deadly sun, edward cullen.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ix. first blooming of hope.

The way an artist thought was quite beautiful, and the way she noticed things about him that even he hadn't in the lot of centuries he'd lived through made his frozen heart want to beat again.

And now, when he watched her sleep, he wondered if she could see she was also art. Soft freckles feathered her nose, so pale that only the new-rising sun could make it known. Her cheeks were flushed red, and her hair a waving mess against her face. Her lips were dry, but not so much that they would bleed if she smiled a bit too wide. Just enough that he wanted to offer her a cup of water. Her lashes─ so long and dark compared to some of the streaks of white on her head, softly struck the skin of her cheekbones when her eyes moved under her eyelids, and shadowed down onto her pale skin like it longed to touch her jaw and her lips like Edward did. Her jaw, softened around the edges when she tucked her head back like this, was so utterly adorable that Edward wanted to leave a trail of kisses down it's side.

Soon, the sun retracted behind a cover of white clouds and Edward found the sight of Tomi almost as breathtaking. If not more.

In the shadows, her skin was a white so pale that he swore it shone all around her like an aura, and the dark lines of her face were so defined she could have passed for a vengeful queen ready to take back her throne. All that was missing was her crown. Even though Edward didn't think anything could compare to this kind of beauty, so true and raw and uniquely hers, a crown would definitely fit on the top of her head.

The hair that tumbled down her shoulder was the same, yet not. Instead of looking like simple streaks of white now, it looked like half of her head was dirt, and the rest roots of plants ready to grow and mature.

All there was missing was a little care, a little gentleness, and Tomi would grow into a garden of wonders.

Only able to look away from her face to glance at what she'd been drawing ─ almost nervously as if it was her only way to find solace in such stressful times ─ he found himself looking back into his eyes.

Made of dark ink, sure, but they were his eyes, and that was his jaw and his nose.

All over the paper was scattered his features, as if he'd been a puzzle already made and she'd decided to undo him to find answers to her questions.

The girl shifted in the seat, and Edward slowly sat up on the couch.

Tomi had drawn him. He had given her peace despite what had happened to her sister, and that made his chest ache with something unknown.

Just as a smile grew on his face, he heard Tomi's heart pick up a quicker pace, and then heard her thoughts as that single piece of peace sleep had brought her was broken.

There was this blissful moment between sleep and awakening, when she didn't remember Bella or him or who she was in the world and where she belonged, and that had been shattered just when her eyes found him sitting there.

"Oh," Her morning voice rasped quietly. It seemed she couldn't quite word what she was thinking, so Edward went to dig.

She was hungry. And even that ─ the word hungry ─ was an understatement.

Tomi hadn't let herself eat a proper meal in too many days, and it had Edward's instincts going insane. His urge to help her bloom, to help her out of this dark phase in her life, was so strong that his hands that fisted the blankets successfully tore a few threads apart.

Tomi was not broken. There was nothing to be fixed, she wasn't some damsel waiting for her prince in shining armor, and yet he wanted to help. And if that meant only just waiting for her to do the first steps towards him, then Edward would wait. He would hold out his hand, and he would never relent.