Sorry I didn't update in a couple of days :\

I do not own any of Stpehenie Meyer's Twilight characters, etc.

~Bella

"Come, Aro--I saw them, this way!" Caius shouted behind us as they came closer, toward us. I looked up at Edward frantically. This could not be it, we could not be caught. Not after all that had happened.

Edward looked at me, his eyes cold and dark. And worried.

"Run now, Bella. Run away from here." He said quietly.

"No Edward, I won't leave you here."

"You have to."

"But what about you? What about my mom?"

"I can tell her and get her out of here eventually."

"They'll kill you if I leave right now."

He was silent for a minute. "They'll kill you, too." He mumbled.

I gulped at the thought. Once Aro and Caius were here, we were finished. I looked up at him again, holding his hands.

"Go now, Bella." He told me.

"No one's going anywhere!"

Aro's voice played in my ears, giving me a sudden headache. I shut my eyes tightly, hoping it would make all of this go away. It didn't work. Aro was here and we had been caught. There was no fairy tale ending to my story. Alice was gone. My mother did not want anything to do with me. My father and Jonah were in a new camp. Edward would be separated from me again.

All of this was in my mind as other soldiers gathered around Edward and I, and we were both grabbed to make sure we couldn't run away. I found myself thinking of Alice the most--my best friend in school and forever. I wished I would have been allowed to see her more during the time we were here.

Maybe she was watching me now, watching this all happen. Knowing her, she would not have wanted this to ever happen to me, even if she didn't like Edward. She cared about me, and I cared about her. That's what friends did. Cared.

Alice, if you can hear me, send me a sign that you can. Show me that you're here with me. Show me I'm not alone.

I flashed back to what was happening then. Edward was on the opposite side of me, and soldiers yelled various things. I looked into Edward's eyes. He stared at me for a long moment and then turned away as he was thrown into the back of a large wagon, with bars on the back of the door creating a small window. It was shut, leaving his head showing, for he stood to look at me once more. I realized then I was crying, but I didn't hear my cries or feel the tears in my eyes.

I was not crying just because of Edward. I was crying for everything now. Everything that had happened over these years. Everyone I had lost.

Aro did not know where to begin. What to say. Was he to yell because of Edward coming here? Or for me knowing he was coming? Turned out he'd eventually found out our plan for Edward to come here. How, he wouldn't tell me. So, instead of speaking, he paced back and forth in the main building, me tied down to a chair surrounded by other soldiers. Every once in awhile he'd look at me, stop pacing, and then continue. This lasted for about ten minutes.

"You know, you must not value your life after all the things you have done." He finally spoke, turning to me. If death was what was coming to me, it was to come soon, I could tell. "You repeatedly told me, 'I won't break the rules ever again.'" He used a fake girl voice to imitate me. "Look at what you've done! Broken the rules again!" He threw his arms in the air.

I looked up at him uncaringly. I felt numb, like nothing mattered to me anymore.

"Are you going to say anything?!" he exclaimed. "Do you want me to kill you?!"

They probably would kill me, I thought. I didn't know if I exactly minded, either. With everyone who I had cared about away from me in some shape or form, I was angry, sad, and feeling every other negative emotion. If he had killed me right then and there, I probably would not have felt it.

"Do you?!" he asked again.

Without thinking, my instincts were to shake my head, staring in front of me blankly.

"You don't?" He walked over to me, taking a long knife from the top of the long table. He held it in front of me, the light reflecting off it and shining. "I don't know if you're going to get away with it this time."

"Let her," a voice said from the crowd of soldiers. I looked up, scanning them for the person who said that.

A man stepped out of the crowd, looking sternly at Aro.

"We need more soldiers, anyway. We're short some." He said harshly to Aro. "Stop with the crap of threatening her. Just do your job and make her do her job."

Aro seemed to have a leader of his own, too. He looked at this man in fear, somewhat. His face turned into a panicked expression, and he set the knife down on the counter.

"Very well, Demetri." Aro said, slightly bowing to him. I guessed this Demetri man was very powerful, or just very strong and able to win a fight if one started. Aro backed away from me and looked at me in the eyes.

"You heard him." He said to me. "I will spare you."

I stared at the ground, unable to think, unable to speak. This was how I was to live from now on. For a long time.

~Edward

My head crashed against the metal bar of the back door of the vehicle I was in. I woke up standing. I had fallen asleep by leaning against the door, my arms reaching out the bars and out the back. I pulled my arms back and stretched. The first thought in my mind was: Bella. If they hadn't killed me, why would they kill her? I kept that theory in my head to calm me down.

…Where was I going?

I looked out the small window. There were fields, and the sun was out. That was it. I couldn't tell where we were, why we were there, or where we were headed to. I slid against the wall to sit on the cool ground, and waited.

~Bella

Numb: to take away all feelings from someone. That was exactly how I felt as I walked down the dirt path that next morning. The day before, after Demetri had told Aro to let me live and the rest of the soldiers--besides Aro--had left the main room. Aro had remained there, glaring at me.

"You think you can get away with everything, don't you?" he'd asked.

He'd decided to teach me a lesson by throwing punches and kicks.

I looked down at the bruises on my arms as I trudged down the path. My hair was flying everywhere. I didn't care what it looked like. I hadn't cared about my appearance for quite awhile, anyway. Now, I cared all the more less. Getting through each day now would be torture itself.

Another day in this camp. Another day being forced to watch them work. Another day I'd have to deal with Aro.

The days go slower and slower and slower…

Things are not looking good D: but there's still more to this story. Anyway, thanks to everyone!