"Insert Generic Romance Title Here"
...no, seriously...this has no name.
By Joker's Specter
Spur of the moment writing! I don't know what I'm going to write about, but I'm just going to let it flow out of my head and into this little story... Even I don't know what will come out of it!
-Joker
Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun...instead, it's rightfully owned by Nintendo and Camelot. (Yes, Nintendo owns it more than Camelot.)
"Gah!" shouted Isaac, throwing his hands in the air. "Jus' leave me alone about it!"
"Oh, but dear... What about Mia? She's such a nice girl..." pressed Dora, Isaac's mother. She ruffled her son's hair, and said, "You're almost eighteen and you've never had a girlfriend! You should start dating, like all the other young men in this town."
Isaac groaned and rolled his eyes. He leaned forward and allowed his head to smack onto the surface of the table. No matter how many times he told his mother, she just never seemed to get it...
"The other young men...as in Garet?" asked Isaac, turning his head on the table to look up at his mom with one eye. "Garet, who freaks out every time Jenna threatens him...giving us a clear idea that he's scared to date, and probably won't for awhile? Or Felix, who doesn't hit it off very well with strangers...let alone girls that he does know?"
Dora bit her lip, thinking of a good response.
Isaac shut his eyes, and waited patiently for yet another comeback that would lead to him saying almost the exact same thing.
"Well...Mia seems to be interested in you. Haven't you noticed the way she laughs at your jokes?"
Rolling his head around again to stare at the counter, Isaac said, "So do Sheba and Jenna."
The golden-haired boy instantly regretted saying that.
"Hey, yeah! What about Jenna? You two have been best friends for years! You already know what you need to know about her...you'd be a perfect couple!" replied Dora suggestively.
"No, mom, we wouldn't be perfect... We're friends, and nothing more. That's how it is with Mia and Sheba, too."
The silence that followed gave Isaac hope that his mom was finally beginning to understand that he just wasn't ready to fall in love. Isaac's tilted his head a few millimeters, waiting for his mom to reply, hoping that the reply would be something in his favor.
Unfortunately...
"What about Kay? She's always been nice to you..."
Isaac's eye began to twitch, and a low growl began forming inside him. He would rather be locked in a battle using his scarf as a weapon than continue this conversation. The teenager abruptly jumped out of his seat, surprising his mother.
"Where are you going? I still want to talk to you!" she exclaimed, using a tone that would make most people feel a little guilty for just walking out. It didn't work on Isaac, because he was ignoring her. Shrugging off her calls to come back, Isaac exited his house and stomped down the path leading to the Plaza.
"Where does she get the idea that I want to date?!" Isaac asked aloud to nobody. "I don't want to do that kind of stuff yet! I just want to have fun!"
"Oh?" said a small voice in his head. "I heard dating is fun, though..."
One of Isaac's Djinn had decided to speak up. He didn't really know which one, since they all sounded the same...
"Where'd you hear that?" asked Isaac, a little more angrily than he had intended.
"Wow, somebody's angry..." said a Djinni. "Perhaps you should explain to your mother how you feel."
Isaac literally screamed out loud. After he had finished, he glared up at the sky, and shouted, "What do you think I've been trying to do?! You think I've been telling her over and over again that I don't want to fall in love right now so she has something to gripe over?!"
After a few moments of silence, Isaac thought that the Djinn had decided to leave him alone.
Rubbing his hands through his hair, he began walking again, only to be stopped yet again by his little Djinn friends.
"You should think it over... The bringing together of two elements is a very amazing thing, Isaac. Trust us, we're experts on this."
Isaac shut his eyes, and muttered, "I don't think my mom was talking in terms of Adept elements...I think she was talking in terms of 'I want to make sure you get a girlfriend now, so that I won't die before I see your wedding'. That's how my mom is; you guys just don't know it yet."
"Well...that's probably a result of us not having a mother..." stated one Djinni.
Isaac continued walking. "Doesn't matter...my mom has got to be the worst of them all when it comes to this kind of thing."
"That's not a nice thing to say, is it?"
"I could say worse."
"You should at least listen to her, Isaac. Maybe build mental scenarios in your mind of what it would be like to date one of the girls. You may find out it's not as bad as you make it sound."
Isaac shrugged. "Why do that? I already know it will be a horrible mess. I've read books like this...where one falls in love and their feelings get crushed when the girl runs off with another man."
The Djinn were silent yet again. Isaac raised an eyebrow as he walked slowly, waiting for a response.
"They have that kind of thing in books?" one of them squeaked.
Isaac nodded, and said, "Yeah..."
"What was the book called?"
"Oh...er...I can't remember...something with girls leaving guys...but that's not the point," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "The point is that I see no reason to have a girlfriend right now."
Isaac was just outside of the Plaza when his vision suddenly blacked out. "H-Hey!" he shouted, "what's going on?" The teen grabbed for his sword out of habit, only to realize two things. The first was that he had forgotten his sword, and the second was that he didn't have hands.
"Don't be alarmed, Isaac... We're using our powers to show you what it might be like to date the girls, judging by what we know about them and yourself," said the Djinn in unison.
"What?! That's ridiculous!" He yelled. A few seconds later, his face became distorted with confusion. "Wait, you can do that? Create images in my head, I mean..."
"Of course! We do it all the time, you know. In fact, we have taken part in forming your dreams, as of late..."
Isaac let out a "Wow..." before realizing something. The dream he had last night was a particular X-rated dream.
"Hey! You guys are sick!" he shouted, playing the dream over in his head...which was odd, because he was basically in his head at the moment.
The Djinn began to chuckle, and one of them said, "Well, we never said we wouldn't have some sort of fun with them..."
"Yeah, you never said that because you never told me you messed with my dreams!" shouted Isaac angrily.
Isaac began ranting on about wanting to be able to move again, and see for that matter. Moments later, a brilliant light flashed into his field of vision, and a scene began playing out.
"Wha?" he said in surprise.
"Just watch..." muttered a Djinni. "We're only doing this because we respect your mom."
"Yeah! She feeds us candy!" said another.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
"C'mon Isaac! You have to hurry!" shouted the voice of Dora.
"I'm coming, just give me a second..."
"Okay! You don't want to be late, though!" Dora responded.
Isaac (the non-dream version) looked around. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Shh, no talking..." responded the Djinn. "It could mess us up...we're trying to give an example of what it would be like if you and Mia were to go on your first date."
Groaning, Isaac rolled his eyes - or he would have, if he had them. "So I'm stuck here...involuntarily watching some pieced together show?"
"Hey! It's not *pieced together*! We're doing this as we go! It's very hard, too...we have to reach into your memories to get personalities, and other related things."
"Well, that sounds like it's pieced together to me."
The Djinn chose to ignore this remark, and they continued on with their little dream-sequence.
The scenario was obviously inside Isaac's house, and Mia was standing at the bottom of the stairs next to Dora, slightly blushing as Dora yelled up to Isaac.
"So! Isaac's first date!" said Dora, smiling at Mia. "Is it your first date too?"
"Yes, it is," said Mia quickly, "I was glad to accept the offer, though." Smiling sweetly, Mia averted her gaze to the top of the stairs where Isaac had appeared.
The golden-haired Adept slowly descended, shifting his gaze from his mother, to Mia, then back to Dora.
"Well, I'm ready," he said when he reached the bottom.
"Of course you are! Now get going you two...you don't want to waste precious moments!" Dora smiled brightly, guiding the two teenagers to the door by their shoulders.
"Hold it!" shouted the non-dream Isaac. The scene abruptly paused. "What's wrong with my face?!"
A few giggles could be heard from the various Djinn. The dream-version Isaac's face had been replaced with a Mercury Djinni's face. It looked very demonic...and not natural.
"Just having a little fun... Besides, Mia loves the Mercury Djinn! Just think if you had the face of one, she wouldn't be able to resist you!"
Isaac made a gagging sound. "That's just...not right...really, please...if you're going to waste my time with this, at least do it right."
"Ah fine...we wouldn't want to make you angry."
Isaac could have sworn the Djinn were being sarcastic.
The scene before him began to change, and soon dream-version Isaac's face was changed back to his regular human face. Instantly, it began to play again.
"Er...bye mom," muttered Isaac as Dora pushed the two of them out the door.
After the door had slammed behind them, Isaac heard a cry of triumph from the other side.
"Sorry about her...she's not usually like that..." said Isaac apologetically, turning to glare at the wooden door.
"Oh, that's okay...I think she's nice," responded Mia, smiling, and also turning to look at the door.
The two of them stood in silence for about fifteen seconds, just looking around and moving their hands nervously.
"Well, let's get going," Isaac said finally, looking at Mia for the first time since they had exited the house, "it should be dark soon."
"Okay. Um...can you tell me where it is we're going?" said Mia as the two of them began walking away from Isaac's house. She continued to look straight ahead, but would glance over at Isaac every now and then.
"Yeah, we're supposed to be going up a little higher in the mountains... Just, don't ask...my mom planned it out."
Mia giggled. "She's just one of those people who love their family enough to plan their lives?" She smiled sweetly, looking over at Isaac.
"That's a big understatement... I think ever since I came back with my dad, she wants to know everything that's going on with me...going as far as planning my life."
"I understand," said Mia, laughing lightly.
Isaac looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You do? I...I thought..." he said, trailing off before he could finish. "Well...never mind..."
"No, it's okay... You can say whatever you want to. You're probably wondering how I can understand, even though my parents died...right?" said Mia, blushing slightly. It was unnoticeable, however, because the sun had just finished disappearing behind the mountains.
Isaac bit his lip. "Erm...yeah...if you don't mind telling me... I'm just curious, is all..."
Mia cleared her throat. "Well...actually...I think that I'm the overprotective one in most cases... So I guess I understand it more in your mom's point of view than yours."
"Uh...like how?"
"Oh, you know...my grandparents... I tend to get a little carried away in telling them what they can or can't do. It's...it's for their own good, though...it's for their health," said the blue-haired girl. She looked down slightly.
Isaac chuckled a little. "Actually, comparing you to my mom...I'd much rather have you interfere with my life than her."
Mia quickly looked up in surprise. "R-Really?" she asked.
"There's no doubt there. At least you wouldn't be pressing me to marry the next girl I see..."
Blushing madly, Mia asked," She...she said that?"
Isaac paused to help Mia ascend a rockier part of the trail. "I'm pretty sure it was in there with all of that 'Get a girlfriend, let me cut your hair, tell Garet to stop eating our food' speech.
Mia laughed again, causing Isaac to smile.
"Hey, I never told you this before...but I really like your laugh," commented Isaac. He finished helping her up and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. He noticed that Mia's were sweaty too, most likely out of nervousness.
Blushing at the comment, Mia said "Thank you," and looked around the area they had just come to.
They were on a small ledge covered with thick grass that overlooked all of Vale. The sound of a waterfall could be heard in the distance, and the stars and moon shone down brightly, illuminating the ledge with a magnificent twilight.
"Oh please! Now you create a fake ledge?! There's no place like that in Vale!" interrupted the real Isaac. The scene stopped yet again.
"Yes, we know. Sorry to say this, Isaac...but Vale is a very boring town." said a Djinni.
Isaac was offended by that, since he had been one of the main designers for building the new town, after Mt. Aleph had crushed the first one. "Hey! Well...it...it can't be much better being trapped in any Elemental Stars for hundreds of years!"
"Actually, it was great in those things! We had cities on them! Theme parks, mansions, training arenas...it was great! Well...eighteen mansions to be exact," responded the Djinn excitedly.
Being at a loss for words, Isaac just said nothing. He didn't even know what a theme park was.
The Djinn took his silence as a cue for them to continue. The scene started up again.
"You know, Mia," said Isaac, turning to look at the girl's beaming face. Mia had instantly fallen in love with the romantic feel that the area was giving off. "I figured we'd just try to have fun, and not do any real 'date' stuff, if you know what I mean... We could tell jokes, stories, maybe even go and get the others to have fun with us...whatever."
Mia's expression fell slightly. She was looking forward to spending a peaceful night alone with Isaac, even though she was very nervous about it. "Oh..." she said, trying to look for something better to say.
Isaac noticed her expression had declined, and quickly said, "Erm...unless you want to make this a real date. I'm not really sure what we could do, though... I think my mom just planned on us staring up at the sky, or something..." Isaac said, feeling stupid.
"No, no...that's...that's okay," said Mia, trying to smile. Isaac could see that it was fake, though. Mia never was very good at hiding her feelings properly.
"Ah...well, you know what? Let's just lay down on the grass...we'll find something to do that'll interest us both," said Isaac.
Mia nodded in agreement, smiling for real this time. Isaac grinned, and led her to a good spot on the grass for them to lie down on. The golden-haired boy situated himself in a reclining position, and Mia did the same next to him.
Isaac sighed, and put his hands behind his head. He stared up at the moon, admiring how bright it was.
"Well, this is nice..." he said, turning to look at Mia. He was a little surprised to see her staring at him.
She blushed a little, and turned to look up at the moon quickly. A moment later, she said "Yes...it's very peaceful..."
Isaac kept his eyes on her face, almost as if in a trance. The light tone of her skin reflected the moonlight, making it seem as if she was glowing.
Something took over Isaac. He didn't know what it was, but he suddenly wanted to be more than just friends with Mia. He almost felt as if he was developing new feelings for her.
The teenager reached over and grabbed Mia's hand in his own. Mia tilted her head in surprise, looking down at her hand, then back at Isaac. His eyes were staring at her own, surprising Mia even more. Her cheeks instantly turned pink.
"Sorry," said Isaac quietly. "I just wanted to hold your hand..."
Mia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she just nodded. Isaac smiled, and turned to stare back up at the moon.
Mia imitated the act, squeezing Isaac's hand a little, as if making sure it was there...
The scene ended abruptly. As soon as it was over, Isaac quickly said, "That's it? That wasn't the whole date..."
The Djinn sighed. "Well, that's just a sneak peak of what could happen... Like we said, we're just simulating, not showing what would happen for sure," said one of the many Djinn.
"Well, personally...that wasn't too great. We were nervous the entire time, practically sweating rivers...and I shot off my mouth more than Garet would in that situation."
"No, not really. That was a pretty accurate example of how you would act," said the Djinn coolly.
"I doubt it. I've never been on a date, so how would you know how I'd act?"
"Well...we just figured it be the same as if you were going to fight the Doom Dragon. Remember? You were nervous, but tried to stay calm at the same time."
"That's how I acted when we were going to the Mars Lighthouse?!" exclaimed Isaac in disbelief.
"Pretty much...the biggest differences were that there were different objectives, and we replaced the Doom Dragon with Mia."
Isaac laughed...not because he found it funny, but because he thought his Djinn had finally gone nuts. "So you're saying that if the Doom Dragon wasn't trying to kill me, and it wasn't my dad and Jenna's parents, and I was on a date with it...I'd fall in love with it?!" He laughed again.
"Not at all. If you added the fact that it was a female healer with a pure heart...then yes, you probably would fall in love with it."
Isaac raised an eyebrow - or he meant to...he didn't have control of them at the moment, and said, "Okay, y'know what? I want you guys to leave me alone now...let me have control over my body again. I'm sure people would find it odd to find me lying on the ground outside of the Plaza, unconscious."
The Djinn muttered something in between themselves.
"What? What was that?" asked Isaac.
"Erm...actually Isaac, you aren't laying on the ground. See, you know there's nine of us...and, well, we don't need that many to create dream sequences. Therefore, four of us are working with you...and five of us are controlling you. As of right now, I believe your body is speaking to Mia..."
Isaac gasped in surprise. "What?! No! I want out! I don't want to be talking without actually talking!"
The Djinn all laughed. "Don't worry Isaac, we're careful... We've still got some more to show you. We're going to show you what it would be like to date Jenna next!" the Djinn said, as if it were a good thing.
"Wha?! No! She'd try to help my mom plan the date!" shouted Isaac.
"Yes, that's what we thought too...so that's how the dream will start out."
Isaac screamed a long, loud scream. Unfortunately, nobody could hear it.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Meanwhile, in the real world...
"Isaac? I don't understand...you're acting very strangely..." said Mia, more than a little concerned.
"What's not to understand?!" shouted "Isaac", grinning from ear-to-ear. "I just want you to help me make a mural in my room for my Venus Djinn!"
End: Chapter One.
