Life's Expectations

All thoughts are in 'italics', and all vampire speed conversations are in between *.

I adopted this from HaleyD95 and I'm just editing the chapters she had written and continuing from there.

Bella's POV

'God I wish I had a towel right now so that I could dry off. I am freezing my ass off right now.' I think as I walk through the Volturi's underground entrance tunnel. My body is shaking with from the cold, having run through the fountain to reach Edward in time to stop him from revealing himself in his stupidity, and getting himself killed. Now, I am stuck walking behind Edward, surrounded by Felix and Demetri, as Jane escorts us to the throne room to see The Kings.

'God Edward, look at what your childish idiocy has gotten us into now. Is it so hard for a 100 plus year-old vampire to think before acting? He might as well be 10 and not over 100.' The thought runs through my mind as I glare at the back of his head. I've never wished to be able to hit Edward without seriously injuring myself on his marble hard skin as much as I do at this moment. All I wanted to do was smack some sense into him. If he didn't act so impulsively, then he would have realized that I wasn't dead and I wouldn't have had to save his sorry ass. I also wouldn't be stuck in this situation.

I easily realized when the Volturi guard first showed up in the alley that I wouldn't be leaving Volterra with my heart still beating. I was either going to get the option to be changed or I would be killed for my knowledge of their existence. Knowing this, I quickly decided to do whatever I could to live through this, in a manner of speaking.

'No doubt Edward is going to throw a fit about me being changed into a vampire.' I thought as I mentally rolled my eyes. 'It's a good thing that I don't care what he thinks about me anymore because he isn't going to stop me from getting out of this alive, sort of. Oh crap! I am going to have to make sure he doesn't act like a complete idiot and end up getting us both killed when we are speaking with The Kings!' I realize with dread. I don't know how I am going to keep the idiotic boy from screwing up.

I began to make plans to get The Kings to give me the option to be turned when I noticed something missing. I looked around a little bit before realizing that Alive was nowhere to be seen.

'Why isn't she here? Surely the guards would have seen her…wait, she must have stayed behind when I ran across the palazzo! What the hell! She brings me here to save her moron of a brother and then leaves as soon as things get dangerous! That pixie bitch!' I quickly realized that she had run away as soon as trouble showed up, and grew furious with her and her selfishness.

As we continued walking, I made sure to keep my face impassive, even though on the inside I was fuming. I didn't want to mess with my odds of living through this experience, and acting out because Alice was a backstabbing traitorous bitch, would get me nowhere right now.

As we continued through the tunnel, I quickly got fed up with walking so slowly, freezing and soaking wet, down a tunnel that could very well be several miles long. I look at Jane walking in front of us and notice that she seems to be getting frustrated with the slow pace they were forced to go so they didn't leave me behind as well. With every step, she takes, she seems to have to catch herself from moving too fast. Most people wouldn't notice this, especially because it was all happening in a split second, but I somehow managed to see it. Using this information (and the assumption that The Kings aren't infinitely patient), I quickly planned to solve two of my current problems and made sure to act before Edward did something that would make this worse for us.

"May I ask how much longer it is going to take for us to reach the throne room if we continue to walk at this pace?" I ask politely. I know that I must be careful and play my cards right if I want to get out of here alive (or undead at least).

Edward turns to look at me with a look on his face that says: 'What in the world are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?' I just ignored him and continued to look straight at Jane, making sure to keep my face impassive. She stopped walking and is now facing us. She stood there with an irritated look on her face, glaring at me for speaking.

"Thanks to you, human, it will take approximately an hour to get out of this passageway and to the throne room." she said still glaring murderously at me.

'Oh god, an hour is way too long for me to walk in these conditions. How am I supposed to try and talk my way out of this situation if my nose is running and I'm constantly shivering? I'll just look pathetic and it won't help my case. Hopefully, she wants to speed this up as much as I do.' I thought despairingly.

"If that is the case, why doesn't Edward just carry me? That way everyone can run at your speed instead of being stuck walking through these tunnels for an hour." I propose even though I know that she is not going to agree with my suggestion.

"Not going to happen, human. I'm not going to help you and Edward in an escape attempt." she sneers.

"I was, in no way trying to escape. I was just trying to speed this all up. However, if that is what you believe I was trying to do, why doesn't someone else carry me? I, in no way, want to keep The Kings waiting." I say trying to reason with her. I was confident that she would accept my counter offer. As I say this she tilts her head to the side a little, as if in confusion.

"You seem eager to meet your death, human. Why is that?" she asks, curiosity filling her voice.

"I am not eager to meet my death, in fact, I quite dread it. However, I do not believe making the kings wait an hour because we are walking at a human pace because of me would help to end my situation in my favor. Besides, I am soaking wet and freezing cold because of the water from the fountain that I ran through trying to prevent this situation in the first place. If we run at vampire speed, then I will be able to dry off somewhat and then I can begin to warm up. I do not fancy getting sick from the state that my body is in right now." I stated.

"You really don't fear our kind, do you?" she said incredulously.

"Fear? No. However, I do have a healthy respect for what your kind can do. I know that you can easily kill me before I even realized what had happened, but I see no reason to remain in constant fear of something that may or may not happen. It would be the same thing as me being constantly afraid that a random stranger on the street is going to shoot me. While there is a chance that it will happen, there is also a chance that it will not, and dwelling on what could happen would do nothing but ruin my life, something I am not inclined to do." As I said this, she seemed to be a little shocked at what I was saying.

"You speak with the wisdom of one decades older than yourself. It is a very rare occurrence amongst you humans. Even some of the oldest amongst your race are not able to think as you do." she stated.

"I have always been told that I have an old soul." I said with a simple smile and a small chuckle. "Now why don't we get back to the matter at hand?" She stared at me for a few seconds, as if studying me, before speaking again.

"Very well. Felix will carry you as we run. I do not wish to keep the masters waiting any longer. Let us continue." Jane said, finishing with finality and turning around again. A split second later I was swept up into the bear of a vampire's arms. As he picked me up, he seemed to be looking at my face as if expecting shock or something of the sort. When my face remained passive he started to frown.

'Why are vampires always so disappointed that they can't shock me with their actions? Shouldn't it be obvious that I would be used to it after living around vampires for several months?' I thoughtfully considered.

"Don't be upset big guy. I am just not easily shocked after all that I have seen. I have learned to expect the unexpected." I said. He just continued to frown at me. Suddenly we started running down the passage. I quickly became freezing cold as all the air rushed past me, the cold only being made worse by the temperature of the being that was holding me. Thankfully my clothes and hair were also drying as we ran.

We continued to run for a few more minutes, everyone remaining silent. Jane was still leading our group as Felix, Edward, and I were behind her with Demetri was behind us. After running for probably what was only about 2 minutes, we seemed to have left the passageway and entered some other area that was much better lit. However, I wasn't sure what it looked like because everything was still a blur to me because of the speed we are going. After about a minute of us running in this new area, we came to a stop in front of a very large set of doors. Felix placed me on the ground and stepped up next to Jane, who was once again facing us.

"Wait here with Felix and Demetri while I let the kings know that you are here." Jane said before opening one of the massive doors with ease and going into the next room. As soon as she left, Edward walked up to me and confronted me, his face a mixture of anger and bewilderment.

"What in the world was that about?! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?!" he harshly whispered.

"I don't have time for your childish tantrums right now Edward. It is your fault that we are in this situation in the first place. If you didn't overreact and think that it was necessary for you to die if I wasn't alive anymore, then I wouldn't have had to come and save your sorry ass. Now shut up and try not to get us killed when we go into that room and meet with The Kings." I said, in no mood for his adolescent mood swings.

I noticed that Felix and Demetri were snickering at how I just scolded Edward as if he was a child. He just stared at me in shock, most likely because I was talking to him this way. 'I guess he thought I was just going to stand beside him and look pathetic like I did when we were dating. He is in for a rude awakening because I am nothing like that anymore.' I thought mentally snorting.

A few seconds later, Jane came gliding back out of the big doors. When she sees how Edward and I were standing and the look on his face, she arches an eyebrow at me before clearing her throat to get our attention. We all turn towards her, waiting to hear what she will say.

"The Kings are ready for you now," she said before opening both large doors. As we began walking towards the next room I began mentally preparing myself for whatever was going to happen once we were in the room, knowing that it was very unlikely that I would come back out of that room with my heart still beating.

I hope you enjoyed this. Constructive criticism is appreciated. R&R.

Ja Ne,
KingCrab