A/N: Again not a happy ending for Edward, but good for Bella :)
When Bella and Jake arrived back at Charlie's house and saw Carlisle's car across the road, he was absolutely livid and tried to stop her from going into the house. Bella was adamant and eventually he relented but told her if she starts to hang about with them again, she would be crossing the line.
"Oh Jake don't start that old crap again, I'm getting sick of hearing it. This, them and us rubbish does my head in" she tells him, "If we're going to stay friends you have to accept mine. Shit! I have to put up with Paul for you" she laughs getting out of the Rabbit.
Alice is very surprised to see Bella alive and tells her so; Bella says she is extremely insulted that they would even consider the fact that she would kill herself. "I've got a little more respect for my life than you apparently think" she huffs and goes on to tell Alice about the cliff jumping and how unfortunately Victoria was in the water and nearly got her but thankfully three of the pack were on the cliff and they finally caught and destroyed her.
She tells Alice all about Laurent and Victoria's obsession with trying to kill her since they all just upped and left, leaving her totally unprotected. Alice is horrified and says that she hardly gets any clear visions of her anymore, so seeing this one she rushed back to Forks immediately. She apologises for misreading it, saying she better let the family know right away. As she leaves to phone home Bella went up to get changed out of the damp clothes she was still wearing. Hearing Alice cry out makes her rush back down the stairs.
"Oh no the fool! He's going to try to get himself killed" she screams, "Who is Alice?" Bella demands to know. "Edward, he's gone to the Volturi to get them to end his life" she sobs to Bella. "Why? Why on earth would he do that?" Bella asks her confused. "He thinks you're dead, Rose said you were dead and he blames himself" Alice yells.
"What the hell, I've nearly died several times at the hands of the psycho duo and the one time it's not real that's the time he goes to try and top himself! What an irresponsible idiot" Bella shouts.
Alice looks at her strangely, cocking her head. "You're different Bella, stronger, more confident and you don't seem worried for Edward!" she says quietly. "Why would I be? He dumped me, abandoned me in the forest, after telling me how I wasn't good enough or special enough for him to stay for, not the other way round. I'm not responsible for the stupid things he does to himself. I had to rebuild my life after he left me with a broken heart; I was alone with no one to talk to. Not anyone who understood the supernatural, until Jake phased anyway" she replied.
Alice begged Bella to go with her to Volterra, saying he would be able to read her mind and think she was lying, so Bella needed to be the one to stop him. Bella agreed reluctantly but said she was only doing this for the family. Even though they obviously didn't care about her, she said she still had some respect and feelings for them.
Alice tried to explain but Bella wouldn't listen, saying if they couldn't make up their own minds and followed blindly the ravings of a seventeen-year-old boy, then they didn't really care that much for her after all. Alice couldn't answer because she knew Bella was right. They had treated her badly and she didn't know if the damage could ever be repaired.
While Alice sorted out flights etc, Bella phoned her father at the station, told him she was going on a shopping trip with Alice, who had turned up out of the blue to see her. They'd be gone three days and she would get some new clothes for college that she couldn't get locally. Charlie wasn't too pleased but knew he couldn't stop her as she was a grown woman. He hoped to himself, the Cullen's being back in her life wouldn't set her back to how she was after they left her before.
On the plane to Italy, Bella told Alice all about what she had been like and how long it took to get her life back together, then finally realising that he was not her mate and had never truly loved her, well not properly. First love yes, puppy love but not true love because he could never have left her if he did. So she had set about taking charge of her life and the way it would head and began to like the new woman, she had become. Alice was amazed by this stronger Bella and wondered what Edward would think, she was sure he would try to get her back but could see that it would never be.
She knew that although Bella had grown and changed, Edward had not and he would just repeat the same mistakes over and over and Bella would no longer stand for it. He was a fool and had lost the best thing that had ever happened to him, not just her love but her friendship too. But Bella was right they were not mates and never had been she could see that now, it had just been first love, never meant to last and would have fizzled out naturally if Edward had stayed. He was so melodramatic, well this last stunt proved that.
Bella was very calm all the way to Volterra, she hoped they could save Edward for Esme's sake. She didn't tell Alice about knowing now that she was a shield and that the Quileute elders had been working with her to make it tangible and usable even though she was still human. They had told her that in the past many of the tribes had had people with special abilities. It was never the same one twice and so over the generations, they recognised the signs and worked with those few to get the most out of it.
It was a twofold thing, the inner shield that protected her mind and the outer that protected her body now it was activated. She often wished it had worked sooner as she would have had a lot fewer scars. Old Quill had thought the bite James had given her had left behind some residual venom that was what had triggered it. She also though that the few times Edward had sealed minor wounds with his venom had probably contributed too.
Alice had seen what Edward intended, once again giving into his overly dramatic side. So they knew where he would be and when for best effect. So Bella ran through the crowded square, using her shield to push people gently out of the way to make her path easier. Just as she reached Edward she used her shield to stop him moving into the sunlight. As he vainly pushed against it, he opened his eyes to see Bella standing there shaking her head at him and holding up his shirt.
"Put your damn clothes on Edward, you look like a fool," she told him and at first, he thought he was dreaming but by the look of anger and disgust on her face, he came back to reality quickly. "Love, your alive! What are you doing here it's too dangerous?" he said loudly. "I'm here to save your sorry ass, Edward, why else would a sane person come to the Vampire capital of the world?" she told him.
Just as Alice reached them Edward tried to embrace Bella and could not. "Not happening Eddie-boy, you lost that right last September," Bella said smiling. They were both looking at her strangely as three vampires appeared as is from nowhere. "Bella love, run, they are dangerous and will kill you" he ordered. "Shut up Edward! Stop telling me what to do and stop being so OTT, it's embarrassing" Bella snarked at him.
"Well well, what have we here?" said the tallest vampire Bella had ever seen. Not as tall as the pack, but pretty tall all the same. "It's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Convention! and you're not invited" Bella laughed at him. Felix was stunned by this response, humans were normally terrified of him and never in his long life as a vampire had one laughed at him. He liked it and her right away. "You can't be Bella? I was expecting some boring, plain, mousy thing. If you were involved with him" he said smirking at Edward.
"I was, but then the glamour wore off," Bella said, "Turns out the real me's a bit of a bitch, but I love her" she laughed. "Well the Kings wants to see you, they saw you on the CCTV and have to meet you in person" he stated.
"Why are you talking to your food, Felix? just grab her and let's get going" said a small blonde childlike vampire. "Whoa there, short stuff. If Aro wants to meet me, all you need to do is ask, there will be no grabbing, ever" Bella replied loudly. "No Bella, you can't go in there, I won't allow it," said Edward. "Dear god Edward! did Carlisle drop you on your head when he turned you? Cause you're acting real stupid. You don't tell me to do anything anymore, dumb, dumb! and I really don't think they are going to take no for an answer" she shot back at him.
She strolled forward taking Felix's arm and said "Lead on, big guy. By the way, who's the kid?" Felix choked back a laugh saying "That's Jane and the silent one's Alec her brother". "Ah the twins, heard of you guys, a pleasure to meet you" she called over her shoulder and everyone just stared at her. "What? manners cost nothing, you know" Bella said with a smile.
Edward was so confused; this was not his sweet, delicate Bella. Alice told him inside of his head what did he expect, that he was so goddamn stupid; she had outgrown him while he was gone. He had made her the person she now was, because of his hurting her emotionally and abandoning her she had changed. Edward was not happy at all about this, he had forgotten the most important thing about humans, they grow, age and change.
When they reached the throne room, Aro, Marcus and Caius were all seated on their thrones and all but Aro looked bored to tears. Felix ushered her forward and Edward tried to lunge for her to pull her back. She used her shield to avoid the contact. Aro narrowed his eyes and spoke over her head to Edward, "She's not the girl you lead me to believe Edward! Why and how did you keep this from me?" he said. To say that Bella was pissed off was an extremely large understatement.
"Eh hello! She has a name, it's Bella by the way and I do not appreciate being talked over. Especially when you're directing your questions to the monkey, and in this situation I'm the organ grinder!" she voiced. They were stunned, nobody ever corrected Aro. The guard tensed and held their collective unnecessary breath. Caius leant forward and Marcus lifted his head to look closely at Bella.
"My most sincere apologies, Isabella. My dear, you are correct, Edward obviously knows nothing about you at all" Aro cooed at her, " Might I take your hand ?" he asked and Bella moved forward a step, then she turned to Felix and said, "If he moves put a leash on him, please". Felix laughed out loud and everyone gasped, this was obviously a rare sound. So she stepped forward once more and let Aro grip her hand, she tried not to shudder at the feel of his thin papery skin.
" Nothing, I see nothing" he looked alarmed as if this was unheard of. "Yes well, I'm not surprised, seeing as I'm a shield and all" Bella stated and everyone stared at her amazed. "You are aware of your gift? even as a human?" Aro queried. "Yup, aware and able to use it, I suppose as a vampire it would be stronger and everything, but it works just fine at present," she said blithely and gasps were heard all round the room.
Caius cleared his throat and stood, "How is it you are aware of your gift? Someone has to have been helping you to use it and they naturally would not be human" he asked and stated. " Your quite correct, Master Caius" she nodded her head, giving the warrior king respect, automatically. This did not go unnoticed around the room and the guard relaxed slightly in the face of Bella's show of deference.
"I live in the shadow of the Olympic mountains in Washington State, home to both the Olympic Coven, two members of said coven are here before you now and the Quileute Tribe, indigenous to that area, they are also known as the protectors, humans who can shapeshift to protect the tribe and peoples of the area" Bella's voice was clear and confident as she explained this to the kings. Caius hissed about damned shape-shifters.
"Well, when my friend Jacob Black phased and took his rightful place as future Chief and current alpha to the pack, he suggested I talk to their Shaman as I was showing some signs of a gift. Other tribes were also asked for their permission, this lead to me being able to control and project my shield and it turned out that a long time ago the Swans married into one of the other tribes, so this made me a special case. It also means I'm under the protection of the wolves." Bella finished off.
During her speech, Edward kept growling at the mention of the pack and Jake in particular. The kings huddled together to discuss what they had learned and Bella turned to Felix once again and said "God I never realised how immature and irritating he was or how rude, constantly interrupting his betters when their talking" the whole guard sniggered at Edward's expense. He was totally devastated that she thought so little of him now.
"Friends, we have made a couple of decisions and the first is, Edward you may return home to Carlisle, your sire, but know this your punishment will be to reframe henceforth from interacting with humans until you learn some self-restraint, there will be no more of this childish nonsense of attending school.
You will have to undergo some serious retraining and return here to prove to us you are once again safe to be allowed out in public." Aro decreed, Edward growled at this and Bella motioned to Felix to slap him across the back of his head. Everyone burst out laughing and even the kings had difficulty keeping a straight face. Edward was dragged forcibly from the room.
"Alice my dear, I would extend you a place on the guard, but I know you will refuse me. So you too are free to go also and please give our regards to your mate 'The Major', he has been a good friend and ally to the Volturi over the years" he commented and a ripple of sound went round the room, as everyone who wasn't aware previously realised just who her mate was. Alice inclined her head and thanked them, saying she would stay to await the outcome for Bella.
"Lastly Bella my young friend, might we ask what your plans for the future are? Have you ever considered becoming a vampire? Would you be interested in joining the Volturi?" he asked her. Bella looked around her and took a large breath of air.
" Masters, I have been giving it a lot of thought over the last few months and I actually feel as if I was born to be a vampire. I would indeed be delighted to join your guard, maybe not forever but for some substantial length of time to learn from you and help me become a respected vampire, not a parody of one like Edward, Bella informed them.
"Lastly, I wish to ask your indulgence in the timing of this event, my father is a Police Chief and would not stop looking for me if I just disappeared, he also would involve the F.B.I in the matter. The Cullens to would eventually be dragged into the search and maybe too closely looked at." she paused there to let it sink in and then continued with.
"So my suggestion is that I finish high school, which is only for three more months and I could then win a prestigious scholarship to a foreign college here in Italy, sponsored by a family friend Dr Carlisle Cullen. Maybe under the care of a Professor Marcus Volturi, a close friend of the doctor, studying 'Renaissance Literature'. Something along those lines and then I could slowly extricate myself from his life and no harm done. But obviously the wolves would be advised of my change and no more need of their protection" she proffered for them to decide.
"You really have been thinking about this seriously, my dear," said Marcus and he nodded saying "This would be good a clever idea". Bella turned to Alice, lifted her shield and asked how did the future look and Alice smiled and said "Perfect, Bella just perfect".
And so it finally came to be, Bella now entered a new phase in her life, family and friends were thrilled for her and although sad she would be so far away, no one begrudged her the chance. The tribes accepted her choice and hoped she would help to bridge the gap between the species.
The Volturi were happy to find that once changed, Bella was an extremely controlled vampire with little bloodlust. She decided to feed on animals, mainly for the thrill of the chase and the gold eyes were more human-like. She was aware of the pull she felt for Felix but was not rushing into anything this time. The guard took to her easily and laughter became the norm around the castle, due to her antics and her wit. To everyone's amazement even Jane liked her and they spent a lot of time together.
Felix looked upon her with more and more affection and occasionally he saw her watching him too. With a smile and a nod from Marcus, Felix was happy to bid his time and wait for Bella to return his feelings fully. After all, he had all the time in the world.
Disclaimer: Twilight and it's characters belong to S. Meyer