Iridescence | Edward x OC

24

"Who are you?... Death?"

"Sometimes. Not today."

-

Edward looked at her relieved, grateful that there was something he could do to help her state. He would've done anything to help her go back to her usual self.

"Can I come over after school? It's something I'd rather talk about in private." Aris asked hesitantly, unsure if Edward would object to it or not, given how passive he'd been ever since she'd said out loud how they'd never work out.

He nodded, putting aside his better judgement for now. He knew that he shouldn't be allowing himself to grow so attached to her. Hell, that's why he'd spent the past month avoiding her, which is the hardest thing he'd done for as long as he remembered. It was just so, so hard to push away the feelings that he knew he possessed, when all they seemed to do was grow the more time he spent around her, regardless if they were fighting or not. Just being in her presence made his feelings resurface greatly, and he honestly didn't know what to do.

Finally, the end of the school day rolled around. Alice was very pleased to hear that Aris would be coming over later, and she'd also been very worried when she saw Aris's state. She first scolded Aris for choosing such a bland and boring outfit, before really taking in the state that she was in. To say Alice was worried would be an understatement. Aris felt like a sister to her, so it hurt to see Aris suffering so much.

Rosalie was also a bit worried, but she didn't care too much either. It's not that she didn't care about Aris, Aris felt like a sister to her as well, but she knew that Aris was strong, and a little loss of sleep wasn't anything to be too distraught over.

Aris put the keys into the ignition, pulling out of the parking lot and heading in the direction of where she knew the Cullen house to be.

It had taken her a solid twenty minutes to convince Edward that she could drive her own car, as he kept insisting that she should ride with him, given how out of it she looked. She eventually convinced him however, but he said that the only way he'd allow her to drive was if he could be on her tail the whole way, just in case something happened.

'Emmett really wasn't lying when he said Edward gets protective.' She scoffed to herself, pulling into Edward's driveway with him right behind her.

He got out of his car, speeding over to hers and opening the door for her before she could even get her fingers around the handle.

"Such a gentleman." She crooned, causing him to laugh as she stepped out of the car.

They entered the house, making their way through the family room where Emmett and Jasper were sat playing a game of chess, Alice standing behind Emmett and mouthing to Jasper which moves Emmett would play next.

They all turned to them as they walked through the room, Aris and Edward pretending not to notice the suggestive smiles playing on their lips.

"Keep it down in there-"

"Shut it, Emmett." Aris and Edward cut him off in sync harshly, causing him to throw his hands up defensively.

They eventually made it to his room where he opened the door, allowing her to step through first. She then took her seat in the same spot that she sat at when they did their first project together, though this time it didn't matter that she was sitting directly in the sunlight. Edward took his seat across from her, meeting her eyes patiently as he waited for her to sort out how she wanted to explain this best.

"Okay, well I guess I should start off by telling you why I look like this," she motioned to her face, "the truth is, I've been having nightmares every single night. Well, it's actually more just one nightmare, the same one that replays each night."

Edward nodded sullenly, wondering what nightmare could be that bad to the point where it could take this big of a toll on her physical state.

"What's the nightmare about? If you're comfortable saying." He asked softly, causing her to nod.

"It's about you actually," she chuckled with no humor, "in this dream, you ask me to kill you because you're so guilty over the Bella Swan situation, and you don't feel like you deserve to be on this earth anymore." She explained, watching him closely for any sign of discomfort or repulsiveness, and also purposefully leaving out the part about her being iridescent, and him then threatening to expose her secret.

"Do you go through with it?" He asked, no sign of emotion behind his voice.

"Well, first you threaten to hurt my family if I don't," she lied, "but then, yes, I do kill you as a result. And I always wake up right after. What's weird though, is that I wake up at exactly 2:07 am each night from that exact same dream. It's been happening for several weeks now, and not once during the night have I not woken up from that dream at 2:07 am." She explained, heavy confusion and frustration behind her voice.

"Aris, I want you to know, I would never ask you to kill me. Sure I still have heavy guilt over the whole situation, hell, it's all I think about sometimes, but I'd never force you into becoming a murderer," he assured her, "if I wanted to die, I'd just provoke the Volturi. I wouldn't put the burden of killing upon you, and I especially wouldn't threaten you, or your family."

Aris let out a heavy sigh of relief, feeling a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders, but then it quickly returned as she processed the fact that Edward could go to the Volturi fairly easily to kill himself.

"Was there ever a time where you that you thought about going to them? Was the guilt ever that strong?" She asked softly after a moment.

Edward shrugged.

"Definitely the first couple of years after it happened, but of course Alice could always see when I was planning to do so, and then my family would step in and talk to me; convince me not to."

Aris felt a pain in her chest; one caused by the thought of Edward being in pain himself. The thought of him being dead was agonizing, so it was hard enough dealing with the constant reoccurring nightmare, but it was also terrifying finding out that there was a time when Edward truly did want to die.

"Edward, I think you need closure on the situation," her voice was almost a whisper, and it was soft so she wouldn't come off as overbearing, "and once you get closure and now longer feel this guilt as greatly, I think it could help my nightmares as well." She explained.

"Closure? How could I get closure?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I was thinking we could go to Forks," she watched his face to see if he was completely against the idea or not, but it remained unfazed, "I was thinking that if we could find out where her friends and family are now, maybe it would ease some of your guilt. It might help to see how her friends and family have moved on from the situation, and that way, maybe you can move on too."

Edward thought through this for a few minutes. On the one hand, it definitely could ease his guilt to see that perhaps Charlie Swan was still living his life happily, having moved on from the grief of losing his only daughter. On the other hand though, if Charlie Swan wasn't living his life happily and it was ruined, all due to what happened, then the guilt that Edward was already feeling would just become even greater.

"When were you thinking you'd wanna do this?" He questioned, causing a tinge of hope to flash through Aris's eyes at the fact that maybe he'd get on board with her plan.

"I was thinking maybe over winter break? It starts this Friday, so maybe we could leave that morning?" Her voice was hopeful, maybe even slightly excited. Edward couldn't back out now, seeing as it was obvious that Aris was counting on the fact that maybe this trip would ease her nightmares. Plus, he did ask what he could do to help, and if it meant facing the one place he vowed he'd never return to, he'd do it.

For her.