If I Choose to Stay

Her body jerked to a sudden halt. Months of doing reckless, life-threatening stunts just so her mind could fabric a mist in his image… Oh, how her imagination failed to even hold a candle to Edward's true beauty. Her human memory was so fleeting. Seeing him always stole her breath away. He attracted and guided her like a lighthouse. He was her beacon.

Her hair flew out around her face and plastered against her red cheeks. She was sweating from the stress and the intense Volterra sun that was beating off the cobble streets. Her body ached to collapse under a patch of shade and drink her own weight in cold water, but she refused to give in. There was another life on the line that she deemed a lost more important than her own.

The ancient clock tower chimed and Bella's heart just about stopped. Her eyes fell down the length of the tower until they landed on the man that she traveled all this way for.

"No…" she watched, paralyzed by fear and disbelief as Edward unbuttoned the final hole in his blue shirt. He was really there, the actual man and not just some illusion. Her Edward.

The bell chimed again and he took a step forward. Bella's heart sank. Her nose flared as she inhaled deeply in call out to him.

"Edward! No!"

She didn't pause to see if he heard her and jumped into the fountain. Water soaked her sneakers and weighed down her jeans, but she didn't let that slow her down. She was over the opposite edge of the fountain in only a few strides.

"No! Stop!" she screamed. She stumbled over the edge and wobbled a few steps but kept moving. Edward had his eyes closed and was inches from revealing himself and his kinds ancient secret.

"No!"

She saw him glitter for a split second before she squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself against his exposed chest. The wind rushed out of her lungs painfully upon impact as she staggered back like a ball that'd been thrown against a cement wall.

Her cheek left his marble skin for a second before she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her firmly into him. She pushed against him, trying to remove them both from the sunlight and into the safety of the shade. She had to cover him.

"Bella…" he whispered and slid a cool hand into her hair. "You're here. You're really here."

Bella practically dug her fingernails into her skin to keep her arms locked around him. No one was going to separate them. Not again.

With a quivering breath, she inhaled to try and refill her lungs. Her whole body ached from running into him. Her brain pounded against the inside of her skull. She'd be surprised if she didn't have a concussion from the hit.

"Ed…" her voice faded before the second syllable. When she tried to speak again her lips wouldn't move properly. Something wasn't right.

Distressed, Bella opened her eyes to gaze up at Edward. Instead of seeing his fine, chiseled jaw that she once loved to skim her fingers over, she was met with a pattern of pale shades. The world blurred so much that she couldn't tell what was up and what was down.

A gentle voice floated around her but she couldn't understand their words or even recognize its owner. The area around her started to sway and Bella wavered in Edward's arms.

Her heart sped up and filled her ears with the pounding of her own pumping blood. She gasped and stumbled back; too distraught with the pain and sudden changes in her body, Bella failed to notice that Edward no longer was holding her. Nausea overcame her just as she realized she was wobbling around helplessly. She swung her arm to hold her stomach but she slight change in her weight made her loose her balance and she went crashing to the ground.

White splotches danced in her blackened vision before when her head met the stone. Gaping up in pain at the sky, Bella moaned and clenched her arm and stomach muscles. Her heart sped up too quickly that Bella could no longer count its beat in her head. She couldn't keep up.

Her vision blackened completely just as she let out a single, soft puff of air. The world around her was quiet except for the beating of her heart, which after a few seconds more, came to a sudden stop.


The sound of feet thundering over stone woke her. Bella's eyes snapped open and immediately she knew something wasn't right with her. Something was wrong.

Something was horribly wrong.

She remained on the ground, paralyzed by the realization that something had happened to her and she wasn't even sure what. Moving, it felt like, would suddenly make the horrible transformation final. There was no way what she was feeling was real. She was having a horrible, horrible nightmare. That was all. None of the fine, speckled dust particles that floated overhead were real. Her human eyes would never be able to detect them. It was impossible.

Bella blinked at the cracked, stone ceiling overhead and noticed she could see the small details in between the dark cracks and thin, web-like patterns that expanded outwards. In the corner sat a brown little spider, spinning silk around its latest pray with four of its furry, striped legs. That…she shouldn't be able to see that. How was she able to…?

Her eyes darted down the hallway when she heard a door being swung open. A young man with short, blonde hair and dressed professionally in dark gray fashion was standing frozen in the entryway. His red eyes widened at the sight of her on her back on the ground. Bella let out a soft gasp.

Vampire.

He looked panicked before he rushed toward her. Bella watched, transfixed, as she was able to keep up with his movement clearly and didn't see him as a streak of color like how she usually saw vampires when they moved so quickly.

"Your Majesty!"

Bella didn't think for a second he was speaking to her, so she spun her head to the side and searched for the royal figure that he spoke of. Behind her, there was no one but the empty town center and the constant spluttering of the water fountain.

His shoe scratched at the gravel close to her left ear and Bella was frightened when she saw that he had dropped to a knee at her side.

Her mind screamed Vampire and Danger and next thing she knew she was on two feet and up against the far wall. An unfamiliar hiss escaped her lips before she could stop to think what she was doing.

The blond vampire stared at her with wide eyes and slowly rose to his feet with his hands up in surrender. He was quiet and remained where he stood as he waited for her to…what? Bella didn't even know what she had done or what she was doing. How did she get across the room so quickly? Why was this vampire afraid of her?

"What did you do to me?" she asked, frightened. The young man frowned and appeared confused.

"I found you this way, your Majesty." He said calmly if a little unsettled by the situation. "I have done you no harm. I swear it."

Bella sputtered and glanced around. This vampire was either insane or this was all part of some scheme against her and….her face dropped. Flashes of her running through the crowded streets of Volterra filled her head. She was covered in sweat and the water from the fountain that she had been forced to run through in order to stop Edward in time from exposing himself.

She glanced around the stone hall and searched for him. He was nowhere in sight. Had she made it to him in time? Was she able to stop him from stepping into the sunlight? Her head pounded as she tried to pull up the memory of what happened after she smacked into him. The more she searched the more her head and heart ached.

Oh God, what had happened?!

"Your Majesty, may I suggest that we return to the castle?" The vampire spoke up and Bella's eyes snapped to him. She could see every detail in his face perfectly. There wasn't a single impurity. She shouldn't be able to do that.

"If something has happened to you then we must report to Master Aro immediately. I cannot sense any vampires nearby but that doesn't mean you are safe. Please, let me…."

"Master Aro?" Bella remembered that name. He was one of the three Volturi Kings. He was ancient. He was whom Edward went to ask for death but was denied. Rage filled her. They must have had something to do with what was going on. They had to!

She snarled and the man took a step back. "Where. Is. Edward." She fisted her hands and glared at the vampire.

"Edward?" he repeated in a curious tone then anger took his expression. "Is he the one who attacked you and left you here? You know him? I swear that we will find and destroy him, my Queen. He will not get away with it." He growled.

"What? No!" she screeched back, repulsed that this stranger would even suggest Edward would do such a thing. "I came here to save him! He came to your Kings to ask for death because he thought I was dead! I had to stop him! Where is he? What did you all do to him?!"

The vampire truly looked lost at her words. "I'm sorry, my Queen, I don't know what you're referring to. No one by the name of Edward has come to us with the request of a true death."

"I came here with Alice to save her brother! Edward and Alice Cullen. Your King is an old friend to Carlisle Cullen and I'm a friend of the family. I'm Edward's…" she paused. What was she to him? They weren't officially together after what happened in the woods but they were definitely something. But what?

"No one from the Olympic Coven has visited us in decades, your Majesty. Is Carlisle's oldest son the one who attacked you?"

Bella felt like pulling her hair out. "Why do you keep calling me that? I'm not royalty or…" she racked her brain for a word. "I'm not anyone special. I'm just Bella and Edward Cullen is my mate. He told me about vampires and your world after he told me I was his true mate, so when he thought I was dead he tried to have himself killed. That's why I'm here. So please, please tell me he's ok. I have to know." She felt her eyes fill with tears but for some reason, they would not spill. She had to keep blinking to clear her vision.

The blond vampire appeared more angered and distraught than before. "We need to speak to the Masters' immediately. I believe this Cullen boy has performed a trick on your mind with that gift of his. He will be found and punished for his crimes. I will lead the way-"

Bella's eyes bulged. "What? No! Edward would never! He would never intentionally hurt me."

The vampire stepped toward her and Bella let out another hiss. "Don't," she bit out, "come near me."

"Trust me, my Queen. I am only trying to help."

"I'm not going anywhere with you unless you're taking me to Edward. I'm not leaving without him."

"Master Aro is your true mate, my Queen. Please have faith in my sincerity." He took another step forward and Bella hunched over, unaware that she took up a defensive position. Her body was reacting in a way she couldn't even begin to understand.

"I don't know who you are or what sick trick you're trying to play on me, but I'm not going to fall for it. I love Edward and I will protect him. No matter what."

The sound of several footsteps could be heard from the direction that the blonde vampire came. Both Bella and the man turned towards the door at the approaching sound. If Bella weren't so focused on the impending doom that awaited her once the group arrived, she would've noticed her heart was silent in reaction.

She swung her head back at the man then to the open doorway that she remembered seeing Edward stand in. She had to find him. She couldn't give up. If anyone was going to help her locate Edward then it was Alice. In order to find and save Edward, she would have to locate Alice.

Bella waited until the vampire's gaze turned away from her before she spun on her heel and sprinted down the hall and outdoor into the town center. It was the middle of the night and dark, but for some reason, Bella was able to see where she was running just fine and able to control her newfound speed. She had an idea of what happened to her and what she'd become but she didn't want to admit it to herself just yet.

She wasn't ready to become a vampire. If Jacob didn't already hate her for leaving him in Forks then he definitely would now. She'd be a monster in his eyes. His worst enemy.

Bella took a heavy breath and forced the sob that wanted to escape back down her throat. She kept running until she was out of the little hilltop town. She stopped for a moment to look at it briefly before taking off again. She needed to get as far away then find a phone to call the Cullens' and tell them what happened. She never felt so lost and scared before. Fearing for her life was one thing, but fearing for the life off someone she loved was another.

It was her turn to save him.