Sometimes I tremble in the dark
I cannot see
When people frighten me
I try to hide myself so far from the crowd
Is anybody there to comfort me
Lord, take care of me.

How can I go on
From day to day
Who can make me strong in every way
Where can I be safe
Where can I belong
In this great big world of sadness
How can I forget
Those beautiful dreams that we shared
They're lost and they're no where to be found
How can I go on?

How Can I Go On?, by Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé, from the album Barcelona, released in 1988

Bella's POV

We haven't felt this crappy in a long time. I shook my head at the thought, reminding myself to speak in first person and not whatever the hell that was. My wolf was barging uncomfortably close to my consciousness, the defined line that was me, but unlike before, her two front feet were almost over the line. It wasn't intentional on her behalf though- I could tell she was pulling away as best she could, as was I.

But whatever was dragging us together- thoughts that weren't mine echoing bond sickness- wasn't going to let us go anytime soon. We paced- I paced around the cage, wincing every time my ribs jostled. Turned out, when they healed wrong (fortunately not badly enough to deform me like something out of The Human Centipede.. God, why did I ever agree to watch that...eughhhh) it was still immensely painful. But since I lacked opposable thumbs, and these god damn chains made it impossible to regain said opposable thumbs.

I curled up on the floor, yawning before staring blankly at the bars of the cage. There were a lot of different emotions flowing through me, some old, primal, and foreign, and others new, human, and familiar. There was one commonality though: We miss our mate. As I stuck my tongue out in an attempt to gain water- something that I was desperate for at this point, I could hear the familiar sound of footprints.

We didn't bother looking up, having long since given up on fighting whatever Edward or Victoria had planned. I the epitome of listlessness. I wanted to fight, but after previous attempts hadn't worked or yielded anything, I was trying to conserve what little strength we had. It turned out that while we hadn't gone crazy yet, the lack of food, of water, of freedom and company was taking it's toll. Wolves were not solitary by nature. A small growl became audible to our ears, but I didn't heed it much attention.

Growls in the past had led to punishment, and we were injured enough as it was. The growling resumed, this time a pitch whine being added in, as there was almost a knocking at my shield. It was something I'd never experienced before. Without moving, a small sense of curiosity and the smell of wolf as faint as it may be, entertained me. I wrapped them around with my shield, the mere action feeling like I was lifting heavy weights.

"Miss?"

I limply lifted my head up, looking around with an exhausted sigh. Out of the shadows- literally out of the shadows, I don't think I was hallucinating- a small wolf emerged, with a grey and black pelt, alternating smudges. He paced up to the cage, with a blue and green eye looking at me, before he laid down next to me, just outside of the cage. It occurred to me that he must have torn off the blanket at some point.

"Pup?.."

He frowned, looking us over, before shrugging something off his back. When he didn't answer me, I was beginning to think that my sanity had finally gone. Next to me though, through the shadows, a dish almost emerged from the floor, but in a flurry of dark particles. Upon sniffing, it seemed to be water. I looked at it hesitantly- because who would trust something that would emerge from the floor?- before eventually lapping it up.

If this was a hallucination then this water tasted very much like water. As the bowl disappeared after I had drank it, a slab of meat appeared, also smelling fresh and not like it had tampered with. Call me stupid, but because I was so desperate for food, I ate that to, with the meat instantly finding its way to my churning stomach and soothing it. He paced towards the cage, analysis it critically.

"I can't free you. I could, but I wouldn't be able to take you out with the Vampire's on the prowl. I can provide you food, water, and companionship though. And I can get you assistance. Do you have a Pack coming for you?"

Taking a breath in, and feeling very grateful for this mysterious stranger who I should probably not be trusting but am anyway, we finally mustered the strength to reply.

"I do. They don't know where I am, only that I am in one of several different countries. Is there any chance you know where we are?."

"We are in Russia, on the outskirts of Ardon. If they can get here, I can direct them here for a frontal assault, in hopes of rescuing you. Tell them to howl and I shall go to them. For now, I will be with you as company."

Before I got a chance to reply, the blanket was whisked back on as I looked at the unnamed wolf, who was blending back into the shadows. Still, even though he had disappeared, I kept my shield wrapped around him. He hadn't left, that much I could tell, but I knew that the Leeches were back. Apparently the food managed to improve my senses a little bit.

"Ah, Bella. How are you today?"

Very well. We- I, am finally going to escape from you soon enough. It is something I am looking forward to- where I can see Jacob again. I sarcastically replied in my head, but still denied him a response. Oh, look at that, I pissed off the crazy Vampire. Come soon Jacob.

Jacob's POV

Traipsing across the bond-line was simple in theory. There was no 'Giant Monsters' fighting us off, no traps or other things to prevent us from travelling. The fact that I could practically feel my mind trying to force them out was discomforting, but we persevered nonetheless. Our surroundings were different this time. The path we were walking on- that is, the bond- was ironically enough like rope, with brown threads interweaving, thick and strong.

Think of normal heavy duty rope, its width specifically, and just multiply it in size by quite a bit. The tunnel we were walking through- one that hadn't been around when I had traversed it the first time- had several framed pictures lining the walls. A quick sideways glance showed they were pictures of me- or specifically of my memories.

It didn't bother me as much as it probably should have. I had nothing to hide after all, plus it was pretty hard to at the best of times. Because of that, I didn't pay too much attention to what the pictures were. I'd experienced them all at one point.

"Is that you, Bella and your Mom, Jake?"

Continuing to walk forward, I took another sideways glance at the question he was motioning too. It was a picture taken when I was small, about three. Bella would have been five around then, give or take. We were smiling with wide grins, with my Mom standing behind us. Dad said I had her eyes, and I could definitely see it. I got my Dad's mop of hair though..and Grandad Ephraim's fur.

Genes meant a lot in the Quileutes. In the background you could see the very same forest that we travelled through regularly now, and there was a discarded baseball and bat laid in the grass. That had been a fun day, before Renee and Charlie's divorce, before the car accident, and before all of the troubles we have now.

"Yeah. We were all playing baseball that day. It was a really hot summer so our families got together."

Seth nodded as we continued. I could tell that the others were looking at the pictures, but we didn't have much further to go now. The ending of the tunnel was within sight, and so was Bella, to some degree. Moving onwards, I took a glance at some of the pictures myself. It served to make me feel nostalgic as hell.

There was a large one of the pack, laughing and joking with one another, with my arm wrapped around her waist, grinning happily. Around her wrist was the bracelet I had given her, and she was looking as excited as ever. Another picture, this one a couple of footsteps closer to the door, seemed to have been taken from behind. Against the background of the setting sun, you could see the silhouettes of howling wolves, in a triangular like structure, but with two at point.

This was the day of our Imprinting Ceremony. I could never forget it… the joy I felt, the love I had for Bella. With that in mind, I surged onwards, wanting nothing more then to continue making happy memories with Bella.

"Come on. We're nearly there."

True to what I predicted, we soon enough arrived back to where myself and Bella had met one another not that long ago. When there wasn't Bella standing there waiting for us like I had hoped, I refused to let myself feel disheartened. My wolf appeared next to me in a blink of golden light, standing by my side, tall and proudly.

With the others standing behind me, with blank looks and not being accompanied by their wolves (apparently that's just a me thing), I tried to figure out how to get Bella here.

Peering through the wall, I could see a very similar tunnel to the one we had moved through ourselves. I couldn't make out many details, even with my eyesight, but I could make out a faint shadow emerging through. We waited in a brief silence, before the figure walked up to the wall. It was..Bella, but not quite Bella.

Her eyes were their normal chocolate brown, but they were dilated slightly, much like that of a wolves. With her skin being that odd colour of hers, a mixture between her formerly normal pale colour and the slightly tan she had adopted when she had become a wolf, it made her seem relatively normal.

That's if you could ignore the beginnings of a snout emerging on her face, wolf ears sprouting on her head in place of her normal ears, dagger like claws emerging out of her hands, and the dusting of her wolves fur over her skin. It was like a bad cosplayer's cosplay. But I could tell that it was all too real...and I doubted that Bella would choose this look on purpose.

She was very much a fan of one or the other, even with her willingness to be one with her wolf. That ideology was more in the mental form rather then the literal form. She placed her clawed hand against the wall, and I did with my own normal one. Wordlessly, the other's came up to me, keeping their alarm at Bella's condition well hidden.

"Guys, I need you to try and tear a hole in the barrier, so I can get through to Bella."

They approached in front of me, and I went with them. It was surprisingly difficult to pry a hole in a transparent barrier, but damned if we weren't going to try. Bella was clawing at the other side, as the five of us attempted to pry it open on our side. I took the top, since I was tallest, and Seth, being the smallest, was clawing and chewing at the bottom. With Embry being smaller then me, he scratched at it slightly below where my hands were.

Jared was jumping at it and slamming it with his side, hopefully not to the extent where he injured himself, and my wolf, teeth bared, jumped above Seth and clawed at it himself. We kept at it, without much sign of victory, before a screech was heard, causing all of us to flinch with the loud and sudden noise.

Still, with a senses irritating flash, the barrier faltered, and I charged towards my Imprint, picking her up gently and spinning her round and round in excitement. I pecked her on the cheek, before pulling back, remembering why we were here.

"I've missed you so much."

I whispered, regretting having to let go and not being able to have her in my actual arms. She smiled sadly, before she nuzzled me, grasping my hand in hers.

"As have we. We know where we are."

Her voice was a double timbre, reminding me absently of the Alpha voice. It was her normal voice, but had an underlying, more gruff but feminine voice underneath it. I'd bet it was her wolf. My wolf was brushing around her legs, almost trying to assure himself that while she was by no means safe, she was alive.

"Where?"

She flinched, rubbing her ribs, before looking at me with dead seriousness in her eyes, wavering with her emotions, as she traced circles on my palm, and her other hand going through my wolf's fur, which, judging by the rumbling in his chest, he was enjoying.

"Ardon, Russia. We're not sure where there though. Be careful, there is another Vampire here. She's called Victoria- Carlisle will know."

She paused, her tail drooping- oh, I forgot to mention that earlier- and her ears tilting downwards. That sounds weird in context. We hugged one another again, as she stretched awkwardly, her claws clicking against the floor.

"There will be another wolf waiting for you. Just howl and he'll come find you. He's..young, so take it easy on him."

I nodded, intrigued, but filed away that information for later. There, of course, was another question lingering on my mind, and it was regarding her unique appearance. And the way she was talking in a way that was odd and disjointed- with 'we's' instead of 'I's'. Bella smiled, a wolfish grin, before waving off whatever I was going to ask.

"Don't worry about it. We trust the Pup. We have to save our strength, so we must leave now. We wait for you, our Alpha."

That term of address was odd, because Bella had never referred to me as Alpha. But she did have a point. The longer we were here, the more time we were losing, and the longer Bella was in Edward's clutches, which was already too long as it was. Pushing away all of the oddness, I hugged her tightly, and I could feel her clawed hands curl into my back, but not uncomfortably so. We stayed like that for a brief second, before we separated, not a heartfelt goodbye but more of a 'see you soon.' Wordlessly, we stepped a distance away from one another, and there was a hum of light, as whatever this damned barrier was began to reinitialise. It sounded scientific when I put it like that..

"I love you."

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Instead, just before the wall went back up, she whispered two words out lowly, cementing the need for urgency,

"We know."

I quickly phased back once we had traipsed back from my mind. Again, I wasn't that fussed about my modesty. I looked at Carlisle, who was watching us with a wary look in his eye and a curious glint right next to that. Talk about conflicting messages.

"She's in Ardon. Bella's going to need medical attention. There's another vampire with them, someone called Victoria?"

If Carlisle's face could pale, it would have. That concerned me, because that meant that whoever this Victoria was, she was bad news- more so then her kind usually were, anyway. Carlisle looked at Alice, who looked just as surprised as he was. I didn't have to question anything, because Carlisle fortunately went on to expand our knowledge.

"What do you know of the bite Bella received in Phoenix last year?"

"Bits and pieces. A trio of vampires found you when you were playing baseball, and one, his name being Jack, hunted Bella down. You took her to Phoenix, but he tricked Bella into thinking that he had her Mom, so she met him in her old art studio. He bit her before you and your Coven could drag him off her."

James. The Vampire's name was James. And the studio was a ballet studio. I remembered everything Bella told me, so I definitely would remember such a traumatic experience. The point of all the incorrect information was to see if Carlisle would correct me. But he didn't, and instead nodded in agreement.

"Victoria was his mate. She's had it out for Bella ever since- and she's got an uncanny ability to escape. Now that she's involved, it might be a bit more difficult then we first imagined."

I reigned in an accusing growl. It only served to tell me that he wasn't to be trusted, not that I ever had before. But, if Victoria served to be as much as a danger to Bella as James had been to her once… well, I was worried. She hadn't been well when we had saw her in our bond.. and I worried about what they could have done to her, that I couldn't see.

I just hoped that whoever our contact was, he was trustworthy. We needed allies we could trust- and I hoped it wasn't another Leech. I couldn't rely on them any more then I could rely on Edward- yes, I do mean that Edward. I noticed that Psychic Leech had disappeared to the front of the plane, where the hum of the engine became audible, and the movement was even more so evident.

Carlisle- I hadn't even noticed when I started referring to him by his name, but it wasn't out of fondness believe you me- looked at me for a moment, before disappearing to the front of the plane. I could make out that they were speaking, but not what they were speaking about. It was too fast and too quiet to decipher. With the Leeches preoccupied, and our journey to Russia hurtling towards us, I looked at my pack, before phasing back myself, stretching out over the expansive floor.

Ignoring the torture that my ears were going under, I watched them, as Psychic Leech passed Carlisle something. They had moved together in a shady looking way, almost shielding whatever they were passing one another from our view.

"Watch them. I don't trust them."

Author's Notes

GUYS! I DIDN'T FAIL ANY OF MY EXAMS! :D

Four A's and Two B's: I'm so thankful that I did so well! Thank you to everyone who wished me the best back when I sat them in May.

On another note, the rescue will be next chapter. I promise. I'd imagine the set up is getting on everyone's nerves- I know it is mine. The Two Imprints shall reunite.

Oh, speaking of notes. When Bella drops into Us, We, etc etc, it's deliberate. I used it to demonstrate how close the two entities (Bella and Wolf) are coming to merging into one.

Here's this weeks question: Who is your favourite video game protagonist? Of course, if you don't play video games, feel free to alternate it with TV protagonists or book protagonists or comic protagonists.

I'm in no rush, so I'm going to answer them all.

My favourite video game protagonist is difficult, because I love so many video games. I'd think It'd either be one of the Fallout Protagonists, the Fable Protagonist, or John Marston from Red Dead Redemption.

My favourite TV protagonist is Nick Burkhardt from Grimm because goddamn, I loved that TV show. I highly recommend it if you are into the fantasy genre.

Favourite book protagonist...hmm, Lyra Belacqua from His Dark Materials. They were the first 'proper' novels I read, and I loved them. I still do.

Now, finally, comics. Because it's difficult to get comics in the UK, I've only read a few. Mainly really old ones. But it would either be Iron Man from Iron Man: Extremis, or Spider-Man, from 'The Assassin Nation Plot', one of the few comics I have in its original copy- thank my Dad for that.

Anyway, I'd better go. Stories to write, guitar to practise, a Sole Survivor to play as.

See you next time and have a good week!

~Cait