So, I know that there are other fanfic here that focus on how Carlisle saved Edward but still... I just couldn't get it out of my head. Especially the flashback scene in the movie. That broke my heart... I really need to do this fanfic or else I'm gonna snap. Haha. Hope you'll like this one. :]

The characters all belong to Stephenie Meyer.


There are some things that are better left unspoken; hidden secrets that lie in the very core of our existence. Sometimes one cannot help but wonder; when will all this come to an end? To emancipate the struggles that one is possessing and the heavy burden that one must incarcerate by own self.

I, as a paradigm, holds a burdensome clandestine; a secret that involves my own existence and the world that I breathe into. Choice was never given to me. I was brought into this nightmare wherein even my wildest caprice I never dreamt to be. And now, I am living the path of an unending existence. I walk with immortality.

The judgment I've been waiting is still not here; the verdict that will change the course of my living. I've spent time searching for the purpose of my existence in a world that is never meant for me; a purpose that might give me the answer to the only question in my mind.

Why am I here?

---

The sun was shining directly on the west. It was almost the end of the day and the only thing I was worried about was the fear of getting hit by the sun rays. It wouldn't be such a good idea especially here in a crowded place. The gentle breeze of the wind passed through my direction, wafting all the scent I could ever smell. The feeling was tormenting.

My body tensed. A reflex action whenever the enticing scents engulfed my senses. I shut my eyes, trying to control my breathing… to stop the agony in my throat. I had succeeded but only in a slight way as the humans walked passed me again.

I was standing under the shade of a canopy of a dilapidated building. I couldn't walk fast enough, run enough because of the number of face-masked people in the street. They would surely see me in the sunlight, glinting like a thousand diamonds were embedded on my pallid marble skin. I heaved a sigh. The anxiety was devouring me.

The poster that was adhered into the inundated wall beside me ruffled. I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach when my eyes scanned the message.

INFLUENZA

FREQUENTLY COMPLICATED WITH

PNEUMONIA

IS PREVALENT AT THIS TIME TROUGHOUT AMERICA.

THIS THEATRE IS CO-OPERATING WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

YOU MUST DO THE SAME

IF YOU HAVE A COLD AND ARE COUGHING AND

SNEEZING. DO NOT ENTER THIS THEATRE.

GO HOME AND GO TO BED UNTIL YOU ARE WELL.

HELP US TO KEEP CHICAGO THE HEALTHIEST CITY IN THE WORLD.

JOHN DILL ROBERTSON

COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH

Why couldn't any of these humans be as durable as I was? Prone to any diseases? Why could they be all so fragile? Breakable? Why was I the only one who didn't need to suffer because of my curse? Many people were dying each intolerably second. And I couldn't do much to save all those people. That was why I didn't want to stay in my house. I set aside the thought for the pity already surged in me.

Certainly, the hospital was waiting for my shift. The clouds suddenly covered the superior setting sun, making everything safe for me. It would take half a minute before I stepped inside the hospital doors. Half a minute.

I half ran in the street towards my refuge. I looked up in the sky and the sun was emerging again. I'm near now. I thought urgently. The people I'd passed looked at me inquisitively.

"Dr. Cullen!" I heard a female voice called me as I made my way to the long corridor of the hospital. My head instantly jerked to the caller's direction. The female nurse hurried to me as she held me her clipboard. I examined the new entry.

"It's getting worse every single day." I said and alarm washed over me. The nurse bit her lower lip, out of anxiety, I supposed. Her eyes wandered aimlessly to the floor. She looked nervous. "Is there any problem, Nurse Annie?"

Her eyebrows furrowed involuntarily. I could hear her low heartbeat. Then, she looked at me straightly into the eyes. "Dr. Cullen, I'm afraid that they're going to die eventually. All of them. Especially the adolescents... This disease is incurable!"

I patted her shoulders and nodded. There was nothing to be said or done. I walked towards the ward where the patients laid. It was all disconcerting. Thinking about the pandemic made me want to save them all. But I certainly didn't have the right or the power. Only God knew what he had planned to all these poor creatures.

The moment I stepped into the ward, the scents engulfed me again. But they weren't potent. They were diluted… with incurable diseases… it made my stomach hurl again. A hundred beds were rowed head to head towards the long warehouse-like ward. The nurses that attended the patients wore long white robes that covered every part of their body; also a face mask and a cap. I wouldn't need any of that, of course.

The coughing and sneezing noises echoed throughout the long room continuously. I checked an old man, withered by his age and the disease. He looked at me with appraising eyes. "You must cover yourself at least, Doctor. You might get the flu." he said in a hoarse voice.

"I might as well have." I smiled thoughtfully as I checked his fever. It hadn't gotten low. The old man flinched at the touch of my wintry skin but didn't pay attention moreover. I could hear his nasal congestion clearly. It was worse. He couldn't breathe freely. "Take this."

I handed him the medicine that was placed beside his bed and he took it nonetheless. I walked up, feeling heavy in the inside. Each person I'd passed sent involuntary chills in my spine. I knew who I wanted to check the most even though there was so much work to be done, so many people needed to be saved.

Elizabeth Masen and her son were both lying still on their beds side by side. Their bodies were frail with sickness. I walked faster towards the woman with bronze hair and emerald eyes that her son inherited. Pity surged over me. Elizabeth's eyes averted towards my direction, they were full of knowable worry. She was thinking of something because of her brows had furrowed.

I stopped beside her bed and her worried eyes turned into glare. "Save him!" Her voice was hoarse like any other patients in the room. Her son was laying there beside her cot, asleep. I felt my jaw clenched when I stared back into her eyes.

"I'll do everything in my power." I said with assurance and I took her hand to convey that my words were true. She didn't flinched like the old man did in contact with my skin. Her fever was burning high.

"You must…" she insisted as I felt the weak force of her hand on mine. She looked like she had decided something with the way she stared into my eyes. "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."

My body tensed and she felt it. The panic struck me like a lightning. Could she possibly know my secret? The secret that I'd kept for two and a half centuries? I couldn't answer her… I didn't know what to say. Lying wasn't a good idea anymore. Elizabeth's emerald eyes continued to stare at me and her heartbeat slowed in an alarming rate. Her grip on my hand loosened and I placed it beside her. With her last strength, she managed to turn her head towards the direction of her son. A sob echoed from her mouth.

"Edward, my son… Save him…" her voice was just a whisper and her eyes closed, her body limped. If I could cry, I would be doing so at this moment. It was already twilight… an hour it took before her heart completely stopped beating. Just like mine.

Her son, Edward, was motionless on his cot. The pureness of his face sent a comfort in me somehow. He was beautiful even with the sickness; just like his mother. I felt pity, again.

I was the one who wheeled Elizabeth Masen's body to the morgue. Even in her demise, her face was still not peaceful. How could she want her son to be a monster like me? Certainly, she wouldn't want her son like this? But her words echoed through my head like a broken and frightening sound.

Save him! I would save his son with my power? No. I didn't want another person to suffer the pain I had. The tormenting fire… I wouldn't want that. Save him!

You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward. What I must do? The innocent face of the young lad marked my vision; sick, helpless, dying…

Save him!

I didn't know what I was doing. As soon as I placed Elizabeth's body on the morgue, I could feel my feet dragging me back towards the ward… towards her son. I knew what I must do then. It was an impulse. Something about Elizabeth's words had managed to open something inside me. It was something that I yearned for centuries. I wheeled the boy towards the morgue. Not even one person had noticed that he was still breathing… still alive. The atmosphere of death lurked over the morgue. I carefully lifted the boy's body and made my exit towards the backdoors… carrying him in my arms as I ran across the rooftops in the direction of my home.

The night was silent and the breeze of the wind made the boy's body wince. I settled him in the bed, a prop in my house. I sat down on a stool next to him. The lamp post outside was the only object that gave the room a dim light. I didn't know what to do next. His heartbeat was getting lower each tick if the clock. The fever was running high through his skin. His breathing became heavier.

"I am sorry for what I will do to you. Please forgive me." I said silently, my face was contorted with anguish. I took his hand with my right as I leaned over him. My left hand was placed on top of his hair. He looked peaceful and I whispered near his left ear. "For the promise I'd made to your mother. I will save you."

I leaned back to see his reaction. A slight smile formed on his lips and I felt guilt consuming me. How could I end his life with this process? It took me a second to muster all my self-control and I directly aimed for his throat.

His eyes opened and he screamed out of pain and fear. I grabbed his jaw with my right hand to make him still. The venom in my mouth flowed through his veins rapidly. When I knew that it was enough, I stopped. The boy's face was contorted in pain but he was rigid. He wasn't moving until his back arched.

Save him!

The words echoed through my head again and I felt a hollow sob escape from my lips. The blood trickled down my mouth. My right fist was suddenly in front of it to ease my sobs. I had no tears to shed for I couldn't produce them. But my dead heart was hurting with sympathy as I watched the boy suffer the pain I'd suffered before.

You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward.

Yes… I did save him.

And I didn't regret it.

Because I never thought that as the years progressed, this decision would open up to a tale no one would ever forget in a hundred years.