Hello! Sunami Silverblade here, at long last. I've been very busy lately, with homework and all, but I still managed to write a bit more of this story. It's been awkward, considering my bad habit of starting several stories at once and never finishing them. but I'll finish this one, I promise! ^_^ At the moment I'm listening to my new Avril Lavigne CD, which I got for my birthday! How cool is that? Usually I'm into the whole "rock music" thing, but who can resist Avril's music? Not me, that's for sure. ^_^

Aside from homework, I've spent many, many, MANY hours on my new game for PS2, Dance Dance Revolution Max. I'm getting better, even though my legs are so sore by the end of the day I can hardly walk! (Sunami gets carried away, sometimes.)

IT'S A SNOW DAY!!! For the first time this year, I am relaxing in the old-fashioned luxury of a snow day. I've already planned out my day-have fun, sleep, write, and have fun. And sleep. (Yep, that's about my entire schedule!) I'm enjoying my freedom so much!

(*Blushing*) Oh, sorry. I'll shut up now, because no one wants to hear about me.

Well, here's the fourth part to "A Dangerous Love", and I hope you like it! (If anyone wants to be nice, check out my stories on FictionPress.net, under the pen name sunami. Thanks! ^_^) Here goes!

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Shards of blood-red glass, ice mingled with Menardi's blood, exploded in midair, then rained violently down upon Mia and Alex, who watched in awe. Both were stunned into silence by the power of Boreas' attack.

Their enemy-Menardi, the Fire Adept-was dead. In the time it took for one to draw breath or blink an eye, she was gone from the mortal realms forever. The suddenness left Mia and Alex numb with shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Mia just stared for several moments. "Thank you, Boreas," she said weakly. The giant robot, Boreas, nodded and turned away. She watched as the machine trudged slowly, one foot, then another, into the sea, continuing his walk until even his immense head disappeared beneath the waves, leaving only a churning patch of foamy seawater in his wake.

"Impressive," gasped Alex, who was still struggling for breath. The sound of his agony jolted Mia back to reality, and she pivoted on her heels, forgetting about Menardi's gruesome demise. Alex's imminent death was far more important.

"Alex?" She ran uphill towards him, but lost her footing on the slippery, wet grass, falling to the ground with a sharp cry of pain. "Alex!" Mia struggled to rise to her feet, clutching the ground frantically. Though she tried with all her might, her fingers only slithered past the soaked grass, uselessly. Desperate anger rose within her, and she stifled a curse. "Why is this so hard to climb?" she cried, furious, struggling to right herself.

When she looked down, she saw why.

Her face drained of all color as she saw the ground was soaked through with Alex's blood. Red liquid stained each blade of grass, forming a pool around the Mercury Adept's wounded body.

"Alex!" With careful precision, she climbed the hill, digging her feet into the ground for balance. When she reached him, she could not hide the fear that whitened her face.

"I've never died before," Alex said serenely, lying weakly on the blood- drenched grass. His grin swiftly turned into a grimace of pain, and he sucked in an agonized breath. "I wish someone would have told me how bad it hurts."

Mia carefully examined him, looking for the source of the bleeding. She found it soon; a gaping wound in his left side, where Menardi's fireball must have hit. "You won't die, Alex," she whispered, trying to keep her voice from trembling nearly as much as her hands were. "I won't let you."

He forced a smile. "How touching."

Mia tried to laugh through the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, but instead the chuckle came out as a terrified, shuddering sob.

"Don't cry," he said, choking. "I don't want my last memory of you to be a sad one."

"You're not going to die!" She snapped suddenly, desperately. "So stop talking like that!" Stunned, he nodded, and Mia began to dig through the pockets of her robes. Her thin fingers closed about something cold and cool, sealed in a precious glass jar.

Hermes' Water. It was still there, from her and her companion's journey to the Mercury Lighthouse several weeks ago. She had never used it, had never needed it. until now.

"Alex, take this. It's healing water. Drink it," she said, trying to control the adrenaline pounding in her veins. "You need it."

Alex stared at her for a long moment, his blue eyes delving deep into hers. Then, as Mia watched in horror, his eyes fogged, his head lolled to one side, and his breathing grew incredibly, dangerously shallow.

The pool of blood beneath his body only grew deeper.