Hey, Golden Sun fans, it's been a while! For those of you who don't know me, I am GengaJupite and this will be my second multi-chap for the GS section of the site. As it was already stated in the summary, this is the parallel story to What is Happiness? that I mentioned in the conclusion of said story. While I'm hoping this won't be written in a way that forces you to have read WiH, I still recommend it, not so much for shameless self-promoting, but because it will further enhance the experience that you as the reader will have about the timeline of events (it will also make a slight bit more sense during the 'present day' segments). To anyone who actually waited the entire year that it took me to get around to writing this, my sincerest apologies. I had a lot on my plate over this past year, and it looks like I'll be taking on a lot more with this next bunch of stories I have planned.

So, without further ado, let's get this started!

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun. All rights go to its respective owners, Camelot and Nintendo.

Blue Fire: Memoirs of a Mars Adept

Prologue: The Other Story

The glow of the watercolour sunset illuminated the craggy rock surfaces of the Goma Plateau, reflecting in such a way as to cover the area in an array of oranges and browns. A precariously perched cabin rested dangerously near to the edge upon the flat peak of a massive earth spire. Connected to the main path only by a single, wooden suspension bridge, the isolation of the residence could be felt by any who might look upon it. For the dwellers of this home, it was a rather ordinary way of living, and today could have been like any other, if only for one difference.

"Tyrell, you idiot! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Who knows how long that thing's been there?! It might have gotten my dad!"

Without giving either of his two best friends time to stop him, Tyrell hurried off towards the entrance of the cabin. Despite his constant bickering with Karis, he felt as though his actions were justified in this case. It was hard to tell exactly how long he had been away from home, but with a vortex of that size looming some tens of meters away from the place he had grown up in, there was no telling if his father, nor Matthew's father for that matter, were faring well. Granted, they were two of the most powerful adepts known to man, but even they were powerless against a force that could absorb the psynergy that sustained them.

"Dad!" he cried, nearly tearing the door off its hinges. Receiving no response, sans the sound of his companions' footsteps racing after him, Tyrell rushed inside without a second thought.

"Tyrell, wait!" Karis cried, catching him by the back of his tunic as he attempted to search the cabin.

"Why do you keep stopping me?!" he retorted angrily, whirling around so he could glare at her. "If they're collapsed and hurt, then–"

"Then what?" Karis asked sternly, her expression matching the sound of her voice perfectly. "Rushing in all frantic won't do us any good. I'm sure they're fine, so try to handle this calmly."

"Like hell!" he growled, forcing her hand from his clothing. "This is a real emergency, and I'll be damned if I let my dad die because of you! If your parents were in this situation, you wouldn't be so calm either!"

"That's enough," Matthew interjected before Karis could retaliate. As both of the arguing adepts turned their attention to him, Matthew continued, "You're both getting too worked up over this. It's too early to say if our dads got out safely yet, but I don't think that vortex in particular got them; otherwise, we'd be feeling its effects right now. In any case, I'll search upstairs and you guys cover the this floor, okay?"

Slowing his heavy breathing, Tyrell realized that Matthew was right, as was usual of their spiky-haired leader. Despite the vortex' relatively large size, the flame user didn't feel fatigued to any significant extent, which meant that it wasn't close enough for its effects to take hold. That being said, they were unable to tell whether the vortex was currently growing or dissipating, so they were potentially still on a time constraint.

Turning away from Karis, Tyrell grunted his acknowledgement of Matthew's orders and stormed down the hall to where the office and spare room were, leaving the others to their respective searches.

It was immediately apparent that neither his father nor Isaac were in either of these rooms, and judging from the sound of Matthew's steady footsteps overhead and Karis' lack of indication she'd found something, it would be safest to assume that both men had escaped to safety or were simply out somewhere else at the moment.

After scouring the spare room for anything they may have left behind, Tyrell turned his attention toward the office, leaving the white sheets of the spare room in shambles about the floor. Creaking open the door to where his and Matthew's fathers kept their notes on the activities of active Mt. Aleph, the Mars adept quickly went about flipping through some of the many open books and loose papers scattered about the room. After an unsuccessful search for anything useful in the current situation, Tyrell stood to leave, only to have something catch his eye.

How he had failed to notice the leather-bound book sitting on the main desk in the room was beyond him. Stepping over to it, he carefully picked it up and watched as a note fell out. Grabbing it before it could flutter to the ground, the young man wasted no time in darting his eyes across the parchment.

Tyrell and Matthew,

If we are not here when you find this, then please take with you only what you must and go to Kalay. By now, Ivan and Jenna will have heard from us, so there will be no need to explain to them why you haven't returned home. As much as we would like to tell you kids what's going on, that isn't information we can disclose for the time being. For now, hold onto the Roc's Feather and find a place to stay in Kalay.

Isaac and Garet

P.S. Tyrell, the book you are currently holding is for you. Don't read it until you've found a place to stay. –Dad

Was that it? No clue as to where they were or why they had to leave? Tyrell flipped the small piece of parchment over a few times as if it might reveal some kind of hidden message, but when nothing showed itself, he sighed and turned to leave the office while keeping a tight grip on the book he'd been entrusted with.

After explaining to the others what he had found and showing them the note, the three of them gathered what they could from the Lookout Cabin and hurriedly fled from the site. If they were lucky, they would be able to make it to the bottom of the mountain trail before nightfall, and from there the road to Kalay was relatively flat and easily traversable, regardless of how little light they would have. Since the note did not say they were in any immediate danger, nor that they would have to warn the citizens at Patcher's Place, the three adepts bypassed the small mountain community and heeded the adults' instructions to the dot.

As expected, the skies were dark when they passed through the gates of Kalay, and each of them were glad to see paved paths and the residential buildings illuminated by the torchlight along the roads.

"Your mom's place is closest to here, right?" Tyrell directed the question to Matthew as they paced down one of the paved brick roads.

"Yeah," he replied quietly, readjusting one of the straps slung over his shoulder. "I haven't seen her in a few years, though. This might be…a little weird."

"You'll be fine," Karis reassured him. "It's not like any of us are strangers, and besides, that note said that she already heard about what's going on, so there shouldn't be any problems."

Matthew shrugged, and the three friends stopped at a fork in the road where their paths would split.

"Sorry, Tyrell," Matthew apologized, a slightly guilty expression on his face, "I'd offer to let you stay at my place, but…well, you know that it's really only good for accommodating two people. I mean, it was fine when we were kids, but–"

"I know, it's fine," Tyrell waved off the apology, finding it unnecessary. "I still have enough gold to last me at least a month at the inn, so I'll be okay for now. Really, don't feel bad about it."

With only a simple goodbye, Tyrell and Karis watched Matthew head off for Jenna's household before the two of them continued down the path towards their destinations. Every so often, Karis would cast Tyrell furtive glances, quickly looking away whenever he so much as sniffed. While he pretended not to notice, her constant looks were beginning to irritate him. Giving no warning, he suddenly turned towards her before she had a chance to look the other way.

"Eep!" she squealed, jumping slightly at his sudden movement. "D-Don't do that! You scared me half to death!"

"Oh, excuse me," Tyrell retorted sarcastically, returning his gaze to the path before them. "I didn't realize there was a double standard on staring at people."

Karis grumbled something incomprehensible, and Tyrell flicked his eyes in her direction to see her cheeks flushed slightly, though he couldn't be sure if she was embarrassed from freaking out or getting caught looking at him.

After what felt like hours of awkward silence, Tyrell sighed and turned to Karis. "So, are you gonna tell me why you were staring at me or are we just going to keep walking with all this awkwardness?"

"…you…inn…" Karis mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Are…stay…"

"Uh…come again?"

"Ugh, I said 'are you really going to stay at an inn?!'"

This time, it was Tyrell's turn to jump at her sudden outburst, and while he didn't cry out as she had, his expression was certainly animated enough to match the scream she had earlier elicited. When he found that his heart rate had returned to normal, the Mars adept was able to take a breath and respond to her question.

"Probably. It's not like I have a family to stay with like you and Matthew do. Why? What's it to you?"

Wearing an unsatisfied look on her face, Karis puffed up one of her cheeks. As hard as he tried, Tyrell couldn't tell what she was thinking, and it was times like these that he wished he had Ivan's mind-reading powers or Sveta's Spirit Sense. Unfortunately, there was no way he would ever acquire such abilities naturally, so he would have to continue wondering about the minds of women for the rest of his life, granted it wasn't as though understanding people of any gender had proven very easy for him.

"Well, I…" Karis started slowly, shaking her head as she tried to reform whatever it was she was trying to say. "It's just that…no… I was thinking… Um…"

"Sometime tonight would be nice."

"You needed to read that book, right?" she suddenly blurted, pointing to the top of the book peeking out of one of Tyrell's bags.

Scratching his head in the utmost confusion, Tyrell pulled the book out of his bag as if it might help him understand why she had made such a random statement; it didn't. "Uh, yeah? I'm supposed to start it once I get settled someplace. What does me staying at an inn have anything to do with it?"

Karis fidgeted with her fingers as she twirled them in little circles in front of her. Tyrell watched as she unconsciously created tiny sparks between her fingertips, and continued to be confused by her…odd facial expression. She seemed to be avoiding looking at him, though he couldn't understand why. Then again, if there was a reason for her acting so weird, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Well, i-inns don't have very good lighting," she stuttered in a failed attempt to sound matter-of-fact, continuing to keep her gaze away from him. "It'll be hard to read if y-you're just using an oil lamplight."

"I'm a Mars adept. If I have to, I'll make my own light source."

"Y-You could, but then you'll risk burning the pages. That's p-probably the only copy of that book, so if you burn it–"

"Karis, just spit it out already. Look, both of us are tired, so the sooner you say what you need to, the quicker we can head off and get to bed."

"Ifyouwantyoucanstayatmyhousebutit'snotlikeIwantyoutooranythingokay?"

An awkward silence ensued as the two of them stopped walking. Karis had her eyes tightly shut and her body tensed, bracing herself for some kind of reaction, as if she thought he might laugh at her for what she'd just said. In truth, Tyrell was taking a moment to determine whether or not he'd actually understood what she said. He was fairly certain he'd caught everything, but his reason for being unsure was that she was acting so strangely about it. There was no reason for her to be embarrassed; then again, was this how she usually acted when embarrassed?

Chuckling slightly and gently patting her head, he playfully raised an eyebrow as she opened her eyes and relaxed her muscles. "Why are you acting so weird about this? Were you embarrassed to invite me to stay at your place?"

"N-No! I just don't usually invite guys over…"

"It wouldn't be the first time I've stayed over before."

"We aren't kids anymore, Tyrell. Believe it or not, it's kind of embarrassing for people our age to invite members of the opposite sex to stay over at their house."

"Then, should I just thank you for the offer but stay at the inn anyway? I mean, if you're embarrassed by it, then I can just save you the trouble."

"Grah! You're so frustrating, you know that?!"

Without giving him a chance to respond, the Jupiter adept firmly grasped his wrist and dragged him along the path, passing the road to the inn without hesitation. Unable to fully wrap his head around her thought processes, Tyrell simply laughed and allowed her to pull him along to her home.

Upon reaching the small manor, Karis, in her angered state, threw the front doors open with a fair amount of force. Standing before them was Ivan, looking as though he was about to head off to bed. A pair of gold-rimmed spectacles sat upon the man's nose, slightly magnifying his half-opened eyes. His face was slightly unshaven, though not unkempt, and the older adept blinked a few times before any sort of greeting was made.

"Ah, Karis, you're back," he said plainly, as if she had simply stepped out to run an errand as opposed to being gone for months on end.

However, in her current state of mind, she dismissed her father's lack of a greeting so she could drag Tyrell all the way into the main hall. "Yes, I'm home. And this lug is going to be staying with us because he doesn't have anywhere else to go."

Upon hearing such a statement, Ivan's eyes opened all the way, and he pushed his glasses up in a devious manner. In all the years he had been working on serious projects, Ivan's slight mischievous streak had never left him. Even his first project on harnessing the power of electricity in machines had been used as a practical joke upon his wife Samantha, for which he had paid for appropriately; however, thanks to this unorthodox test, their home was one of few that contained electrically powered light.

"Is he now?" Ivan chortled, slowly crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well, I certainly have no problem with it, but we'll have to let your mother know." Turning his head over his shoulder to call up the stairs, Ivan kept his eyes focused on his daughter and Tyrell. "Oh, Saaaam! Karis is back, and she brought home a boy that she insists will be living with us from now on!"

"WHAT?!" Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Karis with slightly bluer hair came rushing down the stairs in naught but a bathrobe. Before they knew what was happening, both Tyrell and Karis were being held up by the collars of their shirts, feet dangling while the surprisingly strong, non-adept woman glared at them. However, after taking a moment to realize who they were, she softened her gaze and put them back down.

"Hi, Mom," Karis chuckled sheepishly.

"Welcome home, sweetie," Sam responded, sharply turning toward her husband and smacking him on the head. "Ivan, I'm getting real tired of your crap."

Ivan simply chuckled and stuck out his tongue, rubbing the top of his head where Sam had hit him. "Heh, you've been saying that for the past eighteen years, but I haven't seen any divorce papers. You must love me too much."

"Nope, I'm in it for the money. I hope you die soon so that I get to keep everything."

"Oh, don't be that way. I'll leave it all to my other wife if you keep acting like this."

Playfully bantering all the way back upstairs, Karis and Tyrell were soon left alone, rather unsure of how to feel react after witnessing such an unusual exchange of words. It was quiet enough that the hum of electric lights throughout the manor could be heard, and it wasn't until Karis cleared her throat that any other sound was made.

"G-Gods, they are such teenagers, it's embarrassing!"

Tyrell blinked at her a couple of times before letting out a breathy chuckle over her ironic statement. Knowing exactly how Karis and her parents acted, he would never have to question where she got her genes.

"The guest room is this way, right?" Tyrell asked, pointing down one of the halls.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Karis said as she began leading the way. Once there, she bid him goodnight and left him to unpack the few belongings he'd managed to bring.

With everything unpacked, Tyrell changed into a pair of sleeping shorts and threw his shirt off. He had no intention of going to sleep right away, but it was more convenient to be ready for it in case he passed out unexpectedly.

Crawling under the covers, the muscular sixteen-year-old leaned against the headboard and clicked on the lamp beside his bed. While Karis' argument that the inn's oil lamps were too dim for reading was a pathetic excuse for why he should stay at her manor, he certainly appreciated the brightness of electricity, though the concept of how it worked never ceased to confound him.

Reaching to the leather-bound book sitting on the desk beside him, Tyrell flipped open the cover to read the title of the book his father had left for him.

"Blue Fire: Memoirs of a Mars Adept," he read aloud, scratching his head in a mixture of interest and confusion. "Did Dad want to leave me with…an autobiography?"

"Ah, so you have it with you," a voice said from the doorway, startling Tyrell as he was about to turn the page. Looking up, he saw Ivan standing there with his face clean-shaven and glasses hanging by a chain around his neck. "It's a good read, especially since I never would have taken Garet for a writer."

"You've read this?" Tyrell asked, looking back down at the neat curvature on the cover page.

"Sure, a few months back when he first finished it," Ivan said nonchalantly, leaning against the doorframe in a more comfortable position. "For the most part, I already knew about everything from either being there or hearing about it directly from him. Well, I guess I read his mind a couple times, too, but usually it was accidental, as I'm sure you know that my abilities have heightened to the point where I almost automatically read people's thoughts without trying to."

Flipping through the pages and seeing that each one was filled with words, diagrams, and dated photographs from when the camera was first invented, Tyrell returned to the cover page and looked back up at Ivan. "Why did he leave this with me? If he wanted to tell me about his life, couldn't he have just done it in person?"

Ivan simply shook his head and closed his eyes, adopting a more serious expression on his face. "I'm sure he would if he could, but it's not quite as simple as that. You were likely too young to remember this, but I was surprised when Isaac told you, Matthew, and Karis about his story following our adventure. You see, after we returned, both he and your father went through more hardship than most people experience in their entire lives, and it took them a long time to recover. Garet was always better at hiding it, but I think that's why it might have eaten away at him for a longer amount of time."

"You mean–"

"I believe he left you with that because he wants you to know about him, but he couldn't find the strength to tell you directly. There are quite a few things in there; things about Garet's past, the good times, the bad times, and even things about your mother."

Tyrell's eyes widened at the last statement. His mother, a woman he had never met, nor had ever asked about. He wasn't even sure if it was a real memory, but Tyrell seemed to recall someone saying it was a touchy subject to bring up around his father, so he had simply never questioned it. However, that did not mean that the young man was not curious about the woman who had given birth to him. In fact, he often wondered who she was, where she was, and why his father was not with her. These were just a few of the questions he had but knew he could not ask about. Would this book really answer everything he wanted to know?

"Yes, yes it will," Ivan said, apparently having read Tyrell's mind inadvertently, "though I can't promise that everything in that book is positive; in fact, the tragic events far outweigh the good, even if they are fewer in number. I know for sure that there is at least one lesson that Garet wants you to take from reading that book."

"Oh, what's that?" Tyrell asked, sticking his fingers under the cover page as he prepared to turn it.

Standing up straight and smiling, Ivan spoke once more before closing the door and heading off to bed, leaving Tyrell to read in privacy.

"You'll have to read it and find out for yourself."

Ah, a fresh start to a new-ish premise on a familiar story. For anyone who read WiH: Yes, this will be presented in much the same manner that its parent story was, with the story having small sections from the 'present'. In this story, however, the main people involved are Tyrell and Ivan, with the others (Karis, Matthew, Sam, potentially Jenna) possibly having small roles, as his reading won't all be completed in one sitting, as opposed to how Isaac's story was told all in one go.

For any newcomers who did not read WiH, I'll try to cover any confusing bits here, but feel free to ask questions in your reviews and I'll message you back about them, though if it will be covered in the story, then I will say as much.

1: Samantha is an OC and Ivan's wife/Karis' mother. As stated, she is a non-adept who looks almost exactly like an older Karis except that her hair is slightly more blue-green than green. Since I may glaze over this later without explaining it, she's also a professor on psynergy stones at the University of Kalay.

2: While this prologue gives the impression of being a story about Tyrell, do not be fooled, as it is very much not, thus the reason it is a prologue as opposed to the first actual chapter. Throughout the story, Tyrell and Ivan will have small conversations that "interrupt" the story, but this is simply because the actual story itself has already happened in a sense. Trust me, that explanation sounds a lot more confusing than it actually is.

3: Ivan, Sam, and Karis live in a manor because Ivan is the adopted son of the ruler of Kalay, a city that basically blew up to the size of a kingdom. Aside from being the son of a merchant king or whatever Hammet would be considered, Ivan is also an engineer/inventor, hence the canonical invention of the Soarwing and as this story's inventor of harnessing electricity (he's like the Ben Franklin of Weyard). TL;DR, Ivan's adoptive family is rich, he makes a lot of money, his wife makes a lot of money.

4: I'm a Sparkshipper. There won't be any explicit Sparkshipping (nor any DD ships since this is a story about the original eight), but it may come up in those "interruptions."

5: Again, though it shouldn't be necessary, I really do recommend reading WiH, as it will really help your understanding of the story. In fact, you could even do it after this story is complete, since neither is a sequel to the other (except for the 'present day' segments, but those aren't nearly as important). Hopefully I'm not coming off as a shameless advertisement for myself, but I really think it'll help your understanding.

I think that should cover any questions you might have, but as I said before, ask me if you're unsure about anything and I'll get it cleared up. And for all the WiH readers who know what ultimately happens with Garet and who Tyrell's mother is and whatever else, don't go spouting spoilers in your reviews. It may be tempting, but if you do, I'll just end up removing your review so that it doesn't ruin it for everyone else.

Well, that about does it for this. Thanks for checking it out and I hope you'll stick around! Don't forget to leave a review!

-GengaJupite

P.S. – GoldenSunGuy17, I swear to Sol if you start reading this story and don't update The Guardians sometime soon, I will literally slap you through the Internet. No joke. I'm thankful that you're helping me rebuild Norende in Bravely Default but you seriously need to update that shit.

P.P.S. – Droory will second this notion.

P.P.P.S – But seriously, do it.

P.P.P.P.S – Do it nao. Baaakaaa~