability to pay off dividends, causing the entire capitalistic powerhouse that was their city to go collapsing to its knees. Tolbi wasn't the only city in the great nation of Angara to suffer from such a major depression. Virtually all of the country were suffering as much as the Tolbians, if not, more so.
Unfortunately, times like this brought out the worst in people, and many turned to lives of crime to stay from being poor or to just better themselves at the expense of someone else. Organized crime found its way to Tolbi, and it seemed as though most police officers were helpless to stop it. Not that all the mafia stuff mattered to Garet. As long as he had his job at the bar and had a roof over his head. . . those were two of the three most important things to him.
The third? Perhaps the third was something more metaphysical or psychological, and perhaps it was not. Though, if anyone asked, Garet's response would be that the third reason he remained happy was his fiancée, Jenna. It was Jenna's older brother Felix who offered Garet the roof and job he desired and inadvertently provided him with the third reason, be it metaphysical, psychological, or something entirely different, for him to be content.
Garet turned his eyes toward her, as she was cleaning off the tables with another cloth, trying to get them to be fully clean and presentable for the normal crowd. To Garet's eyes, she was absolutely radiant, even when doing such a menial task, like scrubbing a table. Her brown hair shone in the dim lit bar, further announcing her presence. She looked over to him, and shot him a look as if to tell him to 'quit his bloody daydreaming and get back to cleaning those beer mugs.' Garet couldn't help but smile, and he could tell Jenna herself was hiding one back; it tugged at the sides of her cheeks, wanting to make an appearance. Jenna wouldn't let that happen, though. She was too stubborn of a person to let something like that get to her.
Next, the large man looked around the establishment that he called home. The bar itself was not large, but not cramped either. The bar counter was of old design, the wood still lacquered, but quickly showing age. The walls and floor were made of wood, giving a 'log cabin' kind of experience to all those who walked in. On the walls were various posters advertising beer or the latest job postings, and some photos were mixed in as well. On the wall opposite to the bar, a dartboard hung; there were holes in the wall all around it from the drunken attempts to hit it by customers. But, all the darts had since turned up missing, so it hung as a silent reminder of days past. Among the seven tables scattered around the room, was a large billiards table which showed considerable wear, but still served as a great means of entertainment. Adjacent to the left of the bar was the door to outside, and on the wall behind the bar was the stairs leading up to the second floor, where everyone else resided. Finally, on the right of the bar, stood an odd sight. An oak grand piano stood in all its glory, its ivory keys shining in anticipation that they would soon be graced by a talented pianist. And that talented pianist sat right at it, on his stool, the whole time studying his sheet music.
Yes, this man was the best of Garet's friends; they had known each other since they were very young. The pianist was shorter and smaller than Garet, but was still almost as strong; yet his frame would've said he was weak. The young man's golden hair sat in an organized mess on top of his head, spiking out in as though its randomness was actually directed somehow. His clothes were not unlike Garet's own, but rather his vest was a green color, and his weathered pants and shoes were a lighter shade of brown. However, the biggest standout feature of this man was his soulful sapphire eyes. Always they appeared to be on the verge of tears, but even then, his eyes were still easily lit with the sparkle of happiness when he could find it. This man, the one Garet knew so well, was known as Isaac, the piano man.
Isaac's family's fate was similar to Garet's, but rather his father was killed instead by an accident in the factory in which he labored to provide for his wife and son. His mother became grieved after the loss of her husband, and she quickly grew weak. It wasn't hard for the influenza virus to end her suffering; it had done it to many people that year. Felix was quick with the invitation for residence; he too had known Isaac for many years. Since then, the young Isaac made his living playing the piano in the bar. It would've been heresy to say he hated playing the piano; the feelings he could stir within others were amazing proof of that. Many came to the Tavern over the other bars in town simply because of Isaac, and this maintained that their business would stay open.
The young pianist rose and stretched, still absently running chords through his mind, and he turned to hear the sounds of three pairs of feet coming down the stairs from above. The first to emerge was a tall man, raven haired with deep brown eyes. He too, wore the similar clothes of Garet. This man, known for both his kindness and his ability to drive a hard bargain, was called Felix. The other two were much shorter, and they both had blonde hair and sparkling purple eyes. However, there was one distinct difference between the two besides their names and clothes. One was male, and one was female; and they were referred to as Ivan and Sheba, respectively.
How Felix had managed to scrape enough money up for purchasing the establishment for them remained a mystery, but his sister ventured to guess it was Felix's rather persuasive nature that got him the place. Felix himself only smiled when asked about the issue, and Isaac had once made the joke of hoping Felix didn't kill anyone he knew. Of course, Felix wouldn't harm a hair on a fly's body, so long as it didn't try to hurt his friends or family. Though he could be harsh and tough, most of the time, Felix was a quiet and understanding character who really was contented with owning this bar and seeing his sister get married to someone he could get along with.
Ivan and Sheba were the newest members of the group, and by far the youngest. They both never knew their families, only knowing the orphanage they grew up in. The life there was harsh and quite unforgiving, so the two young kids grew up rather quickly; both of them maturing enough to comprehend the world around them. About seven months before, the orphanage where they both met and were raised together burned down in a massive firestorm that engulfed almost two blocks of buildings. It was then that kindly old Felix met them in the street one day and immediately recognized their intelligence and potential, so he extended his hospitality to them. Ivan and Sheba were initially thinking to decline, but seeing no other options, accepted instead. Now they lived in a loving home where they found three older brothers and an older sister to reside with.
"The crowd hasn't come in yet?" Felix asked, breaking the long standing silence in the bar. Garet shook his head.
"No, not yet, Felix. But. . . you know how the regulars are; they come in here night after night, week after week, just to get their nightly drink and to listen to everyone's favorite musician over there." Garet said, half-jokingly.
"I'm not my own favorite musician, Garet." Isaac replied. "So, I'm not really everyone's favorite musician." The Venus Adept thumbed through his sheet music again, searching for a particular song.
"Then who is, piano man?" Garet returned, with a half-sarcastic grin. Isaac made no reply, save for an equally sarcastic grin, as he began playing out Fuer Elise on the piano and stopped after the first chorus. "Thank you, mister wisenheimer." The Mars Adept sighed.
"Oh, stop picking on Isaac, Garet." Jenna said to him. "At least he can play the piano and make it sound beautiful! Unlike someone in this room. . ." Garet remembered the incident in question. The time he tried to play the piano he succeeded in making the alley cats yowl and nearly causing untold damage to the instrument itself. It was not a pretty spectacle, to say the least. Garet grimaced with the memory, and this returned him to the point about Jenna's reason to make him happy. It was definitely the 'something completely different' at this moment in time. "As well, Isaac's a lot better looking than you!"
"Oh, that's not what you said when we were first engaged." Garet smiled back.
"A girl reserves the right to change her mind about how her fiancée may look compared to another man, right Isaac?" Jenna turned to him.
"The piano man is NOT getting involved in this. I'm just the entertainment." He responded, grin tugging at his cheeks.
"I honestly don't know why I just don't get married to Isaac. At least he knows when to shut up and look cute." She smiled.
"Oh, you know you couldn't live without me, Jenna."
"Yeah, like she can't live without a hernia." Ivan joked.
"Well, people have called me a perpetual pain in the you know what before." Garet laughed, giving a false "thinker" position all the while.
"That man was probably the wisest man on the face of the earth." Isaac sighed, resting his head in his hands.
"You should know Isaac! That man was you!" Garet snapped back.
"Exactly." He laughed. It was rare Isaac was ever in this kind of mood. Generally he kept to himself and remained almost eerily quiet.
"Well, isn't somebody in the best of moods tonight?" Felix asked, seating himself at one of the barstools. "It's rare we ever see a smile from you anymore, Isaac."
"Yeah, you're usually about as happy as a drunkard without his tankard. This is a nice change, my friend." Ivan said, walking over and leaning against the piano. Isaac made no immediate reply, but when he did, he simply pointed to Ivan and spoke only a few words.
"I've told you before, lay off the ivory." Ivan immediately moved away from the piano, remembering Isaac absolutely hating anyone messing with his piano after Garet manage to nearly destroy it in the past; once with the sad attempt at playing it, and the other was better to be left unmentioned. As Ivan backed off, several people began entering the bar through the front door. The employees and owner of the bar regarded each other with a silent nod, and Ivan and Sheba quickly made their way back upstairs while Felix and Garet stood behind the counter. Jenna quickly moved next to the piano, where she took her usual seat to the right of Isaac. The crowd quickly piled in, and soon the bar was a center of soft murmurs, light chatter, and the sounds of a cue ball breaking the rack of billiards. Isaac sat wordlessly, watching the usuals play their game of pool, making their usual wagers on their usual shots.
"Isaac?" Jenna asked. He turned a moment later and established eye contact to acknowledge her inquiry. "Do you ever get tired of this life? I mean, it's the same drills in and out every day through every week of the year."
"No, I don't." He replied simply, answering the question more with his eyes than his words.
"Don't you think anything is missing?"
"As long as I have my heart, my health, and my piano, no."
"I see." Jenna sighed.
"And may I ask you one question, Jenna?"
"Certainly." Jenna said, astonished that the quiet one was willing to ask a question.
"Do you flirt with me just to get Garet flustered, or do you really mean anything by it?"
"That's for me to know, Isaac." She smiled, coyly. Isaac's eyes showed some hint of laughter, while his expression remained largely unchanged. Isaac knew the answer to the question before he had even asked it. Jenna did flirt with him to make Garet frustrated, but it was the truth that Isaac would've probably and unwittingly found himself the brother-in-law to Felix if Garet wasn't around.
Isaac turned as he received a tap on his shoulder from the man sitting at the table closest to his piano. The Venus Adept shifted and turned around to meet the one who addressed him.
"Excuse me, Isaac. . ." A rather old man asked. "But could you play me a song? I don't remember the name, but it's sad and beautiful and I know it by heart."
Isaac nodded. "I know which song you speak of, friend Kraden. I will play it for you." He cracked his fingers out and lifted the covering that protected the piano keys. As soon as he did, all commotion in the bar stopped immediately, save for the rolling 8-ball that inevitably caused a poor regular to lose his billiards match. Isaac began stroking the keys lightly, and a somber tune radiated throughout the bar. Moments later, Isaac began to sing with a voice unmatched in clarity, tone, and raw emotion. The bittersweet song itself was short, but it brought a tear to nearly every eye in the bar.
Immediately everyone in the bar began to applaud softly, but it had a meaning to it that was more than a thousand people clapping their loudest. Isaac didn't feel as though he deserved to take such applause, but he was obligated to by manners and custom, so he did. He glanced over to Jenna and saw her wiping tears from her eyes. Shortly after, the bar returned to its previous low murmur while Isaac awaited his next cue to play.
"No matter how many times you play that song, you get us all every time with it, Isaac." Jenna sniffed, looking over to see even her elder sibling holding back his emotion.
"Indeed. You are truly magnificent, Isaac." Kraden said, looking up from his gin and tonic. "You are blessed with both heart and skill. I would trade all my knowledge of Alchemy and the elements for that." Coming from Kraden, a foremost scholar of the science of Alchemy, this was saying a lot.
"Thanks, Kraden." Isaac replied. "I just play because I love to, I guess."
"That's the best kind of piano player!" Kraden said, pointing at him. "The one who does it for the love of doing it." Kraden reached into his pocket and flipped a nickel to him. Isaac stared at the nickel in disbelief. It was a lot of money for a single tip! "Just a little thank you from me, Isaac. You really have made this scholar's night."
"Think you can play something with a little bounce to it, piano man?" Another older man asked. "Oh, and ask that cute girl next to you if she needs a dance partner!" Jenna was up in a flash, almost immediately smacking him upside the head with her hand full force. Kraden shook his head slowly and chuckled.
"No matter how many times old Gil tries that, he never seems to get the point that he's destined to fail." Isaac didn't crack a smile as Kraden spoke, but his eyes once again gave him away. Jenna, after she had promptly shown old Gil how to drink a mug of beer through his nose, returned to her seat next to Isaac as he again lifted the covering on his piano keys and twiddled his fingers, unintentionally causing the bar to go once more into silence as he erupted into a more fast paced and lively tune, that made everyone smile with joy.
The sun rose up over the horizon and shone into the front window of the bar, while Isaac sat reading the morning newspaper, passively sipping a cup of tea. Jenna slowly emerged from the stairwell in her nightgown, looking as though she had just woken up.
"Morning, Jenna." Isaac said from behind his newspaper. "You're up early."
"Garet's stupid snoring kept me up half the night." Jenna sighed, sitting across from him, laying her head on the table. "I lost count how many times I hit him with my pillow to get him to shut up, but. . ."
"It's like trying to stop the tides."
"Exactly. That's another reason I should be marrying you. At least you keep quiet, even when you're asleep." She smiled.
"You know you love him." Isaac smiled.
"I do." She sighed. "And that's what makes me want to kill the guy. It's because I can't do anything about it!"
"Sure you can. Just make his life a living nightmare until he does. That's what wives are supposed to do, right?" Isaac joked.
"Very funny." Jenna replied. It seemed as though she was the only person who could ever get Isaac to laugh or joke around anymore. She guessed it was because they had known each other for so long and they both knew each other's limits well enough. "This coming from the man most likely to stay a bachelor his whole life."
"I thought that was your brother."
"Okay, second most likely to stay a bachelor his whole life."
"There you go."
"So, what are you doing up this early, Isaac?" She asked, knowing it was far from unusual for the Venus Adept to be up at this early hour.
"I'm going to try to look for a day job. You know, maybe pull in some extra money for all of us? I mean, we don't exactly have enough to pay for more than the bare essentials and the maintenance on this shop."
"I see. Isaac, you've been trying to do this for months now. Every day you've never been able to find a job for any of us. Don't you think you should just quit?"
"I can't." Isaac replied. "I'm part of this family too, so it's my responsibility to help in any way I can. That means going out to find a job." Isaac rose, and he put on a hat that matched his vest. "Wish me luck." He said as he walked out the door. "I'll be back before dinner!" Jenna sighed. Isaac wasn't the only one looking for jobs. Garet and Ivan were always out and about looking for jobs too, but they had just as much luck as Isaac. She sighed softly, and headed back upstairs to bed, hoping that the male Mars Adept she bunked with had stopped sawing logs.
