Twin Equinox

Chapter Four - The Pain, The Talk

This chapter was written by both Frocked and HunnyABee. The first part is by Frocked, the second part is by HunnyABee.

(Bella POV)

I stared at my ceiling, frowning. I didn't need Sonny telling me what to do. Or telling Edward what to do, either.

Since when has having a sisterly bond become so annoying? It was like Jacob all over again. I loved him to bits—you can be sure of that—but it was too much work. Keeping him happy—and keeping me happy without Edward.

It was undeniable that he had been my savior when Edward left. Even I can't argue on that. But now, every time I go to see him, Edward is unhappy. When I don't see him, I'm unhappy.

Sonny laid down on the cot. She must be uncomfortable. Her back was turned away from me but I can feel her. It's this weird twin thing I guess... I know when she's feeling down or not. It's come in handy most of the time, but now? Her negative energy was really ruining my mood.

I thought of Edward. He apparently thought Sonny was a nuisance. I was shocked. Even though I felt the same way about her, he shouldn't be making judgments. I thought he was better than that.

What was he doing? Is he still out there? I was afraid to look.

"Izz—Bella?" Sonny called from the floor. There was something in her voice. Regret, maybe. Sadness.

I heard her quickly change from calling me 'Izzy' to calling me 'Bella'. She was a fast learner—I wasn't. I still preferred to call her Sonny. It was my special name for her. Only mine.

"Y-Yes Sonny?" I responded. I hoped that I sounded comforting. Apparently, I wasn't.

Sonny turned at me and smirked. It was a childish gesture. The one that she used when she questioned my sanity when I was smaller. When we were younger.

"Don't try all that comforting crap with me, Izzy. And yes, I chose to call you that. No thanks needed."

I sighed. Same old Sonny. I narrowed my eyes. It was time to put down some ground rules. I'm not territorial and all—but sarcasm is Sonny's native tongue. She spoke it fluently. And if she was going to join my life again, it was time to stop that.

"Sonny, I don't actually mind that you called me Izzy. Its the only thing that lets us hold on to that special sister bonding. But Edward has become a big part of my life now. I need him. You need to understand that. He—"

I stopped, about to tell her what happens when he leaves. It was the second worst part of my life. It was nothing compared to the time she left for Europe, though. As much as I'd like to say that she missed me too, I hardly even convinced myself.

"I know, I know. You love him and can't be away from him. I know, I know." She responded. Did Charlie tell her? Maybe Billy...

"No, you honestly don't know. You can't even possibly comprehend my situation at all! You think you know all this but the truth is, you probably aren't even caught up with everything going around! I don't have time to deal with you either!" I snapped.

I heard her sigh, and she looked as if she was going to say something else, but didn't. She laid back down and turned away from me. I could have sworn that I heard her mumble something. Something like...

"I know more about all this than you do..."

Again, I began to question my sanity. If—and there is that big if—she did say that, what on earth did she mean? She knew about him? And his family?

I tried feverently to shake those thoughts away. If she knew and the Volturi found out... I couldn't bear to think about what would happen. The thoughts swirled around my head as I tossed and turned all night, trying to find a comfortable spot. I was going to have nightmares tonight.

I could feel her staring at me. I chose to ignore her completely while I kept my eyes fixed on the ceiling.

She sighed and went back to the floor, falling asleep. I grew weary from the thoughts buzzing in my head.

Soon, I fell asleep.


(Addie POV)

I woke up in the morning before Izzy—I mean, Bella. It was around five in the morning, but I didn't care. I was used to getting no sleep in Europe—this was nothing.

I walked downstairs after having cleaned up and refreshed in the bathroom, and I found Dad down there, having coffee. "Hey, Dad," I greeted, sitting at the table.

"You're up early," he noted with surprise. Pleasant surprise. I knew he liked having me around a bit more than Iz-Bella because I called him 'Dad' all the time, not just in front of him, and because I loved this town. He'd never admit it though.

"I'm an Early Bird and a Night Owl," I told him.

"Really? How is that?"

"I can stay up late and wake up early without dropping dead. I'm used to it. Europe was hectic." I remembered something important then. "When does Bella wake up?"

Dad looked at me inquisitively. I knew what he meant. He was wondering when and why I started calling Isabella 'Bella' when I'd always insisted on 'Izzy'. "It's Friday. She should be up at eight. Meanwhile, I've gotta go to work."

"Right, Dad," I said. "See you later."

I intended to wait on Bella, and then to ask her something. I wasn't very happy yesterday when I was at Billy's. That letter…

So she broke Jacob's heart, then has the gall to send a wedding invitation? I still wanted her point of view, but it sounded very sketchy from where I stand. I didn't want to believe my sister was anything less than good, but things weren't looking so hot.

I dressed quickly in black flared jeans and a black fitted sweater that had sleeves covering half of my palms and a v-neckline, wearing a dark gray tank top underneath. I decided to let my hair loose today, like almost every other day; I preferred it that way, seeing as how it was low on management and high in style, not that I cared about style too much.

When I heard Bella begin to stir, I turned around and left the room as quietly and quickly as possible—which turned out to be silent and almost blindingly fast. I groaned when I was downstairs; my transformation was finally reached its climax, meaning that I'd be changing the most right now. Sure, I wasn't too human right now, but I still had some human DNA in me.

I would look barely anything like Bella in a few weeks. Sure, the change had truly started two weeks ago, that being my decision for coming back to Forks, but I still looked very much identical to Bella, our only differences coming in small details like eye color and gradient, skin tone, and exact hair color differences.

"Addie?"

I turned around swiftly—too swiftly for a human; I'd have to work on that—to find Bella behind me, in pajamas, in the kitchen. "Hey," I said. "Good morning, Bella."

I cringed at the thought of forever having to call her Bella. I still wasn't used to calling her 'Bella', even in my own mind, but I tried. It was what she wanted, and I would give that to her. She was my little sister, after all, even if I was only older by minutes.

And right now, since I wasn't so human anymore, nice is all I can be. So that means no sarcasm, nothing about her wedding, no snapping, nothing about Jacob, and being nice to her fiancée. The thought sent chill down my spine.

She didn't seem to notice my use of her 'real' name, but the corners of her mouth did turn down for a minute. "May I speak with you, privately, after you've had breakfast?" I asked her. It was eight thirty in the morning, so she'd definitely want food first.

Bella looked towards me, wary, but nodded. "Of course." She reached into a couple cupboards and pulled out a couple of bowls and a box of cereal before pulling the jug of milk out of the refrigerator. "Do you want breakfast, too? Or did you eat?"

"No," I replied, "I haven't eaten yet. Thanks."

Just as I said that, I felt a shudder, tremble—I don't even know what it was—or an earthquake, or something rip through my body.

I dropped to the ground, burying my eyes in the palms of my hands, not even trying to keep my face calm—although it still was. The pain was strange. I felt a temperature change shoot throughout me, starting somewhere in my lower back and expanding to the tips of my fingers, to everywhere in my body. It was freezing cold—but at the same time, it was burning hot.

I felt as if, on the outside, I was freezing, but on the inside I was burning. Goosebumps rose on my skin of their own accord, and I was trembling—shaking—quivering. It wasn't painful, not physically. But it left a deep fear in me, and for what reason, I cannot understand.

This lasted an eternity—or at least that's what it seemed like. Gradually, the entire feeling lessened and I could faintly register the touch of someone's arms around my shoulders. Soon enough, the voice started to register, too. "Sonny?! Are you okay?? Sonny?!"

I looked up at Izzy—Bella—and saw a few stray tears on her cheeks. I wiped them away with my fingertips and hugged her, too. "I'm okay, now, Izzy," I whispered. The pain was over. It didn't last long, but I knew that it was only the beginning.

"Are you sure? Are you okay? Do you need help?" She threw even more questions at me, but, by that time, I had tuned out.

I stood up carefully and headed towards my bowl of cereal in the kitchen, Izzy following me the entire time. "Can't I just call you, 'Izzy'?" I asked her.

"You can call me anything," she said quickly. "Just, please, don't scare me like that again. I thought you might be in serious pain."

Should I tell her? Nah. "Izzy, please," I said. "I was in pain, and—truth be told—there's more pain to come. But I'll be fine, sissy."

Izzy-Bella nodded tersely. I think I'll call her 'Izzy-Bella' now. I smiled to myself.

When we finished eating our breakfast, Izzy-Bella headed upstairs to get dressed while I cleaned up the kitchen. As she came downstairs, wearing jeans and a dark blue sweater, I decided to ask her—but not then. "Izzy, wanna go for a walk? Or a drive?"

"Sure," Izzy-Bella said. "We can go for a walk, if you want."

"I'm sorry; do you mind if we go to First Beach and walk there?" I asked.

"No, not at all. I'll just go get my jacket upstairs."

When she returned—after I heard her call someone, though I didn't hear her exact words—she trudged downstairs in a brown bubble jacket. We both silently left and got out into her car. I didn't even have to ask; she let me drive.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Bella asked when we were down the road. She was shivering in her warm jacket.

I hadn't even thought about warmth. Keeping up appearances wasn't something I was good at. "No," I told her. "I'm used to the cold. Europe, remember?"

As soon as I brought up Europe, I regretted it. A saw an expression of pain flit across her face for mere moments before it was wiped clean. "Right."

I nodded. We were almost to First Beach, anyway, so it'd be counterproductive to go back now to get a sweater, let alone one that I wouldn't need.

I parked at the edge of beach and hopped out, going over to the other side to help Bella. I glanced down at her outfit and snorted. She looked up at me questioningly. "Nothing, nothing," I said. "Just—have you seen how we're dressed? We're both wearing jeans, but mine are black and yours are light blue. We're both wearing the same type of sweater, but mine is black and yours is dark blue, and has a round, higher neckline while mine is a deep v-neck. I have a gray tank top under the sweater, though, while you have a brown bubble jacket on top of yours. We look similar, but different. It's freaky."

"I guess so, yeah," she said, smiling. We both laughed quietly and walked down the beach.

After a while in silence, listening to the waves crash along the cliff and then ebb out onto the shore, I decided I had to speak. "Izzy," I said.

She glanced at me before continuing to watch her steps.

"Look, Izzy," I repeated, not caring about using her 'mature' name or not. "I have a lot that I need to tell you… Some things, you won't believe—but, then again, you might. Other things, you need to answer for me. There's so much and it's such a long story… I'm not sure where to start. But I need to know that you're going to listen, and that we're going to be completely honest with each other."

She stopped, and I halted as well when she turned to face me. "I can try," she said. "I know some things that aren't mine to know, so I can't tell you. But I can try."

I nodded, and invited her to sit away from the shore, on the beach. We sat across from each other. "Okay… I'm not sure where to begin," I admitted.

"Sonny, just begin by…asking questions, maybe? Or should I ask questions?"

"Why don't we ask a question each, taking turns?"

"That sounds good," Izzy-Bella agreed. "I'll go first. What were you doing in Europe for so long that you couldn't come?"

I breathed in deeply. I hadn't been expecting that yet. "I'll answer that for you as soon as you answer my question truthfully. Otherwise, I can't explain, because—as you said for your secrets—they're not really mine to tell."

She waited.

How to pose the question? Do you know your fiancée is a mythical creature? Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over well. Eventually, I just decided to be subtly blunt. "Do you know about your fiancée?"

Bella looked stricken, shocked. "Um…What do you mean?"

Okay, time to be blunt. And if she doesn't know, screw it and say I was joking. "Do you, my sissy Izzy-Bella, know that your fiancée, Edward, is a vampire?"

HunnyABee: Hey all, hey all!! I hope you liked this chapter!! Frocked and I were at ends at who would write here. We both started writing without the other knowing...lol... And since I had more, and this story was my idea, we edited a teeny portion of Frocked's writing (Bella's POV, for those of you who didn't know) to fit in with mine. It'll make the story longer. Also: Who knew from the first chapter that Addie was Bella's twin sister? Should've been a TEENY bit obvious... Just saying. ;)

Frocked: Hola amigos! See, I'm good at spanish. Anyway, as Bee said—we wrote the chapter without the other knowing. But, fortunately, I decided to show what happened at night while Bee tried to skip till morning. That's good right? Oh, and I really don't want to be bothered by all that bold crap so I'm normal for now. Review. review, review! I just spent about thrity minutes on this while my hand were frozen stif and you can't be bothered to review? Review dammit! Ooops... Sorry for swearing... :3