Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 12: Bella- Remembered

Laurent taught me how to climb trees and I loved it. I spent most of my time up in trees; I loved the view. Every movement, every leaf that blew in the breeze, every bird that flew over me, every animal that skulked under me, I loved watching it all. Often times Laurent would sit with me. He would tell me stories about my childhood and I couldn't help but laugh at my antics. It was surreal, it was like hearing about a life that wasn't my own. Only a few memories stuck with me. I remembered my father now, I remember that day that Laurent found me in the meadow and us running away. I did remember the Cullens, it all came back to me while Laurent was telling me stories. I even remembered James and Victoria. The memory of my mother was still fuzzy.

He told me how I left my father a note and that really upset me. I couldn't believe that I could be so cruel and heartless and selfish to just leave my father like, especially for someone who was supposed to be finding me right now. It had been a week and a half since we left Forks and there was no sign of Edward.

"You need to hunt," Laurent told me, as if I didn't know. Oh, I knew!

We hunted every other day since I woke up, I felt insatiable. I nodded, it hurt to speak when it got this bad.

He jumped down to a lower branch and I followed suit and this time I remembered to bend my knees so I didn't break the branch.

"I scented a bear family just south of here, wanna go?"

Again, I nodded. We took off running south towards our filling treats. I counted the trees as I passed them. I caught the scent of the bears and ran ahead of Laurent. Without warning the wind changed direction and so did my feet. I was now following the scent of much warmer, much sweeter blood, an animal that I had not tasted yet. Soon Laurent was behind me and getting closer.

"Bella, no, you don't want to do that!"

I paid him no mind and kept running.

"Bella," he yelled louder, "stop, it's a human!"

I wanted to care, but it smelled so good. I was trying to talk myself out of it when Laurent caught up to me. He threw his arms around my waist and tackled me to the ground. I knew I didn't want to attack that human so I held my breath.

"I'm fine," I said as I used my last remaining breath. Laurent didn't loosen his grip, I think he was afraid I would fake him out again. I turned my head so that I could face him and shook my head trying to convey that I wouldn't run this time. I got up and squeezed his hand tightly. I jumped up into the tree above me and climbed higher and higher. Laurent was supposed to be following me but when I looked down, he was still standing on the ground where I left him.

As I watched, it was like it was happening in slow motion. Laurent's eyes trained on the source of scent and he lost his mind. He was hunting. I watched in complete horror as he hunted down the human. I could see off into the distance where the unsuspecting human stood. I had to turn and look away as he latched onto the man's neck. I simply couldn't watch. I tried to think of anything else but nothing came to mind except for the fact that Laurent stopped me from killing that man only to hunt him down himself.

"Aaarrrrhhhhhggggg!" I heard Laurent scream. It wasn't the reaction I expected from him. "Aaarrrrhhhhhggggg!" he screamed over and over.

I wanted to be mad at him but he looked so anguished. I wouldn't want him to be mad at me if I killed someone, so I jumped out of the tree. I ran to him where I found him screaming over the dead man's body. I tried to pull him away and he wouldn't let go at first, but he eventually came. He collapsed into me as we sat against a nearby tree and he sobbed in my arms.

"You're so much stronger than me," he cried, "I didn't mean to... I didn't want to."

"Shhh, it's okay. We'll get through this together." I tried to soothe him but he was still inconsolable.

"I made a promise to myself, for you. I promised myself that I would try my hardest to live off of animals."

"Did you try your hardest?" I asked.

"No, I'm weak," he sobbed. "I didn't want to," he repeated over and over.

"Hey, shhh. I have an idea, do you want to have a funeral? We could say a few words, pay our respects?" I suggested.

We got up and started to prepare for our makeshift funeral. I went to the man and pulled out his wallet to see if he had any ID. His names was David Adams. Laurent uprooted a tree and laid it on its side.

"Look at these pictures, Laurent. His kids?" He had a daughter and she was holding a baby that was maybe a few months old.

He covered his eyes with his hands and mumbled, "I've never felt like such a monster."

I picked up Mr. Adams' body and jumped into the hole in the ground from the tree. I arranged his body so that he looked peaceful and place his wallet with the photos facing out over his heart. I jumped out of the hole and stood with Laurent. He stood there for an immeasurable amount of time not saying a word. No eulogy was good enough for this man that should not have died.

Venom prickled painfully in the back of my eyes, no tears would fall. I spoke finally, "Mr. Adams, I will live forever and I will remember you forever. It is the only thing I have to give."

"I promise... to... to try my... my very hardest... from this day forward," Laurent stuttered through emerging sobs.

I wondered why he had such a sudden and dramatic change of heart. I picked up the tree and put back in place. There wasn't a root out of place.

We carved his initials into the tree. He carved the 'D' and I carved the 'A'.

~o~x~o~x~o~

We tried hunting again that day. Both of us were apprehensive because neither of us wanted to kill a human. It would be comical if it wasn't so tragic. While Laurent was strong enough to resist, he didn't believe that he was. He doubted himself, so we proceeded with caution.

We found a herd of deer a few miles away. I took down the first one I saw. I reveled in the taste knowing that I would rather taste bitter blood than have guilt on my conscious. Laurent drank of the deer, too, but out of punishment. He said that he didn't deserve to have the taste of human blood lingering in his mouth.

"Why was it so bad this time? You've been drinking from humans since 1755, and just a few weeks ago you did. Why the sudden change?" I voiced my curiosity.

"You."

We leaned against a tree and I rested my head on his shoulder. We were so used to having such close contact with each other because of how he needed to hold me as he ran. It was refreshing to me because I felt so alone, then and now.

"What'd I do?" I smiled a little.

"It was so close! It was such a close call, it could have been you," he said. I furrowed my brows. "Look how weak I am, I could have killed you, what if I slipped a few weeks ago? You're my best friend, and it just really freaked me out how close it was." He closed his eyes and put the heel of his hand on his forehead and took a deep breath, "It could have been you."

"But you didn't," I pointed out, "and now you can't. And look, now we can be best friends forever, just like a cheesy friendship bracelet." I laughed and he laughed with me.

We climbed up into a tree and spent the rest of the day listening stories of mine and Laurent's life.

"Someday soon I want to teach you to fight."

"Are you sure, I vaguely remember Alice telling that you weren't really a good fighter."

Actually, it was one of my clearer memories. Alice sat on the bed relaying to me her vision of Laurent and Jasper fighting newborns. I remember feeling utterly helpless and scared. I wallowed in my certain knowledge that he just wouldn't come back despite Alice's assurances otherwise. I had no faith.

I didn't feel that way anymore.

He huffed, "Hey, that's not fair! Anybody would look like a wimp next to Jasper," he defended himself.

I never got the chance to really get to know Jasper, we always kept distance between us for obvious reasons.

"You know, I was thinking..." Laurent said.

"Hmmm?"

"I was thinking that we should try to head back to Forks. What if Edward is waiting for you there?"

Wouldn't that be a tragic twist of fate if both Edward and I were waiting for the other to come?

"I know what you're going to say, you don't want to go into town because of the humans. When we get close to Forks, we'll hold our breath. How's that?" He jumped up and pulled me up with him effectively giving me no choice in the matter, "Come on."

So we headed south and although we had a planned destination we weren't in a hurry. We decided to run through the rugged terrain of the low mountains and we took our sweet time while we enjoyed the view.

Finally we neared the Canadian border.

"Look how close the 'Welcome to Washington' sign is to the 'Welcome to The United States of America' sign, I thought it was hilarious the first time I came through here. I was on my way to see you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

After we passed Olympia, we turned west and it was right around the place we decided we were going to hold our breath, but fortunately we didn't. That's when I smelled the most foul smell I could imagine. It was spicy and musty and reminiscent of wet dog and most of all, it smelt dangerous. We were on high alert. What kind of creature could produce such a awful scent?

The scent was getting stronger as we ran towards Forks. We were afraid to breath, but too afraid to be caught unaware. Suddenly there was a rustling of leaves and as I looked behind me I saw two large animals chasing us. The first was black and severe looking and the second was a russet color with large brown eyes. Fear coursed through me and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I didn't know anything could run as fast as I could, but there they were and they were gaining on us.

All I could see was Laurent not too far in front of me and two giant wolves not to far behind me. Suddenly my forever didn't feel so eternal.

ooooo

A/N: This chapter is in remembrance of and dedicated to my best friend's father, David Adams. He died earlier this year of cancer and I know that he would have preferred a quick death by a vampire. RIP Daddi-o.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.