Disclaimer: I still don't own Golden Sun.

A/N: N, thanks for the reviewing and the criticism! I'll try to improve, as well as edit those chapters so that it won't be a problem for others.

I quickened my pace some more, speeding up to a run. The path twisted and turned. I could hear Garet panting, trying to keep up. I slowed as we started up some steps, giving the others time to catch up to me. I didn't say anything, however.

I raced up some more stairs, with Iodem on my tail. Finally, we reached the gate. Two soldiers lay on the ground, possibly unconscious.

"What is the meaning of this?!" demanded Iodem.

One soldier moaned in agony. "Is...that Iodem...?"

Iodem rushed over to the wounded soldier. "What has happened to the gate?"

"There was a strange group..." he murmured. "No...papers...they wanted to pass..."

The other soldier groaned. "Iodem..."
"I'll help!" cried Mia immediately, running over to the first soldier. Garet stayed beside me, looking wary, as if Saturos and Menardi might jump out at us at any moment. Ivan was shivering uncontrollably.

"We tried to hold them back," explained the soldier Mia wasn't healing, "but they were too powerful...they had strange powers...we were no match for them..."

"It must have been those you are following!" exclaimed Iodem, reaching my earlier conclusion.

"Yes...it was Saturos...and Menardi...Felix...and...and..." Mia's voice halted, and she instead walked over to the second soldier.

"Alex," Garet helped gently.

I bit my lip. Felix had done this? Felix, the boy I'd known almost all my life? "We must get to Venus Lighthouse as soon as possible."

"Yes," croaked a soldier, finally standing up. "Go after them..."

I nodded. "We shall." I walked calmly past the soldier, breaking into a run once I was out of view. I heard Mia let out a little sob as she followed me with Garet.

Ivan came next, and then Iodem. We reached a cliff face. I started to run on when I heard this sound. "You shall come to me..." It was a woman's voice, soft and musical. I ignored it.

Ivan gasped and clapped his hands over his ears. He gestured for us to do the same. I did, although I wasn't sure why. But Garet and Mia were turned away. They didn't see.

I could hear the voice enticing me through my hands, but I didn't listen. Garet was slowly moving towards the cliff face. Mia was trying to stop him, saying something I couldn't hear and trying to grab him.

I pulled my hands off my ears. Ivan was frantically shaking his head. "Garet!" I shouted. "Stop!"
The red-haired Adept paused for a moment, turning his head quizzically.

"You shall come...You shall come to a place where all is warm, there is no fighting..." the lilting voice promised.

He started walking again. Garet was very near the cliff edge. Mia grabbed him firmly and glared at him with a severity that reminded me of Lady Layana and Jenna. "Garet," she said in her sweetest, most dangerous voice. "Look at me."
He did.

"Who am I?" the Mercury Adept demanded.

"Mia," Garet mumbled.

"Okay. Put your hands over your ears." she commanded.

Garet did so.

The voice, angry, rose up to a screech. "You shall come! You shall!"

The Mars Adept gasped in pain and pushed Mia back just as he toppled off the cliff face.

There was a shocked silence. I was frozen in place. Garet...

"Garet..." murmured Mia. Then the silence was broken. "Garet!" she wailed.

"Garet!" I called, afraid. "Garet!"

"Garet!" Ivan added his voice to the fray. "No! Garet!"
"Garet!" Even Iodem, who barely knew him, called.

And then, one of the most wonderful noises. "I'm okay!" he called. "I'm okay."
"Where are you?" Mia shrieked.

"Down here! I'll send up a flame!" I saw a few sparks appear above the cliff. "There's a Djinni down here! It cushioned my fall!"

"With a lot of injury to myself," added a voice that sounded like crackling ice. I guessed it was a Mercury Djinni.

"How do we get down?" Ivan shouted.

"I guess you'll have to fall down...don't worry, I think I can get down...there's a vine..." Garet's voice faded.

I started scrambling down the vine, Mia right behind me. "We're coming!"

Garet greeted us when we reached the bottom of the second vine. A Mercury Djinni was resting on his shoulder. "This is Dew,"

"Thank goodness you're alive," Mia breathed. "Thanks for...you know, pushing me back..."

"No problem. It was my fault that it happened, anyway...I should have been paying attention," the Mars Adept confessed, looking sheepish.

"You scared me for a minute there," I scolded.

Garet grinned. "Did I?"
"You're alive!" exclaimed Ivan.

"What, did you think I was dead and still shouting?" Garet asked.

"I'll join you!" decided Dew.

"That was a siren," explained Ivan as Dew crawled over to Mia.

"I know," Garet snapped. "Kraden taught us that much. But when I heard it..."

"Where'd it go, anyway?" I wondered.

Garet shrugged. "I don't care as long as it's away from me. Hey-what's that? It's a cave!"

I blinked. "A cave? Let's go in."

Inside, it was rather gloomy, but we didn't have far to go before we emerged in the sunlight again. "Look at this!" cried Iodem, pointing to a large boat anchored near the peninsula we had emerged on. "What happened? It's Babi's ship...I think...here, take this." He handed me a large ball. "Try to use it."

"How?" I asked.

"Try to move the ship."
I shrugged and concentrated. The boat didn't budge an inch.

Iodem looked confused. "Perhaps it is not yet time. Give me that ball." I handed it back to him, and we walked back through the cave. We climbed back up the vines without incident, and we continued on. After a few minutes, we reached another wounded soldier.

"Venus...Lighthouse..was attacked by strange...wanderers..." he croaked, then lay back and said no more. Mia felt his chest with her well-practiced hand.

"The soldier...he's dead..."

"Those evil people," I seethed.

We left the dead soldier and continued past, but the image of the uniformed man laying there, murdered by Saturos and Menardi...and Felix?

I felt more determined than ever, despite or even because of this. We continued on to Venus Lighthouse.

I could spot the huge purple lighthouse already as we made our way along the path. Another dead soldier lay there, who was already cold. Mia looked disgusted. "Alex..." she murmured.

"What?" demanded Garet. "We already knew he was a jerk...I'm sorry, Mia! No, please don't cry!"

"It's not you," she sobbed, tears running down her face. "It's...I've known Alex all my life. He's the closest thing I ever had to a best friend..." The Mercury Adept straightened. "It's just...how would you feel if Isaac or me started killing people?"
"Angry," Garet answered. "But neither of you would ever..."

"That's just how I felt about Alex," Mia said firmly. "I-I'm sorry. Let's go on."

Another collapsed soldier blocked the path. I waited grimly while Mia checked him. "He's still alive!" she cried joyfully.

Ivan held a finger to his lips. "Shh...we don't want anyone to hear..."

"Ply," she murmured, teardrops falling on the soldier. He moaned. "I think he'll be okay."

I was shocked that the next one of the fallen was a scholar, robed in the pale blue of Tolbi's finest. I carefully turned him over, and Mia set to work. "He's alive," she announced quietly.

I nodded as Mia healed him. I had been half-afraid that the scholar was Kraden, that they'd felt he was no longer needed...

More scholars and soldiers littered the way, all still alive. They'd just come through here, apparently. And the doorway to Venus Lighthouse was wide open. We entered the towering Elemental Lighthouse.