Crossfire [Closed]

Reforget. It wasn't an actual term but it was a termed she used. While most things reminded her of bad times there were rare things that reminded her of him. Often she would forget about him, knowing he was locked up she was safe, but every so often she would get a reminder. This was one of those so oftens.

He sent another letter. Another she would read because once she started she wouldn't be able to take her eyes away from it. She didn't recognize the address, it had been too long since the last one so she forgot. She forgot about him. Now she remembered and and she wanted to reforget.

Rose sat on a bench in the peaceful conservatory. A place she often visited these days because of calming nature of the place. Another way for her to cope with her constant and ever present anxiety. Her knees were pulled close to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her body shaking and shuttering every so often as she tried to get herself under wraps. The letter had long fallen from her hand and now sat on the floor dirt speckling the slightly stained paper.

Why did she have to be reminded?

Despite being back in the "safety" of Beata, Edward still hardly slept. It was a years-old habit that he just hadn't shaken. Thankfully it was one of his less harmful habits. Instead of sleeping the speedster resigned to wandering the school. Tonight's journey had him walking by the Conservatory. Peeking in, he noticed a familiar bundle. Someone he hadn't talked to since before he left to "walk his own path." Which all that meant was he was keeping tabs on his AF insiders.

He stepped into the glass-roofed building, closing the door behind him. "Rose," he said. "It's been awhile." He wasn't sure how else to start. Social skills weren't exactly front-line training when he was growing up. He moved closer to the girl but remembered to keep his distance, at least at first. He didn't want to trigger her gift nor cause her to panic.

Rose blinked when she heard her name. She thought she was just hearing things. Just a whisper of a voice that sounded familiar calling her name. She blinked the a tear away, and looked around making sure it was just something in her head but there he was, standing a decent distance away. Probably not wanting to get caught up in her gift accidentally.

She blinked a few more times to make sure he was actually there. "Ed?" She asked trying to confirm it was him. She wasn't sure, she couldn't tell. It had been so long. And in that long time period not much was done on the spring students part, not much was accomplished. She made little progress mentally, and a bit more progress than that with her gift but it wasn't enough.

Ed nodded. "Yeah, it's me," he told her. He risked stepping closer to Rose. Maybe she was still familiar with him enough for her gift not to auto-activate. He wasn't sure what to say to her. He didn't know how to explain why he was gone so long, nor why he hadn't tried to contact her. He had been very selfish the past few months, only contacting his brother, to check up on him. Ed knew things were fucked when he had been raised by psychopathic killers yet he was the one checking up on his "normal" twin. Barry never really knew how to handle abandonment, so Ed was the one to make sure the green-eyed speedster didn't do anything stupid.

"I'm sorry for not keeping in contact these past few months.."

Rose didn't say anything for now. She didn't know what to say to Ed, it had been so long. He seemed to have changed while she was the same it seemed. She wasn't sure anymore. She had made no progress at all it seemed. She couldn't still couldn't go out much. She couldn't talk without still being slow.. why? Why was she stuck like this?

She let out a sigh. "It's... fine.." Rose said in response. Everyone left her eventually it seemed so this wasn't any different. She was very solitary anyway so she didn't even notice how longed it had been til recently. She wanted to go home but she couldn't find it in her to do so.

But it wasn't. Even if Ed thought it was, he knew that Rose didn't think it was even remotely "okay." He sat down close to where she was and brushed the hair away from his face. Sighing, he looked over to the girl. "No, it's really not," he said in a low voice. "I'm tired of running out on people. I don't want to do that anymore." He was here to stay. Hopefully.

Rose remained silent once again not really knowing what to say. She could feel him sitting close to her, his presence reminding her of what once was, how she felt safe with him. Some of it was returning, but there was something there. Something in her own stubbornness to avoid people. To avoid trapping someone down in her issues.

Brown eyes flicked to the ground. Her mouth opening to speak but closing shortly after. "Then.. are you staying?" She asked softly. A small thing of hope sat in her chest. She wanted to feel safe again but she just wanted to push him away at the same time. If she told her about her abuser sending her letters and bugging her.. Surely he would leave again right? She lowered one of her legs, sitting her foot atop the letter hoping he wouldn't notice. The other still being hugged close to her.

Her hands messed the fabric on her legs. Occasionally picking at it. Would she have someone she could maybe rely on again? She didn't want to rely on him but she wanted to at the same time. "Did... you come back... be.. because of me?" She hoped that wasn't the case she wasn't worth the trouble.

Ed nodded solemnly. "I'm staying. For as long as I can." He noticed her leg movement onto the letter, but thought nothing of it. He watched the girl, trying to detect any sort of movement against him. He didn't want to overstep any boundaries, so he made sure to watch her body language. "I did come back because of you, yes. But I also need to take care of my brother. He's not in a good place right now," he replied.

Barry? What happened with him? The spring had honestly tended to avoid the autumn when she saw him, not really wanting to piss him off again like she had done that one time. Even then her chances of seeing him were rare. He was part of the reason the speedster was around but the other part was her.. She didn't want to keep him here, she wasn't really worth it. She wasn't worth to come back to either yet here he was.

"Wha.. What's wrong... with him?" She asked. It was probably none of her business but she didn't like the fact that other people were having a hard time. She didn't know why that was because there was always others who were suffering. Augh she was an idiot.

Ed sighed. He wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with his twin. "Something about everyone he's ever been friends with abandoning him or something. That he still hasn't recovered from his puppy love adventures. It's a lot that's piled up on him. Hopefully soon he'll get over it," he explained, brushing his hair from his face. "It gets exhausting having to basically live for him. He's given up for absolutely no good reason." Every day it was the same thing. Edward would wake up, check on Barry and make sure he wasn't going to do anything stupid, and go about his day. It was annoying. "I just want him to be back to normal, honestly," he admitted.

Oh... He had become like her.. She acted the same way back then.. Even when she first got adopted. "But.. He has you. You are here now.." She didn't really know the relationship between the twins, but at least Barry had someone. She did now but back then it was hopeless. "Why hasn't he tried to make new friends? If... If his friends.. left then.. they weren't good enough for.. him.. friends can be replaced after some.. time." She didn't really know what she was saying. She didn't have any friends til now. Even then she only have one friend.

"He doesn't go anywhere to make friends," he explained. "He doesn't make any effort to make new friends." It wasn't like the friends he had were the greatest to begin with, either. One of Barry's friends almost killed both of the twins on at least one occasion, and the other one was borderline suicidal. "I'm just not sure what to do with him anymore."

"It sounds like... like he needs.. some sense... knocked into him..." She muttered. She knew that Ed probably had tried everything by now. "If you have tried everything by now, I think it's just best to leave him alone.. He will figure it out eventually." She didn't really know what else to tell Ed, she was concerned for Barry as well, even if she was still scared of him. And she was usually on the receiving end of the comfort not the giving end.

Edward nodded. "You're probably right," he sighed. He missed the hyperactive speedster that joked about everything and took nothing seriously. It was a very drastic change from the rest of the world he knew that he hated that it had changed his twin for the worst. "Sometimes I wish I could just go back in time and preserve the way Barry was before he met that girl. He was so much happier before then," he admitted.

The girl moved her foot forgetting about the paper underneath. The sound of the paper moving against the dirty ground made her heart drop, and her face pale slightly, which would certainly be noticeable even when she got it under control shortly after. "U-um... Yeah.. I... I get.. that.." She said, spacing out her words a little more, her eyes falling to the ground. "I.. wouldn't mind... going... going back... and fixing.. things for... myself.."