Isaac eventually woke up before Mia did. He stumbled back to the landing to find a complete mess.
"What happened?" he asked, looking around. Garet and Jenna, who were still running around, froze on the spot, and Ivan and Sheba (who had revived) looked up from their Tik-Tac-Toe games. Felix still remained; he was also watching the shenanigans of the younger Adepts.
"Er, nothing," Garet said quickly. Isaac looked at a drop of gravy on the floor and raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing. Jenna followed his gaze and laughed nervously, putting her frying pan behind her back, but Ivan and Sheba went back to playing Tik-Tac-Toe.
"Is Mia up yet?" Isaac asked, all too quickly. Garet gave a think smirk. "She's still asleep," Jenna said, shooting a warning glare at Garet. Isaac twiddled his thumbs nervously and watched his bedroom door, expecting it to twitch.
"She won't wake up quicker if you stand there like a fire hydrant," Garet said. "I swear, sometimes you're worse than a rabbit without a carrot." "I can't help it," Isaac said, and he started to dance on the spot.
"Don't be so pathetic," Felix said finally. Isaac and Garet turned around and looked at him, while Jenna, knowing she wasn't needed, walked over to Ivan and Sheba and watched them play "Paper, Scissors, Rock".
"What are you saying, Felix?" Garet asked him. Felix snorted.
"Oh, wake up," he said irritably. "She's not dying, for Venus's sake! Get over it!" He walked over to Garet and Isaac and looked them in the eye. "I mean it!
You need to lighten up, Isaac! Remember, I spent a lot of time with Saturn and Melody. And yes, I know their names," he added, before Isaac or Garet could open their mouths. "I didn't enjoy travelling with them, because I didn't agree with their decisions. But this isn't about them. You need to relax once in a while, Isaac..." He smirked suddenly. "Personally, I'm starting to think Mia's good for you. Maybe she'll teach you to take things less seriously, heh heh heh."
Isaac growled, but paused.
"Hold on, why are you being so... pleasant about this?" he asked, having trouble finding the right world to describe Felix's expression.
"I'll be dead before I see a fellow Adept behaving like a baby without its bottle," he said, making Isaac frown again.
Garet wasn't listening or watching; he was going down the stairs. "Where are you going?" Isaac asked.
"The kitchen," Garet replied, and within three seconds he was gone. Isaac and
Felix looked at each other, then descended the stairs after him. They met him in the kitchen. Garet was rummaging through the wine cabinets when they joined him. "What are you looking for?" Isaac asked, watching Garet wrench open cupboard doors. Garet froze briefly, holding the door of one of the cupboards.
"… alcohol," he said sheepishly.
Felix snorted with laughter while Isaac sweatdropped nervously. "Since when did you start drinking alcohol?" Isaac asked.
"You don't want to know," Garet replied darkly. Isaac was about to say something else when a short blonde teenage boy appeared next to him, by way of a massive tornado. As soon as the tornado disappeared, the boy regained his composure, although he shivered uncontrollably.
"What's wrong with you?" Felix asked. Ivan shuddered.
"I'm learning the laws of life the hard way," he said. Garet raised an eyebrow as he turned around from investigating a nearby cabinet, holding a bottle of tequila. Ivan took one look at the bottle, but with knowledge of Garet's drinking problem in his mind said nothing about it.
"What which law is that?" Isaac asked, taking Ivan's attention away from Garet's tequila bottle and Garet's maniacal smirk. Ivan shuddered again, and against his better judgement, Isaac gave a small, but noticeable smile. Ivan scowled before answering.
"Never anger a girl with the power to sweep you halfway through Angara." Isaac and Felix laughed out loud, and Ivan became furious.
Suddenly, a loud belch came from Garet, and everyone present spun around to look at him. He looked disorientated and very smashed.
"What the -" Ivan began, but Garet was halfway through reciting a poet about butterflies.
"How graceful is their gentle flight,
To dance so freely though the night.
If only life was just as sweet,
We could all enjoy this fabulous treat.
And so as they flutter near and far,
I watch one get crushed by a car."
For no reason, he broke down completely. He started sobbing uncontrollably, and Felix became annoyed again.
"Someone shut him up!" he hissed, then looked upstairs to see if Jenna or Sheba had heard Garet's racket.
Ivan obliged and cast Sleep on Garet.
"That poor butterfly! I can't believe that… someone… would…" Garet trailed off, and he began to sway on the spot.
"He's starting to fall! Get a pillow!" Isaac yelled at Felix, but Felix was still looking upstairs. "Oy! Felix!"
"Huh?" Felix spun around.
"Pillow! Quick!" Isaac repeated. Felix nodded and darted into the TV room. Six seconds later, he reappeared with a cushion. Miraculously, Garet was still swaying on the spot, so Felix had another 22 seconds to position the cushion before Garet fell backwards onto the floor.
Felix sighed with relief, but caught sight of the half-empty tequila bottle. He wasn't the only one, however; Isaac and Ivan were eyeing it greedily. All three glanced at each other in a "Get away, that's mine!" way, then looked back at the tequila.
"Adepts, ready!"
Out of nowhere, Mr. Referee from Medabots crashed through a nearby window. Isaac, Ivan and Felix sweatdropped as Mr. Referee picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Okay, is everybody ready?" he asked.
"Er, we'd better do this outside," Isaac said nervously, watching broken shards of glass fall out of the already smashed window.
"Yeah, fair enough," Felix said. "C'mon, you two help me carry hedgehog boy here outside. We don't want him making any noise."
Isaac and Ivan nodded, and within fives minutes had helped lift Garet out of the house. Mr. Referee followed, excited about the prospect of battle.
As soon as they were outside, Mr. Referee cleared his throat.
"Adepts, ready! Psybattle!"
Isaac began by forming a Ragnarok. He held it in his hand with his Psynergy, and prepared to counter any incoming attacks. However, Felix and Ivan were preoccupied: Felix was trying to build up strength for a Mother Gaia, while Ivan was floating in midair (somehow) like Yoda. He seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on something.
"Unsurprisingly one-sided, this battle shouldn't be," he said in an uncanny impersonation of Yoda. Isaac sweatdropped, while the boulders of Felix's attack froze momentarily. They were soon hovering over his head, however.
"Prepare to lose to a superior Adept!" he declared.
"Yeah, me!" Isaac objected.
"You won't know what hit you when I'm finished," Ivan said, and he started to form a Spark Plasma attack.
Then as one all their attacks hit each other head on, and the battle had well and truly begun.

Since Ivan's unexpected trip about Angara by way of tornado, Sheba was becoming increasingly irritable with boredom. Once she'd even tried to wake Mia up abruptly with a tiny Plasma, but Jenna stopped her with another flare. Since then, Sheba had been sitting uncomfortably outside Isaac's bedroom door and was seemingly set to knock it down. Jenna was acting as the watchmen… er… woman, hoping Sheba wouldn't try another stunt or there'd be hell to pay.
Luckily, this wasn't to be as the doorknob twitched slightly. Soon, Mia crept out of Isaac's bedroom, looking pale.
"What happened to you?" Jenna asked, watching Mia rub her eyes with exhaustion.
"Oh… just had a nightmare," Mia replied, then she looked around. "Where'd everybody go?"
"Er…" To be honest, neither Jenna nor Sheba knew where the boys had gone (with perhaps the obvious exception of Ivan). They looked between each other nervously.
"They… had to go to Market," Sheba lied. Mia became slightly worried. "Oh dear. I hope they're not in any trouble," she said.
"They're men," Sheba said impatiently. "Knowing them, they're probably trying to prove themselves as Master Adepts, and are probably trying to kill each other right now."
Jenna smirked.
"Definitely true in Felix and Garet's case," he said.
"I'm sure Isaac wouldn't be stupid enough to try something like that," Mia said.
"Of course," Sheba drawled. "Your 'boyfriend' is much too clever to not want to test his skills. You know, so he can impress you."
Mia's face became ruby red as Sheba said that.
"We know your secret," Jenna said in a spooky voice.
"S-Secret?" Mia squeaked. "W-What secret? I haven't got anything to hide."
"Oh, I think you do," Sheba said smugly, sniggering. Then she and Jenna began to pace around the fretful Mia.
"You see," Sheba continued, "We've been observing your behaviour ever since we finished our journey five months ago (Mia's eyes widened) and we know your secret crush."
"W-What do you mean?" Mia stammered, face growing forever redder.
"Oh," Jenna began, and Mia began to feel as if she was being interrogated, "A certain Venus Adept, perhaps? One you've dedicated a whole shrine to?"
Mia became slightly outraged.
"How do you know about that?" she demanded. Jenna and Sheba stopped wearing a hole in the floor.
"Well, you see," Jenna began again, "It was really all an accident..."
"Are you sure she's awake?" Jenna asked nervously, as she and Sheba ascended the stairs.
"Well, if she's not awake she will be," Sheba replied. Jenna sweatdropped, wondering what nasty tricks Sheba had up her sleeve.
They reached the top of the stairs, then looked across the hallway.
"Okay... which room is Mia's room?" Jenna asked, but Sheba didn't have a clue.
So, it was time for a little trial and error.
There were four doors on each side - eight doors in total. One was Isaac room, and another was Dora's room, so Jenna and Sheba forgot about those. That left six doors to experiment with.
"Okay... two doors on the left, four doors on the right... Jenna, you take the right side," Sheba concluded. Jenna opened her mouth to argue, but Sheba had already disappeared.
"How'd she do that?" Jenna wondered aloud, then she sighed and opened her first door: A broom closet. Jenna just managed to jump out of the way of a falling ironing board as it crashed to the floor. Sweatdropping, she side-stepped around the ironing board and proceeded to the next door.
Jenna opened the door cautiously, and found... piles of Psynergy Stones. Jenna just had time to squeak before she became smothered in the inevitable avalanche. It took three minutes before she could dig her way to the surface, and she began to wonder what they were doing there in the first place.
Eventually she crawled out of the mini mountain of Psynergy Stones. Dusting herself off, she cast a dirty look at the culprits, then continued to the third door.
It was unusually thinner than the others, and Jenna stepped to the side as she opened it, in case there were anymore nasty surprises. Luckily, there weren't any, and as Jenna peeked inside, she discovered why the door was so thin. The room contained only one thing: a toilet. Jenna fell down in stupidity, and as she recovered she grew a face. She closed the door slowly, then proceeded to the final door where she found Sheba, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.
"What took you so long?" Sheba asked, foot-tapping halted. "See for yourself," Jenna replied, stepping to the side to reveal the results of her misadventures. Sheba took one look at the mayhem and simply nodded without change of expression. "What do you find?" "Nothing much. A bathroom and a second guest bedroom. The wallpa
per's quite nice in there, actually." Jenna raised an eyebrow. "What? Can't I comment on the decorating?"
"... never mind," Jenna said quickly. "Should we go in?"
"'course."
But as Jenna opened the door, the scene on the other side froze abruptly.

Mia froze, and stared at the door as it rattled.
"Oh no... erm..." she stammered, then hit a switch on the door. Instantly her private shrine to her favourite Venus Adept transformed back into the simple guestroom.
The last photo of Isaac {"Who'd you expect? Felix?"} was safely replaced by her
Crystal Rod when Jenna and Sheba walked in.
"Oh, hello," Mia said breathlessly. The other two raised an eyebrow. "I had a nightmare."
"Uh huh..." Sheba said dismissively, pacing around the room. Mia's eyes followed her "What are you looking for?" she asked. Sheba spotted something on the floor, but instead of picking it up, she turned back to Mia.
"Oh, I thought I dropped something in here," she lied, but Mia seemed satisfied enough.
"Okay, well, I'm gonna head to town. I heard there was a Water Show and I wanted to check it out."
"Uh huh..." Sheba said again. Mia bowed to Sheba and Jenna, then departed. Sheba watched Mia exit the room, then smirked and picked up the mystery item on the floor.
"What have you got there?" Jenna asked. Sheba turned around and showed her. "A photo of Isaac," she said. Jenna's eyes widened, and she leaned back against the wall. However, she accidentally hit a hidden switch, and she toppled backwards into a hidden hallway.
"Hey, Jenna!" Sheba called, and she heard a grunt as Jenna recovered and picked herself off the floor.
"Come and check this out!" she called back, and Sheba obliged and followed Jenna into and through the hallway.
"You thinking what I'm thinking, J?"
"I think I am, S."
"It's Discovery Time!" they finished together, as they reached a wooden door.
"... elders first," Sheba said quickly, making Jenna scowl. Sheba shrugged plainly back.
"Fine," Jenna huffed, and she grasped the door handle with curious hands. Slowly, she twisted the handle until she heard a click, then she pulled the door open.
If Sheba hadn't noticed the photo of Isaac that was left on the floor earlier, the 15 year old Jupiter Adept and the 17 year old Mars Adept would be completely stunned. As it was, they just stood at the doorway, taking in the scene around them.
Mia's secret shrine to Isaac was no different than Isaac's shrine to Mia, except that there were pictures of Isaac instead of Mia, and a jewel from Isaac's Gaia
Blade was showcased in a glass container, instead of Mia's hair. In addition, a jukebox was playing the GS theme in the corner. Lastly, the walls were plastered with Venus Djinn wallpaper, which complemented the several framed photos of
Isaac.
"Well," Jenna said finally, "At least we know what Mia's been doing for three months."
Sheba just looked back at Jenna with disbelief.

"So, there you go," Jenna concluded. Mia stared at Jenna, mouth open. Sheba seemed to know what Mia was thinking - although that had nothing to do with her ability to read minds.
"Don't worry, we won't your 'boyfriend' about your secret," she said. Mia breathed a sigh of relief, but when she wasn't listening, Sheba crossed her fingers behind her back.
Suddenly, a massive tornado slammed harmlessly against the window, and the girls ran to the window to see what was going on.

Isaac, Felix and Ivan were still feuding over the tequila bottle, while Garet was still dozing out of harm's way (if there were such a place).
Status of the battle thus far: Isaac and Ivan had teamed up and taken Felix out of the picture, with well-timed attacks. That left the younger Adepts to battle for the tequila.
"Eat whirlwind!" Ivan bellowed, and he sent a tornado towards Isaac, "Too predictable," Isaac said in a drawling voice, and he used his (still active) Ragnarok to pole-vault over the tornado. Ivan jumped back in shock, realising that his trademark attack would be useless against Isaac.
"You won't win!" Ivan declared in a somewhat desperate voice.
"This will end it!" Isaac roared, and he summoned Ground to hold Ivan in place.
"Mmph! No!" Ivan grunted, struggling to escape from Ground's grasp.
"The tequila shall be mine!" Isaac shouted, and he struck Ivan with the Ragnarok. Ivan fell to the ground, defeated, and soon Isaac collapsed after him, exhausted.

The girls ran downstairs and bolted for the door.
"Oh no, they're hurt!" Mia cried.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Sheba said sarcastically, folding her arms. Mia and Jenna gave her faces, but when Jenna turned to the kitchen she saw the tequila and her eyes lit up.
"Hey, look!" she shouted, and Sheba turned around. Mia was no longer inside with them, because she'd gone out to heal the boys (although a Mt. Aleph explosion wouldn't wake Garet up, so she should've let him be).
Jenna and Sheba walked over to the tequila, then at once they grabbed one side of the bottle each. They glared at each other and tried to tug the bottle out of each other's hands, but with no luck. Cranky and tempers rising, they started staring daggers at each other.
Suddenly, Jenna stopped.
"Y'know," she said slowly, "There's enough here for both of us."
"Hey, you're right," Sheba said, and the both of them smirked.

"Urf... where am I?"
Felix opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Mia was attending to Ivan's injuries, Isaac was still sleeping not too far away, and Ivan's Sleep spell still hadn't run out, because Garet was sound asleep.
"Man, that hurts," Felix said, rubbing his head. Satisfied that Ivan was as good as new, Mia ran over to Isaac. Felix and Ivan watched from afar, the same mischievous look on their faces.
It didn't take long for Isaac to recover, and with eyes half open he looked up to see a radiant angel kneeling over him. Her bright blue eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun, and her equally blue hair swayed in the wind. But as Isaac opened his eyes fully, the angel smiled, and this simple act took his breath away. The angel's smile was a thing of absolute beauty, and it lit up her face like the moon in the dark sky. Indeed, he felt overwhelmed, but it was when she spoke did his heart literally skip a beat.
"Oh good, I'm glad you're awake," she said, smile becoming wider. Isaac face became the image of a tomato, and the angel giggled quietly but sweetly all the same.
"While we're young, please," a revolted voice said, and Isaac's fantasy came to a close... well, besides the fact that the angel was still kneeling over him, and that the angel had a name: Mia.
Isaac tried to get up, but a piercing pain in his leg prevented him and he sat awkwardly back down again.
"Just relax," Mia said soothingly, and she closed her eyes. Soon, she was glowing, and she placed her hand on the gash on Isaac's leg {"Yes, not... there."}. In a matter of seconds the gash disappeared, as did the pain. Isaac moved his leg around, then jumped up and stretched. Mia also got up, but she wasn't quite as ecstatic.
"He didn't even notice..." she said quietly. She didn't have time to brood though, because Garet was finally walking up. Unfortunately, the first thing he did was recite another (slightly shorter) poem about butterflies.
"Butterflies dancing on the wall,
Beautiful colours shining in the fall.
But I watch in dismay,
As a cat comes their way,
And gobbles them up, one and all."
Felix groaned and started walking towards the house. Ivan quickly followed, hands over his ears in an attempt to drown Garet's noise. Mia also started to follow, but was stopped when Isaac put a hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" she asked in her typical worried way. Isaac laughed warmly with amusement.
"Don't worry, nothing's wrong," he said, flashing her a smile. "I just want to thank you for healing my leg. Without you, it'd take at least 15 minutes before I could walk again."
"Oh, you're welcome," Mia said, flushing and smiling back nervously.
They only just realised that their faces were but centimetres away from each other's. As they looked into each other's eyes, the heavens shined down on them.
Slowly they faces grew closer, the pinnacle of their friendship looked set to grow to a new level. Isaac could practically smell the heavenly perfume on Mia, and Mia could see herself in Isaac's eyes. Closer and closer their faces got until they were but an inch away from their destination.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!"
"DAMN!" Isaac swore, and after a short delay he and Mia reluctantly pulled away.
Oh well, so much for the heavens shining down on them.
They both started running towards the house, wondering who spoiled their moment and swearing that they'd kill the culprit.
They arrived back at the house to find Garet unconscious on the floor. Immediately they looked to the kitchen and Isaac saw what provoked Garet to scream and collapse.
Sheba and Jenna were finishing the tequila, and they saw the others watching them.
"Cheers!" Sheba said casually, sculling the rest of the tequila. Isaac opened his mouth and, wait for it...
"AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Chapter 7 - Night Two

Isaac was in an agitated mood by bedtime (11:30pm). You'd think his half chance of eternal happiness with Mia {"Wait, wait, hold on! I mean their near miss kiss, that's all... hey, that rhymes! Shweet!"} would cool him down, wouldn't you? I beg to differ, little people...

*

Isaac shuffled around the house, searching for alcohol (Yeah, he still wanted his prize for winning the battle). He was about to check the kitchen again for the 73rd time, when Mia appeared from upstairs.

"I've checked everywhere else," she said. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing left."

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!"

*

As a result, Isaac was as furious as a red bull looking at itself in the mirror. Without saying goodnight, he shut himself in his bedroom.

Mia sighed to herself as she sat back in her chair.

"It'll never happen," she whispered sadly to herself. She stared across the hallway at Isaac's door, remembering how close his face was to hers, and wishing she could see herself in his eyes again.

@

Isaac was still awake, and was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor in the darkness.
"I could've told her," he said to himself." "Damnit, if it weren't for Garet, I could've shown her how I feel! I'll kill him!!!"
'Don't be so hard on yourself,' a calm voice inside his head said. 'It's never too late to confess your feelings.'
'Speak for yourself,' scoffed another voice in Isaac's head. 'You can't even get Tonic to notice you unless you're both being used in battle - and that hasn't been for five months!'
"What the... Flint? Granite? Get out here!"
In a flash, the two Venus Djinni popped out and sat on Isaac's shoulders, grinning widely. Isaac wasn't amused.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. Instantly, the grins turned into looks of shock and resentment.
'What do you mean?' Granite asked.
"I mean this whole... attempt at pretending to help me," Isaac replied.
'Oh, that,' Flint said apathetically. 'Well, really, it's just a plan to takeover all of Weyard.'
'Shut up,' Granite hissed, making Flint scowl. "Seriously, we just want to help you make the right decision. Well, I do, anyway. Flint's obviously deranged."
Flint's maniacal smirk disappeared from his face.
'Well, then,' he said huffily. 'Just who was the first one to find Isaac and Garet? What were you doing until they found you? Probably getting yourself drunk at the Toby Springs, I bet.'
'At least I didn't mistake a Ape for a date,' Granite shot back. That caused Flint to snap, and he launched at Granite.
Amidst the Djinni war, Isaac changed into his Djinn pyjamas (Venus Djinni T-Shirt, Mercury Djinni shorts {"I don't mean anything by this... it was totally random. Honest, cross my heart and hope to eat bottled slugs in a vat of snail custard... er, yes..."}, a Mars Djinni cap, and a Jupiter Djinni sleeping mask), then tucked himself in. Soon, he fell asleep to tiny grunts, punches and yelps of pain.

@

"Mia! Wake up, girl!"
Mia's eyes snapped open, and Garet stopped his finger-clicking. Mia looked around at the others who were watching her, then blushed.
"Sorry guys," she said. "Hold on, how come you're all back?"
"We thought we'd better keep some extra eyes out for Isaac," Garet replied. "And from the looks of things, we'd better keep our eyes out for you as well, hmm?"
"I... that is... I didn't..."
However, before Mia could explain herself, everyone heard an enormous pair of wings flapping outside. Everyone scrambled to a nearby window to catch a glimpse of a massive flying boat sailing in the air about Vale. And guiding the boat was...
"Piers?"
Suddenly, a fierce gust caught the ship in its grasp. Piers fought bravely to regain control of his vessel, but eventually the winds were too powerful for him, and he was catapulted into the side of the house.
"Oh no," Mia squeaked. Everyone rushed outside to retrieve Piers from the roof (and after discovering Piers was still alive, Sheba swore under her breath), and after being rescued by Felix's Growth Psynergy, he stumbled wearily into the house. Everyone followed him slowly, some looking back at the trashed air vessel.

^

Being the calm Lemurian that he was, Piers wasn't at all phased by his near death experience, which is more than can be said for Sheba. On the contrary, she was downright furious that Piers survived. Thankfully, she refrained him bashing him over the head, and merely sat in silence. Ivan frequently gave her fleeting looks, but she never returned them, so he too sat in silence.
"So, what brings you back to Vale?" Mia asked, watching Piers take a tentative sip from his cup of tea.
"Oh, you know, just a cruise," he replied casually. He looked around. "How come you're all still awake?"
"We're on a top secret mission to create a weapon from the Golden Sun at night," Ivan said slyly, but he got a conk on the head from Sheba. "Oww!"
"Well, there is some truth to that," Jenna said, glaring at the younger Jupiter Adepts. "Mia's been asked to babysit Isaac while he's asleep, and we're here to make sure nothing goes cuckoo."
"And to make sure they enjoy themselves," Ivan remarked. ZAP! POW! In two seconds, Ivan was out like a light, and Jenna and, strangely enough, Mia, towering over him, brandishing mallets. Mia suddenly realised what she did, and sat back down to her cup of tea.
"It's not that easy you know," she said defiantly, growing slightly red. Piers raised an eyebrow. "He's been sleep-walking and sleep-casting lately."
"Okay," Piers said slowly, "I can understand the sleep-walking, but sleep-casting?" The others exchanged dark looks at each other. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Sheba lied.
"Sleep-casting is just casting Psynergy in your sleep," Garet explained. Piers nodded slowly, still trying to grasp this new concept of casting Psynergy in your sleep.
"So, has anything else changed since I've been sailing around Weyard?" he asked. He was surprised to see Sheba smirk.
"Well, actually..." she began, but she got an elbow from Jenna, who half-pointed to Mia. Sheba nodded immediately.
"Yes?" Piers enquired.
"... Garet's developed a drinking problem," Sheba said quickly. Garet became horrified.
"Hey!"
"It's the truth, tequila boy, live with it," Jenna said rudely, then hissed to Garet, "Shh! We're keeping Isaac and Mia's secret to ourselves for now, got it?" She nodded towards Mia, who was staring down into her cup in silence, and seemed tuned out of this conversation. Garet nodded quickly.
Sheba also turned to Mia, then back to Piers.
"We'll tell you later," she whispered. Piers nodded again, sipping his head quietly.

@

'Isaac? Iiiiisac?'
He stirred in his sleep.
'Iiiiisac! Do you hear me, Isaac?'
"Huhn!" Isaac muttered.
'You... must... tell Mia... how you feel...'
'Must tell Mia...' Isaac muttered again.
'No!' shouted another voice suddenly.
'Yes, you must tell -"
'Let her stew, don't listen to this stooge.'
'Keep out of this!'
'Isaac, get up!'
"Huhn!" Isaac climbed out of bed.
'Now, jump onto the table!'
'No, don't!'
'Do it!'
'Don't.'
'DO IT!'
'DON'T!'
Both voices shouted to him at the same time, and Isaac ended up smashing into the table.

@

"Did anyone hear that?" Jenna asked suddenly, hearing the crash resulting from Isaac's mishap. Mia lifted her head off the table (She'd fallen asleep) and turned her head to look upstairs.
"Do you think Isaac's in trouble?" she asked.
"Best not risk anything," Garet said and got up out of his chair.
The others nodded in agreement, and everyone but Piers and Ivan (who was still unconscious) started upstairs.
“Will he be okay?” Piers called.
“He’ll recover… eventually,” Jenna called back.
“Just hurry up!” Sheba called impatiently. Piers looked at Ivan once, shrugged then started to follow the others.

^

Everyone arrived at the door of Isaac's bedroom, but they were all hesitant to enter.
"So, who's gonna volunteer?" Garet asked. The others shook their heads, causing Garet to groan.
"Oh, no worries," Jenna said brightly. "Let's vote on it."
Mia's stomach sank, guessing the result of this suggestion.
"Okay, I'll go first," Garet said. "Hmm... I vote for... Mia. Jenna?"
"Mia. Sheba?"
"Mia. Felix?"
"Mia. Piers?"
"... Jenna." Everyone looked at him. "What?"
"Oh, nothing," Sheba lied again, "but sooner or later you'll have to catch up with the news."
Mia fumed, hearing that.
"Okay," Jenna said. "That just leaves Mia to vote."
Mia laughed nervously.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes it does."
Mia sighed heavily.
"Well, if I have to... Jenna."
Garet took an unnecessarily long time to calculate the results.
"The results are: Mia with four votes, Jenna with two." He coughed slightly. "That means... Mia, with four votes, you are the weakest link. Goodbye."
Everyone waved at her, and once again Mia hung her head in defeat. If she weren’t the cheerful, eternally optimistic and friendly Mercury Adept that she was, she probably would've punched everyone's lights out in frustration. However, the niggling feeling of getting to see Isaac again kept her from committing the act {"Why?... you be the judge. I have my own reasons."} . So, she was left with no choice but to enter Isaac's bedroom for a second time.
"Good luck," Jenna said cheerfully, grateful that she wasn't in Mia's shoes.
"You'll need it," Sheba said with her trademark smirk.
"Gee, thanks," Mia said half-spiritedly, edging the door open.

@

'This was your fault,' Granite said irritably, as he and Flint watched Isaac rolling on the floor in pain. Flint gave a rude smirk.
'Simple-minded fool,' he said. 'Aint nothing can hurt the Twinkie!'
'... what?!'
'... uh oh, they're coming.'
Hearing the door click, the two Venus Djinni vanished with a *POP*.
"Isaac?"
Mia's head poked into the dark bedroom. Her hand searched for a light switch, and finding one flicked it on. However, she sweatdropped when she saw the scene before her: blankets sprawled on the bed; the bedside table tipped over, with shirts, socks and underwear hanging in peculiar places; and a blonde 17-year old teenage boy rolling on the floor in agony, clutching his leg in excruciating pain.
"Isaac! What happened?"
Isaac froze in mid-roll, and Mia rushed over to him.
"Erm..." he said slowly. "... I got big owwie boo-boo on my leg."
Mia giggled, which was music to Isaac's ears (of course), and rested her hand on Isaac's leg again {"Over the GASH!... disgusting people. Oh, er, sorry... I'll be quiet."}. Soon, the pain evaporated from Isaac leg and he stood up, grinning awkwardly at her. Mia thought he looked adorable, grinning sheepishly like that, but of course she wasn't about to tell him herself.
Likewise, Isaac thought Mia looked stunning in the moonlight. Her hair shone with great beauty, her eyes glistened brightly, and her dress blew in the wind {"Er, the window was open."}. Like Mia, Isaac couldn't bring up the courage to admit how he felt.
For a little while, they just stood there, smiling nervously at each other. Their lips trembled, wanting to express their feelings.
"So, um..." Isaac began nervously.
"Yes?" Mia said, growing a coy smile. Isaac's heart leapt, and his voice became stuck in his throat.
"I want to tell you something... something very important."
"I'm glad you said that, because I have something to tell you as well."
"Best you go first, then."
"No, you go."
"Mia..."
"Isaac..."
"I..." they began at the same time, but a deafening scream rang from behind the door, and they were forced to stop in mid-sentence.
"You'd better go see what's going on," Isaac said, looking towards the door apprehensively.
"Are... are you sure?" Mia asked, worried that Isaac might injure himself again.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Isaac said, flashing Mia a confident smile. Mia started to feel more relaxed, but she remained concerned about Isaac's health. Suddenly, a lightbulb lip up above Mia's head.
"Do you mind getting back into bed?" she asked. Isaac looked at her strangely, but nodded obligingly and tucked himself back into bed.
"Okay, this won't hurt," Mia said soothingly. Isaac gave her another confident smile, giving Mia the confirmation to continue. Seeing this, she closed her eyes and once again began to glow. Soon, a purple mist started to surround Isaac. His eyes became heavy, his mind cloudy, and soon he was sleeping peacefully. Mia observed the results and gave a small smile.
"Great, it works," she said to herself. She looked at Isaac, who was sleeping like a baby, and her smile grew wider. "Sweet dreams, my love... I just hope you feel the same way."
A soft thud came from the other side of the door, and Mia snapped back into reality. Her face turned into a look, and she walked to the door. However, before she turned off the light she looked at Isaac again and beamed.
"If only you knew how special you are to me," she said quietly. Turning back to the door, she resumed her look and flicked off the light. Closing the door behind her, her face was of utter destruction.

@

"Mia's coming!" Sheba whispered urgently. Everybody's stomaches sank imagining Mia's wrath.
"What'll we do?" Jenna asked desperately. No one had time to answer, however, because a blue flash of fury burst through the door. In three seconds, everyone but Garet (who's been knocked out by Jenna) and Ivan (who STILL seemed to be downstairs) had felt Mia's outrage, and were lying on the ground unconscious, with swivelled eyes.
"Hmph! No one messes with a lovestruck Mercury Adept!" Mia said huffily, then she realised what she said and blushed brightly. Garet managed to recover, and gingerly got up. He looked from an unconscious band of Adepts to a disgruntled Mia and sweatdropped.
"Should I even -"
"Make another sound, and you're joining them in Lalaland!"
"Er, okay."
At that moment, Ivan (who'd FINALLY recovered) crept upstairs. He too observed the results of Mia's anger, and looked ready to bolt back downstairs with Garet, but Mia stood in their way.
"Don't move!" she commanded. Garet and Ivan froze, then scuttled into a corner. Mia "hmph"ed again and went downstairs to make coffee.
"Do you have a clue what's going on?" Ivan asked timidly. Garet shook his head slowly, rubbing a bump on his forehead where Jenna had conked him on the head.

Chapters 8 & 9 - GO!