Ugh, back to school on Monday :/. I suppose I'm pretty consistent with how often I post new chapters, regardless of school or whatever, but this could mean getting updates less often.
When I first wrote this chapter, it was a direct continuation off of the last chapter; however, when I wrote it, I didn't like the huge change in theme that was going on. This is a completely rewritten chapter, and it took me a while to write something I was actually satisfied with, so hopefully it's up to the standards I've placed on the other ones.
Thanks to AnriMia24 and Mr0cheese for reviewing!
On with the story!
Disclaimer: …
Reunion
"Well, well, well, this is a surprise."
"It sure is, Kraden. I don't think any of us expected to see Isaac here."
"Oh, come now, Ivan, you and I both predicted this would happen. You shouldn't lie to your elders."
"Hama, please don't do this in front of my friends…"
It was four months before Piers arrived in Imil with the others. While Mia was a bit annoyed with his interpretation of the word 'soon', it only made sense, as Piers was still getting accustomed to the outside world's view of time. Contrarily, it had given the others – Jenna, Garet, Sheba, and Felix – time to make their way towards the isolated town so that the old group could be reunited in time for winter.
"I suppose it seems like a long time to you all, doesn't it?" said Piers, who was unloading the last of their belongings from the ship.
"Kind of," replied Isaac, "in truth I feel like it's been just the right amount of time for us to all reunite."
"Yes," agreed Mia, "and you all look so different! Have Isaac and I changed as much as all of you?"
"Well, yes and no," said Ivan, "I mean you seem to have matured with age, but to me you look the same."
"Ah, but you see that is the ignorance of youth," stated Kraden, "for I see you all as completely different people now. Of course Hama seems the same, but that is to be expected, as she was already an adult when we first met her. Nevertheless, I believe that you have all changed drastically since we were last together, including you, Isaac! Why it seems like only yesterday…" and on he went, blabbering about anything that came to mind.
"So what are you doing in Imil, Isaac?" asked Piers.
"I think I'll wait until everyone's here before I tell my story, I wouldn't want to have to repeat it multiple times because some people weren't here."
"When's everyone supposed to get here?" asked Ivan.
"If my prediction is correct," interjected Hama, "Jenna and Garet should be here sometime this week, and Felix and Sheba shortly afterward."
"Well, let's stop hanging around here, then!" Mia said happily. "It's only a short journey back to Imil."
The partially reunited group headed back towards the village, Isaac casting Carry on any extra baggage that they wouldn't normally be able to take in one trip. Before long, they were within the gates of Imil and heading towards the rental homes that Mia and Isaac had paid for; they didn't wish for their friends to pay for an inn while they were guests in the town. Still, rental homes were somewhat costly, so the two of them had only been able to afford three homes for the eight guests they had. Since no one wanted to stay with Kraden, the remaining seven would have to figure out how to squeeze into two homes. Nevertheless, their friends were grateful that they wouldn't have to pay, so Isaac and Mia left them to settle in and figure out the living and sleeping arrangements.
"I'm so glad everyone could make it," Mia said as she and Isaac walked hand-in-hand along the powdery snow-covered path. "Hopefully everyone can stay long enough for the Luna Celebration this year!"
Isaac smiled, recalling his memories of his first Luna Celebration two years ago. "That would be cool; I'd like to see the look on some of their faces when the lights go up."
Mia giggled, "I bet none of them would have sillier reactions than you did."
"No, but they'll probably all jump off of their seats like me," he chuckled.
"Mm. Isaac?"
"What is it, Mia?"
"Nothing, I'm just glad you're here with me. These past two years have been the best of my life, and I have no one to thank but you. You've made me the happiest girl in the world."
He smiled and the two adepts locked eyes for a moment before Isaac stooped a little to give her a kiss. Mia was his saviour, his everything, the love of his life. He hoped that he could live like this forever, his only care in the world being the beautiful azure-haired maiden with him right now. Parting their lips, the two continued walking down the path, no particular destination in either of their minds.
A few women passed by and looked on enviously, huddling together and whispering while indiscreetly staring at them. Mia used to get upset over little things like that, but Isaac had managed to convince her that there was nothing to get upset over, as middle-aged single men often looked at them enviously as well. They were often the relationship talk of the town, and it sometimes overwhelmed them. Not only was Mia known throughout Imil as a saviour, but Isaac was as well due to various feats of leadership over the past couple years; not to mention her fame across most of Angara for being the Healing Angel, or both of their Weyard-wide fame as Warriors of Vale. No, it seemed as though fate had planned some sort of fame to accompany their loving relationship; not that it mattered much to them, for if they had each other then nothing else mattered.
"Do you remember the time you saved Imil from the lizard men?" Mia asked suddenly.
"How could I forget?" Isaac replied flatly. Indeed it had been quite the memorable incident. One day a few months ago, hundreds of lizard warriors climbed out of the ocean with the intent of raiding Imil. It had been a long and bloody battle with many casualties on both sides; eventually, Isaac had managed to end the battle by summoning Judgment upon the foul creatures.
"Mm, it just makes me remember how heroic you were even to the very end. You almost died to save Justin!"
Another memory sparked in his mind. A few lizard warriors had scurried out of Judgment's blast radius and started making their way towards the village. Justin, who had been watching the battle from the gates, saw this as an opportunity to prove his worth to Isaac. Brandishing one of Isaac's old rapiers, he rushed out to meet the five warriors charging towards the city gates. Megan had been up in the watchtower trying to freeze the monsters with Tundra, but it had little effect on the burly, aquatic monsters. Isaac was able to reach the battle scene, but it seemed too late. Justin had managed to slay one of the beasts, but was knocked unconscious and stabbed through the midsection. Isaac, feeling broken and distraught, ignored his exhausted mind and body, and slayed the dreaded beasts before carrying Justin to the sanctum and eventually passing out from exhaustion.
"That was quite the scare alright," he replied. "I thought Justin was a goner, and I couldn't help but think it was my fault."
"But it wasn't your fault, Isaac. There was no way you could've foreseen something like that happening. You did everything you could, and because of that you're both still alive now. You saved him."
"I suppose…"
Mia lightly hit him in the stomach and giggled. "You know, you're too modest for your own good. Sometimes it is alright to take credit for the good things you've done!"
He chuckled lightly, figuring that Mia was right as always. It was true, anyway, and he knew it. He was just a humble person at heart; besides, Mia loved him just the way he was, and she would no matter what.
"You're perfect, Mia. How could a guy like me end up with someone so amazing as you?"
She blushed, but giggled again, "Again with the modesty! I think that after our friends leave I'm going to give you lessons on taking credit where it's due. I'm just glad you aren't so humble that you let people walk all over you."
Isaac laughed and gave her another quick kiss. It was amazing how different she was from three years ago when he had been with Jenna. Back then she was still the shy, serene girl who had unknowingly – to the both of them – captured his heart. While she was still just as serene as before, he could see that she wasn't quite the shy girl he'd met five years ago. She seemed much more outgoing and bubbly, and he loved that she'd broken out of her shell for him.
"Don't ever change, Mia."
"For you, Isaac, I won't."
Whoa, he thought, major déjà vu.
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A couple days after Piers and the others had arrived, Isaac was on patrol duty over by the west gate. While lazily gazing out in the distance, a speck of colour appeared on the vast, white fields. Squinting his eyes, it appeared to be two figures heading towards town: a tall person with red hair and a shorter person with reddish-brown hair. Knowing immediately who these people were, Isaac rushed down to the gatehouse and waited for them to get closer.
Despite his initial happiness in seeing their figures in the distance, Isaac felt nervous. He'd written to them once or twice, but he still had no idea how to speak to them in person. What if he was too awkward? What if they felt uncomfortable around him? He didn't want them to restrain their feelings for each other, but couldn't help thinking that they might for his sake. Fortunately, his nervous thoughts vanished at the sound of a familiar Mars adept's voice.
"Yo, gatekeeper! I hear you've got a couple of heroes in there! Why don't you send 'em out to come greet us?"
"Garet, you big idiot, there are these things called manners and common courtesy you know!"
Isaac couldn't help a wide grin from spreading across his face, so, taking a deep breath, he walked towards his hometown friends.
"It's funny you should mention the heroes," Isaac called back to them, hoping they were still unaware it was him, "because it seems that you don't really know them too well."
"Hey, who are you to question me about them?!" shouted Garet. "I happen to be Garet of Vale! The Hero of Flames! I was Isaac's right-hand man through that whole adventure!"
"Then it shouldn't surprise you," he paused, hoping to achieve some sort of dramatic effect, "that you're speaking to him right now."
Hearing those words, Garet and Jenna exchanged a surprised look before rushing up to the supposed gatekeeper only to behold Isaac himself. None of them said anything at first. The Mars adepts stared at him with their mouths open, unsure quite what they wanted to say, but obviously wanting to say something.
"Isaac? That's really you! Man, I hardly recognized you! Your hair's not so spiky anymore, and you've got a beard – a Kraden beard!" Garet finally managed to say.
"Ugh, Garet, you're one to talk!" said Jenna, turning angrily towards him. "You've got that nasty lip-carpet you like to call a moustache! If anyone should think about shaving, it's you! I actually like Isaac's beard." Her cheeks turned a bit pink following her last statement.
Isaac ignored her embarrassment and laughed, pulling the two Mars adepts into a hug they were clearly not expecting. Nevertheless, the three old friends embraced, all feelings of anxiety and animosity towards one another vanishing in the moment of their reunion.
Pulling out of their group hug, Isaac smiled to his two friends. "I'm glad you guys made it. Come on, the others are waiting for you! Once Felix and Sheba get here, everyone from the old group will be here."
With that, the three headed towards Imil, conversing all the way about many different things.
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Felix and Sheba arrived the day after Garet and Jenna, finally bringing the old group back together. With the all of them reunited, the adepts went to dinner at one of the fancier restaurants in town. Laughter and constant chatter resonated from their table as the group caught up with each other. A photographer had tried to get in when he heard that all the Warriors of Vale would be together again, but Isaac had made sure that two of his soldiers acted as security guards to keep the man out.
"So, Ivan," Sheba jeered, "how are you doing for relationships?" Everyone except Hama and Kraden grinned devilishly and turned to face the slightly stunned twenty-year-old.
"I-uh-I… I guess you could say it's going… well?"
"Ooooh," Jenna and Sheba both pestered him, "well, tell us about her!"
Ivan grumbled something and stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth to avoid speaking about it. Isaac chuckled lightly; same old group, same old habits. Sheba and Jenna had loved to pester the boys about this type of thing during their adventure, and it seemed that since Ivan and Piers were the only ones without girlfriends present they could only bug one of them now, but Piers simply wasn't as fun to annoy, thus leaving only Ivan.
Hama gave a light chuckle, "Oh, don't be like that, Ivan. Samantha is a lovely young woman; you have nothing to be embarrassed about!"
"Ugh, fine I'll tell you about her!" he said when the girls leaned towards him. "I met Sam while I was in Kalay and we just sort of became friends. She's studying psynergy stones at the university. She has blue-green hair and she's a little taller than me. After about a month or so we started dating, and then I brought her to Contigo with me to meet Hama after we'd been dating for just over a year. She didn't come with us here because she went to go visit her family in Tolbi while she's off school. Also, she isn't an adept. There are you happy?!"
Jenna and Sheba smirked at each other. "Oh, we'll be having some fun with this," said Jenna.
"Sol, please kill me now," Ivan groaned. Everyone around the table laughed at the comical scene that was taking place.
"Isaac," said Piers after everyone had finished laughing, "now that everyone is here, I'd like to hear your story, and how you ended up here of all places."
Jenna and Garet each gave the Venus adept an odd look before shrugging and waiting for him to start.
"Well, I suppose I promised to tell you guys once everyone was here. I guess I'll start on the night I left New Vale. It starts when Jenna and I…"
Everyone listened intently as Isaac recounted his lengthy story and wrapped it up with how he'd managed to become a famed military captain in Imil. Jenna suddenly smacked Garet in the back of the head, causing some of them to chuckle.
"Ow, hey, what was that for?!"
"Why can't you get a cool job like Isaac, you lazy bum?!"
"Oh, yeah, because it's my fault that New Vale is in a location where monsters don't generally attack. Geez, Jenna, I like my job. Just because Isaac's dad is my boss doesn't mean he goes easy on me! Sol, I overheated the metal once and my freshly-made sword was too flimsy, so Kyle just snapped the blade off and made me start over."
"Hey, uh, speaking of them, how are my parents, anyway?" Isaac interrupted them.
"Well, your mom's been worried sick since the day you left, but your old man made sure she didn't send a search party after you," said Garet.
"She's been getting better since you started writing to her, but it's just in her nature to be worried," added Jenna.
"Poor Dora, she always was a worrywart; such a stubborn old gal, though. I'm sure Kyle got an earful for stopping her from sending people after you," Kraden mused.
"Oh, I suppose I should've gone to visit. It would've been easy, too, since I have the Teleport Lapis," said Isaac, face dropping in guilt. He felt Mia rub her hand on his back to comfort him.
"So that's where that went," said Felix, who had been relatively quiet compared to his companions. "I was looking for it, but all I have is the Lash Pebble."
"Yeah, you left most of the psynergy relics at the sanctum, so I made sure to take what I could when I was leaving. You can have it back if you'd like; I haven't had to use it for anything, really."
"Thanks, Isaac," Felix replied, reaching across the table to take the stone from Isaac.
"I'd like to make a toast," said Piers, raising his glass; the others nodded and raised theirs as well, "to camaraderie. No matter how far apart we are, we will always have each other. Friends through thick and thin are what we are now, and what we always shall be."
"Well said," said Kraden as they all clinked glasses and sipped their drinks.
"Yo, Ivan," whispered Garet, "what's camaraderie?"
"Ugh," groaned Jenna, smacking Garet over the head again, "all brawn and no brain, some boyfriend I've got."
The friends continued talking and laughing until the night wore on. Eventually they all made their way to Isaac's to see how he'd been living for the past few years.
"Pretty nifty place you got here, buddy," said Garet. "How's it manage to stay so warm in this cold weather? More importantly, how do you stand all this cold weather?"
Isaac shrugged and smirked at the Mars adept, "I think the wood they used has some insulating properties. And we've been over this before, Garet, I can actually handle cold weather, unlike you and Jenna; not to mention the fact that I've been living here for two years, so I'm pretty accustomed to it, anyway."
"Meh, I can handle it if we're just visiting, but I don't think I could get used to living in a place like this."
The two old friends sat at the kitchen table while Mia gave the rest of them a tour of the house. It had been such a long time since Isaac had spoken to or even seen Garet, and yet he didn't know what to say now.
"So… how've you been, man?" he started. "Have you moved out yet?"
"Yeah, but my cruddy place is nowhere near as nice or big as yours. Jenna doesn't seem to mind, but I'm sure she'll be comparing your house to mine as soon as we get back. Don't tell her I told you this, but she tries to compare me to you a lot. Don't get me wrong, she's definitely over you, but she seems to think that you were more self-sufficient. Seeing how successful you've become, well, it's definitely going to end in more nagging for me."
Isaac frowned at that. Jenna had no reason to compare the two of them because, in truth, they weren't actually that similar. He and Garet had been opposites since they were kids, but that had been why they always got along so well. Comparing them didn't really make sense, because, being opposite from each other, the pros and cons would be different depending on what the chooser was looking for.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Garet. Jenna seems hard to please, but you know as well as I do that that's just how she's always been. She probably likes your place just fine."
"If you say so. Hey, while I have you without the chicks around, how are things with you and Mia. I thought it was pretty funny when you were saying you two are like the storybook couple around here."
"Heh, yeah, well, things are going really well for us. I wasn't joking when I said that before, either. Earning the 'saviour' status in Imil, and then dating the only other saviour in town will make your fame shoot way up whether you want it or not. I wasn't trying to become famous here, but I guess that's what fate had in store for me."
"Man, some guys just have all the luck, eh?"
Isaac sighed and shook his head but smiled all the while. "Same old Garet only hears what he wants to hear and ignores the rest."
Garet gave him a big toothy grin, "C'mon, man, you know me well enough to know that I have selective hearing. Besides, you may not like all the glory, but I'd be living it up if I was in your position."
"Yeah, but with all that glory comes the envy of a lot of other townsfolk. Even just seeing Mia and I walk down the street makes people huddle and whisper about us. It's a little annoying when people treat you like some sort of unapproachable entity."
Garet laughed, "Well, I guess this just proves further how opposite we are from each other. You hate the envious attention you get, but I would relish it."
Isaac grinned and tried to change the subject, "I'm glad you and Jenna came. I was afraid that I'd been too distant from you guys, but I suppose it's like Piers said: Friends through thick and thin are what we are now, and what we always shall be."
The two men stayed silent after that, listening to the footsteps of their companions upstairs. It wasn't long before the others started to descend the stairs.
"And that's pretty much it," sounded Mia's voice from the stairway.
"Wow, how'd you manage to afford a house like this, Isaac?" Sheba asked while she gazed around the room.
The house really wasn't anything to brag about, but Isaac figured that they were in awe because it was rather large for its sole resident. He shrugged before responding to her, "It wasn't all that expensive. I saved most of my money from the Golden Sun adventure, so I used a portion of that to pay for it. I just liked it because it felt homey."
"I wish I'd thought of that," muttered Ivan.
Hama chuckled in response to her brother's statement, "Ivan, you're the last one who should be worrying about money problems. In case you forgot, Hammet and Layana are the lord and lady of Kalay, so I'm sure you'll have enough money for the rest of your days."
The rest of them snickered before Kraden spoke up, "Isaac, Mia, I'd like to thank you for a lovely evening. I suppose these old bones are getting a bit weary with age, so I'll just be off to bed. Good night, everyone!"
They all said good night to the scholar as he left the house and headed off for his temporary home. Hama left shortly after Kraden, leaving the original eight adepts to sit cozily around the fireplace. Suddenly, as if planned, all seventy-two djinn appeared and started bouncing around with each other. Not that they couldn't go see each other whenever they felt like it, but it wasn't often that all of their Masters got together in person.
"So, Isaac," said Piers, "what have you and Mia got planned for tomorrow?"
"Well, I've got guard duty in the afternoon, so you guys could come with me if you want. Mia's got healing duty at the same time, but either way you could see what either of us is up to, as long as it doesn't disrupt anyone around."
"I'm down to see what got you so famous, Mr. Saviour," teased Garet.
"Sounds interesting," added Ivan.
"We'll stay at the sanctum with you, Mia," said Sheba and Jenna. "It must be pretty boring staying there all day; besides, we need some girl time."
Mia smiled to them, happy to spend some time with people her age (not that there was anything wrong with Justin or Megan).
"Well, Piers, I suppose that leaves you and I," Felix said softly, brushing a couple djinn off his lap.
"Indeed it does. Perhaps we could go exploring for a bit, maybe sail around the nearby area. I assume it's been a while since you were last on a ship."
"If you guys decide to go exploring, be careful about heading south," warned Isaac. "You four," he said indicating to Jenna, Garet, Felix, and Sheba, "were lucky to avoid it on your way up, but there's a territory war going on between the trolls and maulers right now. They've been pretty aggressive, so most travellers are warned to travel closer to the coastline if they can."
"Relax, Isaac," said Piers coolly, "you should know as well as anyone here that we're capable of handling a few monsters. Besides, we both have healing abilities, so I believe we'll be safe for a little exploration, wouldn't you agree, Felix?"
Felix simply smiled and gave a single nod to Piers. It seemed that he was still the strong, silent type even after spending the past three years with the talkative Sheba. Opposites attract, I guess. Actually, Mia and I are pretty similar, so I guess that saying only works for certain situations.
"Just be careful, you two," Mia said calmly, "I'd hate to have one of you getting dragged into the sanctum by the other. I've had enough close encounters with Isaac to last me a lifetime of near-deaths from any of you."
"Oh, oh, tell us about some of those experiences, Mia!" Sheba said eagerly. "I don't want to hear about the grossest one, though. Tell us about the most bizarre near-death experience Isaac's ever had."
"Hmm," she pondered before looking over at Isaac and smirking, "well, this one time he came into the sanctum covered in needles. He looked like a cactus!" she giggled. "When I asked him what happened, he said that he'd gone to scout the shoreline when a group of urchins attacked him. I had to get a bunch of the needles out of him before he collapsed to the ground, or he would have punctured himself to death. Turns out the needles were poisoned, so I had to make quick work of getting that out of his system. It wasn't a terrible scare, but he certainly would have died if he hadn't gotten to me within a few hours of his attack."
The adepts laughed as they tried to picture a needle-covered Isaac staggering into the sanctum while trying to stand upright. The house was like a small party with all the djinn bouncing and floating around. Eventually, though, everyone started to get sleepy, especially the four that had been travelling recently to reach Imil. After calling their djinn back to them and saying good night, the other adepts left so that only Isaac and Mia still remained.
Once they were gone, Mia instantly slumped down on the couch and breathed out heavily. "I love our friends and all, but I am exhausted!"
Isaac smiled and picked her up, carrying her to his bed. She giggled as she always did when he carried her, and he lightly placed her on the bed before she pulled him into a slow, loving kiss.
"At least we can still get a little bit of alone time," he whispered to her. She kissed him once more before they got into their nightclothes and slipped into bed.
One thing that Isaac always wondered was if the townspeople knew that Mia often stayed overnight at his house. While she didn't technically live there, it would still be frowned upon for her to be staying there since they weren't married. The onlookers had no way of knowing if she was sleeping in another bed or not, and of course she wasn't, so the couple would be subject to slanderous gossip from everyone in town if they ever found out. Still, he thought to himself, Mia didn't seem to care what the villagers thought anymore as long as she had him. Why was she always so levelheaded about these things? He could never bring himself to look past other people's opinions, yet he had always been the one to downplay any compliments. Holding Mia's warm, slender body against his, he tried to channel her logic into him. If she can look past the gossip, then so can I. I'm sure most of it's fake, anyway, so it's illogical for me to buy into all of this. He smiled and kissed the back of Mia's head before closing his eyes and relaxing, allowing his thoughts to fade.
Regarding what I said about the chapter being completely rewritten, it was originally about the battle against the lizard warriors. It was a huge elaborate battle scene with Justin almost dying towards the end and everything, but then it started turning super dark and kinda creepy… I figured that this wasn't the right story to do all of that for so I'm thinking I might even do something like an appendix, but it's only an idea right now.
Sorry about the lack of variety for chapter endings, but I'm not sure how to end these ones other than having them go to bed lol. Not as much fluff, but it's a bit harder to write fluff now that they're actually together. You would think it would be the opposite, but really it's hard to come up with stuff other than casual kisses and handholding and all that couple-y stuff. I guess my way of explaining it would be that when they weren't together, I could write about all the pent up emotions and urges that they had. If this were rated M there'd probably be quite a bit more sexual tension, but it's not M, so there isn't :P.
Also, on the note of sexual tension and M ratings, when I say all the stuff about them going to bed together, in my mind they're just spooning and going to sleep, but you may imagine what you will what they're doing. It makes sense since they're twenty-two years old cuddling in bed, but I'm keeping it T-rated. I'm also keeping in mind that they live in an era much older than the one we live in, so there's all the things like blasphemy about sex before marriage and that sort of stuff.
Oh, and as a final note, Samantha (Ivan's girlfriend) is OC. There's no indication of any sort of canon relationship with Ivan and anyone, so I made her up. I'm terrible at making OCs, however, so I had to present it in a way that a crappy description made sense, hence the rushed description by Ivan. She probably won't make an appearance unless I decide to add her in somewhere around the end or if I do make those appendices.
Anyway, please review and check out my soundcloud!
-GengaJupite