Black Hole Sun [Harry Potter/Twilight]

LI : The Trigger

TW: Mentions of trauma, descriptions of anxiety attacks.

The glowing embers leaped and twirled in a fiery dance, twinkling like stars in the hot swirling air as she knew the once sentient magical creatures were turning to nothing but dust. Their screams were still echoing in her mind, as a sudden spasm in her hands and body began to take her over.

Feeling helpless, she could hardly breathe...The panic that surged through her mind confused her, as she was just looking at fire...

"Gwen?" Edward's voice called, as he finished throwing the pieces of the rest of the blond boy, who she now knew to be named Riley, into the fire.

Trembling without stop, Gwen curled her hands into fists, as she felt this terrifying feeling as though she could not escape or hide...As though she would never be safe.

The echoes of screams from the Newborns were creating a monster inside of her as the spasms turned into trembling, and her entire eyesight went black. Flashing memories; of her school burning down, giant spiders running down students she once thought of as friends, trolls and giants crashing through walls, her best friend crying in her last moments, and explosions happening all around her; took over her mind as nothing made sense.

She was scared of what her past held, all the memories that seemed to never escape her. The memories were the very thing she hid from in her sleep, but now, they were pin point needles, piercing her skin a thousand times.

Gwen couldn't scream or fight back, she was stuck. She had to just endure the pain as the pictures flashed through her mind. She had experienced pain before. But nothing amounted to this. She could neither hide or run or fight them.

She was reliving the same nightmare over and over in her sleep, to the point she needed a potion to numb her into a dreamless sleep. And yet, she could almost feel the same sensation as though she was truly experiencing everything before her: fear and in a constant state of adrenaline. Her memories were indeed her worst enemy and the thing that would most likely destroy her.

"Gwen?" Edward heard him call more urgently, though, he sounded as though he was a great distance from her.

His sudden cold touch to her arms brought her mind to focus back to the clearing as she could see a hazy, but more clear picture of the fire burning before her. There was a ringing in her ears, as the screams died down, but one in particular that sounded familiar, was shrieking above the rest.

"Give me a second" Gwen gasped, swallowing hard as her heart continued to rapidly pursue the flashing memories in her mind. Not knowing what was suddenly happening to her, her shoulders continued to tremble as her body followed suit. "I just--"

"It's a lot" Edward's voice said gently. "I'm sorry you had to see all of that."

She swallowed hard, forcing her eyes opened as she felt dizzy with the flashes that her mind was playing games with her. It was not anything she expected...

Edward helped her steady herself, placing his hand around her waist as she tore her brown eyes away from the fire.

"Jacob!" Bella's sobbing voice cried, as Gwen realized the muggle girl was whose screams she had been hearing above the rest.

Alice immediately appeared by Bella's side, coaxing and comforting the muggle girl.

"Gwen, I think you should sit down," Edward began with concern. He examined her face as he realized she had not been upset by fighting, as he had originally thought. "The fire or the screams, they were a trigger for you. I've seen this before, it's post-traumatic stress disorder."