You all receive my deepest apologies for the long wait. ::pulls apology out of pants pocket and gives to you:: Summer vacation called and I just had to answer. But I'm here now and ready to write.
my goal is to finish this story before eclipse comes out (and we will have more info on the Volturi and I'll feel really, really stupid writing this considering I'm basing the Volturi members on just the info we receive in new moon) but I'll need all your support to push out the next couple of chapters in three weeks.
Sorry bout the last chapter too. I know most of you hated the fact that it ended with the same cliffhanger as chapter 5 but I think it was important for you guys to see what exactly has been going through Edward's head lately.
We shall find out what happens now! Yay!
…Chapter 7…
BPOV:
I sighed as I watched Edward fall over the edge. How many times was I going to have to save him tonight?
I scanned the area to make sure there were no onlookers. When I saw that everyone had gone inside for the day due to the pouring rain, I focused in on Edward and then he was floating. I had to concentrate harder on keeping him from falling than regular inanimate objects but I got him to stay. For a moment I thought of placing him back on the roof with me but couldn't. The others were standing just behind me, watching my every move, and if I brought him back they would get rid of him. And I didn't save him twice tonight so that he'd still get killed.
I lifted him using the useful power I'd received—or absentmindedly taken, whatever you think is more appropriate when it comes to my power—from Finn, and placed him on a nearby roof.
He sat up quickly with a stunned look. He didn't understand. He was confused. But what did he expect, he hadn't seen me in forty years! He stood up, silently begging me to say something with his eyes.
I could feel everyone behind me. I wouldn't break in front of them. This was my family now. Edward was from a past life. Yes, we'd have to talk eventually but not now, not anytime soon actually.
"Go," I mouthed. And finally, for the first time in the past five minutes, he listened to me. He slipped down a gutter pipe in the side of the abandon house he'd been standing on. Then he easily slid open a window and hopped into the house. He gave me one last sad look before closing the window and walking deeper into the house.
I stared after him for a couple of moments longer until I felt someone grab my hand. I turn around to see Alec holding my hand and looking up at me.
"Are you going to be okay Isabella?" he asked, looking more like the young child he was than an old vampire.
I smiled down at him. Using my free hand, I ruffled his hair and said, "Of course kiddo." He held on to me though. It was times like these that I felt closest to Alec. He never pressured me for anything. If anything, he was the most supportive towards me in the entire house.
I looked back towards the house Edward had slipped into just moments ago longingly for one last time. Then I turned back towards the others—my family. When I saw their faces I immediately looked away. They were all angry, disappointed, surprised at me. What I just did was wrong—I knew that—Edward should be dead right now. He wasn't an exception at all but I had just treated him like one.
Edward.
I already missed him. I was secretly relieved I had come out into the hallway and saw Edward—saved him. He was alive now, that was a good thing—right? Yes, yes it was good. But who knows when I'll see him again, all I knew was that I'd be counting down the days until I could see him once more.
"Edward," I sighed so softly that not even Alec had a chance of hearing.
I shook my head, snapping out of my daze. What was I thinking? I was Isabella—kick-ass, tough as rock Isabella. The one who didn't take no for an answer. The one who everyone looked up to here—the independent Isabella Marie Swan Volturi.
'The one who dry-sobbed to herself all night, every night, over a boy' I thought to myself. I was stunned. The voice came from inside of me, told me the reality of my life, but it felt distant, almost as if it came from someone else. Almost like it came from another part of me—the Bella part. The one I'd kept locked up for forty years…and Edward was the key to it. When I saw him, he unlocked Bella, let her loose to tear me apart on the inside.
My hand slapped over my mouth, holding back the squeaky sob that almost escaped the confines of my trembling lips. I looked back up at my family—and suddenly they didn't feel so much like my family anymore. There was only one person I wanted to be with right now—and I'd just pushed him off a building moments ago, possibly pushing him out of my life for the rest of eternity.
Still standing on the edge of a breakdown, I pushed passed everyone—my so-called "family"—and slid down the banister of the spiral stairs leading to my hallway.
I ran to my room and towards my little desk. I threw open drawers, searching franticly for something I probably didn't have anymore. When I didn't find it I threw the drawer over my shoulder and across the room. Papers flew all over the room and fluttered to the floor like snow.
When I had ripped all the drawers out I threw my hands up in surrender. I collapsed down on my bed and took a deep breath. I could have sworn I'd stuffed it in the back of one of my desk drawers years ago after I'd found it in some old clothes…
I hopped off my bed and jumped down to the floor. Then I reached under my bed and pulled out a brown leather bound box. 'IMSV'—my initials—were printed in gold stitching on the side of the box. I softly ran my fingers over the letters and smiled to myself. Aro had given the box to me after he had stopped me from burning all my old human things years ago.
"Trust me," he coasted, placing the box in my hands. "You will want to keep something from your human life so you can remember better years and years from now."
I opened the box. It contained the clothes the Volturi had found me in and miscellaneous that happened to be in my pockets at the time. I carefully took the clothes and other items out of the box and opened the hidden compartment at the bottom. And then I saw it. It sparkled even in the dim light that flooded my room.
I picked it up and let in dangle in my trembling hands…
Year 2007:
Edward smiled down at me, smoldering his eyes. My knees gave way but he managed to catch me before I fell to the floor. He walked me over to his couch and sat me down. When he took a seat next to me I crawled onto his lap and rested my head on his stone cold chest. I felt his lips on the top of my head and I sighed deeply, happily. I tilted my head back slightly so I could see Edward's face better. He looked happy…but in the saddest of ways. It was almost like he was hiding something from me. I looked up at him quizzically. He looked away.
"What's wrong?" I asked. I heard him take in a sharp breath and he looked back at me.
"Nothing is wrong Bella. You shouldn't worry so much. Everything will turn out okay…" Edward's voice drifted off. I took that as his ways of ending the conversation.
Edward reached behind himself and took something out of his back pocket. It glittered and sparkled in his pale hands.
A necklace. A simple platinum chain with a small diamond pendant hanging off the end. I couldn't move, couldn't respond at all. He lifted my hand and pressed the necklace into my palm. He closed my fingers over the necklace and got up pulling me with him towards his door.
"Edward, I—" I began to say but Edward interrupted.
"Don't say anything. Keep it,"—Edward motioned towards my hand gripping onto the chain—"I want you to have it. Think of it as my way of saying that I love you no matter what happens between us, no matter how many hundred miles or years or people come between us. I'll always love you."
There was an awkward then, one that Edward seemed eager to break. "Now come, I have to bring you back home."
The car ride home was quiet. The necklace lay in my hands the entire way. With every streetlight that the car sped by, the necklace glittered even more. On the back of the diamond pendant the word "Forever" was inscribed. And that one word meant it all.
I put the necklace in my back pocket with a smile on my face.
Edward loved me.
He was going to protect me.
He was staying.
Year 2047:
But I was wrong. Edward had left me the next day and my world went crumbling so fast that it took me years just to begin the recover. As a matter of fact, I still wasn't fully recovered. I never would be.
Now I clutched onto that same necklace. A jolt of a familiar pain ran through my system. I was angry and upset, relieved and worried, hurting and yet still standing. I wasn't sure if I wanted Edward. Of course I'd always want him in a way but do I want him now. We weren't the same people we were forty years ago—or at least I wasn't. We come from two different worlds now; it was too late to pick up where we left off.
Too late…I stood up and looked under all the papers on the floor. I picked up some things I might need—cell phone, matches, identification—and stuffed them in a black leather jacket. I slipped into the jacket and held tightly onto the necklace.
I walked towards the door and turned back towards my room when I was under the doorway. I looked at the mess I was about to leave—the papers coating the floor, the broken drawers scattered across the room, the dents on the wall opposite my desk—and smiled sadly to myself. I turned back towards the hallway and closed the door behind me.
I walked back over to the staircase. The others were just coming down from the roof. I quickened by speed to a run. I brushed past some confused faces but I ignored them. I needed to go, to explain to Edward. I'd come back; I knew I would eventually be back at the Volturi sitting in my room sulking like I had been for the past four decades. But if I told the others that I'd be forbidden to go.
"Isabella?" some called from somewhere behind me. But I didn't stop, didn't acknowledge their puzzled voices for a second.
I ran up the stairs and inhaled the fresh, wet air when I reached the rooftop. I stopped for a second, listened to the sound of my heavy breathing and the sound of the others running up the stairs to see me and the sound of the raindrops clitter-clattering on the rooftop around me—the sound of being alone in this world, no one will be by my side to protect me from here on.
I took a step back, facing the ledge of the roof. Then I felt someone grab my elbow, tugging me back. I stumbled back a step from the force of the tug and the person put their arm around my neck, holding me back tightly. I shot my head to the side to get a glimpse of the person.
Felix, with Demetri close by his side. I growled venomously while I struggled to stand up straight. Felix just laughed. Demetri leaned down to my ear and gave a growl just a vicious as mine.
"Where do you think your going?" Demetri snarled, his venom-dipping lips brushing against my ear.
I saw Heidi shaking her head from the corner of my eye. "We knew day would come," she said solemnly.
Suddenly Alec was I front of me. "You can't go Isabella," he said. "We are not allowed to just leave when we like." Although I loved that kid, I snapped at him. No one told me what I could and could not do. He jumped back and went to stand next to his sister.
I struggled against Felix's grip but he just twisted my arm behind me, hard, and yelped in pain. I growled louder and I struggled more. Demetri jumped in front of me. I used my free hand to punch him in the face. Demetri stumbled back, his eyes wide and his hand over his face. Felix finally released his grip on my neck to grab my other arm and hold it behind me.
"Careful boys," Marcus said from behind us.
"Thanks for the heads up," Demetri said sarcastically but it was muffled from behind his hand.
"Alec was right Isabella," Aro called from beside Marcus. "You can not leave as you feel. You work for me—us—and if we chose for you to leave, if we give you permission, then you can leave. But as of this moment, you are banned from leaving."
"Oh yeah," I said. "Watch me." I stood up straight, pushing Felix off of me. Felix fell back but immediately got up and tried to grab my legs. But, lucky for me, I saw him coming. I spun around and landed a roundhouse kick right in his gut. I heard the air "whoosh" out of his lungs and he went flying sideways to the other end of the roof. A retaining wall stopped his fall. He slammed against it and slid down to the floor; the wall he crashed into crumbled over him.
"Demetri!" Caius yelled. "Grab her!"
I saw Demetri coming towards me out of the corner of my eye and I looked completely over at him, my eyes alight with violent anger. He stopped dead in his tracks looking like a deer in frozen with fear in front of headlights.
"Isabella," Aro warned sternly.
I took a step forward, testing the others. No one moved. I took another step.
"Jane!" Aro yelled. Jane took a quivering step back, shaking her head in fear. It was times like these that I remembered Jane was still a scared little child on the inside.
I took a few more steps towards the edge of the roof and then took a small step back, readying myself for the jump. I heard the others walking towards me, calling my name. Someone's fingers simply grazed my elbow before I pulled back.
These…people weren't going to control my life. They were my family now, yes, but I was my own person. No one was in charge of me but myself.
I looked up at the edge, my eyes flickered with light, my teeth gritted together. And suddenly…everyone was flying backwards, away from me. I took another step back and then I was running and when I got to the edge I jumped. The next building was a fairly far leap from where I was but I leapt anyway—I knew I'd make it. The jump was so exhilarating, so refreshing. I tilted my head up towards the sky and tasted the rain, let it sprinkle my face lightly. I finally felt…free. It was the first time I'd felt that way since I'd moved to Volterra and joined the Volturi.
Free.
I finally reached the next building. I grabbed the ledge and hoisted myself up to the top. And then I ran across that roof, not looking back once.
Free.
I reached the other end in record time. I slid down a gutter and slipped into a window, into the same building Edward had gone into. I heard my family yelling in the distance as I went though the window and into the abandon home. I smiled to myself and closed the window, blocking them from my life for the moment's being.
I'm finally free…
Well? I hope it was worth the wait ::puppy eyes:: I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible but please, I'll need all your support to finish this in exactly 21 days so PLEASE review. I'm starting the next chapter right away.
Let me tell you, my biggest inspiration for this chapter was the song "Maybe" by Kelly Clarkson. It goes so well with the chapter (and the story itself). It gave me the kick in the ass to update. Thank you Miss Clarkson!
I've got great ideas for new stories but I wont start anything till I finish this and read eclipse (I want more information before I begin) but I'll tell you the names of my upcoming stories: One Night (which is a one-shot that corresponds with this fanfic in Finn's POV), Savoir, and Found. Towards the end of this story I'll start asking for betas for these fanfics because I've decided that someone beta-ing this stuff for me would make my life easier.
And if anyone would like to beta for me for this fanfic drop a review and ask! That's all you have to do! So I guess in a way I'm asking for a beta? Anyone willing?
I hope you enjoyed,
Sasha
