DISCLAIMER

I do not own any characters or universes of the following authors: Stephenie Meyer, Natsuki Takaya, and Warren Ellis.

I do not own or create certain passages and scenarios directly copied from said materials: The Twilight Saga: 1-4, Planetary: vol. 1-4, and Fruits Basket Vol 1-23.

Chapter 1

"Here it is." Bella huffed as she dropped the large, dusty, leather bound Guide in front of him. He winced as dust puffed up in a cloud towards his face.

"Thanks," he coughed. "I think." Jacob coughed more as he opened a window in the tiny living room that was now littered with nautical maps, markers, and other books. "You're sure Atlantis is mentioned in here? Why doesn't he ever just say where something is instead of vague references of whatever?"

"Bad people aren't necessarily stupid people. Bad people do bad things with certain objects, or people. Therefore vague references are all anybody gets." She replied. Bella took off her jacket and sat on the floor and started examining the new markings he'd made on one of the maps. "What've you got?" Jacob muttered something about being a slave and sat next to me.

"I don't know yet if this is an actual location, or what, but I figured we might have to find the entrance a little deeper than we thought, assuming it's in Forks at all." He gestured at a red mark on the map. "I stuck to the cliff walls since we are in fact looking for a some sort of rock wall."

"And hopefully Atlantians don't have a particularly clever streak."

"Exactly." Jacob sighed and ran his hand over his crew cut hair. He looked tired and ten years older than he should. He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. They'd been searching for Atlantis for months. It was all that kept Bella going after Edward left her. And afterwards, when it turned out that he lied to her. It rocked her to the core that he thought that what he did was loving or kind or right.

"How long is he gone for, this time?" Jacob began to play with Bella's hair.

She touched a map of just La Push beach. "A couple of days, I guess. It was just him and his brothers."

"Carlisle didn't go?" his voice was deceptively calm, but he'd stopped playing with her hair.

"No." she said, warily. There was a long pause before any of them said anything. Bella took the Guide and started to flip through it, waiting. She knew what he really wanted to talk about. She knew she did not. And she wasn't going to bring it up. She was going to pretend he fell asleep and continue to look through the maps and books by herself. She'd settled down to do just that when he said: "He asked you to marry him."

It wasn't a question. It wasn't a statement either. He was demanding that she refute what he just said. He almost dared her to.

But she wasn't going to. "Yep." She kept flipping through the Guide.

He stared at her now. she could feel it. "Bella."

"Hmm?" she stopped flipping suddenly and began to study the page she stopped at, almost ignoring Jacob.

"Really."

"Really what?" He was glowering now, his frustration like a wave of heat coming off him. Bella didn't look up. Their conversation didn't matter much anymore.

"Did you say yes?" he asked flatly.

"No." She replied irritably and kept reading.

"You told him no?" Disbelief colored his voice.

"No..." She broke off. Bella squinted at the page as she fumbled for a map. "It's not in La Push," She said, finally, in wonderment.

Jacob sighed and ran his hand across his face. "We stopped talking about this haven't we?"

"About what now?" Bella blinked up, dazed, at Jacob. He stared back at her with bewilderment and rage that would have made anyone more than wary of what came out of their mouth next. Anyone except Bella. "Oh. That." Was all she said before she went to a map of the Washington Coast line.

"Bella-"

Bella cut him off. "I didn't say yes. And I didn't say no. There is nothing to talk about."

"Just like that." he said.

"Just like that." she replied. "Can we go to Atlantis now?"

Jacob stood for a moment, thinking. "Why?"

"You know why."

"No, Bella. I don't. What will this prove?" The question rocked Bella. She hadn't thought of why it was so important. She just needed to do, to search again. She felt good searching for the odd, the out of place things in the world. And what better place to search for than Atlantis. That's what she thought when she pulled out the Guide. It made her feel right. That's what she told herself. That's what held her together.

…

Standing in that forest, with her stomach clenched, wanting to be anywhere, wanting to do anything else than what was happening now was her first and only thought. Edward's eyes were so distant, so cold. He seemed exactly like the vampires her father despised and often killed. Cold, emotionless monsters who escaped the hand of time. Monsters who thought they were above the rules of nature and society.

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He'd said.

"You...don't...want me?" She gasped out after a pause. She remembered his eyes. Those unapologetic eyes. Hatred curled inside her.

"No." He replied to her. There was no feeling or warmth to anything. Not his voice or actions.

"Well, that changes things." She forced her voice to sound as even as his and worked to make sure the hatred, the disgust, and more importantly the dread come to her eyes. She felt trapped, watching him, hearing his excuses.

"You're not good for me, Bella." She opened her mouth, but Bella could only breathe out. There was no rebuttal Bella Swan could give, because Bella Swan was hyper-aware of her short comings. She couldn't refute those words. Bella Swan was weak. She needed him.

"If that's what you want." Bella said finally.

She watched him disappear in the trees. Ran after him even, but she stopped.

She could've caught up with him. It wouldn't have been hard. But she didn't. Why would she? Edward said he didn't love her anymore. Told her she wasn't right for him, that his attention had been drawn elsewhere. He'd even vowed to never come back into her life. Why run after that? Why run to a man who didn't love her anymore? Who wouldn't be there for her no matter how much she begged?

So she laid there in the leaves and dirt and grass. She waited. It turned dark a while later, and she knew Charlie would worry. He would be pacing the kitchen floor, glancing at the clock, his brow knitted. Soon, he would call her phone only to realize it's on the counter. He would stop pacing and waiting after that. He would make calls to the station, to the Reservation.

Sure enough, she heard Sam in wolf form come from behind her and began to sniff at her. There was a soft sigh in the air as he shifted.

"Bella?"

"He's gone." She answered.

"Bella." He sighed and picked her up. He carried her through the forest towards the lights and worried voices of a search party. She was carried in the house by Charlie. There were still more voices. Voices Bella didn't care enough about to listen to. At that moment she didn't care about anything. She felt numb. She saw no reason to be awake, so she went to sleep.

The next morning, Bella woke up. Someone—probably Charlie—had draped a heavy quilt over her. She could smell coffee in the kitchen. Bella kicked off the rest of the quilt and headed in the kitchen. Charlie sat at his usual spot at the small kitchen table, bent over a steaming mug of coffee. Billy sat across from him, with a mug of his own, both sitting in silence. Jacob stood a little ways away, leaning on the counter next to the carafe, his face emotionless, if only for the sole purpose of not showing her his pity as she walked in.

Charlie opened his mouth and then closed it, unsure what to say when he saw Bella. "Made some coffee." He said finally, jerking his head towards Jacob.

Bella nodded. "I see."

Jacob handed her a mug from somewhere behind him. It was warm and smelled of hazelnut and had the right amount of cream and sugar. They all sat like that for a while, with mugs of coffee in their hands, in a heavy silence. Bella set her mug down on the counter and it sounded like a gavel. Suddenly everyone was active. It was like the sound had woken them all up a little more. Jacob moved to sit at the table, leaving Bella the only one standing. She felt nervous as though she were on trial.

"Bells," Charlie began tiredly, "we're sending you back to Arizona. I would've sent you to Jackson with Renee, but we talked and we both know how you like to deal with your grief. Alone. Renee said she had no problem with you staying at the house."

"Who died?" Bella said dryly and reached for the carafe, wishing it was some type of brandy.

"I'm serious Bells. You don't deal well with heart break. We all know that. When your father left-"

"I am not a child." She said it simply, but they all heard the undertones of anger in her voice.

"No one here is saying you are, Bella," Billy interjected, "but we've been charged to care for you. This is the most unintrusive solution we came up with, while still being able to ensure your safety."

"So I've graduated from a microscope to binocular watch? Lovely." Bella snorted.

"Izzy, please." Jacob gazed at her pleadingly. Bella met his gaze, unmoved.

"Why not New York?"

"You know why." Charlie replied. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"I thought I wasn't a child."

Charlie sighed and drew his hand across his face. "Bella-"

"Charlie."

"Charlie," Jacob said, "let her go. I'll go with her. It'll be fine."

Charlie shook his head. "No."

"It's a good idea, Charlie." Billy murmured, "Let the kids go. It'll be easy to explain."

"To who? There's no established family connections. It's the middle of the school year, Billy. No. It's either Jacksonville or Phoenix." Charlie held Bella's hardening gaze. "Pick one."

"Then I'll stay." Bella downed the last of her coffee and slammed the mug down like it really was a glass of whiskey. Close enough, she thought as she stalked away from the men, ignoring Charlie's angry red face. She charged up the stairs and into her room. By the time she'd slammed the door, there was no anger in her. The numbness had entered her body again. She sat down by the desk and simply stared out the window, waiting for something she couldn't name. Maybe she could name it. Maybe it was a feeling. Maybe she was waiting for the crash of emotions to wake her up. Maybe she was waiting for that horrible epiphany to dawn on her that he really was never coming back.

It was silent in the Rabbit. Jacob kept clenching and unclenching his hands on the wheel. Bella stared out of the window and watched raindrops spill down the glass. Suddenly Jacob pulled over and shut off the car. They sat there for a while, Bella still watching raindrops and Jacob glaring out of the windshield. The road seemed to be deserted but it was hard to tell anything the rain was so heavy. The drumming rain made Bella drowsy and chilled to the bone. She didn't say anything though. Her standing wasn't necessarily good with Jake right now, though she longed to just lean on him and feel warmth that you couldn't get anywhere else.

"Come here." He said resignedly. Jacob let go of the steering wheel and looked at her expectantly.

But Bella shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You're cold."

"I'm wearing a jacket. I'm fine."

"It's soaked. That doesn't seem to help in the warming department." Bella finally tore her gaze from the window and looked back at Jacob.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Come here." he said again, gently. This time, Bella leaned in and rested her head between his chest and chin, hugging his torso, and they sat like that together, endlessly staring out of the windshield at the storm raging on.

It reminded her of when she was a little girl, when her father would make her spend time with her aunt Renee and Uncle Charlie, when Renee still lived in Soho. She remembered how she would spend whole weeks in Billy Black's small home in La Push. How she wouldn't go outside when it rained, how Jacob would keep her company on the days when it rained so hard you'd half expect the whole world to flood and Bella's amazement the next day when there were only big puddles of muddy water haphazardly placed on the ground.

Washington and New York were so much different and yet so much the same in that they had a heart beat, yet even that was so different. New York City, there were always sounds of people. Honking car horns, or the deep base of a club or music from a car radio played way too loud. Sounds of people talking, walking, dancing. It never overwhelmed her. It all seemed rhythmic. It all beat. In Forks, rain made up the heart beat. It was just as consistent and just as living. It was one of the very few things she loved about Forks.

She'd told Jacob that once, about the heartbeats, and he laughed. He loved that, he'd said. From then on, whenever it rained so hard and heavy that not even Jacob wanted to risk playing outside, they sat and listened to the heartbeat of La Push.