A/N: Yo guys... I hope you like this one. The hits I've been getting in one day for this is UNREAL. Please keep this up, it makes me so motivated to write more stories! I have many MANY Edward/Bella ideas flowing right now...
But first, GCSE English Lit... :(
PRAY FOR ME. MAKE MY WEEK AND REVIEW PLEASE. It'd make me so happy. :/

PEACE & LOVE,
x x x STARSWalkBACKWARD x x x

God Bless The Broken Road

"Hey Mr. Pinochet,
You've sown a bitter crop.
It's foreign money that supports you,
One day the money's going to stop.
No wages for your torturers.
No budget for your guns.
Can you think of your own mother,
Dancin' with her invisible son?
They're dancing with the missing,
They're dancing with the dead.
They dance with the invisible ones,
They're anguish is unsaid.
They're dancing with their fathers,
They're dancing with their sons,
They're dancing with their husbands,
They dance alone,
They dance alone."

––'They Dance Alone' - Sting, 1987.

(For the Cold War victims of Argentina and Chile.)

––– Part VI –––

Then, in the darkness, it came.

Air. Glorious, vital oxygen that filled my lungs which still burned. The scorching caused a couching and spluttering sensation that made snatching the desperate clutches of oxygen even more taxing. After a few moments, I began to feel my body, and that's when I knew I wasn't dreaming, or drifting, or anything of the sort.

I tried to open my eyes, and it took a few tries, but once I did, I never wanted to close them again.

There, above me, was a pale, marble creature; a man, stronger than any other predator on earth yet as gentle and old-souled as a wise elderly man. His bronze hair was stuck up in all directions, yet looked like perfection. His eyes were complete solid bronze, with a completely distraught look deep within them. His marble skin was just the same, though the rings under his eyes were a dark maroon colour, and much more profound. He looked completely forlorn, but still a hundred times more beautiful than I remembered.

There, above me, was Edward.

Suddenly, I began to hear the sounds around me as my senses began to return, though I was too tired and lightheaded to keep my eyes open. Instead, I listened.

"BELLA!" His voice was distant. It came closer. "Bella! Bella, please... Open your eyes, Bella... Can you hear me? Bella! Oh god, please, no. Please, please, please..." I felt despair roll off him in waves as he mumbled almost incoherently. I couldn't pinpoint where his voice was coming from, but I knew it was rough and filled with desperation. I felt the sensation of material covering my skin down to my thighs. It touched the countless areas of scorched flesh as it moved over me, causing me to wince so violently that it came out more like a series of breathless chokes and splutters.

Edward, sounding relieved that I was reacting, cooed me as he heard my cries, but did not speak to me directly, evidently too hysterically distressed to trust himself to speak. "Eleazar," Edward's velvet voice finally choked, sounding almost like a cry for help, and I was suddenly on high alert as he sounded as though he was in agony.

Another man's voice, older, sounded. This was Eleazar, I guessed. "Your father and I will deal with the torturers, Edward. I acknowledge that you feel the need to take your outrage out on them, but I do not need to remind you, you still have Bella. She's alive. Hear her heart, Edward! We need to get her out of here to treat her wounds."

"I'm not moving until they're all dead," Edward's voice was a hissing growl.

"We cannot kill them all or there will be no torturers for the investigative services to find! They cannot be found dead, or they will be mistaken for victims."

Edward snarled with what I guessed was frustration.

"Your father and I will deal with all this. Get her out of her, Edward. She's going to bleed out, and if she does we will only have one other option.. Go. Now!"

The next thing I knew, Edward must have been running, because he curled me into his chest like and infant, and I felt the cool air whip over my bare skin almost painfully. My hair was wild, flying everywhere, other than that that was stuck down from my blood, and I desperately tried to stay awake. I had been more than ready to die only minutes before, now, I had to grip to my mortality with all I had. I really was starting to feel woozy. It was like no matter how much oxygen I breathed in, it wasn't enough.

The light-headedness and the blood still dripping down into my eyes were the last things I remembered, before I fell into an unconsciousness I had not seen coming.

–––ℬ&ℰ–––

"Alice," a voice rose, desperate. "How long?"

"Two minutes at most." There was a pause. "You did the best you could, Edward. You weren't to know that Jane was behind this."

"I should have been... It's all because of me. All of this." The beautiful male voice sounded exasperated. "How long, Alice?"

"Patience, Edward. Give her a minute. She's trying to figure out what's what..." There was yet another pause. "She can hear us now."

There was movement, then a cool, icy sensation somewhere on me. "Bella?" It was His voice. I wanted to weep; he sounded beside himself. "Bella? Can you hear me? I am so sorry, Bella. Words cannot describe... I should have stayed with you. I shouldn't have left you alone, thinking..." There was a choking sound again, almost like a dry sob. "I'm so sorry, my love. Forgive me..."

Suddenly, there was another presence in the room. "Edward," calm the deep, older male voice, a voice so calming it had to be heard to be believed. "You blame yourself as a matter of course when in fact none of this is your fault. Not one of us thinks so. Bella will not think so either. You are my son. I believe in you."

I felt myself swallow hard, gasping for moisture as my throat was as dry as the Sahara.

"Water? Do you need water, Bella?"

I couldn't reply. There was movement for a second at most, and then I was being helped more upright. Suddenly there was moist on my lips, and I swallowed the water eagerly. It was only then that I could find my voice. "E-edward," I wheezed.

Instantly, I felt icy hands on my cheeks, then my shoulders and hands. "Yes, I'm here, Bella. I'm here."

Shakily, I lifted my weighted eyelids, and as light poured in, I instantly shut them again. I tried again, determined to see Edward with my own eyes; to know he was really there. This time, it was easier. I blinked an awful lot, clearing my vision, and once it was clear, I saw him.

My memory before I had blacked out had been right, he did look awful, if it was possible for an angel to look awful that is. The bags under his eyes were still much darker and contrasting than usual, his hair was stuck up in all directions as though he had gripped it with his hands. He was wearing the same clothes I had last seen him in, in the hotel room. His eyes were golden, he had obviously been to feed, but they were not the usual warm, swirling buttery ochre - they were solid bronze, with stress and worry.

Even with all these alterations, he was still the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

"Edward," I said, my voice still croaking. With that, began the waterworks; fat, heavy tears fell from my eyes and went falling down my temples where I lay. "You're here," I squeaked. "You're o-okay." His expression was warm, as though I had enveloped him in on huge warm hug, although, he looked slightly mystified at my words.

"Oh, Bella," he let himself smile. A tight smile, but a smile all the same. "Of course I'm okay. It's you you should be concerned about, you ridiculously fragile human." He was smiling as though he was fighting back tears, even though it wasn't possible for vampires to physically cry. His facial expression was much the same though; one that resembled a human man who had just been told he wasn't dying after he had been told otherwise. "You're alive," he said, with a sense of wonder in his voice.

"I would never l-l-leave you," was all I could manage in reply through my tears, as I tried to sit up, gasping through the pain of my injuries.

"And I you," he agreed, his voice deep and rough with emotion, somehow sounding equally teary and robbed of speech, though I had no idea how that was possible. "Hey, hey, easy!" he exclaimed as I tried to sit up quickly, gasping for air through the pain. He then leant up and forward, over where I lay in a bed, and kissed my forehead in a slow, deliberate motion, laying my back down. I wanted to whoop with joy at the feel of his lips on my skin, something I had been sure I would never feel again. "I'll never..leave you..again," he said lowly, clearing his throat in an attempt to clear the gruffness from his voice. His kissed my forehead again, then again, and I felt his gentle right hand just below my collarbone, over my thudding heart; his trademark gesture.

I was suddenly aware of others in the room, and looked around to see Edward's dark-haired, pixie-looking sister Alice, his mother, I guessed, and his equally beautiful blonde father, the doctor, Carlisle. They were all so bewitchingly ravishing, with their pale marble skin and buttery eyes. I felt positively plain next to them.

"Bella," Carlisle, dressed casual clothing, spoke first. I realised as he looked next to me that I was wired up to a drip, and a heart monitor, yet I didn't feel as though I was in hospital. "You're heart rate is level, and the good news is, you no longer have the fever Edward described to me while you were in Argentina."

Alice and Esme smiled dazzlingly at me. "We'll just be downstairs, Bella, if you need us."

I nodded, truly appreciative. "Thank you."

They left, just before Alice stole a extremely tight and strong hug.

Once they had gone, I decided to face reality. "What happened? How bad is it?" I asked, quietly.

Edward grimaced, obviously not wanting to relive it.

"Tell me," I insisted, "Please."

Carlisle came to sat the other side of me, speaking softly. "You have suffered two deep head wounds, a hairline fracture, severe bruising to your abdomen and throat, four fractured ribs..." he stopped.

I looked at Carlisle, only to see him looking intently at his son. I followed his gaze and looked to Edward, only to see him turned away, not wanting me to see his inner turmoil while hearing what happened to me. I reached out to touch his face, and a second later he turned to me appreciatively, caressing the back of my hand with his icy fingers as he held it in his. Carlisle looked equally fraught with discomfort at the words we all knew he would have to say. I prompted him. "And?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, then regained his composure. Edward, however, didn't even try to appear at ease. He had his eyes closed, his expression pained as his nostrils flared and his frown set in.

When Carlisle spoke, you could practically feel the shock waves through the room. "You have second degree burns to your breasts and genital areas, as well as on the tips of your fingers. This could only be caused by––"

"––Electric shocks," I finished for him, and both men either side of me looked surprised. They had obviously expected I wouldn't remember would had happened to me... Either that or that I wasn't conscious to begin with.

"You were very lucky to survive your ordeal, Bella. I'm just sorry we couldn't have gotten to you sooner," apologised Carlisle, earnestly.

"You saved me," I said, frowning at their ludicrous ideas, "Both of you, and––Eleazar was it?––That's all that matters. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Hours ago you were barely that," Edward said inwardly, almost as though he had forgotten we were here, his voice neutral, emotionless, frustrated.

"Edward," Carlisle said, his voice a warning to silence his son.

Carlisle rose, telling me he was here if I needed more painkillers. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart, and he smoothed his hand over mine, a fatherly gesture, before leaving the room with more grace and beauty than a ballet dancer.

There was silence as Edward was still like an unmoving marble statue under my fingers. "What happened, Edward?"

With a face still like thunder, he pulled his chair as close to the bed as possible, taking both my hands in his. "I went to my relatives house to contact my father, and then got caught up in a conversation with Eleazar and the rest of my cousins, that left me on edge. They said that recently they had been hearing of trouble brewing in the regime, and it was not because of any human doing... Our cousins, Eleazar, Tanya, they are like us in that they practice of concept of 'vegetarianism,' and so they refused to have any part in the supporting of human kidnappings just so that the human regime could 'keep control' and the vampires in the regime could feed. They don't live there all the time, they have multiple South American homes that they pass between, and it was when I visited them that they told me they were planning to leave Argentina because there was too much pressure from strong figures of our kind the back the cruel regime... They said they had even seen some members of the Volturi circle become part of it."

"The little blond one with the red-eyes––Jane?––Is she one of them?"

He swallowed, looking away for a moment. "How do you know about Jane?"

I didn't want to give him the gross details, but I couldn't lie to him. My ignoring the truth almost killed me; killed us both. Never would I lie to Edward again. "She came to see me after I was kidnapped. She told me the reason I was taken was not because of what I said at the plaza, but because Eleazar and his family were powerful residents of Argentina but not co-operating. So, they took me to get both your covens attention..."

Edward blinked, something his body did not require as a necessity, and then looked right at me.

"She was telling you the truth. That is why they took you. Your loose words at the plaza were just a lucky coincidence they used to convince the humans in the regime, that think they're in charge, that you needed to be removed." He paused. "I came back from their home feeling like something was wrong, my senses were running haywire all over the place. I couldn't get to you fast enough. Then, on my return, I caught sight of Jane's scent before it disappeared out of the city, and I knew something was wrong. That was her mistake. When I came back and found the room turned upside down and you gone, I knew Jane must have something to do with it. There were no way it was that much of a coincidence. For a moment I couldn't think. I could smell the chloroform and your scent mixed in with it... By Jane leaving her scent behind I knew she must have been helping whoever called the shots, so I contacted Alice. Alice looked into Jane's future and saw her surrounded by sand, so we knew you must have been taken out of the city..." His jaw clenched as he seemed to suddenly crave closeness. He ran his hands over my shoulders and my face, then held my chin and looked into my eyes with his buttery golden gaze. "I only found you by chance, Bella. Alice couldn't see your future anymore, and the last she'd seen of you, you were surrounded by children's' drawings... I had no idea where to turn, that was until we came across the abandoned school in the mountains... I thought it was empty, because all the locals we knew and spoke to said it hadn't been used for at least sixty years... We found it by chance, while trying to track Jane, and the grounds did appear to be empty..." I tried to memorise every contour of his face as he spoke. "But we knew it couldn't be. Not when we smelt all the blood from a mile away." My heart sped as my mind created imagery to match his words and I cringed at the thought, which hurt with all my injuries, causing me to wince violently, spluttering. "Shh," he cooed, laying a cool palm of my forehead, while sliding his other hand under the blanket to rest over my heart.

With that, Edward was silent again, neither of us speaking for a while. We both just listened to the thudding of my heart.

"It took all the limits of my control to enter that school. It was even a challenge for Carlisle, and if anything, my father is the ultimate figure of control, to the point where his need almost isn't there... I heard his thoughts though, in that school. He was struggling too; torn between his body's built-in desire for blood and the need of his sub-conscious to help the suffering. There were so many people there to save, so many helpless, defenseless, innocent human beings being killed by their fellow man... There were so many victims you can't even imagine, so many being killed, so many already killed, so many already buried..." Edward's expression softened with affection as he mentioned his kind mentor and father. "My father was almost driven mad, with so many suffering all at once when he only has one pair of hands; he had no idea here to turn, who to save first. He and Eleazar used our kinds' skills of speed and strength to interrupt and stop every torture session we came across. I, on the other hand, was much more self-centred. The moment I pinpointed the scent of your blood, I panicked and ran. I ran through that school and rammed down that torture chamber door in one second flat, and even then I was almost too late..." Then, suddenly, came the choking sound again. It was almost like sobbing as it escaped from the back of his throat dryly, though no tears could ever appear. My eyes filled with tears at the sight of my protector so broken. Again I found myself thinking, I did this to him.

"When I kicked in that door and saw that monster about to violate you in that way, strangling you, I..." His gaze met mine, and I could have sworn I saw the same teary, glass-eyed expression staring back at me. He closed his eyes in memory. "I couldn't control myself. I killed him then and there, Bella," he said, ashamed of himself. "After what he did to you, he is the only human I have ever truly hated. The only being in my whole existence I hoped would be damned to hell... And even now, I cannot find the strength within myself to be sorry for it."

I moved my head to the side on my pillow and looked up at him. "I'm not going to hold it against you, Edward. No one will... All I know for sure is that if the roles were reversed, I'd..." I let my comment hang in the air between us.

"When I saw you covered in blood, and scorched and burned," he recoiled and flinched as he spoke, obviously struggling to get the words out. "Bound in that way with no means of escaping..." He choked again, and paused, trying to regain composure. "If you had died..." He aliened his face with mine, our foreheads touching, his voice barely recognisable. "There are no words for what that would do to me."

I closed my eyes, filled with sudden guilt. "I have a confession to make," I croaked, my throat sore. Edward instantly poured me more water and held it to my lips, letting me drink. He frowned with confusion as I spoke. "I saw...Jane that day at the plaza. I didn't know who she was then, but...I saw her watching me, watching us, from one of the far balconies... She terrified me so much I just...couldn't tell you..."

Edward smiled, as though this was trivial. "It doesn't matter, Bella. How were you to know who she was? It's not your fault."

"Yes it is my fault!" I said, suddenly forceful and angry, trying to sit up despite the pain in my chest. "I knew, since that moment I spoke out at the plaza, that they were coming for me. I saw it in Jane's face, her smirk, I knew! I didn't tell you and I knew... I let this happen..." I hid my head in my hands, close to tears.

Despite my admission, Edward wasn't angry. He just moved around me, to my other side, and pulled my face from my hands. "May I?" he asked, referring to the space next to me in the bed.

I smiled for the first time in what felt like centuries, and replied dryly. "Like you even have to ask."

He swiftly but carefully climbed onto the bed, lying on his side, facing me.

I looked around me at the white, light room with big windows. "Where..." I frowned, "Where am I?"

Edward smiled. "My home," he said, sounding wise.

I blinked, shocked. "Your home? As in, as in Forks?"

Edward's warm and soft smile was finally back, referring to the woodland outside the big windows. "Well, technically we don't live in Forks..."

I sudden thought occurred to me. "What about Charlie? Where does my family, our friends, where do they think I am?" I gasped again, ignoring the pain. "Oh god!" I tried to breath, but the pain spasmed in my chest, and I had to pause for a second. "What do they think happened to me? You didn't tell them––"

"No," Edward interrupted. "No, shh, don't worry. They think you came with me to my cousin's house while I spoke to my father about your condition... We got there and had been caught in the rain, so you went to have a shower and a lie down. You were still wet from the shower when you went to plug in the lamp and, like so many others before you, you had your finger on the metal prong as you put it into the live socket in the wall... An electric shock from the mains threw you across the room. Believe it or not, it actually is a common accident for humans."

I swallowed, laughing, the whole thing so far from the truth is was comical. "That sounds like me."

Edward laughed quietly, a gorgeous sound, and agreed. I had missed seeing the squinting around his eyes when he was really laughing.

"Do they think," I began, my voice impossibly quiet, "that we're still in Argentina?"

"They think you're a private hospital in Columbia. Our classmates are still in Argentina, and they won't be back for few days... Which means you can rest until you are expected home."

We both chortled at the whole thing, which seemed bizarre considering all that had happened over the last forty-eight houses. I looked up at Edward as he neared me. His hand slowly and carefully came in contact with the side of my face, a thumb tracing as he eyed the stitches I hadn't noticed before on my hairline. My body seemed to almost judder as I became conscious of all the pain in my body. My ribs were wrapped and packed up tightly to the point where it was hard to move at all, or breathe. My burns had been soothed but still stung furiously like sparking flames under the gauze that were covering them. My head was heavy and achey. I was suddenly struck by how much it hurt to move.

"Ow," I croaked, breathlessly as I turned my head into his icy palm. He looked at me, questingly. "Everything hurts," I explained, hiding the pain with a chuckle. This wasn't a complaint, but a statement of fact.

Edward cooed understanding, his voice low, as always, "I know, Bella love, I know. I'm so sorry." He frowned, running a hand down my neck and over the contours of my side, coming to rest on my bandaged ribs. "Do you need more morphine?"

"No," I said, automatically. "I like the pain," I said, even though I knew he'd find it preposterous. "It means I'm alive; that I can...feel."

I saw his chest heave at my admission. "I understand," he whispered, his lips on my brow as he put his arm around me, his marble bicep under my head. "You don't have to worry anymore. What you did was unbelievably stupid. You sacrificed yourself for a monster... But that also makes you beautifully human... I cannot admire you enough for your courage, even though this whole thing was totally unnecessary..."

I reached up, slow so he would have warning, and slowly pressed my lips to his cheek. He silenced, and seemed to melt into me, kissing my opposite cheek. His hands ran up my back, ghosting his fingers over the hospital gown I was clad in. He kissed my jaw, and then finally my lips, and I couldn't breath. This time though, it was a good feeling. I took handfuls of his bronze hair and marveled to myself as it slid, silky smooth, through my bandaged fingers. I pulled the hair as hard as I could without hurting my fingers, and a murmuring growl escaped his mouth. Our lips were together in one complete union; fire and ice. He breath across my face was just a sweet as I remembered, causing my dizziness to increase to impossible levels. His hand held my face and his other hand cupped the back of my head, and, amongst our passion, we both forgot my stitches. I suddenly choked on a wince as his hand came in contact with the injured area, and he instantly pulled his lips from mine.

"Ouch," I winced, feeling queasy from the tugging pain.

"Damn, I'm sorry, Bella," he said, evidently irritated with himself, though his quiet happiness was dominant. "I'll get you some more morphine."

I suddenly realise that was that first time I'd heard him curse, ever.

"Wait!" I called as he was almost at the door.

He smiled sideways at me, as though I were an amusing smile.

"I love you," I said. Well, that is what I attempted to say, although I suddenly choked up with emotion. I blinked rapidly, only to realise that the reason I couldn't see was because I was crying, again. "I-I just-t never th-thought I'd se-ee you ag-gain," I stammered, hiccuping violently through my tears. "A-all through the-e torture, all I-I wanted was to tell-l you tha-t it would-d be okay f-for you t-to move o-on. I had, have, no r-regrets. Only that-t I had-dn't had t-the chanc-e to s-see y-you one last-t tim-me."

Edward seemed to be frowning the way someone would just before they cry. His eyes seemed somehow glassy, and then, he was gripping me.

"God bless you, Bella Swan," he softly hushed as we bear hugged, arms wrapped right around each other, his face buried in my shoulder and mine in his. He voice seemed to crack and rise an octave as he said my name. I didn't quite understand his reasoning for his choice of words. I realised that maybe he had once been religious, which was probable, considering he was born in 1901. "Please," he begged in a whisper against my neck and hair, "Please don't cry. I cannot bare it." He kissed my forehead and I could imagine his eyes squeezing shut as he did so. He then pulled back and held my face millimeters from his. When we were eye-to-eye, my stomach flipped at the intensity in his ochre eyes. When he spoke, he sounded almost tearful, a rare characteristic for Edward who was nothing if not the strong and silent type.

"Isabella Swan," he said, obviously trying to keep his voice steady as he held my face in place. "Bella," he added, knowing my discontent with my full name.

"Yes?" I asked, not knowing for the life of me what he was to say next. Knowing Edward, it could have been anything.

His lips tugging up at the corners as he glanced downward, his long curled lashes dusting his cheeks as he did so. He was smiling at my bewildered expression. I really could be an open book sometimes. "I love you so much," he said, shaking his head slightly as though it was all completely bewildering. "There are no words to express how much I adore you, my love."

I was frozen for minutes, blissful, not sure anything in the entire universe could ever top the feeling.

A while later, I slowly raised a hand to cover one of his on my face as he caressed it. "You know, a wise man once told me that in Italian, there are over one hundred ways to say 'I love you,'" I said, smirking and trying to hold back a laugh as I referenced our conversation at the plaza.

He smiled until his eyes creased, lighting up his face humour. "Wise words," he teased back lowly, slowly sitting on the edge of my bed as I sat up against my pillow. "I'll sample a few of them, shall I?"

I smile dreamily, resting my head to the side, suddenly sleepy, simply nodding.

"Significhi tutto per me, Bella," he said, and kissed my hands. "You mean everything to me."

I wrinkled my nose in false disapproval. "Next."

"Quando ti vedo dimentico tutto." He was face to face with me again. "Without you, life has no meaning."

This time he kept going. I was captivated.

"Come sei bella, Bella," he said softly, wriggling his brows as my name was mentioned as part of the romantic sentiment. He paused, letting the flow of foreign words sink in. "How beautiful you are, Bella." He kept going. "My personal favourite, even in our native English... Tu sei la mia vita. You are my life."

I huffed as all these romantic words were making me blush the deepest scarlet, my skin and neck felt on fire.

"Cara mia, ti voglio bene... My darling, I love you."

He pecked me lips twice, as though reaffirming his words.

"Il mio cuore è solo tua. My heart is yours."

I kept trying hard to keep my breathing even.

He smiled, running an icy finger over my dry lips. "Senza di te la vita è un inferno."

I watched as he began to leave. "What does that mean?"

He simply turned to me and smiled, as though I already knew somehow...and then he left, informing me he was fetching me more morphine.

"Sleep," he urged, rather sternly, but with kind eyes.

I lay there, falling slowly to sleep in the Cullen house, looking out the windows at the forest and the rain, when suddenly it came to me; the answer to my question; the reason for all the pain I had suffered in my last eighteen years; the reason why suddenly, since a few months ago, everything seemed to be better...

It came to me, like water in the Sahara; like fire in the icecaps, the answer to everything...

'Senza di te la vita è un inferno.'

Without you, life is hell.

–––ℬ&ℰ–––