Twilight Saga: Caged Butterfly (Demetri Volturi X Reader)

Chapter 9.5 Embry

 Come back. Even as a shadow, even as a dream.

—Euripides

How do you go on knowing that you will never again—not ever, ever—see the person you have loved? How do you survive a single hour, a single minute, a single second of that knowledge? How do you hold yourself together?—Howard Jacobson

I wanted to kill someone and I wanted to die and I wanted to run as far and as fast as I could because she was never coming back. She had fallen off the face of the earth and she was never coming back.
—Melissa Kantor

The deep, luxurious forest surrounding Forks, Washington, was strangely quiet. Not a single leaf seemed to wave to the absolute non-existent wind and the small animals that ventured out in the morning hours where absent in every sense, making the forest look like a deserted space, an alien landscape that could easily transfuse absolute terror and cautiousness to any passer-by. It was something not normal in any sense. The heavy grayish clouds that were permanently hanging from the sky were a bit lighter today, offering more light than every other day. Like they were desperately trying to lighten the mood of Nature itself up; like the storm that hit Forks these past few days was so immense, that required some making up from God Himself.

But look! Something is actually moving inside the forest, marching its way through the trees and the rich flora that towered well all around him, covering up the firmament completely.

Embry was walking through the trees, his steps hard against the solid ground and his body advancing forward without any special try from his part. Giving not a single care for the fact that the temperature was in dangerously low level, he was wearing only a pair of pants and sneakers, the damp air falling on his russet skin like the ever-so-light touch of an angel. Small drops of water were still cascading from the leaves, remnants of the rain that hit the forest last night, on the man, who just continued to walk nonetheless. He was walking. Walking out of reflex; his brain was ordering one foot to advance forward after the other, his breathing was continuing to fill his lungs with air and his heart was still beating inside his chest strongly and loudly. But there were two simple things that were wrong with the man. The first one, was that he wasn't thinking at all; the whole earth could be crumbling to the ground, the forest going up in flames, an alien landing right in front of his very own eyes and the man would never notice. His thoughts were currently all drowned up, overflowing and consuming all of his consciousness in such way that the brain was left with no help but to use his unconsciousness in order to keep him alive. And that is what brings us to the second clue. Since his sense of self-preservation had taken over his bloodstream and nerves, making him a walking shell with no soul lying behind, his previously happy and warm brown eyes were consumed by a dark shadow which had engulfed them completely, making the brown turn almost coal black.