Author's Notes: Sorry everyone, it's been like a week but here's the third chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Big thanks to JenJenSon for all of her help and support as always, she's brilliant! I know parts probably seem rushed but I only ever wanted this to be a short story so without further delay I give you part 3!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the characters, I make not money from this story it is purely for fun and fan purposes.
Mistake of Fate
Chapter Three
"Isabella?"
I snuggled Carlisle's chest before realising that I had done it and should be embarrassed, so reluctantly I woke myself up and stared up at him.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked. Allowing him to lower me to my feet, he was careful to keep a loose hold on my arms until he was sure I was steady. I wasn't, so he ushered me to sit down on a thick patch of grass.
"I had not actually said anything yet, I was simply trying to rouse you so that I could." He replied, sitting next to me. "Now that you are I shall continue, I would like to stop in the next town. The weather will prove to be a problem if the sun gets much higher so I think it best to stop now. It will allow us a chance to bathe and you a chance to rest properly until nightfall."
"Alright, that sounds very nice." I smiled, at the thought of a nice hot shower. Shame it wouldn't be a nice hot shower but instead a lukewarm tub of water, still it was a pleasant thought.
"I was also wondering if you wanted to take the opportunity to join in the local festivities, the local inns and taverns often have social events, such as dances; it would be a perfect opportunity to see if your skills are sufficient to attend Volterra." He continued.
"Oh, no that really, really is a bad idea." I said, shaking my head firmly. "I would look ridiculous, the opposite of a lady! My dancing is firstly very different from what you would consider dancing and secondly I am terrible at it."
"I am confident that you can learn, surely you cannot be as bad as you claim." He smiled. Famous last words.
I was as bad as I claimed. In fact maybe worse! Before we left the room that evening to take part in the festivities a few doors down Carlisle decided to quickly test my dancing skills. He was completely baffled!
"Bella, just follow my lead." He encouraged, taking my hands and leading me backwards and forwards. The problem was that I just clumsily shuffled my feet round in the vague direction he was going because I hadn't the slightest clue! "Very well, I will concede that we may need more practise than I first anticipated; however I remain positive that it will not take long to teach you."
It should have been strange holding Carlisle's hands, letting him lead me around the small room in an attempt to teach me to dance...but it wasn't, not at all. I felt comfortable; it was fun. Finally I began to get the hang of the dance, not enough to pass it of particularly gracefully though.
"I really cannot believe I've not fallen over yet." I grinned up at him.
"See you can be very graceful when you try." He replied.
"I hardly think we can start labelling me as graceful just yet." I laughed.
"Believe me, it is easier to learn to dance with the music. You will see." He smiled back. My breath suddenly caught in my thought as I realised how close we stood. We had been travelling only two days since getting off of the boat at the coast and I had spent a great deal of it asleep or reading in Carlisle's arms as he ran. Considering how used to being close to him I was this was a strange new affect. I was attracted to him, more than just a little...I just hoped that he would misunderstand my racing heart, assume it to be nerves about dancing or going to Volterra.
He was right though; it was easier to dance with the music. We did however sit out a great deal of dances that involved moving around the room and swapping partners, mainly due to the fact that there was no way I would know how.
There was one moment during the night that we had gotten so close that I almost thought he was going to kiss me and was more disappointed than I should have been when he didn't. Of course that was also ridiculous because in his eyes it was hardly appropriate to be seen kissing a woman in public, particularly when she's not your wife...even though as far as everyone was concerned I was his wife. The realisation was there though; that I now saw Carlisle differently, even if I did find a way home, which I still hoped to do...,I would forever think of him the way I do now.
I knew him so much better now, hearing his past from his own lips, spending the past few days with him as my only real company; I knew both sides of him. I knew the controlled, compassionate, family man that was Carlisle Cullen in two hundred years time and I knew the slightly younger, freer but none the less compassionate Carlisle Cullen of the eighteen hundreds.
At the end of the evening we retired as usual, we talked until I fell asleep and he was gone again in the morning.
Two more nights passed with Carlisle travelling at night before he told me we would be arriving in Volterra.
"There is very little distance to cover, as soon as dusk comes we shall cover the remaining distance." He told me.
"Alright, good." I nodded; then bit my lip nervously. "They're going to eat me aren't they?"
"I assure you Bella, I will not let that happen." He said, sitting next to me. "I am certain that Aro will be fascinated by your circumstances which will work in your favour."
"Let's hope so." I said, putting on my brave face. I took a deep breath in and another out before leaning against his side and closing my eyes for a moment. "It's so warm, how do people wear all of these clothes?" He just chuckled in response but said nothing. "Do you need to hunt? This isn't uncomfortable for you is it?"
"No, in fact I barely notice." He replied, "That is in large part thanks to you Bella. You are the first human to be so completely comfortable around me that I have been able to practise my control. I have discovered the strength of my control is far greater than I first thought. I am very grateful to you Bella."
"I am glad that my asking your help to travel across several countries to reach vampire royalty has had some usefulness to you, at least I can feel ever so slightly less guilty thanks to that." I grinned.
I spent the day reading for the most part and resting, Carlisle did have a hunt but he was fast because he told me it was not safe to leave me alone so close to the city. As the afternoon grew later we headed into the small town outside the city where Carlisle insisted we both find suitable clothing to be presented to the Volturi and then a carriage to take us to the city gates. It was not until I saw the looming city gates ahead that reality set in and I began to panic.
These vampires ate humans, killed humans; and I was walking right into their home. I really was a danger magnet. Carlisle took my hand and didn't let go. He kept a reassuring hold on me as the carriage drew to a halt and we climbed out.
Once granted entrance to the city I was momentarily dazed by the beauty of it, it didn't escape my sense of humour that even the city had its own lures that made it appealing to human eyes.
I barely remember anything between stepping out of the carriage until the moment I walked into the large room with thrones in. The city had dazzled me that was for certain, I would never know what streets I had taken to get here, just that I had. The building itself was incredible, the "throne room" was breathtaking, the ceilings reached up far above our heads; the artwork of the building itself was just something else.
"So...she really did say Carlisle had returned with a human..." a tall man with long dark hair smiled as we entered the room.
"It is a pleasure to be here again." Carlisle announced smoothly.
"It is a pleasure to see you again, and so soon." The vampire Carlisle had gestured to by name of Aro replied.
"And with a human..." another of the vampires added, this one had white blonde hair. I watched as the remaining vampire of the three reached out his hand and placed it in Aro's for a moment before seeing Aro's smile grow. I suddenly felt like this smile was not a good thing.
"My friend, you must introduce us."
"Of course, this is Isabella Swan, Bella may I introduce to you some friends of mine; Aro, Marcus and Caius." Carlisle smiled warmly, reaching out to take Aro's expectant hand. There was silence for a moment and I remembered what Carlisle had told me about Aro being able to read minds when he touched them. I wondered what the reaction would be to Carlisle's thoughts...
"Is that so..." Aro said thoughtfully sometime later. "Well, if my good friend Carlisle believes you so completely then I must indulge you. Come, Isabella." He offered his hand and I hesitated. "Come my dear I do not bite." He chuckled at his own joke, no one else did. I placed my hand in his and his smile dropped. I could read the shock on his face and for a vampire that was rare.
"We were hoping that with all of your knowledge you may be able to help Bella." Carlisle said, sensing the tension. Aro's face suddenly broke into a wonderful smile.
"I may be able to if I were able to read her, but it would appear that I cannot." He said. "I wonder if that is due to the fact she is not supposed to be here or because she perhaps has an extraordinary gift of her own."
"I think I'm just weird." I said wryly, then realised that it would not be smart to act like a smart ass in the presence of three very dangerous vampires and the others that I had seen standing around the room as we walked in that I couldn't see from where I now stood. "Ed-...Um that is another vampire in the future he cannot read my mind either. He told me that he could hear the thoughts of everyone around him but I was silent."
"Another mind reader? How marvellous!" Aro exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "You must introduce us!"
"Sorry, I do not meet him for nearly two hundred years, however he is over a hundred by the time I meet him so it is quite possible that you will meet him first." I replied. "I was born in nineteen eighty seven."
"How truly remarkable!" he said excitedly. "I have heard of this sort of thing happening before but I am afraid I know very little on the subject."
"So this has happened before? People going back in time?" I asked him.
"I believe so. I will have to call on a friend; she knows infinitely more about these unusual things than I do." He replied. He snapped his fingers and a young man from the back of the room came to him. Aro spoke to him but it was too quiet for me to hear before turning back to me. "I must say, being immune to a vampire's gift is very impressive. Perhaps...I wonder if you are immune to any other of our gifts."
Before I knew what was happening I was staring at Carlisle's back.
"I do not think it is necessary to find out." Carlisle told him.
"My, my...it would seem that my good friend is quite taken with you my dear, very protective of you is he not?" Aro smiled.
"Are you done playing now Aro? The girl knows too much regardless of where or when she is from, the rules stand." Caius called.
"Not yet brother." Aro replied. "I wish her to speak with Tawaret, she what she makes of this...ah right on cue."
"Aro, a pleasure as always." A copper skinned woman called, her hair was dark and fell from her bun in places framing her face, she was beautiful. Her tanned skin looked slightly out of place in her pale blue regal dress. She clasped Aro's hands with her own, not one bit of hesitation at him seeing her thoughts. "You have guests, please introduce us."
"Tawaret my dear, may I have the pleasure of introducing Carlisle Cullen, he is the friend I told you about; the animal drinker." Aro smiled gesturing to Carlisle, the woman seemed fascinated. "And this is a friend of his, Isabella. She has come here for our help."
"A human? Asking for our help?" the woman scoffed. "If she wants to be turned that badly I say just get it over with Aro."
"No, no my dear. You should really speak with her. You see my new friend Bella here is from the future." He told her.
"I see." She replied, studying me more closely. She dropped Aro's hands to come closer to Carlisle and I. I stepped closer to Carlisle unconsciously. "Do not be afraid of me, no one will harm you without Aro's word." I sighed to myself, because obviously that was comforting...or not...
"Aro said you know something of the subject." Carlisle said, breaking the silence.
"Correct." She nodded. "If your human here is in fact from the future she is here for a reason. Time travel will only happen to correct a mistake of fate."
"A mistake?" I spoke up. "What like...I'm not supposed to be born or something?"
"No, or it would not be you sent here." She replied. "I cannot tell exactly, that is up to you to discover. We all have a course set out for us by fate, but we can forge our own destinies to a degree. If something happens that throws the path our fate off course beyond repair you get all sorts of strange and unexplainable side effects; one of which is time travel, going back to correct the mistake."
"So to go home, I have to correct the mistake?" I asked.
"Precisely, it really is that simple. Once the mistake is corrected you will disappear, go back to whenever you came from." She replied. "I have only met two others like you before."
"How do I find out what the mistake is?" I asked.
"I cannot help you with that I am afraid. Fate usually has a way of correcting things itself, try not to fight it." She replied. "A word of warning though; if you cannot get home it would be wise to never return to the location you came from. Never meet the other version of yourself, if you do you could disappear altogether, permanently."
I watched as she seemingly dismissed us and moved back to Aro, once again he spoke so quietly I could not hear what was being said.
"You heard what Tawaret had to say, having two Bella's could prove disastrous." Carlisle said, causing me to jump. He turned to me somewhat apologetically. "My apologies, they were discussing your gift, they think you would make a very useful immortal."
"Gift?" I blinked.
"It would appear that you are a shield. You are protected from many vampires gifts, if you were changed, your gift could evolve into something you could control, allow people in and out of your head when you choose to, perhaps even protect those around you as well." He explained. "It is a very useful gift."
"As my brother pointed out Carlisle, you know the law. There are only two choices." Aro said, addressing us again.
"She does not belong here." Carlisle said lowly.
"Very well, temporarily you are free to go. If Isabella returns to the time she came from then we will not have forgotten, we will take care of it then. If she does not return...then I am afraid you will have to make a choice or we will choose for you on our terms." He said. "Go."
"Aro what are you doing?" Caius demanded.
"We are not going anywhere my dear brother; we have all the time in the world to do something later, no need to rush." Aro smiled. "Goodbye my friends." Carlisle murmured his goodbyes and bowed his head before tugging me from the room. He was moving fast, I stumbled a few times trying to keep up with him. We were leaving the Volturi and not an awful lot wiser than when we came. In fact the whole event seemed surreal, it was brief and rushed...not that I minded being away from their startling red eyes.
I doubted I would be going home.
Carlisle found us an inn outside the city, as before I was not referred to as Bella Swan but instead Isabella Cullen, his wife. I still blushed every time he said it. I am certain he noticed but didn't say anything. It was as Carlisle pointed out a waste to get separate rooms when he didn't require a bed. I glanced at the ring on my finger again; I felt my heart flutter seeing it there. I knew it was only for appearances but for the time being I didn't care. I just felt special.
"You should get some rest." Carlisle's voice startled me, breaking me from my line of thought.
"I do not think I would be able to rest." I replied quietly, staring down at my hand that he had taken in his. "What will I do?"
"We will think of something." He replied, squeezing my hand reassuringly.
"I do not expect you to help me Carlisle; you have done so much already." I whispered, he could be punished for me knowing everything that I knew whether he was the fault of it or not, he had allowed me to remain human after obtaining such knowledge. The Volturi did not seem very forgiving.
"Bella, you are the first companion I have truly had for a very long time. I would not leave you alone to face the Volturi if you cannot go home." He replied. "If you cannot go home you will only have two choices, if a human knows of our existence they are turned or the punishment is death, though having heard of your gift it is unlikely that they would waste such a thing by killing you. They would almost certainly turn you, condemn you to this life whether you wished it or not."
"And if I do return to my time they could still do that same thing." I sighed.
"You must go home Bella, if you do not then there is a chance that even if you become one of us you would simply vanish as if you never existed and that I could not bare." He murmured, stroking my hair.
"What if I don't want to go?" I asked quietly. I had thought about it and there was no winning solution here and I may have already changed the future beyond repair. Could I say goodbye to Carlisle knowing that in the future he could never and would never belong to me? Could I risk the family I had loved so much in the future never existing by staying? Risk changing everyone else's happy lives in the future just because I didn't like mine?
"Bella you should rest, at the very least you could lie down." He told me. I conceded and got on the bed; he moved the chair next to the bed and sat down.
"I mean it." I whispered. "In the future I was so miserable Carlisle, at least here I have you...in the future we were friends but...we were not as close as we are now."
"I cannot believe that I would ever not want to be close to you Bella." He murmured, taking my hand as I rolled onto my side to face him. "If you do return to your home then I am certain we will meet again."
"But it won't be the same." I said, my voice croaked and I quickly wiped my tears away. "You have a whole family around you in future Carlisle; I may have already risked your future by being here, by telling you that...I cannot...we-..."
Carlisle reached forward to stroke away my tears.
"I promise you Bella, we will find a way to send you home and I will see you again." He whispered leaning in close to me. "I would wait forever to see you again."
"I...Carlisle, I love you." I sobbed, there I had said it. I had probably ruined the entire of his and my future but it just slipped out and I couldn't take it back.
"As I love you, which is why I cannot bear to lose you. We must find a way to send you home and I will find you in your time." He told me firmly. "What was the exact date that you were sent back?"
"February second, two thousand and five." I replied.
"It is still strange to hear..." he murmured. "You have been here for ten weeks so far correct? Then when you return I will work out the date that I can find you and go to this Washington. I give you my word."
"You may change your mind, that is a long time to wait. I would understand if you did." I told him.
"Never." He whispered kissing my forehead.
"Kiss me." I asked; he immediately looked uncertain. I knew his control was not the issue, it was not exactly proper in this era for a lady to ask to be kissed from a man who is not her husband nor her betrothed but I hoped he would anyway. "If you have to wait two hundred years, you deserve something to remember."
"It is a long time to wait but I am hardly growing any older am I? I only wish things could have been different, that this was easier for both of us." He said, pressing his cold lips gently against mine. I wasn't going anywhere, I didn't want to. I wanted to stay here, with this Carlisle and be his. How could I go home and risk him forgetting about me, falling in love with someone else. He was destined to be Esme's and I loved Esme like a mother. I felt so guilty. Then something struck me...
Carlisle's words replayed in my head, they sounded familiar.
'Bella,
Always know that a part of you will be with our family forever. I only wish things could have turned out differently. Please be happy.'
I snapped my eyes open as soon as I felt him pull away but he was gone. I looked frantically around me; nothing had changed. I was in my bed...in my room in Forks. I looked at the book next to me, "Confessions of an Austen Addict" about a girl who fell asleep reading a Jane Austen book and woke up in Jane Austen's time. It was a dream. I had been in eighteen thirteen, Jane Austen's time...and Carlisle being there? Well he was alive then after all...and I had been thinking of him when I fell asleep. I climbed out of my bed and searched around for the note, I found nothing. It wasn't there. Had I imagined that too?
I reached for my mobile on the bedside table; it was February third. I couldn't explain though that I felt crushed, heartbroken...I could still picture Carlisle's face. I could picture everything we did and talked about. Maybe I should be a writer; my imagination was clearly suited to it.
"Bella, you're going to be late for school!" I heard Charlie shout.
I heard the front door close and glanced out of my bedroom window; Charlie was climbing into his cruiser. I sighed and headed downstairs to get some breakfast, I was starving for the first time since the Cullens had left. I ate a bowl of cereal before looking outside. What the hell? I may as well go to school right? I may be crazy but...aw well.
I got myself washed and dressed and headed to school. My friends greeted me happily and the day was normal. I guess life carries on...even when you don't feel ready for it to do so...
Carlisle glanced around the room in surprise, one minute he had been kissing his Bella but the moment he pulled away she was gone. He hoped that she was safely back in her own world, although how was a mystery. A small pang of sadness filled him as he clutched the sheet on the empty bed, as if to prove she was not there.
It was not until the next morning when gathering their things that he suddenly realised how Bella had simply vanished. He had been aware that leaving without his "wife" the next morning would be unusual so he would have to sneak out before anyone else woke. As he checked for any sign that he was in fact mad and had imagined the whole thing, he found that Bella's things were still in the case, he had not imagined it. Then he found something that explained everything.
A small note; in his own handwriting. It was a note to Bella; one he had no recollection of writing. As he read it he could finally realise why Bella was here, why she was now gone.