Pain, just a synapses firing in our

Brains, so when you cut me cut me deep

Hurt the ones you love the most easily

'Cause in time, we show our Achilles' heels

Chapter 9: A Faded Memory

Edward POV:

"When you say we-,"

"I mean my family and myself."

"Ok. I'll come with you."

"You can't, Bella. Where we're going…It's not the right place for you."

"Where you are is the right place for me."

"I'm no good for you, Bella."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're the very best part of my life."

"My world is not for you."

"I'm not sure this is a good idea Liam."

"Why? Are you starting to regret what you did after all this time?" I paused at his words, taken aback.

"No. I regretted it the second I did it." Liam studied me as I spoke but eventually continued our walk towards the reinforced door that held my ex behind it.

"You ready for this?"

"God no." We both chuckled nervously. "But I have to be. Just, if this works, please make sure she doesn't kill me."

"No promises." He grinned and opened up the door.

Alice's thoughts had prepared me, but it was nothing like being there. She looked like hell, chained down like a rabid animal. Bella glanced up at us as we came in, and a small smile came to her face.

"Going for a different approach I see."

"Anything for you doll." Liam smiled as well and pulled up a chair to sit on. Bella let out a weak laugh at his comment before turning her eyes back to mine, observing me closely.

"Go on then. Entertain me with a memory. Try to entice me into feeling something. Anger perhaps? Hatred? What are you going for here?" The way she spoke made me feel uncomfortable. She made it seem so easy and lay back, not a care in the world. I scoffed at the thought, of course that was true, she literally did not have a single care.

"Any emotion Bella. Anything whatsoever. What happened to you? You said you would never turn it off." I moved to stand in front of her while I talked.

"People change. Not all decisions are made set in stone. You of all people should know that." Liam was not holding his laughter in, obviously amused by this.

"That was a low blow Bella. But yeah I'll take the fall on that. I realized you weren't my mate. I broke up with you and then abandoned you. How does that make you feel?"

"What? Are you a therapist now? You want to know what I'm feeling?" Her smile was growing with each passing second of my effort. "Absolutely nothing."

"Really? You feel absolutely nothing about the fact that I left you, completely alone and unprotected. You feel nothing, even though I'm the reason that the Volturi got you and turned you into what you are. I'm the reason for all the pain in your life, but you feel absolutely nothing?"

"No. You're right. I do need to say something to you." She paused, building anticipation. "I forgot to thank you. So sorry about that."

"God fucking dammit Bella!" I had lost it. The plan had backfired and now I was the pissed off one. "Snap out of this! Wake up!" She didn't even flinch at my shouting. Just continued her cold stare down, angering me even further. I lost all control and Liam had to step in, stopping me from getting physical. "Sorry." I muttered, calming down again.

"It's no problem." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and then went back to his chair. I took another deep breath and crouched down so I was eye level with her.

"How do you think your father would react to what you're doing? Hmmm? Or how about your mother? What would Charlie and Renee say to you right now?"

"I don't know. But that's the beauty of death. Silence." Not an ounce of emotion was showing on her face. I had to get up and take a breath again before I did something stupid. Liam continued to sit idly by, watching everything unfold. "I irritate you, don't I?"

"Yes you do. Very much so right now." Bella nodded at my statement, obviously intrigued by my reactions.

"But you used to love me, didn't you?" Well that caught me off guard.

"Yes." I wandered back over to her, returning to my former kneeling position. "Yes I did. We were both in love with each other."

"I don't think that's true."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't think you loved me. And I don't think I loved you."

"How do you figure that?" I was doing my best to keep my temper this time. I couldn't tell if she was baiting me or just speaking whatever was on her unfiltered mind.

"Because you would never have left me if you were in love with me. And I would never have gotten over it if I was in love with you."

"Well being in love and loving someone are two different things."

"Are they?" She looked genuinely surprised and shrugged, thinking.

"Yes. They are." I stood up again, I needed a break to regain some hope. Because the girl before me was not even close to the one I used to love, or even the one my sister was in love with. No, this girl was Aro's monster. The one he always wanted.

Liam got up as well and opened the door, following suit and leaving the room with me. We stood outside for a few minutes, trying to think about what just happened.

"Oh." Liam exclaimed, bringing my attention back to him and away from my feet. "Before I forget." The most perfect punch landed on my jaw, I staggered back in shock and pain.

"What the hell was that for?!" He smirked and walked upstairs.

"That was for abandoning my best friend."

Alice POV:

The boys returned a while later and everyone jumped up to greet them. I could tell right away from their faces that it was an unsuccessful trip.

"Well?" Esme still asked hopefully, purposely ignoring their defeated looks in a blind hope.

"No luck." Edward answered dejectedly. Liam sat down by my side, he looked beat.

"Carlisle honey, what now? I, we need her back." My poor mother was breaking down. Carlisle seemed to be as well, he shook his head in confusion.

"I-I don't know."

"There has to be something!" Emmett burst out in anger. "A trigger of some sort. Anything!" I distinctly heard him punch a hole through something, probably a wall. Rose went over to comfort him and I curled my knees up into my chest.

It was torture. My Bella was right down stairs, right in sight of me, but I couldn't get to her. Not the real her. This must have been the Volturi's goal. Making our lives a living hell.

"There might be something." Jasper suddenly spoke up, drawing out his words slowly. He had everyone's attention, but wasn't speaking any further.

"Well? What the fuck is it?" Liam stood up, slightly excited by the prospect and annoyed by the pause. Jasper looked him dead in the eye with the most serious expression I think I've ever seen on anyone.

"You are not going to like it."

A/N: Short chapter I know. I just wanted to leave y'all on a cliffy ;)

Whew, I had to whip out my old and dusty copy of New Moon for this. Lord did anyone else really want to punch Bella all throughout this scene, hell, this book? Maybe even this series? Look props to Stephanie Meyer for all she did and for creating this wonderful world of Twilight. But Steph, girl, couldn't you have created a more likeable main character? I mean or at least give her some balls or a brain for fucks sake?

Ok, rant over. Just reading that scene over brought on some emotions. Well I guess that's why there's fanfiction. So we can create and adjust these foundations of characters.

As always, thank you for reading. You keep me going.