One week later- March 1st

Edward looked up, sniffing the air, alarmed. He glanced at Eleazar who was doing the same as him. They shared a worried look, before heading in the direction the smoke was coming from. Soon, they reached the edge of the forest, and peered out from behind a tree, at the wreckage in front of them.

People, humans, had surrounded the house, setting it alight. The fire grew and spread quickly, smoke billowing into the air. Edward heard a sharp intake of breath on his left.

"Carmen," Eleazar breathed.

Concentrating hard, Edward differentiated all the thoughts running through his mind, ignoring that of the humans, and instead trying to pick out ones from Carmen, Kate, Garrett and Tanya.

"They escaped," he said, suddenly. "Carmen, the others, they got away when they realised the humans were coming for them."

Eleazar visibly sagged with relief. "Oh, thank God. Where are they now, do you know?"

"This way."

They made their way through the forest, around the house, Eleazar following the scents and Edward following the thought he heard. Not long after, they stumbled across the others.

"Carmen!" Eleazar rushed towards his mate and took her in his arms, sighing with relief. "You're alright."

"What happened?" Edward asked.

"The humans came for us," Garrett said. "We could smell them long before they arrived, so we quickly left, knowing what would happen if we stayed."

"How do you think they found us?"

"Luck maybe?" Tanya said. "You had a home in Anchorage, after all. And the rest of your family are in Antarctica. Cold places. Perhaps they decided to search around."

Garrett nodded, slowly. "Possibly. Or maybe…" he looked at Edward. "Do you think perhaps you have a tracer on you? Those people could have slipped it on without you noticing."

Edward instantly thrust his hands in his pockets. He was wearing the same clothes as he had a week before, when he'd first gone to Denali.

His fingers brushed against something he wasn't expecting to find in there. Something cold, hard and small. He pulled it out and held it up. Edward cursed.

"A tracer," Garrett said. "Bury it. We can't risk anyone coming after us again. We have to keep moving now. No doubt they're already on the way here. Give it an hour and we'll start heading back to the house. Collect anything salvageable. I'm sure the humans will have left by then. Then we'll have to leave. I don't know where we can go, though."

Edward shook his head. "No. I'll leave. Humans still don't know about you. Not really. You go your way, I'll go mine. I won't put you all in danger like this again."

"Edward, you don't ha-" Eleazar began.

"I do," Edward interrupted. "It was stupid of me to come here. I've put you all at risk, and I refuse to do so again. I've done a good job of tearing apart my own family. I won't do the same to yours."

"Are you sure?"

"I am," Edward said. "Leave. Stay out of trouble. Don't bring attention to yourself. I'll do my best to make sure humans don't hear of you again."


An hour later, they were stood gazing at the charred ruins on the house in Denali. They'd cautiously crept through the parts that remained standing, grabbing everything salvageable they would need. Now, they were to go separate ways.

"Thank you, Eleazar. All of you," Edward said, looking round, pausing on each person for a few seconds. "I greatly appreciate you giving me a home to stay in, even though I didn't deserve it. And I am deeply sorry it resulted in this. I dragged you into a mess you were never apart of, endangering you all, and for that, I apologise. Goodbye. Stay safe. I hope we meet again."

With that, he turned and ran before any of them could say anything, persuade him to stay. His mind was made up. His decision could not be changed. He had to leave, and the sooner, the better. There was no longer any possibility of him carrying around a tracer- he had got rid of the one he'd already found, and ditched his clothes back at the house, changing into some that Eleazar had lent him- but he would still prefer to be away from anyone. He'd already caused enough damage.

Not for the first time, he wondered where Bella was, what she was doing. He wondered how many years it would be before he could breathe in her scent again, relish the feeling of her in his arms.

But, he reminded himself, considering Bella hadn't gone to see him before he was imprisoned, it didn't seem likely she would want to see him again. Jasper had told him she couldn't face him, but he hadn't elaborated, and instead shielded his thoughts. What Edward had gathered from the snippets of thoughts he caught was that Bella was in a bad state, struggling with much internal conflict.

It was nowhere near as enlightening as he had hoped for. He needed to know how bad a state she was in, and how she'd got in it. He needed to know what her internal conflict was. His best guess he was the root cause of her internal conflict and bad state, most likely specifically due to his imprisonment, murder… adultery. And no matter how much Bella said she'd forgiven him for his highly misogynistic, condescending actions while under Sarah's influence, he would not believe it, and was sure it also played a part in her conflict.

They were all just guesses, though, and Edward wasn't satisfied with guesses and assumptions. When it came to Bella, he needed solid, reliable facts. Something he couldn't get for many more years.

His mind began drifting away from Bella, towards where he was going to go. He wanted to find his family, and stay with them, where he belonged, but it was next to impossible to find them. When the humans had discovered their little cave under the ice, it had been pure luck- or misfortune, depending on how you looked at it. Edward doubted he could have that same luck.

The smartest option was to live as a nomad. He could live in the wild, always moving, keeping away from civilisation. And that was the plan. That was what he'd do. But first, something was pulling him towards Forks. There were some people there he desperately needed to speak to.

A part of him was arguing that going to Forks would only put more people in danger, and at risk of exposure. But another part of him, the part that won, knew that when it was safe again, Bella would likely go to Forks first. If someone there knew where he was headed and what he was doing, they could tell her that. She would be able to find him… if she wanted to.

It was risky, yes. But it was a risk worth taking.


Edward hung back in the trees, hesitant to go any further. The doubt had begun to seep in and he wondered if the risk was really worth taking. Added to that, though when he last saw the wolf pack they'd parted with no tension between them, the treaty had still been in place, and after all that had transpired over the past few months… the reaction to him being there was unpredictable.

Sighing, he continued forwards, right on the edge of the border, half hidden behind a tree. All he could do now, to prevent further tensions, was wait for a wolf to pick up on his scent.

He didn't have to wait long. Sam, flanked by Colin and Brady, soon came into sight, wary but defiant.

"Edward," Sam said, coldly. "You are not welcome here."

Looking down, Edward silently cursed himself. His relationship with the wolves was strained for the most part, and when they'd finally established peace between them, he went and messed it all up again. And this time, they had a justifiable reason for wanting nothing to do with him.

"I know," Edward replied. "I won't stay long; I've caused enough trouble, and I don't want to put you in danger too. But I need to ask a favour. It's about Bella," he added, as Sam opened his mouth to protest.

Sam nodded. "Go on."

"Once Bella and the others can come out of hiding, whenever that may be, I have no doubt one of the first places they'll come is here, to you. If that happens, could you tell Bella where I've gone? I intend of living as a nomad, most likely in East Asia, preferably somewhere bright and sunny. Somewhere far from here, and since human know we tend to stick to the colder, cloudy countries, they won't be so cautious there. So please, if Bella comes here, point her in my direction."

Sam tilted his head. "How can you be so sure she'll want to see you again after what you did?"

Edward shook his head, regretfully. "I'm not. In fact, I'm certain she'll never want to lay eyes on me again. But in case she does… I've done terrible things. But the worst thing I've done is break Bella's trust. If there's any chance she can truly forgive me, I need her to be able to find me."

"So you admit you killed people? Innocent people?"

"I'm not sure if I'd call them innocent," Edward said. "But yes. Look, as much as I'm sure you want answers as to what's really happened, I can't give them to you. Not now, anyway. I told you I wouldn't stay long, and I don't intend to go back on that. Every second I'm here puts you in danger. It would kill Bella to know that anything bad happened to you because of us, so I have to leave. Please just tell Bella where I've gone if she comes looking. Maybe you think I don't deserve it, and okay I probably don't, but-"

"We'll do it Edward," Sam interrupted him. "One way or another, we'll pass the message onto her."

"Thank you," Edward said, gratefully. "That's all I ask for."

With that, now secure in the knowledge that if Bella survived this, she could find him if she wanted to, Edward turned and disappeared into the trees.


1 year later…

Bella stared at the snow, poking holes in it. Snow, snow, snow, and yet more snow. She was sick of it. Where the glistening, white flakes had ones appeared beautiful to her, they now infuriated her, made her want to destroy it.

But even so, she couldn't help smiling slightly as she glanced over at Emmett, who was gazing proudly at the little snow figures he had created.

She sighed. For a year, none of them had so much as glimpsed the sun. Bella hadn't visited Charlie. She hadn't seen Edward, and was stricken with worry for him. And as much as they all longed to be back above ground, living their lives as normal, they wouldn't get the chance for many more years.

Bella was bored. Renesmee and Jacob were sleeping, something they spent the majority of their time doing. Bella wished she could do the same; waste away the time, sleeping through the days. Escaping to dreams where everything was perfect, where their happy life hadn't been destroyed.

Since they'd relocated under the ice, after Jasper attacked the humans, each of them had been struggling, some much more so than others. Jasper was consumed by guilt. Bella was plagued by thoughts of worry and doubt. None of them knew how much longer they could live like this.

A few minutes later, the snow filling the tunnel out into the sea was pushed away, and Carlisle emerged, crawling through, dragging two sharks behind him. He quickly blocked the tunnel again, and pushed the sharks towards Esme, who was grabbing the empty containers, ready to fill them with blood once again. The meat was to go to Jacob and Renesmee. The blood was for the others. It was the same routine, month after month.

Bella watched as the blood oozed out of the shark. As thirsty as she was, it just wasn't at all appetizing. But it was blood, at least. Better than nothing.

Jacob shifted from his position curled up against the wall, and looked up.

"Oh. Shark. Again."

Carlisle nodded, grimly. "Sorry Jake. Couldn't find much else. Unless you would have preferred I brought back a squid."

Jacob made a face. "I'll take the shark, thanks."


2 years later…

She had been searching for three years. For three years, she'd had thousands of people actively looking for them. Millions of others were keeping an eye out for them. But they were nowhere to be found. The Cullens evaded her still.

Officer Fernsby sat back in her chair. Sigmund sat opposite her, watching her uncomfortably.

"Maybe it's time to give up," he suggested, unwillingly. "Let's face it, they've vanished."

"No!" Fernsby shouted. "I will not give up! Not until the day that I die. Those murderers will be found. If not by me, then by future generations."

"Officer, think logically. They've succeeded in erasing just about all evidence of them. They've forged and removed documents. We're never going to find them unless they come out of hiding. They've even managed to get rid of every copy of that tape we sent out."

"Not every copy, Sigmund. There's my tape. The original."

Sigmund shook his head. "When I took that tape, I never gave it back…" he said, slowly. "And I broke it. Three years ago."

Officer Fernsby's eyes widened. "Why would you do that?!" she roared, furiously.

Sigmund shrugged. "Guilt. Remorse. You've managed to track down other vampires, some of whom were my friends, and you've forced them into hiding. The tape is destroyed."

"I could have you arrested," Fernsby said, dangerously quiet, her eyes flashing. "I could have you killed."

"You could," Sigmund agreed. "But it wouldn't make me regret what I did. All I regret is sharing the secret about vampires with you." He sighed. "Fernsby, think wisely. What would you get from killing me?"

"Ending the life of a traitor. You sided with the vampires. You sided with the very beings that threaten us all." Fernsby stood up and pulled her gun out, pointing it directly at Sigmund, who's expression remained impassive, not even flinching.

"Staring at death without fear," Fernsby sneered. "Such foolishness."

"I'm not afraid of death," Sigmund stated, calmly.

"Well, then I hope you enjoy it."

A gun was fired. A body fell and landed with a dull thud. A heart stilled, the beats growing fainter and fainter until they were no more.

Sigmund Makvala was dead.