Playlist:
Six Feet Under – Billie Eilish
When Demons Come to Life – Halocene, Lauren Babic
Vampires Will Never Hurt You – My Chemical Romance
Bring Me to Life – Evanescence
Last Laugh- Meg Meyers
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words. Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight series, and the songs belong to their respective people.
Six Feet Under
The throne room was mostly silent as the shadow was obliterated; only a few people cried out in fear. The golden glow of Bella's shield grew softer and faded away, and so did the dark clouds on the horizon. The dim light of pale dawn began to lighten the skies. Bella's thoughts hovered just out of reach of Edward's telepathic senses.
Grief was on every Fae's face, and Edward couldn't even bring himself to look at his family as he got up from where Bella had tackled him. The echoes had faded to become a golden orb of light hanging over the elemental pentagram. There was a deceptive, sharp-edged peace in the air.
The echoing sound of childish laughter rang in the Arena. The young echoes of Adeline, Bella, and Fiore chased each other around the throne room, playing a game of lovers' tag. When the shining forms caught one another and kissed chastely, the laughter would ring around the room again. Fiore caught Adeline up in a kiss with his brown eyes twinkling, forming his body to hers as the shining echo of Bella looked back at them. She was grinning with her long hair blowing in front of her face as she ran, and Addy and Fio took off after her.
The echoes disappeared, dissolving away as they reached the stage that held the three thrones.
He supported Bella's weight completely as she stretched her hand towards the stage, reaching for something she would never hold again with her eyes clenched shut. Her quiet cast was forced into manifesting by determination alone; it was slow and grief-laden, even in her thoughts.
As above, so below.
As the universe, so the soul.
The two wooden thrones began to dissolve away molecule by molecule; the wings were collapsing inward; the flames were going out. The chairs shattered slowly, each piece crushed into dust and ashes that mingled as it blew over the crowd and out of the cavern. The dust glimmered in the light of the dawn.
When it was gone and the stage was empty save for the lonely golden throne, Bella opened her eyes. There was shock and immeasurable grief on her face as she took in the change.
Then, she turned back to Edward. She pulled him in by the sturdy chain around his neck that held the crystal rose, kissing him deeply. When she pulled back to look in his eyes, peaceful determination was growing on her weary face.
Reality hummed as it settled in Bella's mind. Oh. She was here, she was in the throne room. She was looking into Edward's topaz eyes, trying to ignore the lonely throne on its platform behind her. She had been poisoned, been in withdrawal, and the Master had been able to reach her telepathically. Someone else had been in her mind too, leaving a warm crimson glow behind that mitigated the sting of her raw memories. It was...It had been...
...Edward?
Edward was supporting her, keeping her from falling to her knees at the outermost edge of the throne room and Arena. Her vampires, Marcos, Josephat, and Kaedra stood just across the gap from the throne room on solid ground.
"Bella?"
Edward. Can you hear me?
"I can hear you, but barely. You fade in and out. Bella, are you okay? The darkness is gone. The echoes..."
Bella looked out towards the pentagram that had thrown her memories, putting them on display for every Fae in Camp to see. An orb of golden light still hovered over the pentagram, encompassing the levitating mirror shard.
Adeline. Fiore.
They're...they're dead. But you're not. You're here.
You're Edward.
Bella sent him a private smile.
I'm here, now. You're here too, and you love me.
Edward's smile was gentle and grieving as he embraced her. "You're back. Bella, love, please never scare me like that ever again. I'm not sure I could take it, okay?"
Bella grinned, ignoring the glitch behind her as it showed her memories of the hospital and the silencing to the Fae around them. She turned her face into Edward's chest, letting him clutch her to himself on the marble floor. She didn't need the echoes' help to remember, anymore. She allowed herself to stop watching. For a long moment, Bella allowed herself to just be here.
Edward held her close, petting her hair as he watched the glitches continue:
Marcos' and Kaedra's faces flashed by; Erik and Chen's too, as well as some Edward didn't recognize. Scenes flashed across the echo; some of them were violent and frightening, some of them were full of laughter and warmth. Each of them only held for brief moments. Edward felt his curiosity for the untold story grow with every scene.
Then, it was her leaving Miami in her beat-up truck in the dead of night - knowing it was the end of her fragile peace; it was the end of a lot of things.
A quick set of flashes showed her withdrawal: the echoes being built from the memories, her painful suppression of her magicks, and the sudden cutting silence when the drumbeat stopped. Bella couldn't drown out the drums with her precious magick still in her veins, and she wept bitterly when the sound stopped; she knew that it meant her magicks had finally given in to her will and been locked away. Edward would have torn the thin walls of Charlie's fishing shack apart board by board if he had known this was why Bella didn't go with her father on the weekends. He distantly considered returning to Forks to do just that. Soon enough, the echoes slowed:
It was her first glance of him, meeting his eyes from across the cafeteria at Forks High School.
Biology class stretched across the pentagram – Bella spent most of the class period idly wondering why he hadn't killed her yet and trying to control her reactions to his easily-recognized predatory behavior. There's something different about him...it's like he doesn't wantto hurt me.
Their first conversations flashed by, muffled, but as the echoes flashed by Edward could hear Bella remembering the events in her mind; she remembered her panic and wonder and curiosity about this pale boy with the unusual eyes.
The van screeched as it slid across the ice; Bella remembered her stunned thought in his arms once everything stopped moving. He...he saved me. I would have died; death was so close. But he saved me.
Bella's obsession with him was growing. Her dreams flashed by.
There was an ancient text filled with spidery writing. Edward didn't know the Fae language very well yet, but he recognized the symbol for Vampyr. Bella dropped the book onto the floor of her bedroom with shock and raced to sit at the ancient computer on her desk. She swore in the Fae language when she tripped over her bedroom rug, cursing her suppression and the clumsiness it brought.
It was their meeting in Port Angeles from her perspective, their conversation in the restaurant and the car. Bella remembered how she had shoved her rising defensive magicks down as the men circled her even though she knew it meant she would be helpless, how the drums in her head had faded immediately upon hearing his voice shout at her to get in. She remembered the stupid mortal waitress and her realization that she wanted more from him than just information about his species. She remembered her shame and guilt as she forced herself to lie to him; their mutual hunger to know everything.
It was the forest and the meadow now, somehow not-afraid for the first time in a long time.
Their first kiss was displayed in intimate detail. Bella had felt a sudden rush of lust as the heat made her pull him closer. The fear finally came to her when he pulled away, but it was fear that he would leave; it was fear that he would go where she could not follow. A terrible grief encompassed her when he called her his soulmate. I can't be his soulmate- my soul is spoken for.
She was stepping into his house in Forks - meeting his family and feeling home for the first time in a long time.
James and Victoria flashed by. To say that Bella took offense at the vampire couple's underestimation of her was severely understating the issue. These flashes brought memories of a molten-hot protective fury towards the latest in a long line of sadists. The feelings were only tempered by her awed and amazed affection for him and his family.
Prom; dancing under the gazebo - suddenly wanting to live.
The golden days before he left her flashed by too quickly to register Bella's thoughts, and suddenly Edward was watching himself leave Bella alone in the forest.
She remembered the hole in her chest tearing further and further as he spoke. Bella collapsed, alone in the forest and unwilling to keep trying.
Next were the daily hours spent building his echo, empty brown eyes and unnoticed hunger. There were long nights screaming into the pillow, eyes white.
Jacob was angry- Bella couldn't have cared less, the feel of the fall from the cliff had been amazing. Her echo-Edward had been so detailed.
Now she was in a car with Alice. Jacob was lucky Alice was in the way, or she would have cut his arm off. It was all she could do to let the shapeshifter down gently instead of just telling Alice to drive already. She loved her best friend, but Alice's Sight sucked sometimes. She was on a plane over the vast ocean,weighing the odds of exposure and not liking the answer; she was unwilling to let him be the price of keeping her secrets.
The sleek yellow Porsche was racing up the hillside towards Volterra and she hadn't slept in days; Her thoughts raced faster than the car and only Alice kept her somewhat calm. Why would Edward do this? Why couldn't she ever protect him? Why, why, why?
There was the buzz of her magicks overcoming her suppression as she raced towards him across the square—It will be the end of the Fae; but Edward might live.
She was throwing herself at him, the rush of the intimate hold sweeping over Edward as he watched; Bella had felt suddenly whole. A moment later, he felt triumph and dregs of weariness as the adrenaline wore off warring within her. Bella remembered her sudden self-horror, her realization of just how far she would go.
In the next flash, she stood in front of Aro – spent and numb and praying her mental defenses held as the ancient vampire took her hand. She remembered realizing that Vampires had a whole world, just like Fae did.
And always, through every memory in the echoes and every thought in Bella's mind, constantly, always strengthening, was Love.
- Want
- Need
- Mine
The emotions flooded the cavern from the echoes. The memories were so ingrained in Bella's mind that the glitch had thrown sparks anytime Edward and Bella's echoes touched.
The glitches faded away, and the starburst of light around the mirror shard glimmered and faded as well. The mirror shard fell from where it levitated above the mingled elements and disappeared into the center of the star. There was a bright flash of light, and Edward turned away to shield his eyes, tucking Bella into his chest.
When he pulled back to look at her face, doe-brown eyes were regarding him nervously.
Edward laughed his relief and joy. "Bella, love. You're back. I love you."
"I love you too, Edward. Sorry I – Eeep!" Edward picked Bella up and spun her joyfully. When he finally put her down, he kissed her eagerly. He felt like dancing, felt the same unrestrained joy he had felt when Bella showed him her magicks for the first time. He pulled back just enough to see her face.
"Fucking Hell, Bella. You scared me." He pulled her still closer to him. He wanted to crawl inside her and live under her skin for eternity. "Hi, by the way."
"Hi, handsome." She squeezed his arms reassuringly. "What the hell happened? How was the Master able to reach me telepathically?"
Edward clutched at the small of her back, kissing her again just because he could. His reply was distracted. "Shades. There are Shades in the Castle. They're hunting them down."
"Shades?" Bella broke from him, already focusing on a point over Edward's shoulder, looking back towards the Castle. "Uh, three of them?"
"Yeah- That's what Kaedra thought, anyway. Why?"
Flying towards the throne room at incredible speed were three ugly, ink-stained birds, their claws coated in blood.
When Demons Come to Life
Bella didn't have time to hesitate. She levitated off the floor for just long enough that Edward could step away from her and then flew to intercept the Shades. She slammed into the leader – it had taken her face. She shouted to Marcos and her soldiers below her even as she pressed the thought into Edward's mind.
"Keep them away from the Arena at all costs! The Shades must never enter the throne room!"
The Shade recovered from impact quickly and clawed at her, cutting her forearm deeply when she blocked it from reaching her eyes. The Shade screeched as the wound on her arm appeared on its arm in the exact same spot. It bled red.
Wait, what? Shades bleed black.
She swore, pushing it off her and throwing a crack of lightning at it. The lightning struck it but did no damage. When it grinned wickedly, Bella attacked and broke its arm. She didn't even have time to pull back again before it grabbed her. The arm she had broken was already healed.
The Master had performed a spell on this Shade: defensive casts had been set on it, and it had healed even more quickly than Shades usually did. The Master's telepathic presence was stronger than normal, radiating from it. There was something different about the Shade's mimic too, something...
She managed to get the upper hand in her grappling with the damn thing's claws and saw a clear space in the sandstone below. The realization hit her all at once as she grabbed the Shade's throat and slammed it into the sandstone floor from far above. It made a divot in the rock a few dozen yards from her vampires.
Huh.
The change in this Shade seemed innocuous enough. The Shade that had taken her face had brown eyes instead of the Master's consumed black ones. Bella cast a not-strictly-necessary shield around Edward and his family just so that her eyes flashed golden, and the Shade's eyes were consumed as well.
But when the other two Shades abandoned their attack on the Arena and landed in front of her, she lost her focus on the experimental Shade. These Shades looked like her echoes of Adeline and Fiore – they were adults. She was suddenly glad for the shield she had cast, because she couldn't keep the wave of furious heat from billowing in the air.
How dare these wretched creatures take their faces?
Her eyes were consumed by her magicks and her rage. Her echoes of Fiore and Adeline were precious to her, a future that would never be.
She bared her teeth at the Shades as they neared her.
Edward rushed across the gap to reach Bella's side. When he got close enough to process the situation, he blinked. A Shade with Adeline's face circled Bella. Right next to where Bella was facing off with Adeline...was Bella. This one was being circled by Fiore.
Edward got there just in time to prevent Fiore from breaking Bella's arm, and he had barely stopped that attack when the other Bella was ruthlessly thrown back towards the throne room. She had darted forward to swipe at Adeline's chest but been intercepted and thrown into the dirt. The Bella he had saved screeched and attacked the real Bella, its fingernails suddenly inches long and sharp.
"Edward! Look out!" The Shade wearing Adeline's face attacked him, and Edward lost track of both Bellas as he turned to face it.
Jasper appeared from nowhere, landing a punch on Adeline's Shade that knocked it back towards Marcos. Marcos held it captive as Emmett rushed it, and his bear of a brother almost drove his hand right through the Shade's chest.
Emmett would have succeeded, but Fiore darted forward to defend its partner, turning its consumed black eyes on Marcos. Marcos went boneless and the Shade took off into the air just before Emmett struck. Carlisle helped Marcos to his feet as the rest of his family rushed to them across the Arena.
When Edward turned to track the Bellas, both were surrounded by Camp's soldiers. The warriors looked panicked, doing nothing to stop the two as they grappled and struck out at each other. The Shade-Bella struck out at the real one, succeeding in splitting her cheek; the scent of Bella's blood reached him. The deep cuts appeared on the Shade as well, but the Shade's blood smelled like an average human, weaker and with no special draw.
Edward let a manic grin cross his face. He darted past the soldiers, stopping the Shade before it could rake its claws across Bella's back. Bella met his eyes with gold-consumed ones and sent him a relieved smile.
"How?"
"La Tua Cantante. Its blood doesn't sing."
"You know..." Bella sent a blast of golden magicks to assist Emmett as Adeline focused its attack on his brother. "...sometimes my life is really strange."
The Shade-Bella launched itself at him and Edward twisted and kicked it in the thigh, breaking its femur. Bella was being attacked by Fiore again, but Bella's Shade healed itself before he could reach her. Edward was glad his thoughts were still private; his mental cursing would have made a sailor blush. He grappled with it as it snapped bloody teeth inches from his face. The damn thing was incredibly strong, and it was beyond surreal to see Bella's face twisted into hatred like that.
"I noticed!"
Bella gave up her advantage to knock her Shade away from him and Fiore's Shade took flight again, headed for the throne platform. Alexandra threw a bolt of lightning at it as it took off that barely missed.
Bella growled her frustration and shot him a look. "No dying, Edward."
She took flight too, catching up to Fiore and slamming into him. They started to dart after each other in the air above the throne room, a deadly game of tag.
Edward tried to track the fight, but the Shade-Bella was coming after him again. Jasper intercepted it before it reached him.
"Dude! Pay attention!"
Rosalie and Emmett joined Jasper in his attack, but the three of them struggled to keep the Shade-Bella's attention. It wanted to fight Edward.
Alice smacked him upside the head in reprimand as he joined her in her defense of Elizabeth, who was coating Adeline's Shade in layer after layer of ice while Alex flew from above to catch it off guard. Edward saw an opening and rushed forward, but Bella's Shade interfered again, looking into his eyes.
Darkness consumed the world.
The Master's voice was hissing and filled with malice.
Who is prey now, Vampyr?
He vaguely perceived Bella's scream as Alex distracted the Shade from its attack. When his vision cleared, it took a moment for Edward to process what he was seeing.
Fiore's Shade was crumbling to dust in the air high above the throne room. But Bella...Bella was falling. She had lost her flight and flailed in the air as gravity pushed her down. The fall would surely kill her.
Edward ran.
Bella was exhausted. She tried not to think about it, well aware that Edward could hear her. But as she took off after the Shade that had taken Fiore's face, she was very aware of the distance between her and solid ground. She tracked her distance from Edward too, weighing it against how quickly she could shift to his location.
Fiore's Shade fumbled to avoid the crack of fire she threw at it, distracted by a strike from the Core stationed in Camp below them. They were at the cavern entrance, which meant she was far enough away from her vampires to use fire; of course, it also meant Edward was pretty much on his own.
The Shade's fumbling provided an opportunity, but Bella hesitated. She was unsure if she had the power to follow through on that attack. The feeling was incredibly rare for her. Under normal circumstances it might have been comforting to know she had limits.
She let the opportunity pass; instead, she brushed a hand against her cheek, collecting the fluid there on her fingertips. Golden. Oh.
Oh no.
The Shade grinned wickedly, and turned to attack, forcing her higher into the air.
Shit.
It slammed into her at incredible speed, but Bella knew better than to let it push her past the cavern entrance. She was screwed without Camp's defensive shields. She twisted and threw it behind her, heading back to find a spot to land. She was over the throne room when it caught up to her.
She had tried to manifest a shield of ice and heat to slow its pursuit, but she couldn't force the contrary magicks of those elements to mingle. Her body felt heavy with her exhaustion and her flight faltered.
The Shades must not enter the throne room.
If a Shade entered a sacred space, the Master's mere telepathic presence would corrupt the magicks of it. The throne room was one of the most powerful places in Havana, a gateway to another plane of existence. The amount of power it would give the Master would be devastating.
This time, when it slammed into her, she was ready. She manifested an ice shard and ignored the black blood on her hands as she thrust the shard into Fiore's chest, immediately slamming all her magickal energy into regaining her faulty flight. If she could focus, she could grab hold of the throne room's power and slow her fall, like she had when she and Addy jumped off the roof.
She screamed as Fiore's Shade raked its claws across her thigh before it burst into dust. It cost her precious focus and she began the long fall. She was trying to time it just right, a mere hundred yards from the marble floor and counting down quickly.
She had just closed her eyes against the adrenaline, reaching for her magicks desperately when Edward leapt clear across the platform and caught her. She jolted as he slammed into her harshly, sure she had run out of time. When she opened her eyes, she felt hysterical relief.
Bella's eyes were back to their innocent brown, all trace of gold or black gone. Golden tears marked her face, but no new ones joined the stained tracks.
Edward felt her insane relief. "Bella. Are you okay?"
"I'm not dead, so that's a start. You saved my life again. These little bastards are hard to kill; Master has been experimenting. It had to be Shades."
There wasn't time to celebrate the destruction of Fiore's Shade. Bella and Edward took off running to intercept the Shade wearing her face, reaching it feet before the gap only because one of the Core slowed it down with his attack. It cost the soldier his left arm, a gruesome blow that made Edward's vampiric hunger flare. Edward was surprised that Bella hadn't shifted to meet the Shade further away from its goal; instead, she shifted the injured soldier to safety. Edward saw Josephat approaching him. When they did engage with the Shade, Bella took a defensive stance, letting Edward lead.
He struck out at the Shade, but it had apparently mimicked Bella's flexibility and avoided him, trying to rip his arm off.
"Uh...so, there might be a slight problem." Bella grimaced as she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her in the nick of time. The earth cracked and rolled, and Bella pushed the Shade telekinetically while it was off balance, gaining ground.
"Well, a big problem. Even I do have limits. I haven't slept since I almost died at the gala, I'm still woozy from the Glow; I've been casting across the past, present, and future on multiple planes of existence for a very long time now. I'm still having to direct energy to the cast that keeps Master out of my head while my mental defenses are down. It may have led to an... issue. Edward, my magicks are failing. My aura's overflowing. I can cast, but I might not have enough power to follow through. My spells might not work."
When the Shade wearing Adeline's face escaped the Core and circled around to join the Bella-Shade's attack, Edward expected Bella to blast it out of the sky. She didn't; instead, she dodged and circled, giving up ground and letting her Shade push the two of them closer to the gap.
Edward snatched her out of the reach of Adeline's claws with a grip on her arm that made her wince. He gentled his touch immediately. "You're running out of magick? Bella, aura overflow is deadly."
"Normally, aura overflow is solved with a few days' rest. It only kills you if you push it too far. Not that I'll be able to rest if I'm dead...or worse."
Edward grimaced at the worried expression in Bella's doe-brown eyes. She was starting to look disoriented again; her eyes flashed lazily black but never shimmered golden.
"You know something, little witch?"
He grabbed hold of Bella's brown-eyed Shade and threw it as far away from them as he could manage, back towards the Castle. He pointed an imperious finger at his lover.
"You are a trouble magnet. It should not be this much effort to keep one human being alive."
"I know, I know. You can yell at me later, after everyone lives through this."
"Bet on it."
They turned to face the Shades once more.
Vampires Will Never Hurt You
Adeline's Shade was leaping towards Edward's neck a few yards from the throne room gap; avoiding the strike would mean giving up his defense of the space. Bella threw out her hand towards him, still grappling with her own Shade. Nothing happened. Edward growled and held his ground, bracing his forearms against the damn thing's teeth, but it never made contact.
A heavy iron axe impacted Adeline's chest, barely missing the Shade's heart.
"Damn, its faster than it should be! I almost had it!"
Marcos darted forward to reclaim his weapon from the stunned creature as it screeched in pain. Marcos pressed his advantage, but Edward saw Bella's Shade turn and prepare to engage the commander. He flashed behind Marcos' back to break its ankle and was almost able to tear the Bella-Shade's leg off.
When Marcos turned to assist him, the commander flinched. "What...what happened to its eyes? They should be black. No, you know what, tell me later. How are you able to tell the difference?"
Edward threw the damn thing backward and they gained a yard.
"That's a longer explanation than you think it is. Let's go with...it smells different."
Bella was swearing heavily as Adeline's Shade attacked her in a frenzy, battering the golden shield that sputtered randomly. The golden tears of aura-magicks were back, flowing down her cheeks like so much heavenly lava.
"Marcos! What took you so long?"
"It's a little hard to get involved in keep-away when you don't know who to keep away, Izzy!"
"Well, can you keep this one away, then?"
"Sorry." Marcos threw a wicked crack of fire and ice at Adeline's Shade, driving it backwards into Alexandra's grasp. His family ran up to them with Kaedra, and the Shades were finally pushed back past the ring of soldiers around the Arena.
"Izzy! Welcome back to the land of the living. Thanks for the traumatic picture-show."
"They're called movies, Kaedra. It's the twenty-first century for god's sake."
"Well, we're back in the real world now, and I'm fresh out of glass slippers. Your magicks picked a wonderful time to meet their limits."
Bella grinned sarcastically. "I'll be sure to take it up with Destiny when we next meet for coffee."
"See that you do. How do you want to approach this?"
"My orders stand. Keep them away from the Arena at all costs."
"That will be difficult if we can't be sure who we're attacking."
"I don't have an answer. I guess for now, just attack anything that looks like me, and try to keep your focus on Adeline. Edward says it smells different."
Jasper cut in. "That's just 'cause you're his singer. It smells the same to me."
Marcos shook his head in disbelief. "Awesome. Well, we'll kill the red-head. Don't die, Bella. I should argue with you about going to the panic room, but I won't. I'll just lose anyway."
"I might let you win this time. It's full dawn now. It'll come along any minute, and I'm not exactly in peak condition."
"I know. You haven't fallen yet, Izzy. Don't let him break you. Glow can't be the thing that breaks you; please, God, no. I know you can do it. Hell, you just did. I have some on me from the Attic, but I won't dose you unless I must. You know that."
Carlisle took notice of the byplay between Bella and her commander and raised an eyebrow. "Care to share with the rest of us?"
Marcos sighed deeply, turning to face the vampiric healer. "Withdrawal from Glow lasts twenty-four hours. At hour twenty-three, Glow coalesces in your aura, and it packs one more good punch. One last high before it drains from Izzy's system for good. With her aura in the state it's in and all the complications from withdrawal so far, it's bound to get interesting."
Carlisle opened his mouth to reply just as a soldier broke through the Core's defensive line and ran to them.
"Majesty! The guard has sighted soldiers on the plateau! Black Beetles – a thousand men strong."
"Dammit! I should've known Tomas would have to stick his big, ugly nose in this mess. I cannot wait to kill that asshole."
"Get in line." Emmett sneered.
Bella's eyes turned black. At the same moment, her Shade darted through the opening the messenger had left and clawed Carlisle's shoulder, pulling him away from their group and towards the throne room.
A black-eyed Bella darted forward to catch Carlisle before he fell into the gap between the path and the throne room; she threw the other Bella backward, but not far enough. Bella was forced to give up her grip on Carlisle to stop the Shade from breaching the throne room. It was all Carlisle could do to catch the edge of the path with one hand.
The fall to the cavern floor, now crowded with the incoming force of beetles, would not end well for him, vampire or not. He heard Esme cry out in panic. One of the Bella's tackled the other, and they rolled closer to him. When the Bella on top used her advantage to help him, the opportunity only lasted a moment.
Carlisle knew who his daughter was. He didn't hesitate, taking her hand so she could pull him to safe ground once more. The Shade beneath her bucked, and both of them were thrown towards the ring of soldiers.
Carlisle helped Bella stand, more concerned about the shaking in her muscles than his near-death experience.
"Okay. Ow. That hurt. You alright?" Bella squeezed Carlisle's hand before she turned to the group, who were now under attack from Bella's Shade. "New plan! Marcos, take the Core and go head off the beetles. Kaedra, take a battalion and go check Castle's defenses, so that we have a place to hole up out of the Master's reach. We need an exit strategy if this all goes south. Cullens, can you help me kill the Shades, please? I hate asking, but I can't exactly do much on my own at the moment."
Emmett grinned, already turning to cover the Shade with Adeline's face as Marcos and Kaedra ran to defend Camp from the invading soldiers; Bella's commander was shouting orders and sending green bolts containing messages around the cavern as the Core fell into formation above the cavern floor.
"You know, I'm a little glad your magicks are wigging out. I mean, it sucks that you're all mortal and fragile again, but at least I get to show off my new skills! Besides, I've been dying to fight something since Aphroditus started telling the royal three about the Choosing."
Jasper was still unsure if he was going to call out Emmett for his cockiness, or just commiserate with the need to kill something that the echoes had left behind. Jasper didn't get to decide before Bella's Shade snatched Alice away from his side. In an instant, Edward's war-scarred brother was feral and growling; Jasper reached to yank Alice away from the Shade when Rosalie and Bella tackled it simultaneously from opposite directions.
The three bodies were a tangled mess as they rolled away from Alice and Jasper; Rosalie lost her grip on the damn thing when it slammed her into the dirt, but it had a hold of the other Bella's hair. It yanked her back to the ground when she tried to escape its grip, and the two Bellas grappled before one of them finally forced the other to let go.
When the two Bellas stood, even Edward wasn't sure which was the real one. Bella's blood had gotten on the Shade while the two were in close contact, and both pairs of eyes were a consumed black. One of the Bellas snarled at Alice as she circled the group, a hateful expression on its face.
Alice had always known she was a freak, and no one could make a person feel more freakish than a group of mortal teenage girls. But Bella had been different, right from the very beginning. Bella had never once looked at Alice like the Shade was looking at her now, like those stupid mortal girls always looked at her.
Alice scoffed as she attacked it head on. Had she really thought that thing looked anything like Bella? Bella would never look at her like that. It reached to strike at her, and she ripped its arm off. She made a swipe for its heart, but it dodged at incredible speed. The arm in her grasp dissolved into dust and the Shade screeched in pain as it re-grew the missing limb rapidly.
Rosalie winced when she saw the black blood that remained on Alice's hands. "Okay, ew. I do not want that nastiness under my fingernails."
Her comment was half-distracted as she tracked the Shade wearing Adeline's face. Carlisle and Emmett had a good hold on the situation with that Shade, and it lost an ear and a hand as they tag-teamed it. The Adeline-Shade's healing capabilities were nowhere near the speed of the Bella-Shade. But now Bella's Shade was struggling with her brown-eyed sister, and both were moving rapidly. Rosalie was all that stood between the two Bellas and the throne room.
She had no idea which one was Bella; Jasper and Edward matched her confusion from behind the two identical girls.
She squinted, trying to spot any minor difference that would give away the con. The two Bellas held themselves differently, but both were in aggressive fighting stances. She inhaled deeply, but Bella was not her singer: Rose couldn't tell the difference between the scent of Bella's blood and the scent emanating from the experimental Shade.
One of the Bellas tried to meet her eyes, but Rosalie wouldn't meet the burning black gaze. She had no desire to meet the Master, even in her mind. She could feel her own fear rising in her, panic making her throat go tight and venom pooling behind her teeth. What if she chose the wrong one? The other Bella punched its opponent in the stomach and spoke to her.
"You can't know that, Rose. It might not be okay."
Rosalie was startled by the words Bella had spoken to her just hours ago, and she met the Bella's eyes hesitantly. It was the wrong choice. The world spun and darkness consumed her vision. Rosalie felt something reach towards her. It wore Royce King's face; his features were clearer than her pitiful human memory had ever made them, even in her worst flashbacks.
Bella panicked as she felt the Master reach for Rosalie's mind. With Rose's history, the Master could tear her apart in a second; Bella wouldn't leave Rose in the darkness for a single moment longer than she had to. She decided to count on Jasper and Edward to stop her Shade, immediately running to Rosalie's side and kneeling next to her limp form. Rose could hear Bella's golden voice even in the darkness.
Close your eyes, Rose. Close your eyes so that it doesn't count. Believe it will be okay. It helps, even if it's a lie.
Royce King and the darkness faded away as Rose clung to that golden impression of her sister's voice, doing as Bella bid her. When she finally had the courage to open her eyes again, Bella was shushing her gently, stroking her hair.
She couldn't help the hoarseness in her voice as she tried to imitate her usual snark.
"Geez, Bella, it would have been nice to know that the Shades can talk."
"They can only mimic voices, repeat short phrases from recent conversations. But you're right, I should've warned you. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, I'll yell at you later. Right now, I would really like to kill that fucking thing."
Bella's smile was soft and proud as she helped Rose to her feet. "After you, big sis."
"Gross."
Rose grinned at Bella's pleased laughter as she turned to help her brothers push Bella's Shade away from the throne room. She heard Emmett roar behind her, and when Rose looked back to track her husband, he was battering the Adeline-Shade mercilessly. Adeline's Shade had a grip on Alice's hair and her shoulder, but she couldn't behead Alice with Emmett's constant blows. Carlisle executed a quick one-two strike that ripped off the Shade's half-regrown arm; Carlisle's strike freed Alice from its grasp.
Bella struck out at her own Shade as she approached, a crack of lightning that stunned the creature briefly. Thunder rolled through the air, and the lightning started a fire in the flowerbed nearest Jasper. Edward took full advantage of the Shade's stunned stillness; he was already digging his fingertips into its chest. The Shade twisted to protect its heart, and Rosalie smiled wickedly when the movement put the Shade's head within reach. She ignored the brown eyes in its face as she beheaded it, and Edward let its body fall.
Rosalie allowed herself to relax for a moment, looking around. She noticed Esme and Josephat approaching and turned to look at the real Bella, already preparing to snark at her.
Her sister was swaying, clutching her head as her eyes switched between brown and black rapidly. Golden and black tears mingled as they flowed down her cheekbones and dripped from her jawline. For just an instant, Rose saw the panic cross her face. Bella threw a hand towards Rose, and a spout of fire from the flowerbeds followed her command.
Rose flinched away, and the fire struck something behind her. The Bella-Shade had regrown its head.
"What in the ever-burning hell, Bella?"
"The only way to kill a Shade is by destroying its heart, Rosalie!"
"Fucking magick." Rose cursed as the Shade started to batter her, putting her arms up to protect her head and ignoring the strong blow to her stomach. She had lost all advantage and absently wondered if the magicks could regrow her head as the Shade took hold of her hair.
Jasper also took notice of the golden tears of aura-overflow as they painted his sister's face. When Bella threw a bolt of pure magicks at the Shade cornering Rosalie, she gasped in pain and bent over like she was going to throw up. The fire from the flowerbed spread to encircle Rosalie, accidentally cutting off Jasper's approach. The Shade wearing Bella's face grinned wickedly at Jasper and took hold of Rosalie's hair, pulling her head back and exposing her neck. It raised its hand to strike, standing in such a way that Jasper would have a full view as it beheaded Rose.
Jasper kept his face blank, but it took all he had not to smile. Bella wouldn't hurt him. He dove into the path of the flames, tackling the Shade before it could finish the strike. The flames shot right past him, skipping over the spot where he stood. He barely felt the whisper of warmth as the Shade released Rose to push him back, swiping at his arm and reaching for his neck.
The advantage didn't last long. Emmett cried out in warning, and Adeline's Shade ran to defend its partner. Jasper tried to stand his ground, but Alice tackled him. A wicked crack had formed in the sandstone beneath Jasper's feet. It widened just as Alice knocked him out of the way.
The real Bella was clutching her head, screaming as more black tar flowed from her eyes. All around her, the stone was cracking and shuddering. The fire racing through the flowerbeds flared higher and it was starting to hail inside the cavern. The clouds below the Arena were dark and gray, an uncomfortable reminder of the Master's obliterating shadow. Distantly, Jasper noticed that the hail froze any enemy soldier that it touched as it rained down on the distant cavern floor.
The Core was dominating the battle on the cavern floor, already pushing the beetles into a retreat. Jasper's family was circling Adeline's Shade, keeping it from reaching the screaming Bella. Edward couldn't help her; he was pinned by the Bella-Shade and struggling to keep it from crossing the gap into the throne room. Jasper rushed to help Edward, but Adeline's Shade stopped him. When Alice had tackled him to safety, she had left an opening for Adeline's Shade to attack.
Jasper swore as the real Bella levitated, her feet inches off the floor and shadows growing long around her.
Bella struggled to retain her hold on reality. She kept hold of her vision as long as she could, helpless to interfere as her family struggled with the Shades. The Shade wearing her face had separated Edward from the group fight and pinned him against the gap. Edward grabbed it before it could take flight and enter the throne room; doing so left him vulnerable.
The Master laughed in Bella's head as her Shade took hold of Edward's neck.
Edward looked for her frantically, wanting the last thing he saw to be her face. Bella felt her magicks rebel against the black poison in her aura. Suddenly, the well of magickal power within her deepened. Her aura was still overflowing, but Bella could access all of her remaining magicks, even her life-force. Her aura burned her painfully as she shoved the Master's mind away. Her feet touched the ground, and she pushed her life-force into the command that would release her biometric sword
Over my dead body.
Bella shifted her grip on the handle of the sword in her grasp. "Hey!"
The Shade stopped just as Edward's eyes finally found Bella, drawn by her confident shout. It clicked thoughtfully as it tilted its head at her.
When Edward laid eyes on Bella, everything stopped.
Bella had her biometric sword held with its tip braced just under her sternum; the blade was already drawing blood through the thin fabric of her dress. She was braced with both hands on the handle of the sword. All it would take was one strong thrust and the blade would go directly into her precious heart.
...Bella.
God, no. Please, no.
…Anything but this.
"Let. Him. Go." Bella's words were a malicious snarl.
The Shade clicked a laugh that turned into a pained screech when Bella dug the tip of the sword slightly deeper into her chest.
"My injuries are your injuries, little bird. I die..." Bella dragged the blade slightly sideways, and the Shade screeched again. "...you die. Let. Him. Go. Even if you live, Master will be angry. Master will be unhappy if I am dead. Master will punish you."
The Shade screeched in pain and fear.
"No. Bella, dear god; Bella, please. Just let it kill me. Please, Bella. Stop." Edward had never been so helpless, not since the dim days of his human death. He pulled with all his strength against the arm braced around his neck, but it wasn't working. Bella's eyes were still consumed with black as gold ran down her face, glowing brighter than it had before. No. He didn't want to die like this, didn't want Bella to die with black eyes. "Bella, please. God, please stop. Don't."
Edward heard the Master whisper across her mind.
...you will go so far?
...I will. Surely you remember Love, Master. I won't even hesitate. You took my lovers from me once. You will not take my love; you will not take my Edward. Withdraw your Shade.
Bella's mental command rippled with her determination and rage.
Slowly, the Shade loosened its grip on Edward. As soon as Edward could, he used the situation to his advantage, turning to dig his fingers into the Shade's chest; it was too fast and it pushed him away, towards Bella.
He stumbled to regain his footing, and Bella instinctively moved to help him, putting out her left hand to help his balance. It was just the opening Addy's Shade needed to break her arm like it was snapping a twig. Bella's lower arm bent grotesquely backwards, further than the human arm could go. The momentum from the Shade's strike spun her away from him, clutching her shattered arm to her chest. Edward could see where the bones were poking through her skin.
She screamed.
In one quick motion, Bella executed a quick thrust with her right hand, one-two, and Addy's Shade was crumbling to ashes as Bella skewered its heart. Bella fell to her knees, panting, and then it happened.
Bella's eyes, and the eyes of the Shade running to attack her, turned an electric neon blue.
Bring Me To Life
Edward was shamefully tempted to tear the Shade wearing Bella's face in half and taste its black blood directly from its cursed heart, but there wasn't time. He intercepted the Shade and threw it behind him. When it tried to stop him from reaching Bella's side, Carlisle tore its arms from its body.
Edward had never seen bloodlust on his father's face before.
He could hear his family's raging thoughts and trusted them to tear that fucking creature apart as he knelt next to Bella. She had her head between her knees on the floor, still panting heavily and blindly reaching for him with her good arm as her sword retracted.
He took her still-bloody right hand as Esme and Josephat crashed down beside them. Josephat immediately revealed Bella's aura, and Edward shuddered at the sight of black poison leeching into the golden glow violently.
Esme turned Bella's unresistant form onto her back and began to stitch together the deep wounds on Bella's thigh rapidly as Josephat manually set her arm; Jo's magicks were pouring into Bella's aura. As they did, the cuts on Bella's cheek knit themselves closed.
"Her aura is shredded. We must free her from the Master's grasp immediately. She does not have the power to continue this fight for much longer. If she were any other Fae, she would already be dead. Even with her power, she probably should be."
Edward paid no attention to Esme's desperate question. "What can we do to help?" His mother's words flowed right past him as though they meant nothing at all. He brushed Bella's mahogany hair back from her face gently, clutching her hand to his chest. Her eyes were holes of black poison broken only by twin irises of neon-blue. Edward couldn't stop shaking, and his grip on her hand would surely leave bruises. It didn't matter, right then.
Every speck of his conscious mind was reaching for Bella; trying to break into the battleground of her silent mind.
They had always laughed about Bella's silent thoughts: a combination of her alien bloodline, incredible power, and defenses that Bella had trained in all her life. Edward asked about it early on in his time in Havana, and Bella had giggled and gifted him her blush: saying she couldn't help it, it took a great deal of effort to let Edward in; that the Silence currently made it impossible. It was annoying, but Edward hadn't minded much, too used to it.
He minded, now. He needed to be there, needed to be with his lover, share her pain.
Behind him, his family was ripping the Bella-Shade limb from limb to expose its heart, and Edward distantly processed a quietness that rang through the cavern as the Core defeated the last of the beetles on the cavern floor. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but Bella, nothing had any meaning but her glowing blue eyes and how badly Edward wanted them to turn back to doe-brown or glimmering gold.
- There!
Edward processed strange warmth, a golden glow in the back of his mind; it was weak and dim, but present, reaching for him. He reached back for it mentally, pulling it close. The physical world was completely secondary to this: everything was secondary to this connection to Bella in her faraway place.
He lost track of the outside world, too engrossed in protecting the light of his lover's mind. The misty light began to solidify, shuddering and vibrating into a shining figure, then taking on Bella's visage. She was in chains, straining to reach her hand to him through the pull the shadowy binds had on her limbs. Edward ran to her through an endless dark void; the only thing he could see was his shining golden lover, begging him for help.
Around him, Bella's emotions flew past. They were strangely muffled, should-be emotions instead of the real thing. A fear was born in him as he grew nearer to where Bella struggled. What if Bella didn't know him? Could she still feel her love for him in this dark and wretched place?
...she will not know you, Vampyr. She is mine...
Edward poured all his hatred and rage into his response, not even slowing down at the hiss of the Master's thought-speak.
...Fuck you.
He heaved a great psychic shove, pushing the Master far away from his lover's mind for a long moment.
Bella would know him. She loved him, always felt her love for him; she had told him so. He reached a crimson hand to clutch her shining form close to him, drawing her close and shielding her from the darkness around them as best he could.
Bella's mind was fascinating. The glittering golden mindscape around him was a maze of intricate pathways and walls, staircases and cities that gleamed in decadent color even while under assault from the darkness bleeding into Bella's aura. Even with the haziness and unnatural ecstasy of the drug in her system, Bella was always two steps ahead of him. She had realized the potential for Edward to help her as soon as she had felt the drug activate in her system; he had only been able to perceive her mental presence because she had torn down the last of her mind's defenses herself.
Edward had been right: she could still feel her love for him, pouring across the torn landscape of her mind like life-giving water, a fire that didn't burn. Edward felt the earthquakes and tornadoes rage in his soul as everything he had thought or hoped about his lover was realized in her thoughts. Each emotion he showed her in response to her mindscape was consumed hungrily and met with that Love that staggered him. They met in the middle, his bright crimson to her glowing gold, meshing like paints smeared across paper.
Edward held on to his Bella in that black space as the darkness raged through her: bearing her numbness and letting her feel what he felt. Bella's thoughts and emotions responded to his, her mental presence curling into him like a child afraid of the dark. The chain around Bella's neck glowed vivid blue and pulled taut before suddenly, it snapped.
...NO!
Edward fought hard to keep Bella in his hold as the chains on her wrists and ankles pulled. The Master's mental voice faded away, leaving only a pulsing drumbeat behind.
Edward clutched Bella close in his mind, sending her his overwhelming relief. Outside the world of Edward-and-Bella, his family marveled. Bella was coming around; the effects of the Master's telepathic attack were weakening as Edward shared her burden. Her eyes began to fade from their voided black and glowing neon; there were specks of gold and brown showing through.
The Shade was dead, and Carlisle wiped black blood from his hands as he approached his wife and children. Marcos and Kaedra ran up to the worn family, but Marcos put down the strange-looking syringe in his hand as soon as he saw Bella's golden eyes. The commander looked stunned, a delicate hope fluttering across his face as he took in Edward-and-Bella's connected auras. Carlisle knelt next to Josephat, but the healer was already reeling in his blue-healing magicks as Bella's aura was tinted with crimson. The crimson made the gold glow brighter and expand as Bella's aura replenished quickly under Edward's care.
Josephat wore a broad grin as magicks faded from the healer's eyes. "Well. Perhaps vampires can do magicks, after all. Isabella will be fine. Your son seems to be grounding her aura effectively. I estimate a full recovery within a few hours. Absolutely incredible. I have never seen this kind of healing before. It shouldn't even be possible."
Emmett snorted as Bella-and-Edward's mixed auras flared. "Leave it to Edward and Bella to save the day by mind-melding. Whatever. I'll get them both Star Trek badges for Christmas, as long as Bella's gonna be okay."
Cheers rang all through Camp. It was over, for now. They had won.
Last Laugh
Kaedra felt hope spread treacherous roots in her soul as she watched Edward and Bella's auras mingle on the floor just outside the throne room, everything in her shaken by the depth of what Bella and Edward shared. They were in love. She made sure the sudden change in her wasn't noticeable in her voice as she called to Bella's family of vampires.
"Perhaps; with the Shades dead and the situation apparently under control, it is time to move to a more private location?"
She was eyeing the Fae crowd around them warily: taking in the adrenaline and angry heartbreak on Fae faces, the overwhelming hope and celebration flitting to life on others.
Carlisle looked up from where he knelt next to Edward-and-Bella. "I don't think we should break their physical contact, but we can probably move them somewhere more secure."
"Oh, trust us; no one will get anywhere near them where we're going." Marcos deadpanned.
The group awkwardly jostled the couple, who absentmindedly took their direction. Esme noticed the lovers were focused entirely inward; Bella's hand never left Edward's face and they were always in eye contact.
Kaedra led the group through the Castle and down the stairs. The vast, open basement was filled with pillars that stretched in rows all the way to the narrow crack in the back wall. Josephat took up position outside the crack: a guard at his post. Esme gulped at the powerful magicks that engulfed her when she stepped into the narrow passage from the glitch.
The stone grew cooler, gray and damp; springy moss grew beneath their feet. After a few more moments, Esme could hear a waterfall, see a light up ahead. Esme reached to touch Bella's elbow in the narrow space, directing her Fae-daughter towards the soft glow where the path opened into the narrow cave that was half naturally formed and half built. It was the cave from the echoes, and it was even more spectacular in person. On either side of the crevasse where the waterfall fell into the abyss, there was wild greenness: vines that glowed softly and trailed to meet the moss on the ground. There was no way the sun could shine this far underground; the plants got their light from the runes.
The strange runes that were carved into the walls had changed, new symbols that shined in a million colors of magick.
"Where are we?" Alice whispered; her eyes filmed with white mist as she ran her hand along one wall, passing over one of the runes that flared gently when she touched it.
Kaedra's voice was low, whispering and respectful.
"Bella and her lovers found this place here when they were still young; it had been lost for eons. No Fae quite knows how it came to be, and Bella restricts access to all but the ten of us. It's ancient; it's way older than Camp, or even the throne room. It was probably formed in the Beginning. Bella was insistent that if ever I judged the risk of her succumbing to the Master's call to be too high, I should kill her immediately. When I told her I wouldn't, she made me promise to bring her here instead. We call it the panic room. Careful - runes are powerful things."
Jasper was reaching towards a symbol carved in the wall that seemed to whisper to him, flaring and enticing him to touch it. All around the cave, runes twinkled, as varied as every Fae's aura.
"Set them down here."
Marcos' voice was respectful in a way it never was; he motioned to a spot near the waterfall that was illuminated softly, on the opposite side of the crevasse from the entrance.
They stood for a moment after Edward-and-Bella had settled absentmindedly on the soft moss, neither noticing the serene scene. Then, Kaedra and Marcos corralled them out of the space and down the narrow hall and the lovers were left alone. It took Josephat, Marcos and Kaedra to seal the entrance to the passageway with heavy magicks.
"There. She's as safe as she can be, and we are too. Even Isabella would have trouble breaking out of that place." Kaedra announced, once the quiet group reached the staircase. "They'll be okay, vampires. They love each other."
Esme looked around at her worn family, missing two pieces, but hopeful and full of faith. They would be okay. They would come home.