𝑺𝑶𝑳𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑬 [𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑷𝑶𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹/𝑻𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻]

𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑰𝑰𝑰 --- 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑾𝑬𝑬𝑻𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑪𝑶𝑵

❞𝑰𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉, 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.❞
————— ✦ ⁖ ✺ ⁖✦ —————

Edward remained by Gwen's side as they moved her body from the Reservation and back to her home in Forks. He did not protest as they turned down his offer to bring her to his home. He did not even protest Cal and Leah when they suggested she remain at the Reservation. All he wanted was to remain by her side, as her last whispers continued to haunt his mind.

"It was Ron..."

"It was Ron..."

Edward remained silent, not knowing what to do with the information. A part of him believed he had imagined it...Not wanting it to be true for her. Despite Gwen and Ron's problems, he knew they were best friends once. He knew about their adventures...And their falling out.

He desperately did not want it to be true.

If it was true, it would break her.

It already did...a voice in his head whispered. She did break...She reached her breaking point. What did you think this was? She lost her memories and chose to forget rather than face what happened...She reached her breaking point...

He took a deep breath as he looked around the room, he was sitting in her bedroom in the dark as Gwen slept peacefully before him. On her other side, Alex was snoring on a cot they had pulled out. Though the blond man had requested to stand guard all night, he fell asleep within the hour they had arrived.

Edward couldn't blame Alex. He must have been exhausted with all of the incidents that had occurred within the 48-hour span. And now that Gwen was safe once more, Alex must have succumbed to his sleep.

"It was Ron..."

What would Alex do with this information? Because for Edward, his hunting instinct immediately came into play now that he knew who was responsible for what had happened to Gwen. He wanted this Ron to pay for his crimes, to pay for everything he was responsible for...And he knew Alex would want the same. And maybe that was why, he decided to keep this to himself.

Because it would not be what Gwen would want.

He looked back to a sleeping Gwen, knowing the information was critical to the Wizarding World, but he wanted to be sure. What if he had misheard? What if she meant to say something else? He didn't want to jump to conclusions without her confirming it. He knew once this information was out, everything would change.

Edward took a deep breath as he wondered what this would all mean for them when they all found out if it was truly Ron who had betrayed them...

His eyes gazed over to Gwen once more, her raven-hair covering her body like a protective sheet as he admired the tint of her brown skin in the moonlight. He could not help but feel at peace as he watched her sleep, her breath echoing throughout the entire room with such ease. It was a sound he could listen to for the rest of his life and never get bored of. Even as Alex's breathing grew heavier and into snores, Edward appreciated it too.

In fact, the two of them looked more youthful in appearance than he had ever seen them. He wondered if it was the lack of worry and stress in their lives when they slept was what caused them to look younger. And as the thought crossed his mind, it made him sad.

They were both so young. Barely leaving childhood. Barely surviving. Living to bare the weight of adults...So that no one else would have to.

This was the cost of war. And the cost of remnants of that war.