The Seaside Getaway

Huh, we sure took a while to get around to this...
It was far, far too long!
Caz must be punished for her procrastination!
She did just have a month's vacation...
Well, I suppose that could be why...
Okay, enough of this, what's the winning pairing?
*opens envelope* ... I guess Imilshippers are in for a treat, because the winning pairing is Alex/Mia...

Mia trudged along the path, a backpack on her back, pulling along a second bag. She was entirely alone as she approached the cottage. Mia read the sign and it proclaimed the place to be "Blind Date Cottage". Evidently intended for those kind of surprises. Mia wrinkled her nose and pulled a key out of her pocket. This was why she was here. Suddenly, she had been notified by Jenna and Sheba she was to pack her stuff and come here, and she would have a special date.

The problem was, they hadn't told her WHO her date was. It had all been planned in secret apparently. As Mia walked through the door and closed it behind her, she looked around the cottage while wondering yet again who her blind date was. Why couldn't they have told her?

The first thing Mia noticed was that the cottage was intensely dark. There were not many windows and only a couple of candlesticks could be found, the matches turning up in a drawer. Mia was not very impressed as she dragged the bags to her bedroom, bumping into things on the way. The name of the cottage had been somewhat more literal than she thought. She sat sulkily on her bed, swearing to sue the travel agency, as she rubbed a bruise on her knee.

Alex stood on the path, staring at "Blind Date Cottage" and wondered for what was not the first time why he was even bothering with this. Somehow, he had been persuaded to come here by a particularly violent Jenna and an almost as violent Sheba. Not wanting to be hit by Spark Plasma and Dragon Fume, Alex had eventually just packed his stuff and headed off. He shifted a bag from one shoulder to the other and contemplated who his blind date might be. It might not be Jenna or Sheba, considering they had told him it was a blind date, so the clues pointed to Mia.

A bead of sweat trickled down his face as he approached the front door. Sure, he'd spent his life in the same town as Mia, but then there had been that small matter of abandoning Imil and betraying the Mercury Clan. After everything he'd done, Mia terrified him and he wasn't sure Mia even liked him. Alex sincerely prayed that there were no frying pans in the house and Mia hadn't brought her mace along as he tried the door. It was unlocked, so he let himself in and recoiled as he took a tour of the cottage. It was DARK in here.

As Alex walked up the stairs, he heard movement. Mia was already here, wasn't she? He cried out as he bumped into something sitting on the stairs (why was there something on the stairs?) and eventually reached the top, only to hear a loud scream. A figure standing on top of the stairs, swinging down a vase toward his head, was the last thing he saw before he rolled down the stairs and fell unconscious.

Alex groggily awoke sometime later on the floor and blearily looked up to see a shell-shocked Mia standing above him. Once she saw he was awake, she exploded.

"What did you think you were doing wandering around the cottage in the dark?" Mia yelled. "I thought it might have been a burglar or something! And for that matter, just what are you doing here, Alex?"

"What did you think you were doing, beating people over the head with vases?" Alex snapped. "And I'm only here because Jenna and Sheba threatened to hurt me if I didn't come!"

"Jenna and Sheba... wait a minute..." Even in the dark, Mia looked visibly pale. "You're not here for... a date?"

"Apparently I am," Alex said nervously. He sent a silent prayer to the heavens that she wasn't going to snap and beat him over the head with a heavy object.

"No way!" Mia laughed incredulously. "This can't be happening!" She screamed and ran, although she didn't get far before a loud thud followed. Alex stared at the heap on the floor.

"Mia?" Alex called out. He shook his head in amazement. "She crashed into the wall..."

Mia awoke lying on the couch. She groaned and reached up to rub her bruised forehead, cursing the wall for getting in her way. Wait, how had she ended up here? Mia sat up and shook her head, looking around the very, very dim room. It was then that she spotted a mysterious figure sitting on a chair nearby. Mia screamed again in terror. It had to be some intruder and they were going to slit her throat... she reached out, fumbling for something she could use...

"Mia, calm down!" Alex exclaimed, rushing over to her. "Sheesh, what's wrong with you?"

"It's dark!" Mia cried out, putting a hand over her chest. Her heart was beating rapidly. "Every time I see you, I think you're some robber or..."

"Mia, we are the only ones here," Alex said patiently. "Okay, how about I lock the door and we won't have to worry about people coming in?"

"I hate this," Mia sighed. "Why do I have to be stuck in this house with YOU?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Alex sounded offended.

"You're evil!" Mia exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Alex. "And... and... you betrayed our clan!"

"You have no proof I'm evil," Alex told her. "Which I am not, by the way. And if the Mercury Lighthouse hadn't been lit, Weyard would just have been destroyed."

"True, I guess..." Mia pouted. "You're still an annoying jerk though."

Alex closed his eyes and counted to ten, holding onto his patience. Evidently, Mia wasn't going to drop her grudge against him anytime soon. He quietly went over to sit on his chair.

Minutes passed.

"I'm bored," Mia said.

More minutes passed.

"I'm bored as well," Alex said.

An hour or so passed.

"Want to play a game?" Mia asked.

"I suppose," Alex said eventually.

They started with I Spy, then somehow managed to play Rock Paper Scissors, and continued playing assorted games. Mia managed to forget she hated Alex's guts and then they got to talking about various things. The time flew past and now it was time for dinner. Dinner was a rather startling experience considering they couldn't see a thing and one of the worse incidents was when the salt was mixed up with the pepper. Fortunately, Alex and Mia survived the meal and went back to talking some more. Somehow they ended up sitting next to each other on the couch and indulged in bodily contact, which Mia didn't reject.

Alex let out a yawn. It was getting late already? "We had fun, didn't we?"

"Yeah, I suppose we did." Mia smiled, her head resting on his shoulder. "It would have been better if the whole place wasn't so dark."

Eventually, they went to their respective beds and settled down for the night, looking forward to the morning.

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