Hi all! I have never written anything for Twilight so here it is. I hope I got the characterizations right. This songfic is set right after Twilight, when New Moon begins. I wrote Edward leaving in a more dramatic, epically tragic way.

I really hope this interests you and if worthy, please leave me a review :) flame it if you must, I just need to know your opinion…

It's better if you have the song Don't Stop Now by Emmy Rossum playing in your background because it sets the mood. If you don't have it (most likely) feel free to PM so that I can send it to you…my apologies if I don't send it right after you email…time zones suck.

Ok enough chat.

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...

This darkened street you go to hide.
Illuminates you are not mine.
These tears run cold, my body numb.
I am not whole, what have you done.

Bella

Follow you close four steps behind.
Part of me knew all of this time.

Edward? Can you hear me? Because I can't hear what you're telling me right now. I'm busy trying to figure out why you're leaving me. I've always imagined this night would come, when you would finally tell me that you would leave. That you would leave to presumably save my life. But you are my life now, Edward and I just didn't think it would hurt this much. Edward, it hurts. Edward, make it stop. No! I can't hear what you're saying…

"I have to leave." The words sounded so sure coming from Edward's perfect mouth, his golden eyes slowly turned into a dark ember. He continued talking regardless if Bella was listening or not; he needed to say it and get it out of his system, "I'm not going to endanger you're life any longer. You are not safe around me and I will not risk anything to keep you, Bella." He looked at Bella with a pleading, almost fragile stare, begging for her to listen.

Charlie was sleeping soundly as usual across the small hall of Bella's home, oblivious to all of Edward's secret rendezvous in his daughter's room. Every night was always the same except tonight; Edward would watch Bella do her homework—sometimes tutor her—they would either talk or make out on her bed until Bella would get tired, and then she'd fall asleep—only to meet him again in her dreams. But this night was different.

"I don't understand," whispered Bella, finally able to utter something after what seemed like centuries.

Edward stared down at the floor.

Edward

Pushed it down deep, kept it so small.
To help me keep these fragile walls,
From crashing down around my feet.

Why can't you just cry and get over it? Don't look at me like that with your beautiful, glimmering, brown eyes, Bella! I don't have the strength to be away from you, and you're making me saving you much, much harder! All my vampire life, I've acted and played my human role. Why does acting in front of you now strip me of my power to leave you to preserve your precious life? I will not cower from what must be done. I love you, my dear Bella; I need to you understand my decision. A lion cannot fall in love with a lamb…

Bella kneeled atop the edge of her bed so that she was inches away from Edward's face. She took his ice cold face in her hands and kissed him full on the lips. She was trying to evoke mutual feelings from the kiss, rubbing her soft tongue against his cold and hard lips, but Edward pushed her away, leaving her stumbling on the bed; wild pain in her eyes.

"I cannot stay, Bella!" The thought of physically hurting Bella almost drove Edward insane, "can't you understand that the more I stay here with you, the more I invite threats into your home?" Edward was practically shouting now, making sure that each word would burn in Bella's mind. Only then would she understand the gravity of the situation.

"I'm not worried about Charlie; he can take care of himself!" Bella defiantly said despite understanding the real meaning of his words.

Edward growled and paced around the small room. While Bella's eyes followed his movements, she could already feel the space between them and the pain in her chest as it grew.

Edward stopped pacing and looked at her vehemently. His face shook with both anger and remorse for hurting the love of his existence. He hoped that with his dark stare, the monster inside of him would reveal itself enough to scare her into her senses. A low growl escaped his chest and the pain scratched into Bella's face even more.

"But I love you," Bella whispered as if reading his mind, her voice breaking at the end. Tears finally seeped from her eyes and her whole body shook and shivered.

Edward remained motionless; his face of stone finally crumbling.

Edward

Don't make a sound, just let you be.
Lost in her face, can't turn away.

This final blow helps me let go.

No, don't cry. If I could just hold you in my arms, and keep you with me forever I would! But that would be selfish of me and I will not take your life away so that I can have my way. You are more precious than that. You are the most important person in my existence and I cannot steal you away.

Please Bella, rejecting your kiss was enough pain for me. I cannot bear to see you be punished like this because of my stupid actions. Your scent alone is enough to make me eternally bound to you. How much more can my love for you make me feel? But this is it. This is the only way for you to be safe, my Bella. I need to hurt you. I need to hurt myself. It's the only way you'll ever really learn to let me go. You will learn to love others, Bella. You will learn to forget me…

"I cannot love you back Bella," the words seared Edward's throat more than inhaling Bella's scent would. He clenched his fists tight enough to make him bleed if he could.

"Oh God," Bella croaked through hyperventilated gasps, clutching her chest. She closed her eyes and wished this moment to be but a terrible dream but lost hope when she opened her eyes and saw Edward standing in front of her. His eyes turned stone-cold black and his face paled even more in the soft moonlight bleaching the room through the window.

Bella

Don't stop now, I need this to hurt.
Burn it into my mind.
No more second guessing anymore.
This is how it ends.

So this is it. This is how you hurt me to save me. Yes, convince me and let the images of your back turning to leave me rip through my mind and smolder the very soul that exists for you. Save me and don't turn your fucking back, Edward! The only problem is that I am hopelessly in love with you! God damn it, Edward how could you dazzle me with everything that you are and then leave me to cripple under the weight of my love for you? Hurt me, you vile, handsome, wretched snake! Hurt me!

Shocking them both, Bella lurched forward from her bed and slammed her fists into his marble chest, hoping to mar his perfect physique. They both knew that it was a lost cause, but Edward let her do it anyway.

"Damn you! Fuck you, vampire!" in between fist-crunching pounds, Bella cursed Edward and let the hot tears flood her face and neck, not caring if Charlie woke up or if anybody would hear her condemning her bittersweet love to eternal damnation. "Bella," Edward whispered, looking at her with tired and aged eyes. He attempted to soothe her by saying her name like a lullaby again to stop her from hitting him before she did any real damage to herself.

Bella turned her attention from his chest to slapping his face to keep him from trying to appease her. He needed to hurt her, so why was he wasting his time acting like she shouldn't be hurt?

"Shut up, shut up!" She continually screamed, crying louder and succumbing to the sobs that racked her chest painfully—worsening the pain in her heart.

Edward

So don't stop now, get my head on straight.
And if seeing this is what it takes,
please don't stop it now.
This will be the last time.

Ah, don't stop hurting me, Bella. You know this is the only way. I know this is the only way. After this, you won't have to feel any pain anymore. It will all be over soon. I'm straining myself to keep you. I'm killing myself to leave you. Don't stop it now.

After staring long and hard at the human girl shuddering and sobbing on the bed, Edward closed his eyes and turned to the window where he would leap out of and never come back. He inhaled deeply, savoring each flame that licked at his throat commanding the monster in him to lunge forward and sink its teeth into the soft and pulsing neck of its prey.

Edward whispered low and fast enough so that only he could hear it ring in the silence of Bella's dark room. "I love you Bella. The stars could not take me away from you even if they tried because my heart will always be with you. My soul will always be with you."

Edward hesitated to kiss her one last time but was shocked when he saw that Bella could almost pass for a vampire, unmoving and pale white as she was—she almost scared him. Only a tell tale human element set her apart—the beating heart in her chest that Edward was uncannily attuned to. But instead, he moved two steps to the window and finally disappeared into the darkness where he belonged.

Bella

It all makes sense, the disconnect.
Too many words we left unsaid.
But still I stare frozen here.
Until the curtains close.

Oh. No, I take it all back, Edward! Come back to me and stop the hurt. I don't mean anything I said! I'm stupid and you're stupid; this has to work! How could you leave without me telling you I loved you? You bastard, you didn't give me a chance to say goodbye! But I can't move; I think I'm paralyzed. You've paralyzed me, Edward. Now I'll never be able to move on and accept the fact that you are gone and will never return. The hole in my chest is closed off to you now. I'm closed off to everything.

Bella whimpered in pain as the connection of their love was strained and pulled as Edward ran deeper into the darkness. She clutched her bed sheets for support and cried out loud. She watched the curtains of her bedroom window as they swayed softly in the midnight breeze, hoping that Edward would reappear with his beautiful, crooked smile.

Bella heard thumping footsteps across the hall and realized that she had woken Charlie up because of her screaming. Somehow she didn't care but lied back down on her side, her back facing the door.

Bella

I need to see this through until this final bow.
Illusions gone, the show is done.
So don't stop now.

You couldn't have taken more from me, Edward. I need to speak but you've taken away my ability to breathe. I need to blink but you've taken away the sight of the world, leaving me in darkness. I need to cry but you've drained me of everything I am. The game is over and the lion has killed the lamb. The show is over so take a bow. Do I want to know where you are? No. Do I believe that you will return? No. Do I still love you? Yes. Oh, yes.

"Bella? You okay, Bells? Heard you screamin' so I came by to uh, check on you." Bella could imagine her father squinted in the darkness, searching for her in the blankets. She saw his shadow on her bedroom wall and bit her lip to keep from crying some more.

"Bad dream, Dad." Bella tried her best to compose her voice enough to convince him to go back to his room. It seemed enough and Charlie reluctantly pulled away and closed the door behind him, softly.

"And it won't go away."

Edward

Follow you close four steps behind.
Part of me knew you are not mine.

Fuck, it hurts! My family was right; I should never have meddled with a human. Bella and I cannot be together. We were not meant to be together. But Goddamn, Lord, hell why does it hurt like this if it is so? Bella, if you are in pain now, I'm there with you—encased in a tomb with earth pressing to me cutting me off from a will to survive. But I need you to survive, my Bella. I need you to continue living. Don't stop now.