BPOV

Nothing mattered. Nothing had for a long long time.

I was drifting in the darkness, feeling nothing. The whole world was a cotton wool ball protecting and suffocating keeping me alive, making me want the end.

I tried to focus on something, anything trying to remember the last thing before the dark came.

Movie theatre. Someone being sick. Jacob. No, someone else. Focus Bella. Focus.

Mike. And Jacob. Both of them. I was fine, wasn't I? Maybe I had got sick too. Maybe this is why my head was fuzzy.

Wow, I wonder if they had felt this throbbing pain too? No, thinking about those times was forbidden.

And Charlie, there was something about Charlie...

I could feel a cold hand on my head like a compress and sighed as the touch brought the forbidden memories to the fore. I sighed and let a smile touch my lips. Could it be?

"Edward..."

The snarl near my ear that accompanied the sharp slap to my face ended that dream quite effectively; and I opened my eyes, only to discover that it was too dark to see. The darkness had flashes of light it though.... like material. Wait. Was that a... blindfold?

I tried to lift my hand to see and discovered I couldn't. My hands were tied and my feet too. My heart quickened and almost drowned the sound of someone screaming in pain.

I gasped as the panic took over and I could smell the rust and salt in the air. I swallowed the bile that rose and tried, without success, to block out the sound.

"Don't worry, Bella. Soon it will be your turn."

As I recognised the voice, the screaming became my own.

APOV

I was so bored. Jasper had gone to South America to try and persuade Edward to come home which, I had already told him, was not going to work. As much as I loved the house in the woodland just outside Sycamore in Illinois there was very little to do.

The sun had been unseasonably evident and internet shopping just wasn't as much fun. How was I supposed to know if I wanted the dress if I couldn't try it on? Carlisle had told me that getting daily deliveries of clothing wasn't helping us blend into the scenery... Especially when I was just sending everything back. It just wasn't fun dressing up when I already knew how I was going to look.

It was going to be another 4 hours before Esme and Carlisle would come out of their room. Carlisle had been trying to distract Esme from the break-up of our family by constantly... well, distracting her when he wasn't at the hospital. Jasper told me that the pain of Edward running was horrific to feel so maybe he was distracting himself a little too. Jasper. He ran from one source of pain to another hoping he could fix something. That's why he hadn't let me go with him. He knew when he started to feel what Edward was feeling that he wouldn't be able to help but fall into a depression, and he didn't want me to see him like that.

Darling Jasper. Always trying to protect me. Always trying to distract me from my visions in the most glorious ways.

The memory of the night Edward left she had disappeared from the future. I had been holding Jasper while he berated himself for the party. I saw Bella fall in the woods and he turned to go back, to take her home, but then a later vision of her at home, curled up on the couch had come and he had got in his car and left instead. I let him know of her mood over the three months before Charlie had blown up at her. That vision had come in the middle of a hunt. I had cheered out loud, frightening the deer Jasper and I had been stalking. It had been about time. In the few short months I had been given with her she had brought such a joy to me; and my existence felt that little bit emptier without her. Edward was just so selfish sometimes.

Until then only Jasper had known I had been secretly watching Bella to make sure she was alright, I couldn't hide the melancholy from him and he added a plea to leave Bella alone that echoed Edward's order. So, I promised him I would no longer look for her but, of course, I couldn't not check. It was my distraction when Jasper wasn't around.

The last time I had checked in, Mike Newton had been asking her on a date - when would that guy get a clue? She had tried to get others to come including the Quileute boy and his friends. Jacob concerned me. He made Bella happy but his future was so uncertain. I didn't like to think of her becoming so dependent on someone who was all over the place. More recently his future had been fading out - it was like looking at him through dirty glasses.

I checked in on her again and laughed out loud when I had seen Mike, Bella and Jacob all sitting in an awkward line in the cinema. Both of them reaching for her hand... and then Mike getting sick. Perfect date, Newton!

I saw Jasper and Edward talking and the answer that I had been expecting all along came. Jasper smiled wryly almost as if he knew I could see him. I reached for my cell phone as he called and picked up before it had a chance to ring.

"So, what flight will you be on?"

"Like you don't already know?"

"I'll meet you at the airport. It will rain tomorrow."

I laughed at the vision of Jasper standing in the rain, his shirt sticking to his body as I pulled up and then gasped with surprise as I saw Edward come out of the terminal with him.

"Wow, I was wrong..." I whispered as I concentrated on Edward's face. I had seen the emotion crossing his face before.

"What did you say?" The concern in Jasper's voice brought me back.

"Edward. He's coming home?"

Jasper seemed genuinely surprised, "Not as far as I know. He wants to stay here and find Victoria."

"But I have seen it! When I pick you up tomorrow he is with you."

"Are you sure? But why?"

"Something must happen..." I let my mind seek out the futures of the family and could see us all together soon. Edward screaming at us all and then running out to his car. "I wonder..." And then I let my mind go to the one person who could bring Edward home and everything went dark.

JPOV

Edward had been difficult to deal with. Carlisle and Esme's pain had been a light drizzle compared to the tsunami of despair coming from my brother. As soon as I got off the plane at , it seemed to me like the whole of Buenos Aires was covered in a dark cloud. If only it was. I had to act like a movie vampire, keeping to night hours. It felt like the days of battle where here again. At least this time I would be almost guaranteed to come out this physically in tact.

He tried to swallow it and cover it with purpose. As soon as he saw me he tried to cover my thoughts by talking a mile a minute about the hunt for Victoria and his frustrations as she evaded him over and over.

"I'm not even sure she's down here anymore. The last time I had scent of her was at Puerto Madero, but it could have been a trick. I saw Peter and Charlotte a week ago. They said they would check Chile while they passed through..."

It took all I could for me to not slap him the way you would an hysterical female. I had tried sending calm waves at him to try and make him listen. I though about paralysing fear and then realised that would only cause us both pain. So I decided to just let him run out of energy and just sat back thinking about the family and the way they have been without him. Rosalie and Emmett had escaped 3 months ago unable to take the awkward silences and pain, Rosalie had slammed out of the house screaming about not wanting to stay in a house where it felt wrong to be fine; Emmett leaving with her after wishing he could make Edward see sense. Esme and Carlisle pretending to be fine and understanding, able to hide their thoughts without Edward there but not their emotions. The family being ripped apart. Alice, saddened about losing her friend and finally my immense guilt about being the cause of all this pain.

Edward stopped.

"Why would you...?"

"Oh come now Edward. If I had just been able to control myself that day..." I let my mind drift to the party and felt the bloodlust rise as the tiny pinprick of blood appeared on her finger. Edward growled as he saw the memories mixing with my wants and desires on that day. Bella's smooth neck ripped apart by my teeth, her sweet blood running down my throat as her heart pumped it into me, her broken body falling out of arms as I drained it. I stopped myself and looked into his eyes, seeing his eyes darken and knowing this was worse for him as he had drunk of that sweet nectar.

"Let's hunt."

EPOV

As Jasper and I hunted the Puma and Wild Boar his thoughts kept shifting to new strategies to get me back to the family home as if that would help. Did he think as soon as I was in the company of my family that I would just forget about my reason for living? I loved my brother but having his memories of her around just made the ache in my dead heart worse. Didn't he understand that I had to protect her? I had to find Victoria and make sure that she never caused any pain to my Bella, and then with the last threat to my love's safety gone I would be free to...

I stopped. Do what? Wait for Bella to die, and then follow after just like I had sworn on that fateful birthday? Her anger had been so delicious to me, her face shining with innocent rage. The barest thought of her made me stop in my tracks, and I nearly fell to my knees in pain.

Jasper appeared at my side concern emanating from him.

"Really, brother, this is not healthy. Come home."

I sat on the ground and looked up at him, "I just can't, Jasper."

"Just for a while, a week, a day even. It'll please Carlisle and Esme so much just to see you."

My resolve wavered for a moment, and I considered how I could rest for a moment. I could pretend that everything was fine for a while. I trusted Jasper enough to know he would keep my pain secret. I breathed in, letting the air fill my lungs and opened my mouth to agree. Then I heard the thought in Jasper's mind about getting Rosalie and Emmett to return so the whole family would be together.

But they wouldn't. Not without my Bella.

"No. I can't. It's just too soon."

Jasper sighed and nodded, He smiled as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Now I have to tell Alice she was right. Again."

"As if she doesn't already know."

I got up and walked away to give them privacy. I heard Jasper chuckle and smiled to myself that at least someone could be happy.

I would find Victoria and then she would be safe.

I almost reached the edge of the forest as I caught the scent of a jungle cat. I sprung up onto a tree branch and waited for it to pass underneath. I tensed as it paused, sniffing the air, and leaned back slightly ready to pounce.

The forest exploded into a riot of colour and sound as the thoughts that flew at me were so full of pain.

"Alice!"