A.N: This chapter is shorter (sorry) but I'm working on the next one so please don't hate me!!! Ha ha.

Not my characters…. All belong to Stephanie Meyer. Boo hiss boo!

Pain and Hope.

Emmett's POV.

"Perhaps she'll be the only one who can see him?" Carlisle mused as he stepped from one cloud to another, deep in thought over the controversy surrounding Edward. He was the first of our kind to be visible to humans and no one knew why.

"Carlisle my friend." Aro's voice echoed from behind me while I spun the Earth below around, trying to find something that would be able to steal my attention.

"Aro… how is it possible?" Carlisle questioned Aro, hoping that his extra experience with sending angels to Earth and his thousand years of living in heaven more than himself would add some light on the situation.

I turned around quickly to see Aro waving his arms in the air in a flamboyant gesture before I turned back and spun the Earth once more. "I do not know Carlisle. I am as astounded as you are yourself. I expected that the little girl would sense him as she did others… but to see him? Extra ordinary!" He exclaimed as he clapped his hands, no doubt with a gleam in his eyes.

"But what if the other humans see him? See his wings Aro?" Carlisle asked with worry in his voice.

There was silence as Aro thought over Carlisle's words. He valued his thoughts, questions; theory's and took the time to form his own. "It is my belief that humans will see him. They will see Edward, but in a human form, not angelic. His wings will be invisible to them." He paused for a moment before continuing slowly, "If Isabella can sense angels, as no other human on the Earth can, then it is my belief that her added… ability puts her a step above all other humans."

"I understand." Carlisle murmured and stopped pacing. "It holds logic Aro. Thank you for putting my mind somewhat at ease."

I returned my attention to looking down at Earth as Aro and Carlisle walked away together, no doubt talking over some other issue and debating it before reaching a conclusion. I closed my eyes and breathed a ragged breath, hating the hollowness that I felt within. I felt broken and drained and so I did the only thing that made me feel somewhat normal, I spun the Earth and fixed my eyes on Rose. My Rose.

With my eyes trained on her thin form, I watched, seething inside as the human who I knew would become a demon when he passed over pushed her through a doorway to a store.

A store that sold dresses.

Wedding dresses.

I closed my eyes as a stab of pain pierced my heart and I pulled the Earth closer, brushing away puffs of cloud and the roof of the store so that I could see inside, see my Rose. The evil human who had his hand pressed tightly over her upper arm I had learnt was called Royce and held the façade that he was her fiancé. I knew that Rose plainly saw him as her abuser; she held no feelings for him ever since the first time he had hit her. As the weeks went by, she curled into herself and shut the bastard out, managing to infuriate him all the more.

She let him hit her, hurt her. She always managed to shut herself down at the first hint of anger or threat to protect herself, protect her mind. I knew she would never break and react like Royce wanted. She'd worked out what triggered his anger and what gave him pleasure and had managed to gain some control for herself, unknowingly to him.

I was proud of her strength, but pained due to her own pain.

Royce left the store shortly after arriving, having instructed the staff on what type of dress he wanted for his fiancé and whispering a few threats into Rose's ear on his way out which the staff had nearly swooned upon as they thought he was whispering words of love.

A growl rumbled in my chest. I couldn't take this much longer.

"Darling." Esme's voice reached me and I turned to see her standing beside me, concern in her beautiful golden eyes as she looked at me. She knew how much I hurt. She'd watched me over last few weeks, more keenly than anyone else and she knew that I was near to breaking point, as was Rose.

"Emmett. Something needs to be done; you can't go on this way." She whispered as she sat next to me, picking up my hand and encasing it in both of hers as well as wrapping her wing around my shoulders, pulling me into her supportive side.

My head fell to her shoulder and I let her give me some of her strength as I watched Rose being guided into different dresses by the staff, stone faced and empty eyed. She looked as though she was on the brink of death; the only thing keeping her alive was her strong, determined mind.

"I can't do anything Esme." I wept. "I've only been up here thirty three years. You know I'm not old enough to go to Earth yet. I can't save her." I added, tears blurring my vision of Rose.

"I know you can't." Esme spoke against my temple and pressed a kiss to my head. "But Aro could help sweetie." She added, squeezing me closer once more. "Aro has the power to save her for you. To bring her to you." Her hands ran over my own hand soothingly as she spoke, sparking some hope in me.

"But she has to be on her way to the other side before she can come here." I said, stating the fact that Esme knew well enough. To become an angel, you had to be picked for your good deeds on Earth, deeds that added up over many lifetimes. I myself had managed to get into heaven as an angel after saving a small boy from a bear's attack and killing myself in the process on my seventh life on Earth. Aro had seen my deed worthy enough to gain myself a set of wings and had bought me here and explained it all to me, as he did with each new angel.

"Emmett, you can see how weak she is. Do you really think she's going to last much longer?" Esme asked, pain filling her voice as she looked away from Rose, from the bruises on her weak body. "She won't be able to take much more Emmett, no one could."

I nodded my head in understanding, my throat seized up as I tried to control my pain and tears. The last time Royce had beat her, I thought she had died. She'd lost so much blood. But the faithful housekeeper had risked her job and quite possibly her own life in saving Rose. I wasn't so sure that she'd make it next time.

"You think Aro would do it for her?" I asked as I watched Rose sitting down on the floor of the dressing room, the clothes that she'd walked in with hanging from her. She wasn't the same Rose I'd spotted months ago. She used to have blond hair that gleamed even in the darkness. Her body used to have almost exaggerated curves and her confidence was as large as heaven itself. But now she was only a shadow of who she once was. Thin, plain and shy.

"I think Aro would do it for you." Esme stated as she pressed another kiss to my head before folding her wing back and squeezing my hand with both of hers once more. "You know how much he values you as well as Edward. You know also how much Carlisle means to Aro. You could speak to him first before going to Aro." She stood up, all elegance and grace as she smiled down at me, her heart in her eyes. "Just make sure you do something before it's too late darling, you'll only hate yourself if you loose her." She turned and glided away in the direction Carlisle and Aro had taken.

…..

Aro's POV.

I stood unmoving, waiting for her to come to me, knowing it was only a matter of time before she pleaded with me over her 'son.' I knew what needed to be done, Esme didn't need to speak a word, I was already decided in what I was going to do, but I'd hear her speak her piece. Let her think that her words would saved her son's life as she thought she'd managed to save her Carlisle's.

The human's life, Rosalie Hale, was coming to an end and so then too was Emmett's. He couldn't live without her, his body was already showing the signs; his feathers were already falling out, more and more with each day as well as looking gaunt and empty. I'd managed to hide his physical deterioration from everyone, but I saw the true Emmett each day.

I knew that Esme could tell what was happening; she'd been through it herself seven hundred and forty six years ago when Carlisle was still human. He was working himself to death while trying to save the other humans on Earth. She'd been in the same state as Emmett was in now when she'd come pleading to me.

The simple fact was that an angel couldn't live without it's other half once they'd seen them. It was like love at first sight, but this was so much more. If they couldn't be together, then they would literally be unable to live without one another.

I turned at the sound of the cloud's whisper and saw Esme coming toward me, the same look of dread in her eyes as there was seven hundred and forty six years ago. This was as hard for her now as it was back then.

"May I speak with you Aro?" Esme's always gentle and calm voice came out in a broken whisper as she neared me, "You know why I'm here and what I have to say." she stated, more composed this time than she was the last.

"Yes dear Esme, I know why you have come to me, it's about your beloved Emmett is it not?" I asked while directing her over to a bench nearby.

She sat down and folded her hands in her lap as I sat beside her, looking out over the deep blue sea I could see through a gap in the puffs of clouds before us both.

"He needs her Aro." Esme stated simply as she smoothed out the fabric of her dress, trying to keep her hands busy.

"I know Esme." I spoke softly, pausing a moment before adding, "You know I can't rush these things. Her time will be up when it is up. I can't hurry the process." I wondered what she would say next. She knew that by sending one of us angels to the human, it would only give her strength.

"Aro. Can't you talk to James?" She asked, shocking me slightly. I hadn't thought of going to James. It made complete sense but I never thought Esme would want to end a life prematurely. I had merely thought of going to Rose as soon as she'd passed and guide her to Emmett encase she ended up under Marcus or Caius.

"You wish for me to send James after the girl? To end her life?" I asked, wanting to make sure I understood my dear sweet, caring Esme who proposed a form of murder.

She took a deep breath to steal herself before turning and looking me straight in the eyes, "You must be able to see him Aro. I know you're hiding him from us all. He's as bad as I was when all this was happening between myself and Carlisle. I wont have him go through it a moment longer than can be spared." Crystal like tears appeared in her golden eyes before falling down her cheeks, her sorrow marring her beauty.

"I'll talk to James." I said as I stood, unable to say no to Esme.

I would ask James to end the human's misery peacefully instead of brutally as I knew it would end if we didn't interfere. She would transform into a different person up here with care from Emmett and Esme alone.

"Esme," I asked before leaving, hoping to give her a little gift before I went in search of James, "would you like to be there to collect her along with myself when it's time?"

A broken smile appeared on her face as she nodded, "Please." she answered, wiping the tears away from her face.

I gave a nod to her before turning, making my way to the edge of the gray cloud ahead, readying myself to the journey I'd have to take to visit James. I huffed before jumping over the edge… couldn't he have some kind of air conditioning system in hell?

A.N: Like I said… shorter… but it's more of a filler.

Work is stupidly busy atm - stupid christmas parties.... bear with me readers!!

Reviews make me write faster! :]