(A/N): I'm a lazy person. If I actually focused on this instead of doing seventeen things at once, I may have written it longer and have enough interest to edit. Yet, I didn't do that...so now my interest is on the next chapter instead of editing this one. I think grammar should be okay, but there may be a few typos here and there :).

Chapter 2 – Musical Memories

After that first night at Kimberley Castle, Bella never cried again. She tried to continue living as if nothing happened. The first week she spent walking the palace and meeting the stone family that dwelled there. They were overly excited to see her there, though the little puppy, Charles, seemed the most excited. He followed her heels wherever she went and tried to eat her cooking often even if he had to throw it all up later.

The room she had chosen was one of the better furnished. It had a special call to her – its walls were painted a light yellow with dark flowers on the walls and stars on the ceiling. The window was stained with a picture of a unicorn and the bed was king-sized with a high blue canopy. The furniture was all exquisitely decorated with different mythical creatures, and the closet housed numerous dresses, sashes, and ribbons. The beautiful room connected with a glorious golden bathroom, which was connected to another room. This room was a twin in every sort of way, save for the fact that the colors seemed more suited for a male.

Strangely, the family always smiled mysteriously whenever they asked if she liked the room, as if laughing at an inside joke. They never told her the room's story, however, much to her dismay.

Once she found the large kitchens, she went there three times a day to cook her meals. She always hummed some song or another while she cooked – it helped to make time speed faster and make any task easier. Two weeks had passed since she last saw her father – two weeks of loneliness during which her only companions were the magical stone animals. Her song was sad as she prepared dinner, the sweet smells and her singing quickly bringing Charles into a hyper state as well as another unseen visitor.

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Edward had almost all but forgotten the guest in his palace. Her new smell, though deliciously sweet and enticing, were very faint in all the places where he frequent the most – so faint that he never even noticed its presence until he decided to take a less-used path to his favorite corner after a hunt. The path took him right by his bedroom suite in the second floor. Her scent was very strong there. He wondered how sweet her blood would taste as venom burst into his mouth.

Memories came bursting through – his first meeting with the girl, how his heart twitched, how beautiful she was, how he had imprisoned her in Kimberley, and how he warned her to stay out of his way. Hoping to catch her there, he opened the door to the suite.

Inside was just how he had remembered. Mythical creatures danced in the flickering light of the candle and the stars on the ceiling twinkled in the last of the sunlight. It had been too long since he last entered here – he recalled the last time he had been here. It was about a century ago when he cornered the old woman in his room and demanded a gift. He was very foolish – never specifying what he wanted. As a result, he was cursed by that evil woman who said that the only way to be un-cursed was to learn to love someone. Edward snorted. As if! He never needed anyone, never had anyone to play with, never need 'the other half of himself' because he was complete and whole. There was no one anyway. Then why did he have the feeling that he was forgetting something?

He suddenly stopped dead. A woman's voice was humming a sad yet marvelous tune that sounded so enticing…a strange tune that lilted like a larks, like the sound of nature's best songs, so unfamiliar yet so familiar at the same time. It spread warmth throughout his body until he felt as if he was tingling all over.

Entranced, he came here every time he could to listen. Every time the tune was different, yet the same. It always spoke of a fantastic world unknown, mysterious and seducing. Several days passed, and he never got tired of it. At first, he could only be distracted from the sweet blood of the woman for only a few minutes…but the days passed until he developed an almost immunity to it. He was still affected, but his mind took that as a price to hear the wondrous song.

Edward felt strangely contented, two weeks later, to lean against the wall, his head supported by the hard stones, and listen to that beautiful song. It would be an understatement to say that the song reminded him of something – something in a time he never knew he existed in. His fingers twitched, dancing to the music. A memory swam into his head…

There was a boy – a young boy with messy bronze locks sitting by a piano-forte. A tall tutor in a tailcoat was standing beside the boy, instructing him, holding a stick to tap any misbehaving finger that played a note wrong more than thrice. The boy, however, was not intimidated by the tutor as he should. He continued playing as if no one was there…soon playing off the pages into his own realm of fantasies and music – of unicorns and dragons; of dancing ladies and brave heroes; of trees and flowers. The tune he played flowed together into one endless song. Even the tutor was stunned. However, when questioned to play again, the boy stubbornly refused to, saying that he had forgotten it. The truth was, he never had and never will…until that day when he made a terrible mistake…

Edward cleared his head. Now, the boy had remembered it again, over a century since that terrible day…by a young woman whose mind he could not read and whose blood was calling to him every minute he spent near her whether she knew it or not. It was then that he decided to do something completely rash and unthinkable – he decided to truly meet the fascinating woman and watch her, to understand her, to see what else he could experience in her presence.

And then he walked away, intent on doing something he had quit for a long time…something he had forgotten about until that day.

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Bella had just finished setting the plates when she heard it. It was a marvelous melody – simple yet exquisite; beautiful yet strange; warm yet untouchable. It reminded her much of her favorite song – a song she never knew the title to though her nanny had sung it to her countless times when she was young. She stilled. Everyone around her also stilled, captivated by the beautiful music.

As the last notes disappeared into the air, a gaping silence ensued. It was Esme who broke the deafening silence first. "I thought he had forgotten about his piano-forte. He had not played for so long. I'm surprised the old piano-forte is still in tune…" She looked as if she could break out in tears if she could. Carlisle nuzzled her silently, sending his comforts. The rest of the family stayed silent as the night.

Far away, the piano sounded again. This was a new piece – a soft sweet lullaby. Though it was made of just notes, it spoke of a story – the story of a beautiful girl dancing gracefully around an enchanted ballroom, laughing and twirling, free as a bird. It told how the girl fell in love with a young prince and lived happily ever after; dancing, twirling, laughing until eternity ends. So peaceful, yet so alive, the music continued.

Bella followed her ears and her heart, letting the steady flow of the music to a part of the castle she had never been to, the animals following. Corridors ended in halls and halls ended in grand rooms that had seen much better days. Yet, though the castle was hollow, the sweet melody carried on, eddying around, filling the emptiness, never echoing, always pure.

It carried her all the way into the grand ballroom where twenty-five giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling, though no candle was lit. None, save for five small candles placed around a shiny grand piano in the far corner where a lonely figure sat running his hands over the keys.

Suddenly noticing that he had company, the man stopped in mid-tone.

"Don't stop," whispered Bella, almost begging, "That was beautiful."

The man did not continue. Rather, he stared at the intruder. "There are things more beautiful than music," he said.

She recognized that voice. It was the vampire. Her heart started to thud uncomfortably in her chest. "What is your name?"

"Edward. Edward Cullen," he answered simply.

"Hello. My name is Bella." She watched as he only nodded. There was a brief silence. "What song is that? I have never heard one so beautiful."

"It has no title."

"No name could adequately describe its beauty." Bella slowly walked across the ballroom until she stood only a few feet away. "Do you know any duets?"

"Do you play?" She nodded. He stood up and left the room before she could blink, only to return a few seconds later holding a small stack of books. "Do you know any of these?"

She flipped through the books, scanning the music for any familiarity. She was about to shake her head when her eye caught the first few notes of her nanny's song. There was no title anywhere on it. Nevertheless, she placed it on the stand and started playing the first part. Edward soon caught on with the base. Before long, everything was forgotten as the pair traveled into a land where only music and fantasies and each other existed. They did not notice the six shocked stone animals sitting at the far end of the room, shocked by what was happening and entranced by the music created.

I like the ending, even though my conscious is telling me that I may be rushing... Anyways, review! Your thoughts matter a lot!

--Cathy