A/N:

Once again, it's been too long, but work is, simply put, crazy right now. Whenever I have a day off, I'm sitting around in zombie mode because so much is happening all the time.

I hope my mushy brain was able to scrap something adequately entertaining for you :)

Title:The Undecided

Author:MarieCarro

Beta Reader:SarcasticBimbo

Genre:Supernatural/Drama

Pairing:Bella/Edward

Rating:NC-17

Summary:Bella thought she knew what her life looked like. It was normal teenage angst and high school boredom. However, one night proves her very wrong and she realizes everyone has been lying through their teeth. Bella isn't normal. Bella is a Witch. And she has a very important choice to make. B/E, Mature Content, AU/A(H)

Disclaimer:All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Word Count: 3, 480

{Chapter 24}

"Does any of this look familiar to you?" Edward asked as we slowly trekked through the traitorous terrain of the closed down hiking trail going through the Samaria Gorge. In the middle of March, it was empty of tourists and enthusiastic extreme hikers, but the repairing of the trails was ongoing after the wet winter, so we were doing some nighttime trespassing.

"No. But I only got a glimpse of the ledge in my vision. I'm hoping I'll just know when I see it."

Edward gave me an uncertain glance. "I don't want to sound like an asshole, but how do you think you'll find something here when hundreds more experienced Witches scoured the entire gorge after he was found?" he asked, referring to what Renee and Charlie told us the Originals had initially done after the Seer's death.

I let out a small laugh. "I don't have a freaking clue. But from what I've understood of the Seer's words, the library was hidden from everyone that wasn't him, so maybe the entrance is connected to his powers?" I ended it as a question to see if Edward agreed with my theory. "I'm hoping the same applies in finding any other magic trails left behind."

"I guess that could be possible," Edward said, but like me, he didn't sound fully convinced. "It would explain why no one's even come across it after all these years."

We had been walking for hours, and the water splashing up and staining my pants wasn't as warm as you'd believe a brook in Greece would be, and it didn't take long for me to start shivering. Edward deftly gave me his spare shirt, but it didn't do much good. The shivering had settled deep in my bones at that point.

"Why are you so cold?" Edward asked in confusion. "You're used to much colder temperatures than this back home," he pointed out, and he was right. It wasn't exactly warm, but we were dressed in clothes that would have been more than enough on a cold autumn day at home.

"I don't know," I replied desperately. The shivering was really uncomfortable. "I just can't stop shaking."

Edward stopped in his tracks, and I turned to see why. "Maybe it's the sign we've been looking for," he murmured, and then started to look up and down the walls of the gorge. "Do you see anything out of place?"

I quickly realized what he meant and looked everywhere I could think of; down into the water, up toward the sky and the ledges, the wooden beams of the small bridge, and the stone walls. I was just about to give up when something glimmered in the corner of my eye. It wasn't clearly visible in the dark, but I was convinced it was something.

The only problem was that I'd have to wade through the water to get to it.

"Do you see that?" I asked Edward and pointed.

He squinted his eyes in that direction and tried to see what I was talking about. "No. What does it look like?"

"I don't know. Some kind of rune, maybe." I promptly removed my shoes and socks and took the first step into the water. "Holy fuck, it's freezing."

"Bella, what are you doing?" Edward asked, clearly questioning my sanity. "Did you forget you're a Witch or something?" He pulled me back up on the bridge and made me put my shoes back on before he put a spell on them that made my feet toasty warm.

I laughed at my own stupidity. "This just proves I can never be an adequate leader without you there. How am I to survive?"

He smirked at me. "Honestly? I have no idea."

With the spell protecting our shoes from becoming soaking wet, we walked through the shallow brook until we were right in front of the faintly glowing blue rune.

"It looks like an eye," I said and reached out to touch it.

"I don't see anything," Edward said and touched the stone a foot away from the symbol.

"I guess that proves my theory," I murmured and traced the outline with my finger. When I reached the little dot that I supposed was the pupil, I had a sudden out of body experience and my breath was knocked out of my me.

"What happened?"

"It was here," I breathed out and looked up toward the sky and at the ledge jutting out so very high above us. "This was where he was pushed."

Edward looked at me intensely. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Yes. We need to get up there." I held out my hand with my palm up. "Give me the ring."

"You're not going up there alone," Edward immediately protested.

"Of course I'm not," I reassured. "But I know what that ledge looks like from my vision, so I can get us there. You can't."

Once confident I wasn't going to ditch him, Edward gave me the ring and grabbed my hand so we'd get up on the ledge faster than trying to find a way leading up there. Luckily, I'd gotten used to the nauseating feeling of having the world melting and solidifying around you, so traveling with the ring didn't affect me as much anymore.

I immediately recognized the scenery when we landed. Only minor changes had happened, like a tree that had grown taller and larger, and a few bushes had been removed. Otherwise, everything was the same, all the way down to the dark night surrounding us.

"This is it?" Edward asked for clarification.

"Yes." There was some kind of buzzing around me that didn't fit the environment, and as I looked at Edward, I quickly understood that he didn't hear it. I got down on all fours and placed my ear against the ground because the sound appeared to emanate from the stone itself.

"What are you doing?"

"Hold on," I said and held up my hand for Edward to be quiet, and I concentrated with everything I had on the sound. It soon died down to just a whisper and I could barely hear it. Only one word slipped through.

"Ancipes..."

It was the Latin word for being on two sides, and I figured I had to prove I wasn't one or the other in some way. But how? There weren't any official neutral spells yet, and I doubted the whispers would accept something I came upon the spot.

I sighed as my mind drew a blank. "It wants me to prove who I am."

"What?" Edward asked. "What wants you to prove that? The ground?"

"Look, I know this is weird to you, but there's a reason why no one's found any evidence of this library before." I sat back on my heels and glared at Edward, not appreciating him acting like I was insane because I heard and saw things he didn't. "The Seer's powers allow me to see and hear hidden messages, and now it whispers that I need to prove I am the one. So could you just help me?"

He threw his arms out uselessly. "How am I supposed to help you? I have no idea what you need to do. This is completely uncharted territory for me, Angel, so you'll have to be the expert."

"Give me an idea. Anything. A spell, a ritual, a sacrifi—" I stopped mid-sentence as something occurred to me. "Of course," I exclaimed. "That's what I have to do." I reached for the dagger in my belt and frantically looked for a crack in the stone. When I found it, I could have laughed out loud from elation. "How old is the blood identity spell?" I asked Edward because I knew as soon as he answered my question, he would understand as well.

"Ancient. It's probably been used"—he started to smile—"ever since the first Originals."

I grinned. "Exactly." I slit my palm and smeared the blade of the dagger with it before inserting it into the crack, but when nothing happened, I started to doubt myself. "That should have worked," I murmured.

"Allium unus..."

That whisper had been so loud I didn't even have to try to hear it.

"It knows we're two," I said and waved Edward forward. "It wants your blood as well."

Without even hesitating, he offered me his palm, and while the magic in our blood most often healed self-inflicted wounds necessary for certain spells, there were faint scars in his hands that indicated he'd done a lot of blood magic in his days. I was fascinated by that for a moment because, for some reason, his hands hadn't truly caught my attention before.

There would be time for that later, though, and I gave him a fine cut across his hand. He didn't even flinch. All he did was make a fist and squeezing a few drops on the blade where my blood was already staining it.

I held my breath as I once again slid the blade into the crack, but this time, something did happen. The dagger started to vibrate and glow in a vibrant lilac color and when I pulled it out, the tip of the blade pointed in a direction all on its own. I tried to move it to test it out, but it was firmly set in that one direction. The only way to move the dagger was forward.

"It's acting like a compass."

"This is magic I've never seen before," Edward said in awe. He looked at me and laughed. "I mean, there are spells to give direction, but nothing like this. It's incredible."

I agreed with him, but I was also starting to feel very nervous because I knew we were actually going to find that library now, and what then? What was waiting for us at the end of the tunnel?

Just as I was about to take the first step forward, the vision I had of being the Seer the night of his death assaulted me, but it was different this time. More detailed. I could actually hear the responses of the person who killed him.

"I already knew you were stupid, but this is even below your intelligence."

"Keep insulting me if that makes you feel better. I'm not the one about to take a 3000 feet swan dive into the ground, and all I have to do is give you a little push. You don't even have the courage to fight back."

"Why do you think you'll get away with it."

"Who will accuse me once you're gone? Barely anyone even knows I exist thanks to you. I guess that worked in my favor in the end. Besides, the power that should've been mine from the start will finally be with its true master. People will have no choice but to believe what I tell them."

"You never had a lot of faith in our people."

"Why would I? They're maggots. Pawns in the game you set them in. But it's time for a new puppet master, and that little prophecy of yours will never be."

"It's too late. It's already in the works. I have seen it, and it will be as I said."

"I was the only one there. Only I know what you saw."

"You're like a stupid child. I've taken precautions to make sure you remain ignorant for decades. Why would I suddenly stoop to your level of intelligence?"

"You didn't have time to write it down or hide it. There's no way you could already have—"

"Of course I have documented it already. How unfortunate for you that I will never tell you where to find it. You're unworthy of resting your eyes upon such knowledge."

"I was more worthy than you the day I was born. But don't worry. I was always the patient one out of the two of us. I'll find your hideout one day. Mark my words, little brother."

"Then kill me. Do it. It won't make a difference."

"Bella?"

The vision dissolved and I only saw Edward's face in front of me.

"You had a new vision, didn't you?"

"Yes, and no," I replied, and then indicated for us to start following the direction of the dagger. As we walked, I explained. "It was the same vision I had the morning after Samhain. The one about the Seer's death, but it was also more."

Edward tilted his head in question. "More how?"

"I actually heard the responses of his murderer now."

"You know who it is?" Edward stopped walking and looked at me with anticipation, but all I could do was sigh in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, no. I couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman. But I do know their relation to the Seer." We started walking again, always following the dagger which barely changed its forward direction. "The Seer had an older sibling. Someone who felt they should've had the power instead of him. Do you know anything about that?"

"No, I've never heard of any of that," Edward said and shook his head. "I mean, the Originals didn't even know where he was from, let alone that he had a family."

"Maybe that's another question we'll have answered when we reach wherever this dagger is leading us."

"Hopefully. But I doubt we'll reach it tonight." Edward nodded toward the lightening sky telling us dawn was approaching. "I say we walk until the sun is up, but then we settle down and try to sleep, at least for a couple of hours. We have no idea how far we'll have to walk."

I agreed with him and we continued to trek through the wilderness of Crete with it's beautiful but somewhat destitute scenery. We did so in silence until both of us felt the need to rest. By then, the sun was out and well, but we were far from civilization and felt safe to walk around with a glowing dagger.

We had searched the gorge for most of the night, and we were both feeling tired, so we settled on the ground next to each other and promptly fell asleep. It was warm enough that we didn't have the need for a tent.

Our journey continued like that for a few days. When we had reached the edge of the island, the glow from the dagger had shot across the ocean in a straight line toward another island—Rhodes—to show where we needed to head next.

There had been no way for us to find the exact spot where the dagger could pick up the Seer's spell again, but we decided the closest coastal village was our best bet. It was frustrating that we had lost the trail, but neither of us had expected the journey to be easy.

The chances that the Seer's library would be on one of the largest tourist traps of Greece was slim, but we had no chance but to simply follow the one and only trail we had. Fortunately, we didn't have to backtrack for too long before the dagger started to vibrate in my hand again and emanate that violet glow. Since we were moving among mortals at that point, Edward cast a cloaking spell over us both to keep us from being seen by those who had no knowledge of magic.

For the better part of a day, we walked, only resting occasionally, until we reached the village Lindos on Rhodes eastern coast. The dagger's glow burned brighter and vibrated so violently I couldn't keep my grip on it, and as soon as it left my hand, it took on a life of its own and floated toward the ruins on the mountaintop.

"There's no way," I breathed out.

"What?" Edward asked.

"How can a top-secret library possibly be hidden in the ruins of a very popular tourist attraction? Anyone could have seen the Seer enter or leave and figured it out," I said, but Edward immediately shook his head in disagreement.

"Not necessarily. Rhodes has played a part in history since ancient times, but it was mostly used for trading between the middle east and Europe. Many people could have walked through here without ever really being noticed. Besides, we don't know how frequent a visitor the Seer was."

"If you say so," I replied, not as well-versed in the history he was talking about. "I guess there's only one way to find out for sure." We started the climb toward what we hoped was the entrance to the library we'd been searching for.

The sun was at its highest point and intensely beaming down on us when we reached the top, and close to one of the crumbled walls of the ruined structure, my dagger was neatly balancing on its tip, just waiting for us. Next to it, on the wall, was a familiar symbol.

"It's that rune again," I said and hurried up to it.

"You're gonna have to draw it for me once we find this library 'cause I can't see a damn thing," Edward grumbled, disgruntled he was truly only tagging along without contributing anything to finding the library.

"Don't be like that." His tone had made it clear to me that he was sulking. "If I hadn't been in possession of Seer powers, I wouldn't have seen it either."

He took a deep breath, obviously swallowing his displeasure and collecting himself, and nodded. "So what do you need to do to open the entrance?"

I turned back to the marked wall. "I don't know. It doesn't say, and nothing happens when I touch it." Like I had in the gorge, I traced the symbol with my finger, but no ideas came to me. "C' mon," I whispered. "Are you gonna force me to guess?" There were no cracks that stood out to me on the wall, so I doubted it was another blood spell, but then what?

In an act of frustration and desperation, I placed both my hands on either side of the rune and pushed with all my strength. Naturally, nothing happened.

"I have an idea," Edward spoke up behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at him. "Didn't Charlie say the only other Witch to ever hold all four elements was the Seer? I mean, like you did when you destroyed the Dead Man's Candle planted in your garden. That would definitely prove you are the one, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said hesitatingly. "But I haven't attempted it since that night, and I was really drained after. You said I slept for days. Can we really risk it now?"

"You didn't have your full powers back then. I don't think it will drain you like that again," he encouraged and then grabbed my hand to pull me upright. "I'll lead you into it if you feel uncertain."

"No, it's fine," I insisted, but then backtracked. "But hold my hands anyway … you know, just in case."

"Of course."

I inhaled to brace myself and then both of us closed our eyes as I started to recite the familiar chant. Edward whispered the first part with me and then went silent as I called for all five elements; Terra, Ignus, Aqua, Flatus, Animus. I call for you now, attend to me!

The power I felt from all the elements was heady because I could hold them all so much easier now than I had that faithful night when it felt as if everything had started. They weren't uncertain or unwilling to do as I asked when I commanded they helped me open the door. They were obedient and even Fire acted respectful.

Slowly, through my mind's eye, I saw an opening appear in the wall as if it had always been there, and once it was fully visible, the elements asked to depart. After I gave my permission and they had left, I opened my eyes and saw that Edward was staring at the opening with his mouth agape.

"You know," he started. "My life was actually rather boring before you found out you were a Witch. Now … not so much."

I didn't have a reply for him, and I was certain he wasn't in need of one anyway, so I just squeezed his hand, and then we ducked through the opening and entered what I could only explain as a completely different world.

"Toto, we are definitely not in Kansas anymore."

A/N:

I know that last line is a cliché, but I just love when that pops up in Pop Culture movies and books for some reason :-P

Lots of things happened here, and there's still a lot that needs to happen before this baby meets it's end, but I have a very, VERY, clear vision in my head now, so it's not too far away either. So … prepare yourselves for that!

All of your thoughts and theories and generally, all your words that you leave me on this motivates me to keep going, so thank you for that!

We'll see when I can get around to write up the next chapter :-D

Until then,

Stay Awesome!