Chapter 1: Unlikely Nightmare

This dream was very strange.

And if I could tell, then that's saying something.

I was in a forest, surrounded by thick, towering trees. Evergreens, I noted. The trees that don't lose their needles throughout all the seasons. My dreaming self decided that tree-gazing was pointless, and began walking. It must have been winter, in this dream, for snow crunched underneath my feet.

I didn't know why, but I had to keep moving. Some part of me just wanted to get keep moving, get out of this forest. Something important must lie ahead.

But, I had to wonder. What was it?

Snow began to fall lazily from the gray clouds above. Apparently, in my dream, I was as clumsy here as I was in real life; I stumbled and tripped a lot. Amazingly, I didn't fall.

Have to keep going, you have to keep going!

What was the urgency? I wondered. Why was I in such a hurry?

How odd.

As I came near the end of the forest, or at least I thought it was that, I noticed that the bark on the trees was marked; it looked like claw marks, like some angry beast came rushing through here and slashed the trees.

I kept moving.

Ahead of me I saw the forest's exit. Finally! My dreaming self exulted in this discovery and hurried forward, tripping and stumbling worse than ever.

At last, I was out of the forest.

I was in a strangely familiar looking clearing. Snow-covered trees circled it, like a group of giants. My eyes darted restlessly all around. What was I looking for? I didn't know. But I felt disheartened that whatever it was, whoever it was, was not here.

Wait, in the center of the clearing . . . someone was there! Was it who I was searching for? I could only hope so. I ran forward.

And then I saw them.

Four cloaked figures emerged from the shadows. No, not really shadows, but the plume of smoke, coming from a big fire. They walked, almost glided across the ground, they were so graceful. Three of them were tall, and the other was rather small in comparison. I stared, unable to move. Who were they? And why was it that I somehow recognized them?

My eyes went from the group of hooded, cloaked figures, to the fire in the center of this clearing. Immediately I knew why I recognized it. This was the clearing from the battle against the newborns! Oh, I remembered that well enough. The fight that the Cullens had been in, for me, the fight that they risked their lives in, for me. It had all been for me.

Now I remembered!

Why was I in this place? It contained no happy memories. Nothing to reflect upon and smile about. It was a place of death, fear, destruction, and an awful sense of foreboding of what was to come, when I became a newborn vampire.

I stared at the fire, feeling dread creep through my system sluggishly, like my body was slowly realizing that this was a bad situation. Bad, very bad. In the fire was something. I looked closer, never forgetting that the group of cloaked figures was there, silently watching. What was it that had this fire burning so brightly and so strongly? And, now that I was noticing it, what was that smell? It was like incense, a perfume but too strong . . .

Like a slap in the face, I knew what was in the fire.

Still somewhat recognizable, were vampires, torn limb from limb, fueling the fire, being destroyed before my very eyes. And somehow, though I hated to admit it, I knew who they were.

The group of cloaked figures laughed when I screamed, quite literally at the top of my lungs. The smallest one pushed their hood back as the members of my soon-to-be-vampire family burned.

The small one smiled at me sweetly.

I jerked back into awareness as if I'd just been electrocuted. My eyes snapped open and stared at ceiling above me. I was in my own room, in my bed, not in a forest that led to a clearing where my loved ones lay in ruins, burning in front of me. My heart was beating as if I'd just run a mile; something that I probably never would accomplish. My breathing was almost hysterical, gasping breaths tearing their way from my lungs.

Just a dream, I thought. Just a dream. I thanked whatever gods were above that it was just that; a dream. But sometimes, dreams could feel so real.

A cold, smooth, hand closed around my own clammy one. Edward. Of course he was here. How could I have forgotten? And of course he would have heard it when I woke up. It was probably loud to him.

"Bella?" he asked softly. "Are you all right?"

I looked in the direction of his velvety voice, so soft, so soothing. He was there, perched on the edge of my bed, holding my hand. His golden eyes gazed at me, holding nothing but concern for me now.

I cleared my throat and sat up somewhat, propping myself on my elbows.

"Yeah, I'm all right," I muttered slowly, sleep making my voice thick.

Hmm. If only that was believable. I knew it wasn't. I had been having the same bad dream for going on a week now. It was always the same: my just having to leave that forest; exiting the forest; seeing the group of cloaked-clad figures; and then . . . and then . . .

Well, the dream was more correctly categorized as a nightmare, and it's just been plaguing my mind for a while now. I had no idea why either. Maybe my mind just liked this dream, though I knew that I certainly did not.

"Bella," Edward said. "you said that the past few nights. I know that though you like to say otherwise and play it down, that you are not all right. Please, love, tell me; what is wrong?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Bad dream." That's what I've been telling him, and that's all he's been getting.

"Oh," he murmured. "What was it about?"

No, no, I couldn't say! I didn't yet! Come on, I can be strong, I can resist in saying, right? Tell him . . . tell him that I ran into the clearing where a horrible sight lay before me. No, I wouldn't!

"I can't . . . remember," I mumbled. I hoped that my obvious exhaustion and much needed need for sleep would make it seem that I wasn't lying, even though I was.

Edward seemed convinced, though I couldn't tell, I was so tired and already felt like I was falling back to sleep. He shifted closed to me on the bed and raised my hand, still closed in his, to his icy lips and kissed it tenderly.

"It was just a dream, my love, nothing more," he said in a soothing, quiet voice. "Do not let it bother you. Find peace in you sleep . . . know that I am here . . ."

I slumped back down in my bed like a sack of potatoes. My eyes stayed fixed on Edward as I tried to fight a losing battle against my heavy eyelids. I was aware of him soothing me, and then my eyes closed.

I fell into what I hoped was peaceful, dream-free, sleep, for I dearly needed it.

The last thing I was aware of was Edward humming my lullaby.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I love Twilight, quite literally with all my heart, so of course I was going to wring my brain to come up with something! This story was inspired to me after I watched Eclipse. I thought, what happened to Bella, if she worried so much about this fight against the newborns, right. So, I delved into it and came up with this story. I wanted the fight to have a much bigger affect on her, I mean, if my loved ones were risking their lives for me, I would have been a mess.

So, thank you for your time, but can I ask for some more, just a review? Did you like it, or do you hate it along with my guts? Positive reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but, eh, to each his/her own, right?