Phoenix Maplewood there was an empty space in the shadow beside you

and she knew she had broken something, fractured it deeply. and she'd never been good at picking up the pieces, never been good at putting things back together. dawn scrabbled for words, for something to make it right. anything, something, had to exist, something she could say or something she could do to make it better. 

she watched as he picked himself up, looked to meet the dark golden gaze but could not find it in the falling snow. and at once she wanted to scream, wanted desperately for something material to tear into as she'd hoped for during Adi's sickness. "stop." the word weak, small, coming far too late and far too little. 

her gaze widened as suddenly he was gone, and abruptly all the emotion battling for dominance in her chest fell away. and she was stone, for a moment, as Adi had called her, mind blank and features expressionless. 

and then she was moving turning opposite and away from him, wondering why her chest hurt even though they had not fought with tooth and fang, wondering at how easily she'd ruined them.