Title: Remembrance
Author: marjorie16 (livejournal username)
Fandom: Twilight
Summary: If there were such things as soul mates, then there are such things as past lives. And when Edward Masen became a vampire, his immortal soul became one with his body. But what of his soul mate? While he lives forever, her soul wonders from body to body, bound by the ties of mortality, always searching and never finding. Alone every single lifetime. After 108 years of solitude, he meets those brilliant chocolate-brown eyes for the first time -- again. Finally.

BOOK ONE: BELLA

CHAPTER 3 – Ysabel

"You're the only one I wish I could forget
The only one I'd love to not forgive
And though you break my heart, you're the only one
And though there are times when I hate you
Cause I can't erase
The times that you hurt me and put tears on my face
And even now while I hate you it pains me to say
I know I'll be there at the end of the day"

~Beyonce~

July 17, 1263 Bedfordshire, England

"Ysabel! Ysabel! Help! Someone, please! Help!"

I was drowning. I couldn't place myself for a few seconds. Drowning was a new concept to me. The air was supposed to escape my lungs, and my hands should be spiraling upward, searching for any sort of assistance. But I felt nothing … sort of.

I was aware that I was drowning but I didn't feel anything. I could still breathe properly, and strange as it seems, I wasn't sinking. I felt kind of displaced, actually, especially when, not three feet from me I saw a version of myself. She was the one drowning. She was the one frantically moving her arms, desperate for air. And then I saw that the vivacity of her arms were weakening, her eyes were slowly closing, becoming empty, drifting to unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, I was lost in this overwhelming moment of seeing myself. She was wearing a silky navy blue dress which were liked with white ribbons. And her hair was astonishingly long, up to her waist, I think. It was a rich color of chocolate. The sun's rays reflecting through the blue water shone on her pale heart-shaped face. She looked different, but also familiar. She was me. And she was drowning. She was dying. I tried to move towards her so I could pull her up. The man above kept screaming her name, but surprisingly, irritatingly, he didn't help.

How strange it was! I'm moving towards her without swimming. My arms set course to her, Ysabel, but the water surrounding me didn't move. They didn't propel me anywhere, but I moved. It's like being back in time without being present at all.

And then, suddenly, a new set of arms came rushing through the surface of the water.

His right arm went immediately around her waist, while the other kept them both from sinking. He wasn't bulky at all even though he seemed so strong. I didn't see his face, just his dark brown hair that had a reddish tone to it. Almost like bronze.

He was pulling her upward, saving her, saving us, really, because to my surprise, I was up there too. On land.

It was a breath-taking sight. The trees were about fifteen feet tall. They surrounded a lake which, I presume, was where Ysabel drowned. The lake stretched far into the forest. Yes, it was a forest. Everything felt so real. I could clearly hear the chirping of the birds and the sound of the trees swaying to the whoosh of the wind.

My eyes then focused on the scene in front of me. There I was -she was- lying on the green grass, the man who saved her was breathing air into her lungs. He looked like a warrior or a soldier. His black tunic was lined with amber threads. Beside him hovered a blonde beauty. Her face was so light, so beautiful; she looked like an angel or a goddess, or maybe Aphrodite in the flesh.

Behind her were a bunch of men with their horses, all wearing the colors of black and amber. The insignia in their flags featured a ferocious lion with two swords forming and ex in the lower center.

And then, a small figure quickly crawled to the scene as well. He was a dark-haired boy wearing a blue shade of tunic, almost like the one Ysabel wore, only on her it looked more graceful. Unlike the others, this boy didn't look like a nobleman. The fabric of his clothes looked inferior.

"Ysabel! Ysabel!" he kept calling, but the man breathing air to Ysabel's mouth didn't pay any heed to him, nor did he to me, come to think of it. I was an invisible stranger here. And so I moved closer as I pleased.

A gush of water escaped Ysabel's lungs and showered it over her savior's face. She coughed it out so rudely, I felt a little ashamed for her -- for me. And then she was gasping for air, at last turning her body over to relieve more of the water from her lungs.

And then, I saw him. We, both Ysabel and I, saw his face for the first time. The first thing I noticed was the unusual shade of green that colored his eyes. They were like emeralds that held all the secrets of the world, and at the same time it looked harsh, unruly. But now, a glint of humor filled his eyes. A crooked smile appeared.

I looked at Ysabel and again I felt like a stupid person. She was gaping at him like a girl seeing gold for the first time. He honestly wasn't that handsome, but he was no less interesting. Still, it was embarrassing to have her face read like an open book for everyone to see. He chuckled softly.

"Did I dazzle you, peasant?" he said.

Beside him, the boy wearing a blue tunic stirred. Ysabel was shot back to awareness and righted her skirts. She looked at the boy -- a secret language passing through them at one glance -- and then back again to her savior.

"Speak," he ordered her.

If there was anything that irritated Ysabel, it must be being ordered about. Because at that moment, I felt a wave of irritation wash through me. It was overwhelming. Just a minute ago I felt warm and cozy, even feeling safe. Now, it was like a brick wall was suddenly built. I could feel her choosing her words, something was being kept a secret and she wanted it to stay that way.

Swiftly changing gears. She smiled widely. "How improper, my lord, for you to ask me that" -call me that, she thought inwardly - "but a woman's opinions must be her own."

He laughed at her boldness. "Very well. Keep your womanly opinions to yourself, then." Another wave of emotions startled me. This time it was regret. Why, oh why would Ysabel feel regret? He stood up lithely, and helped her up as well. "You best not drown in that freezing water again until we're out of sight. I should like very much not to get wet again."

"I did not ask for your assistance," she muttered.

"What was that?" he asked, scratching something in his head.

"Nothing, my lord," she answered. "Do not trouble yourself, then. I honestly do not like neither the cold nor the wet."

"Edward, what is wrong with your head?" the blonde girl asked him, her face was full of concern. Probably his wife or girlfriend, perhaps. The thought stung us both, Ysabel and I. Why was that?

"The lady has quite a grip, it seems. But it's not so bad, Rosaline."

"Forgive me, my lord, I did not mean to injure you," Ysabel said, without concern. It almost sounded like sarcasm. Sounds familiar, I thought.

"I appreciate that," he answered. His servant was handing him a towel of a sort. He dried his hair with it, and for some reason, I could just stare at him. He looked like a man, but he spoke as a boy or thought as a boy. There was an air of arrogance to him that seemed to pull people to him, including me. Surprisingly, me. And he was smiling at Ysabel.

Ysabel had her back turned now. She didn't see that he was looking at her. She went slowly to the boy who wore the blue tunic. "Jake, we need to move. Now."

"But my lady," he whispered, "you almost drowned today. We must head back to the Keep, you father will be waiting."

"I do not want to go back there, Jake. At least not for now."

Their conversation didn't make sense to me. I looked back and saw Edward moving toward them. Ysabel didn't see him, but I guess she was aware of him because she suddenly straightened her back and faced him.

Without preamble, Edward put a big warm cloak around her shoulders, turned around and headed for his white stallion.

I was shocked. Ysabel was definitely shocked. It must be him. He must be the man of my dream … literally. "Follow him," I said to Ysabel, but she couldn't hear me. I thought she did for a second because her face showed a trace of the desperation I was feeling. I had to find him, and here he was. She might have felt that too. But she heaved a deep sigh and whispered instead, a thank you. The wistful feeling in her face wasn't unmissed.

Jake grabbed her arm and said to her, "That's Edward the Lion of Ardmore. He's a fierce warrior from the North. We shouldn't get in his way. We shouldn't have anything to do with him."

I could tell that Ysabel trusted Jake because she nodded, however reluctantly. "Where will we go?"

"Back to the Keep."

"I already told you that I do not want to go back."

"Excuse me," a female voice said. The blonde girl was talking to them - to us. Her sweet voice was enchanting, and the color of her hair was as alive as the sun's rays. "A lady mustn't walk in the forest, especially in this time of day. It's twilight. Sir Edward disagrees, but I have room in my carriage. You may ride with me."

"Oh, thank you for offering but, Jake and I have to go somewhere at this time of day. We know the path home very well."

"And where would that home be, my lady?" Edward was suddenly there too. He was up on his brilliant horse. Probably trying to either scare or intimidate Ysabel, because it certainly scared me.

"Just… there." She pointed randomly at the east. "It's not that far, and like I said, we know the terrain here quite well."

"Perhaps, you can help us, then," he said. "My men and I are searching for a place that seems to elude us."

"You mean you're lost?"

"No, I'm … I mean, we're not lost. It is merely that my men and I have not yet found where we must go, and we are running a little late."

"Then you are lost," Ysabel pointed out.

"Being lost would mean that we do not know where we are going. Searching for something we haven't found is a different matter altogether, Ysabel."

She was going to say something about that when she noticed that he knew her name. "You know my name, sir?"

"I couldn't not know it. That boy with you," he angled his chin to Jake "kept barking it to me since I took you out of the lake, and even before, actually. That's how we found you. So how about it, Ysabel, how about you repay your debt to me by escorting us to wherever I wish to go."

"Debt?"

"I saved your life; you owe me something."

That is true, I thought. "Say yes, Ysabel!" I shouted at her. "Say yes!"

She hesitated a second longer before Jake stepped in and said, "We are more than glad to be of assistance."

At that time, Ysabel was holding Jake's arm, and I could see her grip tightening around him. He winced.

"Very well, then," Rosaline said, then she turned her back and went to the carriage door that opened for her.

"Excellent," Edward said, smiling at himself. "Harold, bring that boy a horse. The lady rides with him."

When they got on their horses, and galloped beside Sir Edward, Ysabel asked the most obvious question. "Where to, my lord?"

"Rivenhall Keep"

I could clearly see Ysabel as her mouth opened wide in shock, and Jake's happy grin. He said, just like Edward's tone, "Excellent. To the west, my lord."

And then, a problematic thing occurred to me. What am I supposed to do now? Ride a horse? Walk as they ride the horses? Romance novels featuring time travel of any sort don't answer this at all.

Something tapped my shoulder. "Shh.. I'm thinking."

Realization shot through me. I shouted.

"Stop shouting, silly!" Ysabel said to me. Not the Ysabel riding the horses, but another Ysabel. I looked around and found that the others couldn't see her too.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I'm here with you, Bella. I'm you and you're me. This is all happening in real-time. If you continue on your own, you'll stay here until I die in this lifetime. Which is forty years from now. Alright?"

"O-okay." What choice did I have then? "So… what? You're going to narrate or something?"

"Well, more like a show and tell thing."

"You sound like me, like you're from my time."

"Like I said, I'm you." My surroundings changed into a white blur suddenly. The blurring texture circled us until it faded into a different setting. It was in a court. Long tables with loads and loads of food were spread in around the place. We were in a party of a sort. The ladies were wearing dresses like that in the Disney movies: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella. I was busy marveling at the sheer surreal atmosphere of everything. The music was melodic, troubadours were performing in front of a throne, probably a king or a liege lord and his wife and daughter. I suddenly felt thankful to Mrs. Curry, my history teacher.

"This isn't real. This kind of stuff just doesn't exist."

"Nothing is impossible in this world. You'd be surprised." Ysabel looked at me and smiled. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. We only have until midnight to maintain the connection."

"What do you mean?"

"It's Halloween, right?" I nodded. "Intense paranormal activity happens on that day —today. Only today."

"How do you know that?"

"We've done this before already. We've tried before, and failed, obviously. You have to relive this again. We only have one last shot."

As I was about to ask her what she meant, I noticed the crowd as the music silenced. Three loud sounds echoed in the room. An announcement, perhaps. And then the doors opened, Edward came through the door.

"There he is," Ysabel said. "That's him."

"Sir Edward?"

"Yes." She smiled. "That's my father, the lord of Rivenhall Keep, liege lord to Edward the lion of Ardmore and many others." She pointed at the man sitting in the highest chair. "That's my mother beside him, and that's me." She pointed at the girl wearing what looked like a burqa*.

"My father decided that his gift to me for my seventeenth year would be a husband. I was completely opposed to this because I have been fond of reading King Arthur's tales, knights of the round table, the glorious riders of the North who saved maidens from dragons and other such mythical creatures. Most of all, I believed in love.

"But, of course, that didn't comply with the tradition of my time. I was, in the eyes of everyone, ready for marriage, maybe even a little too old."

"Well, that sucks," I butted in just to add a little humor to her sad eyes.

"You have no idea." She paused then chuckled "What am I saying? You do have an idea.

"Right, well anyway," she continued. "There was to be a jousting tournament, whosoever wins will be my husband, heir to the Rivenhall lands."

"So you were worried that the participants would love you for your inheritance?" I asked her.

"I didn't worry, I knew. I knew for sure that I would not be wed for love. I'm an heiress after all. It's just the way it works. I escaped just a fortnight before the competition, and almost drowned."

"You tried to kill yourself?" I said, shocked.

"No, silly," she answered. "At least, not consciously deciding that I would."

"You actually tried to drown yourself?" I stared at her in disbelief. "For this?"

"It is unfair for women to marry for security or duty or … or out of necessity. I could not think of any other circumstance where you can put yourself lower. For in forsaking your happiness, your life would lose any form of meaning, and soon, every desire to live it."

I didn't know what to say to that. She waited until her breath started to come back to normal before she started talking again. "He saved me. Sir Edward, I mean. It wasn't the first time. I brought him here like he asked. My 'debt' to him, or so he calls it, was repaid. Unfortunately, I was back in time for the opening ceremonies."

Now, I was seeing the court in a different angle. I was suddenly beside the other Ysabel who couldn't see me. Sir Edward was bowing in front of her; he didn't recognize her at all.

The sitting Ysabel snorted as he dutifully bowed his head and said his greetings. "It was kind of silly of me, but that man is the most arrogant man I'd ever met." Standing, talking, narrator Ysabel appeared. "Acting like he was someone of import, which he is, actually. But I still didn't like it. It was only later on that I figured out why, it was because I, too, was an arrogant woman. I know exactly what I want and I detest those who come in my way, particularly Sir Edward. His interests always clashed with mine."

"Okay, let me guess," I said, this was familiar and predictable. "He won the tournament."

"Yes, he did," she answered. "I was stuck with a stupid shiny sword-owning knight."

The liege lord, Ysabel's father, stood up. "Welcome, welcome all to Rivenhall. I am honored of that you have come immediately at my call. Tomorrow is the start of the jousting tournament, the winner, as you all know, will have the hand of my beautiful daughter, and consequently, all of Rivenhall Keep, my throne. One of you, the greatest of you, shall be master among my lands."

The men were nodding. Eager to pounce on each other, I thought. Sitting Ysabel stirred uneasily.

"Gentlemen, I present to you, my daughter, Lady Ysabel."

And Ysabel stood up with an air of gracefulness, something I, Bella, couldn't possibly do. The dress she was wearing, a marvelous color of midnight blue, flowed to her ankles, but she didn't trip as she walked to the center. Her stride held a sense of confidence that astounded me. Everyone's eyes were fixed on her. And yet she wasn't shy or coy about it. Amazing.

This was me, I thought. Me. It's like seeing the gold in which I was before, and now I'm just bronze … or gravel. I felt a tinge of pity at myself.

"My father knows how to stir a crowd, I must say," Ysabel spoke in a controlled, conversational tone. The people laughed. "My father tried to marry me off a number of times before. My suitors ran away the minute they saw my face." The crowd gasped. "But now, I guess, with the whole heirloom at stake, someone is bound to take me. Thank you father for this much-awaited gift. I look forward to my new lord." And she turned her back, and headed for her chambers. A burst of conversation suddenly filled the room. Ysabel's father was angry, her mother was amused. Looking at them, I realized that they looked a lot like Charlie and Renee. Their marriage must have worked out.

"What was that?" I asked Ysabel who was beside me.

"Yes, well, I was stubborn. I didn't want to marry men who would look at me and see only my material treasures. I didn't want them to profess their love to everything I own, and not to me. So I staged my form of propaganda. I ate meals using my fingers, I didn't bathe so I smelt bad all the time. I always used improper speech. I was able to drive away some men. But the tournament continued. Soon, I was married to Sir Edward of Ardmore."

The scene changed again. I was in a room. Ysabel was sitting beside a window, wearing white, still wearing a cloth that covered her face except for her eyes - my eyes. The door opened, a boisterous crowd entered with Sir Edward. And then, they left the two newly-weds alone.

"Good evening, Lady Ysabel," he said, his velvety voice purred in the night.

Ysabel looked at him with fearsome eyes. "I hate you," she said that in a tone that scared even me. Like she was a lioness, ready to kill. And she was. I saw a glint of the blade she held in her hand hidden from Sir Edward's view.

"Why?" he asked. "What have I done to you?"

"You have married me," she spat. "I do not wish to marry."

"Yes, that part is apparent. Why, may I ask, do you wish to remain unwed?"

"Because I'd rather it would be my choice." She stood up. "I want to marry someone who actually loves me. Because you," she poked his chest, "you're a gold digger. You want me for my inheritance. And -" She stopped suddenly because Sir Edward was close enough that he removed the fabric that covered her face. "How dare you!"

"I know you," he whispered. "You're that peasant."

Ysabel probably saw how useless it would be now to cover her face again. She sat down on the bed. "I was trying to run away."

"Obviously."

"Must you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Making it a habit of pointing out your infallibility on each of those occasions when you happen to be correct on your estimation of a situation. It's like you know everything, when you really don't. "

He moved closer, I didn't miss the trace of pride in his stride. "Nay. As I am almost always correct, 'twould be too much of a bother to mention that fact every time it is proven." He smiled. "You're a silly girl, aren't you? Funny and silly."

Even though he couldn't see me, I glared at him. Know-it-all. But strangely, Ysabel smiled.

"I think that was about the time I started to fall in love with him," the other Ysabel told me. I looked back at her.

"That fast?"

"Well, I couldn't deny that he was interesting. Throughout the tournament, he was just silent and mysterious and when he looked at my poor manners, he didn't look away. Always, there was this curious glint in his eyes. Always I was afraid that he could see through me, through my very soul. Tonight he showed me something I wouldn't believe a valiant knight would posses: gallantry. Like the knights from the old world, knights of the round table. He reminded me of a fictional character from those tales." And then she murmured furthermore, "A prince."

"That's weird."

"I think…" Ysabel started to say. "I think souls don't have fixed partners. The first time I saw him, I didn't feel anything special. I felt as any girl would have felt when they gazed upon a beautiful man. Other than that, there was nothing."

And then, suddenly, the doors of the bedchamber bursted open. A man came through it with a blade in his hand. "Get away from her!" he shouted.

"Jake!" Ysabel who was sitting in the bed shouted at him.

"Come on!" he said to her. Edward didn't do anything. He was probably confused. Jake hurriedly grabbed Ysabel's hand and took her away. Sir Edward looked at Ysabel. In his eyes I read the question he must have been thinking. 'Stay'. I'm sure Ysabel saw it, but she didn't second guess. She left.

"What's happening?!" I asked the Ysabel who was standing beside me.

"Jake," she answered. "He's the best and truest friend I've ever had. And if I hadn't felt any warm feelings that night towards Sir Edward, I would have forsaken my treasures and followed Jake wherever he went." She paused and continued.

"He took me away. I thought it was what I wanted. I thought I wanted to escape, but I didn't. Not now, anyway. I felt guilty. I believed that I hated the man that I married but it was, I admitted to myself now, a consequence of now foundation. He did nothing to displease me, and yet now I was hurting him, his pride as the future lord of Rivenhall, his integrity as a husband. I had disgraced an innocent man, and so I felt guilty."

The images that surrounded me then were moving in fast forward. I saw Ysabel and Jake dining in an old wooden table. I saw that she looked thoughtful, unsure. And Jake looked like the happiest person in the world. And then a picture of a room with one bed, Jake laying a blanket on the floor. And then a group of men filling the room with their swords, pointing it at Jake.

"We were captured before we even got to bed," Ysabel told me. "Jake was imprisoned. And I was brought to Sir Edward's study where I saw a different man. He had changed. I never before wondered why they called him The Lion of Ardmore. He seemed a pleasant man who everyone respected. It was that night that I figured out why. He was an unforgiving man, all the more ferocious because he was silent. He was like a lion before, trying to decide if I was an enemy or if I were a friend. And because of my treachery, he looked at me like I was… like I was nothing. That I meant nothing. That whatever curiosity I had awaken in him had ran its course. And now I am nothing to him. Not a wife. Not a friend. Not even a person."

I was still in the study. Neither Ysabel nor Edward said a word. He was simply looking at her with that wretched look on his face like he was controlling his anger. And then he said softly, "You left."

I knew what he meant. He meant that Ysabel had chosen Jake over him. "I'm back," Ysabel said, equally soft.

Sir Edward sighed. "Fine. I give up." And then he leaned back in his chair. I didn't know what he meant. "You may do as you please Lady Ysabel. Take lovers, take paramours, buy anything you want from your allowance, you will find it is considerable. I had hoped that this union of ours will, in the worst scenario, be only a friendship. But you have disgraced me. You shall be my wife in name only. You do what you want, and I do what I want. The only thing you cannot do, my lady, is to leave me. I swear the next time you chose a mongrel of inferior birth over me, I will personally cut your throat."

And then, scenes changed around me again. I saw Sir Edward flirting with other girls at parties, and Ysabel was there enjoying herself, but I knew from the look in her eyes that she was miserable. Then, the scene changed again. I saw Ysabel shouting and crying, and Edward was there, sitting in his chair, uncaring.

I saw Ysabel being locked up, being dragged, being humiliated — even beaten, and her husband didn't do a thing. Except maybe this one time when I caught him look at her. Really look at her. And for that brief instant, I thought he actually looked like he was arguing with himself.

"He can't be the one," I said. "He can't be. He's a monster!"

"He is," Ysabel told me. And then the scenes changed again. The room was dark. I saw Ysabel lying on her bed, sleeping.

"But I wasn't asleep," Ysabel told me. "He comes to my room every night. When I have wounds he secretly cleans it. All those who ridiculed me and hurt me got punished in some way, I found that out much later. I listened to his footsteps as they walk into my room, he hums a melody to me. And every time I stir in my sleep, he stops and leaves," Ysabel said and paused. "I think this was his form of purgatory for me."

She sighed, and the images started changing again. I was now in a clear, green field. I saw Sir Edward riding his horse, and Ysabel riding another next to him.

"I tried to talk to him," Ysabel told me. "Mostly he ignores me, but that day he actually rode with me across the hilly ground." She smiled. "It was fun. We found a beautiful meadow in the forest. I think he was starting to forgive me. But still, he wouldn't talk like he did on the night of our wedding."

Ysabel showed me the meadow she mentioned, it looked so beautiful. The green trees looked like they could touch the sky, and the flowers covered the grass. It looked like a blanket of colors. I noticed that Sir Edward wasn't looking at the floral display as Ysabel was. He was looking at Ysabel, herself.

Then the green trees started to melt, the colors melted into black. Fading … fading into a Cyan-colored day outside Rivenhall Keep. The air was cold, the atmosphere was filled with gloom. I searched the place. And then I saw it, Ysabel was lying on the ground face up, gasping for strength in the air. A dagger was sticking out between her shoulder blades. She was swimming in a pool of blood, her blood. And Edward was there, with his healers, tending to her.

"Just hold on!" he kept yelling. But she couldn't answer. There were cuts in her face, one of her legs were broken. "Ysabel!" She was shaking furiously, blinking rapidly.

"I…" she tried to say. "I'm s-sorry."

"How could you be so stupid? " Sir Edward was growling. "You shouldn't have covered me! Oh Ysabel!"

"I… I w-wanted t-too s-save you," she breathed.

"You didn't have to!"

"J-hust be thankful, w-will you?" she said, more forcefully this time. "I n-need t-to tell you s-something… i-important." At that, she coughed out blood. The smell of it burned through her nostrils. She was sure that it was the foulest smell in the world, the smell that would always remind her of death. "I… I…" A drop of tear flowed down her eyes. And then, her eyes were empty.

"No! No!" Sir Edward screamed. He pushed the healers back and started exerting force on Ysabel's chest where her heart slept.

A strange thing was happening. A curious gold color was resonating from Sir Edward. "What's happening?"

Ysabel was suddenly there with me. "This is why I think souls don't have fixed partners. Souls choose each other. I gave my life for him, and he's giving his for me. See that," Ysabel was pointing at the gold that was emanating, this time, from the dying Ysabel. "He's reviving my soul with his.

"Listen," Ysabel told me. I listened to Sir Edward as he was trying to restart my heart, and the healers surrounding him tended to her wounds. He was whispering, "Come back to me, Ysabel. Come back and I promise I'll protect you in this life and the next. Stay with me, Ysabel. Stay and I promise I won't hurt you anymore. Ysabel. Ysabel. Ysabel. I'll follow you wherever you are. Go then, I'll find you. No, no I take that back. Come back. Come back."

"And from the white clouds I found at the other side, an angel kept calling to me, whispering my name over and over, crying to me 'come back, Ysabel, come back' he said," Ysabel spoke in a sort of trance. "So I did. I came back. I knew then that I would go wherever that voice called me to. Wherever. Whenever. I would recognize his voice."

Something hit me. I gasped at the pleasure I suddenly felt, almost bordering to pain. I was breathing faster and faster, the sound of a beating heart was drumming in my ears. It was deafening. I closed my eyes. I kneeled at the strange feeling that washed over me, I couldn't remain standing.

And then I opened my eyes. I was suddenly looking through Ysabel's eyes as Sir Edward gazed down on her. For some reason, I smiled. And he did too. I understood then what happened. Before they - we - were separate souls, and now we were one. A warm feeling swept through me and I could feel that it was coming from him. And whatever I felt, he felt too. Something connected us now. I knew I would recognize that no matter what era I was in, no matter what he might look like the next time I meet him for the first time.

A blinding white light shot through my eyes.

* * *

January 12, 1587 – Spain

**"Buenas tardes señores, les presento a mi hija Isabella."

"Es un placer conocele"

I was never really good at Spanish. To my surprise, though, I understood every word of it.

#

As always, your reviews are much appreciated. What I lack in updating skills, I make up for pages. I hope you enjoy reading this, for sneak peaks/questions/theory discussion etc. just visit my livejournal. This story is also in Twilighted(dot)net.

*A burqa is an attire that traditional female Muslims wear. It covers her entire body including her face except for the eyes.

**"Good evening, sirs. May I introduce you to my daughter, Isabella." / "It's a pleasure to meet you."

This chapter was inspired by:

- Edward's favorite color on Bella, dark blue
- "I wasn't interesting. And he was. Interesting…and brilliant…and mysterious…and perfect…"
- "Do I dazzle you?"
- "I saved you life. I don't owe you anything"
- "Be safe"
- "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."
- "This isn't real. This kind of stuff just doesn't exist." (movie)
- The fact that Bella hates blood
- Twilight chapter entitled 'Angel'
- The time when Bella was drowning in New Moon !important!

Special thanks to lj user 'bellacullenpr' for her Spanish translation in this chapter and the next.