A/N: A new one-shot. Yay. This took me like seven months to write (due to procrastination), but finally I finished it. It's been a while since I've published anything, so if this is completely dreadful, I apologize. I just decided to finish this.
Summary: When Edward goes hunting, Bella is left all alone with nothing to do. What does she do? She goes out into woods. In Twilight time. One-Shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or the little quote I use in the beginning.
Don't Go Into The Woods Alone
Twilight, page 192.
"Bella?" he asked in a different tone — serious, but hesitant.
"Yes?" I turned back to him too eagerly.
"Will you promise me something?"
"Yes," I said, and instantly regretted my unconditional agreement. What if he asked me to stay away from him? I couldn't keep that promise.
"Don't go into the woods alone."
I stared at him in blank confusion. "Why?"
He frowned, and his eyes were tight as he stared past me out the window.
"I'm not always the most dangerous thing out there. Let's leave it at that."
I sighed in boredom as I stared out my window blankly. Edward had left to go hunting several hours ago, promising it would be a quick trip since it was going to be just him. He should have known by now that his definition of the word quick was vastly different from mine.
I looked down to the completed stack of homework on my desk. It was a Friday, so I didn't need to do anything else. I swiveled around in my chair several times, getting faintly dizzy. I stopped on my tenth revolution and stood shakily.
I really needed to find something to do.
Charlie was spending the night over at Billy's so they could get an early start in the morning for fishing, so I didn't need to waste food and make some elaborate meal. I'd had a bowl of Cheerios for dinner, not craving fish. I'd even spent an overly long time eating the cereal, eating each piece separately.
It wasn't even 5:30 yet.
I sighed again and walked out of my room. There clearly wasn't anything to do in the tiny upstairs portion of the house, so I walked down the stairs carefully, watching my steps; no need to break a leg and have to crawl to the hospital.
I sat in front of the TV and flipped through the channels, getting faster as I went. I shut off the television angrily when nothing caught my attention. It wasn't time for any movies to come on, and the only shows on were the dreadful sitcoms that they played way too often. I glared out the window, into the lush foliage of the forest. A thought popped into my head.
Well, I might as well go burn off those Cheerios, I thought.
I walked to the back door, picking up my jacket on the way out. It wasn't necessarily cold, but knowing the weather in Forks, it would probably start raining as soon as I reached the middle of the woods.
I trudged out the door and down the few steps that led into the damp grass. I looked for the trail. I'd been on it once, a few days before the incident in Port Angeles, but I hadn't returned.
I found it quickly, located to the west of the house. From the mouth of the cavern of trees, I could see it curved around several trees before it was lost into the green abyss. I let out a huff of air and began walking.
I walked for several hours, following the general direction of the trail, but never taking any of the serious turns. I didn't need to get lost and wait for Edward to find me. Throughout most of the walk, I was focusing on the nature around me. I wasn't a nature girl by any means, but it really was beautiful. The way the rainwater ran down the fronds of the pine trees was amazing. There were such complicated patterns. And everything was just so green. Even the trunks and branches of the trees were covered in moss and leaves. One tree was entirely wrapped in ivy.
In the gray light filtered through the thick trees above, I could tell it was gradually getting darker. It was twilight before I decided I should probably turn around.
The second I did, I knew something was off.
The forest was too quiet, too still. The entire length of my walk, I'd heard evidence of life in the woods: birds chirping, trees rustling. Now there was no sound but the wind and the rain hitting the tree tops.
Suddenly, I became very aware of the silence. Edward had described that when a predator was near, the animals sensed it and they hid.
Fear began creeping up my spine and goosebumps broke out across my skin. What was coming? A bear? A mountain lion?
Realization hit me far too late.
Something rammed me from the side, knocking me flat onto the wet soil. I let out an involuntary scream. I heard deep, familiar snarling coming from all around me. He pinned me down, squeezing my wrists and holding down my ankles with his feet. I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid to look into his. He wasn't Edward, he was the vampire that hid under the surface of his skin. He was completely out of control of what he did.
I felt cool air against my neck and a hissing noise sounded in my ear. I cringed at the noise. He noticed the movement, snarling louder. He squeezed my wrists even tighter and I couldn't help but whimper at the pain. He continued squeezing until I felt the bone begin to crack. Tears slid through my closed lids at the sharp pain, but he continued to apply pressure. I felt all the bones shatter.
I gasped in agony as my wrists were crushed. He finally stopped squeezing, but didn't let my hands free. I laid totally still, despite the sobs of pain that were about the burst free. My cheeks were slick with tears.
Suddenly, I felt a cool, wet sensation at my pulse point. I gasped in shock, my eyes flying open. Edward wasn't in my sight, but I could see his hair in my peripheral vision. I moved my eyes downward to his head hovering near my neck. His smooth tongue moved slowly down my neck, as if he could taste the blood through my skin. He must have sensed my eyes on him, because he moved his head upwards toward me.
His light golden eyes were entirely hidden by the black. I couldn't separate the iris from the pupil. He stared into my eyes with the glare of death. I felt the hot tears pouring down my flushed cheeks, and finally the sobs broke through my barrier. My entire body began convulsing with them, taking Edward with me. He hissed at me, baring his glimmering teeth, laced with venom. I had never seen his venom before; he always swallowed it before I could. It was the exact opposite of what I expected. I thought it would have been thick and black, instead it was clear and excessively shiny. It dripped off of his teeth, a few drops landing on my cheek. They slid down over my throat and onto my neck. It didn't sting, but it felt odd. Thicker than water, but not slimy.
It had the consistency of blood.
He turned his head down to my neck again and pressed his tongue against my neck again. I felt his mouth open wide, ready to bite.
I tried to move my hands, but sobbed even louder when they protested. I dropped them to the dirt.
I began to whisper. "Please, Edward, please."
He snarled at me. I felt the cold rush of air against my neck.
"Edward, please don't do this! It's Bella!" I cried out.
The movement his lips were making ceased and he froze. His gripped loosened ever so slightly.
"Edward, listen to me. I know you can hear me." My voice shook uncontrollably.
I looked down to see the gold slowly reappearing in his eyes, fading from dark to light. They were a bright butterscotch, due to his recent hunting. Once they were completely golden, he began to blink, as if he were confused. He didn't seem to see me until a few seconds later.
Realization washed over him in a split second. He released my wrists from his hands and his upper half shot up. His eyes widened as they focused in on me, still gasping in terror on the forest floor. He glanced down to see my mangled wrists, probably covered in the early stages of bruises. He lifted his hands slowly, leaving them to hover in the air. He moved his eyes to stare at them in horror.
Suddenly, he wasn't in front of me anymore. I blinked at the open air before sitting up, my back aching from being pushed onto the ground. I looked around the little space and saw him crouched against one of the trees, covering his face with his hands. He was completely still.
I slowly stood up, wobbling slightly. My ankles screamed as put pressure on them, and I didn't dare to move my hands. I had taken two steps towards Edward when he spoke.
"Stop!" His velvet voice broke. "Please, don't come any closer."
I halted my movements immediately. My ankles were yelling in protest, so I slowly sat down, about five feet from Edward. He was still frozen. I jumped when he spoke again.
"How badly have I hurt you?" He whispered.
I didn't want to answer, but I knew he would assume the worst if I didn't say anything else.
"My wrists are crushed, and I can't move my fingers. I think my ankles might be fractured," I whispered. I heard his loud intake of breath from behind his hands.
There was a long silence before he spoke again.
"What have I done?" He dropped his hands from his face and began to glare at them.
"What have you done?!" He yelled to his hands. I began the process of standing up to go comfort him, but he snarled at me. "Please, Bella. I can't have you near me...not right now."
The sound startled me and I fell back down to the Earth. My arms ached to comfort him, but I was helpless.
I reached up to run my hands through my hair, an action I did in times of stress. I hissed when I felt the sting of my wrists and nearly bit off my lip to hide the sound. I slowly lowered my hands. Since my fingers were numb, I accidentally brushed them against my neck. It didn't hurt, obviously. But when I pulled them away, I noticed something. My hands were coated with Edward's venom. It didn't think it could hurt me. It didn't bother me when it was on my face and neck.
I looked up to see Edward staring at my hands with an unfathomable expression. "You have no idea how sorry I am, Bella. Sorry can't even cover my regret. There are no words. I can't even..." he trailed off, an unexpected sob coming instead of words. I ached to comfort him, but his warning held me back.
"Edward," I whispered. My voice was still rough from the sobbing. I opened my mouth to say something else, but the expression on his face stopped me.
"Are you scared now?" He said in a gravelly tone. I understood the true meaning of his question. It was reference to all the times that I should have been scared but took the situation very well.
Was I scared? I knew I had been when he...hadn't been himself. But now? As I stared at this broken man, I knew I wasn't.
"I am not scared of you," I said after a long minute. "I am scared of what you can do. But it's not something you will do. What happened just now...that is entirely my fault. If you say otherwise, you're an idiot. And it only happened because I did something stupid. Sure, I'm hurt. I always get hurt. And I always heal. But honestly...I'm not scared of you. I've seen you do so many amazing things. You fight against who you are everyday, just for the sake of not being a monster, even though it's the easy way out. You're too wonderful for me to be scared of you. One little slip-up does not change my entire opinion of you. I love you. Nothing will ever change that."
Edward was still looking away. He had no response. I didn't take my eyes off of his face. Even though he did not speak, I knew my words had gotten through to him. Suddenly, there was an abrupt change of emotion displayed on his face.
"How?!" He yelled suddenly. I jumped.
My expression twisted into one of confusion. "What do you—"
He cut me off before I could finish my question. "How can you love me? I am a monster. You just witnessed how I truly am. This is all an act. Underneath my calm composure, that is what's there. No matter how hard I try to get rid of it, it's there. Everyone is that way. Even Carlisle. We're all beasts. How can you love that?" On the last sentence, his voice dropped to a whisper. He looked away from me.
"I love who you are. And I mean who you really are. You're loving and brave and kind and smart and..." I trailed off my sentence, knowing that I'd never be able to stop saying wonderful things about him. "I love you for who you are. And I'd risk anything just to be with you. I don't care about this." I moved my arms to show what I meant. "I just care about you. And I am not afraid."
I stood up with much more composure than I thought I'd be able to handle and walked over to where he was on the forest floor. I only stumbled once. I sat down in front of him and forced him to look at me. His eyes were still pained.
"I don't see how you don't understand that."
Suddenly, I felt his ice-cold lips moving against mine. The electric shock pulsed through my entire body. I instantly threw myself into the kiss. I knew he had just recovered from what had happened only a few minutes ago, so I tried to control myself. His hand ever so gently reached up to cup my face, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone. I awkwardly maneuvered my arms around his neck without moving my wrists to press myself closer to him. He didn't push me away for once, yet I knew he was in control.
The movement of his icy lips against my warm ones created the strangest sensation. In tangent with the electricity that flowed between us, it was bliss. If it felt the same way to Edward, I wasn't sure how he managed to stop us nearly every time we kissed.
At some point, I had to pull away and gasp for air. He didn't move his lips back to mine, but he did begin speaking.
"Thank you for saying that."
"It was necessary but also completely true." I leant my forehead against his. Thankfully, I hadn't begun to perspire while we kissed. That was a usual reaction.
"Bella, please just let me speak. You have to know how sorry I am. I will spend eternity trying to make this up to you if you will let me. Do you forgive me?"
I shut my eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Of course, I forgive you, Edward. How could I not?"
He smiled slightly and leaned in to give my lips a quick peck. The sensation wasn't even close to the one before, but I still enjoyed it.
"I need to take you to Carlisle." His face became colored with shock at his sudden realization. "You need to get to Carlisle." He stood up, but looked down at me with a worried expression.
"You may carry me," I sighed.
He reached down and lifted me up off of the dirt effortlessly. He was careful not to jostle my arms or my wrists. I settled them so they wouldn't touch anything. After I was comfortable in his arms, I leant my head against his chest and secretly inhaled his wonderful scent.
"Let's get you home."