Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Summary: A promise made to a dying man, a girl with nothing left to lose, and a love that won't die. Bella's learns that you can't live your life in mourning. You have to live your life, or die from it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: This story picks on page 353 of the American paperback edition of New Moon. It was originally posted under the same name but I have redone it completely. I had lost my own voice as a writer in trying to copy a style that was nothing like my own. So I pulled the whole thing down and I am going to rework what I have and continue the story. I love you all and please remember to leave a review!

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, Worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, Going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, No expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, No tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
These dreams in which I'm dying, Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad World, Mad World

-Mad World from the Donnie Darko Soundtrack

I didn't feel like I was falling. Instead, I felt like a bird- free and safe with the wind whipping my hair back. I smiled a true smile for the first time in months. I looked down at the water.

It looked like it was burning. Red flames danced on the waves. It was all coming towards me a frightening rate and fear took over. I half expected to hear his voice then, but there was nothing there- Just my own mind screaming in terror.

I screamed aloud as the wind shrieked past me. I didn't look down. I couldn't. I looked up at Jacob, but I couldn't see him.

From above me, I heard him yelling my name as he dove after me, but it was too late. By the time I finally saw his body launch over the edge, I was already in the water.

I felt the impact like a thousand hands grabbing me. Laughter bubbled around me and the water swirled red and black as stone pipes pulled my body under. My mind knew I should fight but my body could not react. I heard a loud crash in the distant nearness above me and I felt like was being torn to pieces. My lungs burned and my eyes refused to open. I tried to focus on what was happening, but my mind was crying out, he wasn't there! I jumped, and he wasn't there to catch me. He was never going to be there.

Then everything that had been holding me, let go. For a moment, I panicked. I couldn't figure out where I was. I didn't even know which way the surface was. I took a mental breath and forced my eyes open. Bubbles go up in water. And there were bubbles drifting slowly away from me. I thought I saw something before me but then the need for air won out and I swam with everything I had in me.

I may not be the most graceful person in the world, but I had always liked to swim. And I was good. I could do things in the water that I could never do on dry land. I felt like a fish on land. Now, I used every ounce of strength that I possessed to pull my way through the water. I pushed it down behind me and forced my way up. I broke the surface as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Air burned down to my lungs and I tried to clear my eyes but I could only see vague shapes in the distance. The water was cold and I felt icy panic begin to claw at my gut. Jacob had been right behind me.

"Jacob?" I could feel the edge of hysteria creeping into my voice. "Jacob!" I was turning around but there was nothing there, no sign of him. Panic was clawing at my gut and I knew that the more I thrashed around, the less likely I was to see him, but I couldn't stop the terrifying thought that he might not make it up.

From where I was, I couldn't see the shore but I could feel the water beneath me churning and broiling up below me. Bubbles swarmed around me and I forced my arms, sluggish with fear and exhaustion, to drag myself away from the rocks. I knew I had to move but every motion felt like it was only taking my closer to the danger that lurked beneath me and further from Jacob, wherever he was.

They broke the surface of the water not five feet away from me. I screamed as the sudden shock of seeing Victoria and Jacob fighting in the water. The water spraying off of them hit me like needles and I fought the urge to scream again. How had she gotten here? Jacob, in his reddish wolf form was snapping at her. Blood turned the water red as the stripes on a flag in July. I wondered briefly if there were sharks that I should be worried about. I almost laughed. Victoria would kill me before the sharks could even get close. I turned to where I thought the shore must be and was met with an incredible sight.

Five wolves, in various states of phasing, were streaming down the beach. Sam, large as a bear, was in the lead but the rest were close on his heels.

Not a minute later, the water seemed full of wolves. Sam was next to me, the only human among them, pulling me away towards the shore. No one is graceful stumbling around the surf. I fell more than I was on my feet- a situation that wasn't helped by the fact that I kept turning back to look at the carnage behind us. It wasn't long before I felt the sand beneath my feet. One of my shoes was gone and I pulled the other off as I stumbled to the beach. I stood there, shivering with cold in fear as I watched, helplessly, as Jacob began to lose the fight.

"Go! Go to Emily," Sam said gruffly. He shoved me once more towards the beach before he was gone beneath the waves, swimming back into the fray. But I didn't move. I couldn't. I was rooted to the spot. From where I stood, I could hardly see anything. The water churned and the air was full of splashing and the sharp yips of pain. How do you kill a being that cannot drown when you cannot feel the sand beneath you? The fight pulled closer and closer to the shore and the wolves had ground to work with. A dim part of me knew I should move but I was still stuck like glue, watching and praying.

The water crashed around them and I wondered how long it could take. Victoria was hopelessly out numbered. I had no soon thought this then the waters stilled. The waves crashed around the silent figures in the water. I began to count. I had to do it twice and hadn't even fished the panicked numbers before I was moving, back out into the water. I stopped right at the edge. The gentle waves lapped at my toes. The foam on top of the water was faintly pink.

They were returning- some of the boys (for they all looked terribly young as they stumbled, naked and cold, toward me) held gruesome souvenirs in their hands. Parts of Victoria, I realized. Parts of her that were still moving and twitching as they came closer. But it was the shape in Sam's arms that brought the hysteria back to the surface.

He looked dead, there in Sam's arms. His head was thrown back and his chest was criss-crossed with more bloody cuts than I could count. I knew he could heal himself quickly, but there was so much blood that I began to wonder if anything could survive that.

I started screaming. No words- just pain and fear. Jacob! Not Jacob. He wasn't moving. He wasn't moving! I threw myself at him just as Sam was setting him down in the sand. I took my best friend's face in my hands. He was cold and clammy, but his eyes were open. His eyes found mine and he gave me that same lopsided grin that always brought a smile to my face. I breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

"I promised I would save you," he whispered. I had to lean in closer to hear the words.

"When?" I asked softly. "When did you promise that?" I strained my memory for a promise, but my mind wasn't focusing on anything other than the present.

"When I gave you my heart. Bella, I have loved you since that first day on this beach. Do you remember?" is eyes fluttered against the light.

"I remember, Jacob." I didn't trust my voice to say more. The tears were back but I didn't wipe them away. I didn't want to let go of him.

"I knew you could never love me like you love him, but I had hoped, maybe you could try."

"I do love you Jacob. I do. I'm so sorry. I love you. Don't you dare leave me. I love you!"

Jacob's smile was sad as he spoke: "You don't mean that, Bella. Not really. Promise me that you won't cry. Later I mean. You've got a lot of living to do if you're going to live for both of us now."

"Don't even think about it," I murmured. "You'll be fine. It's just a few scratches. You'll be up and fixing cars and complaining about my truck in a week, tops." Please let him be ok, I prayed silently.

"Promise me, Bella. Please." He voice was weaker with each word. I couldn't even see his face for the tears streaming down my face. I felt those first few rain drops fall but I didn't care. "Promise you'll get out of here and really live for me. Promise, Bella."

"I promise, Jacob." I would have promised him anything in that moment. I felt my heart clenching up and shattering into a thousand pieces over and over again.

A smile spread across his face and he slipped into unconsciousness. I turned around to find Sam. I knew I could never carry Jacob to the car on my own. I looked back at his sleeping face. I knew that if we were going to save him, every second mattered.

The other werewolves of La Push were grouped around the fire pit where Jacob and I had first talked about the cold ones and the wolf people. A brilliant purple fire soared into the air. I never imagined how a vampire dies until that day. I found that the only emotion I could find in my heart was acceptance. It was all over.

Victoria was gone. I was finally free from the Vampires. Forever. They would never creep into my room to rock me to sleep at night or drag me on wild shopping trips or try to kill me ever again. I was free, but…

Pain gripped my heart. "Sam!" He turned to me with soot smudged across his face. The rain ran streaks through the ashes. He looked like a picture I had seen once of a warrior after a great battle. But the battle wasn't over. After the battle, there was still the wounded to tend to.

Sam was by my side in an instant, scooping Jacob up. I started shaking. Sam was barking orders and someone was by my side, asking me where the car was. Where were the keys? I didn't know. I didn't care. I stumbled after Sam as he retreated quickly through the trees. I lost him in a matter of seconds but Quil was there, pushing me into a car and driving me to Billy's house.

I had lapsed into shock and sat, shaking and crying on the couch. I kept getting up, trying to see him, but someone was always there, pushing me back down, wrapping a blanket around me and pushing something hot into my hands. But I couldn't eat. Emily whisked in and out of the tiny bedroom while the boys sat with me, giving comfort and praying. Someone was singing, an old prayer that I didn't understand. It didn't help.

Less than an hour after we had gotten to the house, Sam came out of the bedroom. He looked at me with such an intense sadness that I felt everything inside of me cracking open. I threw the blanket off and rushed for the door, but Sam caught me before I could form the thoughts of what I had planned to do. "No, Bella. It's over. It's time to keep going. You promised."

So I did. I promised. I promised, Jacob.

TBC?