This story starts up at the end of Twilight, but with some changes. James was able to escape the Cullens in the ballet studio. Edward decides to leave Bella to find and kill James. Just like in Twilight he tells her he won't come back because he is too much of a danger for her.

Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

Chapter 1

"This is for the best Bella, I have to do this because I love you." Edward was pushing me away, but I wouldn't give up. I tried to fight my way around his arms to wrap myself around him. If I could just hang on to him he wouldn't be able to go.

"No, NO! This isn't what's best! If you love me then stay with me!" Desperation leaked into my voice. The Earth was twisting under my feet, threatening to just up and disappear at any moment; nothing would be right if Edward left me now.

"I need you. You can't leave. It's my choice to put myself in danger." My voice was shrill and shaky around the sobs forming in my throat. He put his arms around me and kissed my forehead. I relaxed for a moment, mistaking his gesture as a sign that he'd given in to my pleas and would stay.

"I'm sorry love, I have to do this. I promise to find James and put an end to this." I clenched my hands into fists, holding onto his shirt tightly. I buried my face in his shoulder. He was all I could have ever wanted, and now it was being taken away from me.

"I'd rather he just kill me than to live without you!" I saw the pain in his eyes at my confession, but it was the truth; I needed him to know that. He untangled himself from me and cupped my face in his hands.

"Bella, my beautiful Bella..." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Try to stay out of trouble, Alice and the others will be there if you really need anything." With that he stepped into the tree line, vanishing into the forest instantly.

I followed Edward into the trees, trying to keep up with him; an impossible task. I let my feet lead me in the direction my instincts told me he'd gone. After who knows how long I knew somewhere deep in my heart that he was too far away to follow. My feet just kept going, one after the other; it was if time stood still as long as I could keep moving.

This was just a horrible dream, like the kind where the killer is chasing you but you just can't get your feet to move any faster. Except in this nightmare I was the one doing the chasing.

My heart was hard sculpted ice, not beating, not feeling, just there. Without Edward my heart was useless, a space filler in my chest. The rain was dripping down through the green canopy of trees, blending with the tears that streamed down my face.

I realized at some point that I was screaming his name out into the darkness and reaching my hands out into nothing. I wandered like this for hours, convinced that he was just behind the next tree.

Eventually it had gotten so dark that moving was impossible. Every step took me into a large round tree trunk. I walked into one and just wrapped my arms around it, holding on to it for dear life. I feared that if I let go gravity would cease to exist and I would go hurtling through the air into the vast blackness of the sky. It wouldn't be so bad I thought, to just float among the stars in peace.

The wet bark was gritty and covered in moss, my hold was slipping. The last of my strength went out of my body and I fell limply to the wet floor of the forest. I lay unmoving, listening to the sound of the rain in the trees. Water puddle around me, it felt like the ice in my heart had spread to my entire body. I'd never felt cold like this before.

'This must be what it feels like to be dead.' I thought absently. Everything had gone numb, surreal.

It felt like I was floating somewhere outside my body, where emotion couldn't touch me anymore. This is where I would stay I decided. If I didn't have Edward, I didn't want anyone or anything. I would lay here in the forest until heaven felt I had suffered enough and opened its gates for me to enter.

Somewhere behind me I heard a twig snap, I could feel the presence behind me. I didn't move though, if it were an animal here to kill me then so be it. I held my breath in anticipation of the attack.

Two strong, cold arms slipped beneath me and picked me up out of the water. Relief ran over my body like sunlight. He hadn't left me after all; it had hurt him to be away just as much as it hurt me. We would stay together forever and forget that danger ever existed. I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed.

"I knew you wouldn't leave me Edward." I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to control the shivers that shook my body like seizures.

"No, Edward is gone. You're mine now." Came a voice even colder than the freezing water pouring over my body.

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