Meep. Sorry for my readers of my other fics. I'll be getting back to them soon.
Just setting the scene and all that so not much is going to be happening yet.
Yeah, since I'm lazy, I'm making the school sort of run like a Scottish one. Form is a short registration class that you go to so that you know the stuff that's happening around the school. (shrugs) Don't know if that makes any sense so if it doesn't, tell me and I'll try to change the wording.
I just don't think these guys are in character...
Spoilers for the ending of Golden Sun 2 from the get go.
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The Path from the Past
By Dark Ice Dragon
Just Another Day
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"A three-headed dragon? That's your miracle?""So you would have us fight for our future? Fine, then fight we shall!"
"What's he thinking? We already beat a two-headed dragon. How much tougher can this be?"
"I don't care how many heads it has. Nothing's going to stop us now!"
"Let's do it! For Prox! For the future of Weyard!"
A flash. The scene changes.
"Isaac! I...I know that guy! That's your dad!"
"Then...does that mean...the other two are..."
Two voices moan in pain.
"Mum...Dad..."
"I'll heal Jenna's parents! Quickly, Mia! Tend to Isaac's father!"
"If only...If only I'd realised sooner..."
Isaac's eyes flew open and he caught himself before he threw himself off of the bed. He took several gasping breaths as he waited for his racing heart to calm, running a hand through his unruly hair at the same time.
Another one.
Another damn dream.
How many was that now? Three in the past month? What did they mean? Nothing, of course, the rational part of his brain said. Dreams were dreams, that was all. They weren't real. Just figments of his imagination.
Tiredly, Isaac rolled over in his bed. That didn't stop the images of his dream surfacing from the depths of his mind. A floating mass of rock; a giant eye; a three-headed dragon; his father dying...
He screwed his eyes shut, trying to block the memory. 'I'm not going to think about it. It was only a dream. That never happened.' Isaac placed his fist over his heart, feeling it's semi-regular beat; it gave him something else to concentrate on. But it felt so real. The knowledge that the person was his father and that he was dying because of him- Isaac's eyes snapped open and his breathing momentarily stopped. Where did that thought come from? There was nothing in his dream to show that anything like that had happened. He didn't even know if those two 'scenes' were connected.
Isaac sighed and then rolled over again, blinking at the moonlight that was spilling in from his window. Feeling a little annoyed, he got up from his bed and closed the curtains properly. Going back to his bed, he flopped onto it and didn't bother to get under the covers again. He felt slighty hot because of his tossing and turning as well as the sweat that had beaded on his forehead.
His mind drifted back to the dreams. None of them had been the same. Not yet anyway. He could barely remember what happened in the first one; sometimes though, he wouldn't even be thinking about it and he would remember, just for those few seconds. The second dream had something to do with seeing a lighthouse. And as for the third...what the hell was Prox?
Oh, forget it.
Isaac closed his eyes and just hoped that he wouldn't have another strange dream -he still had school in the morning.
"Jeez Isaac, you don't look so good."
Isaac put a hand over of his mouth as he yawned. "Had a weird dream," he explained after he finished.
Garet raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Another one?" He shrugged his shoulder, making sure that his school-bag didn't slip off it. Isaac had told him the other times he'd had the strange dreams but he'd never named any specifics. One reason was because he couldn't really remember them anyway and another was that if he told Garet, if he put the images into words, he'd remember the feelings that came with them and he just couldn't deal with that.
Isaac nodded. "I was able to sleep after that but," he shrugged, "it wasn't exactly restful."
Garet nudged his friend playfully, smiling. "You think you'll get out of english since 'you suffered from intense fatigue' because of lack of sleep?"
For an answer, Isaac "stumbled" into Garet, making the taller boy stagger back a few steps.
"You know that I'm joking," Garet said while laughing. "She absolutely adores you," he cooed.
"Only because I'm somehow good at it," Isaac retorted. Isaac absolutely hated how his english teacher always chose him to answer the questions because no one else wanted to. And there was barely a time when someone volunteered any answers.
"Yeah, yeah, heard it all before," Garet said while smirking and rolling his eyes. "Well, anyway, we've got school in a few minutes if you haven't noticed. C'mon sleepyhead." He then snagged one of Isaac's arms and proceeded to half-drag him along the road.
"Hey, leggo!" Isaac protested, desperately trying to keep his balance while getting dragged backwards.
"And leave Felix and Jenna waiting? Then we'll all be late. It's not my fault you slept in," Garet called over his shoulder.
"Right. Like I'm supposed to be able to control my dreams!"
Felix and Jenna were leaning on the outside wall of their house, waiting for their friends to appear.
"What's wrong with you?" Jenna asked when she saw her brother pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Hmm? It's nothing, just a headache," Felix said, trying to downplay what he was feeling. "I woke up with it. Why haven't you already gone to school with your friends?"
Jenna scowled at him. "Don't change the subject."
"I already said that it was nothing," Felix repeated, moving his hand away from his face.
The redhead crossed her arms huffily. "You'd say that if you'd been shot."
Felix looked at his sister from the corner of his eyes. "You know why?"
"So that I wouldn't worry," Jenna said, suddenly deflated. "But I'm older now! You don't have to 'protect' me from anything." She looked away. "And...when you don't tell me something, it worries me even more." Jenna heard her brother walk up to her and then he hugged her; she turned and threw her arms around him as well.
Felix sighed into Jenna's hair. "I can't help it. I'm your older brother and I'm protective over you. I don't ever want you to worry over things."
Jenna's reply was muffled against Felix's chest. "I know, but you've got to stop treating me like a little kid all the time. I'm not fourteen anymore," she said quietly.
"It's just a habit now. I know that I've said that I won't do it again before but I've been doing this for so long..."
"Hey Isaac, get your mobile out," they heard Garet say in a stage whisper. "It's one of those rare sibling caring for each other things!"
Jenna turned her head and stuck her tongue out at the two boys. "You're just jealous that you're surrounded by siblings who tease you all the time."
"They do n-" Garet paused and thought over what he was about to say. "Okay, maybe they do."
Isaac just smiled at his friend's familiar antics (the two had started their regular bickering). With them around him it was a lot easier to not think about the strange dreams and to concentrate on them.
"You know, this is a very interesting discussion," Felix drawled, "but we have something called school." He waited for their reaction, a small smile on his lips.
Jenna and Garet froze, stopping their miniature argument midway through. "Why didn't you -couldn't you have just said-" Jenna spluttered after looking at her watch. "Felix! We're gonna be late!" She grabbed her brother's arm and started to tug him towards the direction of their school.
The four teenagers jerked, eyes widening at the echoing rings of the school bell.
"We're late!" Jenna let go of her brother's arm and started to half jog towards the school.
Felix looked at his two friends, an amused glint in his eyes. "Race ya," he challenged them.
Isaac and Garet grinned back in return. "You're on." The three were instantly sprinting, none of them clearly in the lead and soon overtook Jenna, much to her chagrin.
"I still don't know how you did it," Garet grumbled to Isaac. "How were you able to convince me to take history, of all things?" The two were lined up along with their classmates outside the history classroom.
Isaac shrugged humourously. "You didn't know what else to take so I suggested history."
"Why did I listen?" Garet moaned, bringing his hands up to cover his face. "I can barely remember the things from my other classes and they're nowhere as detailed as history." He sighed dramatically. "'S all your fault."
Isaac snorted. "You didn't have to listen to me if you didn't want to take it." The argument was a well worn one and had been repeated nearly every day (or every day that the two had history). There was no anger in Garet's words and everyone knew he was joking.
"Okay, you can come in now," a voice called out from within the classroom.
While the class filtered in, Isaac asked Garet, "So, did you get in trouble?"
"What? In form? Nah, it's not like I'm normally late. You?"
"Same."
Their teacher was waiting for the class to be seated and settled before starting the lesson. He stood at the front of the class, behind his desk with a smile, nodding to the people who said hello or good morning to him.
As always, Isaac and Garet chose to sit next to each other. One thing that they agreed on was the mild eccentricity of their teacher. For one thing, something that they supposed wasn't that bad, was how passionate he became when he talked about history. Another was how he wanted everyone to call him by his first name: Kraden. He didn't care if the person was a student, visitor or teacher. Maybe he wanted to appear friendlier or he just didn't like being called 'Mister'. Whatever the reason, everyone called him Kraden.
"Today class, I'm going to teach you about alchemy, " Kraden started, once the class had quietened down. Isaac perked up at this. It was something that he had been interested when he was younger but after a while, he had stopped reading about it. There was also the feeling of familiarity that Isaac felt with the word. He'd never thought how strange that actually was. "Back when our ancestors lived in small villages with houses of thatched roofs, wooden walls and no electricity they believed in -and studied- alchemy.
"Now, alchemy was mostly rooted in science. The ones who studied alchemy were either called alchemists or sages. The reason why quite a lot of them were studying was because of something called the Stone of Sages -also called the Wisdom Stone by others. It was said to grant whoever used it eternal life and the ability to turn lead into gold.
"Of course, we now know that that is impossible. However, this isn't what I'm going to teach you. What I'm going to be teach you is what seems to be an interesting 'side-effect' of alchemy as it were: psynergy.
"Turn your books to chapter two, but don't read it yet. I want to see you all taking notes, So, to start with, psynergy is..." And another day of school properly started.
"Hey," Garet greeted Felix as he approached their favourite area in the school: it was at the top of one of the staircases in the less populated part of the school so it was fairly quiet during break and lunch."
"Hey. Where's Isaac?" Relix asked at the absence of the blond boy.
"He's gone to drop some stuff into his locker. He told me not to wait for him," Garet explained. "Is Jenna coming up?"
Felix shrugged. "I don't know if she's with her friends or if she'll be up later." Jenna, depending on her mood (or what her friends were talking about) would go up and talk to them.
Garet and Felix looked towards the sound of nearing footsteps and smiled when they saw that it was Isaac. "I think I need a new bag. Or back," Isaac announced when he saw his friends, rubbing one of his shoulders. "History, maths, they really like their nice heavy textbooks."
Chuckling, Felix joked, "Maybe you'll get used to it."
Isaac mock-glared at his friend. "I doubt it. I doubt my bag can fit another textbook or even another jotter." He opened his bag and after rummaging around for a few seconds, pulled out his snack. "I think the strap is going to break if I try to put more stuff in it."
"Hey Isaac." Isaac looked up at Garet, non-verbally responding to the call. "Did you get what Kraden was talking about?"
It was quiet for a few seconds apart from the crinkle of a wrapper being torn open. "I think I do. I don't really understand why but I suppose during that time, believing in magic was normal," Isaac said slowly, choosing his words carefully. Well, that was how they explained things back then wasn't it? 'It's the will of the Gods', 'It's magic!' were the easiest ways to explain why things happened -and they didn't have to think about it any further than that. They wouldn't want to anger the Gods or magic-user now would they?
Felix was looking at the two in interest. "What did you learn in history?" Felix, finding history too boring for him had taken chemistry instead. He was regretting taking it because of the equations that he'd learned in the lesson and wanted to get his mind free of them for a little while.
"Psynergy. Apparently it was some sort of magic that were you born with," Isaac tried to clarify. "Four types; four different set of powers," he said, talking around the chocolate he'd just partially stuffed into his mouth.
"Each one with its own special name," Garet added. "That, I got. Many Folk Met With Joyous Ancestors Very Easily," he intoned.
"Uh, what?" Felix asked confusedly after hearing what Garet said.
"It's a mnemonic," Isaac answered. "It goes type-element, type-element. Seems to be pretty easy to remember." Even in the one lesson, it had been drummed quite soundly into their skulls.
"I don't know how he expects us to write down notes when he talks at about three-hundred words per minute," Garet grumbled at another aspect of the lesson.
"That's why we have the textbooks -to make sure we can find out what we missed," Isaac teased.
"Bah, whatever. What've we got next?"
"English," Isaac and Felix said at the same time.
"Wonderful," Garet said, shaking his fist at the God of timetables.
Jenna sighed in relief when she exited the school grounds with her brother and friends. Another school day done with. And no more school for the next two days, thank whoever for the weekend.
She half-turned when she heard running footsteps behind her. She was just able to side-step the running boy (she bumped into Garet though) but Isaac was right in front of her and he was talking to Felix about something.
The two collided and both ended up sprawled over the pavement; textbooks, jotters and stationary were scattered around them. Jenna guessed it was a good thing that it was quite a bit after the bell had rung; she needed to get to her locker and the boys needed to go to the toilet so by the time they left the school, it was pretty much empty.
"I'm so sorry about that!" the blond boy apologised. "I didn't mean to, I was in a rush and -here, let me help you up." The boy helped to pull Isaac to his feet. Jenna guessed the boy's age to be around about thirteen, maybe fourteen. When the boy looked up to Isaac to make sure that he was okay, Jenna saw with shock that the boy had purple eyes. 'Where did he get purple contact lenses from?' she had to wonder. Probably overseas somewhere.
The boy started to pick up his books and pencils. "Don't worry about it Ivan," Isaac assured the boy, also starting to collect his own things.
The boy's hand stopped halfway from reaching a book. There was a short pause before he slowly picked the book up. In a quiet voice, he asked, "How do you know my name?"
Isaac slipped two jotters back into his bag. "What are you talking about? We've met before, haven't we?" Jenna didn't have to look to know that Isaac was looking confused.
Ivan shook his head. "N-no. This is my second day here...I just moved here last week." He was looking down at his shoes and put the book in his hand into this bag.
Jenna saw Isaac's cheeks flush a little bit. "Oh. I must have been mistaken then. Sorry," he mumbled.
"It's okay." The two looked around and couldn't see any more miscellaneous items laying about.
"So, I guess I'll see you about," Isaac said awkwardly.
"Yeah," Ivan gave him a shaky nod and hurried away.
"Huh," Garet commented once Ivan had turned a corner and was out of their sight. "How'd you know his name?"
Isaac shrugged and then ran a hand through his hair. "It just felt like I know him." When Isaac had seen him, he just wasn't worried any more. It was as if he'd known Ivan for a long time. There was also a feeling that he had, a feeling that said that he could trust the boy as much as he trusted Garet.
Garet grinned and wrapped a broad arm around Isaac's shoulders. "Maybe you read his mind. Hey, you could just a, a -what do you call it again? Many Folks Met...- a Jupiter Adept!"
Jenna just had to raise an eyebrow at Garet's words. "A what what?"
Before either Isaac or Garet could answer, Felix interrupted in an amused tone, "Are we going to go home or are we deciding to camp outside school all night?"
Garet made a disgused face. "No thanks." Dropping his arm from Isaac's shoulder, he gave Jenna her answer while everyone started to walk homeward bound. "A Jupiter Adept," he repeated. "An Adept is a person who could use psynergy -it was some sort of weird magic that they believed in- and the Jupiter part is the type of psynergy that used," he said, trying to remember all that he and Isaac had been taught that morning.
"The Jupiter bit means that the person could control the skies," Isaac carried on for Garet. "Another thing that they were famous for, was their ability to read people's minds."
"So that means that Isaac's the last Jupiter Adept?" Felix wondered out loud, joining in the teasing.
"Ooh, maybe we can sell him to the circus," Jenna said happily, clapping her hands.
Garet snorted at this. "A circus? A zoo would pay loads more. I can see it now, 'The World's Last Jupiter Adept. Eighth Wonder of the World.'"
"Oh this is hilarious you guys," Isaac said ironically, rolling his eyes. "It's nice to know that I've got such loyal friends."
"Yup!"
By this time, the four had already reached Felix and Jenna's house. "Hey, are we doing anything tonight?" Felix asked as he searched his pockets for the front door keys.
"No idea," Isaac said truthfully. "If you feel like doing something, you know where my house is. You can come as well Jenna," he said, turning to look at her. Her only response was a grin and a nod.
"Alright." Felix found the keys and opened the door. "I'll probably see you later then."
Isaac and Garet waved goodbye to them until the door closed.
"You okay?" Garet asked in concern as the two walked home.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just remembered something else about Jupiter Adepts: they had the ability to see or dream about the future," Isaac said without looking at Garet. It felt so weird that it seemed to coincide with everything that was happening at that moment.
Garet looked at him skeptically. "The dreams you've been having recently?"
Isaac shrugged. "They're really vivid; almost like memories." Isaac could see the skepticism in his friend's eyes but he knew that Garet wouldn't say anything that would be purposely hurtful.
"Eh, who knows," Garet said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, if you do find out that you're a Jupiter Adept, we won't be telling anyone."
The blond boy gave his friend a lopsided grin. "You'd better not or else I'll be sending winds to blow your house down."
Garet also grinned. "Guess I'd better keep my word then."
The two teenagers walked in comfortable silence until they reach Isaac's house.
"So I'll be expecting you over as well later?" Isaac asked as he opened his door.
Garet gave him a 'You even have to think about it?' look.
Isaac laughed. "I'll tell my mum then."
"'Kay. See you later," Garet called over his shoulder as he walked away.
Isaac closed the door after himself and smiled. He'd survived another week of school and it was the weekend. Now, if he didn't have anymore dreams or weird coincidences, it'd all be fine.
Eyes had watched them as they left school. Eyes had tracked them as they walked home. Eyes had followed them as they entered their houses.
The figure noted the location of each of their houses and turned to leave, blue hair fluttering in the wind.