Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon or anything else in the series as I am not Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 9 – Descent to Purgatory

The Los Angeles Community Hospital proved difficult to get into as they had to wait until evening, after the sun had set, to actually leave their car and go inside.

But they'd finally made their way in... And now Alice wasn't sure what to do.

She knew exactly what room Bella was in, and she'd told her family where to go, but she'd turned and walked the other way.

In some ways, Alice felt bad for her choice to walk away – not only from her family but from the only human she'd ever thought of as a friend as well – but the truth was she simply couldn't handle it. Often times her family thought of he ability as a gift, and she wouldn't deny that there had been times in the past where she had felt the same, but the truth was that it was a curse.

Because, in truth, if she'd never had her ability, she never would have seen the car wreck back over six years ago, never would have had the chance to form emotions for the human who would have died at that point... never would have known the wrenching pain she felt now. And she wouldn't already know what she'd find if she decided to go into that hospital room.

But, because of her curse, she did. After all, she could already see it in her mind. She could see, without going anywhere near Bella's hospital room, all the pumps, tubes, and machines that Bella was hooked up to. She could watch as Carlisle picked up Bella's chart and looked over it – could read where it had her marked as a 5 on the FOUR score scale and could see the notations on the bottom that were suggesting Persistent Vegetative State with a high likelihood of ultimately being brain dead. She could see it all without ever getting anywhere near the room that housed her once sister and friend.

And it only got worse. She never complained to her family, never vocalized her own hatred for the gift she'd likely been born with, and definitely awakened with after she was turned. Yes, it had led her to her understanding of being a vegetarian, led her to finding Jasper and the Cullens, led her to helping and saving her family far more than one time over the years. But, and it was a big but, it ate away at her in a way that she couldn't truly vocalize.

And honestly, how would it be fair for her to speak of her hatred for her gift when she saw how both Edward and Jasper struggled with their own gifts that they could never turn off without ever stating their true opinions. So she kept it to herself.

She threw herself into living, buying thousands of dollars worth of clothes, spending hundreds of thousands on cars and houses, investing millions in the stock market, and so much more. She danced with the morning sun, sang because she could, spoke a mile a minute, and loved with the sunset all so she could live life just a little more.

And for all that, one little insignificant human was the only thing it took to ruin everything.

If she'd been able to see this far in the future from the beginning and known the end result, she would have killed Bella herself. Prevented her own heartache... Prevented Edward's. If she'd known that the vision she'd once seen of Edward and Bella's wedding day – the vision that had prompted her to order the custom wedding gown from Perrine Bruyere in the first place – was all a lie she would have never let Edward figure out he was in love with Bella.

She'd have prevented it all, if only her curse had let her know from the very beginning that Bella's destiny was death.

Of course, perhaps if she'd paid better attention, she'd have realized it from the start. After all, just how many times had Bella almost died in those first weeks after she'd moved to Forks – more times than Bella herself had been aware of. Edward had almost killed the human well over a dozen times on that first day. And after he came back from Alaska, Alice had gotten no less than half a dozen visions every single day showing Edward losing control and killing the human.

Alice had always known it was an uphill battle. But, at the time, she'd thought it was worth it. Worth the risk of disaster for the chance at Edward finding his true happiness. And then they left.

And though she'd contemplated returning and changing Bella herself, she'd never followed through. Not until it was too late, because, by the time she'd actually gotten up the courage to follow through and had looked to see what would happen, Bella's future of death was already set in stone.

Now, she kept rubbing her metaphorical crystal ball to try and see a different fate, she wasn't finding any. The darkness in her head told her exactly what Bella's fate truly was.

She didn't need to go into that hospital room and look upon her friend, her sister, to know that Bella was going to die.

As far as she could tell, there was no hope for Bella.

She continued walking farther into the hospital, not caring where she was going.

September 2008

Bella waited impatiently for the bouncer – a man named Earl with a paunchy beer gut, graying hair, and bleary eyes who didn't look capable of throwing a spider out let alone anything of greater substance – to hand her ID back.

"Just turned twenty-one, I see." Earl leered at her, looking at her in a way that made her want to cover her chest – not that he could see through her black t-shirt.

Sure, she'd come here to hopefully get laid, and she knew she wasn't going to find prince charming at this seedy bar called Ball Busters Dog, but she was certain she could do better than the ugly fifty-something bouncer.

"That's right," she replied.

"Tell the bartender, the first drink will be on the house." He handed her ID over.

She took it and headed inside.

The inside of the bar did not disappoint – given the joke of a name. There were probably two dozen tables and booths spread around inside, each of which looking like a light wind would pulverize them to sawdust. The seats, both the booths and the chairs, were covered in red velvet that looked like they hadn't been cleaned in decades. The walls were covered in numerous stains, including several with a suspicious copper coloring similar to that of dried blood. And there was a pool table that looked like it had seen better days... a hundred years prior.

She didn't even know how to get started describing the lack of disrepair at the bar she made a beeline towards. And yet, in spite of the clear lackluster shape of the place, it was packed.

Every table and booth was full. The pool table, which she certainly wouldn't play on given the obvious tilt to the table even if she knew how to, had four people playing at it. And almost every stool at the bar was full.

A lot of the people at this place were what Bella was sure her dad would consider to be less than reputable, but honestly, Bella didn't care. She wasn't there to meet a new love interest. What she'd decided on was quite simple, get laid. There was no guarantee that it would pull Edward's voice out of her subconscious, but given that even though she was looking for it, her heart wasn't truly in it she suspected it would work.

Bella took the last seat at the bar, sitting at the far end and right beside a man who instantly reminded her of James without him even speaking.

The bartender was busy on the other end so she casually looked around, wondering if any of the men at the bar – most of them completely disgusting to look at – would be who she propositioned herself to.

"What's a pretty lady like you doing at a place like this?"

The voice of the man beside her caused her to involuntarily shiver.

Be careful, Bella, Edward half snarled in her head.

She smiled. "I'm looking for an adrenaline rush."

I said be careful!

And I'm ignoring you. You pathological liar. The conversations she managed to have with the Edward in her head were surely enough to have her hospitalized if anyone other than her ever found out.

"Ah, I see. And that's why you sat next to me?"

Her brow furrowed slightly in genuine confusion.

Don't trust him.

Go to hell, Edward, she thought back. "Why yes it is, actually," she claimed, pretending that she knew what the fuck she was talking about.

"And who told you to get in touch with me?"

Bella thought fast. "A birdy. You know names aren't shared." She was blowing so much smoke out of her own ass with that line that she was relatively sure her stool should have caught on fire.

The man in the stool beside her chuckled. "I like you already. Well, whoever told you about me might have been all smoke and mirrors, but you will be sharing your name with me as I'll be the one helping you get in if you really want it. My name's Greg." He held out his hand.

Don't you dare tell him your name!

Why not? It's not like you're here to actually stop me.

Get off that stool and GO HOME! Edward shouted the last two words in her head.

She smiled widely as she put her hand in Greg's. "Name's Bella."

"Well, Bella. How much do you know about RR?"

She was baffled. "RR?"

He leaned into her, whispering, "Russian Roulette."