Edward POV:
October 15, 1918, ~ and the months following.
Pain. Searing, agonizing pain throughout my body. What the hell happened?
I try to move, only to feel as if my entire body has been put through a meat grinder. The pain worsens as I try to sit up. Then my memory comes back to where I am, and how I got here.
See, in the last year the better part of our platoon had diminished greatly.
Too many deaths in such a small amount of time. I don't think I will ever take life for granted again.
Sadly, as I start to remember, I realized exactly what we all had been through.
The painful memories of the last months rushed forward into my mind, causing me more pain than I thought I could possibly feel physically.
It wasn't the war itself, but the very hardships of living and fighting in the battlefield that had caused more deaths than the weapons out here.
Vermin, and parasites are overly prosperous within our barracks. Many soldiers here are hoping to go back home to their wives, children and families.
Sadly, many would never get to go back, never get to see their families ever again.
It seemed ironic how I hoped that we'd be able to find my missing brother and his platoon. They'd been sent to scope an area not far from our location and had been missing since early February.
What's even more painful is that Matthew and I hadn't received any letters from our parents. Even after all this time that we'd been out here.
I truly hoped Father wasn't too angry with us for not taking his advice to study and work at his firm.
I hoped he would forgive us.
It is within the late hours of the night that we finally received word confirming that my brother's platoon had been located.
Only a certain group of men and myself is sent into the area first.
Even as exhaustion weighed heavily on us all. We slowly made our way through harsh terrains, and the dropping temperature. Pushing through, hoping to get there in time.
We, however, didn't foresee a surprise attack as we managed to reach the troop's location. We were ambushed.
After what felt like hours, the bullets finally stopped flying and we all slowly crept out of our hiding spots.
I had only managed to speak to Matthew for a moment before one of the stray bullets that was fired into the cold night struck his chest.
He died moments later in my arms.
Just before he passed, he managed to make me promise to watch over his wife and their baby.
It was the last thing I remembered before everything turned dark.
After spending what seems like an eternity going in and out of consciousness, I was finally able to wake up in the hospital ward within the base.
The pain in the right side of my torso is almost unbearable as I attempt to move once more. I don't get to say much because the doctors then decide it would be best for me to be kept heavily sedated, due to the gravity of the wound.
During this time, I am unable to move so much as an inch without my entire body feeling agonizing pain. Yet, my mind seems to be unable to shut off.
It travels back to my parents and Lucy. l wondering how they're taking my brother's death.
Sometimes even wondering how Isabella is. Did she have a husband now? Maybe a baby? Oh hell, I should have listened to Matthew and wrote to her when I had the chance, I briefly wondered if it's too late to write now, but quickly put the idea to rest as soon as it came.
No good can come from writing to someone, especially someone you've been an ass to...she probably doesn't even remember me either.
I hoped to help them all through this pain, but the wounds in my body prevent me from moving so much as an inch.
After the first few days, the rest of the days just seemed to blend in to the others.
Eventually, after a few weeks of mind-numbing medicine, it was decided I was well enough to be moved to a hospital location within the states, and they finally moved me.
After a few more weeks, they decided it would be alright if they sent me home.
I only then did I realize then how long had truly passed.
I still remember the last conversation my brother and I had, still fresh in my mind, even though almost a year had passed.
It happened the night before he left on his last mission.
"I don't see why I have to be nice to her. She is your sister-in-law, after all." I complained from the cot I laid in.
"Edward, seriously, you haven't even given her a chance. She's rather bright, and has a great sense of humor. I'm pretty sure you two would hit it off if you weren't being such an asshat to her all the time." Matthew pointed out.
I did enjoy talking to her, she was different from any girl I'd ever met or spoken to.
Yet, I couldn't let my mother know that.
She'd have the wedding planned and ready to go if she caught wind of it. Faster than a kid eating homemade apple pie.
"Oh, come on. When you met Luc can you tell me that it was love at first sight? I don't even think you yourself knew you wanted her until after the third of fourth date." I replied, challengingly.
His responding laugh made me chuckle along with him, "All I will admit is that Grandpa Masen was right, love is an enigma until it knocks you on your ass. There's no point in hiding it, Edward, I've seen how you two blush when you stare at each other when you think the other isn't looking or paying attention." He finally says, smiling triumphantly at me, as I tried to hide my reddened face.
"So, you're saying that I tease and prank Isabella because I have feelings towards her?" I surmised, skeptically, after the heat on my face faded away.
Bastard always had a keen sense of being right. He could even reckon what I would respond before the words even left my mouth.
"Pretty much, yes." He said, as he finished writing his letters, before slipping each of them into an envelope.It is advised to write to all our families before we leave, each time, just in case.
It felt as though we'd written many, within these last couple of months.
"How do you think this is all going to go?" I asked, quietly.
"I don't know. Please promise me you'll watch over Lucy and the baby for me…" he replied in the same soft tone.
I gulped, nodding after a moment, feeling as if he was saying goodbye.
Those days seemed so far away now. Even as I slowly walked through my mother's garden in the middle of the day, I still had hope that Isabella would be wrong about my parents' passings.
How wrong I was to ever doubt her.
The silence within the massive house seemed deafening, making me long for the days where my parents were still here.
I slowly pulled my heavy rucksack over my shoulder and slowly made my way past the familiar foyer. Large white sheets covering every piece of furniture within the vicinity.
Every room seemed to bring back memories, that was all that was left of my family. Memories.
I only hoped that they didn't fade.
Author's Note:
I realized I probably didn't make this clear so here are a few rhings about the story...
~ 1. This is an all-human story.
~2. Bella is born in the same time as Edwarrd.
~3. It's angst story, with an eventual HEA.
~4. Other details will be revealed eventually in the story.