Cynic Productions and L.O.S.E.R.S. presents...

"The Secret Life of Adepts: There's Nothing Left"

Pitter patter! Pitter patter!
Raindrops pelted the window of Isaac's bedroom, but it wasn't this that kept him awake. He sat up in bed, fully clothed and his mind racing. His normally tranquil and warm blue eyes were bloodshot, suggesting that he'd been awake all night. If you looked closely into those bloodshot eyes, you'd see the images that kept him from forgetting Mia's death.

"Mia! Look out!"

Boulders rumbling. Isaac shouting out to nothing.

"No, Mia!"

Her look of horror as the boulders approach.

"Please, Mia, wake up!"

Mia's body lying unconscious on the ground. Isaac's relentless tears.

"I'm sorry... she's gone."

A flash of lightning. Rain pouring down. Isaac's already tear-soaked face. His expression of disbelief and horror. Mia's motionless body. Her closed, unblinking eyes.

"MIA!!!"

Another flash of lightning as everything fades into black.

"Oh my God!"

Jenna clasped her hands to her mouth in shock when Isaac emerged from his house the next morning. Garet's eyes were wider than dinner plates and his mouth gaped when he had seen Isaac's condition. The donut Garet was eating almost fell out of his hand as he stared at his best friend.
Since he'd stayed up all night, Isaac looked almost like a zombie. His eyes were dark red and had very dark rings around them. The rest of his face suggested severe lack of sleep as well: His cheeks were sagging, his lips pale and his hair sticking up in more places then usual.
"Don't tell me you stayed up all night!" Jenna cried in disbelief, making Isaac and Garet wince.
"Isaac," Garet said slowly, after emptying his head of Jenna's shrill voice, "you're not still thinking about Mia, are you?"
At the mention of Mia's name, Isaac's zombie eyes popped open and he desperately looked around. Obviously he was expecting for Mia to jump out and surprise him, but when that didn't happen his face plummeted. Garet and Jenna watched sympathetically, knowing how much Isaac loved Mia and how much he regretted never telling her.
"You've got to get over it, Isaac!" Garet said finally. "Mia's dead, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
He suddenly raised his hands in self-defence when Isaac and Jenna glared at him, "I mean, look at what it's done to you!"
"Just what do you mean?" Isaac asked. The rest of the group arrived at his house as Garet cowered under his friends' glares.
Their reactions to Isaac's appearance were extraordinary. Sheba screamed very much like Jenna and clung on to Felix, whose normally stony face went as pale as a ghost. Although not as pale as Ivan, who had dropped his book in shock when he saw Isaac's condition. All three, like Jenna and Garet before then, stared horrified at the blonde Venus Adept.
"What happened to you?" Ivan gasped, oblivious to his fallen book.
"You look exhausted," Sheba said quietly. It was a rarity for her to speak so softly, since she was always loud. "You need some sleep."
"I don't need anything," Isaac said coldly, but no one listened.
"You need to get to bed," Sheba repeated. "Sleep's good for you."
"Mia's gone now, you've got to move on," Garet urged.
"Stop worrying about me!" Isaac shouted suddenly, and everyone jumped back in alarm.
"Just - leave - me - alone." He stomped away, heading north, leaving the hand of shocked teenagers standing in front of his house.
"Come on," Felix muttered finally.
"But -" Jenna protested, but Felix shook his head.
"It's best that we let Isaac deal with Mia's death alone," he said. "He needs time to come to terms with it."
"Isaac..." Jenna looked down at the ground and Garet rested a hand on her shoulder to console her. Ivan finally picked up his book off the ground and, with Felix, led the solemn group in the opposite direction from Isaac towards the markets.

'Why Mia?' Isaac thought to the heavens as he walked. His appearance had gradually improved, but the rings still remained. An invisible aura of gloom also surrounded him. 'She'd never done anything malicious. 'She was always kind, always carrying, always looking out for the wellbeing of others. She... she didn't deserve to... 'die'.'
At the word 'die', Isaac's body suddenly shook violently. He grasped on to a tree to steady himself, but the shaking didn't cease.
"WHY?" he shouted to the heavens, to Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.
"Why did you have to take Mia away from me? She was the most special girl in my life, and you took her away! What did you hope to gain by making me lose the only girl I'll ever love? FOR THE LOVE OF VENUS, TELL ME!"
If you dared to take a look outside your window, you'd see a shattered blonde teenage boy holding onto a tree, trying to maintain his balance.
However, as hard as you squinted you'd never be able to see the invisible tears that failed to stream down his face. His face may be droopy, his knees weak, his body ready to collapse, but no tears would break through their ducts. Minutes later, he managed to regain enough strength to stand steady. After composing himself, he continued north, along the path to the Elder's Sanctum.

"Great Healer... I need your help..."
The Great Healer turned around from his meditation to find a grim-faced blonde boy standing at the door. He took his weed pipe from his mouth and approached the boy. He recognised the boy as Isaac.
"What seems to be troubling you, my son?" he asked calmly (and ironically in that sense, considering Isaac's almost unbearable state).
"You're able to revive people, yes?" Isaac blurted desperately.
"Well, yes," the Great Healer said, surprised at the tone of urgency of Isaac's voice. "Why do you ask?"
"I was wondering," Isaac said quietly, desperation more than urgency, "are you able to revive people... from the dead?"
"Oh." The Great Healer took a puff from his pipe and Isaac felt his ones resting on his answer. "I'm... afraid not."
These simple three words had the power to shatter Isaac's world to minuscule pieces. (Quite different impact that "I love you" wouldn't you say?) He'd know, somehow, that resurrection wasn't possible, but still he felt his heart internally combust.
"Are... are you sure?" Isaac stammered, somewhat in denial. "There must be a way... there has to be a way."
"Who is it that you wish to resurrect?"
Isaac stared at the ground for a long time, fighting the urge to shed his invisible tears. Finally, with a heavy voice, he whispered, "Mia."
"Ah, yes," the Great Healer said quietly. "The Imilean healer. Yes, I know," he added, as Isaac opened his mouth to speak.
"The girl you love. However, I do not have the power to resurrect people from death."
"Great Healer?"
Isaac and the Great Healer spun around to see an image of Mia's head above the fireplace. However, it, well, she was moving, and Isaac's heart skipped a beat. He and the Great Healer approached the fireplace where Mia's head looked down at them.
"M... Mia?" Isaac managed to choke out, obviously in disbelief. "Is... is that you?"
Mia's head smiled and nodded. The Great Healer scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm," he mused, "it seems spirits of those who have passed away can still return, although not in full physical form."
Mia nodded again. "Yes, but I only have a short time."
"What do you mean?" Isaac asked, his balloon of hope starting to deflate. Mia's face changed from a smile to a look of serious concern.
"I've been watching you, Isaac," she said. "Ever since my funeral, I've been watching you. Yes, I know how you feel about me... and I feel the same way."
Isaac had opened his mouth to speak again, but it seemed that Mia had read his mind. He stared down at the floor in frozen shock, part of his overfilled with joy, the other with strongest regret. She loved me too, he thought to himself. She loved him too, but he was too chicken to tell her.
"Please, don't beat yourself up over it," Mia said, noticing Isaac's sorrow reaction. "I'd known you've loved me long before that say, but I could never bring myself to tell you that I feel the same way."
The Great Healer had long departed to let the two talk alone. When Isaac listed his head to look at Mia again, he found that she was crying.
"What's wrong?" he asked desperately, regretting his inability to be able to hold Mia close.
"I'm sorry," Mia sobbed, "but I've also seen how you've been since the funeral. That means I watched you last night... I was afraid you'd try to take your own life."
A huge surge of guilt suddenly swept over Isaac. He never meant to upset Mia in any way, even if she was in the afterlife. However, part of him still couldn't bear to be without her.
"I'm sorry," he said, "but I can't think about living my life without you. You're my life, and without you I have nothing."
Despite her tears, Mia smiled faintly at Isaac's dedication to her.
"I thank you for the loving words," she said serenely. "However, you've got to learn to go on without me."
"NO!" Isaac shouted suddenly, and Mia became stunned. "I don't want to think about life without you. I need you."
After her initial shock, Mia's face broke into a sad smile. At the same time, Isaac's already cracked heart began to split. He stared desperately at Mia's face, longing to hold her but knowing it would never be possible.
"I... I need you," he repeated, but Mia's image began to fade. "Mia? What... what's happening?"
"Oh," Mia said, sorrow returning to her expression. "I guess it's time for me to go."
"No!" Isaac cried. "Mia, don't leave me!"
"Isaac" Mia said, slightly stern, "do not live your life ruing over my death. Do not cry over me that you forgot how to live. Please, go out and live your life... even if it's without me."
"Mia," Isaac said quietly.
"Don't forget me," Mia said, and her image vanished completely. Isaac fell to his knees, shattered beyond repair.
"Why?" he screamed, but no one answered his call.

Night time fell without notice, but one person found that it didn't matter to him. This person sat in his room, alone in the menacing darkness. His eyes had long returned to their natural blue shade, but they were closed as he sat on his bed, his head in his hands. These eyes were still unable to shed tears, but the person's body shook uncontrollably.
"Mia," he sobbed. "I love you... I always will... and I'd do anything for you..."
He lifted his head, and his eyes surveyed the darkness of his room.
"But I cannot pretend to live my life normally anymore. I want to be here, by my side... but I guess that'll no longer be possible."
His eyes fell on his Gaia Blade.
"There nothing left..."
These would be the last words he'd ever speak. He retrieved his Gaia Blade from the back wall and stood in the centre of the room. Listening for any noise in the house, he raised his weapon above his head. Not a sound. Taking one last look at his room, his bed, his sleeping Djinn, his photo of Mia, he began to lower his sword.

In space, the alignment of Venus altered, and the planet spun permanently out of orbit.

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Mini Isaac: (wide eyed) "What the heck was that?" Cynic: (uneasily) "Eheh... sorry." Mini Mia: "SORRY?!" Pummels Cynic. Mini Kirby: "Pikachu!" Everyone: OO; Mini Garet: "... I can't think of anything to say." Mini Jenna: "Big surprise." Mini Garet:

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Lord Cynic announcement!

"For the record, this is a one-shot. Don't expect any extra chapters. Also, as you can probably tell, this is the sequel to The Funeral (if you didn't read the summary). I decided to make this a trilogy (Mt Aleph's Outrage, The Funeral, There's Nothing Left) because... well... I felt it was appropriate in sorts. There has to be an aftermath of results, doesn't there? HOWEVER, I am a huge Mudshipper, do not label me as a Mudbasher, or this fic as a Mudbasher. That also means no Mud/Mia/Isaac bashing in reviews either. This is not part of the real series of The Secret Life of Adepts. This is simply a side-story, and at the time Isaac/Mia was the only relationship more or less covered in my previous fanfics.
To recount: One-shot. Not part of real story. No Mud/Mia/Isaac bashing in reviews. Don't expect more chapters, but expect reader spotlight updates in this one chapter. Capisho?"