Hello everybody!

I'm back again with an early christmas present! This is officially, the longest chapter yet and I sincerely hope you like it!

Once again, I'd like to thank all of you who reviewed! You guys are what makes me write! (Besides, I love reviews!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does!

Carlisle, Esme, Rose, Emmett and Edward were already waiting for us, just outside of our chambers, when we came back. And by the look on both of my parent's faces, my siblings had already told them what had transpired between Bella and Edward just moments ago.

"Where were you just now?" Rosalie stepped forward; her hard eyes were focused on me, although she had taken a second to glare at Bella, who now looked like Elizabeth once more.

"I was outside, having a nice chat with Lizzie here," I replied in a nonchalant tone, shrugging my shoulders as I did so.

Rose's stern gaze turned incredulous for a moment, my comment had caught her off guard, but she quickly recovered and managed to hiss out a "What?"

"I said," I stretched the word, "I was having a nice chat with Lizzie, Rose, please don't blow things out of proportion," I said, as calmly as I could.

"Out of–" she let out a huff, "Out of proportion!" she growled, "You just told me you left us, to have a conversation with her," she pointed at Bella, "When she'd just caused this family more grief than was ever necessary! As if she hadn't caused enough damage already!"

I felt Bella shift by my side and I spared her a glance. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared relaxed, but her jaw was tightly clenched. I could only imagine what Rosalie's words were making her feel. A spark of anger came alive inside of me but I quickly extinguished it. Rose didn't know anything; it wasn't fair to get mad at her for saying those things. That didn't mean I was going to let her carry on though.

"Rose–"

But she was rounding on Jasper before I could get another word out, "And you!" she hissed, jabbing her finger at his chest, "Pulling out a disappearing act on us when you knew perfectly well the state Edwa–"

"Rosalie that's enough!" Carlisle's strong voice was all it took for Rosalie to shut up and step back, close enough to Emmett for him to put his arms around her in an effort to calm her down. His eyes were hard and there wasn't a single trace of humor in them. The news on Bella's death had hit him hard.

I was about to say something when I noticed a slight drop in the hallway's temperature, very much like the one I experienced when Kurt was about to fight Anna, right after Bella's performance. I instinctively turned my eyes to my left, to Anna, and I saw her glaring at Rosalie, her fists were clenched tightly by her sides and were shaking. Badly.

I reached out for her hand but recoiled immediately after making contact with her skin. It was freezing. So much it had burned me. I looked at her again puzzled, but she hadn't seemed to notice my actions, so I turned to Bella, who was staring warily at her.

A low growl made me turn to my family again.

"Rosalie…" Carlisle said warningly and she stopped.

It was getting slightly colder and the others were starting to notice too, when Bella interfered, "Anna!" she said curtly, and suddenly the cold was gone.

Anna scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Can't imagine what living with her must be like," she muttered, earning another one of Rosalie's murderous glares.

I didn't understand.

What on Earth had just happened?

Before anyone could say or do anything else Carlisle took over.

"I'm sorry about that," he told Bella, "I believe you are here to show us around?" he asked politely.

"And I believe you owe us an explanation," Emmett said, his voice quiet but deadly, "We need to talk,"

Carlisle sighed heavily and shot Bella an apologetic look, just as she turned to address my burly brother.

"I don't owe you anything, Emmett," she said, her voice steady, " But you're right," she agreed shifting her gaze to Edward, who refused to look at her, "We need to talk,"

Emmett opened his mouth to reply but Bella held up a hand, "Not here," she added, "Follow me,"

Jasper and I were at her heels in less than a second, the rest of the family close behind with Anna bringing up the rear. We were going back through were we'd come form, and next we took a left. I sighed and allowed myself to admire the architecture around me for a while, marveling at the ancient yet beautiful wonders that stood before me.

Bella led us through various wings and hallways, flights of stairs and balconies, briefly describing the design of some of the rooms, giving out some historical facts here and there and answering Esme and Carlisle's questions satisfyingly. I was impressed. She had obviously done this before, for she clearly knew what she was doing. But just to be sure, since she hadn't gone into details about her stay with the Volturi, I decided to ask her about it. She answered right away, the ghost of a smile on her face.

"Yes," she said, "It was one of the tasks that were assigned to me during my first year here. It had been Anna's job though, to do this before I came along,"

"Good riddance," I heard Anna chuckling somewhere behind me, and Bella just rolled her eyes, leading us down yet another flight of stairs. This one though, was longer and steeper than the others had been. We kept descending at a normal human pace for about a couple of minutes before we reached a large and empty room, lightened by the weak candlelight from a worn chandelier that hung above us.

"Be quiet now," Bella whispered softly before crossing the room to the farthest wall and running her hands over the marble stone. She found what she was looking for soon enough, and she motioned for us to come forward just as she pressed both hands to the wall, pushing a large section back and then sliding it to a side, revealing an entrance to a room of some sorts.

It was pitch black.

I hesitated before going in, casting a quick glance at Bella. She nodded her head with a small reassuring smile. It was all I needed to step into the black void in front of me. Jasper followed without hesitation and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, whereas my family took a little bit longer to catch up with us.

I turned back and all I could see were two dark silhouettes against the weak light that came from the opening, but soon enough they too stepped inside and one of them sealed the entrance once more, plunging us all into darkness.

It was completely quiet for a second before I heard the sound of soft footsteps and saw a small sphere of fire, the size of a golf ball, floating in the air, circling the room and following the footsteps. The sound of Bella's feet and the crackling fire were the only things that could be heard, and every few feet a new tongue of fire would spark to life. It took me just a second to realize she was lighting the torches that were perched along the walls of the circular room.

Once she was done, and the room was bathed with warm light, she turned to us. There were no matches in her hands, nor anything she might have used to light the fire, so I could only assume she'd used Kurt's power.

"No one else in here knows of the existence of this room except for Anna and myself, and now, you," she started, "So as long as we're quiet, and careful enough, no one will hear or disturb us," she pursed her lips, "Make yourselves at home," she gestured towards the long sofa and old armchairs on the far side of the room.

Nobody moved.

Bella let out a long and resigned sigh turning her eyes to Carlisle, "I think all of you have a lot of questions for me, and I know, that three of your children want nothing more than to rip my head off," she added while shooting Edward, Rose and Emmett a glance, "While I will not let any of them so much as come close to me until we're done here, I will answer your questions as best I can," she finished.

Carlisle nodded, "It seems fair enough,"

"Well," she sighed, "Fire away," she said as she let herself drop onto an ancient looking couch right behind her. Dust flew in all directions as the cushion took in her lightweight but Bella didn't seem to mind. Jasper sat at her right and I took the seat on her left, while Anna sat on the armrest beside me.

Every member of my family looked confused at our actions and I saw Edward's eyes flash with hurt and betrayal. Yes. That's what siding with Bella would look to them. Betrayal. Thankfully though, no one mentioned our sitting choice and they all made themselves as comfortable as possible in the chairs surrounding a round table just behind them. Edward chose to remain standing.

"All right," Carlisle began, "I was told you knew Bella Swan?" he asked her, leaning forward.

She nodded, "Yes, I knew her,"

"May I ask how?"

I smiled, Carlisle, I thought, always polite. Then I turned to Bella, wondering, what kind of lie she was about to say.

"I met her, shortly after I left the vampires I'd joined during my first year as a newborn. I'd been wondering around the forests of Washington toying with the idea to end my life when I stumbled upon her," she said, in a confident voice.

I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been. Who would've ever thought she could lie this convincingly?

"But you were a newborn," Jasper said playing along, "Wasn't the thirst too much for you to handle? How did you manage to resist?" he asked, apparently intrigued.

I almost let out a chuckle. Almost.

Bella smiled, probably amused by Jasper's comment, "It was hard," she swallowed and grimaced, as if remembering the burning in one's throat that's triggered by the scent of human blood, "But it became easier once the thirst was overcome by my curiosity. She knew what I was," she said, "The word vampire had left her lips as soon as she'd spotted me,"

She shook her head, "Now, you all know just how trusting Bella can be, when it comes to us mythical creatures," she paused and frowned, "What a fool," she whispered in a barely audible voice, full of sadness.

I felt a tug at my heart and I reached out for her hand wrapping my fingers around hers. She squeezed them thankfully and continued.

"Anyways, once I'd assured her I wasn't going to hurt her and told her about my choice of diet, we sat down and chatted some, she told me about her life," her eyes darkened, "And I told her about mine," she said, "We became friends that day. I stayed in Forks for about a month, that is, until Bella's death," she added quietly.

"If you'd been friends with her why didn't you save her?" asked Emmett.

She took a deep breath, "I already told you, I wasn't strong enough,"

"A newborn? Not strong enough?"

"Against two skilled vampires and a pack of werewolves? No, I wasn't strong enough," she replied, effectively shutting Emmett up.

"You left quite a mess behind, you know?" she said, and I knew everyone was aware of what she meant.

Carlisle nodded, "If we'd somehow known how this would all turn out, we would've never left in the first place. We should've never left."

Edward growled.

"No," Bella agreed, ignoring Edward, "You shouldn't have,"

"How…" it was Esme, "How did she fare?" she asked in a small voice.

Bella turned to her and her face softened, "She didn't…at first," she whispered, everyone was hanging on to her every word now. Edward's eyes were fixed on Bella, and had darkened considerably. "She was still so broken when I met her. It wasn't a pretty sight to see," she sighed, "She told me she'd gotten somewhat better after a few months, for Charlie, her father, but you could still see just how much your departure had hurt her," she locked her gaze with Esme's, "If it's any comfort, she didn't think ill of you…any of you," she said.

"My poor dear," Esme whispered, her eyes lost.

Silence followed.

Then Rosalie broke it with a question that, until now, had haunted me every time I'd thought of Bella.

"What happened to her body?" she asked. A pained look crossed Edward's features.

"I'd rather not talk about that," Bella replied.

A loud crash echoed in the room and we turned to see what remained of a once beautiful mirror, and Edward standing over the broken glass.

Anna clicked her tongue disapprovingly, "That's seven years of bad luck you know?"

Edward didn't bother answering; he just let a threatening snarl, and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Oh you want to play this game?" Anna was standing at once, "Good! I've been dying for an excuse to hurt you," she smiled, though her eyes were serious.

Oh, oh, I thought as Bella sprang to her feet and grabbed Anna's cloak before she could take another step. "Anna, stop," but she wasn't listening.

"Edward son," Carlisle was saying, "Calm down,"

But just the same as Anna, he wouldn't listen.

Everyone was standing now, and Emmett was holding Edward back.

Wasting no time, Bella stepped in front of Anna to bar her way, her back was turned to Edward now, "Anna, please stop," she asked her.

"Why should I?" she countered, "He's just a selfish idiot who's hurt you enough! And it's about time he stopped!" she hissed.

"Anna, remember what we're here for," Bella replied calmly, "A fight with the Cullens will do no good. We don't want the Guard barging through that door and killing you on the spot– don't look at me like that, you know they certainly can," she sighed, "I've lost enough already Anna, I don't want to lose you too,"

At last Anna seemed to relax.

Then Bella addressed Edward, without turning around, "Loosing someone you love is hard, Edward, but it's the aftermath that's the real struggle, and you don't seem to be handling that too well," she said softly. "I understand what you're going through,"

"Yeah, because you would know all about getting over death's caused by your own hand huh?" he retorted.

I couldn't believe my ears.

Bella's eyes opened wide and I was able to see how much that last comment had hurt her before she shut them tightly.

"Edward!" I hissed furiously, as I felt Jasper stiffen by my side, overcome with emotions.

Anna growled at my brother; she was seething. She shot forward only to be stopped by Bella's hand, holding her wrist with an unyielding grip.

"Elizabeth," she said through clenched teeth, "Let. Me. Go," she was trembling, and all our breaths were rapidly becoming visible, as the room grew colder.

But Bella ignored her and spoke to Edward, still not turning around, nor opening her eyes, "I will only forgive that, because I know you are hurting," she managed to say in a quiet, barely controlled voice.

"And what do you know about hurting?" he spat the words, letting out a low snarl.

This time, she turned around; her hand still holding Anna in place as she spoke. "A hell of a lot more than you do for sure!" she growled, her eyes were ablaze with anger and hurt, so I did the only thing I could think of to offer some comfort: I walked up to her, and wrapped my arms tightly around her shaking form.

She let out a shuddering breath and after a couple of deep breaths; I could feel her begin to relax, although she still hadn't let go of Anna, which was probably a good thing, because despite the fact that the temperature had stopped its descent, it was still colder than it should be, and I was now sure that Anna's anger and the unexplainable cold were directly related.

I heard Bella swallow hard as she trembled slightly, and I clutched her tighter, "It's okay," I whispered, "It's okay,"

"Alice?" I heard Rosalie say, clearly confused as to why I was comforting Bella.

Jasper then, stepped forward and stood between Bella and our family, surprising everyone by throwing Edward a furious glare, "Are you done?" he asked, his voice was dead serious.

"What! You too?" he asked incredulous.

"Lizzie is making an effort to have a civilized conversation with all of us," Jasper started, ignoring Edward's question, "And you immediately take a jab at her, the first chance you get?" he shook his head, a frown upon his brow, "It's not her fault you left Bella in those woods forty-two years ago! So don't take it out on her!" he growled.

Edward stumbled backwards, startled, as if Jasper had hit him, and once everyone was done staring at my husband in disbelief, Rosalie stepped up.

"If I remember correctly," she started, struggling to keep herself in check, "You were the one who trusted her the less. So now I ask, why, pray tell, are you standing up for her now?" she asked.

"You don't know everything there is to know about Elizabeth, Rose, so I suggest you sit back down and let her talk," he answered.

"Oh and you do Jasper?"

"Alice has already told you she talked with her a moment ago," he said, "I happened to be a part of that conversation, so yes, Rosalie," he narrowed his eyes a bit, "I know a lot more than you do right now,"

"So you trust her now?"

"With my life,"

She scoffed, "How can you after all the trouble she's landed us in!"

"She did everything she could to keep us out of trouble, but still, we managed to get ourselves tangled into this mess without any help!" he exclaimed, gesturing around him.

"What are you talking about?" Rosalie raised her voice.

"She gave herself up for our sake!"

"What?" Rosalie backpedaled.

"Kurt was coming for us that night," Jasper started, "More specifically for Alice, Edward and myself, so Elizabeth made a deal with him. She said she'd go without putting up a fight, and in turn, he'd let us be," he said.

A thick silence enveloped us as my family tried to digest this new information.

"Is this true?" Carlisle asked me.

I nodded solemnly. That much was true.

"Elizabeth?" he said.

She shrugged, "We're here, are we not?" she was staring at the floor.

"There are a lot of ways we could've ended up here anyways," Rosalie said, she was calm now, "If you made a deal with Kurt to save us, by giving yourself to the Volturi once more, then how do we know you are not here, in this room, by his orders or Aro's for that matter?" she asked.

Anna growled softly.

"And what the hell is wrong with the freaking temperature!" Rose exclaimed, exasperated.

Bella hugged me briefly before stepping out of my embrace, whispering a low and soft 'thank you'. "Jasper," she said and she gave him a small but grateful smile, he returned it and gave her a short nod.

"I hold no love for either of those men Rosalie. They took away whatever shot I had at happiness, ruining my life in the process," Bella said, facing her, her eyes were hard, "And yes, they could force me to do practically anything. They've done it before with numerous things, but being here with you all, is not one of them. As for the cold…" she trailed off and turned her head to Anna, who just rolled her eyes.

"My bad," she muttered.

"You can manipulate the temperature in an environment?" Carlisle asked, amazed.

"Not exactly," she grinned, and she held out her hand for everyone to see. She closed her eyes and almost immediately a clear, transparent substance materialized just above her palm. It hardened quickly and began to morph, changing and shifting until it became a beautiful crystal rose.

We all stared, awed, at the small ice sculpture resting on Anna's hand. The cold air surrounding us made perfect sense this time.

Then, as fast as lighting, the rose shattered into pieces that quickly reassembled themselves into a dagger. Anna closed her, no doubt, practiced fingers around the blade and within a second its tip was embedded in a wooden statue that stood at the other side of the room.

"Since my dear brother got fire, it was only fair that I got this talent," she shrugged, a small smile on her face, "It comes in handy, when in battle. It's stronger than ordinary ice, harder to break. It tends to get a tad bit out of control though, if I allow myself to become too angry," she added.

I remembered the dangerous glint and the fury behind her eyes as she had glared at Edward barely minutes ago. Ready to strike. I shivered involuntarily.

"That was… so cool," Emmett said. His eyes were wide and he had an enormous grin on his face.

"Thank you," she turned to Bella, "You're up," she smirked.

"I was getting there,"

"Uh-huh,"

My eyes turned to Bella and I saw her hand was placed over her chest, just beneath her collarbone, where I would expect her medallion to be, just under her clothes.

Carlisle approached her, his expression puzzled, "But we already know what you can do," he said, "I mean, don't get me wrong, what you can do is amazing, but, what more could there be to it?" he asked, obviously curious.

"I haven't been completely honest with you,"

Here goes nothing, I thought.

"No, Rosalie," Bella said, "That's not what I was about to say,"

Everyone but Jasper, Anna and myself froze.

Rosalie hadn't uttered a word.

"Yes," she said softly, her eyes locked with Rosalie's, "I just did,"

"What is going on?" asked Emmett.

"She–she just read my thoughts," Rosalie whispered.

"You did?" he asked, bewildered, looking at Bella.

She made a disgusted face, "Ugh! Emmett…" she shook her head, "Don't!"

"You did!" he whispered, a goofy grin on his face.

I chuckled.

Carlisle's eyes were wide open, "How is this possible?" he asked.

"Let's just say it is," Bella said, her eyes begging him to let it be.

He nodded, "Is that all you can do?"

She shook her head.

"There's more?" came Emmett's baffled voice.

In response Bella extended both of her hands. Almost immediately the same substance Anna had shaped a moment ago was hovering a couple of inches above her right hand changing its form, never settling, while the small sphere of fire we'd all seen earlier made reappearance on her left.

Every member of my family, including Jasper, myself, and, surprisingly Edward were staring at her hands, mesmerized.

A ripple passed through her left fingers and the sphere disintegrated, becoming flames that danced harmlessly around her hand.

Emmett bent forward, reaching out a hand, as if to test the flames, but Bella immediately closed both hands, and both fire and ice, were gone.

She looked at him, "Harmless to me, deadly to you," she whispered, taking a deep breath after.

"Oh my God," whispered Esme.

Carlisle was shaking his head, an amazed smile on his face, "That was remarkable," he said, "Impressive. I take it you can use other vampire's powers then?"

Bella nodded her yes.

"Impressive," he said again. "Unbelievable," then he looked at her, as if he'd just remembered something, "And I figure neither Aro, nor Kurt know of this ability of yours?"

She shook her head.

She looked winded.

He frowned, "Then, why are you telling us?"

She took a deep, shuddering breath, before answering, "I figured, if I wanted your trust, I would show you, just how much I trust you first," she said, breathing somewhat heavily. I took her hand, and she smiled at me.

I knew just how much it cost her to trust every one of us again.

"Are you okay?" Carlisle asked, for the first time noticing her irregular breathing.

"Using someone else's power…it takes its toll on me. That's why I haven't tried to take down the Volturi on my own yet," she chuckled, "Don't worry though, it'll pass, it's no big deal," she hurried to say when she saw the slightest hint of concern cross Carlisle's features.

Yeah sure, I thought bitterly, I guess dying is no big deal when you're dead already.

"Wait, taking down the Volturi?" Emmett asked, "That's what you wanna do?"

Bella shrugged, "That would be nice, but right now, the plan is to get you all out of Volterra safe and sound. Aro is hoping at least one of you will decide to stay here before you leave," she said, "And Kurt has his own private agenda, but I'll do my best to find out what is it that he wants, besides me, that is," she muttered under her breath.

"Why do I feel like there's more to this than you're letting on?" Rosalie asked.

That's because there is, I wanted to say, but instead, I said, "Because I'm not leaving Lizzie, nor Anna behind,"

"Neither am I," Jasper added.

Rosalie raised her eyebrows, "Well, that complicates things a bit, don't you think?"

Bella nodded in agreement, "Quite a bit,"

"I don't really care, Elizabeth," I threw her a pointed look.

"Think about it Alice," Rosalie said, "If she were to run, they would just keep coming back for her, and if what you say is true then maybe even us to make sure she stayed for good this time,"

"I. Don't. Care," I knew she was right, but I was not going to leave Bella now that I'd found her.

"Look, Alice," Bella started, "I thought we had agreed I'd take a look into both Aro and Kurt's minds, and then we could decide our course of action right?" she said, "So let me do that first and then we'll see what we can do about Anna and myself, okay?"

I glared at her before grunting a 'yes'.

"Don't worry," she added, "I still need to talk with Demetri. He didn't seem too thrilled with Aro when I saw him. Who knows, maybe there's discontent among the ranks of the Guard?" she mused.

"Divide and conquer?" I whispered.

She smiled.

"Wait a minute," Rose interjected, "We haven't agreed to do anything yet,"

"Rose!" I exclaimed.

"I'm still not entirely convinced she's on our side," she said.

"Rosalie she–"

"She could be lying,"

"She wasn't," Jasper said, "I think I would know if she was,"

She stayed quiet and Carlisle took his chance, "Two of my children believe in you," he told Bella, "And it seems to me Alice made up her mind to bring you back with us ever since she left Forks," he turned to me.

I nodded.

"Why did you do it?" Rose asked me, "Why did you agree to come here with Anna? What made you believe she," she pointed at Bella, "hadn't betrayed us? That she was good?"

"I had a vision," I said. I wasn't even lying.

Carlisle nodded his head and, they all relied on my visions so much I knew that was all he needed to hear to make his decision final. "Then it's settled, we'll help you,"

Edward grunted.

What the hell is his problem?

"Thank you, Carlisle," Bella said, choosing once more to ignore my brother.

"You're very welcome," he said, although he still looked deep in thought.

Something flashed in Bella's eyes, "He really said that?" she asked my father.

He looked taken aback for a second before saying yes.

"What?" I asked them, but they both shook their heads.

"I think we've been absent long enough," Anna said, before I could try and coach the truth put of them.

"Yeah," Bella agreed, "We'd better go now," she went to extinguish the light from the torches and Anna went to get the hidden door.

Once we were all out, Bella turned to us.

"I trust you can find your way back? I need to go and speak with Demetri at once," she said.

"Yeah, we don't need your help every step of the way,"

I sighed. Edward.

Bella let out a short exasperated breath, before turning to him, "Why do you have to be like this?"

He didn't even look at her.

"It's because I remind you of her, don't I? With you not being able to read my mind at all?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

He growled, meeting her gaze with eyes full of sorrow and anger.

She turned her back on him, "Learn to live with the consequences of your actions, Edward," she said, so softly I had to strain my ears to hear her, "I've learned to deal with mine," she walked off but then stopped, and added as an afterthought, "You know, I might not be around much longer now," she said, "Who knows, maybe you won't have to put up with me anymore once this is over. I don't want to spend the rest of my existence within these walls. But I'm in so deep, that I'm starting to think maybe the only way for me to be free now is to die,"

And as I watched her retreating back, I couldn't help but fear, she'd meant every word she'd said.

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