I Write Sins, Not Tragedies [An Emmett Cullen Love Story]

Chapter Twenty-Five

I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

Chapter Twenty-Five: Choices

“It is so good,” Aro began drawlingly as we had all gathered in the grand hall. I was too afraid to look up into the suicidal eyes of my brother, terrified of what I would behold, “To be honored with the company of another member of the Cullen family.”

            It was then that I tore my gaze to the vampire in the center of the audience. The Edward standing there was hardly recognizable. The Edward I had grown used to seeing had a glow about him, an aura of simply joy mixed with a mocking arrogance that I had grown to adore, and those golden eyes had always been lit up with a tender smoldering.

            This man standing before me was not my Edward at all. Of course, he had his hair and his face, but he was empty, there was no emotion before him. The once familiar golden eyes had turned black and the dark circles below them had made him look one hundred and seventeen years old physically. Edward didn’t even bother to look over in my direction, and I highly doubted he even possessed the energy to do so if he had really wanted to.

            Looking at him broke my heart. I couldn’t even fathom what had brought him to this point.

            “So, my boy, what have you summoned us for?” Aro finished.

            Edward took a moment to answer, and when he finally had, his voice was no longer velvety smooth, but hoarse and croaking. “I have come to ask a favor of you.”

            “And that would be?” Caius spoke up, an irritated and annoyed twinge to his silky words,  “We haven’t got all day, Mr. Cullen. Please, get to the point.”

            “Death.” Edward croaked, “I wish for you to kill me.”

            I couldn’t stop myself from reacting to his words. It was one thing to hear it as a rumor from Caius as he drug me down here, but another to hear him admit it himself. I let out an audible gasp that was mutually ignored throughout the room as Aro answered him.

            Lips pursed in thought, he spoke, “My dearest boy, it may not be my business to ask of you, but why is it that you come asking for punishment when no rules have been broken.”

            Edward said nothing.

            Aro extended a hand and motioned him forward, it was clear that it was not a negotiable request. “Come here, my boy, give me your hand, share with me your thoughts.”

            Edward lanked forward, his movement clumsy. Aro met him halfway, whether it was out of eagerness or pity, I couldn’t tell. Edward willingly placed his hand into Aro’s and awaited his reaction. After Aro was finished peering into his mind, he released Edward’s hand and his expression was thoughtful.

            Aro moved back to his chair, and rested his old head inside of his hand before he spoke airily. “To be young and to feel love’s keen sting.”

            Love!? What had Aro seen inside my brother’s mind that would make him give such a peculiar comment. Edward hadn’t had anyone in his life, and even if he had, I couldn’t see who could have broken his heart to the point of him wanting death.

            What about Carlisle and Esme? Was Edward even thinking of what his death would do to them, after all these years that they had loved and nurtured him. Not to mention how Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett would react. If I loved Edward so dearly after only a few months of knowing him, how much more so would his death affect the siblings he had known for decades?

            “Well?” Caius pressed his brother. “What are we going to do with him?”

            Aro tapped a finger against his chin in thought, it riveted me, it seemed like such a human thing to do. “While the death of this boy would be such a terrible waste, he seems to have already made up his mind. If we do not give it to him now, he will certain seek our wrath in order to achieve it.”

            “Then wish granted?” Caius clarified, standing up in preparation for the deed.

            There was no standing back now. I knew that as soon as Aro spoke the word, Edward would cease to exist. I stepped forward from the side lines in panic. “NO!”

            Aro and Caius both had the same expression of shock, and in that moment it was clear to me the resemblance between the two. “Mary?” Aro gave me permission to speak.

            “Don’t you dare give this to him!” I half shouted. I had moved so that I was planted firmly between Edward and Caius. “Don’t you dare kill him!”

            “Mary,” Caius tried to move me out of the way, pulling on my hand carefully. “Edward has chosen his fate.”

            “He’s stupid!” I retorted desperately, I could feel the stinging of tears in my eyes even though I knew they would never manifest. “He doesn’t know what he wants! He doesn’t know what he’s asking for!”

            “Mary.” Edward’s voice was a pleading whisper. “Move out of the way.”

            I wheeled on him, “Absolutely not!”

            Aro spoke up now, he had been watching my reaction carefully. His voice was calm, “It has been decided, Mary. Now please, Mary, move out of the way.”

            I was only half aware of what I was saying. “I’ll stay.”

            Aro’s response mimicked all the other’s in the room. A silent question played in his crimson eyes and he sized up my offer.

            “Keep him alive,” I began, this time more convincingly. “And I will stay here with you…and never return back to the Cullens.”

            There was dead silence across the entire room that was only broken after a fair amount of time when Edward spoke into my ear. “Mary…what are you doing…do you have any idea…do you know what you are agreeing to?”

            I ground my teeth stubbornly and turned my gaze back to Aro. It didn’t matter what I was getting myself into, or what I was giving up, I wasn’t going to sit back and watch him get killed. Not without trying everything first.

            Aro was giving my offer careful consideration, sizing up his options strategically. Finally, with a final pursing of his lips. “We, my dear, have a deal.”