Chapter 26: Promises Kept
Edward stood there in shock when he heard the ceiling cave in. "DAD!" He shouted, moving to go into the room.
"No Edward, no, it's suicide!" Marcus exclaimed.
"He's my father I have to!" Edward answered pushing Marcus back.
Bella let Felix go and ran in with him. "Bella, you can't come with me," Edward answered.
"You can't stop me from not going," she told him as they ran into the room.
Their fight stopped when they looked for Carlisle. "DAD! DAD!" Edward shouted as he dug through the burning rubble. Bella threw beams off when they found Aro's burning corpse. Bella gasped, covering her mouth backing up. Feeling the panic grip him, Edward started searching harder. "DAD! DAD CAN YOU HEAR ME?! DAD!" He shouted.
Bella lifted a beam up when she felt something grab her and let out a scream. Looking down she saw that it was Carlisle. "EDWARD HE'S HERE!" She shouted. Edward ran over and helped Carlisle up.
"You stubborn man," Edward commented before helping him out of the room.
Once they were out of the room, the guards had ran in to put out the rest of the fire. "Dad, are you alright?" He asked looking at the burns on his arm and back.
"Nothing that time won't heal," Carlisle replied quietly.
Edward smiled when Carlisle suddenly put his hand on his arm. "I'm sorry son," he said suddenly.
"For what?" Edward asked.
"For leaving you alone all those years ago," he answered.
Edward smiled a little. "Yeah well, if you didn't, I wouldn't be here with Bella," he pointed out. Bella smiled softly before Edward helped his father up from the floor.
After bandaging his father's injuries, Edward walked out of the room to find Marcus there. "Thank you Marcus, for all your help," he told the new Volturi leader. Nodding his head slowly, Marcus smiled a little.
"I believe you have a young lady that has been waiting to see you," he commented gesturing over to Bella who had just turned the corner.
Smiling a little, Edward walked over to Bella, hugging her tight. Bella hugged him back, burying her face in his neck. This was the reunion she just couldn't wait to have. Kissing her forehead, he pulled away, rubbing her arms. "When did this happen?" He asked curiously. She sighed a little, kissing the top of his hands.
"A month after you left," she replied quietly.
Biting her lower lip, she got into the story of the accident, Carlisle getting Jacob's permission to change her, and her training to come save him. Sitting down, Edward wrapped his arms tightly around her as she leaned against his chest.
After awhile, Edward walked into his father's room to see him putting on a new shirt. "We'll be staying here awhile to help Marcus rebuild the part of the castle that was destroyed," Carlisle informed. Nodding his head slowly, Edward let out a sigh. "What's on your mind son?" He asked.
"This is all my fault," Edward replied.
"What do you mean this is all your fault?" Carlisle asked curiously.
"If I hadn't listened to Aro all those years ago, if I hadn't run like I did…none of this would've happened," he replied.
Sighing, Carlisle got up from the bed and stood in front of his son. "Edward, this was inevitable, whether you ran or not this would've happened," he replied.
"I endangered Bella's life constantly. If I hadn't kidnapped her and made her change her mind on everything, father she'd be a human still," Edward explained quietly.
Looking at his father, he let out a sad sigh. "In some ways, I feel like I was selfish in what I did," he added. Carlisle rested his hands on his son's shoulders.
"Edward…no matter how far you would've ran, no matter how long you'd be gone, it wouldn't matter she would've remembered you. It would be something she would have been unable to forget. She would never be truly happy," he explained.
"How do you know?" Edward asked.
"Besides the fact I watched Bella fall apart during the months you were gone, but I tried it once, years ago," Carlisle replied.
Seeing the quizzical look his son gave him, Carlisle sighed a little. "I met Esme when she was sixteen. She was possibly the most beautiful human I had ever seen. Just everything about her was special," he explained.
"But…" Edward started.
"I left, a year later I left. I wanted her to live the normal life of a human, I tried the same thing as you. I stayed away," he answered.
Closing his eyes, Carlisle sat down in the chair. "Then when I found her again nine years later, she was brought into the morgue, people believed she had died when she threw herself from a cliff," he added. Chuckling lightly, Carlisle stood up once more. "I guess both you and I have weaknesses for certain humans," he quipped lightly. Patting Edward's shoulder, he looked over to see Bella talking with Marcus. "You can't say that being here with her isn't the greatest thing in the world," he commented.
Smiling a little Edward shook his head slowly before walking over to Bella. Bella looked up and smiled as her boyfriend stood next to her, holding her hand. "Ready to go home after all this is fixed?" He asked.
"Yeah, as long as I'm with you," she replied.
"Where else am I going to go?" He asked quietly.
Bella smiled as she placed her hand on the side of his neck and kissed him gently. Edward kissed her back, his hand in the middle of her back.
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Days went by and the castle was rebuilt to perfection. Edward, Bella, and Carlisle stood in the main hall in front of Caius and Marcus. "You are welcome to stay, we have one more chair to fill Carlisle," Marcus pointed out. Carlisle bowed to the two leaders with a small smile.
"Your offer is greatly appreciated, but I think my place is back in America with my family," he replied.
"And you Edward?" Marcus asked.
"I have been away from home far too long," Edward replied, holding Bella's hand.
Smiling, Bella gave his hand a squeeze. "The position is open to either one of you if you want it, have a safe journey home," Marcus told them. They bowed respectively to the leaders before leaving the castle.
On the plane, Bella looked over to see Carlisle's burnt hand from being under the ceiling. Noticing her glance, Carlisle held up his scarred hand. "With burns on a vampire, it takes more years for it to heal, if it heals," he explained. Edward kissed the back of Bella's hand.
"Esme's going to be thrilled to see you alive," Bella commented.
Edward wrapped his arm around Bella, kissing the side of her head. "We'll all be happy to just be back in our own home," he pointed out. Nodding in agreement, Bella smiled up at him.
"The first thing we're going to do, is build you two your own house," Carlisle chuckled.
"What? Why?" Edward asked curiously.
"After Emmett and Rosalie became a couple, Esme and I had agreed that with every new couple we'd build them their own home," Carlisle replied.
"Still don't understand why," Edward told his father.
Carlisle cleared his throat. "They were loud," he replied. The couple sat there in silence before they burst out laughing.
"What and you and Esme weren't bad?" Bella asked quietly.
"Bella, I really, really don't want to know his story," Edward answered quietly.
Chuckling lightly, Carlisle shook his head, moving his fingers through his hair. "Keep in mind Bella, it was only Esme and me for four years," he reminded her quietly. Bella leaned back the best she could against Edward and closed her eyes as she felt all the happiness in the world begin to well up inside her.