Sorry this has taken so long, been celebrating my 18th by dancing on tables and being drunk most nights. Very classy, I know. When in Rome... literally.

Thank you to Lillie Cullen who recommended this story on her blog - I'm very honoured =)

Alsoo night owl made me a poster for this fan fic, and this is the url http://nightowl99./art/TheMissingChronicle-Interpret-125722279 which I can't get to work, but I don't know if thats just because of these foreign computers or whatever lol, but thank you anyway, I am sure I'll be able to view it once I get home in September =)

Chapter 21. Freedom, Again.

"When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed. And don't resent me, when you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory, leave out all the rest."

-Leave Out All The Rest, Linkin Park.

We all decided to go riding the next day, all six of us, even Emmett, who had gotten over the 'scarring for life' that we had inflicted on him yesterday and who now broke out into big grins and winked at me every time he caught my eye. I was starting to avoid looking at him.

Alice and Jasper tended to go slower, ambling along with Alice pointing out flowers and trees and birds at every corner, and Jasper dismounting to pick them for her if she liked them enough. After we had been riding for about ten minutes she had a crown of various different flowers woven into her hair and had completely disappeared from our vision she and Jasper were so far behind us.

Emmett and Rose were the opposite, Emmett cantering along and Rosalie keeping steady pace with him. Like Alice and Jasper, they too disappeared not long after we had set out, but in the opposite direction.

The forest was quiet and I would have been totally lost without Edward, every turning looked the same.

"Do they always leave you when you all go riding?" I questioned him.

"I usually ride faster than this," he raised an eyebrow at me, "but I ride with my father, discussing various things whilst my siblings-"

"Have fun whilst you be serious," I finished the sentence for him, and produced a grin from him. It was startling, the contrast between now and when I had first arrived. His smiles had been rare, his speech formal, his face blank and words harsh. Now he smiled more than he looked blank, he looked less uptight, less as though he was concerned with things that other people should have been concerned about. He was still mature, there were no two ways about it, he was mature and always would be, but now he actually seemed to be, not younger exactly, but more free with himself, more open.

"Somebody's got to be the responsible one. It's clearly never going to be you or any of my brothers or sisters," he smiled.

"You need to relax."

He let out a small 'hmph' noise, "I relax by riding fast."

"Riding fast it is, then," I grinned widely and shot off without giving him any warning. I was a skilled equestrian and I shot past Rose and Emmett within 5 minutes of sending my horse into a furious canter, rising and falling with the horse, feeling the wind in my hair and the breath of the wood nymphs as I flew through the forest. It was always like this, when I was riding, I went at it hard and fast, harder and faster than my father cared for me to go, but it let me breathe and let me forget. Because it was just me and the horse and the speed and the wind. And this time it was even better, because behind me, added to my soundtrack of speed and horse and wind and breath, there was Edward's roaring, hearty laughter as he chased after me on his own horse.

And for once, I didn't want to forget who I was, I didn't want to forget that I was Isabella Swan, who had lost her mother when she was thirteen, and had lost her faith and her way and her belief in her own abilities along with her mother, and was stuck with a father who didn't know how to cope without her mother, and who didn't know how to say anything or do anything that would help. Because I had Edward. And that was all that mattered.

It wasn't that I didn't love my father, I loved him more than I could possibly say, he was my father, but... I resented it. I resented all of it. It was selfish and stupid and infantile, but when I was alone in the middle of the night, I wondered 'Why'? Why me? Why did I have to lose my mother?

And I had never seen Aslan since the day of the funeral. I hadn't wanted to. Because I hated him. He was everything that Narnia was built on, and I hated him because he took my mother. And he sent me Edward so that he could take him away. And as far as I could see Aslan was pretty, well, shit. And I was meant to be Isabella Swan. How could I be Isabella Swan, be everything that Narnia needed Isabella Swan to be, to be everything that Charles Swan hadn't been able to be after Renee had died, if I hated everything that Narnia was built on?

But for once, for the first time in years, I wasn't thinking about that, I wasn't worrying about that. All I cared about was Edward riding at furious speed behind me to try and catch up with me, and Edward's laughter, and that Edward was relaxing and that both of us liked to relax by riding fast, and Edward. Just Edward. That was all I cared about.

I urged the horse on, determined to outrun Edward but as I came nearer to what appeared to be some sort of thinning of the trees he seemed to disappear from behind me. I urged the horse on, thinking that he had only fallen behind but as I entered into the clearing, a perfect little meadow with wildflowers and a sense of preserved beauty and nature, he came charging at me from the opposite direction, obviously he had known a shortcut, and as our horses came to ride past each other he reached an arm round my waist and pulled me onto his horse, kissing me furiously as the wind went through our hairs and I threaded my fingers round him, holding tight for dear life.

The horse reared up as Edward jerked the reins to make it stop, and as he had pulled me in front of him that meant that I fell even more further forward into him, our two bodies crushing into one another, every element seeming to reflect the need that I felt for him, the want that I was experiencing, that craving to hold him closer, closer and tighter than was physically possible.

We kissed deeply and broke apart breathing heavily, each of us staring into the other's eyes. And though it seemed a moment of passion, rather than rationality, Edward asked me something that seemed more rational than anything I had ever heard before.

"Marry me, Bella."

I blinked at him. Aslan, yes. I wanted nothing more than to marry him. I kissed him again. I had thought I would never hear those words, because no man would be allowed to propose to me, no man would ever be of status high enough to propose to me, but Edward had, and I loved him and I wanted him.

But that status. That small detail that meant that he was not allowed to ask for my hand in marriage. That would ruin it all.

"What?" I breathed.

"I love you, marry me."

"Edward... I... I can't, we can't..."

Yes. Aslan, yes.

I wanted to say yes. I wanted to shout yes. I wanted to scream yes. I wanted to agree to marry him so loudly that all of Narnia, all of the universe, heard me agree. But I couldn't. I couldn't betray him by agreeing to marry him, when he didn't fully know what he'd be getting into by marrying me.

"What do you mean we can't? You mean because of the differences in our status?"

"Well... yes..." Just not how you think.

"Bella – my father should be in Doorn by the day after tomorrow, I am going to tell him that I love you and only you, and if he gives me permission to marry you then we shall wed with his blessing upon our marriage despite the differences in our status and if he does not then we shall wed and start a new life without any blessing but that of love and love alone."

And if that speech had been enough to bring tears to my eyes, then what he did next caused them to spill over and trickle down my face.

He produced a ring from his pocket and I almost stopped breathing. The face was a long oval, set with slanting rows of glittering round stones. The band was gold – delicate and narrow. The gold made a fragile web around the diamonds. I'd never seen anything like it.

And then I realised that this was rational. Totally and completely rational. He had planned this, he had thought about this. He had decided to walk away from his family, from his duties for me. And I would do the same for him.

He opened my left hand and pressed it into my palm, closing my fingers around it.

"Edward-" I began, just as he said "Bella-".

We laughed and then I took a deep breath whilst he rushed on, "I love you and I want you to take the ring. Even if you don't want to marry me, I don't want anyone else ever to have it, it is yours, it will always be yours, and if I can't have you I want no other. And know, Bella, you don't just have my ring in your hand, you have me, my heart and my soul, and, because I love you and I want you to never feel below me, I want to give you... I'm giving you your freedom. You're no longer my slave, and if you don't love me then you can keep the horse and I'll give you some money and you can get a house and you can-"

"Shh," I hushed him, placing my finger on his lip, "I love you, and I want to marry you, but there are things you need to know, things I need to tell you. And I will tell you them, when I work out how, but know that I love you, and once I've told you everything I need to tell you, I'll ask you if you want to marry me, and you can decide."

"I'll want to marry you forever, Bella, no matter what you do, no matter what you tell me."

"No Edward, you'll hate me. But after I tell you, then please, do something for me. Even if you can never forgive me for those things that I shall tell you, then please, when you remember me, remember now, remember today, remember that you love me and I love you and... leave out all the rest?"

"I... I don't understand, Bella."

"You will," I said softly, tears still filling my eyes.

And we were silent for a moment, his arms round me on his horse, before our silence was interrupted by a voice.

Right, sorry but the character that I was talking about comes in on the next chapter, sorry guys, getting ahead of myself.

And the description of Bella's ring is totally Stephenie Meyers original Bella's wedding ring, doesn't belong to me =)

So... reviews? =)