AN: i'm baaaack! thank you for being so patient while i got this out. the mission trip was amazing, just so you know. i gave out food and blankets, cleaned, organized the clothes closet, and watched over larry, the gay klepto, and made sure he didn't steal too much. and while trying to do everything else, i babysat little kids so their parents could look for jobs or just because their home life sucked. and i also made food for the construction crew and made sure that someone was bringing them water bottles. not to mention flirted with all of them, which backfired because the boy i wanted to didn't ask me out but a guy i totally wasn't into did. it was awkward. but everything was soooo much fun, even though it was a lot of hard work.
anywho, i'm sorry this took me a couple extra days, but i tried to make it a bit longer to make up for it. hope you like! :]
Arabelle held in a scream as the car shuddered to a stop. The moment the wheels stopped turning, she threw herself out the door and ran for the nearest tree. Hugging it tightly, she breathed heavily, trying to force herself to calm down.
Jake and Nessie came up behind her, chuckling. "Your claustrophobia is killing my car, girl," Jake complained. "Every time you start to freak out it just stops, no matter what I'm doing. That can't possibly be good for Bessie."
Despite herself, Arabelle laughed a little. Still clutching the tree, she turned her head to eye Jake as Nessie teased him. "Like she can do any more damage to that rusted old thing. Why you insist on driving something that old is beyond me." Jake laughed and faked offense. "Because she has sentimental value, that's why," he huffed. "Besides, she's not that old. And I like her."
Arabelle giggled at Jake's ridiculous comments. His car really was an old rust bucket, but Jake sure loved the thing- he had even named it.
Sensing that Arabelle was feeling better, Jake gently pried her from the tree and dumped her in the back of "Bessie." Smiling, she laid back and tried to find sleep as Jake started down the road. Slipping into unconsciousness became harder and harder as she grew stronger; when Ihvon had been alive, she had only slept very rarely, perhaps a couple hours a month. His death had left her tired, so tired she sometimes thought she might drown in her own exhaustion.
But I am back now, she reminded herself fiercely. She could not let the constant waves of grief overwhelm her again. Arabelle soothed the unremitting agony in her chest with the knowledge that she would see Ihvon again; it was not goodbye, never goodbye. It was merely a temporary interlude in their story. Two thousand years is not such a very long time after all, she mused. It was not even half her admittedly short lifetime. She just wished it didn't have to feel so dreadfully long.
Arabelle groaned and tried to roll over. Unfortunately, she was still in the car, and therefore flopped from the seat to the floor, the subsequent bump forcing her to abandon all hopes of sleep. Jake watched her in the rear view mirror, snickering. "Real smooth, Princess." Childishly, Arabelle stuck her tongue out at him and climbed back onto the seat.
Jake's retort was interrupted by the sharp wail of sirens accompanied by flashing lights. Cursing, Jake pulled over. "I don't have any of my papers," he muttered. "No license, nothing. And I haven't had anything new made since the Volturi came." Nessie patted his arm. "It's okay, honey. We can just switch seats."
Nessie's plans for deception didn't last, however, as the policeman tapped on the window before she could even unbuckle her seatbelt. "Do you know how fast you were going, sir?" the burly man inquired, tapping his notepad aggressively. "You were going over one hundred twenty miles an hour. That's over double the posted speed limit." Jake cringed- he hadn't realized he had been going quite that fast. Rosalie had fixed up Bessie so that she was a lot more powerful than she looked.
"I need to see your driver's license," the cop informed him. "And would you care to explain why, exactly, you were going so fast?" Jake started to make something up, but was cut short by miserable, rasping cough from the back seat. He turned around to see a young child, suspiciously close in appearance with Arabelle, who was clearly deathly ill. Sweat covered her face, and a small trickle of dark red blood ran from her nose. Her golden blonde hair spilled over the seat, messy and wild. "Daddy," she whimpered, her face pale. "It hurts."
Jake reached back to gently stroke her hair. "It's okay, baby. You'll feel better soon, okay? Daddy's taking you to the hospital right now." He turned back to the police officer. "I've got to get her to the hospital," he explained, his eyes tight. "I don't know what's wrong with her."
The man's aggravated expression disappeared, replaced by an intense sympathy. "I'm sorry," he said. "You go ahead and get your little girl to the hospital."
Jake smiled gratefully as the cop stepped back from the window, taking off as soon as the man made it back to his car. Once they were out of sight, he turned back to see Arabelle back in her normal form, looking as bright and healthy as ever. "How did you do that?" he questioned.
She laughed. "I am who I am. Sometimes, disguise is necessary. I couldn't let him see my true form, and you needed a good excuse. So I picked a form that would serve both purposes." With a grin, Jake turned to face the road again. "Looks like I'm not the only shape shifter in this car, huh?" he told Nessie. She laughed and leaned against his arm. "Yep. You're not special anymore, Jakey!"
In the backseat, Arabelle smiled peacefully, allowing the happy emotions to soothe her mind.
Embry's eyes shot open as he woke, breathing heavily. Clutching his head, he sat up, not surprised to find himself on the floor. He had been plagued by nightmares for weeks.
Trying to massage away the aching headache the dream had left him with, Embry ran his fingers through his hair and over his scalp. As the pounding headache left, he found himself attempting to remember what the dream was, but to no avail. All he could find was a faint impression of red and black, followed by a beautiful swirl of white and gold.
With a groan, he got up, stumbling out of his room and down the hallways. He would phase, run around a bit, try and clear his fuzzy mind. He could never get back to sleep after one of the nightmares hit him.
He pushed out the back door and slipped off his shorts. The change was quick, and he took off through the back yard, enjoying the feel of the wind ruffling his fur. Dirt and dry leaves crunched beneath his paws. With a sharp-toothed grin, he dashed through the forest, thin branches whipping against his fur.
A doe flew out of the trees and directly into his path, startling him to a stop. He stared at the strange procession following it: two more deer, a mountain cat, some rabbits, various woodland rodents, and a long string of brightly colored butterflies. Wondering at the motley assortment of animals, he stretched his nose out to sniff at them. One of the butterflies, this one pink and gold, detached itself from the others to land gently on his nose.
Suddenly, the butterfly rose off his nose and started back towards his house. Feeling strangely inclined to follow it, Embry took off in the same direction. As he trekked through the forest, he passed several other strange processions of animals. Curious, Embry tried to follow one, but the butterfly flew insistently around his nose and eyes, keeping him from going off track.
Finally, they arrived back at his house, but the butterfly floated past it. Still drawn to the butterfly, Embry continued to follow it, completely unaware of his destination.
Arabelle finally entered the Cullen's home after a long, draining car trip. The stress of it all had left her physically and mentally exhausted; she wanted nothing more than a long nap. But one step through the doorway eliminated that possibility.
Edward was standing in the middle of the entrance hall, fuming, with Alice in the background looking horrified. Curious, Arabelle stepped further into the house. A sorry sight confronted her eyes- Edwards's beloved piano, ripped into shreds and strewn across the floor. It looked as if a hurricane had come into existence right above Edward's piano and disappeared promptly after smashing it into a thousand pieces. But the dark stench oozing from the wreckage told another story. "Rah'gied," Arabelle breathed. "They must have been unable to resist destroying an object that had so much love attached to it."
Shaking her head sadly, Arabelle approached the ruins of a once-beautiful grand piano. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her: this was her chance to do something for the Cullens, instead of the other way around! Grinning, she whirled around to face Edward. "I can fix the piano. It will take me a little while though." With a vibrant, happy laugh, she flopped on the ground in front of the piano. Her glow flared as she began to sing, a beautiful melody of stunning highs and gorgeous lows. Her voice weaved in and out of the debris, occasionally growing in volume to reach more.
After several minutes, a bright, blinding light engulfed the piano. Arabelle continued to sing, her voice growing in intensity as she swayed back and forth with the music. The glow rose from the floor, forming the shape of Edward's former piano. Arabelle's voice morphed into a sound even more thrilling and compelling than it had been before as the light flared impossibly bright, sending bright shimmers all throughout the house.
Slowly, the light flickered out, as did Arabelle's voice. In its place stood Edward's grand piano, even shinier and somehow more imposing than it had been before. Even the piano bench was back, right where it was supposed to be. A bright grin broke out on Edward's face, and he wrapped Arabelle up in a tight hug. "I don't know how you did that, but thank you so much." Arabelle laughed, on a sort of high from all the light she had been emitting. "It was no great ordeal. I swear, if I hadn't been Princess, I probably would have been a tree-singer. I love it."
Giggling, she twirled around the room, sending sparkles flying everywhere. She laughed as Emmett made a disgusted noise and tried to wipe the glittery dust off. He fixed her with a mock glare. "Woman, if you keep throwing glitter at me, I'm gonna throw you outside!" With a delighted laugh, Arabelle twirled once more, letting a huge, shimmering cloud completely engulf Emmett's large form.
Emmett let out a good-natured roar and charged at Arabelle, pretending to chase her around as if she were a small child. Eventually, he caught up with her, and instantly swept her up into his arms. She shrieked and tried to escape, but he held tight, making good on his promise as he marched out the front door and lightly tossed her into a flower bush.
Still laughing, she emerged from the landscaping with leaves, twigs, and flowers sticking out of her hair. Rosalie almost took pity on her and went to pull them out of her hair, but a willing crowd of tiny birds swarmed the moment Arabelle straightened her head. She emerged from the flock twig- and leaf-free, with flowers lovingly braided throughout her breathtaking golden mane.
Emmett laughed as she let out a huge yawn, swaying on her feet. "Tired much?" With a sleepy giggle, Arabelle stumbled towards Emmett. Halfway there, the exhaustion overtook her and she succumbed while still standing, instantly falling as she lost consciousness. Jake caught her barely an inch above the ground and carried her onto the porch, smiling at the small, contented noises she made in her sleep.
From inside the house, Carlisle and Esme watched the scene play out. Esme was leaning into Carlisle, his arm around her waist and her head on his shoulder. "She seems so young, sometimes," Esme confided. "She may be five thousand years old, but she's so… childlike. Innocent. How can she possibly survive out on her own?" Carlisle comforted her, gently tightening his hold on her waist. "She can't. Ah'lyah are not self-sufficient- not at all. But she won't leave by herself. She'll probably follow Jacob when she feels it's time to go. Don't ask me how I know- I just do. It's part of how she changed me, I think."
Esme nodded, mostly reassured. "I do hope you're right, dear. I don't know what I would do if something happened to her." Carlisle nodded, but he could tell something was still on Esme's mind. "What's wrong?" he prodded. She started to say something, but paused, looking unsure. Finally, after several seconds of deliberation, she voiced her concerns. "What I said about her being childlike… I mean, she really is a lot like a small child. Sometimes she grows up, but so often… she's… just so much like a little girl. I wonder… I wonder how that relationship worked. With a man that was so much older than her. I…" She trailed off, looking unsure, but picked back up. "I can't help but wonder if she was, you know, taken advantage of."
Carlisle smiled gently, rubbing Esme's back. "Naturally, she changes to match the maturity level of her other half. She doesn't have that grounding her maturity right now, so it's really fluctuating. But… Ihvon really was her soul, you know. He existed for her just as much as she existed for him. Their relationship could never be unequal- and being thrown out of a perfect world and into ours probably made her grow up fast. She may not be as innocent as she seems, but there's no denying the fact that it would have been all her own choice. He couldn't hurt her without destroying himself."
Esme smiled, feeling much better. "I'm glad that your little gift is working so well. It's nice to know what's going on, for a change." Carlisle laughed, hugging Esme tight. "Have I mentioned that I love you lately? Because, truly, Esme, I do." She smiled and pretended to be abashed. "You old flatterer you." With a grin, Carlisle bent down for Esme's ever-ready kiss.
AN: so, what did you think? please oh please review and let me know! don't forget, if you have questions, just ask me. pm or review, whatever you want.
and i know not too much happened in this chapter but i've got to throw in a little filler before we can really move into part two. patience is a virtue, darlings! :]
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