𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎:
The past always follows
(1950)

(TW: Japanese Occupation, treatment towards Comfort Women during their time. Mentions of rape, abuse, violence, and torture. War crimes. Starts in the italicized fonts)

"YOU HIDE IT WELL, YOU KNOW?" Rosalie says behind Corazon, who sat on the stone-cold floors of her room, she was once again gazing at the moon and admiring its beauty.

"What do I hide well?" Corazon asks, not looking away at the moon while Rosalie sits on the floor beside her.

"Your pain," Rosalie answers, then Corazon looks at her, tilting her head, "It's not easy to live with a mind reader," Corazon shrugs, closing her eyes. She remembered the first time that Edward finally managed to read her mind. It was unintentional, of course. He tried to dismiss everyone's thoughts as much as possible for their privacy.

But Corazon's thoughts were too loud for him to ignore. It was one of those times when Corazon couldn't help but remember what happened to her. It's as if the memories never stopped to haunt her and ruined every progress she had made over the past decade.

Edward was visibly upset that day. He'd seen everything, everything that she had tried so much to bury and hide from everyone. His eyes followed her with pity with her every movement. Corazon hated every expression he made that day, and he couldn't help but keep his mouth shut that he had to say something. Corazon knows that he didn't mean any harm by it or was genuinely concerned, but meddling in her past was Corazon's breaking point.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Corazon," Edward muttered. As his fingers stopped playing the piano keys, Corazon was caught off guard by his statement; she didn't know what he meant.

"You don't deserve what happened to you when you were human," Edward continued, and Corazon's body went rigid. She sat frozen on the sofa while all eyes turned to her, and all Corazon could feel was shame and embarrassment that Jasper tried to help her with her emotions.

Alice hissed in warning, "Edward, stop it."

The family knew Jasper and Alice's past; Alice told her story a week after they had joined the Cullens. It took Jasper two years to tell his past. As for Corazon, she never really intended to tell anybody what happened to her when she was human or what she did when she turned into a vampire. They respected her privacy; of course, the Cullens were full of understanding and sincerity, but Corazon knew they were curious.

"I just wanted to tell you that it's not your fault," Edward continued, and Corazon's jaw clenched, seething. Yet, she remained calm, hoping that Edward would take the time to listen to her thoughts and shut the hell up.

"I know you think you committed a si—-" Edward continues until Corazon cuts him off with a forced, painful laugh. "Of course, I committed a sin, Edward, but let's not act like you didn't make sins of your own when you strayed away from Carlisle and Esme." Corazon starts looking down at her lap, then her eyes connect to Edward.

"Since you opened a big can of worms and announced to everyone how sorry you are for what happened to me. I will spare you the time before you ramble to Carlisle about what happened to me. It's my story, my past. I have the right to tell it myself, isn't that right, Edward?" Corazon tilted her head, smiling at him tauntingly.

"In 1942, when I was on my way home from University, I was abducted by Japanese troops, and they took me to a house, a red house in the middle of nowhere; they took children too. I remembered the youngest being at the age of 7." Corazon announced it to the family. While they all listened, Jasper felt her every emotion. Multiple layers of pain, agony, and anger radiated from her.

"In there, I was placed in a dark room, where I was continuously raped by different men every night for a year; they abused me, they burnt me with cigarette butts, beat me half to death, used me, tortured me for fun, they cut my skin, used whips, branded me like a fucking cow in an auction. If I could prevent the sun from setting, I would because whenever night fell, they would start raping us," Corazon's voice shook as venom filled her eyes. She didn't dare to look at anyone. She can sense the horror in their features.

"I looked dead, I was thin—malnourished because they wouldn't give us food or water, they used us like ragdolls, they took every inch of my dignity and innocence that I wished that when they beat me to death that I would die and never wake up, but every day I woke up confined by those wood walls, never seeing the light of day," Corazon's hugged herself as she tucked her legs to her chest, now she stared blankly in front of her.

"I prayed to god every day just to kill me instead, but then one night, the Japanese soldier that finished his turn was drunk. He fell asleep when he finished and had the keys to my chain. I took it and escaped, but I was too weak to walk. I crawled. I could hear the other women's cry and plead to help them escape, but I couldn't. I hadn't even reached the exit when a Japanese soldier caught and beat me. He beat me so much that at this point, I considered death as kindness and mercy."

Corazon forced a chuckle, eyes still blank, "It was so stupid of him to think I was dead. He threw my body on the farm fields and didn't even bury me, but then Aika appeared. She was apologizing, and then all I felt was this agonizing and burning pain spread through my body. I woke up, then she told me I had become a vampire, my bruises were gone—any scar of torture and abuse were gone, my body was perfectly healthy again, I was beautiful, divine even, I looked like my old self again except, much more pretty, and so damaged at the same time."

"I remembered every face, every man who raped me," Corazon looks at Edward. She opened his mind and let him see every vile face that used her every night. "I hunted them down, one by one. I killed each of them with no mercy because they didn't show me any. I killed without a second thought. I killed every Japanese soldier I saw in the streets at night, I bombed their fucking camps, and I freed every woman they abducted and locked in those 'comfort stations' and 'comfort houses.' I destroyed every one of them. I made such an impression during their occupation that I was named The Red Lady of the North and The Lady of Justice."

"And the greatest sin of all is that I don't regret a single thing that I did, and I would do it again if I had the opportunity to kill those Japanese soldiers that not only tortured women in the Philippines but in Korea, Myanmar, New Guinea and in other countries that the Japanese occupied." Corazon stood up from her seat. "I killed because I had a reason, unlike you who wanted to know the taste of human blood because your true nature was so suppressed. If you wanted to drink human blood, you could have told Carlisle and resolved the miscommunication of your rebellion."

"So, yes, Edward, I know it's not my fucking fault," Corazon spat out with so much venom and hatred, "Because I didn't ask for any of this to happen to me, to happen to us women who were abducted! So thank you for your concern, but next time, know the time and place when to express your useless pity and guilt for your own sins." Corazon left abruptly, gone within an instant.

"Edward," Esme scolds, shaking her head in disappointment as she sighs and lets herself sink on the sofa, hand on her forehead.

"Jesus, man, you really have to keep your mind reading to a minimum here–tune it out," Emmett released a breath that he's been holding, "Maybe even keep it to yourself next time, for fuck's sake, dude,"

"Or maybe he shouldn't mirror his own guilt to anyone. Are you trying to advise Corazon on how to forgive herself for her so-called sins?" Rosalie shakes her head, "For goodness sake, Edward, not everybody shares the same belief that our soul is doomed!"

Rosalie exclaims as she stands up, "Stop pushing your faith on anyone, Edward. Give us all a break. Not everyone believes in god or in heaven or hell!" Rosalie scoffs as she rolls her eyes, turning around and following Corazon.

"Not everyone feels guilt, Edward," Alice whispers, "Especially when they did the things they did out of survival or revenge for what happened to them. don't make us feel guilty about the killings we had done because you feel guilty of your own murders." Alice then purses her lips.

Alice recalled when she first woke up as a vampire and killed the hospital staff out of pure hunger. She felt no remorse or guilt. She did it to survive. She went towards her bedroom. She knew Corazon too well to leave her alone. Emmett left the living room, upset.

"Edward," Carlisle released a deep, tired sigh, "Apologize to Corazon when she calms down," He, too, was upset with what just happened. He looked at his wife, who had stopped crying and decided to take her to the garden.

Edward and Jasper are the only ones left in the living. Jasper stalked towards him, expression with calm rage. He grabbed Edward by the neck, making Edward look at him with terror, his voice low and threatening, "You ever do that again. If you upset Corazon for any reason again. I will make sure to rip you to shreds until you're unrecognizable and unsalvageable and burn you to ashes." Jasper's eyes darkened. Edward read his mind, and Jasper envisioned him being ripped apart.

"Are we clear?" Jasper asks with a deep, commanding tone that Edward can't help but nod, "We're clear," Jasper lets go of his neck, and Edward takes a breath. Jasper cracks his knuckles as he turns around and walks towards their bedroom. Corazon chose not to change and retain their shared room arrangement, hoping she'd return in a few hours.

"I'm glad you killed them. They deserve it." Rosalie adds, "I would've done the same, maybe even joined you when I had the chance. Killing vile men has always been my specialty." Corazon only chuckled. She knows what happened to Rosalie. They have trusted each other since they share the sentiment of hating men with power, men who think they can do anything they want because they have the power to do it.

"I guess we have no souls, after all." Corazon teases.

"That's just bullshit," Rosalie rolls her eyes, "Edward and his religious beliefs. Carlisle and Edward believe that god and heaven exist, but only up to that point, Edward believes that our souls are damned, but Carlisle doesn't; if he did, he wouldn't have turned us. Carlisle even respects it if we don't follow the animal blood diet. It's not for everyone." Rosalie continues while Corazon nods thoughtfully. It's true. Corazon had heard Carlisle and Edward's discussion about religion. At the same time, Edward adapted to the traditional Christian belief that they, as Vampires, are damned and have no souls because their existence is a sin and that they have no afterlife.

Throughout his immortal life, Carlisle created his own philosophy for immortality and adapted to change, that a sin is to take life out of pleasure and not out of survival or righteous and justified justice—it's always their main disagreements with each other. Carlisle also told them countless times that he'd treat them the same no matter the blood diet; his endless compassion and understanding for them are what Corazon admires most about him.

Rosalie hesitantly looks at her, "Corazon,"

"Call me Cece. Alice first introduced me to the idea of a nickname since Corazon is a mouthful." Corazon tells Rosalie with a soft smile.

Rosalie nods with a smile on her own, "Cece, Emmett, and I have been doing this for a few years, and we'd hidden this as much as possible from Edward and Esme." Rosalie starts, and the last words of her sentence catch her attention, "We've been hunting rapists in every state we've resided in. Carlisle knows what we've been doing. He'd supported us in properly killing somebody without the post-mortem result as murder."

Interesting. Corazon could only guess they hid it from Edward to avoid his questionable and judgemental expression. They hid it from Esme so she wouldn't know how frequently they did it.

"If you'd like to join us, just tell me." Rosalie looks behind her shoulder, seeing Corazon already looking at her. All Corazon could think about was that she finally knew why Emmett and Rosalie's hunt lasted for four days.

"Do you mind adding three more to your murder-revenge duo?" Corazon finally asks with a grin, and Rosalie chuckles.

"The more the merrier, as they say,"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

━━ I am establishing a new rule that I won't update any chapters until the previous chapter I posted isn't receiving the amount of attention/hype (comments & votes) I would have preferred, so this time I know that ya'll actually want to read my updates. This might get a weekly update if I am satisfied with the feedback!

━━ Sinta reached 2K reads yesterday! Thank you guys, omg! I love y'all!

━━ I'm also planning to reveal the face claims & names of my Spencer Reid and Bridgerton Series/ The Incomparable Series on my Instagram! So, it's probably an hour after I post this.

━━ If you want to join my discord server as well! It'll all be in the Carrd! I'm not that active on Discord, so if you want to make my discord server alive, please do. LOL, don't worry, I'll interact back! My carrd will be in the comments! —->>

━━ Also, a question, do you guys receive the announcements on my message board? Cause huhu, I don't get many replies when I ask questions about my fics if you do! Please interact when I announce some things, so I know y'all are receiving them!

━━ Please, I am nicely asking all of you to refrain from making jokes on SERIOUS chapters. I had that in the prologue, and all I can say is read the room. It's clearly not a funnsy chapter to make jokes.😭

━━ I'm updating my tag list on TikTok! So leave your username in the comments if you want to get notified of edits for my fanfics! I'm posting an edit of Corazon & Jasper, Elijah & Genesis, and Viviane & Remus in a bit as well on both my Instagram and TikTok!

━━ I do those send a question thingy on instagram once a month, so make sure to follow me there! And I also spam my stories because I am chronically online, LOL. So, follow me if you want to send a question and for me to answer it and be entertained with my random IG stories! And, of course, my main content is the edits of my characters!