I have survived. 2 more days to go and it's holiday time.

Hari-chan15, linalove, SeventhSister, Jen, blacklace-and-roses, Katt the Pirate, luvisluv13, piratejester, WolfxAngel, kuraikami, Rose (gasp! Poor you x[ )and loganlethalhxc.

THANK YOU!!

Oh, and extra congratulations to luvisluv13! You're good! :D

Time to slow down. This one's calm and relaxing, but I hope you'll like it just as much. Enjoy!

Rose had no idea where the sudden urge to change before seeing Edward came from. She used to visit him countless times after school, dressed like she was all day. But, as she reached her house, she figured it wouldn't hurt and would take only a minute, maybe two. Well, it didn't. Before changing, Rose decided to take a quick shower. She didn't even think about what was she doing, and came to her senses after getting her hair washed and dried, dressed in her favorite pair of close-fitting jeans and a warm, creamy sweater, with a bottle of perfume in her hands. Eyes widening at her mirror image, she applied the perfume, making sure it's only a few drops, and tied her hair up, even though she realized the waves looked pretty nice, for once. Her eyes lingered on the light pink lip gloss, but she shook her head and nearly ran out of the bathroom. Thankfully she remembered to take her backpack with the black plastic bags for the after-party cleaning, at least.

Standing in the middle of the dark hall, having Edward's eyes almost literally glued to her, Rose wondered if she'd over-done it. Too much perfume? She was sure it was only a little bit, barely noticeable! Or maybe it's her hair, did she mess up the ponytail again? 'Oh, God… Say something!'

"E-Edward?" she cringed at the sound of her voice. She cleared her throat and tried again "Hey, is everything all right?"

Suddenly, he was by her side, the dazed look replaced by one of sadness, desperation, almost hurt. "Will you leave?"

"What?"

"Will you leave me?" he asked again, urgently.

"Why would I do that?" Rose couldn't understand the question. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!"

Both of them were surprised at the loud, firm sound of his voice "I-I mean…" he tried to correct himself "You… I… Don't…"

He stopped short when he heard her laughing. He blinked, watching her as she tried to stifle the giggles and succeeded eventually. "Okay, I understand. You don't want me to go, I won't. But," she looked up at him with a small smile and curious eyes "Where did that came from?"

"Um," Edward shifted "I… That boy… You sounded… I thought…"

"Okay, okay," Rose cut him off "Doesn't matter. Well," she put on a cheerful smile "I came here to help you with the trash, but I see you've beat me to it, huh?"

Edward smiled, feeling proud of himself. "I gathered everything in one spot. I thought it would be easier…" he trailed off.

Rose grinned at him, knowing a compliment or two would make his oddly low spirits sky rocket in no time "Great idea! This should go quicker than I thought! That was very kind of you, Edward."

Just like she imagined it, Edward's pale, scarred face broke into a wide smile and his eyes sparkled. Rose had to admit, he looked like a different person when he beamed like that, even though his tousled hair and all black leather clothing were the same. 'One smile can certainly change a person,' she mused, feeling her own smile widening.

"So, where is it?"

"In the back, I'll show you," he sounded excited, no doubt waiting for another compliment. Rose followed him out the castle and to the back garden, ready to give one to him with pleasure. Just to see him happy.

The pile of garbage was bigger than she could imagine. Beer cans, bottles, food wraps, toilet paper, even articles of clothing. The girl sighed, glad she'd bought quite a few plastic bags earlier that day, along with a pair of rubber gloves, bottled water and paper tissues, just in case. She set her backpack down, fished out the gloves and put them on. She straightened back up and was ready to begin, when she noticed Edward standing right next to the pile, fidgeting slightly. Waiting.

"Oh, Edward, very well done!" she said in a voice similar to the one she's been using when Denis was younger "This will make things much easier for me. Thank you."

Again, he beamed at her. "No problem, I wanted to help." He said modestly, a barely noticeable blush on his cheeks.

Rose began to pick up bottles and beer cans – which had a stab hole in them, indicating where Edward pierced them in order to pick them up – and throw them into the bags. She assured the scissor-handed boy she could manage it on her own and that he'd done much already, but he was determined to help her even more and proceeded to stab the cans with his fingers and shake them off inside the bags. They spent a couple of minutes doing that, when Rose reached out for yet another bottle ('How many of them were here, anyway?') and noticed something. The sun was almost all the way below the horizon, only a small piece sticking out and painting the sky red and orange. Unconsciously, she straightened up and turned to face the setting sun. It was a very beautiful sight.

"Um, Rose?"

"Yes?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"What is this?"

She turned to look at Edward over her shoulder and nearly fell over. Something was dangling from one of his blades, something hot pink, small and pretty thin. A piece of clothing. Girls' underwear.

"Oh, for the love of-" Rose blushed heavily, snatching the panties and shoving them deep inside one of the half filled bags, thanking God she had her rubber gloves on.

"What was that?" Edward asked, genuinely curious. To him, it looked like a bunch of pink strings tied together.

"Ugh," she groaned "It was… Never mind, it was nothing important." 'Oh yeah, this party must've been a blast, all right,' she thought, picking up trash in a faster pace. Edward blinked, confused.

A longer while and a total of six and a half bags later, the two finally got rid of the last piece of garbage from Edward's estate. The first plan was to dump the garbage somewhere on her way home, but there was just too many of them and Rose really didn't want to keep running up and down the mountain to pick up everything. So, all that was left was plan B. Edward followed Rose closely as she moved the black bags near the edge of the hill on the other side of the mansion, a few feet away from their previous spot. He watched curiously as she picked up the first two bags and simply… thrown them off the mountain.

"Ah!" he gasped as she grabbed the next two, sending them flying just like the ones earlier. "R-Rose?"

"It's okay, Edward," she said as she continued disposing of the trash "I'm all for protection of the environment, but if I have to take my pick between your garden and the forest below, well…" she sent the last bag down and rubbed her gloved hands together with a smile on her face "I'm sure you'd pick the same option."

Rose returned to the place they occupied previously, took off her gloves and stashed them away in her backpack before sitting down. Now that the job was done, she could admire the view in peace. A few seconds later Edward joined her, sitting down cross-legged, his blades digging into the ground.

"Is it nice?"

Her soft voice made him turn to look at her questioningly. "Huh?"

"Is it nice," she repeated, not taking her eyes off the glowing spot that was getting smaller and smaller within seconds "to be able to watch this every day?"

"Uh," Edward considered, tilting his head towards the setting sun "It is, sometimes." Truthfully, Edward didn't have anything else to do. All day he was either tending the garden, making new shrub sculptures, sometimes he'd walk around the huge castle, visiting every of its' rooms for the umpteenth time, knowing the whole layout by heart. If the chore list came to a stop, he sat in his room, watching the sky through the hole or gazing longingly at the pictures of human hands, wishing he'd have them too. He'd seen countless sunrises and sunsets, so it wasn't as breathtaking and impressive as it used to be a few years prior.

But, that day, it was different. Edward was sitting on the ground, for the first time in who knows how many years, he was admiring the view before him. He watched as Rose's skin was slowly, gradually turning darker due to the lack of sunlight. Her lips were curled up a tiny bit and her eyes were shining with the last bits of sunrays. The hair that somehow made its' way out of the tight band was swaying gently in the wind, chocolate brown with a light, almost golden tint.

Unconsciously, Edward raised his right arm and wanted to brush away the long streak behind her ear, a manner he could recall very faintly from the past. But before he could touch her, he noticed that his blades are covered with soil. They gleamed and Edward immediately withdrew his hand, turning his head away.

"What are you thinking about?"

His eyes made their way back to her face which was now fully turned in his direction. The soft, golden gleam had disappeared; the sun set completely. Rose was looking at him with a calm expression and that delicate smile still on her lips.

"Nothing," he murmured back, telling the truth.

"Nothing at all?" she inquired, leaning a little bit closer. "Because I'm thinking that -" she stopped abruptly as her smile widened.

"What?" Edward tilted his head questioningly.

"I like sunsets." She said simply, staring at the place above the horizon line the sun used to be mere minutes ago.

"Me too." He admitted "But not alone. I like sunsets with you."

Edward regretted the words almost instantly when he saw the startled look on her face and the wild blush that sprouted on her cheeks. Rose needed a moment to steady herself before smiling slightly.

"That's nice." And, almost hesitantly, added, "I like sunsets with you, too."

She meant it.

That blasted dog did it again.

Jason grit his teeth as he shoved yet another bush aside to make way for himself. He thought letting Bandit off the leash would be a good idea; the dog would finally have some space to run around, since the boy had taken him in a different direction, away from the houses and streets. He sacrificed his time and energy to circle the mountain in order to give his dog an empty field on the other side of the town.

Instead, it turned out that the open space was not as exciting as the forest nearby and so, the grown German shepherd decided to get lost among the trees.

"Bandit!" Jason called, but to dog did not come to him "That's the last time I'm letting you off the leash, idiot!"

Just then, he heard the familiar barking not too far away. A few seconds later Jason reached his dog and prepared the leash, but stopped short.

What the hell?

Bandit's head was stuck in one of seven black trash bags. Some of the garbage was sprawled around, since someone who had left them there didn't care for tying the bags up. There were mainly beer cans and some bottles.

"Bandit!"

The dog got his head out, turning to look at his owner curiously. He was holding something vibrant pink between his jaws. Something that looked surprisingly similar to –

"Put that down!" Jason shouted and the animal complied. Jason took a step forward and eyed the object. Oh, had he seen those already. They belonged to Dylan's girlfriend and if he remembered correctly, they were supposed to be some kind of trophy, but Dylan was too drunk to keep in mind taking them.

Still, that didn't mean anything. Maybe someone else was passing by and happened to have a similar pair they wanted to get rid of? Jason could not blame them, those were hideous.

He was about to walk away when his eyes landed on the beer cans again. They were of the same brand that the ones he and his friends used at the party, but again, it could be a coincidence. There weren't many different brands available around.

Jason sighed and rolled his eyes for being paranoid. And paused, staring at the dark, eerie castle that was right above him. He looked down again; noticing for the first time the cans had holes in them, as if they were pierced by a knife.

Or scissors.

A: Okay, so I could not help myself after all. Ha.

Review, please!