Hey guys! So this is not an update for either story "Frozen in Time" or "Winter's Collapse". I do apologize that it is not, but I don't have much time to write anymore. Plus I am still outlining them both to make sure I have what I want to happen in each chapter. I do have a few tweaks I need to make to "Winter's Collapse" because I'm finally getting it to come together instead of it being a jumbled mess of ideas. But I hope you enjoy this oneshot I wrote while I was sad and upset. If you like, let me know! Your feedbacks lets me know how I can improve and what you guys really look for.

The Border
Summer: 7th of June

"She is brave enough to let you go
and strong enough to walk away,
but broken enough to look back one last time."

It happened within a matter of heart thrashing minutes. Minutes, was all it took to turn her entire world upside down. To take the joy she had felt and twist it so far into guilt that it made her heavy wings tremble with fear. Her glow no longer bright, but a dim flicker that struggled to spark.

She sat there on her knees, frozen in shock, but her mind couldn't decide which event that occurred in the past couple minutes devastated her more. Her body refused to move, so she stopped trying to force her sore muscles to gain the effort of lifting herself from the ground. Her legs remained pinned beneath her body. Her torn skirts of blush pink carnation petals swam along the surface of the mud puddles that edged along the stream she was near. Her back stayed hunched over while her arms cradled over her stomach. The fabric of her white bodice bunched between her hands when her fingers curled around her waist. Her fallen, damp hair freely swayed along her back from the chilled breeze that swept around her. The dirt that coated over her skin hardened from the winter gust that crossed into spring on the other side of the stream. Her stare was ghosted over from terror, but somehow, she managed to watch the clear drops of water that fell from the tips of her hair before her face. The bumps of cold along the length of her arms did well to remind her that not an inch of herself was dry, and the thought of why only made Clarion tighten her grip on the loosened bodice of her dress.

The sky that was once a cheerful, cloudless blue morphed into a twisted darkness that rumbled with a vibration of thunder. Not only to the sky but also around her heart.

At the same time the thunder cracked above her, Clarion lifted her eyes from her stained skirts to catch the gaze of the sparrow man knelt before her. Clarion held hope that when she looked up to meet his eyes that none of it had truly happened, but one look at his state of appearance was like disappointment at the tip of a knife that started to sink in her heart.

Milori was on his knee just inches away from her in his own puddle of mud beneath his body. The clothing on his back dripped of clear water from every torn seam or hemline edge possible. His hair that used to be a beautiful silver, like how she had seen fallen snow in moonlight, was caked in dried mud around his face in a tangled mess. His clothing, not only wet, was torn in several places to allow his muscled, paled skin to be exposed. Clarion noticed along the length of his bicep was a split in his skin that allowed blood to flow down to his elbow and drip into the brown water below. Dried mud bathed along the opening that has caused it to become red with irritation.

Clarion closed her eyes from the painful beats of her heart against her breast. The knife that slowly sank into her made the pain harder to bare. She couldn't look at the sparrow man she loved for another second. The guilt was too great. The knowledge that she was the sole cause of his state, of the damage fallen upon him, was her doing. And, realizing that only made her heart start to crack from the tip of the knife piercing it.

"Clarion." His voice, although rough and breathy, held a gentleness that only he could have. From his single word, she knew he wanted her to look at him, but Clarion couldn't do it. Her strength to face the center of her guilt was frail. "Please, darling, look at me."

No matter the amount of pain she felt inside her body, Clarion could not ignore the plea in his request. Her head lifted slowly, driving the knife further into her bleeding heart, until her eyes came to lock with the ones that belonged to the source of her heartache. The concern that housed inside him grew when he looked at her. The pain and blame she felt must have been opened like a book to Milori within the blue that colored her irises, and she cursed herself for not hiding her emotions better.

His thick finger curled under her chin to keep her eyes glued to the warmth of his brown that always reminded her of honey. She expected to see humiliation, anger, rage, pain, hurt, but what Clarion saw was nothing but love. There was no blame held toward her from the damage she had caused. There was no anger at the fact she had caused him to loose something that could never be given back; never like it once was. There was no humiliation that he was now different. Clarion tried to find the tiniest bit of any of the things she expected to see, but the love he had for her was over powering. It was all she could see. It only made her hate herself even more.

"Don't. Don't let the guilt eat you away, Clarion." His fingers removed the soaked strands of hair from the corner of her mouth before he spoke again. "This wasn't your fault, sweet-"

Clarion shifted her head back to remove his hand from her cheek. She looked at him like he was a mad-sparrow man. Her brows lowered from the confusion at how he could start to say that. How he saw no fault in her from the actions that took place just moments ago. "How can you say this isn't my fault, Milori? The entire thing is my doing!" Her fingers clawed into her bodice until her knuckles turned white. "My fault. All mine to burden!" Her long lashes created a dam that kept the built tears from falling down her cheeks.

Milori lowered himself so both of his knees sank into the mud. Not a care given that his pants were becoming even dirtier than they currently were. His hands shot out to rub the length of her arms covered in chill bumps. "Accident. It was an accident, Clarion, something you nor I had control over. Please, don't torture yourself with guilt over something that was not your intention."

Clarion continued to look at him in disbelief. She questioned how he could feel nothing that she did. Clarion was humiliated because of her carelessness. She was angry at the fate that chanced her entire life. Worried about how he would continue to bring winter to the Mainland and Pixie Hollow with the injury he now sustained. Frustration at how he wasn't angry with her. He should be angry at her for causing his life to forever change. It was like he was ignoring the big picture that she had cost him almost everything.

Almost.

Clarion realized that she was about to cost him everything, not just almost. She had to take away the last thing that he truly held dear, and she knew of the cost it would be to her heart. Clarion was a ruler, and being a ruler was about more than just wearing a crown on her head and pretty dresses. The knife slipped further and created a larger crack that allowed it to bleed.

With a struggled breath, Clarion spoke in a voice nearly broken. "An accident I caused because of my recklessness." Her throat tightened in on itself. "I allowed you to cross the border. I granted you consent to come into spring to experience my world. It was supposed to be a simple walk along the streams edge, but it turned into something hectic and fearful." Her arms cradled herself tighter. "I fell in. You had to dive in because we can't swim. Our wings absorb water and yours absorbed the warmth. You saved me by using a vine, but by saving me it has cost you greatly." Her tears pushed against her lashes that nearly broke. Even with the drizzle that fell around them, Clarion felt the warm stream of an escaped tear down the curve of her cheek. It itched along her jaw until it fell into the mud. "And that expense can never be remedied, Milori."

His larger hands cupped her cheeks, a thumb brushed over the rosy skin to offer comfort while interrupting another fallen tear. "Listen to me, Clarion, I would give up everything, everything, to protect you."

"Everything?" She interrupted him. "Does that everything include your ability to ever fly again? Because that is what you have given up. Your wings."

Milori stared into her eyes with more love than she saw earlier, more than she had ever seen in him. "Yes. You mean more to me than anything Clarion, more than my own life, and certainly more than my wings. My wing, you are my life, and I don't regret diving in after you, even at the cost of my wing because it means that you are alright."

"But I'm not alright!" Clarion exploded as the knife pierced so deep it made her heart start to die. "You broke your wing because you met me. You broke your wing because you love me. You broke your wing saving me, Milori! Your wing is broken and it will never be repaired!" Clarion didn't bother to hold back her pain. Her anger showed in her heated cheeks. Her fear showed in her trembled limbs. Her guilt showed in every tear that coursed down her jaw. "We knew, we knew of the risks of crossing the border, I knew, but we took the chance anyway because our love for each other blinded us to the danger. And the one thing we were warned about, the thing that we feared would happen, happened!" Her breathes came in pants that were wild and fast.

Milori began to shake his head in the slightest at her words.

Clarion turned her head away from him. "Mother Dove was right, Milori, winter and warm fairies cannot physically be together. Our worlds can't be one, not really. It's just not possible. The danger our worlds create to the other is too great." Her eyes had fallen to the puddles that rippled from the rain.

"Clarion?" A piece of her heart broke off. Finally, she heard the hurt in his voice as clear as she would hear anything else. "What are you meaning?"

Clarion's stomach threatened her, but she forced the threat of vomit to stay at bay. The comfort of her own arm desperately tried to give her was not enough to contain the shake her body took to. "We are rulers, protectors, Milori, we have to keep our promises we made the day we became monarchs. Our soul duty is to protect the pixies of our home. We have to learn from our mistakes and make sure they don't befall upon them." She took in a shaken breath to gather her courage and strength to continue. Her eyes lifted to him. "We can't let this befall upon anyone else."

Her entire form trembled, but Clarion didn't let that stop her from standing on her feet. Her arms still wrapped around her waist, she looked up at Milori's crestfallen expression. He stood before her, clothing damp and wrinkled, hair fallen in stringy frizz. She watched his eyes move to look at every inch of her face. He had to have figured out what she meant. The meaning behind her words. The look he gave her only made the crack longer. The silence that hovered between them was like the calm before the storm; ready to break at any second. The drizzle that tapped against her skin felt like ice that shattered upon the contact.

"Clarion," the threat of getting ill intensified at his voice, "you don't need to do it. I love you and that is all that matters." His hands reached out to capture her smaller ones within his large grip. His hold was tight; like he wouldn't ever let her loose. "I'm not letting you walk away. I can't let you go, Clarion. I won't say goodbye to you." Her eyes watched the single trail his tear left behind.

"Milori," her heart screamed within her chest, "I will always love you, but you have to let me go. We must say goodbye. We have to protect them."

"How can you be willing to say goodbye this easy?"

Clarion was able to slip her hands free from his loosened grip. She reached up to rest her palm over his sculpted cheek like she had done several times before. She watched his eyes flutter closed at the comfort her touch gave him. How he nuzzled into her hand after he grasped around her wrist to hold it there. Her heart bled more at how he squeezed all the love he could from her simple touch. She held the tears back as long as she could until they broke past the dam and they freely leaked past her lashes.

"I'm doing this to protect my pixies, to protect you from anymore danger."

Clarion placed her free hand against his built torso. Upon that contact, he opened his eyes again to look at her face. Without a word, they stared at the other for the longest time. The sound of the river flow beside them was the loudest. The frogs that spoke within the blades of grass around them sang while the rain fell from the stars. The love they shared for each other was clearer in their eyes than it ever could have been in words. Clarion, heart shattering a piece at a time, leaned forward to kiss her lover's cheek for the last time.

"I'm doing this to protect our love. Because I love you and won't be the cause of anymore pain toward you, Milori." Clarion reached up to brush the stubborn lock of hair on his forehead aside. "I will forever love you, and I will wait for the day I get to be with you again, but for now we must say goodbye. Everything I'm doing is all for love."

She waited for Milori to say something to her. Even if it was a simple goodbye, a hurtful kiss that he forced upon her before he turned away, but he didn't move. His feet remained frozen to the mud. His lips pressed into a thin line. His eyes had suddenly found the ground fascinating for he didn't look at her anymore. She knew he was hurt, just like she was, but Clarion had thought he would at least give her some form of goodbye. A goodbye she could always remember and cry over until she could be with him again. A goodbye that would always remind them of the powerful love they possessed. A goodbye they deserved. Milori did nothing but continue to stare at the ground in total silence. With a sigh that further broke her fragile heart, Clarion dropped her hands from his body and turned her back to him; obvious to the fact he wasn't going to do anything.

Before she could get ten steps away from the river's edge, Clarion heard his voice that was a deep lullaby to her ears. One that would always keep the nightmares at bay. One that made her believe she could always make the right decisions as a ruler. The way his voice sounded was not the gentle light it normally was, it had fallen to the darkness itself.

"Love?"

Her body turned halfway to allow her head to face the direction his harsh tone came from. His eyes stared at her with lowered brows and anger within the flame that sparked within his irises. A flame that seemed to cloud over any other emotion and blind him to only rage. His hands that rested past his hips curled into tight fists. His muscles were ringed tight and the larger veins surfaced along the length of his arms and neck.

"You're doing this for love, Clarion?" Milori asked her with distaste. She could only give a single nod of her head. She worried that if she spoke her fear of his tone would show. "You aren't doing this for love. You know nothing of love,"

"Milori," her voice refused to go louder than a whisper of shock, her brows rose in question, and her eyes widened

"because love doesn't turn away and run, to leave someone to stand alone in the dark. Love doesn't do that."

Clarion stared at the sparrow man across from her with utter alarm. Never in the months she had gotten to know him had she seen him like he was. Never so angry. Never so hurt. Never so betrayed. Never had Clarion seen Milori's heart start to break the way it was before her then. The sparrow man that she had gotten to know was kind, tender, gentle, and charming. The man that stood not ten feet from her was not the sparrow man she loved. He was not the man who held her in his embrace to dance, nor the one who would grab her face to plant a deepened kiss to her lips. The Milori she saw was a heartbroken shadow of his former self and it terrified her greatly.

Her fingers nervously picked at the clogged dirt under her nails; unsure what she should say to him. Were they about to argue? Get into a heated conversation like she had done many times with her ministers and her nobles? That was not how Clarion pictured their goodbye to be. She thought he would grab her to share a kiss of heartache that would be so powerful that it would blow all the others out of the picture. She thought choked words and tears of sorrow would be shared between them, but it seemed Clarion would only get words of blind anger and tears of devastation.

She swallowed a build of vomit in her throat before she straightened her back, like a proper queen, to speak. "I know you think otherwise, Milori, because you are hurting. I understand for I am hurting just as much, but I'm not doing this to hurt you." Her voice was alien to her ears with broken tears. "I am queen. I must put my pixies wellbeing before my own. Being a ruler is about sacrificing to keep them safe, Milori, even if you must sacrifice your own happiness. Despite what is going through your head, what your heart is feeling, it is not my intention to break your heart." She pleaded with him to understand why she had to do what her head clearly told her was right.

"Don't talk to me about sacrifices, Clarion!" His harsh tone made her snap her jaw so her lips touched. His hand cut through the rain drops that fell around him. "I know well enough about giving up something to protect those who we care for, so I don't need you to remind me!" He spat. "You stand here saying you need to put them first, but you fail to see that I am one of hundreds you rule over. I may rule winter under your name, Clarion, but I am still a pixie in your charge."

His words were like a fire set to her already dying heart because he was right. Milori may be the sparrow man she loved, the Lord of Winter, a ruler just like her, but he was still a subject she vowed to always protect. A subject who, because of her carelessness, had been injured in a way that could never be fixed.

"You say you don't want to break my heart?" His brows lowered to make his eyes seem darker and smaller. "Well, Clarion, it's too late." Clarion watched Milori angrily wipe his cheeks of the tears that fell freely from his red eyes. Clarion turned her back to Milori. Her strength to face his anger was too weak to continue. The hard shell of her armor was flawed in the battle against him. "What about all the times you said I was all you would ever need?"

Clarion wrapped her arms around herself to try and shield herself from the blow of his damaging words. "Stop it." She begged.

"That I was everything?"

"Please." She pleaded. Her eyes shut painfully in effort to make it all go away.

"How can you just up and walk away, Clarion? Tell me how you can look me in the eyes and say you are doing this all for love?!"

"Enough!" Clarion spun on her slippered feet to face him. Her cheeks heated beneath her skin. Her arms dropped to ball at her sides with bumps along the length of flesh. Her skirts rusted over her shaken legs. Fallen strands of damp hair swayed around her head. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked him. "What has happened to you is my fault, you broke your wing, Milori, and I know that alone hurts. Having to give us up as well is cruel, but I just can't ignore the truth that stands right before me." Clarion placed a palm over her shattering heart. "I don't want this on my hands, Milori, I don't want to have your broken heart at the cause of my hands. Please, don't tell me I don't understand the pain of having to let you go. This is killing me Milori, but it's all that's left for me to do to ensure that our pixies remain safe. Everything, as much as this hurts, it's the only way. Believe me when I say I'm doing this all for love. Our love."

Milori turned his back to her and Clarion gasped at the sight of his wings. She saw they rested stationary along his back instead of up and open like a normal fairy's wings would be. She couldn't stop her eyes from tracing over the jagged edge of the wing that broke off from his daring rescue. She noticed how they had changed from a translucent to a crystalized blur; almost like his frost did to plants. The white pattern his wings held were still visible to her eye, but the sight of his wings made Clarion's stomach churn hazardously.

"Love," he scoffed in a voice of stone, all gentleness gone from his tone, and her heart stopped beating, "is something you know nothing of cause if you did, Clarion, there would still be an us." He didn't look back at her before he started to cross back over the border.

She stopped breathing as the final barb splintered her heart into hundreds of pieces. Her legs crumbled under the weight of her heavy heart and she slammed onto her knees. Her frame trembled so hard that the grass around her shook. The puddle rippled under her. Her arms wrapped around her stomach and she got violently ill. The storm no longer contained but released. Knelt on the ground, the drizzled rain cut like razors, utterly broken, Clarion watched the only sparrow man she'll ever love walk away. Leaving her to drown in her own heartbreak without even a kiss goodbye.

'I did it all for love, Milori, please forgive me.'

Her body succumbed to the sobs that chocked her. She curled over so far, her loose hair danced along the surface of the mud and her own vomit.

One Week Later
Pixie Dust Tree
Clarion's Chamber's

She numbly sat in the chair that she used for her desk while her puffed, red eyes scanned over the dark stained parchment that rested before her. A week ago, she had fallen into the stream. A week ago, she had cost Milori his wings. A week ago, was the last time she had seen him. A week ago, she wrote the new edict that would keep her pixies safe. A week ago, she sent it to Milori for his signature. After a week, she had finally received it with his official penmanship and seal.

Her fingers twisted the stamp with her own personal seal as she read it over again and again. Clarion was at war with herself. Her mind told her it was the right thing she needed to do. It was her duty as queen. But her heart said otherwise. She fought with her heart because the moment she put her seal by her name it would be official. Winter and warm pixies would never again cross the border, and Clarion just couldn't do the one thing that would tear her apart from Milori forever. A tear dripped from her lashes and rolled down her cheek.

"My dearest Lord of Winter,
It has come to my attention that the threat of our two worlds
is too great of a danger to our people to remain ignored.
The peril of a pixie crossing into winter, or into the warm, and their wings fracturing
is a risk I will not allow to happen again.
So, I am passing this edict to ensure the safety and happiness of everyone in Pixie Hollow.
Our two worlds need to remain forever part.
Clarion, Queen of Pixie Hollow"

"No warm pixie from either Spring, Summer, nor Autumn shall cross the border to Winter.
No winter pixie shall cross the Spring or Autumn border."

Milori, Lord of the Winter Woods

She traced his signature at the bottom of the linen paper. Over and over until it was burned into her brain for her to forever remember.

"Queen Clarion," her head snapped up to look at the sparrow man that hovered on the other side of her desk, "we need your seal to make the edict take effect."

Clarion wanted to glare at the noble male who stood across from her. She didn't want to press her seal onto the edict. She didn't want to finalize the cause that would keep Milori from her, not that he wanted to see her anyway, but she would forever love him even if he didn't her.

With the last of her mind will over her body, Clarion held the wax over the candles flame until she could let several drops fall onto the paper; right next to her signature. She dropped the wax on her desk and pressed her seal into the warm wax. When she lifted the stamp, her royal seal stared back at her; jeering her pain. Angry, Clarion pushed herself away from her desk. The noble took the edict away and left her chambers with a soft click of her door. She started to head for the curved stairs that lead to her bedchambers, but her body stopped. With a shaken breath, Clarion turned her head to look out the window that over-looked the winter mountains one last time. The tears of her broken heart fell like the snowflakes did in winter. There was no going back. She had to face reality. Clarion was never going to see nor be with Milori ever again.

'Wherever you are in winter, Milori, please believe me when I said that I did everything for the love I hold for you.'