Impulse

Chapter 25

"Enough with your childishness!" He raved, continuing immediately afterwards. "Louis is important to me-" He proclaimed without restraint. "-because I fucking fell in love with him and I don't know how to deal with it! You can complain all you want but I'll walk over all the damn glass if it brings him back!"

Edward was dog tired by the time he realised what he'd done.

*NARRATOR'S POV*

Everyone in the room is staring at Edward like he's a new life form. Harry who had staggered back from a punch to the cheek and used the wall for support. Louis who was no longer hiding in his little shadow by the cupboard's legs.

Edward didn't regret saying it. He wasn't just tired from physical labour, but from two weeks of waiting and getting nothing when he wanted everything. He didn't count on this mental headspace lasting as long as it is, and now he's hardly a put-together man walking on two feet.

He's miserable and he wants his petal to love him, God damn it!.

For Louis this was it. He finally had that push he was counting on but was kept from all this time, letting his demon of a subconscious drain him of everything. There was no reason to stay here when he could finally sacrifice every ounce of will he had to break free.

Harry was flabbergasted. He could only stare at his older brother with his hand frozen on his loose jaw, trying to mend things as the cut got deeper.

"Edward?" Hands slipped around the man's middle because Louis was behind him. He held on tightly when the man spun around, fortunately shocked and glad.

He got Louis back and the boy looked awful in ways not many could see, but that didn't matter. Where Louis during these two weeks was bright and dapper, now he was baggy and slightly malnourished. Nobody brought up how medically impossible it is to simply switch minds and become this way, but this wasn't science.

Louis had given himself something close a bleeding aneurisym in his struggle to resurface. His legs were wobbly and his knees knocked together when he walked shiftily, but Edward secured his stature with both hands and it made his heart race.

The boy's clothes were the only things that were the same. What had overcome Louis now left him half his regular size and twice as emotional. Under his eyes were swollen blue bags of exhaustion, his fingers were shaky and pale, his ribs were visible through his skin and his hair was lifeless. The sharpness of his cheekbones had sunken to something unappealing, and his lips were so dry that they hurt.

"Petal." Edward held both sides of Louis' face and kissed him deeply. The state of breathe and skin was of no concern to him.

He had Louis for two weeks but it wasn't Louis. His Louis was trapped inside his own mind and body, each day clawing at a rope to get free. The mind is that powerful, that terrifying a force. It's an unspoken truth that the mental capacity of Louis not all that played a giant role in keeping him locked up and away from these twins.

Such things in evil have existed for millennia and like all old things, there was a secret to be told. It existed on this land for generations before the first Styles found it. Here it was again overtaking something important in their lives because after years of being dormant, it had to taste flesh too.

Louis was crying when Edward pulled off the kiss. The man smiled despite that reaction and wiped away Louis' salty streaks. He kissed those stains over and over until he's certain they were on him too.

"Come on. Shh. Don't cry, my petal." Edward kissed Louis' wet lips as the boy sobbed, hugging him close and feeling the jittery vibe from him.

A door slammed and Louis was spooked but it was nothing harmful, just the realisation that the room was now empty of Harry. Edward couldn't bring himself to chase after him at the moment. He held Louis' face and smothered him with affection because he could, because he will. Louis was breathless after his crying, his head thumping and stomach growling.