Title: Twilight Soldier
Author: Azure the Dragonlady
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Don't own Dark Angel or Twilight.
Summary: Dark Angel/ Twilight Crossover. X5 Bella/Edward. No Pulse. After escaping the harsh treatment at the hands of a secret government organisation known as Manticore, X5-472 has tried to settle into life as an Ordinary with varying degrees of success. Going by the name Bella, which was given to her by the CO of her unit, Zack, she comes across the Swan family and is soon adopted by them.
Years later, after an Eyes Only broadcast revealing the possibility of her location being compromised, she decides to go to a small town called Forks. There, she meets Edward Cullen. They both have their seeming impossible secrets, but that doesn't stop them from being drawn to each other. However, when Bella's past finally begins to catch up with her after ten years on the run, she finds that her life just got even more complicated.
Author'sNote: NaNoWriMo 2009 Entry. It is set during season one of Dark Angel. This chapter is not beta'd.
Chapter 11: Mood Swings
Bella looked at Zack's departing figure until he disappeared from view. She wondered if she'd done the right thing in letting him leave without her. He was still the best chance she'd had of reuniting with the rest of her siblings. Bella sighed as she shook herself from her thoughts – Zack wouldn't have let her go anyway.
Bella headed for her first class which brought her passed Edward. He looked at her as she approached, jaw clenched and an undecipherable emotion flashed across his eyes.
"Hey Edward," Bella greeted, stunned and somewhat hurt be his reaction.
Edward nodded stiffly and Bella walked away with a frown.
Bella went through the rest of the morning ignoring the noticeable stares directed her way. The rumour mill had started spinning rapidly. All she heard was the mutterings of the students wondering who Zack was, why he was there and how he knew her.
Bella wasn't concerned with the petty reaction of the students, instead she was wondering about Edward's reaction to Zack. She could have sworn she saw jealousy flicker across his face. A part of her hoped it was. It meant that he liked her too. If Renee was right and she did have a crush on him, the jealousy would have worked in her favour, right? She frowned inwardly. She was new to this whole love, boyfriend/girlfriend business and didn't quite know what to expect. At times she hated the fact that she wasn't an ordinary girl – it would be a lot easier to fit in and sort these things out.
When the bell finally went for lunch, Bella quickly gathering her books and shoved them in her bag. Despite Edward's earlier behaviour, she found she was eager for a repeat of lunch from the other day. As she opened the door; her eyes went straight to her usual table only to find that it was empty. She looked at the Cullen table. There were five people sitting on the table. The smile on her face disappeared in disappointment, before she masked her hurt and continued on, joining the line to get her lunch, as if nothing had occurred.
She ate her lunch as quick as she could, eager to get out of the cafeteria.
She had thought that her and Edward had a connection and they were friends, and secretly hoped there was a possibility of it progressing to more eventually. Now it seems she may have read the signs wrong, maybe he really wasn't interested in her as she believed.
She kept her eyes firmly on the lunch in front of her, unable to look back at the Cullen's table. She could feel the back of her neck prickle, an apparent indication that Edward was surely staring at her.
Maybe she could skip biology today?
Bella frowned at the thought. What was she thinking? She was an X5! Why was she running away from him? She should be able to continue on with her daily routine, and not let this little thing, whatever it was exactly, interfere with her life. If Edward wanted to go on like that, it was fine. It proved that she shouldn't even have attempted to make friends here. She should have stayed low and quiet like she had planned.
As soon as she finished her lunch and made a motion to stand up, she saw Alice as the pixie entered her peripheral vision. Alice took the seat in front of her. It was the same seat that Edward had sat in himself a few days ago.
"Bella," Alice greeted, a musical note in her voice.
"Hi Alice. How are you?" Bella asked awkwardly. It was Edward's sister after all.
"Great!" Alice replied chirpily.
Alice eyes moved across Bella to look at the Cullen table behind her. Bella couldn't help but glance back herself. She saw that Edward was staring at Alice. He seemed a little agitated and annoyed. She turned her head back to look at Alice; who was still staring and Edward, she found, was doing the exact same thing. Bella looked between the two, her eyes narrowed in both confusion and suspicion. It seemed like that were having a silent conversation, although she didn't know how it was possible. Bella could see their micro facial expression flickering occasionally across her face, further solidifying her belief that something was taking place.
Several moments passed, Alice turned her gaze back to her. Bella felt her eyebrows raise, silently asking Alice what was going on.
"We can talk now without interruptions," Alice said. Bella knew then that the pixie would ignore any attempts to get her to explain what just happened. Itwasprobablypartoftheirsecret,Bella told herself.
Her curiosity had definitely increased.
"O-kay," Bella said slowly, not at all convinced by Alice's obvious dismissal of the topic.
"What's wrong with Edward?" Bella took the opportunity to ask Alice. She knew Alice, if anything, would know what was going on with Edward.
Alice laughed. It was infectious. The corners of Bella's mouth rose in smile.
"I wouldn't worry about Edward, Bella. He's a little emotional," Alice said, smiling at her.
"So, everyone wants to know about this guy you turned up to school with. He was hot!" Alice giggled, but Bella noticed her fleeting glance at Edward. Bella would never have picked up on it if she were human.
Bella laughed at the thought of Zack and her dating. "No, we're not dating," Bella answered her implied question directly. "He's not my boyfriend. His name is Zack and he's my big brother."
Alice eyes brightened immediately. "Really? I didn't know you had a brother."
Bella shrugged. She was about to give a non-committal answer when the bell rang. Bella stood up, smiling at Alice apologetically. "Sorry, I have to go to class."
"Okay," Alice replied. "It was nice talking with you. Remember we still have to go shopping one weekend," she said enthusiastically. Alice's eyes lit up at the mere mention of shopping.
"I will," Bella said, although inwardly groaning at the thought of shopping with an enthusiastic pixie with an abundance of energy as she headed in the opposite direction of Alice.
She soon reached her biology class and wondered how she should handle this situation. She sat down in her seat before the majority of the students, including her bronze-haired lab partner arrived. Flipping open her mostly unused biology notebook, she started to draw circles on the empty first page, but her mind soon wondered back on Alice's conversation earlier. A thought suddenly came to Bella, brought on by what Alice just said. Alice had just implied Edward was jealous because he thought she was dating Zack.
A few minutes later she realised that she managed to replicate the Manticore symbol. It was then she heard the chair next to her being pulled back and glanced up at Edward. Their eyes locked as he sat down and she quickly closed her notebook.
"Good afternoon, Bella," Edward said softly. "I apologise that I confused you, I-"
"You know you're mood swings are giving me whiplash," Bella interrupted. "And don't worry, I finally get it, thanks to Alice. You were jealous." She smirked when she saw his face change slightly at the mention of his sister, like he was groaning inwardly.
Edward glanced away from her briefly. That was all the proof she needed.
"You were!"
"Yes," Edward admitted reluctantly. "Though I shouldn't be."
"I guess we can't help the way we feel." Bella replied. She paused for a moment and asked, "Do you have feelings for me?"
"I shouldn't." Edward muttered, as if to himself. "I shouldn't have let this… us get this far. I shouldn't have involved… I reveal too much when I'm with you."
"Me too," Bella mumbled at his confession. "And I have feelings for you too," she added shyly, suddenly in unknown territory. She hadn't felt so nervous since the escape from Manicore.
"There are many things I want to explain to you, Bella, but I can't. And I will probably never be able to…" Edward trailed off, looking her straight in the eyes. His golden eyes were expressive. He was telling the truth.
"Your secret," Bella said knowingly. Edward nodded in reply. "You know I have secrets too, and I can't explain them to you either."
"Mine are dangerous," Edward argued.
"So are mine," Bella argued back. There was a moment of silence. "We're at a stalemate, I believe."
"Yes," Edward reluctantly agreed.
"The guy with me was Zack. Do you remember me telling you about him? He is my big brother," Bella explained.
"Yes, I remember," Edward said with a small smile. His expression had lightened considerably since this morning. "Tell me about him," Edward added after a few moments.
"About Zack?" Bella asked, surprised that he wanted to know.
Edward nodded slowly, but was interrupted as Mr Banner entered the classroom.
"I'll tell you after class," Bella whispered to Edward.
Biology couldn't finish fast enough. She had tapped her pen impatiently, silently going over what she was going to tell him. Edward glanced over at her with an amused expression. Bella couldn't help but grin in return.
After class, Edward waited for her patiently to pack away her things and the two walked out the classroom together.
"Zack was one of the oldest in my dorm at the orphanage," Bella began her rehearsed story. She didn't like lying to him, but she couldn't reveal what she was. Maybe someday, she hoped – but then she imagined him looking at her like a freak…
"He took care of us, protected us… if he could have he would have taken the punishment if we got in trouble," Bella continued with a small smile.
"Punishment?" Edward asked with a frown.
Bella froze briefly, berating herself for revealing too much. She shrugged, hoping to play it off. "It wasn't a very nice place. And that was why one day Zack told us to run. And we did. He never led us astray before."
"What sort of punishment?" Edward pressed.
"I don't want to talk about it," Bella settled for, looking down at her notebook. "It's in the past and that's where it should stay. I'm here now. That's all that matters, right?"
Edward stared at her intently.
"I've got to go to gym now," Bella told him."I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Of course," Edward agreed.
Bella turned around, putting her hands over the back of her neck and under her hair, pulling it out from where it was caught in her jacket. Edward's hand suddenly came out and grabbed her, holding them still.
"Bella," Edward breathed slowly. "What's that?"
Bella span around and fear shot through her at the tone of his voice. "What's what?" she breathed.
"There, at the back of you neck," he answered. He brought his hand up and finished moving her hair away from her neck. He lightly touched the barcode at the base of her neck with the tip of his index and middle fingers. Bella shivered instinctively in response. Edward snapped his hand away at her reaction.
"Is that a barcode?" he asked. "What is that doing on your neck? You don't seem like the kind of girl to have a tattoo."
Bella looked down at the ground, unable to look at Edward. "Leave it alone," she said roughly.
"Bella," Edward replied softly, reaching to touch her arm to get her to face him. "You can tell me."
"I said, leave me alone!" she yelled, jerking violently away from him. "I don't want to talk about it."
Bella covered her barcode with her hair and walked away ignoring Edward's calls of concern. This wasn't the way she wanted things to happen. It did seem to Bella that Edward wasn't the type to let mysteries lie, similar to her in that way.
Edward was that little bit closer to discovering her secret.
And for some reason, deep down, Bella seemed a little too relieved about it.
Feedback is appreciated.
-Azure the Dragonlady-
