Author's Note: NOBODY PANIC! THIS IS NOT THE END, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT END! DEFINITELY NOT THE END OF THE STORY, AND ALSO NOT THE END OF...well, I don't want to give it away. This is a long and intense chapter. At least I hope so. ;) Just remember-- there's no real proof, just very convincing circumstances. Don't worry if you're confused. All shall be explained in good time.

Thanks again for reviews! I expect to see a lot for this chapter (please don't kill me!).

24. White Ashes

"Jasper!" I heard Alice call out as she threw her arms around my brother. Jasper didn't react at all to Alice's embrace; he was frozen in a posture of agony, curled in on himself. I knew that I was part of the cause of his agony, but figured it was mostly our mother giving off the most pain and despair.

Esme was still limp in my arms, soft strangled moans rising from her throat. I had a hard time controlling my own horror at the sight before me. I realized after a minute that I was crying, sobbing as I hadn't in years. Crying was an automatic reaction, I supposed, because the rest of my body was locked into shock. My mind was reluctant to process what my eyes were seeing, what my nose could smell. It's not what it looks like, it can't be what it looks like, please, please, not this, this can't be true...

"Emmett!" Edward was across from me, staring at the pyre before us, looking rather sick.

"Edward," I said, hearing my voice crack, "what are we going to do, man?" Esme began to tremble.

It was clear Bella was the only one of us that didn't know what the pile of smoldering ashes was. She had a pretty good idea, though-- tears coursed silently down her face as she watched us. Edward buried his face in her hair, hiding from us. "Edward," Bella whispered, pulling his head to rest against hers, "what is it, Edward? Please, someone tell me!"

With the utmost gentleness, Edward lowered Bella out of his arms, then took halting steps toward the pyre. I wanted to stop him. What he would find in those ashes couldn't be good for him. Edward was the oldest Cullen aside from Carlisle, and he'd been Carlisle's closest companion for years. He shouldn't have to go through what he was about to face. And yet he had to...we all had to. Just because I didn't want it to happen didn't mean I could freeze time and make this all go away.

Edward knelt inside the ring of white ashes and scooped something out of the chalky remains, smoke rising off his hands from the heat. He blanched as he lifted the object like it was precious gossamer, delicately touching it with the fingers of his other hand. I saw him mouth a word, but I chose not to register its meaning in my head. Edward, put it down. He didn't respond to my mental plea. Edward, you don't need this.

Bella's eyes found the object, and she started to cry in earnest. "Oh, Edward!"

Too late, I hastily clapped a hand over Esme's eyes so she couldn't see it. My own cursed vampire vision was unimpaired as I stared at the dusty metal ring. It was the ring Carlisle wore, with the crest Alice had designed for our family symbol, stained and carbonized on the edges from intense heat. He had accepted the ring from Alice, although he wasn't big on jewlery. Now I was glad he'd taken it, if only because it would be the last thing we had of him.

But it couldn't be true! It wasn't!

"That doesn't mean he's--" I said hoarsely. "It could have fallen off. He doesn't have to be..."

Not even I believed what I was stupidly babbling. No one else did either. We could all see, on the inside of the ring, a thin layer of glittering white that had fused to the silver during the fire. What that white layer was couldn't be mistaken: it was charred vampire skin. My stomach turned when I looked at it too long. Turning away, I held Esme tighter, letting the pain wrench my insides.

But Esme didn't want to turn away. She flew out of my arms and sank to the ground next to the ash pile, her fingers digging into the salt-and-pepper colored powder. For a moment her chest heaved noiselessly, her body clenching. Then Jasper gave out a low cry, his voice a foreshadowing to Esme's grief. He hadn't finished this haunting sound before Esme threw her back and screamed. The scream was executed with every vampirish attribute my mother possessed: the volume was above human voice decibels, loud and throaty, high-pitched, and animalistic. Somewhere in Ireland, I was sure, a supersititous old man or woman was expecting to die--the cry of a banshee had been heard.

Esme's shriek ended in a sad little huff, her throat closed up. "Esme," I said, putting my hands around her shoulders and leaning down to hug her. I didn't really know what I was saying to comfort her, I just let my mouth run. My thoughts were on the repulsively sweet smoke and the sparkling residue on the ground. I had to think of it in detached terms. Undoubtedly, if I thought of it as my father, I would--

Rose! My breath whooshed suddenly out of me. They'd said she was with Carlisle. Where was Rose? Oh, no, not with that ring, in that powder. Where was my angel? "Alice!" She turned to me, unable to focus her eyes. "Where's Rose?"

Alice remained silent, gazing at me with unfathomable eyes. Then she went back to soothing Jasper.

"Alice? What do you see?" But I already knew. Oh, heaven almighty, why?

"Emmett," cautioned Edward through his misery, "I don't know if you should ask."

"I had to know," I answered. It appeared the end of my life was here, in this pile of ashes. I had to make plans.

"Don't you even think about it," Edward snarled at me. Why not? I challenged him. You're the only one allowed to make that a contingency? "I won't have it, Emmett! Don't even put that idea in your head!"

Whoa, aren't we all defensive today. I was being undeniably cruel, considering Edward was in mourning. But I was in mourning, too. I decided to use that to my advantage. You're confused right now, Edward. Don't worry about it.

His face twisted in pain, and I cursed at myself. "Emmett, not now. Maybe later, but we all have to think, now. We have to get ourselves through this."

Fine. We'll forget it, for now. "You need to let go, Edward. Worry about getting through it later." Let it out, man. You look like you're going to have a melt-down soon if you don't.

"I can't," he whispered back, bowing his head over the ring in his palm. "I can't take this if I accept it. I'll break, Emmett."

Bella pulled him to her chest, stroking his head and shoulders. "I'm so sorry, Edward," she mumbled around her tears, "I'm just so sorry." Her impotent, useless words were heartfelt, and I knew I should say some of the same things to my brother. But I couldn't get over my own wound, the stake through my own heart.

To all intents and purposes, my Rose, my baby, was dead. Burned to ashes, reduced to a mound of carbon. As much as I wanted to deny it, how could I? If Carlisle was in there, obliterated, there was a good chance Rose was too. No, not a good chance, a certainty. If Rose was anything, she was faithful. Like she'd said in her letter, I knew she wouldn't let anybody touch our father until they'd destroyed her first, to the point where she couldn't recover.

And for what? That's what would kill me! Why did she and Carlisle die? Would we ever know? "Where's Siobhan?" I asked, hearing vitriol seeping into my voice. "She called, didn't she? So where is she?" Why hadn't she helped them?

"I don't know," said Edward and Alice at once. "I can't hear anybody but us," continued Edward shakily, as Alice fell silent. "I wouldn't blame Siobhan if she'd taken her coven somewhere else while...whatever happened here took place."

"I would," I said, releasing Esme. "If I thought Siobhan wasn't here because she was afraid--"

"She has to do what's best for her coven," Edward cut in. My word, he was starting to sound like Carlisle. "We couldn't hold that agaisnt them, Emmett. They aren't culpable for this."

"Oh, yeah? Prove it to me." Did it ever occur to you, kid, that the only coven around here for miles is Siobhan's?

"What are you suggesting?" hissed my brother.

You know what I'm suggesting. In fact, that's starting to look more and more like what went down. Some kind of argument, I bet. Liam isn't as controlled as some of us, you know. The thought must have belonged to someone else. That could not be me, Emmett McCarty Cullen, implying that one of Carlisle's friends would murder him. What was going on in my psyche? I imagined it was like a war-zone up there, and not a very fun place for Edward to be.

"Siobhan would never kill him," said Edward.

Esme inhaled raggedly. "No!"

"Shhhh, it's okay, Esme," I said, glaring at the little meddler. Way to go, Edward.

"It was your thought," he retorted. Then he sighed, and folded further into himself, now appearing alarmingly fragile. "I'm so sorry, Emmett," he said, rubbing his temples. "Here I am, arguing with you, when you've lost..." he didn't finish, staring at me in sympathy.

Thank you, Edward, for twisting the stake around. I didn't answer; there was nothing to say. My eyes traveled down to the ring still in Edward's hand. Could I have not even had that much of Rose? Was it too much to ask, to have the last vestiges of her to keep? There could be hope in the fact that there wasn't anything belonging to Rose in the dust, but I didn't know if I could go on, if I it was a false hope.

"Bella?" Edward's voice broke through my hopeless thoughts, stirring Esme and me. "Bella, where are you?"

He was on his feet now, turning in circles, his face tight. He looked to me, panicking. "She was right there, with me. Where is she? Bella!"

"Jasper?" Alice cried, mimicking Edward's circling routine. "Hey, Jasper!" We flew over to where she was standing, shading her eyes for a better view. "He told me he was going to look for Siobhan over on that road, now he's gone!"

There was a beat of dead silence as we all stared at one another in comprehension, our open-mouthed expressions identical.

I was first to break the pause. "Holy crap, he's gone after her."

"Oh, no," Esme gasped. "It can't be."

"There it is." Alice's voice was lifeless, the symptom of a vision. "There they are, again. Jasper, you can't! Jasper, don't!"

Edward was hissing viciously. "I am not going to lose her, as well. Come on, they can't be far. If Jasper's gone after Bella, we're going after him!"