I'm not quite sure where I was going with this

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or its characters.

Piers is the last one to complete your group. With a grim smile, he joins the three of you, entrusting his own aspirations in your hands. To make sure that he does not regret his choice, you lead everyone in an organized way to return Piers his black orb. When you hand over the orb in your gloved hand, he takes it, the tension resting between his eyebrows relaxing a bit. It goes unspoken, but it wins him over.

Battling through the monsters that had invaded Piers's ship in his absence, everyone locks eyes with each other. It seems silly, but everything that your group has done for each of its members binds you to each other.

Later, in the safety of the freshly cleaned cabin, you all make a pact, promising never to betray or leave each other. The loyalties you've sworn are to each other-

And not to Isaac and his group.

Which is probably why Isaac eyes you with suspicion whenever you walk into the room.

When you fight battles, he relies more on his own comrades to protect his blind sides than on any of yours, including Jenna. Whatever trust he may have had in you two while the two of you were children is gone now.

The pact that Sheba, Jenna, Piers, and you have made is still fresh in your mind, which is why you don't blame Isaac whenever he shifts away from you standing over his shoulder. You can feel it from his demeanor. He's scared of you, who has fought alongside the two fierce warriors of the Mars Clan, the very people who were his enemies. He's scared of Piers, the mysterious long-living Lemurian descended from an ancient people. He's scared of Sheba, who fell from the sky with no memory of her origins.

Jenna might just be the only one he doesn't fear. Her distrust of Saturos and Menardi ran deep all during the time she spent with them. She identifies with Isaac, and his fears, best.

At times, you yourself wonder if you fear Isaac as much as he fears you.

Garet holds up his hand, a silly grin on his face.

"Hold on, you guys. Now that Mia's with us, don't you think we need something to celebrate this moment?" he asks, laughing as he gives Mia a wink. The water adept blushes and looks down.

Isaac catches Garet's eye and raises an eyebrow at him.

"I know you're thinking 'What makes this any different from when Ivan joined', but come on! Look!" Garet throws an arm around Isaac, pointing at Mia. "She's a girl!"

With an audible sigh, Isaac smacks his own forehead, though a smile spreads across his features.

"I read in a book somewhere that the first explorers of Gondowan made a compact to stay loyal to each other? We are technically exploring places we've never gone before, so why not do that?" Ivan offers.

"Ivan, you're such a nerd," Garet replies.

"I am not!"

"I think that's a good idea," Mia says, smiling at the two arguing boys. "Wouldn't you agree, Isaac?"

The Venus adept nods his consent and holds out a gloved hand.

Everyone else lays their hand on his, and they take a moment to stare at the hands layered on each other. There's Isaac's leathery gloved hand, which looks similar to Garet's, only smaller. Ivan's own gloves are a lighter brown, and they look expensive compared to Garet's worn out ones. And then Mia's hand looks out of place, what with it being the only blue one. It seems to be an amazing sight to them, symbolic of the new partnership they were about to form.

Isaac looks down with determined blue eyes, a promise in them to lead the group safely and to the best of his abilities.

His determination encourages the others to speak their part, with Garet being the first to loudly proclaim his undying love and loyalty to the group.

Ivan follows next, with an annoyed expression on his face as he says his part more seriously than Garet had. Mia is last, her voice clear and strong as she swears on her clan that she would be loyal always.

It was the four of them who had sworn to each other.

Not the eight of them.

I am still not quite sure.