Moonlight
Summary-
Bella changed when Edward left her alone and broken in the woods. The rest of the Cullens refused to leave Bella in the state that she was in, which caused a change in the relationship between the Cullens and the Swans. How will everyone react when Bella finally realizes that one of the Cullens has always been there for her.
Chapter One- Bella
I couldn't believe my ears as I stared blankly at Edward who was standing in front of me with a stone face. "You... don't... want me?" I repeated, making sure that I had heard him right.
"No." Edward stated as he stared back at me without apology. His eyes were like topaz; hard, clear, and very deep.
"Well, that changes things." I was surprised at how calm my voice came out, not because I was shocked, because truth be told I wasn't shocked and I think that was what shocked me. I had already been expecting this talk with him when he was bored with me because I was to old to do anything with (you know since he refused to change me). What I wasn't expecting was for this talk to be so soon. He looked away into the trees as he spoke his next words.
"Of course, I'll always love you… in a way." Of course, because I was your favorite toy to be played with and then put on the shelf to only be looked at. "But what happened the other night made me realize that it's time for a change." Stop with the excuses, just tell me the truth, was what I wanted to say but couldn't make my mouth work properly. "Because I'm… tired of pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. I am not human." Stop blaming me. I never made you pretend. And if you're so tired of pretending, as you say, then don't live with Carlisle in the human world. Was what I wanted to tell him, but couldn't seem to make myself move my lips. He looked at me as if he had heard my thoughts and, even thought I knew it was impossible because I was the only one whose mind was blocked to him, I couldn't help but take a step back. The icy planes of his perfect face were not human. "I've let this go on much too long, and I'm sorry for that."
"Don't." I whispered wanting to tell him to stop blaming me for everything, to stop making excuses. But I couldn't make myself say it, so what came out was. "Don't do this." It said everything and nothing at the same time. He just stared at me, and I could see from his eyes that my words were far too late. He already had.
"You're not good for me, Bella." He turned his earlier words around, making me so mad yet at the same time dump ice cold water on me, cooling my anger. How well I knew that I wasn't good enough for him. I opened my mouth to say what I really wanted to tell him, but I couldn't get the words out and ended up closing it again. He waited patiently, his face wiped clean of all emotion. I tried again.
"If… that's what you want." I said, being the one to turn his words from earlier that day, before we started this conversation, when I asked him if he was going to come over. He nodded once. My whole body went cold. So, this was really happening.
"I would like to ask one favor, though, if that's not too much," He said as I turned to look into the trees as he waited for me to respond, but he would not get one because if I opened my mouth then I would demand him tell me why he got to get a favor when he was taking everything from me. I looked back at him and had to wonder what he saw on my face, because something flickered across his own face in response. But, before I could identify it, he'd composed his features into the same serene mask. Once he realized he wouldn't get an answer from me he continued on with his request. "Don't do anything reckless or stupid," He ordered, making him want to roll my eyes, what gave him the right to ask that of me? "Do you understand what I'm saying?" I just stared at him not feeling anything "I'm thinking of Charlie, of course. He needs you. Take care of yourself, for him." He did actually have a point, Charlie needed me, just as much as I needed the Cullens in my life.
"I will," I whispered. He seemed to relax just a little.
"And I'll make you a promise in return," He said. "I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I'd never existed." My knees must have started to shake as a thought passed through my mind, a question that I couldn't remember if it was answered or not. If Edward was leaving, did that mean that the rest of the Cullens were leaving. I could hear the blood pounding faster than normal behind my ears. His voice sounded farther away. He smiled gently. "Don't worry. You're human, your memory is no more than a sieve. Time heals all wounds for your kind." He took a step away from me. "That's everything, I suppose. We won't bother you again." The plural caught my attention. No. This couldn't be happening.
"Alice isn't coming back," I realized. I don't know how he heard me, the words made no sound, but he seemed to understand. He shook his head slowly, always watching my face.
"No. As soon as I finish saying my goodbyes, we all will be leaving."
"Alice and Jasper are gone? Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie are leaving too? " My voice was blank with disbelief.
"They wanted to say goodbye, but I convinced them that a clean break would be better for you." I was dizzy; it was hard to concentrate. His words swirled around in my head, and I heard the doctor at the hospital in Phoenix, last spring, as he showed me the X-rays.
"You can see it's a clean break," his finger traced along the picture of my severed bone. "That's good. It will heal more easily, more quickly."
I tried to breathe normally. I needed to concentrate, to find a way out of this nightmare. None of this could be happening, this had to be a nightmare, because Edward couldn't be this cruel. "Goodbye, Bella," He said in the same quiet, peaceful voice.
"Wait!" I choked out the word, reaching for him, willing my deadened legs to carry me forward. I thought he was reaching for me, too. But his cold hands locked around my wrists and pinned them to my sides. He leaned down, and pressed his lips very lightly to my forehead for the briefest instant. This wasn't want I wanted, I wanted him to say that my second family wasn't abandoning me because of a little accident. My eyes closed as I tried to will away this nightmare.
"Take care of yourself," He breathed, cool against my skin. There was a light, unnatural breeze. My eyes flashed open. The leaves on a small vine maple shuddered with the gentle wind of his passage. He was gone. He couldn't have been right, Carlisle and the other will still be at the house, waiting for me with open arms, they would tell me that none of this was my fault, that they would always be there for me and the Edward just needed some space, and once he had calmed down he would be back.
With shaky legs, ignoring the fact that my action was useless, I walked towards where I believed the Cullen house was located. I had to make sure that I had misheard Edward, and that the rest of the Cullens were still here. I walked forward with only one thing on my mind. I could not do anything else. I had to keep moving. If I stopped looking for them then it was all over.
Love, life, meaning… over.
I walked and walked. Time made no sense as I pushed slowly through the thick undergrowth trying to get to the Cullens house. Hours had passed since I started, but it only felt like seconds to me. Maybe it felt like time had frozen because the forest looked the same no matter how far I went. I started to worry that I was traveling in a circle, a very small circle at that, but I kept going. I stumbled often, and, as it grew darker and darker, I fell often, too.
Finally, I tripped over something, it was black now, I had no idea what caught my foot, and I stayed down. I rolled onto my side, so that I could breathe, and curled up on the wet bracken. As I lay there, I had a feeling that more time was passing than I realized. I couldn't remember how long it had been since nightfall. Was it always so dark here at night? Surely, as a rule, some little bit of moonlight would filter down through the clouds, through the chinks in the canopy of trees, and find the ground.
Not tonight. Tonight the sky was utterly black. Perhaps there was no moon tonight, a lunar eclipse, a new moon. A new moon. I shivered, though I wasn't cold. I needed to see the moonlight, the moonlight always made me feel safer.
It was black for a long time before I heard them calling. Someone was shouting my name. It was muted, muffled by the wet growth that surrounded me, but it was definitely my name. I instantly recognize the voice, it was Carlisle, I knew he wouldn't have left me. I thought about answering, but I was dazed, and it took a long time to come to the conclusion that I should answer. My eyes closed on their own accord, and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
It felt like it had been a few minutes, but maybe it was longer, I really don't know. But what I do know was that familiar cold that I had become familiar with, the coldness of a Vampire's skin. Though the chest and scent wasn't as familiar to me, I still knew it was someone I knew. I cracked my eyes open, the first thing I noticed was that everything was blurry Once the blurriness finally disappeared, I found the worried face of Carlisle as he carried me.
"He told me you were gone." I muttered with a small smile on my face as I started to fall back into unconsciousness. Before I was truly unconscious I heard Carlisle say something that I needed to hear.
"Me and my family would never leave you."
~Moonlight~
The next time I came to, I found myself on a nice soft bed holding on to something cold and firm. I was holding onto one of the Cullens as if my life depended on it. From the sent coming off of the person, I could tell that it was Carlisle. But that wasn't what had drawn me back into consciousness, it was the soft sounds of two people talking softly. Still half asleep, I couldn't make out a word they were saying. But my brain did recognize when someone wrapped their arms around my body, intending to pick me up. From the warmth of the skin I could tell the person was human, it was most likely Charlie.
When Charlie started to pick me up and away from Carlisle's body, my mind and body panicked, believing that if I was taken away from Carlisle then he and the rest of his family would leave. Without a second thought I tightened my grip on Carlisle and yelled "No!" Charlie's arms disappeared and a minute later I felt someone's hand run through my hair, from the temperature I was sure it had to be Carlisle, or one of the other Cullens.
"It's alright, Bella." I heard the calming voice of Carlisle say. I burred my head into his chest, eyes squeezed shut as I fought back my tears.
"No, you'll disappear too if I let you go." I muttered, my voice telling everyone how scared I was that that would actually happen.
"Shh, Bella, no one in this house will leave you. I can promise you that." Carlisle reassured me, but I was still too scared to let him go. I felt the bed dip behind me a second before a cool body gently laid on top of me, the person's arms wrapping around my body in a gentle hug.
"I can second that promise." I heard the soft voice of Alice. She was here, she hadn't left, she was really here. I removed my head from Carlisle's chest, but still refused to remove my arms from his body. I turned to see that Alice was indeed laying on me, giving me as much comfort as she could. Over her shoulder I saw Jasper looking at me with a soft look, beside him was Rosalie with Emmett's arms around her, and on the other side of Jasper was Esme. "And when have I ever been wrong or broken a promise?"
"Never." I muttered sure that all of the vampires in the room could here me.
"Your father has been worried about you." Rosalie said in a soft voice, I could tell that she was also worrying about me. I turned my head to look around and found my dad standing on the other side of the bed, he did indeed look very worried.
"I came home to find it empty. At first I figured you had work, so I waited until it was time for you to come home from work. When you didn't come home I called your work to see if you were there. They told me you didn't work today, so I tried calling Edward, when he didn't answer I called Jacob. When he informed me he hadn't seen you in a couple of days I knew something was up. Everyone was out searching for you, Bella, even the Cullens. It wasn't until after midnight when I got a call from a frantic Esme saying that Carlisle had found you just a mile away from this house, passed out with tear stains on your cheeks and cold as ice." Charlie stated, his eyes tearing up.
"Dad." I breathed out sitting up, my arms finally letting got of Carlisle in my sudden need to get to my father and reassure him that I was here. Safe. Maybe a bit broken, but here none the less. I guess I had sat up too fast, because the next thing I knew, the room was spinning and I was falling onto Carlisle.
"Easy there Bella." I heard Emmett say, his voice was thick with worry.
"Try not to get up too fast, you have a fever." Carlisle said pushing me back onto the bed while getting up and letting Charlie take his place. I guess that this was what they had been trying to do when I panicked.
"Bella, are you up for telling us what happened?" Jasper asked softly. Though when I turned to look at him, I could tell from his eyes that he already knew what happened, he was just giving me the chance to talk about it.
"I came home to find Edward waiting for me. He asked me to take a walk with him, I agreed and we walked in the woods for a little while before he stopped and informed me that you all were leaving, and that I was not going with y'all. He then proceeded to inform me that he did not want me with him and that he was tired of pretending to be what he wasn't. He was then kind enough to ask me to not do anything reckless for Charlie's sake and to inform me that once he was done saying his goodbyes that everyone of you would be leaving." I said then looked at the bed with a sigh, "I don't know what came over me, but the thought that all of you would be gone made me numb. I started walking in the direction that I had hopped was this house, because I just needed to make sure that I had misheard Edward. I had to prove to myself that you guys were still here. You guys are my second family, I don't know what I would do if you guys just suddenly disappeared from my life."
Esme walked over and sat down on the bed and took my hands in hers, causing me to look up at her. She had on a soft and loving smile that seemed to ease my emotions, either that or Jasper had used his power to calm me. "And you, Bella, are apart of this family too. We care to much for you to just up and move like that." I smiled and looked at everyone of the remaining Cullens.
"I believe it is time for Bella to rest." Carlisle said. Charlie helped me lay further into the bed as he stood up before pulling the covers over me.
"Rest, I shall be downstairs with the Cullens. Tomorrow, if you are up to it, we shall go back to our house and you can sleep in your own bed." Charlie said soothingly before kissing my forehead. Carlisle must have heard my heart beat speed up in fear at leaving the Cullens house.
"Do not worry, we are just a phone call away. If you need us, do not be afraid to call us. No matter the time." He said as the rest of his family began to slowly leave the room. Charlie stayed a little bit longer watching me as I fell back asleep.
