"Life is not a song, sweetling. Someday you may learn that, your sorrow." - Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, to Sansa Stark

§SS§

Today was an unusual day. The primary reason for this, in Adam's mind, was that Blake was crying. This was unsettling for him- he was used to her being the strong one, the one who could take on the world and be fine, even so young. I'm not that much older...

"I can't believe this... I killed someone."

"It happens," the bull rumbled.

Blake fixed him with a glare that would have cowed a lesser man. "Killing people doesn't just happen, Adam! I ended a man. I looked at his wallet. He had two children, did you know that? Two children younger than us, and a wife or a girlfriend, and they're going to get the news, and I'm having a very hard time living with the grief I just caused."

Adam sighed. "We had to. He was in the way."

"Of what? Us wrecking a train? Damn it, Adam, the guy had a family! He had their pictures in his wallet, and he had a text on his scroll from some drinking buddy or another. That was a unique person with a whole story all their own, and what do I do? I put Gambol Shroud through his heart and I twist! God damn, Adam... This is not a 'shit happens' situation!" Blake yowled, starting to leak tears, barely visible by moonlight, even with excellent faunus night vision.

Adam was rattled, to be sure. He watched his lifelong partner sit on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. This was not something he knew how to deal with. He took a knee next to her, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "You know, it's not like it's a fairy tale. We can't get where we need to go totally bloodless. Gotta crack eggs to make omelettes, you know?"

Blake didn't respond. The worst of it is that he's right...

"Blake, come on, talk to me," Adam groaned.

"You're not wrong..."

"No, I'm not. Come on. We have to get out of here before someone comes looking."

"No."

"... What?"

"Adam, I killed someone. We're at least going to respect his body." Blake got up, and started an unsteady walk back toward the train. Adam followed with a long-suffering groan.

When Blake found the body, she started sobbing again. She'd obviously never known the man. But he'd had a family. And there he lay, lean and strong, with calloused hands and dark hair not unlike her own, eyes open in death to stare at the world in silent horror. She closed them, and laid him out flat on his back.

She rested his hands on his chest, folded, artfully hiding the wound she'd made. Adam just watched on as she tore the cloth from a crate to cover him up, murmuring her apologies and letting a few tears drip on the sheet. She spent a long moment by the corpse's side before standing. "Let's go, Adam. Before I start crying again..."

He threw an arm around her as they set out on their way. "Remember, Blake. It's not like in the songs. It's not a fairy tale."

"I know that, Adam..." I guess that means not everyone gets their happy endings. She shed a few more silent tears. But I'll be damned if I don't try for mine. If I'm going to kill a man, it won't be for nothing. So I have to carry on, and come to terms with it. I'll have my happy ending yet.