This is why Lament of Venus was almost late, and will be why freaking Something Worth Waiting For will be late. I hate myself, sometimes. BUT I COULDN'T HELP IT. I realized I had never written Mud Shipping… and this just spawned as a result. More rants below.

Chapter 1: The Night of Two

The angel stood in the thick snow, her head pointed toward the night sky. True, the snow of Imil was said to never halt, and it had fallen from the sky their entire time in the north, but whereas it had been slowly coating the chilled earth prior, now it was coming down incredibly thickly.

Isaac could barely see her, and at times, the white in the air was so engulfing that all he could make out was a light dash of blue in the winter's fury. He had been standing there for at least ten minutes now, watching the wind toss her robe and hair back; when the wind became devastatingly harsh they would stand on end, help up my winter's violent breath.

He would worry for her health, if she wasn't so accustomed to the weather, and so warmly dressed. Still, he couldn't imagine she was warm, and getting her inside would probably be for the best. Isaac wasn't exactly warm, either; the wind sliced through his garments, even the fur coat he was wearing, and he could feel the chill of winter digging deeper into his skin with every passing moment. He had thought his skin cold, but now, as the icy menace crept through even that and into his muscles and his very bones, he began to question his own health.

How on Weyard did these poor people survive living here? No wonder she was forced to travel from house to house, healing the townsfolk every day. Catching a common cold in these conditions could be potentially deadly. She must have saved or at least prolonged a hundred lives in her short lifetime.

A stray gust of wind slammed into him, and he nearly fell over. Isaac knew that the weather here was terrible year-round, and yet… he couldn't imagine that it was a coincidence that so shortly after Mercury's Beacon brightened the sky the weather had turned nearly unbearable in its severity.

Was this weather punishment, for their failure? He wouldn't be surprised; the Wise One had made it clear how dire the consequences would be if they allowed even one Lighthouse to be lit. And, as they had failed, were they now being subjected to the Gods' punishment? It would make sense, for Mercury's lighting to send waves of snow down from above. It was the Lighthouse of water, after all.

As he thought this, the snowfall immediately lightened, waning from a tremendous blizzard to a soft powdery coating. Isaac couldn't help but feel odd about this… had the Gods heard him? Ignoring these questions for now, he focused on the girl standing in front of him, still perfectly still, and gazing towards the sky. The sun was beginning to wane; soon it would be dark.

I should talk to her… he thought to himself, but he remained where he stood. Somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to take a few steps forward and begin a conversation. What would he say? "I'm sorry we were unable to stop two psychopaths from lighting Mercury Lighthouse, the most important charge given to you by your clan!" or, "I'm sorry that your childhood friend and fellow clan-mate has joined them!"? How about, "I'm really glad you can come with us and leave your sick and ailing friends and people behind!" or, "Don't worry! At least now we have a way to change everyone in Kolima back from trees to human!"?

No… she probably just needed to be left alone, at least for now. That was alright, he supposed; he could use some alone time to think things over as well. At the very least, though, he could wait until she went back to her home for the night…

And so he waited. And waited. And waited. Mia's white form did not move in the slightest, remaining still as the sun was finally swallowed by the horizon and the moon took its place in the night sky. He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly; it was a large moon tonight, and it hung adjacent to Mercury's bright beacon. They looked like siblings, both lighting up the night sky.

By this point, the wind and snow had both nearly halted. A stray breeze and flurry would descend from the sky every other minute, but visibility was much greater to what it had been... just how long had he been standing here?

"Isaac, staring at a girl to let her know you fancy her works, but only when she can see that you're looking at her," Came a voice from behind him that he instantly recognized. Isaac sighed, unsurprised that Garet would be willing to tease him about a girl he had just met today, but still annoyed about that very fact. He was relieved that she was out of ear-shot of them, though.

"I just… got lost in my thoughts. And I was trying to think of what to say to her, or a way to ask her to come inside. She might get a cold," Isaac replied, and Garet snickered.

"Isaac, you haven't been able to look at her today without smiling," Garet retorted, patting his childhood friend on the back. "Not to mention the first time you saw her, when she was healing that old man, you were so instantly infatuated that I thought you were going to drool. Oh, and then when Saturos so much looked in her direction, you would jump in front of her and wail on him until he was a good twenty feet away. There's nothing wrong with liking a girl, dude."

"I just met her today," Isaac chimed in, but he knew that he would have an impossible time convincing Garet otherwise; he probably would have a harder time convincing himself. There was just something about Mia that made his soul glow warmer. She truly was just as angelic as the people of Imil said, if not even more. Isaac had spent most of their lengthy trek up Mercury Lighthouse staring at her; when he wasn't talking to her, that was. To his amazement, Mia was just as benevolent as she appeared, a generally caring, down-to-earth, and beautiful person.

"…You're zoning out and thinking about her right now, aren't you?" Garet asked, having waited ten seconds for Isaac to continue his sentence. Isaac rubbed his eyes, and the Mars Adept laughed. "Go talk to her before you freeze your ass off," He said, giving the Venus Adept a firm smack in the buttocks.

"…Why are you trying to hook us up?" Isaac asked, causing Garet to laugh heartily.

"Well, if she's traveling with us and you two AREN'T a couple," Garet replied with his signature dumb grin. "Then I'm going to have to watch you act incredibly awkward and make a fool of yourself. Which, while hilarious at first, would get boring fast. So, I figure watching you two be sickeningly adorable would be the better option. Also, I need to hook you up with someone FAST so I can have Jenna all to myself when we rescue her."

Ignoring the last comment about Jenna, Isaac responded, "She probably doesn't even like me—"

"Then why did her face light up every time you spoke to her, and especially when you said she could join our party?" Garet interrupted, an even wider smile on his face now. "Go and talk to her; what's the worst that could happen?"

Isaac, with a roll of his eyes, followed Garet's advice, knowing that any argument would be fruitless. However, after halving the distance between himself and Mia, he halted. Truth be told, he had no plans to bring up a relationship with her; they had only known each other a day, and while he couldn't deny an attraction, he would like to know her a bit better. Disregarding any of that though, he wanted to make sure she was okay.

Isaac knew full well how much pain it brought to leave your home for an indefinite period of time, especially while concerned for the people within it. Especially the people close to you… he let the twinge of regret that filled his heart when he thought of his poor mother, now all alone, pass by him. It must be the same for Mia, as even with the Hermes Water now flowing, leaving her young apprentices to watch over the town would be tremendously difficult.

And that was without even considering the betrayal of Alex, and the lighting of Mercury's Beacon. He closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply; it was getting late, and she should not be out in the cold. That's all he would say, and then he would escort her to her house and then make his way to the inn.

As he began to walk forward once more, he braced himself for what her expression may be like. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that she had spent this entire time crying, and that her eyes would be red and raw. The sight would hurt his heart, but he needed to do what was right, and help her through it.

He slowly reached out his gloved hand, and brought it gently down upon her shoulder. Despite his better judgment, instead of asking her to go inside he asked, "Mia… are you alright?"

There was a long pause, in which he mentally chided himself for asking her such a stupid question; obviously she wasn't.

"Yes, I am," Came her reply but a moment later. Isaac froze, as he had expected either a choked or at least certainly a sullen reply. Instead, she sounded mellow, possibly even slightly cheery.

Curious, he stepped forward so that he stood next to her, and glanced at her face. She turned to him then, a small smile on her lips; her eyes were slightly red, but besides that, she looked fine. Slightly happy, even.

"You were expecting me to be sad, then?" She asked, turning her head back towards the night sky, and the two bright orbs that hung in it.

"To be honest… yes. You've… been through a lot today. More than anyone should have to go through," Isaac replied, feeling childish for assuming that she would be miserable over the events of the day.

"Thank you for being so caring," She whispered, her eyes sparkling in the light. The gaze of the moon washed her face with a gentle white glow, only serving to make her seem more angelic. "I was sad earlier, but I am over it. What's done is done."

"That's a good way of looking at it," Isaac said, slowly losing himself in her beauty. He shook his head, trying to focus on their conversation. "But… I mean… I'm glad you're not sad, but it is a lot to deal with. Would you… like to talk about it?"

She smiled, and turned to him once more. "You're a very sweet boy, Isaac; I'm glad to have met you," She replied. He sincerely hoped his blush was not revealed by the moonlight, but if it was she gave no signal that she noticed.

"Bad things happened today; they happen every day," She whispered as her gaze turned from him once more to the dual lights in the sky. "Alex betrayed our clan; my closest friend. Those two people – Saturos and Menardi was it? – knowingly let loose a great evil upon our world, and escaped to do so once more. And I must leave my Imil… those are all sad things. Incredibly so. I take it you experienced pain today as well?"

Isaac nodded solemnly as their eyes met, his face pulled into a frown. "Seeing Jenna right in front of us… and then ripped away once more," He began, trying to put the words together. "Having to fight Saturos… Venus, I did not know if we could beat him. Failing to halt the beacon, and…" He paused, and bit his lip.

"And?" She questioned, nodding for him to continue.

"I… I was worried about you. I didn't know what combat experience you had, and if you couldn't tell I was more than a little protective during our fight with Saturos," Isaac replied somewhat embarrassedly. "I also felt bad for you… today was rough on me, but more so you. If I hadn't let Saturos and Menardi get the stars in the first place, today's events never would have happened."

To his surprise, Mia giggled, and replied, "That is certainly all true. You were quite valiant, and I must thank you; while experienced in combat, I am not much of a physical warrior." Isaac smiled; at least she didn't think he had been acting inappropriately. "However, I disagree with you on your last point. Today's events happened, and looking back at what could have been done to avert them is pointless."

Isaac frowned. "Are you saying that you believe everything is predestined?" He asked uncertainly, and she shook her head in reply.

"I have no way of knowing that…" She replied, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. "But, I believe that every event in our lives has both good and bad to it. My mother believed in learning from the bad, and then dwelling on the good. Bad things happened today, but so did good things; Alex is still alive, which I was unsure of. You at least know that your friend Jenna is alive and well. No one lost their life. The Water of Hermes is now available to the world once more. And look!"

She leaned in close to him, and pointed towards the sky. His eyes were naturally drawn toward Mercury's Beacon and the Moon. "Aren't they beautiful?" She whispered, her warm breath tickling his frozen ears. "Luna and Mercury, in perfect harmony: as great as our failure was, at least it brought up this sight, along with the fountain. But that's not the best thing that happened today… at least, happened to me."

Isaac had to smile; that kind of blatant and cheery optimism… it was hard to find. "What was the best thing that happened to you, today?" He asked, curious.

She grinned, and whispered, "Meeting you and your friends, of course!" Her beautiful blue orbs connected with his, and she smiled as well. No matter how cold he had been before, he could not help but think that right now, as her kind words comforted him about the failures of the day, that this was the warmest he had felt in his entire life. Indeed, his heart and body seemed to buzz with a certain kind of heat. He believed that the proper word for it was love.

"I'm glad. I think that, by far, the best part of my day was meeting you as well," He said, feeling his heart beat faster with every second.

"I'm glad too," She replied, her gloved hand grasping his. "See? Something good did come out of today! And now, we can travel together." She smiled, but it quickly shifted into a more uncertain expression. "So that should be fun, but Isaac?"

"Hmmm?" He said in response, wondering what she was thinking of.

"…Do you think Alex can be changed? That I could convince him that what he is doing is wrong?" Mia asked, showing her first sign of worry in their conversation.

"I'm not sure, Mia," Isaac replied honestly, although he hated doing so, as it might mean making her sad. "I have hoped that Felix is under some kind of mind-control, or perhaps is being blackmailed into his actions. Perhaps it is the same for Alex, and that he isn't playing the part it appears he is." He bit his lip, his thoughts drifting to Felix. "We'll do whatever we can to save them."

Mia smiled, and squeezed his hand. "You know, Isaac," She whispered, turning toward the road leading out of the town. "You really know the right thing to say. I like that about you." Isaac smiled sheepishly, just realizing that they were holding hands, and that she was being very complimentary of him.

"I know we should get our rest…" She continued, as she began to lightly tug him in the direction of said road. "But I'd like to show you something first." Isaac obliged, and she broke into quite a fast pace.

Ten minutes later, they were outside the town, nearing the ocean, and Isaac was fairly winded; how on earth Mia was able to run this far for this long after spending her day scaling the Lighthouse and in her thick robes was beyond him. And here he thought he was getting fairly sculpted from this quest.

Finally, she halted, and he, after a few moments of panting, looked up to see a glorious sight – the Ocean laid sprawled out in front of them, and within its calm serenity the white glean of the moon and the bright blue shine of Mercury's beacon were painted.

"W-Wow," He stuttered, admiring the view. The water was peaceful, and seemed to glow and hum with the light of the two orbs that smiled upon it. He turned to Mia, who was enjoying the view just as much as he was.

"I had a feeling, that it might look beautiful here," She whispered dreamily.

"They're like your eyes," Isaac whispered suddenly, as he stared at her face.

"Hmmm?" She questioned, turning to him.

He gulped, silently cursing himself for speaking his thoughts aloud, but replied, "The moon and the beacon: they're both full of life and wonder. Like your eyes. Just… they're not as beautiful."

Mia's mouth formed into a smile, but it seemed to be different than the ones that had preceded it; indeed, her eyes sparkled as well, and her entire face seemed to beam with happiness.

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever told me, Isaac," She whispered, holding out her hand once more; he took it. It felt so natural, holding her hand. Looking in her eyes. Seeing her smile. "Alex and I use to play here when we were younger," She said, moving now across the rock laden beach.

She came to a rest after a minute of walking, and lied down on a flat stone that was wide enough for the two of them. Isaac joined her, and they sat in silence as they now took in the beauty of the light of Mercury and Luna once more.

"I'm going to miss this place," Mia whispered, and with it she shifted her body slightly to the left, so he was side by side with him. He felt his nerves tingle, but he moved over as well, so that their bodies were rubbing up against one another. He knew that she meant that she would miss all of Imil, not just this beach.

"It's funny, though," Mia said, turning her head so that she could look into his eyes. "Your eyes remind me of it; I think, that when I get sad about being away, I'll just look into them. Do mine remind you of anything?"

Isaac smiled, and thought it over for a moment. "No, not really," He whispered, and noticed that she reacted dejectedly, shifting her eyes away from his. "I've never felt what your eyes make me feel before."

He didn't need to be able to see Mia's face to know she was smiling; he could feel the warmth from her joy spread into his own body. "I'm glad, then," She whispered, nuzzling into him. "I'm very glad we met today. My mother used to say that our eyes are little gate-ways into our souls. I wasn't so sure, until this moment."

Isaac responded by wrapping his arm around her, and squeezing her close. He searched for words to say, but found that none were needed; everything that should have been said had been said. Instead, he focused on enjoying the lush warmth this beautiful girl from Imil bestowed upon him, as he watched Luna and Mercury gaze down from above.

In some cases, he supposed finding the good in a day filled with many bad things might be quite the task. Thankfully, he thought as his soul drifted into perfect harmony, and his eyes fell closed, that is not the case tonight.

You know, it's funny; Mia is constantly portrayed as such a depressed and sad character, or at the very least one who is not satisfied with their life (I realized this while reading one of jollygreendragon's reviews of AGS). But, in game, she seems to be very cheery, kind, and never mopey in the slightest. So, for past making Mia seem sad transgressions (of which I've written few), and for a lot in the future (because I let exploring darker depths to her character), here is a more happy, and slightly game accurate caricature of her.

This also may or may not be an excuse for me to do my first Mud Shipping. I love Mud Shipping. How the hell has it taken this long to show up in a story? Weird. I hope I didn't oversimplify her character… this is one part of a two parter (should have been a one-shot, but this was such a clear cut-off point I wasn't going to force it, especially since I have no idea when the second half will be written), so the second will delve into her a bit more. She's not a completely limitless ball of happiness, obviously. But… Mia is so sweet. I wanted to write her were her benevolence and angelic traits come out more than her past and tragedies.

Garet's the best wing-man EVAR. First time I've ever mentioned Flame Shipping, I think; that would be good to consider for the future. Wink. Wink.

One of the things that's been disappointing me about my writing lately is a lack of poetic language; I'm a poet, so I like making things sound nice and sound fancy and what not. So, this should have a bit more poetic prose than my most recent works have featured (Jupiter Falls, Venus Swims being the last memory I have of it, and I wasn't too happy with it there). It obviously doesn't always fit the chapter or story, but it's nice, and I enjoy writing it. I'm actually pretty proud of how it came out here; I think this has some of the prettier sentences I've constructed in the last few years.

Isaac was a little too generic here for my tastes (I realize as I am finished writing and editing), but I think he came out alright. Their dialogue was… uh… a little cheesy. This fic was supposed to be somewhat fluffy, but grounded fluff, if such a thing exists. Part two will be similar.

Benevolence isn't exactly what this fic conveys to the most literal extent, and I was originally unhappy with it as a title; but I think it truly is the word that best describes Mia, and the portrait of her I'm trying to paint. Even when she may have been feeling a bit (ton) down, she tries to find every way to make Isaac feel better about his own troubles and not worry about her. She just carries on, her head held high and her smile bright and cheery, because she knows it will help others get through their hardships. It's probably the thing about her character that I love so much, and why I decided to write this.

I need to stop using so many damn semi-colons (and making gigantic author's notes).

I probably could have sat on this a bit longer, but I figured what's the point? It only needed light editing, and I was more than willing to do that and ramble on for who-knows-how-long. Yep. Fluffy Mud Shipping. IT'S THE BEST. Okay, expect Chapter Two whenever the hell! Thank you for reading!