Mia sighed heavily, smoothing her long skirts with her pale hands. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have gone up this path... The trail up Mount Aleph...

Morning's pale sunlight was gradually growing stronger, warmth spreading across the bold green leaves of the stunted trees, the patchy grass, the fast-growing weeds and bushes. The mountain had recovered swiftly from its eruption. It had taken no time at all, even with floods and earthquakes, for the wounded land to flourish with vegetation again. Alchemy was a powerful force of good...

Mia had never been up the famous peak before, so she didn't know how different it had once been. She had seen Vale once before, when she met Garet's sister and a few other members of the village during their journey. They hadn't had the time to give her and Ivan an actual tour, though.

Aleph had sank into the ground, taking the Vale she'd seen with it. Now the peak was little more than a tall hill, but still, she took her time meandering along the unused path. Birds called playfully out to the Mercury Adept, colourful feathers flitting about her, their bright eyes alight with curiosity for her vibrant aquamarine hair. She sighed, offering them a rueful smile as she waved them away. Animals were rarely afraid of adepts, since the power of alchemy tied so closely in to nature. Some adepts could even turn into animals, like the wolves of Garoh, or so Jenna had told her.

Mia frowned, her teal eyes misty for a moment. She shook her head, trying to swallow her misgivings and the swirling emotions within her. There was nowhere else for her to go... She had to see him. She needed to talk to him.

"Alex..."

Her soft voice choked. She had sworn never to speak of him again, the traitor, the one who had betrayed all of his kind for his own power trip, the one who had turned his back on her... But she could never escape him. He... had died here. Alex, on the top of this peak, had been dragged into this very earth. Had this been where his boots stood, his proud eyes gazing over the world rising around him? Was this his final sight, nature all around him, before the darkness engulfed him?

Had he... thought of her?

"Alex, I... I needed to talk to you... I never... got to say goodbye," Mia stammered, fingering the hem of her blouse. Her downcast eyes brimmed with tears. This was too painful. There was no marker for him, no headstone for his grave. Someone of Alex's caliber... He should at least be remembered. For all the things he'd done, he at least deserved to be a memory... to someone...

"I... I always wondered why you left. Alex... I wish you could hear me," she whimpered, looking away from the hillock at her feet. "You might not even be here... You could be on any one of these hills. I can't tell the difference. They all look the same to me. Alex, I just... I just wanted to..."

Mia swallowed hard, holding back her tears. It would not do to cry in front of him. He would smirk, his haughty eyes sparkling as he'd come up with some teasing remark about her kindness. He was always telling her that she was too nice, too gentle. That she should be stronger. She had tried, time and again, to show him up, to get better than him. Alex just learned too quickly. Perhaps it was those few years he had over her age. Or perhaps he was just more talented at Psynergy. He didn't fear it like she did. Obviously not, if he desired the power of all the elements, not just the one he was born into.

"Just wanted to... to talk to you. To let you know what's going on with me. I... I stayed at Imil for a while, but I'm visiting in Vale now. I'm staying with Jenna. Felix is traveling with Sheba to Lalivero... Those two are inseparable, so I have Felix's room for a while. Jenna... She talked to me about you. I had said... Well, I called you a traitor. And that's what you are. I don't even know why I'm speaking to you. I swore I'd have nothing to do with you anymore, after... after you left me behind..."

Mia settled down onto her knees, spreading her skirts around her in a circle on the grass. She titled her head upward, enjoying the warmth that the sun offered her. She took several deep, calming breaths, controlling her rising feelings. It was hard to explain what Alex was to her. He was the thorn in her side, the one who knew her best, the guy she'd grown up with.

"Anyway, I asked Jenna if she and you liked each other. She couldn't stop talking about you when we first met... I'd heard so many stories about Jenna from Isaac and Garet that I felt like I knew her. I wondered if after all the time you'd spent with her, if you two had anything... and she told me... She said that it was impossible not to like you. That you were the sort of person that could torment anyone with your attitude, but despite all that, it was so hard not to feel fond of you and your charms. I knew what she meant... But she also said that... even though she had a crush on you, and even when you seemed like you were flirting with her... there was never any sparkle in those eyes of yours. You would glance at her, and glance right through her like she was nothing. She said you were the same with Karst, and Menardi, and everyone else. You never took anyone seriously... like there was someone you cared about instead of them, and they... they never measured up..."

Mia dug her fingers in the grass, clenching her fists tightly. Her eyes were brimming with those tears, threatening to overflow.

"Alex," she whimpered, emotions finally getting the better of her. Any second now, he would appear, laughing at her pain, calling her a foolish girl to still care about him. Any second now. He couldn't really be gone... right? Someone like Alex couldn't just die... right?

"Alex, all this time... All this time, you never... You never looked at anyone else? You always had something else, someone else, on your mind...? Why? Why... if you cared so much... Why would you leave me behind like that? You knew that I... that I cared too..."

Her hot tears dripped slowly down her flushed cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her pain from the man she would never see again.

"Alex, I miss you!!" she cried loudly, startling nearby birds into flight. "I've wanted to say that for so long, but I couldn't bear it, it hurt too much - you had betrayed me, how could I still want to find you after that? But I did, I wanted to find you, I wanted to hear you tell me why you'd done it, why you left, I thought if it was your words, I would believe it... I thought I would get over you... but I never did. I never saw you, never heard you say goodbye... It's been... too long..."

Her shoulders shook with her quiet sobs, face wet and shining in the bright sunlight. It was too cheerful for this, she thought bitterly. Her days had been grey since he had walked out of her life.

"Jenna's with Isaac now. I thought... I thought that I'd liked him, but he always had eyes for her, his sweetheart, and I guess I was just a friend to him. That was fine. It's fine. They're happy."

She spoke softly, still quietly sobbing into her hands. She couldn't even look at the bright grass all around her. There should be something more here, something to mark his grave... He couldn't just disappear completely, one final hiding place where Mia still couldn't reach him!! He couldn't even have the decency to let her pray at his tomb for forgiveness!

"Garet... Alex, I've been seeing Garet. I thought you should know that. You met him before, at the lighthouse... I slipped and fell, and he saved me, remember? He saved my life... He's done it before. He's a good guy, he's really open and sweet, and a bit clumsy... He has a temper... but he's a loyal friend. And... and that's all he is to me... a friend... I thought if... If I gave him a chance, he might take this pain away... Take you away... He's liked me forever, and I figured he might make me feel the same, but all I feel is guilt, he's not - he could never be - no one can ever be like..."

Mia gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her cheeks. Nothing had ever made her see more clearly than this, speaking to the open air about her deepest regrets and the pain she had tried to hide throughout their entire journey, and even more so, now that the journey was over... She really did feel nothing for Garet, even though they were together now. Wouldn't it break his heart to know that she still, after all this time, cared only for Alex? Wouldn't Jenna be disappointed, and Isaac hate her, for having harbored these traitorous feelings for so long? She was a nervous wreck whenever she was around Ivan or Sheba, for fear that one of the adepts might read her mind, learn her secret... They never did, though, perhaps because they had already guessed. She was too kind to ever hate him.

What was it he had said? 'Ah, well... I can't stay the same Alex you knew forever...'

But... the sadness in his flippant gaze, as he had so casually spoken the words to crush her... It seems that he could stay the same, after all.

"...You were right, Alex. I am too kind. I do forgive too easily. Because... I've forgiven you... but I'm too late... to tell you..."

Mia sobbed aloud, doubling over to bury her face in her knees, clutching at her head with her small hands. Why, why, why? Why had he never given her the chance to talk to him? Why hadn't he let her catch up? She had even caught a glimpse of him at the lighthouse, after she'd fallen, and her heart screamed to run over to him - that was when she knew. After all that time, Alex was still the only one she would run for, the only one she would lose her cool for, the only one she would follow anywhere...

"Why didn't you take me with you, Alex...? Why didn't you tell me you were leaving Imil for good? Why didn't you explain to me the lighthouses needed to be lit, that our duties as protectors were complete? Why... didn't you tell me..."

The Mercury Adept, one of the last of her clan, lifted her tear-streaked face to stare blankly into the blue sky, blue like his eyes had been. The sun was beating mercilessly down, its blinding light piercing through to her broken heart, a constant reminder in the sky of how the person most important to her in the world had been lost forever.

"I prayed, you know... I prayed for you at our lighthouse. Isaac and Jenna's parents died at a lighthouse, and the alchemy restored them to life. Saturos and Menardi lost their lives to a lighthouse. I often wondered why it didn't bring them back to life, too. Their village needed them, but they were gone forever. And I... Well, I have a theory, Alex. Correct me if I'm wrong," she added with a bitter chuckle, halfheartedly smiling through her tears. She took a deep breath before resuming her soft soliloquy.

"...It was love. Alchemy is nature, the elements, but it can only be mastered by a sentient being... Humans are the only creatures in Weyard that are capable of love... And they are the only creatures capable of bending the elements to their will. I believe that it was the love Isaac still harbored towards his long-lost father, the shared adoration of Jenna and Felix towards both of their parents, that willed their souls back into this world through the power of alchemy. Saturos and Menardi had love for each other, but no one that cared enough to pray with all of their heart for their return, not even Karst... so they remained in death for eternity. And you, Alex... Who would care enough to will you back to life? Is there anyone with enough love for a traitor to want him to return? You certainly burned your bridges getting to this accursed mountain... When you felt stone of sages enter your body, was it all you hoped for? I guess I'll never know if it was worth it for you, to sacrifice everything on this insane journey of yours."

She bit her lip, staring stubbornly away with a very Jenna-like expression on her face, trying to deny it one last time. But her features crumpled almost instantly, fresh tears streaming down the channels in her swollen cheeks. A deep sob escaped her throat, and she collapsed into a small bundle at the top of that sunny hill where Alex had once proudly stood, laughing and crowing his victory over the elements, challenging the Wise One and nature itself.

"Oh, Alex, this just isn't fair!! I want you to come back! Come back, don't leave me here like this!! I've been waiting long enough, don't tell me I'm too late! I still dream about you, I can't stop thinking about you - I forgive you, I forgive you, I'm not mad, please come back... I... I love you... I love you, Alex. I've always... loved you... Please... don't leave me behind..."

As she realized the words that had torn themselves from her hoarse throat, her stricken eyes focused on a tuft of green grass before her, too weak to even cry anymore. She loved him. She'd loved him all along, despite all the adversity, despite how many times he'd hurt her with his absence. She just couldn't believe he was really gone. She loved him. She could not love anyone else the way she loved Alex, even when she tried. She kept expecting him to appear, like he always did, tricking everyone and showing up at the least opportune moment to laugh at something he found clever. She loved him... Why... had he left again? Forever?

With a tiny whisper, Mia laid her head against the grass, closing her eyes. She wanted to be close to him, even if this was the only way she could do that.

"I love you, Alex... Can you hear me? After all these years, I finally said it. I'll always love you..."

"Mia, my dear, you always were too kind for your own good. I told you it would hurt you someday."

Mia whipped her head around, eyes wide with shock.

"Alex?!"