Goodbye twice
Edward sighed deeply. Bella had calmed down finally and talked for hours with Tanya about her past. Her power was getting seriously out of control. It seemed her dreams could be brought on so easily. Why did she have to see Tanya's past? What did she learn from that experience? Edward didn't have the answers and Carlisle was for once at a complete loss what to do. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried Bella's dreams where the one thing they couldn't protect her from and Carlisle wondered if they even should.
She has these dreams for a reason, Edward. I am convinced of that fact, especially after her warning dream of Maria's past. I don't know what those reasons are exactly, but I am sure that will reveal itself in due time. I want to protect her from everything, but maybe this is her burden to bear.
Edward gave him an empty look.
Maybe you should accept this, son and just help her in the best way you can.
Should he stop fighting? Was he ready to give up?
He stared at Bella, who was sitting next to Tanya and Eleazar talking about the Volturi. He saw her serious face, while she asked Eleazar questions. With each dream she learned, but Edward realized that with that knowledge came a price. Every time she had a dream she lost a piece of her innocence.
He couldn't stop fighting.
'Edward?' Bella asked timidly.
The Denali's had left for which Edward was grateful. No more dreams from them, at least.
'Yes, Bella.'
'I saw the Volturi in my last dream of Tanya's past.'
Edward nodded to her. He knew that piece of information.
'They are bad, aren't they?' She asked, somewhat convinced of the truth in her own statement.
'It is not that simple, Bella. They are bad to some extent, but they make sure everybody follows the law. Without them there would be chaos in the vampire world.'
'Why?' Bella asked, clearly confused.
'Because our existence needs to be a secret. Humans would not understand us, they would be afraid of us.'
Bella shook her head.
'I can understand that secrecy is important, but I saw them kill Tanya's mother and her boy in front of Tanya's eyes. Don't they know mercy and forgiveness?'
'No, I am afraid they don't Bella. They are bad if you look at it from that side.'
'I don't see the other side. I can't understand how it is right to take someone's life, even if that person broke the law.'
Edward didn't say anything. He felt the pain caused by her statement. He had once been bad in Bella's eyes, at the time when he had killed humans who had broken the law. He was careful not to show it though. Carlisle looked up immediately from the paper, he was reading on the other side of the room, alerted by Bella's statements and how that would affect Edward. He nodded to Edward when he saw Edward's expression was composed.
She has a strong sense of morality. It is difficult to believe she could be influenced towards the wrong side. Carlisle thought.
Edward agreed. He wanted to believe that Bella's soul would always stay pure.
'I ask you, because I never realized that you were this good compared to most of the other vampires.' Bella smiled. 'I always knew you were good of course, but now that I saw how other vampires act, I think you are remarkable.'
It was a praise he didn't deserve, but he smiled to her and kissed her cheek.
'Want to play a game of chess with me?' He asked.
It was a distraction, but it worked perfectly. Bella jumped up eagerly and got her chess board out in a few seconds.
'I called you here together, because we have to move and we have to decide where we should go.' Carlisle began.
They sat around their dining table later that day.
'Do we have to move?' Rosalie complained. 'I don't see the use of it. The Volturi will find us wherever we go.'
I really like our freedom here.
'The Volturi are not the issue here, but Maria is.' Jasper answered seriously. 'She knows where we live, if we move quickly we might elude her.'
'But now that Maria knows, surely it won't be long before the Volturi know.' Emmett said.
'I know Maria and I don't think she will tell Aro. She wants Bella for herself. She will not risk another player. We killed all of the newborns, so nobody but Maria lives to tell the tale. The more pressing problem right now is Maria.' Jasper explained.
'Maybe we should just hunt her down and kill her.' Edward said harshly.
He wanted nothing more than see her suffer and die for what she did to Bella and Liam.
'Maria has survived for ages and she is extremely gifted as we all know from experience.' Carlisle sighed. 'It would be a lengthy and dangerous hunt, with no certain outcome. While we hunt we leave Bella to fend for herself. I think we should move. Alice?'
She watched the future.
'If we move, I see no difficulties in our future for at least a few months.'
Edward had seen it too in her vision although the place was fuzzy, because they hadn't decided where to move yet.
'Fine, we will move.' Rosalie said grumpily.
Edward knew that Rosalie might pretend to be unwilling, but eventually she would always choose the option that was the safest for Bella. She was selfish to an extent and Bella was that extent.
'So, where to?' Emmett asked.
'We could move to Forks early. We have to move there anyway when Bella reaches the age of fourteen.' Carlisle said, remembering his promise to Billy.
Edward shook his head violently. There was no way he was going to live near the wolves and constantly risk Carlisle's life a day sooner than was absolutely necessary.
'We should avoid the wolves as much as possible.' Alice added. 'They influence my ability to see the future.'
'How about Europe?' Rosalie suggested.
'Are you crazy?' Edward called out. 'Why don't we just go knocking on the Volturi's door, because we will be practically neighbours.'
Jeez Edward, it was just a suggestion. Rosalie thought.
Before Edward could reply some kind of snippy response, he was distracted by Jasper's thoughts.
It is brilliant.
'What?!' He asked Jasper incredulous.
'Well, what is usually the best place to hide something?' Jasper replied calmly.
'Plain in sight.' Carlisle answered, before Edward could say something.
'Exactly! It will be the last thing the Volturi will expect us to do and we will be far away from Maria. It is perfect.'
'No, it is not!' Edward said through his teeth. 'We might be far away from Maria, but if we are close to the Volturi we lose the advantage of our head start. If they find out about Bella, they could be upon us in no time.'
'You are right.' Jasper answered. 'But is that head start really such a great loss? If the Volturi discover Bella there will be not much we can do. We lose either way.'
Edward didn't want to think about that. He needed to believe he could protect Bella, even in that situation.
'There is a compromise here.' Carlisle interceded. 'We could move to Europe, but chose a country that is further away from the Volturi. How about Finland?'
Carlisle organized his mind to make his case.
'It is civilised, not heavily populated and there is enough wildlife for us to hunt. It is very similar to where we live now, even the climate is similar.'
'Are there bears?' Emmett asked eagerly.
'Whatever Emmett, you are not allowed to hunt them anyway.' Alice responded.
'That might not last forever.' He defended himself.
Edward thought that perhaps it was their best options, far away from Maria and her newborns, but still not too close to the Volturi. They could easily forge their papers and buy a big house in Finland, somewhere with enough privacy, but close to a small town, just like their current situation. Carlisle could get a job in a hospital there.
'We will have a language problem.' Esme said. 'We can learn within days, but Bella can't. School will be difficult for her.'
'Maybe it is better if we don't send her to school this time.' Rosalie said softly. 'You know, with what happened with Liam.'
'We have to.' Carlisle said. 'Most European countries have a law that states every child has to attend school until they are eighteen. But it is not such a big problem. They speak English in Finland, most people do in Europe. We could send Bella to an international school.'
Nobody spoke for a moment.
'I think it is our best option, does everyone agree?'
They nodded and Carlisle got up.
'I will make the arrangements. We should move as soon as possible. Jasper?'
'Yes, I will get the papers.'
Alice, Esme and Rosalie began to talk about decorating their new house. Edward went upstairs to check on a sleeping Bella. They had already prepared her for the very probable move and he remembered her reaction perfectly.
She stared at them with a pained expression.
'Will it keep Liam safe?' She asked them.
'Yes.' Edward answered.
'Then we should go.'
He saw it hurt her more to move than she let them know. Typically Bella to place Liam's needs above her own.
The next day, Bella asked Alice and Carlisle to take her to the hospital. She wanted to say goodbye to Liam. Edward and the rest of his family were busy packing and getting ready for the move. Speed was an issue here so they worked fast and efficiently. At the end of the day he was preparing his cars for storage together with Rosalie when he ran into Alice. She looked worried.
'Where is Bella?' Edward asked her quickly.
'She is asleep.'
Edward watched Alice's grave expression.
'What is...'
Before he could finish his question he heard the answer in her mind.
We never worried about Liam's past, because he didn't really have one, at least not compared to our pasts. Well, he just got a past.
Edward rushed upstairs immediately.
He glanced up to the hospital ceiling. His head hurt a little bit, but it was nothing compared to when he woke up. He felt bored, ready to go home, ready to see Bella. He missed her. She had not been in the hospital for a while and it unsettled him, maybe something was wrong. He didn't remember what happened to him, but his parents told him he was attacked and Bella and her family found him unconscious on the floor. What if this attack somehow scared her away? He was immensely sad he lost his grandparents, he couldn't handle losing Bella too. She was his only friend. When she was with him he felt better, he felt happy. In his head he imagined taking her hand and running through the forest with her, like they did many times, laughing and playing.
His mother had teased him about Bella, because he talked so much about her.
'Bella this and Bella that... It sounds like you have a crush on this girl, Liam.' She had said to him and she had laughed.
He had denied it, of course, but now he wondered if it was true? He was young, he could hardly comprehend what it meant to be in love with somebody. But he wanted to be with her all the time, so it must be true.
His parents had left for a few hours and the loneliness bothered him. He closed his eyes and wished Bella to be there. He opened his eyes unbelieving when he heard voices.
'He is doing much better today, he can go home soon.'
His door was opened halfway and they were standing right in front of his room. His heart leaped when he heard Bella's voice.
'Can I talk to him alone?'
'Of course, sweetie. Carlisle and I will wait here for you.'
The door opened and Bella walked in. He gave her a beaming smile, but stopped when he saw her sad expression. There was something wrong. She closed the door behind her and walked towards him. She leaned on his bed and gave him a smile. He was relieved again, this was the Bella he knew.
'Hey.'
'Hey.' He answered back. 'I am glad you are here.'
He saw her expression twist for a short moment.
'How are you feeling?' She asked.
'Much better, ready to get out of bed. The doctor told me I can go home this afternoon.' He smiled to her encouragingly. 'Will you come and play with me, tomorrow? My parents gave me a new game I could play with as soon as I was home.'
Her head hung and her eyes filled with tears. His worry returned entirely.
'I can't do that, Liam.' She whispered so soft he had to lean forward to hear her.
'Why?' He asked hurt. 'If you can't come tomorrow, you can always come the day after that or next weekend.'
She shook her head and Liam felt pain flooding his chest.
'We are leaving soon.' Her voice was trembling. 'I came to say goodbye.'
'Where are you going?' He could hardly ask the question.
'I can't tell you, but it is somewhere far away.'
The truth hit him like a rock. This was truly a farewell. He was never going to see her again.
'Please don't leave.' Tears ran over his cheeks unchecked and unnoticed. 'Please...'
Her eyes were closed and her face was locked in a grimace.
'I am really sorry, Liam, but I have to.' She opened her eyes and looked at him. 'I am really happy you were my friend. I will never forget you.'
He couldn't say anything anymore, he could only watch her face. She stayed there for a few seconds and then she took a step backwards. He wanted to say something, anything to convince her not to leave, but his head was empty. Slowly she turned around.
'Goodbye Liam.' She whispered.
She walked out of the door and closed it. He was alone again. He stared to the ceiling for the second time, but this time all he could see was her face, knowing he would never see it again.