A/N: This chapter is the calm before the storm. I hope it makes sense and you don't hate me too much for leaving a lot of questions unanswered. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

Chapter Seven: She's Free!

BPOV

I took deep, unnecessary breaths. I felt myself nearing the point of hysterics. The burning crater in my chest was causing me to react oddly. I knew crying would do no good; I knew nothing would get rid of the pain, but that didn't stop my sobs or the panic I felt when I realized I would never again be able to produce the tears that would help release my pain.

I could feel myself retreating into what felt like unconsciousness. Logically, I knew that was impossible for a vampire, but I was grateful for the escape.

As I nestled into a far corner of my mind, I watched as another part of me stood myself up. I knew I should have felt worried about the fact that I was splitting my consciousness in a way, but I would take anything to get away from the pain. And by being stuck in the corner of my mind I could still feel the pain, but it was dulled and felt far away.

I sat back and watched the show as my body seemed to move out of the shack on its own.

EPOV

My breath was coming in short gasps as the panic came over me. The hyperventilation reminded me of when the same thing would happen to Bella, which only caused more trouble in my attempt to gain control. I knew in some part of my brain that I needed to calm down or I wouldn't be able to do anything useful.

I had been following Bella's trail for an hour or so before it disappeared. I tried to calm myself by thinking logically. How would she make her scent disappear? Unless it was a special kind of power, there must be a logical answer. My breathing slowed back to a quick, but steady rate as I thought.

Going underground could do it, but was unlikely seeing as the ground looked undisturbed. She may have doubled back and went in a different direction, but I hadn't smelt any fork in her trail. I looked up at the sky trying hard to puzzle to keep my sanity.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. All the breath whooshed out of me before I climbed the tree closest to me. There was nothing there, but that didn't mean much. When I jumped to the next tree over I thought I smelt a faint something of her.

Excited, I tried to follow her trail once again before I realized it was impossible. I would never be able to catch up to her if she continued moving in this way. For every tree I came across with a bit of her scent there was another four or five I had to jump into that held nothing.

Defeated and depressed I did the only thing I could. I called for advice. I rang Carlisle, who answered before the first ring ended.

"Did you find her?" His voice was anxious.

"No…" I said low, "I followed her trail but she took to the treetops. I can't follow it from there, there's too much possibility in where she leapt to."

I heard an appreciative chuckled in the background followed by, "That's what she's done to us a thousand times…you'll never catch her by chasing her." Demetri. He sounded almost fond of her, which surprised me, considering the fight they had had hours previously and the way he had treated her.

Jealousy got the better of me and I growled before Carlisle answered over the continued chuckles. "Well there's probably nothing you can do from there. Come home and we can work out how to find her. Maybe our guests can enlighten us further on Bella and her movements." I heard another chuckle in the background.

Resisting the urge to growl yet again, I instead answered, "alright Carlisle. I should be home soon."

I snapped the little phone shut and headed away from my beloved, wishing I had her wish me.

JPOV

I walked towards my wife. Things bothered me about the situation we had just faced, more than the fact that Marie was in fact Bella.

Upon finding the adorable pixie, I took her out of hearing distance of the rest of the vampires in the area, thankful that Edward wasn't there to read my mind.

"Alice, besides that vision before the Volturi arrived, were you able to see into Bella's future at all?" If she had, it meant Bella had lowered her barrier for physical powers for some reason and that would explain what I had felt from her. If not, even I didn't know what it meant.

My wife looked at me curiously before answering. "No, that was the only time, although I did see quite a bit." She smiled apologetically, asking without words for forgiveness that I had not been filled in. I smiled in return before pulling my eyebrows together in confusion and concentration. "What is it Jazz?"

I smiled slightly, but my face stayed troubled. "It's just, I don't know what it means. I couldn't feel anything from her – at all – and then right before she had Jane on the ground, I felt this immense pain. But it was odd. It was like I was feeling it from a distance, like it was muffled somehow." I looked into Alice's beautiful, worried eyes, "I think I was feeling Bella's pain. But I don't know how that's possible if she has that special barrier that blocks my powers."

Alice looked momentarily horror-struck as she processed this new information before turning and smiling sadly. "I think maybe you're right about it being Bella's pain."

"But if she can block my power, how could I feel it?"

Her eyes looked sad as she turned to me and said, "maybe it's because she was in so much pain that she couldn't contain it, even in that barrier."

The idea horrified me; I knew that if my wife was correct then Bella was in infinitely more pain than I had actually felt.

Alice pulled me out of my thoughts by a light kiss on the cheek. "Edward should be home relatively soon, we should go inside and you should concentrate on something else so he doesn't find out." I knew she was right, knowing Bella was in pain would do nothing but upset Edward and possibly make him all that more rash.

Edward arrived home not too long after my discussion with Alice. I was unsuccessful in maneuvering my thoughts away from Bella's pain – it was just too unbelievable for me – so I took to singing random songs in my head.

Before sitting down, Edward surveyed the room, smirking slightly at the three healing vampires lying on the floor. I felt a pang of jealous from him that I couldn't possibly understand when he looked over Demetri.

"So let's talk," was all he said before stepping pointedly over Demetri and sitting on the couch.

No one seemed keen on starting so I decided I would. "How long have you been tracking Bella?" I directed the question to the guard members in general, not particularly caring who answered.

Felix snorted causing eyebrows to rise on each of my family members' faces, as well as Aro's. Demetri quickly explained, "We haven't really tracked her, more liked chased after leads and happened upon her." He laughed nervously.

The eyebrows rose further as Aro's eyes narrowed. I could feel Demetri's panic building, so I sent a soothing wave of calm his direction. He relaxed and continued. "I can't use my gift to track her and she's so sneaky!" Waves of affection started rolling off of him, causing me to wonder if he really liked Bella. "You saw how she works. She's incredibly fast and intelligent. She's tricky. You saw." He looked at Edward. "She's done that to us tons of time. Anytime we'd come close to her, she'd either stay for a brief tussle," Edward growled at the insinuation, "or run away immediately. When she really didn't want to be caught she'd just seem to disappear: taking to the treetops or the ocean. It's really amazing how well she can escape us." His voice sounded impressed but I could feel the underlying adoration coming from him. Yes, he did like Bella.

"That's fascinating," Edward snapped, "but how long have you been trying to catch her, or whatever it is you've been trying to do?"

Demetri eyed him before continuing. "She first started her attacks on the vampire covens about 70 years ago, maybe a bit earlier, but we didn't hear anything about it for a year or so…"

"So you've been tracking her for 70 years, and you haven't ever caught her?!" Emmett seemed incredulous.

"Let me finish. We, the Volturi, decided to ignore it at first. We figured one of the groups would take care of the problem themselves and it wasn't so bad to have less of a chance that a newborn would go on a massacre and expose us. But after about five years or so of continuous complaints from terrified vampires, we had to appear to do something. Felix and I were sent to see if we could track down whoever it was that was causing all the ruckus. Believe me when I say we definitely didn't believe who it was when we found out.

"Neither of us realized how powerful she was and underestimated her. She escaped us easily. Sometimes I wonder if she hasn't just been playing with us this whole time just for her entertainment." He received a sharp look from Aro that softened into something similar to wondering.

"So 65 years, huh? How long did it take to figure out it was her?" Emmett seemed to be especially interested in how long Bella had remained elusive to the Volturi, I could sense of form of pride coming from him. Interesting…Emmett was proud of his baby sister.

"Well…" Demetri shifted uncomfortably.

Felix saved him. "No. We started looking for her about 65 years ago, but it took us a good ten before we even knew who was doing the attacks. There were never any survivors, at least none came forward, so we had no description to go on. The only reason we found her was because we stumbled on the end of one of her battles. She's fierce, let me tell you that. I agree with Demetri, I had always wondered if she was just toying with us, and after today, I think it's been confirmed. She could have killed us long ago if she had really wanted to. It's not a nice feeling." He frowned, probably a little confused about how honest he was being. I wasn't about to tell him I had helped him along with a nice healthy wave of honesty.

"So if you can't track her well, how did you ever come across her? Is there a way we can find her?" Carlisle asked the most important question.

Demetri shifted uncomfortably again. "Well, going along with the idea that she's been playing with us, sometimes I thought it was her that found us. Mostly we would just be going around checking on different larger covens or armies we knew about and we would happen upon her between two. She was always so well-mannered and kind, so different than she was today." He frowned again, obviously pondering on her mood change.

"So basically you're telling me you have no way to find her?" Edward seemed exacerbated.

Demetri looked away from him, "no, not any sure way."

I could feel Edward's anger and frustration building and decided to intercede before he did anything he would regret. "Aro," I addressed him formally, "are you planning on continuing your search for Bella? If so, does that mean you plan on punishing her in some way? Because it doesn't really seem like she wants to accept your offer."

He thought for a minute and Edward seemed to feel slightly elated, probably in reaction to Aro's thoughts. "I think I may need to bring these," he waved his hand at the members of his guard, "home. I see no real need to dispose of her, she seems only bent on destroying those that are creating newborn armies, which, incidentally, if she hadn't started we were going to have to do anyway. They were really getting out of hand."

A/N: Cackles madly