1Hiii everyone! Yes, I'm writting again. I'm sorry for those of you who read through my terrible previous stories or the one I still have up *sheepish smile* If it helps, I avoid my own stories hahaha. Anyway, this is a collaboration with my best friend Redy (aka, Nefarious Red), from an OTP we ended up doing for a forum and grew to love the couple so much we went down the spiral of doing AU's.
Both of us are writting this together, from our character's POV, and sharing the chapters with each other. I hope you guys enjoy it!
AN: None of us own Twilight, only our crazy ideas and any OC's that come up later.
Summary: How had things turned for the worst, so quickly? Only two months ago the only worries we had in life were those of planning our , things were falling apart without giving us any chance of fighting against them. How could you fight this plague? This unforeseen enemy that swept through the city, with no care for who they harmed.
Prologue
Chicago, Illinois
September, 1918
Brina Di'Rossi's Point of View
How had things turned for the worst, so quickly? Only two months ago the only worries we had in life were those of planning our future. Helping Edward find a way to juggle Harvard and the upcoming Juilliard audition while also keeping our families happy. Now, things were falling apart without giving us any chance of fighting against them. How could you fight this plague? This unforeseen enemy that swept through the city, with no care for who they harmed.
My mother was the first to go, having refused to stay on willing quarantine - or as much as a quarantine it could be without an official warning - and taking the train to go visit my older brother, returning ill and dying just a week after. We never saw eye to eye, but not even the mutual negative feelings we had for each other avoided me paying proper respect. Things only seemed to have gone downhill since that day. Nothing but… complications and more loss to follow.
Days later, I rode out what seemed to be a simple cold, coming out uninjured even if a little weak on my feet during long periods of time standing up. Then, Edward Sr. got sick. Within three days time, Edward Sr was only another dead body in a bed, leaving us lost among the chaos as people began crowding the hospitals and nothing was put clear. Edward… Was lost. Scared for our future. I tried not to worry for his sake, but there was so much uncertainty that even I spent the nights lying awake. The illnesses that came over the city made it difficult to decipher what people were getting sick from, but it wasn't long until the city pronounced it, officially, as 'the Spanish Influenza'.
My father was stuck in Boston, away for a business trip and reluctant to return without knowing if he would bring back anything fatal to the already weakened community. From there, he was only able to send a letter with an eulogy for my mother's funeral along with a stern one directed towards my sister about staying where she was and not being as stubborn as my mother. Another month would go by, nothing happening to our family. But, people were still dying Without anything in knowledge over how to prevent it, things only became tense. Then, the worse happened. The very thing I had prayed, daily, that this plague wouldn't take any more from me. Edward and his mother fell ill. Their immediate admission into the hospital showed clearly they had no signs of recovery. Though Edward would insist otherwise that he was fine, after the first day - unlike me - he and his mother had been quickly diagnosed with Influenza and set to bed while doctors worked around.
I was in shock, unable to believe that everyone I cared about was slowly falling victim to this invisible enemy. Keeping my hands tied as there was nothing I could do. Though the doctors and much of the staff insisted on me going home, I refused to leave their side. They were as much my family as my blood one was, if not more. I would stay for as long as possible, offering what little care and relief I could give without medical knowledge.
A soft groan snapped me out of my thoughts. Edward. His obvious discomfort caused me to quickly lean over and cradle his face with one hand as he moved while semi-unconscious. According to the doctors, it was a state of sleep but without the rest. A fever that would never give up it's hold. The boy I had loved so dearly, completely and utterly incapacitated by a flame he couldn't control.
"Shh," I hush to him. "It will be alright. Just rest, I'm here"
I carefully rubbed circles with my thumb on his cheek, whispering sweet nothings. My only hope was to offer some sort of relief to his mind, my other hand carefully moved away the few bronze locks that had fallen again on his face. Always damp with the sweat that seemed to consume him. Thankfully, it seemed to work, as he quieted down and seemed to breathe a little easier.
Two more days had gone by, and I could do nothing but watch as Edward and Elizabeth grew more pale, their 'lucid' moments far in between by now. None of the doctors could do more, overworked as they were and without a cure to start a treatment, unable to give me some hope to cling to. One of them, during the night, had told me it was probably better to start saying goodbye even if they couldn't hear me, as it was highly possible they wouldn't live till the end of the week and it was nothing short of a miracle I hadn't gotten sick either.
Heartbroken as it left me, I knew they were right. So, as Elizabeth senseless rambles lucidly to Dr. Cullen, I kept on talking softly to Edward. Apologizing, for there being nothing more I could do, saying how much I'd miss him but at least now he wouldn't be in pain anymore. How much I had grown to love him, that each moment that had passed between us I would cherish. Tears were coming down in endless streams by that point, my strength breaking down as reality set on me that this, would most likely be the last time I'd ever see him.
Finally, I managed to stand up through my trembles, leaning down to press one last kiss to his forehead before moving away. Leaving him behind would be the single most difficult thing I'd ever do in this life. I only prayed he'd forgive me. As I turned towards Elizabeth's bed, where Dr. Cullen was taking her vitals, I began to repeat the process of apologizing and saying goodbye. Once done, I turned towards the doctor and smiled sadly. I knew he had tried his hardest, and the golden eyes that met mine only proved that further.
"Thank you for all you did, even if nothing can save them."
Dr. Cullen nodded, a conflicted look on his face and looking briefly towards Edward, then back towards Elizabeth before wishing me a good day. He too, apologizing to me for my soon loss. Walking towards the door, I stopped and looked back one last time, murmuring a quick prayer for peace to come to everyone in here sooner or later before closing the door behind me to never return.
Edward Masen's Point of View
The tormenting conflagration that consumed whatever had been of me, had only resoluted me into believing my death was near. Though, not swift. That as I felt my body combust into thousands of little flames that were beyond my control, I wasn't sure if there was much else for myself. I found myself at a loss for words besides the ripping scream that tore through my throat, beating along the walls of this burning house. I felt someone's hand, squeezing mine as my fingers dug into the cushion beneath my body. Despite the other presence, I knew there was nothing they could do to stop this fire. To subdue this raging blaze as it overcame my body. Attempting to live my final moments in some peace, I dragged my memories to remember something. Demanding that whatever life I had led prior to this ignition of pain, make itself known to me.
A pair of sapphire eyes appeared in my vision, hauntingly staring over me as the soft whisper of a lullaby was broken through her lips. Ah, an angel singing me to my end. Someone to take me away from this hell that I found myself within. I could feel her warmth as her fingers cupped my flushed cheeks, though uncomfortable from the temperature, I never dared to pull from her. Hazel locks fell gracefully over her shoulders, becoming a more solidified person in the break of my vision. She was perfect, and I could taste her name at the tip of my tongue but nothing. Not a peep came from me, hardly even the screams. I was completely enticed by the angel who had come to save me.
The flame to follow, I had only assumed would be the final wave of this fever. That even as my body would be sent into the abyss, I prayed that I'd somehow be saved. That my good deeds hadn't been unheard, and that somehow I could find my way back to Brina in the end. At least, then after her full life, I could be with her again. Would she still love me? I wondered. Would she move on? Have children of her own? Marry another? My heart clenched as I felt boiling tears roll from my eyes. Though this bitter-sweet ending had been killing me from the inside out - despite the actual dying I had been in the process of doing - I could only find some peace in the gentle words I heard her say to me. Her sorrow that she would leave my side now, that there was no saving me. That, through it all, she would still love me, and that our time together wouldn't ever be forgotten.
Then my eyes opened to the darkness. The sapphire eyes disappeared into the thick air that I gasped. I felt parched - no, worse. That burning that had consumed my body was now directly in my throat, my lips trembling with the urge for… for…
A man's voice spoke to me, telling me why I was feeling this way. Savage, feral. I had died, from the flu - just as my mother and father had. Their eyes come before me, the sudden remembrance of them and great mourning I felt crawl in my chest. No! The man only continued, speaking of someone else, another woman. Sabrina. I felt a distaste for that name - subtly correcting him.
"Brina."
The next hours of my life would be consumed with the reality I now hadn't had enough time to leave behind my life. Yet, I would be immortal. Carlisle Cullen, the doctor who had been nursing me to health, had changed me. Into this… being. A vampire. He told me I could feed off animals if I desired, but I was allowed to make the decision. To kill people, or animals. My choice was to Carlisle, to follow him and his ways. Surely, he had figured it out this far, he had to be of some help. Carlisle explained that I couldn't stay here, in Chicago. That my life as a human had ended, and I would only be another missing dead body from the pandemic. A number, a statistic.
Not to the sapphire's eyed angel
I begged, I pleaded for him to make things right of the woman I had loved. Knowing that my existence had meant the world to her, and without me she'd be just as distraught as I was to leave her behind. He had offered to change her for me - But I couldn't bring such pain to her. I was in no sort of position to make any such demands of such a fair woman. Carlisle agreed to assist her, promising he would do what he could as far as her life without him was. Financially, protection, whatever she needed. So that I could love her from a distance. So, that her life would be untouched by the monster I had become - and only let her memories, remember me as the human boy who had loved her.