Here we go with another chapter!

I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.

My most sincere thanks go out to this ever-growing list of reviewers: LordRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31 , Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. It is you guys who convince me that this story is worth continuing.

Tundra

Chapter 13: A Gray Morning

The next morning, the overcast sky hung motionless over the ship, lingering on as a memoir of the monstrous storm. The gray titans leeched the sun's light from the sky, extending the sense of night several hours into the morning. Having no impetus – either light or duty – to wake them, the crew remained asleep for a long time.

That being the case, Jenna was happy to be the first one awake – she nibbled contentedly on her hot toast on the rear of the ship, savoring the early morning air, occasionally straightening her hair with the fingers of her free hand. For as long as she could remember, she had marveled at the beauty of a cloudy sky. It was incredible to her, in a desolate sort of way. She wrapped her outer layer a little bit tighter – the sun's absence made for much cooler morning weather than she could bear in her usual clothing.

She tossed the crust of her bread out behind the ship, watching as the small fish in the area made ripples in the bay's calm water, struggling for whatever scraps of the waterlogged bread they could get their mouths around. She put her hair up behind her with the rubber band she wore around her left wrist as she watched. Not a minute later, the bread was gone, and the water was once again still – Jenna could see the reflection of the boat in the water quite clearly.

A moment later, a surprising gust of wind came in from her left, and the reflection of the boat in the water became distorted, like an image through broken glass. The gust also, to Jenna's annoyance, whipped her face with her new ponytail. She backed away from the side of the ship and sat down with her back against rear wall of the entrance to the ship's decks, shivering slightly at the rapid drop in temperature.

She pulled her legs up tightly to her chest, and was about to stand up and go back inside when she heard the door open, followed by the sound of Isaac's voice. He was angry.

"… what you think, but I'm not going to hurt your sister, Felix," Isaac said expressly. "I won't let anyone else hurt her either. I'm going to make her happy and I'm going to protect her. That includes from you."

A pause.

"What?" Felix asked incredulously.

"I don't think you're ready to let her go," Isaac countered, "but she's not your baby sister anymore! She's seventeen! I'm not the only one who wants this; she does too, and if you thinking pushing me away from her will make her happy, then you're out of your mind. She's grown up, Felix; she had to. Or did you forget that you let her think you were dead for three years?"

Isaac had hit a soft spot, and he knew it. The silence that spread through the air hung over the ship like a thundercloud. Felix did not respond. Jenna heard footsteps followed by the click of a doorknob. She peered around the corner and saw Isaac slump down on to the floor with his back against the wall. He sighed audibly.

Jenna popped her head out of sight as Isaac turned around. Should she show herself?

"I see you, Jenna," Isaac said to the wall that stood between them, answering her question.

She stepped out from her not-quite-a-hiding-place and sat down next to him. She didn't really know what to say, so she grasped his hand in hers.

"I don't remember him ever being this… difficult!" Isaac exclaimed, clenching his fists in frustration.

"I'm sorry about my brother, Isaac," Jenna apologized. "He just... he tries his best to keep everyone here safe. It gets to him when he feels like he can't do it. Please don't be so hard on him. He means well."

Isaac took a deep breath. Jenna snuggled her head on his right shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better," she said, "I appreciate what you said about making me happy and protecting me. I have butterflies."

"You get butterflies?" Isaac teased.

She dug her elbow playfully into his side, but squeezed his hand tighter.

"So you don't mind if Felix isn't exactly… happy about us?" Isaac probed.

"Nope," Jenna stated simply. "As long as you keep your promise."

"I can handle that," Isaac replied.

"Good," said Jenna. "Otherwise I'll have Felix kick you off the boat."

This time, it was Jenna who received a playful elbow in the ribs. She giggled as Isaac's arm tickled her side.

"WAH!" she squealed as she made a half-effort to squirm away from him. "Stop it, Isaac!"

She turned her head to the right, shielding her eyes from him. She stole an occasional glance back; Isaac remained right where he was, not breaking his eyes away from her. A mischievous smile played about his face. Jenna turned away again.

The next time she looked back, he was six inches from her face. Her heart jumped ten feet inside her chest, but she herself didn't budge. She didn't know how she hadn't heard him move so close.

"Isaac," she whispered – partly a question, partly an answer, and partly an invitation.

Invisible ropes closed like nooses around her chest, deflating her lungs. She tried harder and harder to breathe, but with each passing microsecond, it became that much more diffic…

And suddenly, her lips touched Isaac's. She wasn't sure if it was her who had moved, or if it was him, but their lips touched – softly at first, so tenderly, and then suddenly she felt her back fall down on the floor of the deck as his lips pressed themselves into hers. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment as her hands surrounded Isaac's rippling back; as his strong arms pulled her closer and closer to his body; as she began to sweat from the pressure of her nervous system. She inhaled the morning air through her nose, each breath reminding her how truly alive she was.

And the gray morning went on.

Heat and anger raged unimpeded out of Felix's cheeks and nose as he went back down to his room. It wasn't just Isaac who had angered him – their little row had been mostly his fault, and some part of him knew it. He wasn't in the mood for being honest to himself, though. He was frustrated with himself, with how he seemed to be falling apart so close to the end of their journey.

He ran his hands back through his jet-black hair, as though he could somehow comb out his frustrations with his calloused hands. He was glad to see that Piers was already up and gone; he rather preferred to be alone.

He hadn't slept well the previous night. The Lady in White made another appearance, though this time he wasn't sure if it was actually her, or if his own mind had conjured her image. He was quite suspicious of the latter; the Lady had been angry at him, though for why, he did not understand. In his dream, Mars Lighthouse had been lit, and everyone had escaped the battle unscathed.

Felix stood in front of his companions, looking them in the eyes as if he were a general. Those nine people in front of him were some of the bravest he had ever met, Felix thought to himself.

Wait. Nine?

He looked down the line. Isaac, Ivan, Sheba, Jenna, Kraden, Garet, Piers, Mia…

And there, at the end of the line, stood the Lady. She did not shine as bright as she had in his previous dreams. Rather, she looked dull – like a gray morning sky. She looked down at the snowy ground beneath her feet. It was then that Felix noticed that she was crying.

He asked her why she wept, to which she replied, "So that she does not have to."

"Who?" Felix asked.

"Mia," the Lady responded, as though it were obvious.

"Mia?" Felix said, shifting his gaze to the healer's cerulean eyes.

But Mia said nothing. She continued to stare off into the distance, without any emotion. As she did so, the beautiful color seemed to drain out of her eyes, until they became gray like the Lady's entire body.

"You failed," accused the Lady quietly. "You let her die."

"But she's alive!" exclaimed Felix.

"Death comes not only by the sword, Felix," the Lady preached, her voice growing louder and more hurt with every word, "or have you learned nothing?"

And then, Mia never moved again.

Felix shook himself mentally – it had been a terrible dream.

"I wonder if I'm going insane," he mused internally.

He thought about it briefly. He could say with a fair amount of certainty that he wasn't insane, but he did have his doubts at times. Those doubts weren't usually random, though. More often, something caused him to question his sanity; like Isaac, or angelic demigoddesses, or Mia.

Mia – what a conundrum. How was he supposed to tell a girl like that how he felt, especially now? It was a different world here on the ship. Out on the ice, everything was so secluded and cold – Mia had seemed like the only source of warmth, her fire shaping and bending and melting every corner of his heart. It was impossible to ignore the one, omnipresent source of warmth on the desolate terrain on which they had landed.

Now, the contrast wasn't quite so stark – being back on the ship dulled the area in between the warm and the cold. There were other sources of warmth here – his other companions, his devotion to their quest, the physical warmth of the ship itself – that stuck themselves between him and Mia. Yet, his feelings remained noticeably strong. Even as he tried to shake them from his thoughts with his montra – the quest, the quest, the quest – they reappeared just as quickly as they exited his mind.

Felix, for the first time he could remember after returning to Vale to steal the Elemental Star, felt helpless. The problems of the world outside him seemed easily solvable compared to the travails of his heart. He had several choices, he knew – he could talk to Mia, and confront the feelings head-on, but somehow, he knew that wasn't the right answer. He didn't see any great hero in himself, no matter what the Lady had said.

He remembered the stories he had been told in Vale as a child. They brimmed with inspiring heroes, blossoming romances, and happy endings. All of those stories were yanked away from him when he was kidnapped and taken to Prox. There, he learned the lore of the Fire Clan, and its history. Much like the icy world in which they lived, the legends of the Proxians were similarly cold and dark. There were no happy endings in their universe, only tales of fated endings, warnings against dishonor, and always the one overwhelming message: it is both futile and necessary to battle the inevitable.

Having grown in both worlds, Felix was never sure which ideology to believe; in his struggle with Mia, he found the essence of his internal battle made manifest. Could he take his fate into his own hands, or was his life already written down somewhere, a predestined journey?

Felix stood up from his bed, shook himself, and took a habitual step back from his situation, trying to see the big picture. He detached himself from the situation, and thought rationally. He was in a sour mood, he knew, while the rest of the group was in high spirits; he was pondering the nature of life while his friends considered getting out of bed for the day. He had not slept soundly since the advent of his first dream about the Lady, and the previous night was no exception; he was exhausted, while everyone was as rested as they had been in weeks.

Felix felt a familiar pang in his stomach, born of isolation. Holding the reigns of leadership meant that there wasn't space for anyone else to get close to him. That was what his experience had taught him, at least; he had always accepted it as his personal burden to bear over the course of his quest. Right now, though, strong and silent Felix felt an empty space inside his chest, and did not know how to fill it.

Follow your heart, the Lady had told Felix. He grimaced internally. How was he supposed to follow his heart if it seemed to pull him in a hundred different directions simultaneously?

Then, there was a knock on the door.

"Felix?"

And the ebon-haired Adept felt his internal organs rise to his stomach, and a smile stretched across his face.

"Come in, Mia," he replied, standing up to open the door.

Felix was surprised as Mia's features came in to view. She hadn't yet changed out of her pajamas; her light-blue nightgown hung at her kneecaps, and her azure hair was as of yet uncombed. Most importantly, her eyes were absolutely bloodshot.

"Mia?" Felix asked, ushering her inside. "What's the matter?"

She stepped past the door and shut it behind her. The entire back of her nightgown was drenched with sweat.

"I had a dream last night," said Mia.

He beckoned her to sit down on the side of his bed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We were at the top of Mars Lighthouse…" she started, "and we were about to throw in the Mars Star. You said that there might not be a great power after all."

She coughed, dehydrated from the sweat-filled night. Felix quickly retrieved a cup of water from his sink and offered it to Mia.

"Drink up," he encouraged.

She drank in small sips, but did not stop drinking until she drained the entire glass.

"Thanks," she said with a gasp. "So, we were going to throw in the Mars Star, and you said that we wouldn't have a fight, and all of a sudden Ply came up the elevator. She told you to prepare to fight."

Felix listened impassively.

"Then, all of a sudden, a voice from the sky said that the Lady would be the end of the world, and… we-we fought something. Some demon, but we won easily. Then, the she gave you a little push, and told you t-to light the beacon. You threw the Mars Star in, and then…"

She paused to swallow.

"Then, her faced stopped being white. Two horns came out of her head, and she had fangs, and… She… you were just looking at her blankly, and she grabbed you and flew into the center of the lighthouse, straight through the beacon. She came back up without you, and after a second, the beacon-it turned blood-red…"

She shivered and wrapped her arms around Felix's torso.

"Then, the lighthouse began to crumble, and I-I just… knew that the world was ending."

She pulled herself closer.

"It was just… so real. It felt like how you described your first dream with the her… I… I don't know what to think…"

As he held Mia tightly to his chest, his mind wandered back to his thoughts of life and death, of fate and choice, of all or nothing. As he did, he wondered: why shouldn't a happy medium be possible? Why hadn't he thought of it before? How far had the snowstorm dipped his senses into Lethe?

"It's going to be alright, Mia," he assured her, echoing his words from their secluded hut on the iceflow.

This time, however, he meant it with absolute certainty. Mia wasn't convinced.

"What if Hama's great power wants to stop the Lady?" said Mia. "How can you be sure?"

Felix thought very carefully before responding.

"I… I can't tell you exactly why, but… let me explain. Do you remember when we went back to Lemuria, and Piers's uncle showed us Lemurian poetry?"

"Yeah… I remember. Why?" she asked, puzzled.

"I think… well, it's like a Lemurian Aria. Nine lines; ten syllables in the first two lines, eight in the next two, six in the middle, eight in the next two, and ten on the last two; the odd lines rhyme, and even lines rhyme; lines one and three and lines nine and seven have masculine rhyme; lines two and four and lines six and eight have feminine rhyme."

"How did you remember all of that?" Mia asked, incredulous.

"I asked King Hydros if I could take a copy of one of the poems with me," he replied. "I've looked at it to figure out what the form is. And that's my point. It's like a Lemurian Aria because the form is so strict. The things that will happen in our lives will happen. What we do is how we write the poem."

"That was really deep, Felix," Mia said as she looked up at him. "I mean, that was really deep. That actually makes sense… What prompted this?"

"Maybe the Lady is evil," Felix proposed, "but maybe she isn't. Maybe there is a great power trying to stop us, but maybe there isn't. What choices do we have? We face it or we don't. We take care of each other, or we don't. And I will not fail."

"It's been a while since I heard you this sure of yourself, Felix," she said simply.

"I haven't been sleeping very well," he replied apologetically. "It's about time I straightened up."

She smiled slightly, though Felix didn't even break a grin. She knew he was being humorous.

"Glad to have you back," she said.

Felix felt his stomach jump to attention at this. The way she placed just a little more emphasis on "have you" than was necessary made him wonder how she felt about him – but not enough to ask her.

"Thank you," he replied.

"I think you're the one who needs to be thanked," Mia replied, a nervous edge creeping in to her voice. "Especially after everything you've done for me over the past few days. I-It means a lot to me."

Felix said nothing, sensing that Mia's statement was unfinished.

"You've been so kind to me, and… just, thank you."

She moved toward him, until her face was less than a foot from his. As the distance between them closed, however, she grew nervous. At the last instant, she turned her face away and instead wrapped him up with her arms.

"I'll see you later, Felix," she said, and she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"What's gotten into her?" Felix thought to himself.

Somehow, he knew there was something wrong with that interaction. It felt… strained. It was so unlike their conversations of the past few days, and Felix grew nervous that he had done or said something to hurt Mia's feelings. But, she had just said thank you "for everything he had done for her." And she had come to his room for help and comfort. Those didn't seem like the actions of someone whose feelings were hurt. Why, then, did their relationship feel so different?

A wave of exhaustion overcame Felix. The days on the ice, coupled with the lack of sleep, began to get to him. He plopped back down on his bed, and drifted off into a comparatively less troubled sleep. Or, he tried to. However, not even ten minutes later, a strange sound coming from the deck beckoned him upstairs.

Mia gritted her teeth in frustration as she walked down the hall. That moment had been perfect, and she hadn't taken it. Her entire relationship with Felix was utterly complicated, she mused. Felix was the leader – she wasn't too sure of the boundaries, whatever they were, that existed because of his responsibilities. They had hardly spoken since they were back on the boat, which had been normal before they had fallen off together. On top of that, she was the girl, and she was the one pursuing him. She was unsure how she was supposed to be behaving, but it felt backwards that she was the one who actively sought out his affections.

And on the topic of affections, she wasn't even sure if he felt the same way as she did. Sure, they had spent two of their nights on the ice in each other's embrace; perhaps Felix would have done that for anyone who asked him. It wasn't really a big leap to take. He was the most selfless person she had ever met.

Mia wasn't too sure, though. Felix's heartbeat, his hands, and the way he had opened up to her all nagged at her doubts; they all pointed that he felt the same way. After all, they were both happy to see their other friends again, happy that everyone else was for the most part unharmed. Felix had other people to worry about besides her. Maybe it was too early in the morning to make a judgment.

Mia made her way back to her room and got dressed. As she made her way to the deck, she heard the sounds of laughter and cheering.

She opened the door to see Ivan surrounded by Piers, Isaac, Sheba, Garet, and Jenna.

"Do another one, Ivan!" Sheba shouted gleefully.

Ivan said nothing in response, but crouched and proceeded to perform a standing backflip. He landed perfectly on his feet.

"Can you do anything fancier?" asked Garet enthusiastically.

"Back up a little bit and I'll show you," said Ivan.

Garet obliged and moved out of the way. Ivan backed up out of the circle, put his hands on the ground, and raised himself up in the air. He balanced there for a second before taking one arm off of the ground. He remained suspended in that position for a moment before putting his arm slowly back on the floor; then, he cocked his arms and forced himself into half of a backflip, landing back on his feet.

"Daaaang!" said Garet. "I wish I could do that!"

"Hahaha! Yeah right, Garet," Jenna shot. "You've got less balance than a fat man sharing a seesaw with a toddler!"

"Hey, I do too have balance," Garet retorted, who began to jump up and down on his left foot. "Watch!"

"Wow," Jenna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, so I can't do that," admitted Garet, "but I bet I could do twenty pushups with you standing on my back."

"I'll take those odds," said Jenna confidently. "Get down then."

Garet obliged, and Jenna stood up on his back. Mia moved closer to the rest of the group, who had begun to count out loud.

"One! Two! Three! Fo…"

Garet churned out the pushups like it was nothing. Jenna stood on his back, which was straight as a board.

"…Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Thirt…"

He began to slow down, though his form was still perfect.

"Eighteen!"

His arms began to shake, and a couple beads of sweat dripped off of his forehead.

"Nineteen!"

With a huge breath, Garet went all the way down to the floor, struggling with the effort of holding up his friend's weight. He pushed all the way back up. And, with a grin, twisted his body to the side, causing Jenna to fall off to the side.

"Who has no balance again?" Garet taunted, as Jenna nursed her dignity.

She merely scoffed in his direction as Piers, Sheba, and Mia laughed behind them.

"So, who else has a cool talent we didn't know about?" asked Piers with a laugh.

"I can speed read," Jenna intoned.

"Interesting," quipped Sheba.

"I was sort of hoping someone could sing…" said Ivan.

"I can sing a little bit," said Mia shyly.

"Really?" asked Piers, who was apparently delighted. "I can play the ritolla."

The others looked at him blankly.

"I believe you all call it a flute," he said. "I've had plenty of time to learn it, after all. Let me fetch it from inside."

Not twenty seconds later Piers was back, with a small little flute made of a white stone similar to the material used to make Lemurian buildings. He played through a few scales to warm himself up, and smiled when he was done.

"I haven't played in quite a while, I'm afraid, and I don't know any local favorites," Piers apologized, "but I think I can help, at the very least. You start, Mia. I'll see what I can do."

"Oh goodness… I don't know what to sing!" said Mia. "What songs do you all know?"

"Do you know 'The Gray Man'?" said Felix, who stood under the door.

An interesting choice, Felix, thought Mia.

"Ah! I do know that one!" said Piers. "That song has been sung even in Lemuria. I do believe our good friend Lunpa brought it to us."

"I know it too," said Mia.

"Let's hear it then!" said Sheba enthusiastically.

And Mia began to sing. She closed her eyes, and escaped into the melody.

It was the story of a man whose wish was to see others by what was in their souls. His wish was granted. He surrounded himself with many wonderful people whose souls were full of life and color. However, there came a day when he saw a perfectly still pond, and in it saw his own reflection. He saw that his own soul was not so colorful as he imagined it would be. In fact, he was utterly gray. The man despaired, and wandered alone for the rest of his life.

As Mia let the last note fade, she opened her eyes again. Though it was a sad song – it brought tears to her eyes every time she sang it – she always felt the most incredible catharsis when she did.

"Mia… that was incredible," said Jenna.

"Thanks," the healer replied, embarrassed.

"We should start a troupe," Ivan joked. "We've got so much talent, we'd barely have to work. We'd be rich no time! Just think… We've got a strong man, a wise man, a singer, a musician, an acrobat, and eight adepts!"

"And Ivan, the most annoying man in the world!" Garet said, imitating an announcer.

"Har har har," Ivan replied, grinning.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," interrupted Felix, "but it is about time for us to get moving. We could use that acrobatic balance to get this ship up in the air."

Ivan gave Felix a glare.

"You totally just stole my thunder," Ivan said, feigning hurt feelings.

Felix said nothing, and began to pull the anchor up from the bottom of the sea. He paused only to give Mia a small glance that not even she noticed.

Everyone else followed Felix's example, and not half an hour later, they were out at sea.

Mia watched from the back of boat again as they sailed away from the iceflow. It looked so harmless now, the overcast sky blending with the dirtied gray and white mountaintops on the horizon. They had been there for only a few days, and yet it had seemed like forever. Now, they were off to Prox.

Mia wondered, as the sailed further and further north, about her dream. She felt the fear growing within her stomach – she was scared, because she didn't know how to fight this enemy, this uncertainty. She didn't even know what it would look like when it appeared.

She was afraid to die. Gaia waterfall was the sum of all of her fears – emptiness, darkness, and death. As they drew ever closer, she felt her hope fade. All she could do was resign herself to the inevitable, and hope that it was not her fate to die, to fail, to become so terribly alone.

She started slightly as Felix stepped up to the railing next to her.

"Piers is piloting the ship," said Felix. "I wanted to tell you something after you finished singing… It was beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you," she said.

"You don't… have to be alone, you know?" he said, stumbling over his words.

Mia blinked.

"Like the man, I mean."

Felix paused. Mia shivered as a cold wind rushed across the deck.

"I… I feel really honest, at the moment. I-I've never felt like I really understood someone, until this morning. I mean, really, truly understood. But I do, Mia. I… know how you feel. I know how it feels to shoulder a burden that no one else around you shares, to… feel like you could die tomorrow, and not know what to do with today. I do. And I promise you aren't alone, in any of it – the dreams, the hurt, the… the heartache. I feel it all too. If I have to carry it on my own, then so be it, but not you. Not you."

Mia felt a tear drop from her cheek. It splashed on the deck as Felix took her hand. She felt a warmth course through her entire body, wrapping her up in its aura. She closed her eyes, and this time felt no uncertainty; when Felix's lips touched hers, everything was right.

And, for a moment, a small ray of light broke through the gray sky.

And we have reached the end of another chapter! A lot of stuff happened, character-wise anyway. Don't worry – I promise that everyone's character conflicts have not been totally sorted out yet. There's still plenty left to do!

As usual, what did you like, and what did you not like? I thought the dialogue was weak, as always. I did, however, try to use motifs and themes here, which I've never done before. If you noticed and/or enjoyed that, do tell me. I hope I resolved the lapse of interaction between Mia and Felix to everyone's complete satisfaction. I wasn't actually planning on that bit it the end, but it happened. I think everything will still work that I have planned for the rest of the story.

Sorry about the delay on this one, and it's a little bit shorter than the recent ones have been, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Those were a little bit long. Sorry also if this seemed a little bit disorganized. I really wanted to get this one done so that I could get back to some of the action scenes which I personally think I do much better.

For the next chapter… Viva la Lighthouse! I'm not sure when it will be finished (or started, for that matter), but I think it will go much faster. I very much expect the action to be stronger in Ch. 14, which means I will write it much better. I hope.

This next part is somewhat bittersweet... I've been writing this for well over a year now, and I am still committed to finishing it. Though it probably won't happen before the release of Dark Dawn and the subsequent influx of new fan fiction, I want to thank all of the loyal fans of GS who have been reading this since early on in its publication. If this is the last chapter that I publish before November 29th, then thank you all so much for your dedication. I'm deeply honored, and have been glad to contribute something, however small, to this community. Thank you all so very much. Even though the Old Guard is probably going to be dying out very quickly here, I want this story to remain a small tribute to their legacy.

-bows-

Until the next chapter, my friends.