Chapter 20: Power Acceptance and Training

There was worry from all my siblings, but they weren't the ones I was worried about. I shifted my focus to the faces of the Cullens. What I saw shocked and hurt me. I saw fear and confusion in their eyes. In Carlisle's I was pretty sure I even saw disgust. Jasper's expression was the worst. It was almost one of pure horror. He was mortified! My own mate. I forced myself not to grab at my chest. IT wouldn't have done any good. He'd already managed to rip my heart out. They all had. The pain wasn't going to ever end. First the bites I was dealing with and now this. I needed to see my children. At least they never feared me. "We need to get back." I whispered as to keep the pain out of my voice. I couldn't look at any of them.

I faced straight ahead and bolted for the Cullens place. Wow, it really hadn't taken long for me to be unable to consider them family, but then again they hadn't seen Bella today. They'd seen Storm.

It was times like this when I wondered if God got a kick out of throwing me into impossible situations where only terrible things can happen for them to be resolved. I ran as fast as the wind would help me to. I didn't want to see any of them. I went to my injured siblings and the elements worked to finish the healing. "Thanks Storm." Alice said smiling. I nodded.

"You're welcome," I said flashing her a strained smile

"Don't let them get to you." She ordered.

"It's too late. They barely realized it was still me. All they saw was Storm." I told her bitterly. "Well guess what? I'm really sick of feeling like my hearts been torn out and stomped on." With that I took off into the woods. I stopped after ten minutes and settled down in a clearing. The elements left me to think, thank god. An hour later I heard a twig snap and I looked up to see Laurent there.

"Bella, I'm so sorry." He said brokenly.

"It's fine." I shrugged. "You didn't hurt us."

"Not just that. When you 'died' it didn't feel right to me. I went searching for you, and I found you in the south. I couldn't get you out alone, so I was going to tell the Cullens where you were, but Maria found me and wiped my memory. I'm sorry Bella. I failed you." He hung his head.

"If it wasn't for you I would have died long ago by Victoria's hand. You have never failed me Laurent." My tone implied that several other people had.

"They were just shocked." He defended them. I jumped to my feet angrily.

"If they were shocked then that was what I would have seen in their eyes, but no. All I saw was fear of the monster that stood before them!" I growled out as pain wracked my body. Why did this always happen when things were going great. Oh, now I remember: because nothing good ever lasts for me! He looked pityingly at me. "Please Laurent. I don't want pity." I whispered.

"How about empathy then," he held his arms open and I walked over to receive the hug.

"Thanks," I forced out around the pain. He nodded.

"They do want to talk to you." He informed me. Which me? I thought bitterly. "Will you come to talk with them?" He pressed. I sighed.

"If I must," I muttered. I followed him back to their house. I walked inside uneasily. Shit! I thought as the pain hit me. I guess I was back to square one. All the memories in this house were once more tainted with pain and loss. Congratulations Cullens. I thought bitterly. I forced myself not to flinch from everything I passed. It was easier t focus on just putting one foot in front of the other. I made sure the pain wouldn't show in my eyes. It was a weakness. Great now I was treating them the way I treated enemies: show no weakness or fear. What a difference from yesterday. I thought angrily. I entered the living room to see my girls glaring at the Cullens.

"Girls, come here." They ran over to me, but they still glared fiercely at the Cullens. "Leave them alone."

"But they did it again." Robin said with empathy. How was it possible that one so young was so smart?

"It's all right. Everyone's safe. I did what I had to." They nodded as they remembered times they had done the same thing. "Go work on your elemental abilities outside. I want you to work on control today. The last thing I need is for you to get angry and kill the Cullens or our family." The Cullens seemed put out that I didn't call them family. I wanted to hit them. Why would I call them family after their reactions?

"Yes Mom," Lion said as she pulled her sister towards the door.

"Everything will be fine girls." Jasper said in an attempt to comfort them. He placed a hand on Robin's shoulder. I wanted to remove it. He had no right anymore! He was mortified by our abilities. He couldn't play good father anymore.

Robin shrugged off his hand and turned to glare venomously at him. "You lost the right to comfort me. You aren't my dad. I only have a mom." She spat at him. She turned and walked outside without a backwards glance. I almost smirked at that, almost. Jasper seemed shocked. Laurent remained by my side. When Jasper snapped out of it he narrowed his eyes at Laurent.

"Don't even start." I said purposely moving closer to Laurent. Every time Jasper had hurt me, and there had been many, it seemed to get worse. The pain got worse. I sat down as far as I could from the Cullens. Laurent sat in the chair next to mine as if he feared Jasper's wrath. I internally rolled my eyes. Jasper was no threat. "What do you want from me now? Is my heart not in enough pieces already? Or did you come to watch it burn?" I questioned bitterly. They didn't say anything.

"We just wanted to talk to you." Jasper said.

"Which me, Bella or Storm," I paused for a second before continuing. "Oh, I get it. You want to talk to Storm, the monster that scared the shit out of you and made you wonder if it was really me. You want to know how the hell I did that and why." My voice sounded dead even to my own ears.

"Bella just let us explain." Carlisle started. He'd been disgusted by me and now he wanted me to listen to him? "We're confused. You never really explained your power."

"Do you really blame me?" Why did I ask that? "Never mind I can see you do. I kept it from you because I feared this. I feared your reactions to it. Anyways, my power is total control of the elements. They do whatever I say without hesitation and they tell me things. I can locate anything and everyone on the earth whenever I want. While useful my power is also dangerous, like so many others. When I loose control or let the elements do what they will only my sisters and possibly you guys are safe from my wrath." I informed them looking anywhere but at them.

"SO that's how you did it, but why?" Emmett inquired. Why did I do it? Were they really that stupid? "We could have gotten out of there." Apparently they were that daft.

"You could have gotten out of there alone." I repeated scathingly. "No offense meant, but your fighting skills are friking subpar. Alice and Andrew were having more success and they were weak! My other sisters and I weren't going to be able to get us out of there, and I knew there had to be more soldiers lurking trying to get us. The 'monster' you saw was rattling the bars of her cage. I looked around and everywhere I looked our enemies were gaining ground. We were loosing. I had to make a choice: keep your acceptance or hope you'd look past my ability and save us all. I know my limits. Rejections I can handle. Death I can't. I did what I had to do to keep you alive. If what you saw disgusts you, Carlisle, or mortifies you, Jasper. My family and I can find somewhere else to stay. It's probably for the best. Maria's after me and I have a halfling to save." I got up and walked out of the house.

I immediately heard someone behind me. I turned to see Jasper there. "What do you want now?"

"Bella, please understand."

"Understand what? That I scare you? That: even if I saved your life my means were terrible?"

"No Bella. I wasn't mortified by you. You didn't scare me. I was more shocked then anything. I was remembering back to my time with Maria and how horrible I had been when fully in control. Bella if anyone here's a monster it's me. And the disgust you saw from Carlisle was directed internally. He was pissed he wasn't able to get us out of there safely." I shook my head in denial.

"It's true Bella." Carlisle said as he and the rest of the Cullens exited the house.

"I'm sorry for the stupid question I asked." Emmett muttered.

"It's fine." I said uneasily. Was this a joke? Did they actually still want me despite my power?

"Bella we aren't going to send you away. You're family." Esme stated kindly.

"Who said I wanted you to go away? You're my little sister!" Emmett exclaimed. I smiled slightly.

"Thanks guys." I said relieved. My heart seemed whole once more.

"Not to kill the happy, but what did the girls mean by 'they did it again'?" Jasper inquired.

"The usual: tore my world apart with no hope of a return to normality." I shrugged. I saw pain flash through Jasper's eyes before he hid it from me. I walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "It's all right. I'm kind of an expert on that kind of pain. Besides you did fix it." I reminded him. He wrapped me in hug lovingly.

"Thank god for that." He muttered.

"Let's go play with the girls." I said pulling him over to where they practiced.

We spent the rest of the day helping the girls learn how to control their powers more. They weren't as strong as they'd been before. Thank god the girls' abilities were weakening as time went on instead of increasing. The last thing I needed was Aro to see them as a threat.

When the girls went to bed that night I went to talk to Alice and Andrew. I had to know what Maria had done and how to plan. "You want to know." Alice stated as I approached. I nodded before I sat down in front of them.

"Will you tell me?" She nodded. I saw pain in Andrew's eyes and they hadn't even started yet.

"We were hunting and then all of a sudden we were surrounded. I didn't even see them coming! They were just there! We fought, but then Maria grabbed Sam. We couldn't fight anymore. She would have killed Sam. Maria stayed there with Sam and ordered the others to bring us to that camp you found us in. They chained me to the wall and beat the shit out of Andrew. I couldn't get free. I couldn't help him!" She said hysterically. I wrapped her in a hug.

"It's okay. You're both safe now." She nodded and Andrew spoke now.

"When they were done with me they had four of them hold me back as the hurt Alice. They wouldn't stop hurting her! They had another pain causer with them. They had him mentally attack her over and over again. They wanted to know where you were and who was with you. She wouldn't tell them so they didn't stop." Andrew said brokenly.

"I'm so sorry Alice and you too Andrew. I should have gone with you." I berated myself.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. We were so relaxed. We thought we were safe. We won't be safe until Maria's dead." Alice said angrily.

"Than it seems we know what we have to do." They nodded.

"We want to help you Bella. Will you teach us how to fight?" Carlisle inquired. I nodded. We all went outside.

"Andrew and Jasper: you two can help each other. You fight differently. Don't hurt him too much Andrew." I called as they began.

"The confidence you have in your mate amazes me." Rose teased. I shrugged.

"Ashley and Becca I want you to work with Esme and Carlisle. No power abuse!" They rolled their eyes and began there work. "Sam I want you to fight with Rose and Emmett. Show them how skilled you really are." She smirked and got to it. I watched the fights carefully. Maybe being a quick learner ran in the family. They were improving faster then I would have thought possible. Then I looked back at Sam's fight. She was much too serious. The look in her eye was cold and calculating. I pulled her aside.

"What's gotten into you? We're trying to teach them. This isn't like training newborns! We can be kind here! I need you focused."

"Or maybe you need to toughen up. Why don't you grow the backbone you claim to be famous for?" She snapped back. She turned to walk away and I grabbed her arm. I yanked her around so se was facing me.

"I don't know what your problem is. Maybe you blame me for not getting to you. I don't know. All I know is you're not acting like the Sam I know."

"Maybe you didn't know me as well as you thought." She said before she stalked back. I rolled my eyes. She'd be fine in a day or two… hopefully. I really couldn't do anything about it now. I had to work to train them all. They had to learn everything I taught the newborns and I doubted I had even a week. I was going to have to work harder then I'd ever had to before.

I didn't want to think about the problems it would cause if I failed. At least if worse came to worse I had the monster. She rattled the bars of the cage at the thought. She was excited for the role she would most likely come to play in the coming battle.

What the Characters think:

Storm: You're turning into me again. Thank god. You're so damn weak!
Bella: Don't piss me off

Storm* laughs* Like you could do anything!
Bella: *pulls out her favorite flame thrower* DO you really want to go down this road.

Storm: *lights a fire ball in her hand* Bring it bitch!

Me: Storm back the fuck off. I wrote you off for a reason!

Storm: You can't do shit

Me: *Starts a massive thunder storm* Do you really want to try your luck against both of us?

Storm: *Lights a second thunder ball*

Me: *shrugs* It's your life

Bella and Me: *I hit her with lightning and Bella gets her with the flame thrower*

Storm: Dead

Bella: You helped me *shocked*

Me: Storm's been pissing me off for the past six chapters

Bella: True enough

*The two walk together talking happily*

Jasper: Please review so they don't kill us all… Bella and the author is a scary combination!

Bella: What was that Jasper?

Jasper: *runs off*