HELLO! It's been quite a while. my life has been a mess lately and I also got obsessed with The Mortal Instruments, so I've been quite occupied. Here's the 10 chapter to Radiate, the sequel to Ignite. If you need a refresher don't be afraid to re-read anything. Sorry I've kept y'all waiting for so long... enjoy!

Disclaimer - I very obviously am not Stephanie Meyer, which means I do not own The Twilight Saga.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked as I came up beside him. Chelsea and Alec were fighting in front of me.

"If I asked you the same thing, what would be your answer?" I asked back.

His jaw tightened and he answered, "moderate."

I crossed my arms at my chest. "Well there's your answer."

He wrapped an arm tightly around my waist.

I kept a mask on, the guard didn't need any more problems and I wasn't going to make the Cullens one of them.

Alec won and Dad asked him to choose someone next. So we locked eyes and I was glad for the distraction.

I went to stand across from him. "You've never beaten me before. What makes you think that's gonna change?"

He shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

He lunged at me first and I managed to get my hand to his neck and throw him across the room. When he stood again I lunged at him and avoided a kick to the knees.

"Come on, Alec. This can't take all day," I complained.

"I guess wearing you out isn't gonna happen?" He asked.

Finally, I got him pinned to the ground by pulling his arm around and kicking his back.

"Nope," I answered.

He sighed when I let him go and joined everyone else.

Dad shifted in his throne where he was watching. "Edward, why don't you and Bella have a go?"

I could see in his eyes that it was a test. He wanted to know how far we could take it before the thought of hurting each other was too much.

I used to be bothered by it, but I hoped it wouldn't faze me today. I knew Edward could take care of himself when the time came for real fighting. It was obvious that I wouldn't actually hurt him; so I became confident that we'd be able to pass this test.

Edward and I made contact and I knew he heard my Dad's plans.

I smiled at him eagerly. We hadn't done this with each other in a while and it was fun. Edward and I hadn't used that word in a while and we weren't going to make a big deal out of nothing.

"Bring it on, Cullen."

He smiled just as eagerly back.

We charged at each other and he jumped over me as I slid for his legs. Standing back up, we circled around each other for a while as I planned what to do next. I could feel him trying to get through my shield.

"Not gonna happen," I said under my breath before starting towards him.

When I reached him he tried to grab my arm but I ended up twisting his behind him. I thought I had him but suddenly his other arm reached to grab my neck and I was smashed into the floor. I felt the tile crack under my forehead. When I went to get back up to my feet I was too late. My hands were trapped behind my back and there were a pair of teeth at my neck.

Edward was just too fast.

"No way," I heard behind me. It sounded like Jane.

"Dude did you get through her shield?" Demetri asked.

"You have to teach me how!" Alec said.

Edward chuckled in my ear and I concealed a shiver. His arm then wrapped around my waist and he pulled me up.

I wasn't having any of it, I defended myself right away. "No he did not get through my shield… He's just fast." I felt a smile tug at my mouth; I was proud of him. But I kept a straight face as I pulled away from his grip. "You're going down next time."

He just chuckled again.

Edward POV – ouu we're getting fancy. I decided the rest of the chapter played out best in Edward's head. This is the only thing I've written in his head so far and I'm not sure if there is more to come.

Bella left me in the middle of the room to choose who I was going against next but Aro had other ideas.

I turned to look at him. "I believe Aro would like to have a turn."

He stood and walked towards me. "I believe you are correct. I need to test this for myself."

There was something else going on in his mind but I couldn't figure it out.

I saw Bella out of the corner of my eye looking at me, confused. I slightly shrugged at her to tell her it was nothing, but then her eyes narrowed.

I attempted to ignore her and focused more on Aro and who was going to make the first move. We were both leaned into a crouch when he first spilled something.

I need you to do some snooping around for me.

Then he made a first move and attacked me to the ground. With the contact I answered with I can't lie to her.

I didn't mean that, he replied.

We kept fighting and I dug my elbow into his gut to get him off of me. He grabbed my forearm before I could get very far and I used advantage of his occupied mind to push him off of me. He landed on his feet, no longer being able to read my mind.

I could still read his. You know that Bella's been hiding something from you, I told her not to tell you, but now I'm going to do it for her. His mind played out a scene of him in the map room with Marcus and Caius. The amount of information I received behind the Volturi caught me off guard. It all came very fast.

What weakness?

Bella.

If the time ever comes, it's been taken care of.

And slowing it down will just prolong the inevitable.

We're going to be invaded very soon.

I couldn't believe it. The Volturi's experience was so great they saw something before Alice could. They predicted something that hadn't been decided yet, and they were positive they were right. I was positive they were right.

I tried to keep my face the same but it was difficult. Aro could see it and lunged back at me. I was pushed up against the wall and struggled as Aro threw thoughts towards me again. I just need you to tell me when, I know Alice is unhappy with you but I need you to get her to look.

There was an underlying tone in Aro's head. He worried about Bella and I, but not as much as the others. I saw just how much Aro trusted us to keep ourselves safe, how much he knew we could protect ourselves.

We couldn't prolong fighting each other anymore so he pinned my hands behind my back quickly – beating me fair and square – and I let him know I'd talk to him afterwards.

Aro let me go and I came back to reality.

"I suppose you're not quite good enough," Aro laughed, seeming perfectly at ease.

We shook hands. "You put up a good fight, Aro," I told him, then chuckled.

We made the last of our conversation quick, as to make sure the handshake didn't last for too long.

Find me later.

Bella was talking to my family earlier- I played out for him the she made me leave - I have to make sure everything is okay.

I went to join Bella's side and found her eyes still narrowed at me. Oh yeah, I'm in trouble, I thought to myself.

She definitely wanted to know what just happened. She always knew when something was up.

You can give her brief information - I don't want her getting worked up over this. She has enough to worry about. Aro told me.

"Alright. I want Bella and Jane to go up next. I'm getting you to remove your shield Bella." Aro told her.

Angry Bella quickly turned into calming Bella when my hand tensed around hers.

"Its fine, Edward," her voice whispered. "Don't worry, I can snap it back on whenever I want."

"Maybe we've done enough testing for today," I whispered back, but she pulled out of my grip anyways and went to the centre of the room across from Jane.

To my surprise, Jane didn't exactly like it either. I saw memories of them when Bella was young play out in Jane's head. She still saw Bella as young and fragile now and didn't want to do it. But in Jane's mind, she also knew it would make Bella better, and she focused on that.

"Okay Jane, it's off," Bella said.

I heard it in her mind first though. I loved listening to Bella's thoughts; but this time I wasn't too happy on the circumstances.

Everyone knew when Jane hit Bella with her power because her fist clenched, but I knew because I could hear the pain in her mind.

Bella lunged for Jane anyways, and knocked a clenched fist into her face. As they fought I heard Jane's plans of increasing the pain and Bella's thoughts as her muscles tensed with the fiery pain.

It wasn't until Bella had pinned Jane against the floor that the pain had increased so much her hands trembled and gave out as she let out a cry that I had to leave the room. The door closed a little too loudly behind me and I made it about five feet down the hallway before I had to stop and sit down. Bella's constant thoughts were her telling herself to push through it, but once I heard the sound of her cry I couldn't take it.

Bella's thoughts suddenly cut off and from what I could hear of the rest of the guard's thoughts, she won without putting her shield back up.

For that, I was proud of her. But suddenly I felt ashamed for myself for not being able to handle it. I heard Aro dismiss them and then Bella was at my side. Her soft hand fit itself to my cheekbone. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I kissed her then, glad to see that she was fine.

"So are you gonna tell me what that was or do I have to guess?" She asked. I would've answered, but even I wasn't really sure yet.

"Just business. What did you talk to Alice about?" I distracted.

"We need to work things out. I don't think she's very happy with me."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "She's not very happy with me either, but there is no way I'm apologizing."

"How'd you even get into such a big fight?" she asked. My distraction was working; I didn't want to tell her my job from Aro before I knew everything.

I sighed. But it was better than the other topic of discussion. "She doesn't want me to stay. But I'm not leaving you."

"No. You're not going anywhere, you're staying right here." Her arms went around my waist and squeezed me tight.

"So what'd you talk about with her?" I asked.

She sighed. "I'm sure she already let you know that the only reason she made me bring you here is because she didn't want us fighting anymore?"

I nodded. Alice let me know the day before that she was tired of us fighting all the time. That's why I took Bella out to the meadow. But then when she had to leave again, it was like we hadn't gone at all until Alice made Bella bring me.

I knew Bella was only concerned about my personal safety. I never wanted to do anything see wasn't comfortable with, but our relationship didn't feel equal enough. I wasn't comfortable every time she left. But now we were equal, and I couldn't remember the last time we fought like he did in Forks.

"There's a lot of secrets around here, Edward. And none of them can know. It sucks; especially when they don't understand."

Her eyes were closed when I looked over at her; her head still resting on my shoulder; arms wrapped tightly around me. It kind of reminded me of Jane's memories of her as a little girl.

"Bella?"

Her eyes opened and went a little wide when she realized how close our faces were.

"I know," I told her. Her face questioned me. "Your dad told me. That's what went on earlier."

She pulled her head off my shoulder and sat up straight. "He told you?"

"Yes, he wants me to find out from Alice, exactly… when... I don't know every detail yet. And you," I said tapping her nose and making her smile, "don't need to worry about it because it's taken care of."

I pulled away from her and stood, offering her a hand she didn't need. She took it anyway and when she got up she didn't let go. "Apparently you don't know me very well, but I'll try not to worry."

We made our way upstairs hand-in-hand. I knew I'd have to go meet Aro soon, but I felt as if I hadn't been able to around Bella anymore. It was always business, never us.

We ended up at Bella's favourite spot; the rooftop garden. She sat curled in my lap and we listened to the comforting sound of each other's breaths. The sunset reminded me of our last day in the meadow back in Forks.

There had been something I wanted to do since before that day in the meadow. Something I still wanted to do.

"Do you think that when everything is over, we could just spend the rest of our lives like this?" Bella suddenly asked.

I kissed her hair. "I think we definitely could."

"I'd be perfectly fine just like this."

C'mon Cullen, be man. "I was actually thinking a little different than this."

She sighed. "I think this is perfect."

"What if we were married?" I finally got out.

She froze. Her body was completely tense in my arms.

It hurt a little. I was cursing myself inside. How could I be so careless? Obviously it wasn't a good time. But if Bella needed time, that's exactly what I'd give her.

"Bella. It's alright love. I was just putting the idea in your head."

"I'm sorry," her voice shook a little, "it's just- with everything going on- I-"

"It's okay, love. I'll wait forever as long as it's you."

Her body relaxed again as she whispered very softly, "I'm sorry."

I just squeezed her tighter to me and inhaled her scent.

I could've punched myself; I didn't even think of what was going on outside our bubble. I just thought of how perfect the moment felt. We obviously wouldn't be able to do anything until this was all over anyways.

But it's not like she ran away and hid until I left just because I brought it up. I took comfort in the fact that she was still here.

She's just not ready, I told myself.

A/N - Hope you enjoyed being in Edward's head a little bit! I don't plan on writing anymore this way but who knows, it may come up. Let me know if you liked it and I hope school starting tomorrow doesn't effect me posting next week! 3