The final battle approaches, yet the story is not over. I have plenty of fluff to make up for the sheer Hell I've put our favorite couple through. No pun intended. Plus. Leah still needs a partner (or two) so that she can stop being the third wheel. Alice needs time to prepare a wedding. So many fluffy, lovey-dovey things that must be taken care of. Until then, enjoy violence and bloodshed.
Gaybe.
Noel waited patiently. Bella glanced at his outstretched hand and smiled coldly before she grabbed his wrist. She twisted it to the right before he could pull away, and he dropped to one knee.
"Elisheba, let us be rational here," he gritted.
"This is me rational. What are you up to?"
"Who says I am?"
"You always are. Now speak. What is the real reason behind this deal?"
"I just want the throne! I want to feel powerful, to know with the snap of my fingers, I can change the course of humanity, and I want to do so by making a deal with the second most powerful being in existence. Is that so wrong of me?"
"It is when it costs you your pride," Bella drawled.
"Listen, I do not wish to fight you-
"Because you will lose-
"Yes, but also because I know you will show me no mercy. Not that I blame you. We were awful to you. We cast you out and took your wings. I get it! And I am sorry, Elisheba. I am! If there is any way I could repay you, I- fuck, fuck!"
Bella snapped his wrist in half and let go. Noel scrambled to his feet, holding his wrist, and Bella lashed out her hand and caught him by the throat. She lifted him off the ground and carried him to the cliff's edge.
"You seem to have forgotten one tiny little thing about me," she said, shaking her head. Bella tightened her grip until Noel's spine shattered beneath his skin. His body turned to ash, and she sighed, "I know a dummy when I see one."
"Smart, dear sister. What gave it away?"
Bella turned to face the real Noel, leaning against a tree, and wiped her hands on her pants. "You apologized," she said dryly. "No sibling of mine would ever apologize so openly and so willingly."
"Fair, but the offer was genuine."
"Yes, I know. You are cunning, but a liar you are not."
"What say you?"
"I say no."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because, Noel, you are not fit for the throne. None of you are, and neither am I. We are flawed creatures trying to rule beings created in our image. It is the blind leading the blind."
"But who are we to deny them an idol?"
"Who are we to appoint ourselves that idol?" she argued.
"Your philosophical righteousness bores me so, Elisheba."
"As does your narcissism."
Bella walked over to the boulder and plopped down. "Must you be so difficult?" she asked.
"Me? You sit there on your pedestal, high and under our Father's direct favor, and dare tell me I am unfit for the throne?"
"I am on Father's pedestal because you idiots threw me off my own!"
"Bullshit!" Noel snapped. "You have always been his favorite-
"I am firstborn," she growled. "It is my right-
"No! It is not your right to inherit the fruits of the Earth and the spoils that come with it just because you took the first breath. It is not your right to rule over creation and change history with the snap of your fingers. You did not earn any of that, yet He gave it to you on a silver platter with no hesitation! The rest of us bled to survive while you slept peacefully under His watchful eye!"
That caused something inside of Bella to snap. She rose to her feet and roared at him, "I SHED MORE BLOOD THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE IN HELL!"
The Earth shook with every step she took toward him, and Noel tried to keep his balance as small pieces of the cliff began to fall away into nothingness. Bella's eyes darkened until they were solid black, and what little white left in her wings turned a deep shade of red. The armor gifted to her from her Father fell from her body and rusted before it ever hit the ground. Bella called her sword, and no longer was the blade a shiny silver. It was black and left sparks as she dragged it across the ground. Noel's eyes widened, and he stumbled away from her.
"You- wh-what-
"It would seem you all missed a very, very important detail," she said softly, her voice echoing in the space. "I lost my morality weeks ago. Because of our Father, I have managed to maintain the tiniest bit of humanity for this long. But let me tell you something, brother, I was an angel in the presence of demons for centuries. CENTURIES, and you dare tell me you had to bleed to survive? I bled for no reason other than because they desired it of me. I was beaten, stabbed, sliced, kicked, hung, and ripped apart until they grew bored of me."
Noel held up his hands in surrender.
"Elisheba, please. I-
Bella swung her sword and took great pleasure in watching as his head detached from his body. It rolled to her feet, and she placed her boot on top of it.
"I was going to let you live," she whispered, staring down into his lifeless eyes. "And you would have gotten your wish. Oh well."
Bella stomped down on his head and wiped the remains on the stone. She thrust her blade through his chest and yanked it out with Noel's heart on the tip. Bella flicked it into the darkness and watched it disappear. She gasped, however, when a sudden rage and darkness bubbled in her chest. Bella panted and clutched at her heart. Bella fell forward and vomited blood. It burned through the stone like acid.
Let go, my child. All will be well. And all is forgiven.
Bella whimpered and bowed her head. She took several deep breaths before she found the source of her rage. She hesitated long enough to apologize to Rosalie before she allowed it to take over her completely. Bella's head snapped up when the scenery faded into the throne room. Her sister Dalilah stood armed to the tee at the very seat in which Bella still controlled. Bella saw the shock and surprise in her sister's eyes before she hid it behind contempt.
Memories of her fingers digging through Rosalie's body flashed through her mind; the pain in her lover's eyes, the tears that streamed down her cheeks, and the all-encompassing fear that Bella would kill her. Bella, who swore to protect her and love her until she died, would be the one to end her eternal life. Rising to her feet, Bella gripped the sword in her hand a little tighter. She smiled, her fangs peeking out from her lips, and she pointed the blade at her sister. Dalilah crouched low and slammed the butt of her spear against the floor three times.
"You sent me to Hell," Bella rasped. "Now, you must face your own creation."
Rosalie laughed at Seth's attempt at swimming when the wind blew through the courtyard. And with it, a voice whispered, "A demon now walks in place of your angel. Be waiting at the place where she sacrificed a second time, for her body will fall by sundown. Dead or alive."
Rosalie got up from her chair and sprinted out of the castle. She heard Emmett and Charlie behind her, along with the others, but she couldn't stop. Rosalie needed to get to Forks before sunset, and based on the sky, time was not on her side.