A Second Chance
Disclaimer: I never have and never will own these characters. Maybe I will own my own someday, but never these...
And I got tired of waiting for a response, if I shouldn't have done this, I will remove it, but I want to share my story for now. Thank you.
Review after you read please? I will post new chapters, but it would be nice to know people are reading it, even if I can check the number of hits I get...
First Page Break strike, commence!
Chapter 1: Memories
Bella
Funny, sometimes, how things can turn out … for better or for worse…
Someone once told me they didn't believe they had a chance of going to heaven (or hell) and had given up their soul. I don't remember who said it but I do remember the sorrow I felt at hearing those words.
The Lord told me I would remember in time, and I cling to that hope, and cling to that voice speaking to me from the darkness.
I know how I died – or at least – I think I do. Cliff-diving, they told me, astounded at my lack of memories. Or that's what they thought anyway, no one could be sure how I died if I didn't know it myself. Only somebody traumatised badly would forget almost everything about their life.
Was I traumatised? Well, the memories were returning slowly. With each passing day I remembered a little more of my human life, but there were those which I shied away from – those which caused me pain for reasons unknown, and yet, I wanted to embrace them. I wanted them, but another side of my unconsciousness didn't want to feel such intense pain ever again, even if I couldn't consciously remember it.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and I started.
"Hey, He wants you to go talk to him."
I nodded. Standing up and shaking out the feathers of my half a metre long wings, I walked, as I customarily did instead of flying (everyone though I was weird, maybe I am), approaching slowly. I knelt, gathering my long white garment around me, and waited.
"Bella."
"Yes?" I said, polite as ever, head bowed.
"I'm offering you a chance to regain your memories. You are the most special case we have seen so far, and so new rules apply to your situation."
I raised my eyebrows and muttered, "Well, wonderful to know I'm not only a freak among humans because vampires can't…" I stopped, frowning. What was I talking about again?
There was a pause before He continued, "You will therefore be sent back down to Earth and time will be rewound to around the date of your incident. You'll still be dead, I'm afraid, but no one else will notice, or I should amend, should notice, and you'll have a chance to meet people from your life again."
I smoothed out my frown with a slight effort. "Thank you."
"As a side note, as you should well know, as angels, we are associated with light, so it would be better to avoid natural light, such as that from the sun, or stay away from humans when you are in natural light."
"Otherwise…?" I was intrigued in spite of myself.
"Otherwise the reality of your condition would probably be revealed. Luckily, Forks is the ideal place to be in your condition."
I rolled my eyes at this. 'Condition'? It sounded like I had an illness; I wasn't sick or anything for…
"Thank you, Lord."
"Get ready to leave." There was slight amusement in His voice. "You will descend in a hour. Say goodbye for now."
A hour. I thought as I left His presence. In one hour's time I would see my family again.
In one hour's time –
– I might meet that someone I had forgotten.
---
Jacob
Her head broke the surface and, dragging her towards the shore; I looked down and ordered;
"Breathe!"
Water poured from her mouth, splashing back into the dark water, and I watched her face anxiously. Ugh, I wasn't used to all these long words.
"Breathe, Bella! Cmon!"
She was still. She was so still, even as I dragged her onto the bank and tried to get the water out of her lungs. Was she dead? Was I too late? I pressed down on her chest, using CPR, trying to restart her heart, or at least get her to breathe. Ohh, this was such a lost cause…. I shuddered as I fought to keep my emotions under control. I couldn't explode into a wolf, especially not here, I was sitting too close to her body, the warmth leaving it slowly.
"Jacob!" Sam came up behind me, calm and rational as always, I couldn't help but note.
I took a deep breathe, taking control of myself. What was Bella thinking? (or 'what had she been thinking?', now) Cliff diving – In a storm like this? Madness…
"How long has she been unconscious?" He asked.
"Too long." My voice sounded angry and cold.
There was a silence as he absorbed this and there was a long sigh behind me.
"Get back to the hospital, Sam. I'll join you there later; I don't know what I'm going to tell Charlie."
Sam nodded slowly, and left swiftly back the way he came without another word, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my grievances.
If only I had been a few seconds earlier, I might have been able to grab onto the shreds of her life and drag her back, but now, as I bent my head to her parted lips and then to her chest, I neither heard the whoosh of air (even if it were weak, I'd hear) nor the beating of her heart (I would hear that too).
As I sat back, trying to control the shaking again, suddenly –
– she sat up.
--
"Edward!" Alice muttered as she waited for him to pick up. It was crucial he pick up. Crucial. The stupid masochist, she said it was a bad idea from the very beginning.
"Hello?" Edward's voice was dull – as usual.
Alice sighed. "Edward! I know you forbid me to do it, but – "
Edward's voice was sharp, dull no longer. "What, Alice? Just spit it out."
Alice mused for a fraction of a second. If she went on her instinct, she would have jumped on a plane immediately, but her mind, running and bounding ahead, a million thoughts running through it at once, had thought otherwise. Rosalie now glared at her from across the room. Alice sighed – again.
"I saw her jump off a cliff."
There was a silence on the other end, as if Edward was having a hard time digesting the new information, but she knew his mind would have grasped what she meant the minute she said it.
"And…?" His voice was painfully polite.
"It vanished after that, I don't – "
Alice was cut off by the dial tone, and, taking her phone from her ear, she glared at it and jabbed in the numbers (gracefully as ever even jabbing, by the way). Impatiently, she put it back to her ear.
"Will you wait a second, Edward?" Alice began talking the minute he answered. "Let me finish, get up here and I'll tell you everything." Alice paused and her eyes swum out of focus for a while. "I know what you're planning." She added darkly, as she refocused, and Rosalie's expression shifted as she frowned at Alice from the other side of the room.
Suddenly Alice's eyes widened and she gasped.
"Edward, get here now." She ordered.
--
Bella
As I slipped back into my body, it felt natural, as natural as putting on your favourite clothes, I suppose – although obviously a body isn't the same thing at all. Someone was pressing my chest, hard too. I really had to tell them to stop.
Suddenly it did stop, and the ground seemed to shake slightly. Okay, weird, but what was I going to do about it?
Forgetting where I was and what my body had supposedly just done, I sat up abruptly, eyes snapping open. The freezing rain pelted down on me as my lungs cleared – thanks to my new… well… powers – and I slumped over a bit, drawing air into my lungs again, breathing hard.
"Bella?" He was staring incredulously but with relief.
"Jake." I smiled, turning to face him slowly.
--
Author's Note: Inspired by Slippery Snow. Angel idea adopted from her, however that's where (hopefully) the similarity stops.
Read Slippery Snow's Stor(y)/(ies) – Hush and The Sun and her Moon
Nothing else to comment except that this will be kept in as much canon as possible with New Moon, except for the more noticeable changes to the story
Deviation has been applied and not continuation. The story will join back at some point.
[New: Okay, I do realise other people have Angels too, however, I did borrow the memories idea somewhat too, even though Ive seen other people do that too... so it all comes down the similarity of ideas... nevermind this ramble of mine...