Chapter Twenty One

It took a few seconds for me to really grasp the seriousness of the situation I'd just managed to stumble (literally) into. As I lifted my upper body from the ground with a deep painful moan, I found two sets of eyes glancing down at me from the broken glass wall; Alice was leaning against it, her topaz eyes wide and round, and Edward stood right behind her, a scowl painted across his face.

An enormous amount of pain shot through my backside, and as I placed my hand to the ground to get off the grass, a sharp flash of pain went through that, too. "Holy fucking shit!" I cursed, and lifted my hand, seeing a long piece of glass edged into the palm of my hand, drops of blood prickling from it.

That was about the time were total and complete chaos ensued in the Cullen house. Before I even had time to get myself off the ground and away from all the glass, Alice had jumped through the hole in the wall, just as Edward turned to block the path from a very hungry red-headed vampire, who was evidently not cool with the smell of blood unless it came from one of her frigging meals. She was growling a few feet away from me, as Emmett held strongly onto her left arm, while Carlisle had a firm grip on the other.

On the other side of the room, Kate had jumped into action, just as Jasper's frantic eyes landed on me, his pupils dilated completely. She kept a firm grip on his arm, struggling to keep him there, and Edward was next to her in an instant, grabbing the other arm, as Jasper scowled in my direction.

Esme looked at us with worried eyes, her nose pinched firmly between her pointer-finger and thumb. "Sorry, Bella." she whispered, eyeing my palm which was now soaked in my own blood. "I need to go." she mumbled, before she fled the room, rushing pass the others and towards the kitchen.

Rosalie was by our sides in a flash when Alice tried to lift me away from the shattered glass without causing me more damage. I could feel my pulse beat roughly in my chest as they grabbed each an arm and hauled me off to the side; my eyes were focused on Victoria who was pulling and pushing to get away from her capturers. There was a mad look in her blood red eyes, and I could tell that it was seriously taking its toll on Emmett and Carlisle to hold her between them.

"Fucking blood." Alice mumbled next to me, as her lithe hands skimmed across my backside, trying to see how much damage the glass wall had done to my skin. It honestly didn't hurt that much, but there was a giant hole in their wall and pieces of glass lay spread over the green grass like it had been raining razor sharp pieces for hours. I was almost scared to know how my back looked at this moment.

Victoria hissed in her prison. "Let me go!" she spat, kicking her leg towards Carlisle, who just managed to miss being hit. "Release me!"

My eyes locked with Alice's and I hissed out sharply when her fingers hit a piece of glass still stuck in my lower back. "I need to get away from here." I told her.

Kate interrupted our conversation with a firm nod in our direction, "We need to go!" she firmly said, tugging harshly on Jasper's arm, to get him to focus on her and not me or the struggle that his family was having, keeping Victoria there, "Jazz! You can't stay here, it's too dangerous."

I knew that Jasper couldn't find this situation easy at all. I remembered – Alice had told me that he wasn't as used to their vegetarian lifestyle as the others were. He just wasn't able to handle it as well as them. And I immediately felt guilty for making him feel like he had to abandon his family when he clearly wanted to be there to help them keep a hold of Victoria. And I felt ever guiltier for making him feel like he wanted to eat me. I liked Jasper, he was a good guy.

"Go Jasper!" Edward's low voice cut through Victoria's screeching, "Go. We'll be fine, just – get out of here, for Christ's sake!"

This time, Jasper let Kate wrap a firm hand around his biceps, and she forced him out of there, dragging him towards the kitchen, following right in Esme's tracks. I had no idea where they were heading off to, but I assumed they were leaving for the forest through the back-door in the kitchen. The guilt was overwhelming and it overshadowed all of the pain I'd felt in my back before. I barely felt it anymore, as I watched Rosalie bounce from my side and to Emmett's – clearly to help them both keep a hold of Victoria.

Carlisle's voice cut through the chaos with firm authority. "Alice." he said, glancing briefly at me with worry in his eyes. "Get Bella upstairs, I'll be there in a second; we need to handle this."

I could feel Alice's cold hand as she pushed me around the house; the dark had settled in around the Cullen residence, and the trees stood all high and mighty as we went around the giant building. I felt a shiver run down my spine and thought that I could feel millions of little eyes watching me from the shadows. Alice's breathing was comforting though, right there next to me, as she gently guided me through the kitchen door and upstairs, closing every possible door as we went, ending in Carlisle's study with a loud sigh.

I breathed out sharply once more when I tried to take a seat and realised that it fucking hurt to do that. "What's happening?" I questioned, placing my hand, palm down, on my thigh, just to keep some sort of pressure on the stinging wound. The cut fucking hurt.

Alice closed her eyes tightly and heaved out. "They're trying to drag her off somewhere, but she's really strong. This is bad, Bella. Fucking shit!" she angrily whispered, kicking the couch.

I blinked and could feel the familiar pang of tears in my eyes. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault."

"No it's not." Alice quickly snapped, her now black eyes turning to meet mine with fierceness. "It's that bitch Victoria! She fucking won't give up. I don't know where they're taking her to calm down, but she'll come back. You can't stay here."

My throat tightened horribly and I shivered in my clothes. "Why don't they just... get rid of her?" As much as it pained me to ask her this, it seemed like the best idea to me. That way she wouldn't bother us again and I'd remain, well, alive.

Alice shook her head and pushed her hair back with her small hands. "Carlisle's not like that. He doesn't like destroying one of his own, he's too good."

I sunk back against the wall, ignoring the stings in my back as I rested my head against the wall, thinking. Fuckety fucking fuck. I'd really managed to screw this day of celebration up royally, hadn't I? What the crap was it about me that just spelled disaster? No matter where I went and what I did, I always ended up screwing things up so badly. I hated myself right now, I really did.

"They're taking off." Alice mumbled, falling onto the old couch by the back wall, her eyes focused on the window – she was probably watching her family as they went into the dark forest. "They're going to meet Jasper and Kate out there, Esme's downstairs now. Edward and Carlisle will come back, and the others are going to take Victoria to the reservation."

I felt my eyes widen. If they really did take her to the reservation, then – well, fuck me. If they took her out there, there was not a doubt in my mind that the wolves would destroy her. If they managed to get her out there, mind you. Sure, there were four of them, but she was smart, wasn't she? She was supposed to be smart, at least that's what I'd heard; she'd been avoiding everyone for weeks now, and she was fast. What if she got away, what if-?

Alice shook her head at me. "She won't get away, Bella. They'll get her out there, and Carlisle will leave it up to Sam Uley to decide what to do with her. It's out of his hands that way."

I sighed heavily. "The wolves are gonna love that."

"Emmett's not too thrilled about missing another epic fight." Alice smiled vainly at me, a glint in her eye, "But since we killed off James, Carlisle feels it's only fair to let the Quileutes have their way with her. After all, they've been following her for weeks now."

I slid down the wall and to the floor, once more ignoring the painful stabs in my back. I couldn't wait for Carlisle to return so he could fix those. "Are you sure they'll just let the wolves kill her? Carlisle doesn't seem like the type."

Alice shrugged. "Maybe once she calms down – away from your blood – they'll try to reason with her. I'm not sure. I think they should let the wolves destroy her into tiny little pieces. That way she'd be out of our hair."

I couldn't agree with her more, but I wasn't going to say that. If Carlisle decided on something else, then I'd believe he was doing the right thing. I'd never doubted him before and I wasn't going to start doing it now. He was the smartest, most intelligent man I'd ever known; every word across his lips was sincere and correct, and I could listen to him speak for ages when he told me stories and facts about vampires. "What did Victoria want tonight?" I whispered then, knowing that Alice must have had some sense of idea of this by now.

My girlfriend bit her lip in thought for a second, until she glanced at me once more. "She wanted to come here to see how important you were to us." she whispered, her fingers writhing in her lap as they twitched and turned. "She wasn't going to attack today, she just – she was going to see how much we were willing to do to protect you. She was just checking out the scene, figuring out when to strike."

I closed my eyes and nodded my head faintly.

"I'm sorry it ended like this." Alice murmured, and suddenly I could feel her presence right next to me, and I opened my lids again, glancing at her through hooded eyes, "I'm sorry she's after you, and – and she was trying to figure out how powerful I am, how powerful Edward's mind-reading is. It should have never ended up like this."

Snorting, I placed my good hand on her cheek and cupped it. "Don't you apologise." I firmly told her, my eyes locked with hers. "I'm the one who can't walk a straight line without tripping. If I'd managed to get outside without shattering a glass wall with my body, everything might've been better right now."

Alice chuckled lowly and continued to press a lingering kiss to my lips. I could feel my heartbeat pick up slightly and smiled to myself. Everything was okay, though, wasn't it? I was still alive and I still had her, so it was going to be fine. No matter what happened to Victoria, I was going to be fine. Except for the humiliation I'd have to feel when facing the rest of the Cullens, but that was to be dealt with later.

The door was opened and we looked up to find Carlisle looking down at us, a strained smile on his face. "They're with her near the meadow, Alice, you should go join them. Edward will follow you." he told his smallest daughter, and Alice quickly shot up from her crouch next to me and saluted her father.

I watched her go and turned to face Carlisle with an embarrassed blush on my cheeks. "Sorry." I mumbled.

"Could you please lie down on your front?" Carlisle softly questioned me, not commenting on any of the things that had happened. He kneeled down next to me and smoothed his hand down my side as I followed instructions. "Doesn't look too bad." he mumbled and reached for his medicine bag, which was always stocked away inside his office, "I'm going to have to pull out a few pieces of glass and disinfect everything, but you should be absolutely fine."

I murmured something incoherent into the carpet and winced as he started working. "Are you going to let Victoria go?"

Carlisle was quiet for a few seconds, focused entirely on his job, as he worked. "I told Emmett to reason with her, to kindly ask her to never come back. I don't like fighting one of our own, it seems wrong." he carefully told me, and I knew that there was no arguing his beliefs. He was a proud man, and men like him didn't just hurt people for no apparent reason, not if things could be dealt with somehow else. "But I also informed him that if she seems adamant about coming back for you someday, he shouldn't hesitate informing the Quileutes of this encounter. They'll know what to do."

Biting my lip as he ran his hand over a more painful wound, I stated, "You seem to like the wolves a lot?"

He chuckled. "We could benefit from a friendship with them. After everything that's happened, I think we proved that we can all be acquaintances without hating one another. Not that we ever did, but-" he stopped himself, and I knew that the appropriate way to end that sentence was '-they hated us'.

I nodded against the carpet and felt him rub some sort of liquid onto my back; it stung a little, but at least the painful glass was removed and I didn't seem to need stitches. Maybe this was my lucky day after all. "I'm sorry I ruined everything." I told him, as I hoisted myself up into a sitting position, now clearly done with the medical-attention.

"Rosalie was rather furious that their party got cut short." Carlisle informed me, as we both stood up. He gave me a once-over, "Do you have something to wear in your truck, or do I need to get you something of Esme's?"

I wrapped my arms around myself and gave him a faint smile. "I'll find something in my truck." I mumbled, before I brushed pass him to get the hell out of there. I felt so guilty – I know it wasn't his intention to make me feel that way, but what he said about Rosalie, it really got to me. Hadn't I been such a stupid, clumsy human, they would have still been partying away downstairs and not roaming around in the forest with a vicious vampire.

I could hear Carlisle go to find Esme inside their bedroom; probably to talk to her, maybe to make her feel better after I – the stupid human – managed to start bleeding and break their wall. I went outside as silently as I possibly could, carefully avoiding the living room; I did not want to have to look at the mess I'd created in there. I hoped that someone else was going to clean it up for me, because if I had to do it, I'd have to face everything, and I wasn't quite ready to do all of that.

Opening the door into the passenger's side, I slowly sorted through the mess I had in there, finding my comforting hoodie. I pulled Alice's beautiful – now ruined – dress off my body and slipped my sweatshirt over my head. It was rather long but I was in dire need of some sort of pants as well. I shivered slightly in the cool night air and ended up finding a pair of old gym shorts stocked beneath some of my school books. I slipped into them as well and sighed happily. It wasn't as warm and comfortable as I would have liked, but it was better than nothing.

Slapping the door close I gazed towards the Cullen house. The light was on in Carlisle and Esme's bedroom and I felt wrong for intruding on their time. They deserved to be able to sort through their feelings and thoughts, and frankly – so did I. Biting my lip, I decided to just go for a short walk around the nearby forest. I'd just pass around the house or something. After all, there was nothing out there for me to fear as of now, was there? And Alice had said herself that it was better if I wasn't near the house. I'm sure she wouldn't mind; I needed to work off some steam anyway.

I crossed the garden and skipped through the beautiful decorations, once more feeling stupid and useless for ruining such an amazing night. This was supposed to be Rosalie and Emmett's special night, and I remembered thinking – just hours earlier – that this was exactly what I wanted one day as well. To be with exactly these people and have exactly this experience. But would they ever even want to now? I felt like a complete idiot.

There was colder once I stepped beneath the first trees, and I wrapped my arms around myself, letting my feet carry me wherever as I pondered the last few hours. I needed to walk this frustration out; the frustration of not being good enough. I just needed to lose myself completely, to be so tired and worn out that I wouldn't have to think about all of this. If I used up all of my energy there'd be nothing for me to do but sleep for a very long time once I returned back to the Cullen house. Hopefully I'd be able to slip upstairs unnoticed and it'd leave the inevitable facing of the others for a little while longer. I couldn't bare having to look into Rosalie's hurt eyes. Despite everything we'd said to one another, and all the hostility she first put me through, we really were good friends now. She might still not be the sweetest of persons, but it was an endearing quality that I'd come to love.

I'm sure Emmett wouldn't feel so angry with me; he'd probably be psyched that I managed to create some drama on his special day, he'd even think that it was my gift for him (I snorted at this; that'd be way cooler than the flat screen TV I'd 'gotten' for them out of Alice's room). I wasn't sure I'd be able to face Jasper, really. I knew he was ashamed that he couldn't handle blood the way his siblings could. He was the newest addition to their family, of course, but he still felt bad about it. I was actually surprised he'd been able to restrain himself for jumping at me for as long as he had; maybe the feeling of helping his siblings had given him strength, but still... I felt like an idiot for putting him through this, Kate too.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I hissed at myself and angrily kicked a small pebble into nowhere.

And sweet, caring Esme... I'd managed to make her feel bad too. She'd had to leave the room as well. And whose fault was that? Mine, of course! And while Carlisle hadn't mentioned it, I'm sure he was annoyed that I'd managed to screw everything up again. It was just like at the school dance where I'd been left alone and everyone had dropped everything to come to my rescue because that stupid vampire wanted my blood. Maybe Carlisle would never say so aloud, but I'm sure he felt it. Or perhaps he was just really focused on the task at hand, but really... he'd been a doctor for longer than anyone else – he could do this with his eyes closed.

I wasn't too sure what Alice felt right now. She'd made it seem like she was okay with everything and just happy that I was still breathing (which I knew she was – she loved me), but she must have felt some kind of annoyance with me, right? She should have changed me forever ago and we wouldn't have had to deal with this! It was the same with Edward really. I knew he cared about me immensely, but wouldn't I cause just about everyone to want to pull their hair out? I was the recipe for disaster.

Coming to a halt suddenly, when a branch whipped against my shoulder, I realised that I'd ventured further into the forest than I'd first wanted to. I'd never been to this part of the forest before; it must be pretty far inside, because the trees were taller than I'd ever seen and I could hear the distinct sound of a river nearby. Which was great, really, because I knew the river defined the treaty – but where the fuck was I, really? I was lost.

Sighing heavily, I threw myself to the ground and folded my arms around myself. This was just great. Typical, typical Bella Swan. I'd been so consumed in my self-pity that I'd manage to fuck things up even more. Now – on top of everything else – they'd have to send out a search-party for me so I wouldn't freeze to death.

Fucking shit!

Maybe I should consider just finding my way back somehow? I turned my head to all sides, trying to locate the right direction, but – who the fuck was I kidding, really? Trying to find my way back would only get me lost further. I'd better wait it out... But still. I could hear the water, right? So if the river was nearby, all I had to do to get to the road was follow it downwards. That seemed simple enough. And if Alice realised I was gone before I got there, she'd find me in an instant. After all, she was fast, had an amazing sense of smell – and, well, she could see me wherever I was by tuning in on me. I'd be found within thirty minutes!

I scrambled up from my seat on the cold forest ground, dusting off my shorts and bare legs. The river was most certainly to my left, so I moved that way, zigzagging between giant trees, and ignoring the cold shudders I felt every now and then when I was almost convinced that some animal had zoomed in on me and was ready to strike. It was comforting that I didn't have to worry about vampires, at least.

It took me about fifteen minutes to find the river. I wasn't wearing a watch and I didn't bring my cell phone, but I was pretty sure I couldn't have been gone much longer than for an our and a half, two hours tops. Alice must've realised I was gone by now, and soon I'd be tucked inside her warm and comfortable bed, and I wouldn't have to worry about facing the others before tomorrow morning. Emmett and Edward would tease me for running off like this; Esme would scowl at them, and Alice would grab my hand in hers and never let go again.

Pushing through a naturally made wall of branches and leaves, I bid back a scream. Holy fucking shit, that was close! I was standing on the edge of the giant river side; the canyon was deep beneath me, the river pulsating through it with no mercy as it pushed pass rocks and fallen trees. It was a starry night, and everything was illuminated from above, which made it a lot easier to see now that I wasn't standing beneath the giant trees inside the woods.

I took a step backwards, pushing my back against the trunk of a tall tree. Following the river towards the road might be a little more difficult than I'd first assumed – the trees were basically standing at the edge, leaving no room for anyone – even someone as small as me – to follow it. Of course I could step just into the forest and make sure to follow the direct path of the river as I walked, but how would I know for sure that I didn't stray away from it? I could check in every once in a while, but that meant I'd have to push my way through branches like the ones I just did, and frankly, the cuts on my hands were stinging madly, so I'd rather not.

Should I just wait for Alice to come find me? That seemed rather idiotic too, since it was – in fact – my own fault that I was now in this position. Leave it to me to do something like this, even after the vampires were out of the equation.

"Fucking idiotic..." I mumbled to myself as I stepped into the woods again, determined to find my way out of this on my own, "Shit's just frigging fantastic! Great Bella, just great!" I hissed, turning to the right to continue following the energetic river. I'd just have to step out to make sure I was still going in the right direction.

I angrily placed one foot in front of the other, growling to myself. Situations like these just shouldn't be allowed to happen. Someone should make sure to stop me before I decided to do things like 'take a walk to clear my head'. Seriously. What was wrong with me? What good had ever come out of going into the forest without a compass or some sort of map? I was getting more and more certain that my head wasn't screwed on right.

Coming to a halt, I decided to check if I was still close to the river. I slowly pushed through the trees on my right, determined not to end up near the edge once more. It had been a close call before, and I knew that the trees were millimetres from falling into the river themselves. Heck, several of them already had, and some were hanging by a tread. I bid back a huff and fisted my hand to forcefully shove this thick wall of nature out of the way. Lifting my feet to give it a good kick, I suddenly felt something shift beneath me, and before I knew what had happened, my footing was lost and I felt backwards; my sore back slamming into the rocky ground. Everything went black for a second, and suddenly I felt the ground move once more; a maddening sound of rocks falling and loud splashes from the river below me, shook me to life. I reached for something – anything – to hold onto, as the ground disappeared beneath me and into the water.

My hand clutched tightly around a branch. It was the only thing in my reach, and I almost didn't dare turn my head downwards to look towards the bottom of the canyon. My heart was thudding madly, and suddenly I wasn't so cold anymore; sweat had broken out on my forehead, and I felt my hand slipping from the only thing that was holding me in place right now. Beneath me was water, endless amounts of water, and I swallowed loudly.

There was no way in fucking hell that I was getting out of this right now, if Alice didn't turn up this instant.

I frantically searched the side of canyon with my eyes, trying to see if maybe there was a ledge or something that I could slip onto somehow. There were plenty, thankfully, but they were all small and rather useless. However, there was one further down that seemed big enough for me to sit on. If I could just camp out there until Alice found me, then that'd just be grand. Since I was quickly coming to realise that I wouldn't able to hang onto this branch forever, it had to happen rather soon. It was making weird cracking noises, and if it snapped on me, I'd slide down the side of this canyon and end in the water.

Biting my lip, I decided to try my luck. There was a small ledge further over, and if I got successfully onto that one, I should be able to make my escape to the one I had in mind. I carefully shifted my grip on the branch to the other hand and slowly started leaning my foot over; letting it glide against the rocky side of the canyon. Nature crippled above me and I turned my eyes upwards to fasten them on the piece of wood I was clinging onto for dear life.

One horrific sound made my eyes widen, and before I knew it, I was sliding down the side with a giant swoosh; I shut my eyes tightly and shielded my head with my arms, as my already battered back hit rocks and ledges and whatnot. This was it – I could feel it. I'd escaped death so many times before, now it was going to be over. I'd die at the mercy of the giant river beneath me, and maybe I should be thankful, because that seemed like the way to go instead of ending up as dinner to Victoria.

A loud shriek escaped my lungs as I came to a stumbling halt. Opening my eyes, I realised I was perched on the edge of another ledge, still feet above the actual water. Scrambling to secure myself, I pushed my back against the wall and moaned in displeasure. I could barely breathe and the pain on my entire body was maddening. Every place hurt; my back was hunched over in a weird angle, and I'm sure that something was broken – the pain in my neck was insufferable. I couldn't even bother paying attention to the cuts and bruises on my bare legs, or the way that my left foot seemed to be bent out of shape.

I breathed in as calmly as I could and lowered myself onto the ground in the most comfortable position. There was no way that I was going to survive this. Even if Alice found me, I was pretty sure that Carlisle wouldn't be able to put me back together.

I'd really managed to screw things up this time around.

Shit Alice, I'm sorry, I thought.

That's where everything went black.

Eep! So sorry about the long delay (yes, I do realise that I say this everytime, but I really am). Next chapter – the last chapter! - should be here quicker though, because I'm going to work on it right away. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, though. A lot of you had concerns about Victoria coming there, and I do realise that maybe that was a bit out of character for her. I hope her reasons were clear enough in this though.

Oh. And I've been dreading writing this chapter since I started writing this story, and it turns out it really was as difficult as I'd presumed. I'm not good at drama like this! I hope it wasn't too horrible though. There was a lot action and not really that much dialogue in the end. Gah. I love me some dialogue, but I hope it was still worth reading. I do realise that Bella leaving the house is extremely stupid, and before you comment on it, I'd just like to say that that's exactly how I see her. She'd leave the house in a situation like this. Just like she decides to go cliff diving and go hiking all alone.

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed it, and please leave me your comments – I'd love to know your thoughts on this – slightly different – chapter.

Disclaimer; I don't own Twilight.