a line at the edge

Ashe the woods are lovely, dark, and deep but i have promises to keep    Ashe didn't miss the tremble in the man's chin, his pain echoing hers. She bit down on the inside of her bottom lip, glancing down and reaching out to slip her slender hand into Remi's. She flickered a pained smile and squeezed, and she nodded as she looked back up at him. "Okay," she agreed. Together.    With a huff of air, Ashe released Remi's hand to take a hold of the painting. Over half her height, it was awkward to walk with, but she managed to lean it against the nearest table. Her hand paused over the cloth she had wrapped around it, suddenly frozen. She had been staring at this for two days now, obsessively mixing pigments until they were the perfect shade, making sweeping strokes and fine dabs of color.. His face was burned into her mind. So why was she hesitating now?    Her hand was shaking and her breath was too as it passed through her lips. She took ahold of the cloth and pulled it away with a billow of white fabric as she stepped back to stand beside Remi, quickly reaching out to take his hand again like he were some sort of tether.    Ronin smiled at them.    He was turned to look just barely over his shoulder, like they had just called out to him and he knew exactly who did. He smiled that charming smile of his, rich blue eyes staring at Ashe and Remi with a devilish gleam beneath his firm brows. His hair was painted in strokes of dark color that remained disheveled and swept from his face like his hand had just moved it away. Bright golden light illuminated him from just behind, his backdrop made from dark blues and shining light, flares of white shining like stars where the canvas was darkest. His sharp jaw was shadowed, and the hint of a starburst scar peeked above a white collar.. everything had been lovingly paid attention to, but it was his smile, his eyes that Ashe had taken such deep care with.    The tears were immediate. They welled and spilled and her brows pulled together with her trembling lips. She didn't have any words, couldn't muster her voice just yet. She missed him. They missed him, and there would never again be a chance for them not to miss him.    "I tried," she choked out in a whisper. and miles to go before i sleep.