Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story would be nothing without my amazing beta-team, Jadsmama and Ladysharkey1.
Testament: noun 1. Law. a. a will, especially one that relates to the disposition of one's personal property. b. will( def 8 ) . 2. either of the two major portions of the Bible: the Mosaic or old covenant or dispensation, or the Christian or new covenant or dispensation. 3. (initial capital letter ) the new testament, as distinct from the Old Testament. 4. (initial capital letter ) a copy of the New Testament. 5. a covenant, especially between God and humans.
Testament
A bright light was shining in my eyes but I couldn't find even the strength to be annoyed.
It hurt too much to be irritated.
Everything hurt too much.
Shouting.
Questions were asked that I couldn't respond to.
Memories.
Stairs…my body weighed half a ton as my arms were pulled, dragging me upwards step by step, higher and higher towards the worst of fates.
Then…a bang! Bright flashes of lights and shouts rang out as my arms stung from being held too tightly.
Then I was free; they let go of me to try to escape.
To free themselves.
However, my mind was so muddled and my legs were weak, there was nothing to keep me upright; no command center to instruct my muscles to stop me from falling.
The pain. So much pain.
And then, finally, nothing.
The aches ebbed away as I sunk into a black void, but even in spite of my body's seemingly boneless, lifeless state, there were still flashes of something shooting through the dark like painful pinpricks every now and then.
An EMT flashing a painfully bright light into my eyes as he tried to coax a response from my body that didn't seem to cooperate as well as it should.
The jostling of a gurney as they lifted it from the back of the ambulance; the shouting and violence of other noises both from the street and the people working on me as they exchanged inexplicable information about what happened to me making me long for the bliss of nothingness again.
Edward.
The pull of the sound of his voice brought me closer to the surface than I'd been. The agitation and worry in it made me almost want to return to the pain of consciousness just so that I could promise him that I'd be okay.
I was going to be okay, wasn't I?
When his voice vanished again and I drifted back down into the big, black void as tiny pinpricks annoyed my senses until I started to get stronger again—drugs, the good ones this time.
I sighed knowing that I was in safe hands as I gave myself over to the comforting nothingness, hoping that when I woke up again it would have all been just a dream. Or, at least, that the pain would have gone away by then.
I stayed
.
.
.
Like
.
.
.
That
.
.
.
For
.
.
.
Hours
.
.
.
Maybe. Even. Days.
After what seemed like an eternity of floating around in the darkness like an astronaut on a spacewalk, my body slowly started to experience the effects of gravity again as steadily my awareness started to settle.
First there were the noises: the pestering beeps the seemed to be all around me, people talking so softly I couldn't yet make out their words, and chairs scraping against linoleum. Individuals came in and left once again, some staying longer than others, but I could not distinguish their voices.
Eventually my body started to become aware of its aches, discomfort and soreness. I noticed tugging on my arm, and the hardness surrounding my left leg.
"Sweetie," A familiar voice that belonged to a face which my mind couldn't yet conjure up, sounded in my ear. Soft fingers brushed hairs out of my face as it continued to speak. "Are you finally coming back to us? We've all been waiting for you."
Mom.
Finally the pieces of the puzzle matched up, my body squirming as if to get closer to one of the safest people in my life. "M-mom."
"I'm here, honey. Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm here with you," she cooed, the comfort of her voice, even if she was talking to me as if I were a small child, made me fight harder to open my eyes. I wanted to see her. "I'll just go get a doctor, sweetie. Don't move."
No, mom! Don't leave me!
After she returned, I went through the motions and allowed the doctor to check my vitals and do whatever it was that he needed make sure I was alright.
"He's at home," Mom whispered as the doctor left again.
I frowned, not quite sure who she was referring to, though I did hope for a certain bronze haired person.
"Your young man?" She winked conspiratorially as she went on, the awkward blush on my cheeks probably telling her more than enough. "I must admit he kicked up quite a fuss when you were brought in…or so I've heard. I believe they even had to him arrest him for threatening the hospital staff. Not that his father and yours managed to straighten that out." The look on her face told me just what she thought about hospital staff arresting a concerned boyfriend for being nothing more than worried about my wellbeing. Though knowing what I knew about Edward and his short fuse…
"What…happened?" I managed to croak through my dry throat. Dry throat…I remember having a dry throat…
"Do you remember anything?" There was a cloud in her eyes that I only remembered from that one time, a burdened sigh leaving her lips as I carefully shook my head. Ouch. "The van Leydens and that awful Professor Banner kidnapped you on your way back from work to Edward's and intended to do God only knows what kind of things to you." She shook her head as a tear dropped from her eye and I struggled not to freak out.
And failed. "Thank God the police managed to get there before they could do anything else to you." She shook her head again, the vagueness of her words made me impatient for the blurry fragments in my mind to start making sense. "You were drugged, you see, and they were dragging you upstairs. The police said they had a room up there that…well…let's just say it's a good thing you never made it that far."
"Mom," I begged, though as I clutched my head, I wasn't quite sure what I was begging for.
She sighed, looking so much older than she usually did as she continued to speak. "When the police charged in, they had you halfway up the stairs, dragging you along with them even though you were half delirious from the drugs they gave you. Then, as if drugging my baby girl wasn't enough, they threw you down like a ragdoll just to delay the police so they could try to save their own skin, breaking your leg, two ribs and causing a fracture in your skull that required the doctors to keep you in a medically-induced coma for four days."
"D-days?" I stammered.
She nodded. "Don't worry though, sweetheart, they managed to arrest all three of them. And if the police are anything to go by, it will be quite some time before any of those scumbags will ever breathe fresh air again."
Good. At least that's covered. As safe as I felt myself to be in that bed, it was still a huge relief to know that they were locked up and not out there plotting revenge.
"E-Edward?" My mind seemed to be able to only process one thing at a time and now that safety and pain were taken care of, my heart was the next thing that jumped to the forefront.
"He's fine, sweetie," Mom set me at ease. "He's by your side except for the two or so hours he spent in jail." She chuckled, as if Edward going berserk all over the hospital was a source of entertainment instead of concern. "I have to admit I've never seen Charlie so conflicted: part of him wanted to jump into cop-mode and arrest the trouble maker, while the dad-part of him wanted to give him a pat on the back for insisting his baby girl was taken care of."
I smiled through the pain. Sounds like my father.
"I sent him home earlier this evening," she went on. "Edward, I mean, not your father. He's just popped down to the cafeteria to get us a couple of sandwiches. Poor boy was at the end of his strength but quite determined to stay."
"H-how'd you get him to leave?" I whispered through my still dry throat. Knowing Edward, that couldn't have been easy.
"The doctors didn't think you'd wake up for hours," she smirked apologetically as my brain labored to put two and two together. "I told him he should get a few hours of rest so that he could be awake when you were."
"Oh." It was all I could manage in reply. My mind was unsure whether I should have been disappointed that he wasn't there or happy to know that she was making sure Edward got his rest and stayed sane.
"Just rest, Bella." Mom leaned over me, her warm lips kissed my forehead as I felt the heaviness tug at me again. "I can see how much it's taking out of you to stay awake. Rest and when you wake up again, we'll still be here."
And they were.
When I woke up again, a whopping twelve hours after the first time, they were all in the room: Edward, Mom, Dad…even Carlisle was standing near the doorway, his face relaxing as he watched me blink against the bright light.
"Bella!" My heart skipped a beat, which everybody immediately noticed thanks to that blasted machine I was still hooked up to, as I saw the relief on Edward's face. "You're awake."
Nodding, I struggled to sit up. "H-how late is it?"
"It's eleven in the morning," my mom answered as both she and Edward dashed forward to help me. "The doctor told us this morning that if everything goes well today, you might be released in a few days."
"Oh." My mind was still too fuzzy to produce anything else.
Going home.
That was good, I think.
"I was so fucking worried." Stars swirled before my eyes as I turned my head too fast, the sound of Edward's voice drawing me in like nothing else ever could.
Forcing my lips into a smile, I caught his eyes. "I'm sorry."
He kissed my forehead, sighing deeply as he gently leaned his head against mine. "Don't you ever do that to me again. Don't take off without me by your side, not when there's danger around." He shook his head, his face hard with dread. "If they would have succeeded…if anything worse had happened to you…I don't know what I would have done."
"I know," I whispered, noting from the corner of my eyes how the room suddenly seemed to have emptied; my family giving the two of us the privacy we so desperately needed. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he inhaled deeply, breathing me in just like I was doing with him. "I don't know what I'd do if you ever left me."
"I'm not leaving," I assured him. And it was true. As long as he wanted me close, I would be by his side. It was the only place I truly felt safe and loved; the only place where I could be who I was supposed to be, not who the past had turned me into.
"Good." Again, his relief was so clear I could almost touch it. "Because if your father had his way, you'd be on the first plane back to Washington as soon as you're released."
"I won't be," I assured him, laboring heavily to lift my arm as I reached out to touch his cheek. "I like it here. This city…it's so big and so full of opportunities. Besides, everything I love and everything I've worked for is here."
"Yes." My brows furrowed as his face clouded over.
"What is it?" I had a feeling it was going to be something terrible; something Mom had been keeping from me to spare my feelings.
"When you went to the Institute, who knew where you were going?" He asked me, his voice strained and weighed down with worry.
"Your dad did," I answered, my head pounded as I forced myself to replay the memories. "Oh, and Professor Verweylen. He called me just as I exited the subway to get a progress update and…" Finally I managed to put two and two together but the number just simply didn't add up. "No…it can't be. Marcus would never…"
"The police found evidence of multiple phone calls from van Leyden's phone to his," Edward explained, his voice solemn as his hand wrapped tightly around mine, offering me the support I needed so much. "When they brought him in for questioning, he admitted his involvement almost immediately; claiming he was too disgusted by what had happened and what part he played to protect himself."
A loud and painful sob tore through my chest as the thought that my mentor—one of the people I'd truly trusted—had betrayed me. Just like that. He'd told James exactly where to look for me and how to catch me. "Why?"
"From what I've heard, the university was threatening to cut his funding if he didn't come up with something big soon," Edward went on explaining. "Getting credit as your advisor wasn't enough."
"But-" I wanted to say so much more—ask so much more—but I couldn't.
"From what I gathered he had no idea of what they were going to do to you," Edward went on. "He thought they'd merely scare you a little, threaten you so that you would run back home or at least change the subject of your thesis. Marcus had no idea Banner was involved. When the police told him the truth…"
"It doesn't matter," I interrupted him. "He wanted to steal my finds and use them for his own gain. That makes him as bad as they were in my book."
"The documents are safe, though," Edward assured me, his statement finally allowing some of the tension to slip away from my body. If we could do justice to Johannes and Amelia, all of this would be worth it. "Look."
My eyes widened when he pulled the envelope—the same one I'd been holding when they pulled me into the van—from underneath his hoodie; the corners of the large manila treasure trove a little bent but otherwise unscathed. "You brought it with you? How…"
"It was still in your bag," Edward answered with a small chuckle. "Apparently those fuckers were so preoccupied with you that they didn't even stop to consider what might be in there."
"Lucky me." I sighed, shivering as the memories flooded back. As soon as Edward placed the little paper package on the bed, though, my mind was immediately drawn back to the present, my fingers trembling, not from my injuries, but from excitement as I reached out to touch it.
Paper.
It was just paper, nothing more.
But still…carrying invaluable words.
"Are you sure?" I asked, my hand hovering over the sealed envelope. "Shouldn't your dad be in here? Or Aro?"
Edward shrugged. "We'll clue them in when we're ready. Right now, though? I think it should be just the two of us like it was just the two of them, Johannes and Amelia, back in their day."
I nodded as my finger slipped under the adhesive and lifted the little flap with no trouble at all; a testament to the fact that the envelope had been opened before but discarded for whatever reason.
"Here's goes nothing," I whispered as I reached inside tugging the four neatly folded sheets of paper out of their casing. One, of course, being the final page of the score. Edward's hands reached out for it as soon as he spotted the familiar black and white of the notes, his eyes greedily drinking in the tune as he started to hum under his breath while my attention shifted to the other three pages we'd unearthed.
Letters.
My eyes were quick to scan the header, noting that the first page was a letter addressed to William Stanley, Johannes' father-in-law and agent. The second…
"Holy shit!" Our eyes widened in shock as they fell on the next page. "He revised his will!"
My head was pounding; the new information it was now confronted with proved to be a little bit too much to cope with on top of everything else. "How can this be?" I whispered, my eyes flashing from Edward to the paper as I tried to rally from my state of utter shock. "How is it that we never knew?"
"I think the answer may be in the letter," Edward suggested, gently taking the papers from my hands as he realized my strength was quickly leaving me. "Do you want me to read it to you?"
I nodded, silently sitting back and focusing on the sound of his voice and the words it produced as he read. The more he advanced, though, the more I was starting to fear some kind of fever had snuck up on me, throwing me into some sort of fit of delirium.
Because this couldn't have been true…
My ears couldn't actually be hearing this right.
There was no way Johannes van Leyden would have written a letter to his father-in-law on the day of his departure—a letter which was to be delivered to the Stanley's, two weeks after he'd died—which explained how he'd left his complete musical legacy to Amelia Cullen in order to secure her freedom.
It could not have been true that Johannes had explained, in his own hand, how he had been in love with Amelia all along—something Stanley had apparently been well aware of when he'd brokered the marriage between his new star and his own daughter. He wanted nothing more than her happiness, even if it meant disinheriting his wife and child and exposing his affair with the wife of one of the richest men in New York.
Which might also have been why this revised document had never surfaced.
"Do you think Stanley was in cahoots with Blake?" Edward asked, his thoughts apparently in line with mine.
I nodded. "The third letter," I croaked, my body aching more and more with each minute that passed. But I couldn't give up now, not when I was so close to sliding the final piece of the puzzle in place.
"You're right," he confirmed after scanning the letter, surmising that I wasn't up to reading another letter in the state I was in. "It's a letter from Blake's brother—the one who inherited the mess Henry left behind when he went and got himself killed in the same battle that supposedly killed off Johannes and Riley Biers. It says he met with Frederic Cullen and they agreed that, since his sister was already dead and buried and couldn't profit from the inheritance any longer, it would be in everyone's best interest to keep it under wraps." He was quiet then, and even with my eyes closed I could almost hear him thinking. "I can get why they all wanted to hush up the affair but why keep the score a secret?"
"Fear?" I suggested. "It was no big secret why Johannes married Stanley's daughter, and even though he managed to produce a son by her, it was also no secret that there wasn't any love lost between the two of them." I swallowed, trying to stay in the game instead of giving into the dull ache and the desire to sleep. I don't want to, not when we're so close to the finish line.
"The minute people would have heard Johannes' final sonata, they would have started asking questions about his inspiration. Stanley probably didn't want to risk it for fear of more details drifting to the surface."
"And so they just buried it along with the rest of the story." Edward's voice was laced with contempt, though he managed to push it all aside as his dad came in, my own parents hot on his heels.
"Edward!" Carlisle admonished his son, only one look at the scattered letters and my worn out state enough to give him an idea of what had been going on. "I thought I told you to take it easy on the girl!"
"I didn't want him to take it easy," I managed to protest. "After everything that happened, I wanted to know."
"And now you do," he replied sternly. "So you're going to be a good patient and rest."
"Okay," I nodded, the idea of sleep not unappealing, even if I'd been doing a heck of a lot of it lately. And it wasn't like I had a choice anyway.
After Carlisle left, my mom and dad said goodbye as they were stepped out to get some food while Edward stayed by my side. As much as I could see my dad hesitate in the doorway, it was better that way.
Besides, it wasn't like they were ever going to get Edward to leave me. I didn't think even the Armageddon would have succeeded in parting us.
"I'm sorry," he spoke, his fingers lightly touching mine. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
I snorted, immediately realizing the error of my ways when a sharp pain shot through my skull. "Do you really think I'd have let you get away with telling me? I may look like a wimp, but there's no stopping me."
"Yeah," he chuckled, his thumb rubbed soothing circles into the palm of my hand. "I'm learning that."
"I hate being so weak," I muttered, speaking both about my current state and the general weakness I'd inherited from both my sheltered upbringing and the scars Banner had left behind. If there was one thing this whole affair had pointed out to me, it was that I needed help. Because as much as I'd been able to fool myself into thinking I was moving on from the dark place I'd been in and getting better every day…I wasn't really.
I was stuck in the past.
"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for," Edward lied. "You've been through so much—we both have. It's no wonder you're still carrying the scars."
There was no stopping the tears that sprung to my eyes as, for a moment the weight of the past overwhelmed me. "I've been alone for so, so, long…"
"You'll never be alone again, sweetheart. I'll be here when you wake up," he spoke softly, his lips a feather light touch against mine as his hands lovingly brushed the tears away. My lips parted into a smile as I slowly gave myself over to the gentle tug of sleep; the warmth of the medicine and Edward's love soon had me drift off. "I'll always be with you, Bella."
It might have been the medicine, but as I closed my eyes for a moment my bleary vision picked up another two figures standing at the foot of my bed. Their clothes were not from this age and their faces fraught with the weight of almost a century of unhappiness.
Their hope, however, was visible even with my own imperfect vision.
Thoughts?