….

So, I return! After much stuff went down, including college, girls, and a suicide attempt, I am back! Sorry this took so long, but… yea. Anyways, its an extra long special to kinda try to make up for the delay. To all of those who read this, thank you for you support! Feedback is appreciated :p

PS: I don't own Golden Sun (sadly) or any of Camelot.

A/N: OMGWTFBBQ GOLDEN SUN DARK DAWN! WE FINALLY GET A SEQUEL!

Mia awoke with a splitting headache and a burning pain in her neck. A blanket had been tented over her body, and a rare mist potion was being boiled, the soothing vapors spreading around her, unleashing their healing magics. She remembered everything that had happened to her right before her fall from her ice pillar, so she knew that she had suffered no severe injuries and should be all right soon.

'All right. Time to see what I can do' Mia thought to herself. 'PLY!' As soon as she tried to concentrate on forming the psynergy, the pain in her head roared to a new height, and she lost control of the healing Mercury vapors.

'Interesting,' she thought. 'I am not restrained, and although I cannot cast right now, it seems that I was given water while I slept. I take it that I am not in the "hospitable care" of those two thugs from before. Maybe I can risk moving around and meeting my current caretaker.' Mia got up, stoppered the remainder of the mist potion before putting it in her pocket, and brushed away the tented blanket. She was in a clearing on the fringes of a lightly wooded forest. To her right she could see the valley where the man who sealed her psynergy and made her fall had foiled her "escape".

'Well… Maybe I should give him some benefit of the doubt.' Mia thought. 'After, he did catch me as I fell… Either way, I need to be careful. I can't make any mistakes, or I might be captured again.' Mia spotted her overcoat folded on a nearby stump. She grabbed it, and, shrugging it on, looked around to get her bearings so she could begin to return to Isaac and company. 'Isaac…' she thought, a little wistfully. She had had no chance to really continue her thoughts about the golden-haired Venus adept after she had been abducted, but she knew one thing: as much as she wanted to see Garet and Ivan as well, Mia knew that the thing that she was looking forward to most was seeing Isaac again. As she was thinking about this, a twig snapped behind her. Snapped from her reverie, Mia grabbed a thick branch off the ground and spun to face the man entering the clearing. Recognizing the face as that of the white-hairedman who had sealed her psynergy and almost killed her yesterday, she gathered the strength of her ice around her.

"So, you have awakened. I had feared you would want to fight me at first. Fine. So be it."

He raised a burning aura of Mars psynergy around himself. Mia could feel the heat radiating out from him, even thought he had not actually created any flames. Mia, recognizing that she was overmatched even with her advantage over the Mars element, lowered her powers and tossed aside her makeshift staff.

"Good. I am glad to see that you have common sense. Come, please sit down. I apologize for the behavior of my subordinates earlier, they were naught but common thieves hired for a single purpose. I am in no way going to hurt you, and I would like you to hear my side of the story. I swear to this on the sacred name of Mars."

Isaac called back to Ivan and Garet, telling them to hurry up. They responded by telling him to cool off and that they needed to stop soon, or they would be traveling in the dark.

"Isaac, we need to stop for the night! This is a perfect camp spot, so we should stop here."

Isaac debated it for a minute then grudgingly acquiesced to their request. As soon as camp was pitched, Isaac left to train, as he had every night of the chase.

Steel ripped through wood, sending chips flying everywhere. Isaac pulled his wakasazhi through the stroke, rending the thick tree branch. As he spun to complete a sky-to-ground sweep, the sword struck the tree trunk, tearing itself from his hands. Disgusted, Isaac smashed the sword blade deep in the ground. Sinking to the ground next to his waka, Isaac clutched his head in his hands. Every night since Mia had been kidnapped, he tried to calm his mind with bladework, like he had always done, but it no longer seemed to work. He only lost focus and grew more and more angry.

'Why? Why am I so Goddamn frustrated?' Isaac thought to himself, wiping sweat off of his brow. 'I can't seem to get my thoughts in order, the forms won't come to me, and I haven't been sleeping… ugh.'

"Um, Isaac? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ivan said, entering the clearing that Isaac had been using for training.

"… Fine. I can't focus anyways. What do you need?" Isaac answered, closing his eyes and leaning against the scarred tree trunk.

"Well, I just have something that I think you should know. Actually, you might already know, seeing as it about you."

"About me… what do you mea-?"

"-I swear I didn't break our promise, I haven't used mind read on you, but it seems that with the advance of my Jupiter psynergy, I have become able to read people's emotions. Actually, I can control it yet but –"Ivan interrupted, words tripping over each other in a haste to get out of his mouth.

"Hold on, slow down. Get to the effing point, Ivan, I'm not cut out for bullshit today – my brain is on fire." Isaac said, massaging his temples.

"Ok…" Ivan replied, looking a little hurt. "Like I said, I can almost… see people's emotions now. I can't control it yet, so every time I see someone with strong emotions, the emotions flow over and create a sort of aura around the person. I discovered this power just a little bit ago, right after Mia was kidnapped. I have been working to control it, but it's a slow process. The night I discovered it, I almost went crazy – It was like I was looking into everyone's dreams. Now it is a lot better, but I still can't turn it off yet."

"Interesting, but what does it mean, Ivan?" Isaac asked, slightly annoyed.

"I was getting there." Ivan replied testily. "Just calm down, will you? This is important!"

"Fine… Give me just a second, ok?" Isaac replied. He channeled a small amount of psynergy and created a small ball of earth. As he did before practicing with a blade, he channeled emotions into the rock, one by one. It hadn't worked lately, but it was worth another shot. After relieving his stress into the ball and throwing it high into the air, Isaac turned back to Ivan.

"Sorry, I was just… bleh."

"It's okay." Ivan said. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Like I was saying, I see these auras of strong emotions. What I was getting at is that I see you constantly surrounded by this aura, and it glows brighter than our fires at night."

"Well, that's understandable, isn't it? I mean, Mia is missing, and we still haven't found her. We are falling behind Felix and the others, and this whole quest is starting to look fucking impossible! I can't even keep our party together, damnit!"

Isaac's words built into a crescendo until the final epithet rang from his lungs with the force of a scream. Lungs heaving, Isaac turned to Ivan, who stood waiting, taking deep breaths and trying to remain calm.

"I can't even maintain control of myself, Ivan. My emotions and thoughts are a giant mess in my head. I cannot… I can't even work the blade anymore. The single most calming thing that I can do only frustrates me. I am sorry for yelling at you, I really am, but I can't even think straight.

"That is exactly what I am trying to talk to you about, God damn it, Isaac!" the Jupiter adept roared, point at Isaac with an accusing finger.

Isaac stared, temporarily snapped back to reality by the strength of the gentle wind user's words. Ivan stared back, and after a moment, they both sighed and chuckled.

"Now that we are both a little calmer, listen to me." Ivan said "This will only take a second. I think I know why you are so confused inside. First I must ask you: What do you feel about Mia?'

Isaac was completely caught off-guard by the question. "Well, she's one of my good friends and precious companions – She's just as important to me as you or Garet is."

"Ahh. I see. You don't understand, do you?" Ivan pondered for a minute. "Hmm, I think… yes, I'm going to ask you another question before I explain. Would you be chasing after these kidnappers if it was Garet or I that was missing?"

"Of course I would! What are you trying to get at? You guys mean the world to me!"

"I believe you, Isaac. However, would have completely forgotten about your quest? I know you, and your loyalty to your task would keep you constantly fretting about chasing after Felix."

"Well, maybe that's why I've been so pissed off lately! Thanks, Ivan! Now that I understand-"

"But you don't understand, Isaac. That's what I'm trying to get to – I don't think that you have thought about our quest since Mia was kidnapped. As a matter of fact, I don't think the thought has even crossed your mind. I think what is angering you is something different entirely. No, let me finish." Ivan said, waving off the Earth adept's attempts to speak.

"I think what is angering you is an emotion you don't know you have. Every time you think of Mia, especially when I asked about her earlier, the strength of the emotion aura around you doubles. Most of what I see is obvious to you, like the grey of anxiety, the brown of worry, and the red of anger. But underneath all of this lies a cord of gold. This gold is love, Isaac. There is no other explanation – the reason why you have been so angry is that the woman you love, whether you know it or not, has been taken from you. I can see by you face that what I said has left you dumbstruck, so I am going to leave you for a little while. Please consider what I have told you, and don't worry – I know enough not to tell Garet," The young man turned and left the earth adept with his jaw dropped to the ground.

'Wait… what! Did he just – Do…? Am I… No, can't be… Well, what if?´ Isaac's thoughts were so deep in a confused rut; he didn't even know what to think. Judging that he had nothing better to do considering his blade practice had been cut short Isaac decided to think it over. Settling back against the stump in a more comfortable way, the Venus adept began to organize his thoughts.

Mia sat back, trying to gather her thoughts and wrap them around the massive idea the white haired man had just given her.

"So, let me get this straight – sealing the lighthouses may have started killing the world? Relighting them may be the only way to stop the erosion of the entire world? Saturos and Menardi are the good guys? Are you kidding me?" She asked, letting her confusion show.

"No," the man replied. "I swear on Mars that this is all the truth – the world around my hometown has begun to deteriorate, and the lighthouses must be lighted. I am not saying that your group is the bad guys in this situation, but I know that Saturos and Menardi are in the right."

"So, why kidnap me? What is the point?" Mia asked, slowly coming to understand the gravity of the man's words.

"Actually, your group is impressive in its tenacity and strength - Saturos and Menardi sent me to slow you down. I felt that abducting one of the members would be the most efficient way. You had the bad luck of being on watch when my plan was implemented. However, I again find myself impressed with your companions. They continue to gain ground, despite that my men left no traces. I believe that if we move at my projected pace, they will have caught us by tomorrow or the day after at the very latest."

Mia was filled with warmth inside at the thought of how hard her friends were pushing themselves to save her. Before she had met Isaac and co, she had never really had a friend. Now she knew what true friends are.

The man interrupted her thoughts, saying "Now that you are well enough to move, we must continue on. You have seen my power, and know it, so I will give you two options – You accompany me without struggling or attempting to escape and you will travel without restraints or pain of any sort. Or, you can try to run away. Your time with me will not be nearly so pleasant should you chose this."

Mia thought for a few minutes before accepting the man's hand up. "I will take the first choice, provided it takes no more than three days for my companions to catch us. Should it take longer than that, I may consider escape."

"That is acceptable. Now that we are travelling companions, no matter what the circumstances, I must know your name. I did not hear it from Saturos or Menardi." The man said, readying his pack.

"Mia."

"Mia, huh? An interesting name." The man turned to look at her, light shining in the hard red eyes set deep in his head.

"As for me, my name is Agatio."

Chapter fin.

So, How did you guys like the bad guy? I realized that I screwed up when I played TLA again – His hair is white in the convo sprite, but in battle it shows that it is purple. My b. :/