Halfway to Repentance

Tissues at the ready? Okay, then read on…and read the epilogue before bringing out the pitchforks…

Twilight is all Stephenie's. 3:10 to Yuma belongs to…erm…whoever owns 3:10 to Yuma—i.e. not me.

~X~

PART SEVEN

~X~

As she put on her clothes, Bella looked back at the bed.

"You know it's rude to watch a woman dress herself."

Edward smiled. "I know."

They shared a knowing smile, interrupted by young Alice Cullen's head appearing in the hatch.

"I think you both need to come downstairs—now."

Tentatively, Edward made his way down the ladders, followed by Bella who hastily straightened her outfit once her feet touched the floor. The Cullen family was gathered in one of the girls' bedrooms.

Edward stepped over to the net curtain and saw a crowd outside on the street below.

"Oh, fuck."

"Pardon you, Mr. Masen. There are ladies present," Carlisle scolded, but Edward was too distracted to apologize.

After seeing enough, Edward moved further away from the window and paced. "What time does that train arrive?"

"A quarter past twelve. It'll wait at the platform for half an hour, and then leave—no matter what," Emmett said from the corner of the room.

Bella walked over to her new fiancé and put her arms around his waist.

"Edward Masen," a voice shouted from the street below. "The building is surrounded. Give up the girl and come out with your hands up."

Running his hands down his face, Edward extricated himself from Bella and got a little closer to the window, his back to the wall and keeping his head well back.

"Now why would I want to go and do a thing like that?" he yelled.

"Come on, Masen. Come out now and no one need get hurt. All we want is the girl back."

"What if I said that I wasn't involved in the kidnap—that this was all just one big misunderstanding?"

"Then we'd talk about it." Jasper Whitlock looked up at the window, feeling the pressure from the many bodies behind him to say the right thing. If Edward Masen was really as dangerous as they said, then he was in a very vulnerable position.

"Somehow, I don't think that's very likely, Sheriff. I see who is down there with you."

Jasper looked across at Aro Volturi who met his gaze. "You have my word, Mr. Masen. Come down and I'll look at the situation in a fair and impartial manner."

Edward stared at Bella who was chewing on her bottom lip. "Let her father know that the girl is safe and being well looked after."

"Duly noted, Masen."

"What about the Cullens? They're good, God fearing people. If I come out, can you promise me that they won't be punished for crimes they had no involvement in?"

It took a little longer for the Sheriff to reply this time.

"If our investigations show that they did nothing wrong, then you have my word that the law won't punish them."

Edward found it hard to suppress a smile of disbelief. "It's not the law that I'm worried about, Sheriff."

With that, he stepped over to Bella, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. "I have to turn myself in."

"No!" Bella exclaimed. "No, you can't do that. You know as well as I do that would be suicide."

"Bella, we're surrounded."

"No. I'm not letting you walk out of that door to certain death." Bella took him by the arms, and stared at him defiantly.

"Every way out of this building leads to certain death. The only question is how many people I take with me." He looked around at the Cullens. "I'm sorry that I brought this to your door. It was never my intention."

Carlisle stepped forward. "We made our own choices, guided by our own consciences. If I had my time again, I would do the same thing. No matter what people say, Mr. Masen, you have a good soul. What kind of good Samaritan would I be if I stood by and let you walk out there alone?"

Edward lowered his head. "I appreciate everything you've done, but please, I think it's all for the best if you remove yourselves from the situation now. Go hide in the loft—say that I held you all at gunpoint. I've caused enough trouble for one lifetime, and I don't want to cause any more suffering than I have to from here on."

Not one person made a move.

Rosalie was the next to speak up. "Aro Volturi is out there. He doesn't forgive anyone who crosses him. We're as good as dead anyway, so we might as well go out on our own terms."

Esme's eyes softened as she looked at first Edward, and then her husband. "There's only a slim chance that this story could end well, but there'll be no happy ending for me unless I know that did all I could to help these two be together. If we let him walk out there on his own, then we're as just as guilty for what happens to him as Aro Volturi's men."

"Then God have mercy on all of us for the hell I'm about to bring down on you all." Edward gave everyone a solemn look. "Emmett, you say that train arrives at twelve fifteen and stays for half an hour?"

"Yep, that's right."

"Then, we leave here at twelve thirty. We have fifteen minutes to make our way to the platform." With that, Edward detached himself from Bella and strode out of the room.

"Edward, where are you going?"

"To get my guns and my bullets. If anyone else has any, then I suggest they do the same."

~X~

Jacob stood nervously by his father and Sheriff Swan at the back of the line of men gathered outside the doctor's house. They'd been waiting here for two hours and there'd been no movement from inside—Jacob didn't understand what the holdup was.

"Why don't we just go in there? Why are we waiting?"

Sheriff Swan answered him. "Because if we go in there, there's a chance that Bella might get killed. At the moment we have them under siege, and they have to come out some time."

"Right." Jacob still felt impatient—it was killing him standing here knowing that Bella was so close.

Kicking the sand off of his shoes, he looked up as he heard a distant whistle.

"What is that?"

Aro Volturi also looked in the direction of noise. "The train. He's going for the goddamn train." His face twisted into a look of fury, and there was a sudden flurry of activity.

"I want someone covering every inch of the way to the station—move now" At Caius's request, the posse fired into action.

~X~

Inside the building, the clock on the wall ticked loudly in the otherwise silent room. Emmett positioned himself in readiness at the side door, with Rose, Carlisle, Edward, and Bella waiting behind him. In addition to Edward, Carlisle was armed with a pistol, and Rosalie, Esme, and Alice had rifles.

For the past two hours they'd all prepared for this moment, which had come around far too soon. It was only now that time seemed to pace itself and slow.

Esme and Alice waited in the parlor and bedroom upstairs, ready to provide cover when the time came. At twenty-five past the hour, Emmett and Rosalie gave each other an unrestrained demonstration of their affection for one another, before getting back into position.

Edward lowered his head to give Bella a slow kiss. "I love you, Bella. No matter what happens, remember that."

"I love you, too, Edward. Always."

Edward's heart began to race as the time grew near. When the hand switched to half past, he breathed, "Now!"

Emmett burst through the door and leaped onto the sandy ground between the Cullen house and the next building, making his way to the door opposite with his shoulder braced for impact. It cracked and fell away easily. Rosalie and Carlisle followed, firing their weapons in the opposite direction to the other, and then finally, Edward and Bella also crossed the way. As they stepped up and through the doorway, a rain of bullets hit the woodwork behind them.

Scarcely breathing, Bella allowed Edward to lead her by the hand, trusting him to make the right choices. The cover of the next building ended, and Edward raised his pistol to fire at a target to Bella's right as they leaped out of another doorway, hitting a wall and changing direction sharply.

Ahead of her, Bella could see the bounce of Rosalie's blonde waves and Carlisle by her side. Edward led her around a corner, past the barrels she'd hidden behind the previous day, up a porch, and inside another building. All the time, bullets whistled past them, clanging against metal or sending tiny splinters into the air like confetti.

Bella saw tables pushed out of the way as Emmett raced upstairs and the others followed—they were inside the saloon.

Following an L shaped corridor, Bella found herself dragged through a bedroom, and as she climbed through a window onto a balcony, Rosalie was standing to her left, firing her rifle. Edward continued along the way, yelling, "Jump!" as they crossed a short gap between the balcony of the saloon and the flat roof of the adjacent building.

Bella became aware that she could now only see Carlisle ahead, occasionally turning to aim his pistol. Only Edward's iron grip kept her from turning around to see what had happened to Emmett and Rosalie.

~X~

Once Edward Masen and the Cullens burst through the door, Jacob took cover while a tall blonde fired a rifle in his direction.

His heart sank as he realized that Bella was being used as a human shield. To his surprise, many of the others he stood with fired regardless.

"What are you doing? You're going to hit her." Jacob looked up to the man on his right, who responded with a sneer.

Panicking about Bella's wellbeing, Jacob took off down the street, his dark hair flowing like a banner behind him. He fell to the ground for cover as the kidnapper fired off a few rounds and then dragged Bella around the back of the saloon. Cautiously, Jacob made his way over the road and took the same route.

As he turned a corner, he found he had a clear shot at the blonde, but then Masen and Bella climbed out of the window behind her. Jacob lowered his rifle, putting his back against the wall while the blonde took a turn to shoot.

Jacob cursed as he saw a Volturi man across the road still firing even though Bella was exposed. He was relieved when the blonde finally took him down.

Once it was clear, Jacob poked his head out far enough to see Bella and her captor on the next roof. Running along the length of the porch of the saloon and leaping over the wooden fence, Jacob then sprinted along the porch of the next building.

As he reached the end, he saw a young girl lying on the ground on the middle of the road, screaming. For a second, he thought it was Bella, but then realized that she was just wearing a similar dress. Next to her, a man lay on the floor face down.

Jacob rushed over. "Miss, you have to get off the street." The girl only wailed louder and hugged the dead man, so Jacob picked her up and dragged her to the side, just as a hail of bullets hit the motionless corpse.

"Stay here. Don't move."

Listening to the gun shots, Jacob realized that all the action was moving further down the street toward the railway. Taking a second to think about his next move, Jacob decided to take a wider route, off the main drag and back up along the tracks themselves. It would be longer, but there'd be less gunfire to keep him pinned down.

Waiting for the right moment and then running across the street, he thought he heard his father shouting his name, but he didn't stop to listen.

Making his way unhindered, Jacob found himself at a pen of cows that would bring him all the way up to the platform. Climbing inside and hearing the gunshots getting closer, he crouched down low, using the cows as cover.

~X~

Edward, still dragging Bella behind him, leaped onto the sloping side of the roof, sliding down and landing clumsily on solid ground. A quick look told him that Bella had also managed the drop, and then, as the bullets followed them, he pulled Bella up the steps and around the corner that led to the platform.

As close as they were, he still didn't dare to hope—his pistol had run out of bullets about five minutes ago, and he didn't have the time to stop and reload.

Stepping foot on the wooden planks, he pulled back quickly as he saw a large hulking shape waiting there. Felix also saw Masen and lifted his gun, embedding a number of bullets in the ticket office that they ducked behind.

Dropping behind some barrels, Felix's large fingers opened the gun to reload. Pushing the bullets inside the chambers, he dropped the weapon as a large shape dropped on him from above.

Edward leaped onto Felix, and they rolled across the platform. Luckily, Edward found himself on top as they came to a halt, and gave the Volturi man a number of hard hits with his right fist before he was thrown off. Scrambling to his feet, the wind was knocked out of him as Felix charged and crushed him against the wooden wall of the main building.

Taking a couple of punches to the stomach, Edward managed to croak, "Bella, get on the train." Then Felix's hands were around him and he felt himself fly through the air, before being pulled back and hitting the ground with a sickening crunch.

Meanwhile, Bella ran across the platform and grabbed the abandoned gun, trying to put the bullets that had fallen out back inside. Once loaded, Bella held it in a shaky hand, but Edward and Felix were too close together for her to risk firing and killing the wrong person.

Felix grabbed Edward, lifted him into the air, and then plunged him back to earth. The noise Edward made as he landed gave Bella the final push to be able to do what was needed. As the Volturi man stood over her love, she had a clear shot—pulling the trigger, Bella fired twice. One of the shots caught Felix in the neck and he fell backwards, sliding down the wall.

Her hand over her mouth in shock at what she'd done, Edward got to his feet and limped over to where she was.

"Bella! Bella, are you okay?"

She nodded, and then threw her arms around him and kissed him.

Pulling away quickly, though he wished that he didn't have to, Edward took Bella by the hand and dragged her the final few feet to the train. Using his unbroken arm to help ease her up into the opening of the freight car, he made sure she was inside securely before making a move to climb in himself.

Bella rolled over on the dusty wood, smiling in relief as Edward prepared to climb up, too. Reaching out to give him a hand, he went to take it, but was stopped by a sudden resounding crack. Edward's face went blank, and he slumped out of sight.

Outside, Bella saw Aro Volturi's right hand man, Horatio Caius, with his pistol still aimed.

Unable to move, Bella could only stare as she heard the train give out a long whistle, and the distant sound of steam hissing.

Another shot rang out and Caius fell backwards into the dust. A short while later, there was a grunt, and Edward landed clumsily on the floor of the car.

"Oh, thank God." Bella dropped to her knees, and helped pull a heavy Edward inside.

~X~

Jacob could see the large Volturi pacing up and down on the platform, and was about to climb out of the cow pen to join him when the henchman pulled out his gun and started to fire. As he stopped to reload, Masen leaped onto him and sent them both to the floor. There was a struggle on the platform while Jacob made his way along the side of the train in Bella's direction—to try and get her out of harm's way while the others were distracted.

He almost fell over in surprise when Bella picked up the gun from the floor and shot the Volturi twice.

Hiding between two cars, Jacob took deep breaths while he tried to understand what had happened.

"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" he heard the kidnapper say.

Jacob peeked around the corner to see Bella take Masen in her arms and kiss him. Her kidnapper then took her by the hand and helped her climb up inside the train. Before Masen could jump in after her, Jacob caught sight of the blond guy with the scowl that usually seemed permanently attached to Aro Volturi's side. Caius lifted up his gun and fired.

Without thinking, Jacob lifted his rifle and fired it at the Volturi man, barely waiting for him to hit ground before closing the distance between himself and Masen's body lying slumped on the floor. Lifting it up, he pushed it inside the car as best as he could.

"Oh, thank God." The sound of Bella's relief was soul-crushing, but Jacob pushed Masen's legs inside, and then jumped up himself, pulling the door closed as there was a sudden lurch and the train began moving.

"Jacob?" Bella was leaning over Masen, cradling him into her.

"Is he alive?" Jacob looked down to see a weak-looking Masen staring back at him.

"Only just." The man tried to laugh, but it came out more as a cough. A thin trail of blood fell from the side of his mouth. "We made it, Bella."

Edward lifted his hand to Bella's cheek, closing his eyes and smiling as he felt its softness.

"We did it. We made it, Edward." A fat tear rolled down Bella's cheek. She could see how red Edward's borrowed shirt was getting, and the color looked harsh against the clean crisp white.

Jacob shifted in a little closer, pulled the shirt out of Edward's pants, and then winced as he saw the extent of his wound, which was ugly and bleeding.

"Leave it. No use in prodding around. I'm done for," Edward slurred, and then gave a slight lop-sided smile before looking up at Bella again. "I want you to be the last thing I see."

"Edward..." Bella tried to force her words past the lump in her throat.

"A guy like me was never going to make it to old age, Bella. It's no matter. If I could go back a few days, I wouldn't change a thing. You're the best damn thing that ever happened to me. It would have been nice to have a little more time…to make you Mrs. Masen for real…"

Bella sniffed as more tears fell. "But you can't die. I need you here with me."

Edward coughed. "You'll be fine. You're the strongest woman I know. You don't need me."

"I do." Bella pulled Edward closer. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Bella." Edward replied quietly.

Jacob watched the exchange without saying another word, sitting with his back against a crate. He wished that there was something that he could do or say to make things better. What did you say in a situation like this? There were no words.

Instead, he held back and considered other things, like how everything he once thought was just and right had turned out to be corrupt and evil. An anger began building in the pit of his stomach, but he swallowed it down—there would be a time and a place to let it all out, but this wasn't it.

After a few moments, Edward's body grew limp, though his unseeing eyes remained focused on Bella. Bella's sobs became more desperate, as she rested her head on his still chest.

The train rumbled on regardless, and after what seemed like a very long time, Bella edged her way from Edward's body to where Jacob sat. Jacob wound his arm around her and allowed her to cry herself out.

~X~

Okay, so there are probably a few people wanting to lynch me. Before you do that, PLEASE read the final part. It will help make it better—I promise.