The Angel and the Outcast

The Angel and the Outcast Part III
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As the dark clouds continued to loom over head, Felix could not help but loose himself in thought. Odd that the clouds had not begun to rain, as the air actually reeked of moisture. It was almost as though someone was holding the rain in, waiting for a certain point in time.

If Felix did not know better, he would think that it was three certain Adepts in a certain house.

Shaking his head, Felix walkedn thn the main path of the village, staring at the clouds. Dark they were, made even darker by the humidity. Not unlike the mood of the village for the past year or so. What it was specifically, no one could pin down, and no one was willing to say why they were all down. Yet it was plain that everyone was feeling depressed and miserable.

Maybe it was a side et oft of the lighting of the Lighthouses. Maybe it was the fact that they had been inadvertantly killing the world, albeit not on purpose. Perhaps it was because they were forced to rebuild the village after Mt. Aleph fell. Or was it because of the lone residen the the top of a cliff?

Whatever the true reason, Felix had a gut feeling that most would blame Alex for whatever their troubles were. And, sadly, there were justifiable reasons to blame him. Alex was the one who had sought the power of the Stone of Sages (and, apparently, failed in that). He had used the Proxian's distress as an excuse to further his goal (which he never told Felix of), and had constantly alienated his friends and allies.

But from there, the rest of the accusations simply made no sense. True, Alex was there upon Alep it it fell, but blaming him for it to have fallen in the first place was insane. Kraden had offered a theory that the mountain's cole wae was part of the world's "awakening," that it was absorbing the elements into its being.

Few had listened to that theory. Felix had believed it, as the old sage had a tendency to hit it on the money with his theories. From what he had gathered, few others of their original eight-team party had viewed it as credible, though only Felix and Picard defended

So why did no one listen to Kraden, aside from the fact that many thought him insane? Because the reality of what happened is not easily dismissed as an act of nature or Alchemy. It would be much easier to lay blame on another, preferably one that most hated.

Enter Alex.

Felix felt sorry for him, in truth. But where Felix pitied his old friend, he loathed him all the while. As they traveled for about two years, Felix and Alex had formn oan oath system. A promise would be a promise, an oath would be kept sacred between the two. It was not an easy system to use, mostly due to Saturos and Menardi's constand will that they not hide any secrets. For a time, the two Proxians would actually torture both of the young teens, trying to learn of any information being witheld.

Then there was the incident at Sol Sanctum.

Prior to Alex's departure of their room at Vale's inn, Felix had sworn Alex to an oath - no matter what happened, no matter what fate threw at them, Jenna was to not be harmed. Felix would not have guessed that Alex would cause Jenna harm, or that she would become involved on their dangerous travels with Saturos and Menardi. And by all rights, she should not have been involved in the first place.

But Alex had been muttering his thoughts out loud at the time, and apparently forgot that Proxians had a nasty tendency for above average hearing. Bad enough Alex had spoken hind and aloud, but to then further the thought right in front of him!

Felix had hated Alex at that time, and had shunned him from there forth. Many times Alex tried (in vain) to tell Felix that he only did so to keep her from perishing. And Felix almost forgave him for that, hoping that he was sincere in his claims that she would not survive the eruption.

Then Felix saw Isaac and Garet upon the Mercury Lighthouse.

If Felix was unforgiving before, he absolutely hated Alex and his entire being. No longer did he tell Alex of his thoughts, of what they should do if the unexpected happened. Felix began to spend more time with Saturos and Menardi, plotting with them, assisting them in their search for a Jupitarian.

In hindsight, Felix thought as he knelt under an extended piece of a roof, it was probably a mistake to allow Alex and Jenna to elude his attention. Or was it? Felix never knew of what was happening when his back was turned l thl the battle on Mars Lighthouse. Before, Jenna seemed irritated and moody whenever Alex was arround. But that day, for some reason, she was genuenly afraid.

And it was not the fear of the end of the world for which she felt feelings for, that much Felix could tell in a heart beat.

It had taken time for him to corner her on the journey back to Vale, but he eventually found the time to do so. He simply asked her why she had spoken so, only to have her break out into tears, attempting to voice her emotions for him.

For some reason, this only served to anger Felix. It was not that his sister was in love, or that Alex was away from her, but, rather, it was her statement of what Alex had told her. The Imilian had told her of Felix's own private thoughts, breaking dozens of promises of old.

Sitting next to the wall of the building with the extended roof, Felix watched as the rain fell in one fell swoop. While Felix (and several others) had turned their backs to Alex, there were those that did sympatize his position. Jenna was obvious, but there were three who (at one time) seemed to be opposed to Alex, yet they were not opposed.

Though he never spoke it, it was obvious to Felix that Picard was relating himself to Alex. Both had lost the bulk of their families, and both were exiled from their homelands. Ivan was one who seemed to buy Kraden's thoughts on Mt. Aleph, but he tended to keep his thoughts to himself. Or, rather, between him and Sheba, who, like Picard, had no home to return to.

Shaking his head, he watched as the rains poured down, causing the cloud-induced darkness to sink even furhter into the shades of the evening. It was all to obvious to Felix that the trio in the house a minute away were up to something, though Felix decided it was best to not know. Felix silently hoped that he was the only one to notice the oddity of the weather, having no will to see the three expelled from Vale.

Or worse.

Felix froze as a thought occured to him. Something about that thought, the notion of something bad occuring, caused his mind to stir. It was if his mind was wanting to tell him something, but did not know what it was that it told. What could it possibly...

Staring directly in the direction of the distant cliff, Felix felt a chill as he saw the light. Not a natural light, mind you. No normal light source could cut through this weather, not even the candles along each house wall. No, this light had to be psynergetic in origin, had to be.

But what could make that gl - Alex and Jenna. It was hard to visualize, but there it was, right before him. The rain had hit while she was at his hut, pbly bly timed so that it hit when Alex had finished eating even, and he was helping her home. That alone was not what worried Felix. No, if it was something as "simple" as that, he would only ignore it until Garet or Isaac went nuts.

What worried Felix was that Alex, for the first time in nearly seven months, was coming down from his cliff and into the village itself.

As though his thought was a signal, the rain began to fall faster, dimming the light to the point where it appeared to be nothing more than a candle. Should he recieve the chance, Felix made a decision to find the person who read his mind and altered the weather.

As he watched the light move towards Jenna's house, Felix mind pulled him back into thought, his head nagging at that train of thought before he saw the glow. Certainly it was related to Alex, but why would his mind force himself to think about it now?

Because he was wrong - his anger at Alex was misdirected. He wished for Jenna to be safe, and Alex had seen to that, though in a creative way. And Felix had made no pact to keep his thoughts private, as well as no oath to keep him from talking with his sister.

Gripping his head in pain, Felix whrithed on the ground. Something was not right. Those thoughts were not those of his own, but those of another, planting the thought in his head. But the only two capable of that action would not dare risk such an attempt, would they?

His mind again looked at his thoughts, his past, his travels. Right before him were his actions, words, thoughts. Before him was all the proof that he had overreacted, mad at Alex for a simple error and blamed him for things unfounded.

His head again ached as he fought the forced train of thought. What was to say that the memories were not of another's creation? What was to say his mind had not been altered?

He expected his mind to be invaded again, forcing more images on him, and he was not dissapointed. Only this time, though, his mind did it on its own. Like his will, it yearned to know if his mind said the same tale twice, this tiem without being forced.

And, much to his regret, it was true. He had not made any pacts with Felix regarding Jenna learning of his thoughts, or of Alex's flirting with her. He recalled how Alex did error, and then tried to explain it as his way of "creatively interpreting the rules." One moment's hatred had clouded his mind, and the anger and rage consumed him.

Ironic that Felix had done exactly what he hated - blaming someone for something they did not do. Guilt flooded in his mind, wishing that he had realized this sooner, to make ammends. But he knew such thoughts were futile. Nothing could change the past, and even if he did forgive Alex, simply siding with him would have resulted in pain whenever he walked down the streets. The only reason Jenna did not recieve such treatment was because Isaac still had hopes of convincing her to wed him.

As the rain began to fade, Felix stared at Jenna's house. To his suprise, the dim morning glow painted a collage of red shades against the clouds in the sky, and Felix knew then that whoever it was in his mind had taken longer than he realized.

Was that their purpose, or was it just coincidence? Felix felt that the former was more probable, buat oat opened another can of worms - WHY would they want to take that long?

Staring at Jenna's house, Felix began to realize that he had an opportunity to correct an old mistake. Alex was still down in the Village, and if Felix were to ever ask for forgiveness (to either Alex or Jenna), it would have to be now.

Rising from the ground, Felix strode towards the door, his mind aglow with what was to come.

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I DO NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN OR NINTENDO. WHY DO I HAVE TO REPEAT THIS A THOUSAND TIMES?