Guardian × Edward Cullen

fourteen | ashes

CLARA WOKE LATER THAT EVENING with an ache in her head and an emptiness in her chest. Her eyes opened to the sight of a large window encompassing the entire wall adjacent to the bed she was lying in, and because of it she knew she was at the Cullens'. A saddened sigh made its way out of her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut again, foolishly hoping that the past few hours could be erased by the small gesture.

"Clara." His voice was soft and gentle, hesitant, as if he spoke any louder the volume of his lilt could break her.

"If you're going to tell me it isn't my fault... I don't want to hear it," she mumbled, still laying on her side as her gaze studied the trees out of the window.

Edward shifted from his seat in the chair and traded it for a spot on the edge of the bed, reaching over and resting his hand on her shoulder. "Okay. But... there's something you need to know," he told her quietly.

This got her attention, and she turned onto her back and looked up at him. "What?"

"I just want you to know that --"

The door to the bedroom burst open suddenly, and a familiar head of dark hair appeared in the room. "Is she awake yet?" The interrupter blurted, brown eyes wide with worry.

Clara shot out of bed in an instant, hardly taking even a second to realize who it was. "Sophia?!" A sob broke past her lips as she threw herself at the young woman, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tightly. "Oh, my God -- I thought you were dead!"

Sophia laughed slightly, but there was a bit of discomfort in it. "Easy," she told Clara, "or you'll crush my ribs."

The blonde pulled away, looking at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Sophia hesitated, her gaze shifting over Clara's shoulder to where Edward was still sitting. Nodding to her, he stood and left the room so they could talk alone.

Once he was gone, the brunette pulled Clara over to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm... not a Guardian anymore," she finally said, deciding to just yank the band-aid clean off.

"What?"

"Yeah..." She offered a small smile and a shrug. "It was either that or Ascending, and I have things I want to live for, so..."

Clara's eyebrows furrowed as she raked her fingers through her messy hair. It was only then that she noticed she was clean of Asher's blood, and that she was dressed in a fresh t-shirt a bit too large for her, as well as some cotton shorts that were probably Rosalie's judging by how they fit her. Someone must have cleaned her up; Alice, she guessed, or perhaps even Rosalie. "What happened?" She asked Sophia. "Emmett said you'd been ambushed, and Paul was carrying you, and he looked so -- so heartbroken, that I just thought..."

"He thought so, too," Sophia admitted quietly. When Clara simply looked at her, waiting, she let out a soft breath and began to explain. "Victoria ended up being the one behind all of this. She'd created a newborn named Riley, and she let him make all the decisions for the army. They exploited the loophole in Alice's visions, and that's why she didn't know Victoria was responsible for everything."

"Anyway, when the fight began everything was going okay. Seth was able to recount what was happening to us through his link with the pack," she continued. "But after a while Ethan, Seth and I could hear vampires approaching. Victoria had caught Ethan's scent, and she knew he'd be with Bella." She paused for a moment, glancing over at Clara to see the blonde was listening intently before going on. "She brought Riley and eight other newborns with her. We were outnumbered, but we did our best."

Sophia began to speak about the small battle that had occurred up in the mountains. She explained how Seth had fought as hard as he could, even though he was inexperienced with both fighting and being a shifter in general. He was young and new to all of this, but he'd still fought well. Ethan had taken down Victoria and two others, while Sophia took care of Riley and a few others as well. But before that, it had begun to look like they were involved in a losing fight; Ethan had nearly died at the hands of Victoria; and probably would have if Bella hadn't have cut herself to distract the vampires.