Sue, a guileless girl rapidly approaching womanhood, stood alone on the beach, gazing over the teal water with her gentle many-colored spheres. Her opaline hair danced lightly in the ocean breeze, tickling against one cheek as she smiled to herself with anticipation, resting her cheek against one hand as she clacked the heels of her inky boots together. She wore a pea-colored shirt with sleeves that ran down to her wrists and a pair of starless formal pants. Her coiffure flowed in a opaline torrent past her shoulders, complementing her guileless rouge-flushed silvery visage. Beautiful wings sprouted from her back. Her thoughts wandered to her days in Blake's company. They had known each other since they were children. They had spent time together so often that, despite all differences, others often mistook them as siblings. However, it was not until recently that they had recognized their feelings for each other. From then on, she cared about him with every fiber of her being, but Blake switched from warmth to coldness in a flash, struggling with his inner anguish. But she loved him no matter how many times he pushed her away. That was how it was to this very day. "Sue," Blake said simply with no trace of emotion. His navy orbs complimented his color-mixed strands, tied back from his face, belying his baleful heart. He was dressed in his usual everyday clothes. He had a toned but slender body covered with ivory, tinted with russet, skin. As Sue drew nearer, she caught a note of his familiar scent of lingering iron and steel. She smiled to herself. It always reminded her of the time they shared.

"Oh, Blake! You came!" Sue said breathlessly, reaching out to take him into an embrace. He took a half-step back, enough to remind her that he still preferred some distance. She humored him and dropped her arms without comment, still smiling. With that, they began to walk along the beach.

"Blake," she intoned, "the sea is beautiful, isn't it? It's so sapphire and glittering." She glanced toward Blake, who was unresponsive. "U-um... I'm really glad we can spend time together today. It's so lovely and warm."

"I don't care about the weather," Blake snapped.

She jumped almost instantly, guilt flashed across his face, but just as quickly his cold facade returned to hide it. He looked at her, the loveliness of her opaline locks, the hint of sadness in her angelic globes, and her beauty pierced Blake's heart with shame. Who was he, after all, to hurt such a creature? He was to her as a devil to an angel. He summoned the strength to confess, "No." Sue looked up at him with surprise. "Don't be... never mind." I should be the one who's sorry, Blake thought to himself, but he couldn't work up the courage to say it.

Gently, she brought her hand toward his, whispering, "It's okay. Don't... don't worry for me." For a few moments they passed through another chilly silence. "Sue," Blake murmured at last. "I like these dates."

"Do you really?" she piped hopefully.

He was not supposed to be involved like this. Torn between this and country. Not only that, he was never good enough. And yet still Sue looked at him with such adoration. He was undeserving. "Yes," he muttered. "I like spending time with you." She beamed such a happy smile at him that he couldn't help but look away. "I admit it, all right? ... I hate it when you're sad."

Sue slipped her fingers into his curled hand and whispered, "I'm not so sad. I wish I could make you less sad. You're really hurting inside, I can feel it."

He accepted her touch and held her hand in his, saying nothing.

Sue listened quietly, pain flashing across her features as Blake recounted his sorrows. At last, he finished, and a moment of silence passed between them.

He seemed so empty and unsure. She brought her head against his chest in reassurance, murmuring, "Blake... I... I don't know what it's like, to live with your legacy of failure... but... I'm sorry, Blake. I wish... I wish I could help." Blake's eyes began to redden, and he abruptly pulled her into a fierce embrace. Her crystals widened at first, but then she too felt overwhelmed by emotion and succumbed to the warmth of his touch.

"You," Blake whispered, his breath hot on her ear. "As long as you're here, I... I can make it." They held each other as tears trickled down cheeks and dripped onto the shifting sands to be carried away into the sea. Their pain dissipated into a mist swept out by the ocean breeze and toward the setting sun, where dark clouds began to loom into sight.

"Mm. Sunset."

Sue lifted her head at Blake's words to behold the dying sun's salmon radiance. But even as she replied, "How beautiful," the onyx clouds looming on the horizon worried her. "Blake, I'm worried about those clouds. Maybe we should go back."

Blake looked at her with such baleful orbs and asked, "Just a few moments more? I don't want it to be over yet."

"Mm... if you want to," she relented.

They were unprepared for how swift, how brutal the coming storm was. The rain poured in torrents, bading the ocean itself to rise. Winds whipped about them and kept them from moving on the shifting sands. Soaking, shivering, they fought against the storm.

"Blake!" Sue screamed against the wind. "Please, don't let go!"

"I won't!" Blake shouted back, his hand clasping hers firmly as he struggled upward on the beach. "It's my fault! I won't fail you, Sue!"

"Blake-!"

Her scream was lost in the crash of waves against her body, the roar and power of the sea risen to steal her from her lover.

She struggled against the water, but it was too much. The violence of the storm-swept waves forced her under without contest.

The waves had beaten the air out of her lungs. Desperately, she willed herself not to suck in the icy water about her. Will I die this way? she wondered. Will I die... like this...?

A calloused hand seized hers and she felt herself being pulled up, up and up until the cold wind hit her face again. She coughed, sucking in the air greedily. Her arms had tightened themselves around Blake's neck without permission, and he was shouting, "Hold on, Sue. Hold on!"

"Blake," she murmured. "You shouldn't have. We can't make it out here. This way, you'll die, too..."

"Don't talk like that, Sue," he commanded. "Your life is worth far more than mine."

"Blake..."

Thunder crashed in the distance, and the waves pitched and brought a mouthful of salty water against their faces. She coughed and held on to him, thinking, no, this isn't how it should end, this isn't how *Blake* should die...

Something bumped against her leg. A shark? Fear coursed through her body. But before she could react, another wave pushed them under. Blake slumped against her, momentarily knocked senseless. With burning eyes, Sue saw a large silhouette with a slender body and a bottle-like nose.

A dolphin, she thought. How lucky.

Summoning forth all her will, she put Blake on the dolphin's back.

It was the last thing she did before her world went black.

Three days later…

"She was always so sweet, so gentle. I don't think I've met anyone else so kind."

"The world is truly darker without her, without our little light."

"Don't forget what she did. How much she helped us in those dark times."

Blake sat on a chair by the coffin, his hands around his knees, his spheres dry, his soul too numbed to grieve. The funeral attendees nodded to him as they passed. He was motionless in response.

The reception lasted hours, but it seemed to Blake that it was only moments before the crowd disappeared. He picked himself off the chair and turned to look into the coffin for the first time since the funeral started.

Eyes closed and still, Sue laid inside in a fine moss-colored dress, her hands clasped over her chest. She could have been in a very deep sleep. Blake fought the urge to reach out and nudge her awake. Sue was gone. Gone because of him. Because she loved him. Trembling, Blake leaned in and laid a single kiss on her lips.