Sole Dorato: Lui Restaurarà
by Tafkae
Prologue
Warning 1: This story does not follow the games exactly. It replaces the parts I didn't like with parts I do like, for one thing.
Warning 2: Despite Warning 1, this story contains massive spoilers about the end of the second game, even in the early chapters! So if I inadvertently ruin the game for you, I'm sorry, but don't ever, ever say I didn't warn you.
One coat to guard against the harsh northern winds. A spare tunic, some extra pants. The other pair of boots, the ones designed for warmer climates than this, just in case. After all, Alex didn't know how far he might end up going.
He closed his rucksack and slung it onto his back, then glanced at the clock. Only four o'clock; right on schedule. There was still plenty of time to take a leisurely walk to the docks and cast off as soon as the sun rose. With any luck at all, he'd be miles away by the time anyone realized he'd really gone through with what he'd been saying he'd do for weeks.
Smiling, he turned to the door—and found himself face to face with his younger sister.
"You're really going, aren't you," said Mia.
"Well, I can't yet, you're in the doorway."
"I can't believe you're doing this," she snapped. "Imil needs you! You can't just leave!"
"That's not why you're upset," said Alex, placing his hands on his hips. "You're upset about the lighthouse."
"Of course I'm upset about the lighthouse! It's our family's sacred duty to keep it from being lit, not to light it! You're being stupid."
"You're being stupid. Do you know why the healing spring stopped in the first place? It's because the lighthouse was snuffed." He sighed. "We're the last of the Mercury clan, Mia, you know that. You and I are all that's left of the family. Who will be the healers when we're gone?"
"Our descendents, of course!"
"Yeah, but what if our children someday don't inherit our power? I don't want to take that chance. I won't leave my home in the dark."
He stepped toward the door, but Mia spread her arms and legs to block his path. "You're leaving your home now. You're always like this. If something doesn't go your way you just leave."
"Mia—"
"I'm not letting you go!"
"Mia, get out of the—"
"I won't let you destroy Imil!"
Alex was silent for a moment. "… I'm not destroying Imil, Mia." He laid his hand firmly on her shoulder. "I'm looking for a way to save it. Now please…"
Suddenly he picked her up by the arms and dropped her on the bed. She shrieked and struggled to find her balance, but by the time she'd managed to get back up, her brother was already in the hallway, saluting her with two fingers.
"I'll be back soon, and I'll bring along a way to talk sense into you, I promise."
And just like that, he was gone.
It hadn't even been a week since he left when Mount Aleph awoke from its thousand-year slumber. The earthquakes and storms that followed made any kind of travel impossible. It wasn't even safe to send out a search party for two weeks after the eruption. The party returned just a few short days into their search.
Mia ran all the way to the dock, almost slipping several times on the icy streets. A crowd had already formed, but she just shoved her way through it. "Excuse me… let me through! Excuse me…"
Finally, she broke through the front of the assembly and scanned the faces of the people coming ashore. As their number increased, so did her sense of worry. Alex was not with them.
The leader of the expedition spotted her and frowned. He turned to the man nearest him and spoke in a hush, thinking mistakenly that Mia couldn't hear him.
"I was hoping she wouldn't show up…"
"We shouldn't show her this," the other man whispered. "She's only twelve. She shouldn't have to see it."
"All right. Find some excuse to get her inside…"
Suddenly angry, Mia rushed forward. "What happened? What did you find?" she demanded.
The men looked at each other anxiously, then one sighed and reached into the pouch at his belt. "We found what was left of his ship on the northern shore… and nearby, this."
Mia gasped. In his hand were a scrap of cloth in the exact blue of her brother's cloak, and a few long, tangled strands of hair the same strange color as her own. She fingered her own hair unconsciously, unable to speak; her throat had closed up.
"We searched for as long as we could, but we couldn't find him," the man continued. "I'm … very sorry. We all know how close you were to him."
That wasn't true, Mia thought, they'd never been very close. They'd never really been brother and sister; they'd been two radically different people who happened to share the same parents. They had never been very close. More often than not, she couldn't even stand him and his off-the-wall idealism. In fact, she'd been steaming mad at him when he'd left. She hadn't even seen him off or said goodbye.
Maybe that was why, all of a sudden, she found herself crying like a little girl again.
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