Well, I have good news. I've thoroughly plotted out the last of this episode, and I feel very generous today. I also began to update Episode Three. I've yet to title it, now that I think about it. I think I should call it "Sisterhood," and you'll find out soon enough why. I would like to dedicate this chapter to Mutti, because of her awesome taste in music. Unbreakable by Fireflight is the muse for this Chappie, as well, as the fight scene, though that's co-mused…
Oh and pay close attention to Bella's dream. The man that shows in it is a VERY, VERY important character. Try to pay close attention to Bella's emotions during the dream as well. You'll think it's how she sees Edward, but as the series progresses, you'll realize otherwise. Next episode will answer who this man is. Until then, expect her dreams to be filled with him. He's not Jacob.
This isn't the final chapter, but it is the PRE-boss battle. So keep in mind that there's more to come, so don't ignore any alerts after this. There's another fight after this for the reviewer who wanted some action. Muse: Fireflight's Unbreakable, and Otep's Breed.
EIGHT: READY FOR HELL
It was the third time she dreamt of him since Monday. When Bella came home Monday, despite Edward's staying with her the entire night, she still dreamt of the vague man with handsome features, dark eyes, and black hair. His nose was long, but not big, his face was sculpted. His cheeks were defined, and his eyes bore into you. He looked like one of the most serious people you'd ever meet, but no, not to Bella. A euphoria of white light shined behind him, making his figure dark, yet still hopeful, that the light he brought shining through the door was light into her dark, deep room. He was so familiar, as if she had dreamed of him before, and she had decided by the time he had gotten to her, that she had. She lay on the white floor now, no longer in Drake's dark room. The black haired man now had her in a bright white room. She was not afraid, just confused. She sat up, eager to ask him who he was.
He neared her and once he was at her feet, he kneeled and reached out to her and held her face in his hands. As soon as he touched her, relief and structure overcame her. Structure of faith, and hope in fate and herself. She realized that this man was someone of importance to her. But the feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach, she felt as if she had known him all her life, like he had watched over her and she had been with him forever. Tears came to her eyes as she placed her hand over his. "Bella," he spoke softly. "I need you to be strong…" His voice was so meaningful. Now that she recalled every dream that he had been in, never had she heard his voice, and if she had, never had she heard it like this. It was as if hearing for the first time, the sweetness in his voice, the importance. As if he were the only person that could keep her going, her life force. She was dependent on him and felt no shame or guilt. She was happy to be the puppy to follow the older dog around aimlessly, no matter what.
"You need to fight Bella…" Tears fell from her eyes. Such hope filled her, as if she had been looking for him for the greatest time, like he was a long lost piece of her forever forgotten. "He won't win if you don't want him to!" His voice was stern. "You are not his. You do not belong to him! Fight Bella! Don't be a weakling, and a coward! Fight or die! Those are your only choices." He tightened her face within his hands, but not too tight, but enough so she wouldn't turn her face away. Her tears wet his palm, and her hands held onto his wrists, as if keeping from being washed away from shore. "You do not deserve to go to hell!"
And then she woke up.
But this time she remembered every dream, and every word. She remembered for the first time, her dream. She dreamt. She didn't have a dream state that replayed the night of her branding. Instead she dreamt of something that represented hope. This was good. This was really good. She looked to her side to see Edward, staring down at her.
"You were crying?" he stated, confused. "I thought you said you didn't dream…" he was clearly as lost as she was.
"I did," she insisted. She sat up, looking straight forward, distant from the current world. "Believe me. I thought I didn't. But apparently I was wrong…" She remembered the man's face so well. She also remembered every other dream she had had of him. Could she sit down and list them, no, but it was like when you study for a test. You can come out and tell the teacher, but when given the questions for the subject, it all clicks and you end up with one hundred percent.
The dream was just one of many things Bella had to deal with. The branded still had that woman, and the woman hadn't called in a few days so, that meant something wrong. Bella was afraid she was too late. It was Wednesday, and her stomach still hadn't settled from the information she had acquired. "Hell," she thought. What waited for her when her brands gave out was literally her own personal hell. She wouldn't be sent to the eternal flames…or to heaven, but to Drake, to relive her worst fears over and over. Drown in them. She wasn't exactly scared. The heaviness of the situation didn't accurately settle in yet. But she was worried for the woman. She still had to kill the branded that they had been dealing with in order to…well…"free" the woman.
"You alright?" Edward asked, worry spread across his face.
Bella looked toward him and smiled. "I'm fine." She tried to be fine. But she just couldn't. She had too much on her mind. He seemed to not be totally convinced, so she kissed him as convincingly as she could. He bought it, sighing against her lips. She placed her finger on his lips. "I'll tell you about it later," she promised.
"I do wish you could tell me now, but Carlisle just called, and wants to speak with me," he informed. Looking up at her, "If anything happens, call me!" His voice was stern and she laughed.
"I will call you."
He kissed her one last time, deeply and sweetly. Reluctantly, he pulled away and made it toward the window. "Oh, and whatever you do, don't turn on your computer."
She giggled at the idea. "I'll just check my email on the laptop, then," she smiled.
He rolled his eyes and gracefully jumped out of the window. She smiled at their playfulness and crawled out of bed. Her dream did send a sense of optimism. He was right. She couldn't be a coward and she didn't deserve to go to hell. She was innocent and never had the chance to sin. It was odd, how she was accused of sinning by getting the brands, when the reason for getting the brands was because she hadn't sinned. Irony's a bitch.
She showered and made her way downstairs in some jeans and a t-shirt. She wasn't sure what she was gonna do today. She hadn't known what to do the last few days. Carlisle had wanted to talk to her but had yet to tell her when. She did spend it with Melissa and her brother's. They were a cool bunch. Vincent and Shannon were the oldest, Tucker and Mark were the most playful, because they were the youngest. Add in some marshmallows, a video camera, and some soda, and you had the last two days. But Bella felt guilty for not dealing with the woman. But Edward insisted that she go, that the woman contacted Bella when she least expected it, so the only thing Bella could do was to go about her daily business, and when she was contacted, she would be contacted.
She got downstairs. "Charlie?" she called.
"In here, Bells," he answered back.
Bella followed his voice to the living room. There she saw him, standing in the living room, not in his chair, but staring at the TV, watching the news.
Bella's heart dropped.
Jane Doe, the unidentified, scorched body recovered from an anonymous abandoned church in Seattle has been proclaimed MISSING. There is no evidence leading to who may have taken the body or how the body was transported out of the Seattle Morgue without anyone noticing. Motive is also unknown, but police have made statements such as, "We believe that whoever went through the trouble to steal the body apparently holds a grudge against the person's identity and is aware of their identity. We hope if we do find this body, we will be able to find the identity as well, and put this woman to rest properly, and hopefully her body can find closure. We have also come to a possible conclusion that the kidnapper of the body may be the killer…""
Bella stopped there. She needed to get to Edward. She automatically got up. That's all she needed to hear. She ran upstairs and yanked her phone from its charger and dialed Edward's cell phone number.
"Hello?"
"Edward, hey, it's me. Something bad has happened. Something severely bad…"
--
Bella and Edward burst through the Cullen household. Bella was in business mode, fully. "Bella," Carlisle immediately met them. "Edward informed us on the missing body. We're willing to do anything to help."
Bella was quite glad to hear this. There was too much to do, and not enough time. She thought…she would need the identity of the woman, to get to the church, and something to keep her from attending school. She had too much to do, but she'd have to work with whatever she had.
"I do need your help," she admitted, but not unfortunately. She was glad that the Cullens were willing to help. She would do anything to help this woman. All of the Cullens were spread throughout the giant living room. Bella would need each of them to help. So, she began her instructions. "Look," she announced, "I do need your help, and I'm not ashamed to say it." Some of them smiled. Others, such as Carlisle and Rosalie, stayed stoic, ready for their instructions. "Carlisle," she looked toward the blond, "I need the woman's identity."
"Yes, I can do that." He finally smiled.
"But we don't have a lot of time. To single it out," she thought. Those private investigator shows were no help. She'd have to go from instinct. "To single it out, I need all the missing persons that went missing within a week before the body was found. Then," she thought. Single it out, she repeated… "We need all of the blonds. Look to their occupation, and any occupation that would require office wear." Bella was breathing hard, her voice full of wary. She was seriously worried. She didn't want to screw this up.
"I believe the odds of them quitting the day they went missing is very slim," he mused.
"You're right. It is, thankfully. You want blond, thin, and pretty. Pageant material." She saw Rosalie roll her eyes in the corner of her eye.
"What then?" Someone said aloud. Bella turned to see Jasper.
"Then you need to go to each of their homes and you need to question them, find out when, whatever woman your there for, find out where they were last before they go missing." Her eyes went sad. She knew this part in particular was going to be hard. "And that's where you come in," she looked toward Edward.
"No, Bella, I'm staying with you." His voice was firm. His eyes bore into her, stripping her again, for the first time that day. But this time, he was serious, not sensual.
"Edward," she reasoned, approaching him so they were in a personal distance, "they'll lie. The families will be heartbroken, worried, and disturbed that someone other than the police are interrogating them. We'll need your, awesome mind reading skills to get the information they don't give," she smiled playfully, trying to gravy him up.
"You're not going alone," he said. There was such seriousness to his tone. He wanted nothing to happen to her. She didn't want him to come partly because he could get hurt, like when she avoided him coming to Port Angeles, which he still didn't know of. She had told him she had a phone call with Mia, but left all of the physical details out that may lead to him finding out she went there, herself. She hated lying, but she had no choice. She was wiling to risk his trust to protect him.
"I know. Alice," she looked toward the pixie looking girl. "You can't see my future, but you can see your family's. I want you to go with Edward so in case anything happens you can prevent such."
"You should take Jasper to ease up any tension," Carlisle ordered.
"Good idea," Bella said allowed, agreeing into content.
"What about Rose, Emmet, and Esme?" Edward called.
"Rosalie," Bella said, looking toward the blond. She would put all of Rosalie's snide remarks behind them and would currently focus on the matter at hand. "I need you to watch Melissa. Drake attacked last time, and there's no telling whether he's involved or not. She's involved, whether we like it or not. I need you to watch her…"
"I won't let anything happen to her." She tried to smile, but then added, "I promise."
Bella was glad that progress was being made, on the personal level with Rosalie, and with the current matter. "Emmet," She turned around, a smile on her lips, "I need you to come with me."
A big grin covered his face. He was up for anything. "Let's do it," he proclaimed in a booming voice.
"Bella, what about school?" Alice asked.
That was right. What about school? She could pull something. But she didn't' have time. Her friendship with Jamie, Mickey, and Nate sure did teach her a lot about making school get out. But she didn't have Jamie, Mickey, or Nate. But she did have the next best thing.
"Rosalie, I just made your day even harder," Bella proclaimed happily.
Ignoring Rosalie's confused stare, Bella pulled out her cell phone, and with the sweetest voice Bella could come up with, "Melissa, hi! Dear friend that I love so dearly and that would do anything for me…"
Okay, I'm making this short, because I'm trying to break this story into as many chapters as possible, without making it like only a thousand words long. I wanted you all to see the intensity Bella is feeling toward the situation. Also, I wanted you to see her mad detective skills. Okay, they're not that mad, but they're sufficient. My mother says I'm writing over everybody's heads, that no one knows what's happening because I'm making them think. Tell me, is that a bad thing? Am I making you think?
And, I'm also going to post a spoiler for Episode three. It's an actual chapter from the series. So, AUTHOR ALERT TO ME. To alert to this story, but AUTHOR ALERT. That way, you won't have to alert to every single story and you'll know when the next installment is posted. So, you guys want the spoiler… yes? No? Kitty
