Eventually the caucophany around us pushed into my consciousness and reminded me that we weren't alone. I pulled away from Edward, curious and a little fearful about the unexplained noise.
"It's okay, Bella," he reassured me. "They're not paying any attention to us. They're just celebrating." He was right. All around us our friends were laughing and cheering and hugging and kissing each other. Their celebrations made me think back to the battle, and I wondered what had gone on while I had been so absorbed with my own worries.
"Tell me what happened during the fight, Edward. I...I think I missed most of it." I whispered the words into his chest, unable to meet his eyes.
"I'll tell you everything, but first would you do something for me?" He stroked my hair and looked at me with such adoration that I couldn't even think of refusing.
"Of course. Anything."
"Tell me what happened to you. I didn't even notice that you had left my side until I heard Alice's scream, and then I was so afraid that someone had hurt you to keep you from using your shield."
"Oh, Edward," I groaned. Anything but that. "It's so embarrassing."
"You don't have to say anything, just show me. You know I'll understand." Maybe too well, that was the problem. He'd see what a ninny I'd been. Of course, he'd probably find out about that anyways, and it'd be better if he could just see the whole thing from my perspective in the first place. I sighed, giving in.
"Just don't laugh. I already know that I'm pathetic." I opened my mind to him and took him back to where we had separated during the charge across the field. I showed him how my mind had warred with my instincts, and how I had decided to stay out of the fight. Then I remembered for him the scream that had made it instantly clear to me that I had made the wrong decision and my flying feet as I dashed to remedy the problem my absence had created. I relived the emotions that I had felt when I saw what I had allowed Jane and Alec to do: Horror. Fear. Self-disgust. And then frantic desperation when I realized that I had lost sight of him and Renesmee. I replayed the scenes that had flashed by as my eyes skimmed over the battlefield, desperately searching for their familiar figures. I found that I could slow these images down now and make sense of them when at the time my brain hadn't bothered to pull them into focus. I let him see himself and Renesmee through my eyes at the time when I had finally found them. Both so beautiful, whole, unmarred. Even in my memory, the flood of relief was all-encompassing. I recalled the confusion that followed quickly when I suddenly realized no one was fighting anymore, and my double-take of the quiet battlefield, my realization of our victory, and the return of my eyes to Edward and Renesmee. I hadn't noticed at the time, but I saw now that every cell in my body had been celebrating at the moment when I had met Edward's gaze from across the field and knew for certain that we were all at last truly free from the grasp of our enemies. I focused on how Edward's face had filled my vision until my body had met his and his kiss had obliterated my sight.
"Mmm," Edward moaned. "That was a good story, and a very good ending." I whole-heartedly agreed, about the ending anyway. "Are you sure you want to hear my side of the story? It's not nearly as good as yours." He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently, but thoroughly. When he drew back, it took me a minute to gather the thoughts that he had scattered to the wind, and then another minute to remember how to work my vocal chords again.
"Yes, I do want to hear your story." My voice shook a little more than I would have liked. "The only good part about mine was the ending, and that's really part of yours anyway, not mine."
"If you insist," he replied, unphased. How he remained so cool in spite of the raging fire he had just kindled, I would never understand. "Okay, here's what happened: once you took Jane and Alec's superpowers out of the equation," he beamed at me with pride, "it only took seconds for our army to rip the Volturi to shreds."
"Edward, don't..." I felt bad enough about what had happened as it was without him trying to make some sort of hero out of me.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, honey," Edward interrupted in a soft voice. "So you got distracted. It happens to all of us, and you had the situation under control again in less than a second. It was very impressive." Impressive wasn't the word I would have chosen. Stupid. Ridiculous. Pathetic. Any one of those would have described my actions more accurately. I let him continue without interrupting though; he was anxious to tell his story. "Meanwhile, I charged right into Demetri and knocked him flat on his back. When I heard Alice scream, I looked around to find you and almost had a heart attack when I realized you weren't anywhere in sight. Demetri tried to take advantage of my distraction by making a hasty lunge at my throat, but he wasn't fast enough. I spun out of the way, grabbed his arm as he flew by me and yanked as hard as I could. Bella, you will never believe what happened." His eyes were wide, remembering the disbelief that he had felt at the time. "His body literally ripped in half, as if I had pulled out a seam." I struggled to find the right reaction to his words. I felt disgusted, elated, confused and amazed all at once. Edward laughed at the dumbfounded look on my face. "That's exactly how I felt, love. It took me a second to figure out what had happened. Only when I could bring myself to look away from the torn body in my hand, did I notice Garrett standing opposite me, holding the other half of Demetri's body. He had grabbed the other arm just when I pulled, and the force tore our tracking friend in two," he finished smugly.
"A little gruesome, but very impressive."
He smiled wryly, noticing my echo of his earlier sentiments. "The wolves descended on the torn body before I had a chance to finish the job, unfortunately," he grumbled, "but at that point I had other things on my mind anyway. I whirled around in a circle, looking for you again, so afraid that I had lost you." I wound my arms around his waist and pressed myself to him as he spoke, wanting to be as close as possible. "It felt like my world was spinning in the wrong direction, toward destruction. And when I finally saw you sitting up there on top of Seth, everything just stopped. My eyes locked, my body froze, time stood still. Then you were running toward me, setting everything in motion again, but the good kind of motion this time, the kind that means everything is right in the world. I just wanted to hold you close and spin off into eternity with you in my arms."
I snuggled closer into his chest, so happy that I just wanted to bury myself in him. "You tell a pretty good story yourself, you know." I wasn't thinking about just the ending though; I had picked out an important fact in Edward's story: the fight had been over before he had even had the chance to properly sink his teeth into anyone. That made me feel a lot better about myself.