"He cuts off your senses altogether. No pain, but also no sight or sound or smell.
Total sensory deprivation. You are utterly alone in the blackness.
You don't even feel it when they burn you."
-Edward Cullen, Breaking Dawn
Preface
I didn't want to know. I didn't want to see her this way, corrupted and beautiful and fearful. Perhaps that was the worst part—that she wasn't the innocent little girl we'd all known for seven years. That she'd been forced to grow up faster than even her unique species had required of her. It was in the glare of her eyes. I'd almost expected them to be dark crimson, but they were still chocolate brown. That small fact gave me hope.
"N-Nessie?" I hated that my voice cracked. I hated what they'd done to her. She pulled the hood of her black cloak away from her head; it was made of thinner fabric than the other cloaks. She and I had always run hot.
Once she lifted her eyes back to look at me, her expression was almost enough to finish me off. She was just as scared as I was. She was just as angry.
Instead of this bolstering me, though, I broke. "Ness… please."
Her bottom lip trembled for a moment, and her eyes dropped to my feet. I moved forward, my foot breaking ranks with the rest of my body and carrying me one shaky step forward. My hand reached for her, and though we were still feet away from each other, suddenly standing at her flanks were a number of black-cloaked sentinels. They stood just behind her, not between us, but yet they acted as a wall.
Her expression became emotionless at once. She leveled her gaze at me, and took a deep breath.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry."