Planned to be a one shot for now, but might grow into a bunch of snap shot of Adam's life.

The first memory that came to mind was his father's fascination with linking people to natural materials. Stones were trusted to be apart of the planet's foundation. They were stern, strong and most of all they were patient. Yet, in that limitless patience they find nothing but the ability to crumble. Such strength, such power, such respect all reduced to nothing but a weak pile of dust. The boy didn't mean to take such a pessimistic view of the metaphor, that patience helped other, garnered it guiltless joy, ended it righteous and clean. Then again, joy felt like a chore to work with today.

He looked to the stone, all he could see it how swiftly it crumbled. The wood only brought forth the thought of the flames that scorched that soft brown to heavy black. Pieces of glass pooling at his feet just reminded him of how it was shattered, the collapsing shards like a looping alarm to signal the oncoming tragedy. Not even the sky itself could bring comfort as it was now poisoned by smoke mixed with copper and blood. The boy wanted to find something to focus on, something that he could distract himself with, something that could make the throbbing in his stomach subside and let him be ignorant of reality for the moment.

Tears desperately wanted to break through and rush down his cheeks, stinging his boiling flesh with cold despair. No matter how much his heart fought to relieve him of some of the pain, it couldn't penetrate that layer of confusion and dread that blocked his throat. Why? It was a question that ached in his soul. Why did this happen? Was it his fault? Did he do something bad? Is this his punishment? He didn't want this, he'd take it all back, he was sorry, he didn't mean to do anything wrong. He didn't know what he did wrong, but he'd make up for it in a heart beat! Anything… Just him back. Please.

"Adam."

And like that his little world shattered, for a brief moment the curse of memory reeled back and let his attention free. Now, he could hear the cars in the distance, beeping profanities at each other as they tried to navigate around the road blocks. There were snippets of conversations between blaring ambulances and roaring squad cars wondering how long this day was going to be. He only noticed now that the morning rain was pelting down on his head.

"Officer, how long have you left this boy sitting here without getting him a coat?" The disgruntled police officer grunted out some unintelligible words in response to the low feminine voice. There was a certain edge to the voice, it reminded the boy of a tiger scaring away it's prey. "On a day like this, I can't believe it. Do you want him to freeze to death?"

Looking up at her, the first thing to meet his sight were her eyes, those amber eyes that carried a familiar sense of loss. She was looking for distractions just as much as he was. Did she do something wrong as well? Pulling back from her eyes, he recognised her, remembering those brown stripes on her dark skin that he had been awed by. The eyes, they always scared him, whenever she had looked over him, they would pin him down with the thought that she would bare sharp teeth and attack.

"Adam." She said his name again, realizing that he was now looking at her. The Officer had shuffled off, perhaps fleeing from angering the woman any further. He didn't respond. He didn't feel like talking at the moment. "I'm Sienna Khan" She approached him slowly, her feet careful, but wobbly. It was like she was trying to balance on stilts with every step. "Do you… Remember me? Don't worry, I'm a friend of your dads" Okay, not the best way to introduce yourself to a child.

He remembered how she and his dad yelled at each other a lot. Yet her voice was much quieter here.

She held his gaze for a long time, tight lipped and stiff as a board. She really wanted him to speak, didn't she? "Are you going to eat me?" It was the first question that came to mind, one which he thought important. He didn't taste good anyway with all this rain water.

"Eat you?" Her eyelids pulled back, stopping her mid-stride as she processed the question. Before long, she was shaking her head, forcing a fake smile as she took the strange question as a fortunate distraction. "No, no. I don't eat little boys. Besides, my belly is full today. I… Uh… Had an early lunch" She really didn't have much experience talking to children. "Do you mind if I take a seat here? All the others are taken."

After a scrutinising look to confirm that she was, in fact, not going to eat him (with her even opening her mouth to show her teeth), the boy shuffled to the side and weakly nodded. "Okay."

It was an awkward silence between the two as she slowly crouched down and tucked her legs under her knees. His concentration waned, pulled over to her and blocking out the other noises and sights for just this one little area. His nook and cranny. "The weather's not very pleasant today, is it?" The heart ache hung in the air, desperate for attention, but neither of them wanted to look its way, just distract themselves. Talk about something else.

"You're not wearing one either"

"Hm?"

"You yelled at that man for not giving me a coat. Why aren't you wearing one? Aren't you cold?" His knees came up to his chest, fearful eyes locking onto the stripes adorning her arms.

"I am." She admitted, her posture stern and strict, a towering and unwavering figure even against the rain pelting her neck. "But the cold never bothered me much these days. I've spent a lot of time with fire, so it's more relieving than anything" Her voice started off joking, but bit-by-bit that bitterness sunk into her words.

The boy could only, once again, speak out with the first thing to come to mind "That's cool"

She laughed.

She didn't mean to let that involuntary giggle slip past her lips, but she laughed. It was a warm one that broke through the atmosphere. The boy didn't quite understand what was funny about what he said, but he didn't mind, the humour made the woman feel good and that made the boy feel proud. It made Adam feel more comfortable in her presence. "Thank you?"

"You don't thank someone for laughing"

"Oh."

There was a soft smile as she shook her head at the boy's misunderstanding. "Do you… Have many friends?" From what she knew, he wasn't exactly someone who got out much.

"I have Mada, he's a samurai and stuff who stays with me and shows me cool tricks when Dad was walking with all the other people" Adam talked with more energy, gripping the air as if he were grabbing a sword by the hilt. "But Dad says that he doesn't count because he doesn't exist" His cheeks sucked in, his lips turning in curiosity. "W-what do you do? Do you walk with Dad?"

"No, not quite. I'm more of a fighter"

"Huh?"

"I worked for the same thing your dad did, but instead of waving signs, I… Fought for those that couldn't fight themselves."

"Oh, so you're like a super hero?"

"Not rea-… In a way, Adam." The trick was to keep the conversation going, embrace that procrastination for however long you could. "I had an imaginary friend once. She didn't say much, more of a silent supporter than a playground pal. I always thought she was a mute, but that was long before I realized that there were times where actions spoke louder than words ever could" Her eyes trailed up to meet the collapsed mass of stone, wood and metal that formed the pyre. "Sometimes it's deafening. You have to yell louder to make your voice heard"

"My voice gets very squeaky when I yell, it's embarrassing" His head shifted to bury his chin in between his legs, completely ignorant to any meaning in her words. "Not like yours. Your voice even gets my Dad to yell. I like it, even if it scares me" The admittance made Sienna softly smile down at the boy, only for his next question to dampen that smile. "Did you hate my Dad?"

For a moment, her eye closed tightly shut. "It's not that simple" Telling a ten-year-old that something isn't that simple never went well. She heard herself verbally tearing into that man, all the names she called him, all the lives she laid down at his feet, all the scorn she unloaded onto him. "It may be hard to understand. We had different outlooks on life... Uh, that is, we thought differently. That may have driven a rift between us, it brought us arguments and dispute, but he was still a wonderful man I'm happy to say was my friend"

Adam took his time letting the words sink in, for a while his horns poking through his bush of red hair was the most Sienna could see of him. Some of the words she used took a while for the boy to understand. So, even if she hurt his dad, yelled at his dad, she still thought of his dad as a friend? "Are we friends?"

She turned to him fully, watching his face uncurl from his knees to blink up at her. "We can be" Treating this like a business deal more than small talk with a ten-year-old, she held out her hand, looking for a handshake. "I'll be your friend" With sceptical look that lasted a few seconds, Adam reached up to clasp the woman's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Come on now. It's time to leave."

When Sienna tried to urge the boy to his feet, he clearly struggled with the idea. "G-go? I don't wanna go away, I wanna stay here!" He pulled away from her, backing away towards the wreckage, his back against what used to be his bedroom. "Why do I have to go anywhere? This is my home!"

"There's nothing left for you here. What you need right now is a place to sleep, somewhere warm." She made no move to close the gap between them, merely holding out her hand like before, her eyes hard as they bore into the boy. "Somewhere you'll be safe to live your life"

"I'm not leaving here, I'm not leaving him!" His back fell back to what remained of the wall, his legs wobbling, arms weak and knees heavy. There were so many emotions bubbling in the pit of his stomach, charging forward and snapping their jaws at his throat. They all wanted to stay here, like it would change anything, achieve anything. "I can't leave him here alone"

"You're not leaving him, Adam" She remained firm in her position, her voice soft, but loud and clear. "His spirt is going to be with you no matter what, that body is just some bags of flesh now…" Adam looked as if he was pushed into a corner, his eyes fleeting and a small bit fearful. "He wanted you to come with me, if anything ever happened to him. He would want you to leave. He would want you to-"

"L-let go?" He'd heard it many times before from that police officer. Said it was healthy. Said it would help.

"No, Adam" Sienna's tone came to a surprising seriousness with these words, her eyes narrowing on the boy. "This pain you feel? It isn't nice, it isn't comfortable, but you need it. You need to keep it with you Adam, to keep you strong, because no matter the protection I provide you'll need that strength. No, Adam. Never let it go."

He didn't know when he had taken her hand again, he just knew when he had that one emotion above all had triumphant, a smouldering heat reaching up his body and pushing through his fingertips. It was anger. A hungry beast starving for food. What did you feed anger born out of grief? The one responsible. "Is it my fault?" At first, Sienna's eyes widened at the question, completely caught off guard by such an idea. A little boy responsible for his own father's murder? The look he gave her added so much weight, he trusted her to speak the truth. She dropped down to make sure she was on an even level with the boy, her hands gripping his shoulders tightly. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen if it was. If I did something wrong, I don't want him to pay for it. I-I'll do better, I'll do anything. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Adam!" She got to grips with herself, letting out a growl that stole Adam's volume away. "You didn't cause this, you have nothing to feel guilty about here-"

"But why-"

"You didn't do this, Adam." For the first time, the two allowed themselves to finally focus fully on the sight before them. On the flames still fighting for the opportunity to roar above the wreckage of a childhood home, the surrounding neighbourhood now having the perfect view of the tears in the ground, the possessions that had been melted by flames and the corpses mangled in stone. At the borders of police tape and cars they lined up, crowds of people struggling for a good position to frame the area on their phones, very few offering a drop of sympathy. "Humans did this."

In that moment, the answer broke the confusion, the dam within him cracked and let forth the water works. Before long, the heat licking his skin fought against an onslaught of wet tears. Without warning, he broke contact with her arms and tackled the woman with a hug, burying his face in her shoulder with no shame or thought towards the stains he was leaving on her clothes. She didn't speak, she didn't move, she didn't attempt anything. She just let the child cry in her arms, cry for himself and cry for her.

"S-Sienna?"

"Yes?"

"…I want to be a fighter too"