Antonio sighed quietly as he gazed out of the tall windows. He watched the sunset, reminiscing on old memories brought up from the fiery colors of the sun.

He could still see the blinding colors as the flames had lit up the only home he had known growing up. He remembered the screams that echoed down the streets. He had been told that he was the one screaming, but he didn't remember much of it.

He remembered clinging to his little sister as he mourned for everything they had lost.

His childhood went up into flames with that house. That house and that incident had been the turning point in his life.

From then on, he had never thought for himself. He worked his hardest to provide for his sister, to do everything for her, and even then, there wasn't much he could do.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. He didn't look up, but he felt the bed sink down beside him. The faint scent of cherry blossoms took over his senses, allowing his body to sag a bit in relief.

"You alright?" He heard her ask.

He could feel her hand on his back, resting between his shoulder blades as an absent-minded comfort.

He didn't respond for a couple of seconds. He swallowed past the lump forming in his throat whilst he shook his head, looking down at his lap as he messed with the hem of his shirt.

"N-no," he stuttered, "not really. I'm s-sorry"

Rosalie pulled the younger male into her side, holding him close to her as she lightly rocked him back and forth. She gently rubbed his back with one hand, her other hand cupping the back of his head as she tucked his head under her chin.

"It's alright," she spoke softly, "you don't have to be. We all have our moments."

Antonio relaxed under her touch, hesitantly wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly, lightly starting to run her fingers through his hair.

He remained quiet for a little while, only tightening his hold around her a little bit as the minutes passed. He took a deep breath before speaking, too lost in his thoughts to realize that Emmett had joined them and was currently sitting on the other end of the bed.

"I come from a small town in Mexico. Not many people know about it, few people go there, even fewer stay. I grew up with my Madre and Padre, as well as my abuelita and hermanita. When I was 12, a fire had started in our house. My abuelita had been the one to wake me up. My hermanita had been the one to wake her up. She had told us to go outside while she got our parents. I listened to her and I got us out. The neighbors were already outside and some of them had left to go get some people to help. At the end of the night, it was only my sister and I left.”

Antonio relaxed into the mated pair as Emmett joined them on his other side. He rested his head against Rosalie’s shoulder, letting out a silent sigh of contentment as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“We went back and forth between foster homes for a little while. It lasted a couple of years. After a little while, I figured out that it was my hermanita who started the fire. I had thought that it was an accident, considering she was younger than me and more naive. But then she did it again. And again. I then realized that she was doing it on purpose. She even told me that she liked to watch the flames dance. Eventually, the people in my town seemed to realize that the fires always surrounded her and I. I took the blame for it. I’m her older brother, so I thought that I was protecting her by taking the blame. I had hoped that it would make her realize what she was doing was wrong. I had hoped that she would have stopped. But she didn’t.

“At that point, I had already received the punishments. That was when Eleazar and Carmen found me. They had just been traveling through town, and they found me on the brink of death. They turned me and stayed with me the whole time. I was doing good, at least in the beginning. But then, I slipped up. I went to our house, and I found her playing with fire again. And I got mad. Apparently, when they caught up to me, they found me sobbing over her body. I don’t remember much of it, but I wish I did. Just so I could say that I regretted doing it. But I don’t remember how I felt. Maybe I was satisfied by it. Getting ‘revenge’ for what happened to me. But I won’t get to ever know that.”

Rosalie held him tighter as she listened, remaining quiet for a moment as she processed the information they just received.

After a minute of silence, she pulled back enough to look at his face.

“How old are you, really?” she asked as she gazed down at him.

“I was 17 when I was turned. I’m now 21.”

“Wow,” Emmett muttered, “That definitely makes a lot more sense. You do act closer to Bella than you do to any of us. Must be a generational thing.”

Antonio cracked a smile at that, shaking his head in amusement.

“Yeah,” he said, “Must be.”