I HOPE I AM NOT TOO LATE FOR ANON TO NOTICE. I only beat TLA a week ago and only got the first game in July. :( ------------------
It started, all that time ago, back on Mercury Lighthouse. Saturos, though weakened immensely by the star hovering just a short distance away, put up a very good fight. His Psynergy was still very strong, and Ivan specifically recalled having quite a few burns afterwards. But that wasn't what spurred anything on. It was near the end of the fight, after a particularly strong Volcano knocked Ivan straight over. Saturos seized the opportunity, launching forward and aiming that scythe -- gleaming so brilliantly in the most ominous ways -- straight for Ivan's neck. He could not move, paralyzed in fear, no matter how absurdly slow the time played out in that moment as he remembered it now. And he may very well have been dead after that point, too, had a sword not caught the scythe in its path just before it would have hit.
"Isaac!" That's what he had said when he looked up from the sword that had saved his life -- to see their blonde leader. When the Proxian stepped backwards, just a bit, Isaac shot a short glance behind him to quickly make certain Ivan wasn't hurt too badly, before casting a quick Spire to distract their opponent while Ivan scrambled to get up to his feet.
And that was over five years ago. These days, Ivan would have been able to shoot Spark Plasma faster than Saturos could have ever hoped to swing that scythe. He spent most of his time training, and had done so for a long time now. He lived with Hama now, teaching a few young Jupiter Adepts in Contigo how to use their latent powers. Him and his sister were treated with incredible amounts of respect as well, and no matter how long Ivan lived there, he could not get used to it, and even now still responded modestly, much to the adoration of the local girls -- though that had been more of a recent development since only then had he begun to look slightly closer to his actual age than before. He also hadn't seen his friends from Vale in nearly four years. He still wrote to Hammet and his wife occasionally, and he had stopped by to visit for a while before he left for Contigo initially. And Sheba came by once in a while, though, and she had grown up nicely. Though she also had the potential to be incredibly devious, and sometimes invoked that without warning, Ivan would have liked her, had it been not for the fact that he liked someone else entirely. Since that day on Mercury Lighthouse five years ago, he hadn't cared about anyone else romantically.
"You should really go visit Isaac," Sheba casually commented virtually every time she visited. Of course she would know, she found it perfectly all right to Mind Read him at any time without being given any permission whatsoever. Every time she said that comment about visiting... well, wherever the villagers from Vale rebuilt their village, Hama would nod in agreement. And even though Ivan would reply that Contigo needed him around, Sheba would tell him that was just an excuse. "You shouldn't be afraid of your feelings." He couldn't remember which of them had said that first, since they both tended to say things that meant that same thing very often.
But no matter what either of them said, Ivan never left. He knew somewhere deep down that he really was afraid. Even with his crush lasting all this long, what if Isaac never had felt anything similar? Probably never did -- in Ivan's mind, Isaac was the hero everyone loved. Surely he had some kind of girlfriend by now. Or kids and a lovely wife. If that was the case, of course he'd be happy for Isaac. But at the same time, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to let go of his feelings.
Ivan did not want to feel like this. If he had just fallen in love with Sheba things would be lovely, they'd have little Jupiter Adepts on the way, and a happy life. Maybe. But no, he had to find himself hopelessly crushing on a guy he hadn't seen in years that would most likely never return the feeling. It had been so long that he'd gotten used to it, hardly bothered by it anymore. And he was nearly content with it by now.
Since That Day (1/4)
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It started, all that time ago, back on Mercury Lighthouse.
Saturos, though weakened immensely by the star hovering just a short distance away, put up a very good fight. His Psynergy was still very strong, and Ivan specifically recalled having quite a few burns afterwards. But that wasn't what spurred anything on.
It was near the end of the fight, after a particularly strong Volcano knocked Ivan straight over. Saturos seized the opportunity, launching forward and aiming that scythe -- gleaming so brilliantly in the most ominous ways -- straight for Ivan's neck.
He could not move, paralyzed in fear, no matter how absurdly slow the time played out in that moment as he remembered it now. And he may very well have been dead after that point, too, had a sword not caught the scythe in its path just before it would have hit.
"Isaac!"
That's what he had said when he looked up from the sword that had saved his life -- to see their blonde leader. When the Proxian stepped backwards, just a bit, Isaac shot a short glance behind him to quickly make certain Ivan wasn't hurt too badly, before casting a quick Spire to distract their opponent while Ivan scrambled to get up to his feet.
And that was over five years ago.
These days, Ivan would have been able to shoot Spark Plasma faster than Saturos could have ever hoped to swing that scythe. He spent most of his time training, and had done so for a long time now. He lived with Hama now, teaching a few young Jupiter Adepts in Contigo how to use their latent powers. Him and his sister were treated with incredible amounts of respect as well, and no matter how long Ivan lived there, he could not get used to it, and even now still responded modestly, much to the adoration of the local girls -- though that had been more of a recent development since only then had he begun to look slightly closer to his actual age than before.
He also hadn't seen his friends from Vale in nearly four years.
He still wrote to Hammet and his wife occasionally, and he had stopped by to visit for a while before he left for Contigo initially. And Sheba came by once in a while, though, and she had grown up nicely. Though she also had the potential to be incredibly devious, and sometimes invoked that without warning, Ivan would have liked her, had it been not for the fact that he liked someone else entirely.
Since that day on Mercury Lighthouse five years ago, he hadn't cared about anyone else romantically.
"You should really go visit Isaac," Sheba casually commented virtually every time she visited. Of course she would know, she found it perfectly all right to Mind Read him at any time without being given any permission whatsoever.
Every time she said that comment about visiting... well, wherever the villagers from Vale rebuilt their village, Hama would nod in agreement. And even though Ivan would reply that Contigo needed him around, Sheba would tell him that was just an excuse. "You shouldn't be afraid of your feelings." He couldn't remember which of them had said that first, since they both tended to say things that meant that same thing very often.
But no matter what either of them said, Ivan never left. He knew somewhere deep down that he really was afraid. Even with his crush lasting all this long, what if Isaac never had felt anything similar? Probably never did -- in Ivan's mind, Isaac was the hero everyone loved. Surely he had some kind of girlfriend by now. Or kids and a lovely wife. If that was the case, of course he'd be happy for Isaac.
But at the same time, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to let go of his feelings.
Ivan did not want to feel like this. If he had just fallen in love with Sheba things would be lovely, they'd have little Jupiter Adepts on the way, and a happy life. Maybe. But no, he had to find himself hopelessly crushing on a guy he hadn't seen in years that would most likely never return the feeling. It had been so long that he'd gotten used to it, hardly bothered by it anymore. And he was nearly content with it by now.