Golden Sun is owned by Nintendo and Camelot.
This prestigious list names all of the people who have been kind enough to leave their thoughts on this story. I thank each and every one of the following: Tsukasa Arioushi, Noel the mermaid, Tom-Ato13, man that forgot password, goldensun1126, Vidolfnir, DropOfInk, Rizaidym, GraysonPaladin, Wostvely, PinayAngelisaBEAST, DuchessOfDementia, valeshippingftw, LordOfRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31, Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, allbluewitness, 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. As always, you are the inspiration, the motivation, and the impetus. Thank you also to all of my readers who prefer to be silent with their thoughts.
Warning: there are some rather intense themes and language in this chapter. If that sort of thing offends you, stay away. Also, be prepared for more rapid shifts in point of view than you're used to if you've been reading this story regularly.
Without further ado...
Tundra
Chapter 15: Ties and Promises
Felix whipped his sword above his head, and with the effortless grace of a veteran, plunged it tip-first into the neck of the last of three flame-spitting lizards that had attacked him. Felix felt that there were enough monsters in the twisted maze of red steel to engage an army – it had barely been an hour since he had entered the construct, and already his armor had slight dents and nicks from attacks. That was not to mention the various fluids that had soaked his clothing, making it even colder than it already was.
Felix wiped the slightly orange grime from his arms, and worked his way ever deeper into the ancient building. The traps were cunning indeed – Felix had almost fallen victim to several of them, and he jumped to the side to avoid being crushed by an onslaught of flame from the giant dragon-head down the hall. He winced slightly as his hand came down on the sharp ice that lined the corridor, but he pulled himself back up, timing his sprint to the small alcove on his right. This close to the source of the flames, he felt his skin begin to grow hot every time the flames passed. He watched the oscillating head, calculating, calculating… One more flame burst. Then came the heat as a blast of elemental fire roared across the room. Wait for it to pass… There it was – an opening!
Eyes to the floor and sword sheathed, Felix sprinted to the other side of the room, jumping at the last second to avoid another barrage of fire. He knelt on the ground for a moment to catch his breath before moving on.
Where he was going, Felix did not know. Though the Lady had disappeared at the entrance to the Lighthouse, he felt her presence guiding him, albeit weakly. His astute sense of distance and direction told him that he was nearing the back side of the Lighthouse. What was it with this place? It was so frozen up that there was almost no way around – giant blocks of ice littered the floor in most rooms, as though some giant had gone through and cut enormous, icy chandeliers from the ceiling. Though he had yet to find a doorway that was blocked, it felt like someone had set off a bomb.
Felix retraced his footsteps mentally. He was below ground, that was for sure. Common sense told him that the right direction to go was up, but that didn't feel right. So, he continued to wind his way around the basement floors, going deeper and deeper. He fought monster after monster, and eventually found his way to the end of a long hallway, at the end of which he saw something that, even after all that he had seen in his travels, still made him wary: a pair of dragons encased in a giant block of cracked ice.
Listen to my heart, thought Felix.
He began to glow blue as he used his Psynergy to grind the ice. He drew his sword and stepped back, preparing for war if need but, but as he readied himself, he felt a distinctly malevolent presence rip through the air with fury.
Dare you free the scorned, Earth-born?
A strong yet callous Voice echoed through the chamber. And it was indeed a Voice. Its presence was undeniable.
The Fire-born are fine where they rest. They have made grave mistakes.
The Voice stopped. Felix's eyes scanned the room for a source.
You are foolish, Earth-born. Confess your sins to me.
Everything went black in an instant.
Isaac and Jenna were awoken from slumber by a frantic knock at the door of the inn. Isaac jumped up to open it, surprised to see what seemed to be one of the village elders.
"Isaac?" asked the older man by way of hasty introduction.
"Y-Yes… And, um, you are?" he replied, confused.
"I am Puelle, leader of this village. Felix has disappeared. I was informed that he never returned to the inn. Is this true?"
The worry in the older man's face was evident.
"No, he didn't," Isaac said, "at least, not that I know of. Jenna and I fell asleep on the couch, and we never heard him come in,"
"This is not good," said Puelle, "Felix only spoke with me for a few minutes. That boy has always been rash… he must have gone to the Lighthouse alone. I can only assume that your friend – Mia, wasn't it? – followed him. Your friends, the Jupiter Adepts, they were awake, and noticed the two were missing. They went after them, and told the guards at the north gate. They left not fifteen minutes ago."
"We'll be ready in five," Isaac replied. Puelle nodded, and excused himself.
Isaac immediately went upstairs to rouse Garet and Piers.
Jenna, who had woken up during the course of the conversation, moved to get ready, wondering what her brother could possibly be thinking. He had promised that he wouldn't do anything else stupid. This wasn't like him. Something was wrong. And what was this nonsense about Felix being rash?
And, five minutes later, Isaac stood in front of Jenna, Garet, and Piers, running rapidly toward the Lighthouse. Puelle reminded them of the dire situation of Prox's people, asking them to remember to ignite the beacon at all costs. After assuring him that they would, they had taken off.
As they sprinted headlong into the winter night, guided only by a solitary torch, Isaac caught Jenna's eye. And Isaac resolved that he would never hurt her like Felix continued to hurt her. He promised himself that he would never cause the pain that he saw in Jenna's eyes.
And so the four of them ran, chasing their friends – as though it was the physical distance itself that strained the ties and threatened to collapse everything that they had worked toward.
When Felix awoke a moment later, he found himself in a peculiar place: Vale. He stood on the dock that jettisoned into the river beside his house. Or rather, he watched a much younger version of himself. It was several years ago. Young Felix sat with his back to a crate. A solitary tear appeared, which his younger self quickly wiped away.
Felix watched himself with intense distaste, remembering the event clearly. He had heard his mother and father fighting. He had asked them to stop. His father cursed at him, telling him to get out of the house, angrily suggesting that he ought never to have heard anything in the first place. So Felix had run outside, and hid behind the crates.
I was a coward, thought Felix.
Indeed you were, the Voice sneered, and everything faded again.
And Felix felt the shame, because his heart told him it was true.
His vision shifted again, and this time Felix watched from outside of his body as he listened to Jenna weeping, confessing to Isaac that she couldn't trust him, that she considered him a coward for not standing up to his parents. He watched with rage as Isaac held his little sister in his arms, comforting her, putting his heart on the line to tell her that he cared about her, something that Felix couldn't bring himself to do.
Your cowardice runs deep, Felix, said the Voice.
Once more the scene shifted, this time to Prox. He sat with his family, eating dinner in the basement of the house in which they lived. Felix recognized that it had been almost a year since they had been taken from Vale. His parents had become much closer. They had stopped fighting, and though they still felt enormous guilt over leaving their daughter, they were happy together. Felix remembered this as one of his happiest moments in Prox: he had been glad, and selfishly so, that he had a family again, even if it was short one member.
Your sister, I promise, did not share your sentiments, Felix, said the Voice.
Guilt washed over him. For a moment, he wondered about Jenna, but then everything went black again.
Sheba cursed as she took yet another tumble into the deep snowdrifts. Ivan offered her his hand, which she took, and he pulled her back up without a word. They continued their hasty march through the blizzard toward the Lighthouse.
Sheba, as she marched, continued to feel a sinking sensation in her stomach. There was something very wrong with this entire situation. This was not supposed to happen; they were supposed to march into the Lighthouse as a group, and then fight their way to the top together. What in the world could Felix have been thinking? It wasn't as though anything good could come of this decision. At best, the others would catch up to him, and at worst…
Sheba refused to think about it, pushing it aside. She redoubled her pace, and Ivan followed suit, sparing the time for a glance that told her they shared the same thoughts.
She caught a glimpse of the adamantine tower through the relentless snow. She pushed her hair behind her head and continued to run, hoping that neither Mia nor Felix had done anything rash.
"Sheba, stop!" Ivan gasped a moment later. "Slow down. We're not going to be any help if we can't even move when we get there. We'll freeze to death if we keep sweating like this."
"I know, I know, I just… I have a really bad feeling, Ivan," she said, slowing to a more moderate jog.
"So do I," he agreed. "What in the world was Felix thinking, running off like that? And then Mia, going to look for him by herself? Dammit, this could not be going any worse."
They lapsed into silence again, and before too long arrived at the base of the Lighthouse.
"Are you ready?" Sheba asked.
"Let's do it," said Ivan.
And as they walked inside, the ground began to shake with tremendous intensity.
The next shift found Felix in the frozen wastelands of Prox, in the basement of the house in which he had slept during his pseudo-captivity. A fresh scab that spanned his right cheek glistened in the firelight, enunciated by the purple and green bruise that surrounded it. Though physical violence that often bordered on baseless abuse was typical from Satruos, this time had been different.
Saturos had demanded that Felix accompany him and Menardi to Vale, in order to steal the Elemental Stars. Felix had refused. He had been afraid to return, to chance at reopening the book of affection that he had closed with his sister and his friends so long ago. He had, quite vividly, told Saturos to go burn. Saturos had beaten him fiercely, and had instructed no one to feed him until he made up his mind. It hadn't been a day when Felix capitulated.
Felix watched as his younger self hobbled toward the door, knocked on it, and begged Saturos to change his mind. He promised to go, to betray his traditions, to steal the Stars. Saturos laughed as he looked down at Felix.
"Pathetic," Saturos spat. "We leave in two days. Be ready."
Cowards don't change, Felix, said the voice.
Again, his vision shifted, and Felix stood in the middle of camp with Saturos and Menardi some distance outside of Lalivero. Felix remembered this moment too, with much chagrin. Felix had gone into town earlier that day at Saturos's instructions, and in that process he had discovered Sheba's link to Faran. It was there at camp that Saturos announced that, after conferring with Menardi on the matter, that Sheba would be "accompanying them to the Lighthouse". Felix understood immediately, and objected.
"Are you questioning my decision, Felix?" Saturos said, a sadistic edge creeping into his voice, "We had this issue a few months ago, did we not? Have you already forgotten the consequences of that encounter?"
Jenna looked at him, questioning. Felix had never told her about that; he averted his eyes from both of them.
"No," he said.
"Good boy," replied Saturos, chuckling under his breath.
And so they stole Sheba away from her home in the dead of night. Felix watched the scene with shame as Saturos bound and gagged her, pulling her roughly over his shoulder. The guards discovered them, but Saturos dispatched them quickly and ruthlessly. They stole away into the night, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
Felix felt bile in his throat, and he wondered how Sheba could ever forgive him for all of the times he had failed her. Where was Sheba, anyway?
Coward, the Voice said. It merely laughed at Felix's pain and regret, and as the scene faded to black again, so did thoughts of Sheba.
A moment later Felix saw again, this time near Jupiter Lighthouse. He couldn't bring himself to confront Isaac, as powerful as his counterpart had grown. So he ran, ran to the top, instead of trying to discuss it with them. That had almost led to Mia's death, and Garet's. Felix felt his insides squirm with regret.
"Mia… I'm supposed to be with Mia right now. Where is she?" thought Felix.
Coward, the Voice said again, as things began to fade.
Mia ventured deeper into the Lighthouse. She followed the trail of battlescars along the walls and the corpses of monsters that littered the floor deeper into the bowels of the Lighthouse. This was certainly Felix's work – clay and stone littered the ground, hallmarks of Felix's Venus Psynergy. She was glad that Felix had thinned the monsters out considerably before she entered. While combat was Felix's strong suit, it was not so much hers. She had only encountered a few stray creatures since entering.
Though she was alert as she walked, she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to Felix – what was he doing here? She had recognized that far-off look in his eyes as he spoke to the villagers, but she never imagined that he would come here on his own. Then, as she stood alone outside the inn, she felt an overwhelming fear in her chest. In an instant, she thought of Felix, and all of a sudden, she knew that she had to follow him. It hadn't been so much a choice as it had been a reflex.
She climbed down yet another staircase, and found herself staring down a long, foreboding hallway. She slowly made her way down the hallway, her footsteps agile, graceful, and alert. What she saw when she entered the room at the end of the hallway was something she never expected: three giant dragons, each standing higher than her. Their heads all snapped toward her as soon as she entered, and the largest one spit a powerful flame in her direction.
Her Psynergy flared up to shield her from the flames, and she drew her staff as the beasts attacked again. She let her Psynergy flow out of her every pore, healing wounds as she swung at the monsters. But they were phenomenally strong. She focused on the smallest ones first, knowing that it was probably the weakest. But even as she tried to put that strategy into effect, she felt that it was fruitless. Even when she hit both the largest and smallest dragons with a powerful spray of froth, they came at her without slowing for a second. She swung her staff –imbued with her power as it was – and connected with the smallest dragon. It roared, noticeably injured. But the other two still came at her relentlessly.
The big one slashed at her; the small one spit fire; she dodged a bite at her torso from the third. Her Psynergy was falling away too quickly, and she knew it. Even as she felled the small beast with a spray of diamond-tough ice, she felt her physical strength sapping. She pulled even more of her Psynergy from her pool to replenish her body – she was nearly empty. It was a race against time, and she was losing. It was only a matter of time.
And indeed, moments later, the large dragon caught her – a glancing blow to the side, one that knocked her off of her feet and sent her careening into the wall. She struggled to regain her balance, and as she stood up, she felt her side become wet. A quick glance down at her purpled robes confirmed that she was bleeding profusely. She tried to heal herself, but her Psynergy petered out. The smaller of the two remaining dragons drew in its breath and reared its head back.
In the instant before the flames ate through what remained of her Psynergy, Mia's only thought was that she wished she had found Felix, so that she wouldn't have to be alone for this.
She felt a brief moment of intense pain, and then nothing.
As things became black again for a moment, Felix thought he felt fire rip from his mouth. He heard a familiar voice scream in agony. Something immediately popped into his mind, but before it had time to register, the next scene materialized in front of him. All that remained of the thought was a faint hint of azure. That hint of azure became Mia, who stood in front of him on the deck of the ship, not more than a few days ago.
""I… I feel really honest, at the moment," he said to her, "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."
And for a moment, Felix felt a surge of pride, for this was one promise he had not broken.
See the effects of your cowardice, Felix, said the Voice, and this time, instead of fading to black, Felix felt his mind's eye close, and he saw what he had just wrought.
He watched himself become a dragon, because his soul was impure and corrupt, because he lacked the strength to succeed – because he was a coward. He watched as Mia entered the room, unaware of the danger. He watched as the other two dragons breathed fire, as his teeth narrowly missed the left side of her torso, as the smaller dragon fell. Then, as Mia leaned helplessly against the wall, blood leaking from her side, Felix felt the flames spew from his mouth, enveloping her.
Instantly, his heart shattered with rage and disgust. With an almighty roar, Felix felt his Psynergy respond to the turmoil. The earth around him began to shake and heave, rattling the very foundations of the Lighthouse. Whatever sick spell had been cast on him was broken, and he felt his body become human again. As soon as it did, Felix whirled around, ready to wreak havoc on whatever he could touch. He immediately began to slash, with every ounce of rage he possessed, at the remaining dragon. His Psynergy flared up to protect him, and he did not much care that he had been scorched.
Felix howled with broken, feral wrath as he struck blow after grievous blow on the last dragon. It howled with pain, and Felix redoubled his brutish attack, bringing immense violence on the creature. The creature was almost pitiably weak beneath his overwhelming assault. With one consummate blow, Felix dove his sword straight through the dragon's chest cavity, shouting with malice as he did.
As the creature fell dead to the ground, Felix's chest heaved under the effort of breathing. His nostrils flared with every breath, his chest rising and dropping inches at a time. He looked at the beast, glad he had killed it. Then, as the bloodlust faded from his furious eyes, he let his sword fall to the ground, running over to Mia's motionless form. He stood there, ignorant of Karst and Agiato's bodies once again made human behind him.
Her right arm was severely burnt, and the wound on her chest had ceased bleeding. There was a large pool of blood on the ground where she lay.
Felix immediately poured his Psynergy into her, but try as he might, she could not be revived. She didn't even show signs of moving. It was almost as though she wasn't breathing.
It is the price of your cowardice, Felix. Consider her life your penance.
This time, the Voice was coming from in the room. Felix looked up, only to see a giant eye of stone, floating in the air. The Lady's words came back to him: Beware the Dragon, beware the Eye.
Do not dare approach the aerie, Felix. You have fallen far enough from your duty.
And the Eye disappeared with its Voice. Felix stood still.
He heard Karst's voice behind him, telling him to take the Mars Star. Karst was trusting him with her last hope, because she was dying too. Why would she trust him? Could she not see that he had just destroyed something beyond any measure of precious that was entrusted to him? But Karst lay dying, and it was a terrible crime among the Proxians to dishonor a last request. Karst had always been good to him, so Felix took the Star.
Felix could not help but despair. He picked up Mia's lifeless form and began to carry her up the stairs. This promise to her that he had broken… The Eye was right. It was a sin. It was an incurable blemish upon his soul.
He stayed strong as he carried Mia's body up the stairs. He stayed strong as he continued to pump try to revive her. He stayed strong until, as he met Ivan and Sheba near the top of the first floor, he took a moment to look at her eyes, permanently closed, and then he lost his strength. He set Mia's body down, and fell to his knees.
Ivan began to shake with fear and shock.
"F-f-felix… W-what… Why is… Why is Mia not moving?" he asked. "S-she's gonna be okay, right? Right, Felix?"
Felix stared at Mia, unable to face him.
"I-Ivan…" Sheba said. "Ivan, I think… I think she's… she's…"
Felix continued to look at Mia, his expression blank. This couldn't be real. This had to be one of his nightmares. But yet, the cold feeling in his toes and the salty taste of the tears on his face told him that this was real. Mia was dead.
Felix fought back the urge to vomit. He had promised her that she wouldn't be alone, and not even days later, she had died, utterly alone, and by his hand, no less. The entire situation made him sick. Following his heart had killed the most beautiful, incredible person in his entire world. The rage welled up in his chest again. He ran outside, away from Ivan and Sheba, away from Mia's lifeless corpse, unable to contain himself.
Sheba watched as Felix ran from the room in grief. She didn't even think to follow him.
"I-Ivan," she repeated, as she fell into his shoulder, wracked with guilt herself. How had she spent so many months around this person and hardly gotten to know her at all? How could this girl have ever been less than her best friend?
Though she had seen many things on their travels, Sheba had never seen death. She could not bear to watch the scene before her, but neither could she bring herself to turn away. What good were the lives of nameless people in nameless villages on the other side of the world when the life of someone so integral in hers was ripped away? How could anything so uncertain be worth the price?
Even Ivan's tearful embrace did little to dispel the grotesque sense of loss.
"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU WITCH?" Felix shouted across the snow. "YOU KILLED HER! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!"
The earth once again trembled uncontrollably beneath Felix's feet, responding as his Psynergy flashed in powerful anger.
The Lady's voice rose from the snow, assaulting Felix with its forceful arrival. Her voice this time was not gentle. It stung viciously at Felix's ears and body with the pain of betrayal.
He has gone too far this time! Do not despair now, Felix. You must follow your heart. Only when you cease to do so will you have failed this test. Go now; you are not yet finished. You must make the climb.
And then her voice was gone again, just as quickly.
Tears dropped freely down Felix's face. He was so lost in his despair. How had this happened? Why had Mia followed him? This was supposed to be his test, not her tomb.
He shivered in the empty cold, and looked out toward the vast abyss to the north. Felix felt the urge to run into that blackness, to get lost in it forever like the snow that blew too far away from Prox. Maybe if he walked off into the dark, his failures would fade away forever. Maybe, if he walked into the end of all things, he could fulfill his promise to Mia. It seemed to him that the tales of Prox spoke the truth. Perhaps there were no heroes, only fate and the promise of death.
"Felix?" said a voice behind him. "Felix! We were so worried about you! Why did you come all the way up here by yourself? Where's Mia? And Sheba and Ivan?"
Jenna… And she said we. That meant Isaac and Garet too.
Felix turned around, and as soon as Isaac saw the crestfallen expression on Felix's face, he understood.
The blond adept knelt down by his fallen friend. Why now? After everything they had been through, all the journeys that had led them across seas, over mountains, and to the edge of Weyard itself – this was how their companionship was supposed to end? With a whimper that reeked of burnt flesh? Now, when his father was nearly back to him?
Isaac shook himself to make it untrue.
Still, Mia remained motionless. Isaac closed his eyes and exhaled.
Perhaps it was bound to happen on a journey as fraught with danger as theirs. Perhaps it was naive to think that a handful of young adults who could barely handle their own emotions could possibly triumph over the greatest ingenuity of the ancients and every force on Weyard, natural and otherwise, with all of their lives intact. Maybe their entire quest was futile.
But something deep inside Isaac screamed against that notion. In the great stories, there were heroes who triumphed over everything that the world threw at them, and those stories always had a happy ending. Back in Vale, heroes didn't die, and they finished their quest no matter the cost.
Isaac stood up and looked at his friends. Ivan and Sheba held each other tightly, neither able to look death in the face; Jenna stood frozen; Piers closed his eyes in prayer; Garet cried silently, shaking his head as he did so; Felix stood, unresponsive, wearing a mask of pain on his face that defied tears.
I guess it's time to finish this.
He looked back down at Mia. A soft whisper escaped his lips.
"Goodbye, Mia."
He paused, gathering his resolve.
"Let's finish this, everybody. She's not going to die for nothing. Now let's go."
They would all make it to the top, Isaac decided, and finish this. Later, when they had finished, there would be time to be broken.
You should not have come here.
You know I had no choice. Your actions are inexcusable.
I made it clear that we were not to interfere. You have failed in this.
You would break them into pieces, not test them. Has it been so long since you were human? Have you forgotten what it is to be mortal, to face crossing the River Styx? Have you forgotten the sacrifices that were made for our sake?
My choices are stone.
That is your heart, my dearest. Do not lower yourself to fallacy. You have not been away for so long that you have forgotten our love.
Love is a trick of mortal eyes.
Do not say such things. It was a gift of love that made us what we are.
We are sentinels. Bastard incarnates. Nothing more, nothing less.
You have lost much of yourself. You have let your power become you. I warned you, but you did not heed it. You have faded. What mask do you hide yourself behind, coward?
What are you doing?
Confess, my love; what have you done with your heart? What have you done with mine?
I have very little in terms of commentary this chapter, save that I hope I did it justice. I've been trying to get to this point for a while. Let's see if we can't tie everything up in another chapter or two, shall we?
Sorry to anyone who was offended/surprised/had a heart attack because Mia died. If you didn't catch it building up to this, you weren't paying very close attention to the past four or five chapters, much like me in my calculus class.
If it seems like I stopped right in the middle, it's because I did. This thing was almost at 5K words, and I had to stop it before it got drastic. This was just the only decent stopping point I could find.
As usual, please berate my dialogue, especially where it seems forced or overdone. I need to know when it doesn't feel right, or when it's so cliche that you start choking, etc.
Also, if there is any lack of clarity as to who is feeling what, who is saying what, who is talking to whom, or when any event in this chapter is taking place in connection to the rest of the story, please let me know. I thought I did a good job making that clear, but I have a very biased point of view, because these are all my ideas, and I know when they happen.
Thank you again readers, and especially reviewers. You are the reason this story is being finished. That said, Tsukasa Arioushi has to follow through on that promise before I post the next chapter.
Until next time, my friends.
