Title: Solstice
Author: marjorie16
Fandom: Twilight
Summary: This is a story mid New Moon. Edward leaves Bella. Bella befriends Jacob. The werewolves kill Laurent BUT Victoria gets passed the werewolves and bites Bella.

Laurent: "...but if you knew what she had planned for you, Bella..."

Well, what if you did?

* Third Person POV

CHAPTER 15

"What are you still doing here?" Marcus asked. His tone was soft but it rang with complete authority. He had entered Isabel's room for a single purpose. And he was determined to get the job over and done with.

"What do you mean?" Isabel asked, incredulous. "This is my room. I'm supposed to be here."

"Isabel," He said smoothly while walking gracefully towards his quarry. "Your mate is waiting for you."

Isabel was shocked. Does he mean Edward? How could he have said that he was her mate? And if so, what's more alarming, Edward was waiting for her. Isabel decided to play dumb. She might be able to protect Edward's identity.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come now, Isabel. I know everything. I saw them leave your room." He paused, pinning her with his sharp gaze. "One look at him and I already knew everything. He loves you."

Isabel feigned a chuckle. "He loves me? How would you know that? And most importantly, what business is it of yours?"

"I knew because of what I can do, Isabel. I can read relationships, remember? The first time I saw him, I knew instantly. And the first time you were with him, I knew how you felt too. There's no use lying, Isabel. You can confide in me. Don't be afraid of Aro."

For a long moment, Isabel didn't know what to do. Through his powers, Marcus was able to tell everything. This person who, before this encounter, had never talked to her was now talking about the core of her emotional turmoil. Marcus had never said anything endearing or hateful. He was simply this mass of unknown entity, moving about in his silence. In truth, Isabel could understand him. Then, she snapped back to reality. Understand Marcus? Now where did that come from?

"Why the sudden change of character? You don't even talk to me or acknowledge my existence. Why now?" Can't she be suspicious?

"Edward wanted me to give you this." He handed Isabel a silver CD. She took it carefully from him and recognized it instantly. "He told me, you would remember."

She stared at the CD she was holding and knew for sure what it contained. Suddenly, she was filled with an incomprehensible need to hear that melody. Whatever else that melody was, it was Edward's attempt to show her that he loves her.

She looked around for some sort of music player. Thank God there was one. She slipped the CD into place and melody filled the room with love.

"I never forgot." She whispered as the memory of her first visit to the Cullen house slowly came to play in her head.

"Actually, you did." Marcus stated. "You did forget that he loves you."

With that, Isabel nodded. When she became a vampire, being trapped, being tortured, feeding like an animal, killing like an animal, everything she had done since was fueled with hatred and anger. And then, Isabel thought again. No, she wasn't really feeling such volatile emotions. Maybe everything she had felt before, everything she had done before was out of fear.

Fear of being hurt. Again.

Fear of caring and losing. Again.

Fear of loving and being rejected. Again.

Fear of risking her heart that was so tired of hurting.

And then, she went back to being angry; it was easier than fear.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked Marcus with so much remorse. "Why do you care what I choose to do or what happens to me? He hurt me. He killed me."

"Honestly, Isabel, will you make up your mind?" He said, frankly. He simply cannot stand her fickle mind. One minute she cares for the man and the next she's back on vengeance. "Do you hate him or do you love him?"

For a moment, she was dumb-founded. And that was because she had no idea about what she was feeling.

What do I want? She asked herself silently.

"You're confused." She still stared at him, hoping like hell that he would simply tell her what to feel. "And that's why I'm here." He finished.

"You're here to help me? To help me understand?"

"Yes."

"Why? You don't know me. I mean," She paused, looking for words. "I—we don't talk. I've never even heard you articulate a sentence or something. So, why are you here?"

"Didyme."

"Huh?"

"I'm here because of Didyme, my mate."

"B-but she's de---" She hesitated. "She's gone now, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"What has she got to do with anything?"

"She's him." He said. "And I'm you." Isabel still looked confused. He groaned inwardly. He was going to have to relive Didyme's memory. "A long, long time ago, I forgot something very important." He looked straight into Isabel's onyx eyes and smiled. "Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I hated her with a fire that could burn cities to ash, I was a jealous man, you see. Every man who came near her was drawn to her. It wasn't her fault. But I hated it. I hated her, and I also loved her with a passion so strong I would have given her the stars if she asked for it. She made me...happy."

Marcus moved over to the window. The moonlight gleamed through the thin curtains as the wind danced in them. The soothing melody from the background hadn't finished.

"We had a fight one night and she left." He continued, pausing for a while. "And she never came back."

Isabel listened quietly. She knew the story wasn't over.

"I never forgave her for being so careless, so heartless." He faced Isabel, his voice growing louder. "How could she have left me? How could she have given up and died? She was strong. She should have fought! Or better yet, she should have run! Escaped! I hated her!" And then, his voice grew soft. "But mostly I hated myself. I shouldn't have been careless. I shouldn't have been heartless so as to leave my love unprotected, alone."

"I blamed her most of the time in the beginning. I didn't even end my life, this existence, as other vampires would have if they had lost their mate. Instead, I turned to the comfort of my friends. Aro was so helpful and sympathetic. I would always be grateful to him. But then, as time passed, nothing was getting better. And I just stopped."

"I stopped feeling, talking. I wasn't angry anymore. For a while, I felt like dying. And finally, I was dead:cold, dead and unfeeling. It felt like turning into stone. I just…" He shrugged remembering. "Froze."

Isabel knew exactly what Marcus must have felt. He was standing near the window, his eyes were cold and hard, obviously lost in memory. She briefly wondered if she was looking at a mirror of her future.

And then, he looked at her.

"Just like you are right now." He smiled. "I'm here because I see our love story in yours. You and I are the same. We both love and hate the most important person in our lives. But I, I let hate win but you, Isabel, you can choose differently. Before, I thought I would be happier without Didyme's constant tantrums and insufferable remarks. But soon, I found that I couldn't be happy at all. I give up immortality, everything I have, if that means I could have her back again."

"Right now, you have to ask yourself not how you feel about him, but how you feel without him."

Finally, Isabel found her voice. She was hugging herself fiercely. "Empty." She whispered. The melody of her lullaby hummed its final note.

Marcus smiled to himself. This was how he could reconcile himself for what he didn't do for his Didyme. He had to make a choice then, and he chose to be angry. So angry in fact, that he didn't even look for her killer, telling himself she deserved whatever it was that caused her death. By the time he had come to his senses, the trail of her murderer had gone.

"So, going back to my original question." He started saying. "What are you still doing here?"

"Marcus," She said, feeling grateful to him. Isabel knew the words that could somehow ease his pain. "It's not your fault that you couldn't save her. I know that she loved you and I know that she knew that you loved her."

With that, Isabel grabbed her coat and left the room like a hurricane. With every step she took away from her room, she felt lighter. Like she had been freed.

Suddenly, all thoughts of vengeance left her. She didn't want a life of constant hate and anger. She wanted… something else. She wanted some peace. She wanted to love, and be loved, to feel… less alone.

Whatever it was she wanted, she wanted Edward.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Isabel?" A sharp voice pierced the silent halls.

"I'm leaving, Jane. Get out of my way."

"Certainly."

Isabel was first shocked. Jane had actually conceded. She knew from the very beginning that Jane hated her. But now, she was letting her go. And that gave her pause.

"You're actually not going to stop me?"

"Why would I when you're doing me a favor by leaving." She snickered. "Took you long enough."

Isabel was a bit confused by that last remark, but what the hell. She left before Jane could change her mind.

"Wait!" Jane shouted after her. "The door's that way." She pointed to the East of the hall.

"I know." Isabel answered. "I'm going to see Aro."

"What?!" Jane screeched. "That ought to be the stupidest thing I'd ever heard!" Then, she marched determinately to Isabel, grabbed her arm and forced her to go the other way. "Stop courting disaster and leave already!"

"Let go, Jane!"

"Ugh!" Jane yelled. Isabel had no trouble prying Jane's fingers off her arms. "It's your funeral!" Jane shouted after her.

* * *

"I'm leaving, master Aro."

"So he finally got to you." Aro was sitting placidly on his opulent chair when Isabel had stormed in and said those infuriating words.

"I should have listened to Edward long ago." She said. And then added, "Actually, I should have listened to me before. I don't want this." She gestured at Aro's grand hall. "I finally figured it out. All this time I was searching for something. I thought having all this could give it to me. But it can't. No thing can."

"And this Edward could give it to you?"

"I don't actually know for sure. I'm damn well going to take the risk."

"After being hurt so much?"

"Yes!" she replied with a vehemence nobody could counter.

"Well, that's very romantic of you but I wasn't talking about Edward." He smiled at her confusion. "How is Marcus, anyway? Still grieving over my sister?"

"It was you." Isabel said softly. "Y—you killed her."

With that, Aro laughed so hard he could have wakened the entire city. So loud in fact, that he barely heard Marcus walking by right outside the door and stopped after hearing Aro's confession.

"Oh, I was very quick with it. Her suffering ended quickly which is more than merciful on my part."

"Why?" Isabel asked, incredulous. "She was your sister."

"She was going to leave me!" Aro shouted. "They both were! I could see it in their thoughts. Marcus was constantly thinking of leaving with her and settling. As was her." He explained. "And what would happen to our plan of domination if they had left? NOTHING! Everything we have right now will be nothing!"

And then, Aro laughed hysterically.

"Thank God they fought constantly. I had to choose. Marcus was the more practical choice so I killed my sister. I remember her face clearly. She was shocked and looked betrayed. And I told her, this was what she got when she tried to leave me."

He looked directly at Isabel and smiled.

"You have to understand, Isabel, you're mine now and I don't share what's mine."

Isabel took a step back. She was never this terrified of Aro. She knew with every dead vein in her body that he would do anything to get what he wants. Even kill his own sister.

"Scared Isabel? I didn't take you for a coward." He slowly stood up. The movement was all the more menacing because it radiated a grace of a seasoned hunter. Like he had done this before, destroyed the things he loved if he couldn't have it. "You dare leave me?" He said, so softly, so horrifyingly.

Suddenly the doors burst open and Marcus was standing there. His fury enveloped his entire body.

"Isabel, run!" He said, looking menacingly at Aro. "He's mine." He added softly.

"Marcus!" She called, running towards him. "He killed Didyme!"

"I heard."

"I'm going to fight him with you."

For once, he looked at her. "No. You have to get back to Edward. Jane had just told me that Aro had dispatched a small group of vampires to destroy the Cullens."

"What?!"

"You can guess who's leading them."

She shook her head.

"Victoria."

That was all she needed to hear. He mind went blank with fear. Could she make it in time? She dismissed these thoughts immediately. Her feet had their own mind then. They ran through Volterra. They ran through the airport. They ran through every state in Washington coast.

They ran home.

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Oh man, I planned it only to last 15 chapters. But then, I got caught up in Marcus' story. Oh well, I thought it turned out good, actually. I was forever intrigued by Marcus and Didyme's story. (BTW: I did not invent her existence. Only of their supposed 'love story'). Anywho, because of this unexpected turn of events, there's going to be a Chapter 16.

Again, please review.

And again, please read (if you've got time, ofcourse) Reckless. It's already out.

Okay so, I thought I'd share this. I read it in SM's site. Right under 'Breaking Dawn faqs'.

What happened to Marcus's wife?

Once upon a time, a fairly young vampire (he had only been a vampire for a decade and a half) named Aro changed his young sister Didyme, who had just reached adulthood, into a vampire in order to add her to his growing coven. Aro always wanted power, and because he himself had a potent mind-reading gift, he hoped his biological sister would also be gifted in a way that would help him rise in the vampire world. It turned out that Didyme did have a gift; she carried with her an aura of happiness that affected everyone who came near her. Though it wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, Aro pondered the best ways he could use this gift. Meanwhile, Aro's most trusted partner, Marcus, fell in love with Didyme. This was not unusual; given the way she made people feel, lots of people fell in love with Didyme. The difference was that this time, Didyme fell in love herself. The two of them were tremendously happy. So happy, in fact that, after a while, they no longer cared that much about Aro's plans for domination. After a few centuries, Didyme and Marcus discussed going their own way. Of course, Aro was well aware of their intentions. He was not happy about it, but he pretended to give his blessing. Then he waited for an opportunity to act, and when he knew he would never be found out, he murdered his sister. After all, Marcus's gift was much more useful to him than hers had been. This is not to say that Aro did not truly love his sister; it's just that a key part of his personality is the ability to destroy even what he loves in order to further his ambitions. Marcus never found out that Aro was responsible for Didyme's death. He became an empty man. Aro used Chelsea's gift to keep Marcus loyal to the Volturi, though not even Chelsea's gift could make Marcus show any enthusiasm for it.