Hey, everyone! This one is relatively short compared to the last few chapters. I believe it's only about 4000 words (which isn't all that short, just in comparison to the last two or three it is).

Thanks to AnriMia24 and Mr0cheese for reviewing!

Anyway, I'll just get right to the story because I have nothing else to say other than check out my soundcloud because I've posted a few songs since the last chapter.

Disclaimer: Same as always

Bonds

The brisk morning air bit at Isaac's ears and nose as he trudged through the icy snow beneath him. It wasn't a chill that got to him, however, and he couldn't be happier to have Mia with him. Earlier that morning they had paid the landlord the rental fee for the temporary home and immediately teleported to the other side of Bilibin Cave, each of them anxious to start their mini adventure to Imil.

"Whoa!" cried Mia, slipping on a hidden patch of ice. Isaac was quick to catch her.

"Haha! Mia, you've slipped so many times it's hard to believe you grew up in a constantly snowy town. I haven't even slipped once ye-whoa!" On his last words, Isaac lost his balance and slipped; Mia toppling down on him. "Oof… of course that would happen," he groaned.

"Heehee, why, Isaac, I didn't realize you were such a comfortable seat. I might just have to take a rest here for an hour or five!"

Isaac laughed. Mia was not all that heavy, so he didn't mind her sitting on top of him; however, he wasn't fond of the snow that was slowly soaking his back. He decided to lightly push her off but did so a little too roughly, sending the Mercury adept face first into the snow beside him. He felt a bit guilty but couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing at the sight of Mia picking herself out of the snow. Unfortunately for him she wasn't upset; rather she had a mischievous smile across her face.

"So that's how you wanna play it, wiseguy," she said, attempting to take on a serious tone. Isaac scrambled to stand up and run away, not quite sure what she was thinking. Before he could take off, though, a huge wave of snow in front of him erupted and came down on his head, burying him underneath. He managed to pop his head out after a few moments to see Mia laughing and heading over towards him.

"Okay, I guess we're even," he chuckled back to her, "even though I didn't bury you in the snow."

She helped dig him out and they once again began walking towards their destination, joking and laughing until nightfall. The wintry sun began setting over the horizon, and Isaac was able to make out a small pinky-sized shadow off in the distance: Mercury Lighthouse. A light blue dot glowed above it, indicating its lit beacon.

"Oh dear," said Mia when they stopped to set up camp. A small campfire next to two stumps was all they had managed to make so far.

"What is it, Mia?"

She rummaged through her bag before looking over at Isaac's things. "You wouldn't happen to have brought a tent with you, did you?"

"No, I probably should've, but I was trying to travel light. Don't you have one?"

"Well, yes, I do have one," she said quietly before blushing a bit, "but that's the thing: I only have the one."

Now Isaac realized the problem. When they had been travelling as a group before, Isaac and Garet had always shared the biggest tent together, and Ivan and Mia had had their own tents, so there was never an issue of sleeping arrangements. While he had taken naps with Jenna on the couch, Isaac had never gone to sleep with her at night, let alone in a bed. The thought of sleeping with Mia, especially since they weren't even together, made him feel embarrassed, nervous, and uncomfortable but at the same time excited, happy, and warm. It was a strange mixture of feelings, and he wasn't really sure how to react.

"…How about we take turns keeping watch? That way we don't have to be in the tent together at the same time," he suggested after a moment.

"Would that work?" she asked. "I mean, we would have to get up multiple times in the night. It doesn't exactly sound ideal."

"I know it's not the greatest solution, but I don't have any other ideas."

"Mm, alright then… but you can't be in there when I'm changing!"

He chuckled, "Oh I thought that that was the only time I was supposed to be in there," he said sarcastically. She nudged him lightly and laughed. She began setting up the tent, but Isaac stopped her. "Don't worry, I've got it. You just focus on keeping the fire going for now. I'll take the first watch tonight. I'm not all that tired, anyways."

She thanked him and went back to the fire and pulled out a pot with which she started to prepare a stew. He smiled as he heard her begin humming a tune to herself; she always did so when she was making something.

When they had finished their food, Mia turned in for the night. It seemed that the journey had exhausted her since they hadn't done much travelling in their lengthy stay in Bilibin. Isaac figured that he wasn't tired because he had slept for two weeks straight. Lazily poking at the fire, he thought back to all the good times he'd had. He and Ivan had been on double watch duty one time because of how many monsters they'd fought in the area. They were constantly jumping at every noise they heard, but would always laugh at the other if they jumped first. Isaac wished that he could relive his adventure for only those moments. While it had been a dangerous mission to save the world, it was the little things that made it one of the best experiences of his life.

The night dragged on, but it hadn't quite reached midnight. He didn't mind staying up late, as he wasn't getting tired, but he did start getting a little bored. He almost wished a small monster might venture too close. He didn't particularly want to kill anything right now, but at least scaring it away would be something to do. Eventually his mind wandered to the topic of Jenna. He felt his face fall to a slight frown, but he wasn't upset; rather, he missed her. It wasn't the loneliness he had felt before; instead he missed her much like he missed Ivan, Sheba, Piers, and Felix. Even after the pain she'd put him through, he was sad to be taken far from one of his best friends. Strangely, he did not seem to miss Garet. Perhaps it was because he was still a bit angry at him, but whatever the reason he only wanted to see Jenna. Huffing, he slumped down and tossed some powdery snow onto the fire. He liked watching it dim the fire slightly before it raged up again.

Finally, the moon passed over the top of his head. He was supposed to wake Mia at midnight, but figured that he would let her sleep a little longer. Quietly poking his head in the tent, he reached forward to shake her. She looked so peaceful, and he felt a little guilty waking her from her slumber. Lightly shaking her, she groggily looked up at him and gave him a sleepy smile.

"Hey," was all she said as she slowly began to sit up. He smiled back and shuffled out of the doorway so she could get out. When she exited the tent, she simply said good night to him and took a seat by the fire. Secretly, he still didn't feel all that tired, but he knew she would feel bad if he had stayed up all night, and she was awake now, regardless. He quietly crawled into the tent and lay down on the blanket she'd been using; it was still warm. Despite not feeling tired, he fell asleep relatively easily.

Isaac awoke the next morning to the light sound of snowflakes brushing the tent. It was a difficult sound to pick up, but it wasn't like there was a lot else to notice. However, something else seemed off and he looked down in bewilderment. Somehow he hadn't even realized, but a certain aqua-haired girl had snuggled herself under his arm and fallen asleep. She must have gotten tired, but she could've woken me. I guess she felt bad that I'd already had my watch. He wasn't quite sure what to do. He was afraid to wake her up by moving, but he was slightly uncomfortable holding her like this. It wasn't that he didn't like it (if anything, he was perfectly happy to stay like this), but he wasn't sure if it was right of him to be sleeping with her like this. He had no way of knowing if she'd actually wrapped his arm around her, or if he'd done that in his sleep. He didn't want her to wake up feeling awkward, but then she never really was the type to feel uncomfortable about these types of things. Still, he had to try to loosen his one arm that was beneath her. Luckily, she rolled a bit and he was able to slide his arm out in that moment. Taking a second to compose himself, he quietly got out of the tent.

It seemed Mia's way of keeping monsters away while they both slept was to stick a few sacred feathers around the campsite. There was a few around their tent and one on each of their bags. She'd frozen them to the spot so they wouldn't blow away. Isaac smiled at the ingenuity of her idea. It seemed to have worked, as there were some visible tracks leading towards the campsite that stopped a few feet away from the feathers and went back the other way.

Isaac started a fire and began melting some snow. Unfortunately, he wasn't much of a cook so he just sprinkled a few herbs in the pot to make a minty broth of sorts. Mia came out from the tent when the broth had finished boiling. He pulled out one of the wooden cups from his pack and carefully poured some into it.

"Morning," she said to him, still a bit tired it seemed, "what'd you make?"

He smiled at her and looked back at his concoction. "Uh, I guess you could say it's… tea?"

She laughed lightly, for she knew he wasn't one for making any sort of food. She came and sat beside him, pouring herself a cup. "Hmm, herbal tea; basic, but healthy. It'll help you from getting sick out here."

He smiled and laughed inwardly, wondering how he'd managed to actually make something real without knowing. The minty flavour refreshed him, and he felt ready to take on another day of walking.

"Nice touch with the sacred feathers," he said. "I never would've thought of something like that."

She smiled, but an obvious blush came to her cheeks. He realized that he'd basically just brought up the fact that she'd crawled into bed with him.

"Heh, you know, you could've woken me up. I wouldn't mind; I actually woke you up later than I was supposed to because I wasn't too tired."

"Yes, well, it would've been unfair to make you get up again, especially when we have a full day ahead of us."

He stopped and wondered if he should ask her if she'd snuggled up to him, but couldn't think of a way to ask without potentially embarrassing her. Instead, he pushed it aside and played it off as nothing.

"Thanks for that. I'm glad you're thinking of me even when you're tired, Mia." Another question came to mind, "Hey, how long did you actually stay on watch for?"

She gave him a sheepish smile before taking a sip of her tea, "Hehe, I, uh, I waited until I knew you were asleep before I put out those sacred feathers. You fell asleep pretty quickly for someone who wasn't tired. I guess I was probably only on watch for about half an hour."

He laughed, thinking that he might as well have let her sleep the whole night. "Well, at least you're being honest."

They were both silent for a moment before she spoke again, "Isaac."

"Yeah, Mia?"

She seemed to be a bit uncertain of herself, but continued anyways, "I… I don't mind sleeping at the same time as you. I think it's easier if we do it that way so that we both get enough rest for the days ahead. Besides, your arms kept me warm- I mean your body heat!" her cheeks immediately flushed pink and she looked away from him.

So she did snuggle herself against me. Well, at least it wasn't me. He smiled and put his arm over her shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed, Mia. I didn't think anything of it. I was only worried that you would wake up as I was letting go or something."

That didn't seem to help, but he didn't know exactly what to say. Taking his arm off of her, he got up and started to pack away the tent. "We should probably get going."

"Yeah, let's," she said, apparently happy to have the subject changed. Neither of them brought it up again.

Despite Mia's embarrassment, Isaac found himself waking up the same way every day. They always went to bed apart, but somehow they always awoke in a spooning position. Once or twice, when he couldn't fall asleep right away, he would feel her body shuffle towards his. He wasn't sure what had compelled him to do it, but instead of moving away he would put his arms around her. The notion always comforted him and allowed him to fall asleep. She seemed to be less embarrassed now, but still didn't like to bring it up in conversation. Both of them seemed to be happy, however, and only one question lingered in Isaac's mind: what exactly was their relationship now? He wasn't sure if he'd say they were together but, at least in his mind, they definitely weren't open for meeting someone else. He often wondered about it but never brought it up with Mia; after all, it was about her. Regardless, Isaac had never felt happier than feeling her warm, slender body pressed against his every morning.

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They reached Imil exactly on schedule. Isaac grinned at the familiar sight. Imil was slightly bigger than he last remembered, probably because it had become a more important trading city. Mia had told him how towns and cities from all across Weyard were now involved in trade with Imil for the Water of Hermes. She was glad that it hadn't affected the town too much, but there were often many people around the new port by Mercury Lighthouse. Typically, she said that she stayed away from there because there were a lot of shady characters, but they stayed away from Imil for whatever reason.

"Ah, home sweet home," Mia sighed in relief as they approached the sanctum. She eagerly opened the doors and walked in.

"Welcome, weary wanderers. What aid do you seek?" came a boy's voice.

"It's me, Justin! I'm home!" Mia shouted gleefully.

"Oh, Mia! We weren't sure when you'd be coming back! I see you brought a friend with you. Megan, Mia's back!"

"Hey, Justin," said Isaac, "we met once before, so I don't know if you'll remember me; I'm Isaac. Man, you've grown since I last saw you! And your voice dropped, too!"

Justin stared at Isaac for a moment before his face lit up, "Ah, Isaac, I do remember you! I have a hard time forgetting since Mia always talks abou-murf-mmf." A slightly younger girl had come in and slapped a hand over his mouth. Mia giggled and smiled towards her.

"Hi, Mia and Isaac! I'm glad to see you guys again! You can come into the back; I've just got some stew cooking right now." With her hand still on Justin's mouth, the two kids led the way into the back room of the sanctum. Before he could follow them, Isaac was tightly wrapped in an unexpected hug from Mia.

"I'm still so glad you decided to come, Isaac. It may sound selfish of me, but I'm glad you won't be going home anytime soon."

He laughed inwardly, reminded of the story Flower had told him about Sheba and Felix. Isaac knew Mia had feelings for him, and he had been sure of it since the first night she fell asleep in his arms. "I'm glad I'm here too, Mia. I don't think you're selfish; truth be told, I probably would've come here to visit eventually, so it just happened a bit earlier than we were expecting."

She released him from her grip and smiled. Without thinking, he lightly brushed a hair from her face, causing her to blush slightly. Slowly turning around she headed towards the back room, Isaac closely behind.

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When night fell, the two adepts took a walk through the moonlit town. The skies were clear, and the snow glowed off the moonlight. Here and there a few coloured candles remained, but most of the decorations from the Lunar Celebration had already been taken down. Skating towards an island in the middle of the frozen river, Mia led Isaac up some steps to her thinking spot. Isaac chuckled when she said she had a thinking spot of her own. He much preferred hers to his, for it seemed much more private. She said she used to use the cave beneath the frozen waterfall, but stopped going there because she felt too cut off from everything.

They lay beneath a large snow-covered tree and looked at the moon between a gap in the branches. "It's nice out here," said Isaac. "How often do you do this, Mia?"

"Only on clear nights like tonight. I like looking at Luna while I think. It's as if she can answer my questions while I lay here."

"That's pretty deep," he said mostly to himself. "My old thinking spot was more or less just a spot that people didn't go by too often. Even then there was still quite a bit of people that liked to cross the bridge."

"Mm, well while you're in Imil, my thinking spot is your thinking spot, Isaac. I'd be happy to share it with you."

He laughed, "Thanks, Mia, but it isn't like I'm going to be doing a lot without you. After all, I'm the guest in your hometown. We'll probably be together for most of my stay here."

She giggled, "My, my, someone's awfully clingy. And to think we aren't even together."

He loved how playful and bubbly she could be while still remaining the shy, reserved girl he knew from three years ago. "No, I suppose I am being oddly clingy since we aren't together," he paused, contemplating if he should say the next word or not; he decided to anyways, "yet."

Mia didn't say anything, and Isaac was worried that he'd made her feel uncomfortable despite knowing that they both had feelings for each other. He gave a nervous glance at her, but was put at ease when he saw her lips curled up in a gentle smile. She looked almost relieved, as if some weight had been lifted off her. Had she been expecting him to start a relationship? Whatever the reason, he was glad to see her feeling happy so he rolled back onto his backside to stare up at the moon again.

"I… I suppose this means… you're over Jenna then?" asked Mia, an unsure tone in her voice.

He hadn't really thought about it, but he supposed that he was. He had been away from her for nearly two and a half months already, and as of late he hadn't been thinking about her as much. Thoughts of the reddish-brunette-haired girl had been replaced by thoughts of the pretty blue-haired girl beside him.

"Yes, I… I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I stopped thinking about her some time ago. The first night when I was keeping watch I thought about how I missed her, but it wasn't in the same way that I missed her before. I didn't feel lonely anymore. My feelings for her were like a friend I hadn't seen in a long time, which is what I suppose she is now. It's strange, I'm not even mad at Garet anymore. Even though I thought I'd been too hard on him, I was still a bit pissed off. But now that I look at it, I'm glad they're happy with each other because, well, I'm happy now… happy being here with you, Mia."

He turned his gaze to see Mia smiling back at him; their blue eyes staring deep into the others'. Neither of them spoke, they just lay there smiling at each other. Mia began shuffling herself closer to him and Isaac instinctively put his arm around her. Both shifting their gaze up towards the moon again, he felt her head tilt onto his shoulder. Tilting his onto hers they sat there for quite some time before either of them said anything.

"What do you want to be, Isaac?" asked Mia.

Isaac was a bit taken aback by the question. It wasn't something he often thought about. He always figured that he would figure out his life as it came to him. "I… I'm not really sure. I never really thought about it. What about you, Mia?"

"Hmm, I think I'd like to stay here and train others to be healers. I've been able to help train some of the monks in Bilibin. I love to help people live their lives."

She's so selfless; I wish I could amount to something like that. "Gosh, that's quite a plan, Mia. I think it would be the perfect job for you." She was captivating. Everything about her drew him in closer to her. He had honestly never met anyone so caring and lovable.

"Thank you, Isaac. I love doing what I've been doing, and I hope that I can do it until the day I die. I'd still like to know what you want to be. Anything at all."

He stopped and thought for a moment. There wasn't much he had ever truly aspired to become. He had a knack for making weapons, but he never really wanted to become a blacksmith. There was really only one thing he'd ever been sure about. "A father."

"What was that?"

"I'd like to be a father someday. I know it isn't a huge aspiration or powerful life goal that will help hundreds of people, but it's the only thing I've ever been sure I want to be. I'd love to have a family: a wife, maybe one or two kids, nothing huge. Just a peaceful family that lives their lives the way they're meant to. Pretty lame dream, huh."

"No, Isaac," she said, turning her head up to look him in the face, "I think it's sweet. You're right, it isn't a goal that will help hundreds of people, but it will make you happy; and when you're happy with your own life it doesn't matter what others think. When you think about it, your dream is much more admirable than mine. You want to make a woman's life special with your marriage, your children healthy by being a good father, and any other loved ones happy that will support you all the way. Perhaps you will make just as many people happy, but in a different way."

Isaac was having a bit of trouble following Mia's thought process, but the general gist of what she was saying made him feel calmer. Thanking her, he squeezed her closer to his side and rested his head on hers again.

The two of them sat there chatting about many things until late in the night; the light of Luna flowing through a hole in the branches to illuminate the two sweethearts sitting closely under a tree. This feeling was undoubtedly something Isaac had not experienced in a long time: true happiness.

This one was way more fluffy than the last couple chapters but for whatever reason I didn't like writing it as much. I dunno, I guess I just can't be pleased with all of the things I write, even if they're just as good as the last. Maybe that's the reason: I feel compelled to make a better chapter every time and that isn't always possible especially when I particularly love a previous chapter, but oh well.

I'm sure some of you mudshippers wish I could simply say 'The End' here or say it after they officially get together, but alas this is not the end, as you've already gotten a glimpse at the end from the beginning of the story (ironic, eh?). Anyway, Isaac and Mia will be able to change their facebook relationship statuses soon enough so hang tight until that happens :P.

Thanks for reading! Please review and check out my soundcloud! (Link on my profile)

-GengaJupite