Title: Of Forever
Chapter: Part IX
Author: Sleepybard
Rating: Overall NC-17
Pairing: Edward/Jacob, Edward/Bella
Warnings: Mild violence, language, sexual content, AU after New Moon, OOC (of course), imprint!fic (some people might be getting sick of these), drama
Author's Note: This is another imprint!fic, yes, but I tried to keep them as in character as possible (lol, Smeyer doesn't even do that). Please note, I'm taking a lot of creative license with these characters.
Thanks to the awesome Bovus_Stercus for the beta-ing

Summary: Months after Edward and Bella return from Volterra and Jacob is left wondering what's next. Maybe he's prepared to fight for Bella. Fate, however, is a bit more fickle than that, because he's just not meant to live alone. Or is he?

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs solely to Stephanie Meyer. I am merely borrowing her characters for some creative, fan-based writing. No opinions or original characters or storyline in the following story in any way reflect her opinions.

Please read: Alright, a little more interaction between Jacob and his dad, sorry if it seems too slow, but the next few parts make up for it, promise :)

And as a bonus for everyone who has stuck with me since the beginning, I've created a soundtrack for the fic. The songs are the same ones I listen to when writing Of Forever, so listening to them while reading the fic will really bring out the mood :) They're all instrumental though, thought I should warn for that (piano songs, I mean). The soundtrack can be found by following the link for my homepage on my profile page. It will take you to my Livejournal community where the soundtrack is at.

Part IX

I didn't know what to think I stared at him in silence. Dead? How was that even possible?

"You mean…Was she turned?" I wasn't sure whether I was surprised by that thought. It had been obvious Edward was going to turn Bella at some point. I ignored the sudden pain I felt at that thought. If she was turned, then there was absolutely no hope for me…

"No," dad said uneasily. I waited for him to go on, knowing there was something he wasn't telling me.

He sighed, a shallow sound that was a testament to the weariness he was suffering. Rubbing his hand once over his eyes, he finally picked up the now cooled coffee cup and drank, some of the coffee spilling from the corner of his mouth before he wiped it off with the back of his hand.

"You have to understand, Jacob," he started once he put the cup down, "You'd been missing for almost three days when they came back. The only reason we knew you were even alive was because the shifters could still feel your presence, though even that was faint. When Bella came to the tribe with Edward in tow, we didn't know what to think. Paul almost didn't stop to do so; he almost tore Edward apart on the spot."

My fists clenched at my sides as that image played in my head.

"And then they told us what happened, that you'd sacrificed yourself. Of course, no one wanted to believe it. Actually, I'm sure no one did believe it. Not until Edward told us you'd imprinted on him." I wasn't sure where this was going, since it was all as I'd suspected. But then dad's next words had me frozen in my seat.

"Seth took it the hardest. You know how he always idolized you. You were more his brother than anyone else and losing you so soon after losing his dad…it wasn't easy news for the boy. When Bella and Edward explained everything, I—He…" Dad stopped and for a moment, I could only imagine how this was going to end. And a part of me didn't even want to hear it.

"He moved before Sam or the others could stop him. There was nothing anyone could do Jacob, believe me," he said, looking at me pleadingly.

"What—" I stopped to clear my throat, feeling suffocated, "What did he do?"

"You know a wolf's bite is lethal to anyone, everyone. And he—he bit Bella."

Tears slid down dad's face but I didn't know who he cried for. For Seth, who in a moment of weakness had broken a sacred law of the land to never harm humans, or for Bella, who had been the victim of his attack. I wondered for a moment though whether he too still harbored resentment for Bella, knowing she was the reason I'd died essentially.

At that moment, I wanted to know what Edward did more than anything but I couldn't ask; I didn't have the courage to hear the truth just yet.

"Is he…?"

"No," dad quickly answered, "No, he was spared. He's been living in exile since then. I haven't seen the boy since he left."

"And Edward?" the words slipped like oil from my mouth before I could stop them. Dad stared at me for several long minutes before replying.

"Edward…nearly lost control. There was so much blood, he almost didn't make it. Paul held him back while Sam attempted to save her," he paused, giving me a moment to process everything. "When it was apparent nothing could be done, I suppose Paul must have loosened his grip or maybe Edward was just strong enough to break away. He took Bella, I suspect back to his home. No one dared follow him, not then at least. The land treaty had been breached, by both parties and we couldn't face the vampires yet, not when we were both grieving."

"And since then? What happened with the treaty?"

"The Cullens moved away for some years. They've only just come back 2 years ago, under new names of course, new professions, different background stories. But it's them."

"But the treaty, dad, what happened to the treaty?" I was getting impatient. Surely they wouldn't have done something too drastic. After all, the fault lay with us, not them as much as it hurt to admit it. I was the one who'd willingly gotten myself killed, and not even in the same continent let alone the land the treaty applied to. And it was one of ours that had harmed a human.

"Nothing happened to the treaty. There was nothing either of us could do about it anyway since the details of all that happened were so convoluted," dad finally said. There was nothing more for him to say I suppose.

It all seemed too simple though. Heartbreaking, but simple. Bella was simply dead and the treaty was still effective? And the Cullens leaving only to come back? It seemed too simple to be real. And I hadn't even begun to sort through my feelings yet on how I felt about the news of Bella's death.

And then it hit me. Like someone dousing me with freezing water, the thought came and it suddenly all made sense.

"How long after Bella's death did they leave?" I asked suddenly.

Dad looked at me questioningly. "I'm not sure," he said, "several days maybe."

I stood before he said anything else. I walked around the table to him and bent down, kissing him on his cheeks before wrapping my arms around him in an awkwardly positioned hug. I let him go though before he could return it.

"I have to go," I said, pulling away.

He looked surprised and more than a little disappointed. "But you've only just got back! You need to meet with Sam and the others, tell them all what happened."

I shook my head. "I can't. It's better that I finish this once and for all and leave. You can tell them once I'm gone everything that happened to me. But I can't meet Sam or the other shifters. I can't stay here dad. I'm sorry."

The broken look on dad's face cracked the shattered pieces of my already unbeating heart as I said what I did, but I knew it was for the best. There was something I needed to do, something no one else could help me with. And afterward, after I found my answers and found closure, I would leave and never come back.

I told Aro back in Volterra that I wouldn't be the little puppet playing his sick games anymore, and I wouldn't be. I had lived, if it could even be called that, for eleven years catering to the depraved whims of those bastards who had taken so much from me. And here I was, finally back in my home, so close to my family, and the only thing I knew I could do was leave again.

After waiting so many long, pain-wrought years in that hell, wishing for nothing else than to just go home and curl up in my room or in the woods and run, I finally came back only to realize I would never again belong here. I was no longer just a wolf, and I wasn't a leech—not completely. After I finished what I was going to do, I knew I couldn't stay in Forks. But I wasn't going back to Italy either. I'd have to find some place new, but even that wouldn't matter. It would be only a matter of weeks before I became sick and withered away to dust without the blood of my imprint to sustain me. The only way to get that blood was from the Volturi or from Edward himself, and neither way would be possible after tonight.

I grabbed dad's hand in mine, the searing heat of his palm a beautiful contrast between my freezing one. He held my hand then between both of his and we shared a look of mutual regret before I finally tore myself away from him. It was painful, but I had to.

"Will I see you again?" he asked, but his voice held little hope he would.

I shook my head, stepping back. "Probably not," I answered. More tears appeared on his face and I had to look away.

"I'm so sorry Jacob," he whispered to my back. "I'm so, so, sorry."

I didn't say anything as I walked away. I spared a subtle glance back again at the clock on the wall.

It was still just as broken as me, but what did I expect?

TBC