Sorry this took so long. I had to come up with some new ideas and school. Work interrupted with everything so it might be a little while before I post they third chapter. Well now on with the show! Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun or any of the characters (except for the younger group of adepts)

Chapter 2: Friends to the end

Previously: "Guess it's the end for me." Matthew said, beginning to close his eyes. However, as he did, he could somehow feel 3 figures floating around him. He looked at them and saw who they were: the Three Fates.

"Your time isn't over yet hero. You still have a grand destiny to fulfill." spoke one of the fates.

"Grand destiny? Like what?" asked Matthew.

"You will know in time. Now, return to the mortal world at once." spoke another fate. At their word, Matthew was engulfed by light once again.

Meanwhile, back near the lens, the group had finished fleeing to a safer location. Tyrell has tossed Matthew onto his back and got him out as well. Tyrell didn't want to believe in his friend's possible death, but if it was true, he at least wanted something to bury.

After Tyrell had put Matthew's body down following the blast fired by the lens, Karis dropped to the ground over Matthew's body, tears threatening to fall.

"Matthew…please…wake up. You can't be gone." she said quietly, only her own natural personality keeping her emotions in check. Tyrell fell next to her, putting an arm over her shoulders.

"Karis…he's gone. I find it hard to accept too, but it's reality unfortunately." muttered Tyrell. Karis closed her eyes, trying to keep her tears from falling as she put her hands to her eyes.

The rest of the group showed their sadness as well. Sveta was nearly crying as well, while Eoleo had a strained look like he should have done more to help. Amiti was trying to give Sveta some comfort, while Himi, with a gloomy look on her face, tried to the same with Eoleo. Kraden even lamented how he believed Isaac's son to die under his watch. Rief was barely holding tears back himself.

Then, right as Tyrell was about to suggest they get moving again, they all briefly saw Matthew's body glow golden. Karis slowly put her arms down, looking at Matthew's body in awe. She put a hand on Matthew's chest, and gasped when she saw it move up and down slightly.

Matthew then coughed, feeling air finally enter his lungs again. With his eyes still getting used to the light, he could still make out the green-haired girl just above him. A weak grin graced his face.

"Hey Karis….sorry for the wait."

Right at that, Karis jumped onto Matthew, giving him a fierce hug while also knocking the air out of him temporarily.

"Ouch….Karis….too tight." Matthew choked out.

"Well, you deserved that for making me worry." mumbled Karis. However, right as she said that, they both sat up a bit and Karis gave him a more normal hug.

"Welcome back." she smiled at him.

Returning the hug, Matthew brought them both to their feet, where the rest of the group ran over and starting celebrating Matthew's miraculous return. Although, they all wondered how he even got back in the first place.

"Well, these three figures showed up, and they apparently brought me back." he explained.

"Sounds pretty lucky for you then that they showed such respect. Not many get a free pass from dying." said Amiti.

"True enough." agreed Matthew.

"So guys, think we can head back now? I think the thin air is making me light-headed." said Tyrell, feeling a little dizzy after all that's happened.

"You sure it's not just your lack of brains?" laughed Eoleo, which got everyone else laughing while Tyrell chased Eoleo down the mountain.

After the adventure with the Apollo Lens, the group walked back down the mountain. As they walked back, they took in the sights of the local towns and cities, seeing them recover from the horrors of the Grave Eclipse. Long story short, they got back to Eoleo's ship, while they decided that it was time to get everyone home. First would be letting Amiti off at Ayuthay.

"Thanks my friends. I swear that I will never forget these adventures we shared." said Amiti as he left them to go to the palace.

"Just make sure you go a good job once your dad hands the throne over." laughed Tyrell.

"Will do." smiled Amiti.

After Amiti was home, it was time to let Himi off at Yamata. With that decided, the group sailed through the trip to the island city.

"Thank you for the time we spent together." Himi said politely, bowing as she said it.

"It was no problem, although I imagine we've made your mother and father extremely worried by now. You should let them know you're okay." chuckled Kraden.

"Yes sir." Himi smiled as she left the group to rejoin her family.

"Well, now what?" asked Tyrell.

"We should head back to Belinsk. Sveta needs to go back there, and Tyrell, Karis, and I can head back home from there." explained Matthew.

"Sounds like a plan." said Eoleo as he steered the ship in the right direction to Belinsk.

After another day or two of sailing, the group arrived back in Belinsk at long last.

"Well, it was fun kid." said Eoleo, giving Matthew a firm handshake.

"Just make sure you get back to Champa in one piece." Matthew chuckled at him.

"Hah, I'm made of tougher stuff than that." laughed Eoleo as he went back aboard and began to stir his ship back out to sea, heading back to his home of Champa.

"I'm going to go ahead and get things settled in the castle." said Sveta as she began to run off. "Just come to the castle whenever you'd like. I'm sure you'd like to see more of Belinsk." she smiled.

"Yeah, we didn't get to see much before the Eclipse." said Tyrell. With that, Sveta ran off to the castle, as she would soon have a throne to take.

"So what are we going to do Kraden?" asked Rief.

"Well, where would you like to go? I'd say you should decide where we should explore next." Kraden chuckled at him. Rief's eyes lit up at the possibility.

"Yes sir!" he said.

"Why don't you three do ahead and explore? We'll catch up later." smiled Kraden.

"Will do." said Tyrell.

After their talk, the three of them began to walk around the rejuvenated town, slowly recovering from what happened. As they did, Tyrell happened to run into a couple of young boys.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" said Tyrell.

"Sorry sir! We're just looking for some people." said one of the boys.

"Who?" asked Karis.

"We heard that the kids of the Warriors of Vale were here, so we stopped here some time ago, before having to go through that dark cloud that appeared." said one boy. The trio looked at each other at what the boy said.

"If you're looking for the kids of the Warriors of Vale, you're looking at them." said Matthew.

"For real?!" yelled both of the boys. Matthew could swear that he heard ringing in his ears after their little outburst.

"Yeah yeah, you found us. What do you want?" Tyrell asked them a bit sternly.

"Tyrell, don't be rude." chided Karis.

"Will you please train us?!" blurted out the older child.

"What?" asked Matthew, a bit surprised to hear that.

"We both lost our parents during the Eclipse, and they never got to teach us how to use our powers." the older boy explained further.

After hearing that, Matthew approached them. "So what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Thomas, and this is my friend Josh. We're both Venus adepts." explained Thomas.

"Thomas and Josh? I see." pondered Matthew. He felt sympathetic to the young boys, having to go through losing their parents. "All right, I'll talk it over with my dad. You can come with us back home to talk to my dad." he smiled.

"Really? All right Josh, we'll get to see Isaac!" cheered Thomas, and Josh soon joined in on it.

"Are you sure that's alright Matthew? Just taking some random kids off the street?" asked Tyrell.

"They just want to learn how to use their powers so they could live on their own. I see no problem with some instruction." said Matthew.

"Yeah Tyrell. You should think those kinds of things through more." said Karis.

"Meh." replied Tyrell.

Eventually, Matthew introduced the young boys to Sveta and the others, who were happy to meet the energetic boys. Soon enough, night had fallen, and it was time for bed. Everyone got rooms at the castle, and everyone was soon sleeping soundly.

However, Matthew wasn't as sure. As a precaution, he always had his earth psynergy working so he could detect any movement on the ground. A little bit into the night, Matthew felt a weird presence. It soon jarred him from his sleep.

"A dark presence, but what could it be?" he wondered. Keeping an eye on the creatures' movements, Matthew gasped as he realized where it seemed to be heading.

"Oh no Karis!"