Thank you for all your wonderful reviews of the last chapter, your support and kind words warms my heart. Also many of your reviews caused me both to smile and laugh thanks to your wounderful reactions.

I sat in the meadow after Bella had left, determined not to leave until she came back. My family had since long left, but I had heard in their thoughts their own worry for my angel, for Bella were now truly a part of our family and it was none of us was complete when she was not in it.

It still amazed me how well my Bella had fitted into our family, she had been the last piece which was needed to make our family whole. For Carlisle and Esme she had become a new daughter, the one which could balance out Alice quirky ways and bring a smile from Rose no matter how bad her mood was. She had also turned out to be very talented at meddling between my sisters when they clashed together.

You could almost say that the way they interacted, Rose was the protective oldest sister, Bella the caring and meddling middle sister and Alice the carefree and chattering youngest sister.

With Emmett, Bella had found a big brother, there was no stop to their bickering when they were in the same room, but there was always an undertone between them which was full of care and protectiveness of the other. Also neither Emmett nor Bella allowed anyone else to call her Bellie. When Alice at one point had asked why, they had simply smiled at each other not saying anything, causing Alice to give a frustrated growl after hours of useless questioning

Not even I knew the reason behind the nick name.

Finally there was Jasper. Before Bella he had always been almost like an outsider in our family, one that only Alice had truly understood, but somehow Bella had managed to creep under his skin until he had no other choice but to see her as a sister as well.

Jasper's and Bella's relationship was the most curios all. While Bella could ease the battles between Alice and Rose and joke around with Emmett, it was Jasper whom she turned to when she was troubled or wondering about something. Many evenings, they would sit together in the library quietly talking about everything from history to psychology. Never before had anyone talked so much with Jasper about his past and amazingly Jasper had turned calmer and more at ease with himself thanks to the talks with Bella.

Looking up at the sun which was starting to descend, I smiled to myself thinking how much Bella had changed me. She had given me love, given me reason to my existence and turned me out of my misery into feeling more peace and happiness then I ever would have thought possible.

Still her being away caused an unease in my heart, one which only seemed to increase for every second she was away, for no matter what Bella had said, the dogs were dangerous, their young age only doing them even more so.

Suddenly it felt as if a sharp pain went all over my body, it disappeared almost immediately, but somehow it left me even more unsettled and my gaze was locked upon the very spot where my love and the dog and disappeared hours ago.

Suddenly the troubled and worried thoughts of my family came fast towards me and the meadow, all of them bursting into the clearing with worried looks on their faces.

"What is going on?" I asked, feeling my own worry starting to turn into panic. Esme walked over to me and took my hands.

"Sam called honey, he sounded very stressed but there was so much noise in the background we could barely hear him, but he managed to tell us to come here."

"Did he say anything about Bella?" The sadness and terror in Esme's face told me everything I needed to know. "I'm going there."

"Edward no! They will kill you if you cross the border, there might be nothing." Alice said, but I could hear in her thoughts that she did not truly believe her own words, and her frustration at being unable to predict the future.

"I do not care Alice I…" Then my mind was invaded by the crazed, loud and worried voices of the wolf pack. All of them were screaming at each other and their thougts were flying around, causing a huge mess which caused me to lose focus and my grip on the world. I was lost in a world of swirling and invading thoughts in which two names constantly came through and was repetead.

Bella and Jacob.

Suddenly all of the wolves burst into the meadow. At first none of us could understand what Sam was carrying. On his back sat a native girl, her face heavily disfigured by giant scars, which resembled claws, running all over one side of her face.

In her arms were a something which was wrapped in a bloody sheet. Another girl, not native, with dark brown hair and fine features for a human, jumped down form the brown wolf I knew was Jacob and ran over to the girl on Sam's back, taking the package and helping her down.

It wasn't until the wind turned and the smell hit us that I understood that it wasn't an it the girls were holding, it was Bella. With a growl, my instincts took over, and I rushed over the meadow ripping my love out of their arms and brought her back to my family.

To my big surprise, neither of the wolves did anything, instead they simply sank to the ground, their eyes worried and all of them crying a little. The two young girls also sank to the ground tears running down their faces.

All of this however was only noted by a small part of my mind, for my whole focus was on the woman in his arms. I could feel my family gathering around me and with dread I carefully removed the sheet covering my love.

I had seen a lot in my life, but view meeting me now was nothing I had seen before. Bella was torn from the right side of her face, all over the body. The claws had cut deep into her skin and she was loosing blood fast. Her heartbeat was already weak and she looked more dead than alive.

"Carlisle you must do something!" Esme said sobbing as the rest of us could only stare at the fallen angel in my arms.

"The wolves…" My father said, a glance towards where the pack was still laying.

"For God's sake Carlisle if you won't save her I will, I will not allow Bella to die." Rose exclaimed.

"We will not do anything, you have our permission, just please, save her." We turned around for a split second, the dog named Jacob had turned into his human form and he was staring with a broken expression on Bella where she was laying on the ground, treas streaming down his face.

Without waiting, Carlisle sank his teeth into Bella's skin as I heard something from Jacob's mind.

"You were the one who hurt her."

"I did not mean..."

"She trusted you, you bloody dog!" Rose growled as she flew from her place next to Bella and over the meadow, but before she could reach him, a cry echoed over the meadow as a huge eagle sailed down from the sky, landing on her shoulder, digging it claws into it. To our great surprise, Rosalie cried out in pain as the claws sank into her flesh with ease. Shocked over her pain, Rosalie stopped and reached for the eagle with the intent to tear the bird away, but it had already left its place on her shoulder and was now circling above our heads.

With a new cry, the eagle flew over as where we stood or sat around Bella. The eagle was huge, easily twice the size of a normal eagle and therefore the size of a big dog. With its wings outstretched it cast a huge shadow over us as it circled in the air. Then without warning the eagle gave out another angry cry as it dove down and started attacking the rest of my family.

Even though they all tried, no one could get a hold of the bird which moved with a speed that surpassed our own and in the end my family had no choice but to back away from where Bella lay on the ground. When they had backed away the eagle landed next to my angel and I could hear how my family drew their breaths as all I could do was stare at the creature in front of me as it stared back at me.

Not only was the eagle larger than any normal bird, it had the same white eyes that Bella had, and just as with Bella, I could feel that the bird was staring at me, as if it was trying to decide if it would chase me away just as it had done with the rest of my family who did not know how to act now when this strange creature did not allow them near either me or Bella, or of it would allow me to stay.

After what felt like an eternity, the eagle finally seemed to accept me and I could feel its piercing gaze leave me as it turned to my love laying on the ground.

Looking at Bella, the eagle's eyes filled with sorrow and pain, and as it stared down at her it looked almost as if tears were gathering in its eyes.

Suddenly the eagle let out a small cry, almost a whimper, which was filled with pain and worry and it gently nudged Bella with its buck on her cheek. There was something deeply touching about the scene, for somehow the small gesture held an huge amount of love and gentleness, almost as if the eagle was tending to a small child of its own.

Once more the eagle nudged Bella with its buck, giving a small cry once more, but when it got no reaction it simply lay down on the ground, its head resting against her arm and closed one of its eyes as it kept its other eye open and firmly locked towards where my family and wolves were now standing next to each other.

For some reason the strangeness of the situation still managed to hit me, that the only thing which had managed our two races not to fight was the pressing fear that the life of the one person we all loved could not be saved.

To all our distress it also seemed as if Bella could not, for to my great panic and fear, her heartbeat was continuing to beat slower and slower, seemingly unaware that vampire venom had entered into her system and since long should have reached it.

"Carlisle why isn't the venom working?" I said feeling the panic staring to take over, but I could hear in his mind that Carlisle was as lost as all of us and all he could do was to look at me with pain and hopelessness in his eyes.

"Alice?" At my desperate voice, she turned towards me and in her eyes I saw the tears which would never fall.

I see nothing in her future Edward.

Somehow I could not comprehend what Alice was saying and with a strangled strange whimper I crawled over the ground and took Bella's hand in my own as I stroked her over her cheek, her skin now even paler than my own and cloder as well.

"You cannot leave me Bella, you saved me from myself, my angel, and you have to come back to me. You promised that you would come back to me love… you promised you would come back Bella… Dear God I love you and I just found you, Bella you cannot leave me now… please come back… Bella please come back… you promised you would come back… I love you Bella please come back."

I could barely hear the strangled sobs which made my words hardly understandable, I did barely register the sobs of my family or how the wolves cried in pain. All I felt was the pain and emptiness which was starting to consume me as Bella slipped away more for each second, the darkness which began to consume my world, my world which had been full of light and happiness ever since the beautiful woman in front of me entered it.

Suddenly however something managed to draw me slightly out of my despair, a slight nudge at my hand which held onto Bella's made me look down and I saw the eagle once again stare at me with compassion in its eyes and somehow I knew it felt the same pain as I did. To my surprise the eagle then lightly pinched me with its buck and then tilted its head towards a spot behind me and somehow I just knew that I needed to turn around as a strange calmness started to spread over the meadow.

What I saw next I could not at first believe to be real. At the edge of the meadow stood the strangest being I had ever seen.

It was something which resembled a human, at least to its form with two legs and two arms, but there all the similarities ended. Its skin was dark bark, with moss growing at different places and underneath the bark there seemed to be a network of what could only be described as green veins. Its fingers were unbelievably long and thin, looking more like thin long branches than fingers, still something told me that they would not brake for anything.

From its head, a thick white moss was growing from its head flowing down its back all thw way to the ground, with twigs and leaves sticking out at different places. The creature had no mouth but a nose and eyes, eyes which caused a chill to run down my spine as I stared into them, for they were completely white just as Bella's and the eagles.

At the sight of the creature, the eagle made a sound which could only be described as recognition and at its sound the creature started to walk over the meadow until it was next to the eagle and sat down on the ground next to Bella.

To my great surprise, as the creature drew closer, the voices of my family and the wolves died from my mind and I could no longer hear them. Still I was too transfixed on the creature in front of me and Bella that I did not care, the silence was actually a relief.

I saw how the creature looked down at Bella, its face full of sorrow.

"Please…" At my strangled whisper the creature's attention snapped to me and I felt myself locked in its hard gaze and slowly I felt as if something started to enter my mind, almost invade it.

Why should I help? The voice in my mind was feminine, but ancient and so full of power that I only wanted to retreat as far into my mind as I possibly could, still I could feel this creatures curiosity as it looked at me.

"She does not deserve to die."

And still you entered your poison into her system, the poison which will lock her in time. The angry voice shook me to the very core and the need to run grew. Still this creature had not said it could not help Bella and if there was a chance...

"We were trying to save her."

Death is not a curse, all things live and all things die. That is the natural order of the world and what is lost turn into new life once more.

"I know, but I love her, I cannot exist without her. Please if you can save her, help us. If not to help us, do it for her, I beg you, she deserves the choice."

Love…. The creature turned its eyes back to Bella, and simply stared down at her until the eagle carefully nudged it with its buck, staring up at the creature with pleading eyes. For al ong moment they simply stared at each other, as if communicating and then a deep sigh seemed to echo all over the meadow just as I heard Bella's heart give one last weak beat.

The world around me began to fall apart, as I felt how all life lost meaning and how all of my emotions turned into ash, how darkness began to kill all ligt I had ever known as I once again heard the creature in my mind.

Very well… Reaching out its long fingers the creature allowed its middle finger to touch Bella's heart. Then to my fear it suddenly began to press its long finger into her chest so hard that it started to sink into my angel.

A sudden need to protect my mate against this strange creature came over me and I reached towards it to tear it away from her, but before I had the chance to, the giant eagle gave up an angry cry and with all its force itnflew towards me. The impact from the eagle forced me to fall backwards, landing on my back with the eagle on my chest, effectively pinning me down as it dug its claws into my chest each time I tried to rise.

Still after a while I stopped to struggle as what was happening before me caught my full attention. The creature was stroking Bella's hair as a mother would when it comforted a small child, its finger was no longer pressed into Bella's chest, instead countless of roots were slowly starting to come out of the ground.

Once the roots began to reach Bella's skin, they dug into her, while others continued their journey up over her body and towards the very spot the creature just a moment before had pressed her finger before they started to take root into her chest, into her heart.

As this happened the world around my angel started to change,

The grass around her started to die, the flowers faded and the leaves on some of the surrounding trees began to wither and fall. Constantly new roots came up from the ground and constantly other who had once dug into Bella's body fell to the ground, withered and empty of life, and all the time the creature simply sat at Bella's side, humming a strange tune as she continued to stroke and comb Bella's hair with her fingers.

Then suddenly my angel began to change, her skin started to gain some colour, her cheeks started to become a little red and her hair started to gain some of its former glow. Still she looked different, warmer and she somehow seemed to resemble the girl I had seen on the photographs in her house. She was still also the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, but her features seemed simpler somehow, less of a vampire and more… Bella.

Then there suddenly was a huge crash, as one of the trees from which leaves had fallen, broke in two, the tree looking as if it had aged hundreds of years in a mere minute. As the tree broke in two however, the remaining living roots which were connected to my Bella started to draw back into the ground. When they all were gone, the creature laid on of her hands over Bella's heart.

Wake up Isabella. As soon as the words echoed through the meadow Bella's heart started to beat steadily, she sucked in a deep breath and her eyes flew open, but it was not her white eyes which confusingly stared over the meadow before they landed on my face and it was not the dull brown colour I had seen in pictures at her home.

Her eyes now were the deepest colour of brown I had ever seen with hints of gold and dark green. They were not dull or dead, they were full of life, power and confusion as she simply stared at me for a long time before her eyes landed on the creature next to her and to my surprise Bella threw her arms around the creature and it returned the embrace before nudging her in my direction.

The eagle finally lifted from my chest and in less than a second I was next to Bella, holding her hand in mine as I felt the light of the world around me started to return as I tried to drink her in with my eyes and understand that all of her wounds were gone and healed.

With a look of total disbelief Bella slowly lifted her left hand to my face, following my every feature with her fingertips and to my great surprise her eyes seemed to follow her movements. Then her hand suddenly dropped to her side as her eyes locked with mine, and as I stared into her brown eyes the realization hit me like a ton of bricks and still I could barely believe the words when Bella spoke them out loud.

"I see you."

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Love Lysistrate