Full Moon: The Lamb Grows a Brain
Twilight Saga Fan fiction by Faith J.
(Alternate version of New Moon. Change takes occurs in scene w/Laurant. Full Moon meaning Bella starts making choices for a fuller healthier life. Jake imprints on Bella / Bella eventually & rightfully chooses Jake)
Disclaimer: I do not own the original story or the characters, as this is fac fiction spinning off the marvelous Twilight Series written by the lovely and talented Stepanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 1
The Abyss of Truth
I stepped through a low arch made of vines into the meadow, Edward's meadow. Only it wasn't the same meadow from my memory. It was dry, colorless and definitely didn't hold what I'd come in search of. Disappointment ran thru me bringing with it a bout of weakness that dropped me to my knees. As I struggle to find the strength to get on my feet a stone figure stepped out from the tree line across the meadow. There stood the third member of James' coven, Laurant. The last I remember he'd gone to find the Cullens extended family in Alaska. That knowledge gave me hope. If by chance he'd converted to a vegetarian diet, I may not be as appetizing to him, as I had been to James. As he started towards me his red irises quickly became evidence that no such luck was with me today. Today it was just me, Laurant and my imaginary Edward.
"Bella?" Laurant asked in greeting. "I didn't expect to find you here."
"Uh, isn't it the other way around? I do live here. I thought you'd gone find the Denali coven. What are you doing here?"
"Yes, I found and become well acquainted with Kate's family there in Alaska. However I have other deeper loyalties. This leads me to your other question. Victoria's request for assistance is actually what brings me to Forks. She's been longing for vengeance and feels it's only fair to do away with you, as Edward did James. She'll be glad to know I found you, unfortunately for her and for you, I'm rather thirsty."
Edward's apparition prompted me then to threaten him. "Edward will know you did this, he'll never let you get away with it. They visit often and when he comes back..."
Before I could finish Laurant dismissed my attempt, "come now Bella, the house smelt like it's been vacant a long time. I see no need to live in fear after I've finished with you. After all how much could you mean to him if he left you here unprotected?"
I froze at his observation. I had absolutely no answer to that question. In that instant the two life lines I'd been clinging to left me high and dry. Edward's apparition disappeared along with any valid thought process. Try as I may to reclaim the current reality, my mind was caught in a whirlpool, not just my mind, but my body felt a strange sense of vertigo. I felt as if I were spinning and being sucked down to an abyss where mean and ugly epiphanies lived. A place where obvious yet overlooked truths lived and waited patiently for the right opportunity to suck you down and slap you in the face.
All this time, all these months, days, and hours on end I'd spent thinking, wishing, dreaming and pining over Edward and it never occurred to me that I was wrong. Not only was I wrong but he was wrong. He was wrong to leave me. I was wrong to console myself with the possibility that Edward left to protect me. I had settled on the one reason I could live with, that after the Jasper incident he'd decided he could no longer remain a threat to my life. But oh no, this was not protection at all, this was me facing my death – alone. I'd given all my love to him and this is what I got for it, dying alone, and not even his imaginary self could stick around.
Apparently the abyss of truth satisfied with my "ah-ha" moment, released me and I snapped back to the here and now. I too found satisfaction with this situation. Alone was probably the best end result I could've hope for. No one else had to die. Not Jake, who would've been here any other day before today. No Charlie in danger of being an innocent by stander had Laurant or Victoria found me at home instead of here. If I had to die than at the very least it was just me…thanks to Edward. I braced myself and hoped that Laurant wouldn't begrudge me a swift death. I closed my eyes and let the best memories of my life take effect as an anesthetic.
I felt a whoosh of air that could only be produced by someone or something traveling at superhuman speeds. It confused me that it came from behind me going in Laurant's direction. In that split second a forbidden wishful thought crept in. Maybe I wasn't wrong after all, maybe Alice saw, maybe he'd never really left, and maybe he was here.