Disclaimer: I have no claim on any of the characters from Twilight or New Moon all rights go to Stephenie Meyer.

Summary: Edward leaves Bella alone in the woods after telling her he doesn't want her any more. As she is lying on the cold forest floor; Bella remembers three important things. Edward made a promise not to leave her, and Edward never broke a promise, and third it was her body, her heart, what right did he have to make this choice for her? Bella realizes that Edward was covering up his true feeling about her. She goes to bring Edward home.

Last Time:

Alice POV

"Carlisle."

He seemed to know what I was going to ask, before I even said it.

"She's going to be fine. With some rest and nutrition, Bella will be just fine. Though having Edward back would be the best medicine. I can not force him to return home."

As much as I hated it, I knew that Carlisle was right. It was not easy to make Edward do something that he didn't want to do. There had to be something I could do that would make him come home to us.

For right now I had not one flicker of a vision that would tell me what that would be. I could, however see how upset Esme was going to be when she saw Bella's condition.

There was something else that I didn't have a complete understanding of. It was, what kind of pull Bella had on Edward's very soul? The soul that he was so sure he didn't possess.

Would Edward sense that something had happened to Bella? Would he come home if he did or would he run away, again?

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Chapter 3: Mirrored Self

By TaintedDarkInuShemeeko

Edward POV

The wooden chair flew through the air and smashed against the far wall of my small apartment. Wood splinters broke from the chair's frame on impact.

Why? Why was this so hard? I had been so close to catching her, only to have her disappear. Victoria. once I ended her life. Bella would be safe from my world and free to move on.

"You're a fool one hundred and eight years on this earth and still as naïve as ever."

The voice I heard was my own.

"You've indulged yourself with this sad little game of cat and mouse and where has it gotten you? No where."

I glanced up at my refection in the mirror.

"Shut up!"

"I won't. She's the only reason you have to continue this life. It's time for you to realize that."

The night of her eighteenth birthday flashed inside of my head. The sweet smell of her blood burned fresh in my mind.

"It doesn't matter; I promised her that I would never put her in danger like that again. She's safe now to live her life as a human."

My reflection questioned me again.

"Can you be so sure of that?"

"Yes, Bella promised she wouldn't do anything reckless."

Several seconds passed before my image spoke again.

"Oh, so it's not her or she anymore? You do remember that trouble seems to be drawn to her like a magnet. How do you know that Bella is safe? She could be in the hospital or dead. Humans die everyday. Fires, floods, disease, gunshots, car accidents, rape. You know all of this and still you stay here."

"Enough! You're nothing more then a mirage brought on by the need to hunt."

"Am I? You know every word I've spoken is the truth. So tell me, which one of us is denying the truth, my friend?"

With anguished cry, I picked up a vase and threw it at the mirror.

"Argh!"

The mirror crumpled and broke free from the frame, scattering glass shards over the floor. The release of anger only made me feel better for mere second; before my own feeling of being broken as well as a failure took over again.

In two months I had not been able to let her go. When I looked at the mirror frame no one spoke to me. I looked down at the shards of glass that now littered the floor along with the chair pieces.

My left hand ran through my disheveled hair as I looked down. There in the glass my broken reflection looked back at me with dark hungry eyes.

"You've tasted companionship; it's not so easily thrown away."

Shaking the sound of my own voice from my head, I started toward the door. I needed to hunt before I lost my mind. I then caught a whisper of a voice on the wind. It was a voice I knew well, one I could never forget. The sound of the soft voice made me freeze.

"I love you Edward. Forgive me."

"Bella?"

I turned toward the sound of her voice. I'm not sure why I did it. What did I expect to find?

What I saw caused my mouth to feel like a desert. She was here! Somehow she had found me.

I took two steps toward her, only to realize Bella wasn't solid; she was transparent, ghost-like. My heart ached as large fissures erupted over the surface of my still heart. She wasn't real. The image before me was no different than the one, of myself that had spoken to me mere seconds ago. This was not the girl I had left behind, she looked lost and broken Anger at myself for hoping she was real came first. It was then replaced by the broken and empty feeling from before.

Breathing was becoming more difficult causing me to stop altogether. It was two seconds later when I realized that I was crying.

Turning my back on the fading image of my fragile little human, I sped out the door. I had to find my sanity again – I needed to hunt. Yet every time I had my prey within my sight and grasp, I would hear her soft voice whisper in the wind.

'Edward, I love you. Come back to me.'

Shaking the remains of her voice from my head, I tried again to focus on the hunt. As I stopped inside the clearing I could hear the pounding of their hearts. Venom flooded my mouth at the thought of tasting their blood on my lips. Closing my eyes I focused on finding the strongest heart beat. I needed a challenge and I was hoping that I could find it in one of the deer.

My eyes snapped open once I found the strong thumping heart I was looking for. At first I had thought that my prey was male, and then as I drew closer, I realized that it was a doe. There was no masking the fear that was causing her heart to pound wildly in her chest. She knew she was being hunted and was fleeing for her life. As I started to close in on the doe, my movement barely caused a leaf to flutter to the ground. I was running beside her seconds later, before I lunged and took her in my arms. The deer's coat was soft and buttery in my cold hands. One flick of a finger was all I needed to end its life and steal its life's blood from its body. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the reflection of something familiar in its deep brown eyes.

'Edward, forgive me. I'll never leave you. I'm yours forever.'

The sight of her in the deer's eye startled me, costing me my prey. The words her gentle voice spoke were perplexing to me. What did she mean when she asked me to forgive her? What had she done? The wind suddenly blew all around me; carrying with it the sweet smell of freesia and lavender and a hint of strawberries.

Something warm yet cool blew across my left cheek. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the moment. The warm to cold air then brushed across my lips. The feeling I felt from it was familiar. It was a piece of heaven within my reach.

"Bella."

A soft smile etched itself across my lips; until my mind reminded me of something from earlier.

"Humans die everyday. Fires, floods, disease, gunshots, car accidents, rape. How do you know that Bella is safe? She could be in the hospital or dead."

The word dead rang inside of my ears. No, no it couldn't be. I wouldn't allow myself to even think it. Bella was fine. She had to be. I could think of nothing else for her to be.

I stilled as the ghostly image of my love once again stood in front of me. Her deep,

soulful eyes spoke great volumes to me. I had hurt her deeply. I had known leaving was wrong yet I had reasoned that it was the right thing to do.

"Why did you lie to me? Why did you leave me? You broke me the day you left me."

My chest ached at hearing her words. Hallucination or not, I felt I owed her the truth about my actions.

"I only lied to you because I thought that it was the only way to protect you. I never knew how easy it would be. You believed me so fully. The only way I knew how to keep you safe was to leave you. You were in danger every minute you were with me."

The truth was I never expected that she would believe me so readily. I had envisioned her pleading with me more, telling me I was lying. It was in that moment of Bella believing I didn't want her anymore that I felt the first part of myself shatter. Though my heart ached it made me believe that she would be able to move on without me.

As I was about to tell her that it had not been my intention to break her, the apparition of my love turned away from me. It was in that very moment that I realized as I stood alone in the darkness. She had been my bright moon. And now all I had was a Lunar Eclipse.

My voice was so soft as I spoke that I almost didn't hear what I had said.

"I truly do love you, Bella Swan."

The ghostly image looked over at me one more time before fading into nothingness. The second she was gone, I allowed myself to fall to my hands and knees on the forest floor. The moist ground gave way under my weight, staining the knees of my pants with its dark soil. I heard the agonizing sound of a wounded animal rip through the clearing. It took me several minutes to realize that the mournful sound was erupting from my own chest.

My fingers dug into the ground breaking up the soil as my fingers curled into a fist. Another strangled cry sprang from my lips. I felt as if I was dying all over again. Pain spread throughout my frozen heart. I knew without a doubt that I had only sentenced myself to death. There was no light in my life without her. I had spoken, "You are my life, now" to her almost seven months ago and it was true.

Bella was my life. And I no longer knew how to exist in a world without her. I also however couldn't let myself put her in danger anymore. Seeing my beloved's reflection in the eyes of my prey, I realized I needed to be near her. So right there I made my decision. I would go back and keep watch over her. I would be Bella's dark guardian. I would watch from the shadows if need be.

Even though seeing her move on with her life without me would be painful, seeing her happy would heal some of the pain of losing her. Seeing her grow large and round with child. The very thing I longed to give her, but knew it could never be. The thought of another man touching her in the intimate ways a husband and wife did forced a low growl free from my chest. The image of Bella carrying another man's child was almost too much for me to bear. Until, I reasoned that I could always pretend that the child within was mine.

Suddenly realizing where my thoughts were taking me, I quickly shook them free. No, thinking like that wouldn't work. It would only make me want her back. And there was no going back for us.

I became aware of how many hours had gone by from the yellow-orange, blue and indigo colors that were painting the sky; twilight had come to this day.

I had once told Bella that this was my favorite time of day and it was also the saddest. I still felt that way, even if we could never share it together. The coming darkness would give me the cover I needed to once more attempt to track Victoria.

Then, I would go back to Forks. If only to prove to myself that Bella had moved on with her life as a human.

"What will you do if she hasn't? What do you think the image of her in the woods was trying to tell you?"

The sound of my own voice in my head was worse than the ones of my family. I had cut myself off from having contact with humans; coupled with the fact that my hunts had been poor of late. What would happen tonight if my hunt for Victoria brought me close to humans? Would I be able to resist the sound of the blood traveling through their veins? The mere thought of how warm and sweet the blood would be caused venom to once again pool inside my mouth.

There was only one thing I knew. I had to be fine. I was no longer the strong newborn fueled by my blood lust and pushed to the brink by my new overwhelming talent. I couldn't afford to worry about what might happen. Victoria was the only thing I needed to worry about. If there wasn't a thought with the image of Victoria in it, I didn't care about hearing it. As for what the ghostly image of my love was trying to tell me, I didn't want to think about it either.

The night air had a chill to it as I began my hunt for Victoria. I was thankful that the streets were mostly deserted. The burning in my throat seemed to be mocking me as I turned down one street after another. My hands shoved deeply into the pockets of the black fleece jacket I wore. There were ten more blocks to go before I reached my check point of sorts, when I stumbled across a thought that spoke of Victoria.

My feet froze in their steps as I took in the thought. It was so strong that I almost could taste it in my mouth. Two seconds passed before I realized why. The thought wasn't from a human, but from one of my own kind. My breath stilled as I took in the thought more. It wasn't anyone I knew.

'Why does she need to go to him to do it for her? Then again, she's probably playing it safe. I'd love to sink my teeth in the human for her.'

I had to push back a growl as a blurry image of my love ghosted through the young vampire's mind. It was madding to keep myself hidden once I understood just who the him was that the young vampires were thinking of. My answer came in the flicker of someone I had only meet once last spring.

Laurent!

My hands curled into fists of cold stone. Trickster that's what Laurent was. He had let my family believe that he wanted to change, when it truth he had never given up his ties with the she-devil. Reality suddenly came crashing down around me. My reflection had been right. I had been playing a game of cat and mouse. Only I wasn't the cat, I was the mouse caught within Victoria's claws. She had some how known that I would come looking for her and I played right into her plan.

A chill ran through my body, freezing me to the core of my being as if melting snow had been dumped on me. Bella was in mortal danger and there was a chance that I wouldn't make it in time. Pushing the two fledging vampires from my mind, I turned quickly on my heels and took hurried steps away towards the midnight-blue GTOX 2000 Mustang I had rented.

I needed to get back to Forks quickly. I was tempted to humor the thought of calling my family and tell them that I was on the move again and then thought better of it. There was no point to worry them until there was a need to do so.

The rev of the engine was a soothing sound to my ears; its sound wasn't the sweet melody of one of my pieces. It was music nevertheless, music that would carry me to Bella. Time seemed to be moving even slower to me. Slow was not what I wanted as I pressed my foot down on the gas. I needed speed. The engine growled at me as the needle on the speedometer moved up causing the car to surge forward faster.

My desire to protect her from what my family was had blinded me from the creatures that were even more of a threat than my family. How could I've forgotten about Laurent? I had been a fool not to realize that he had not ended his friendship with Victoria.

I stiffened as I heard a voice in the wind that ripped passed me.

"Edward, hurry and come back to me."

The whispery voice sounded once again like my Bella. My eyes suddenly flickered to the rear view mirror.

"So tell me what are you going to do if you're too late?"

My conscience's question was foolish. I knew months before what I would do if she died. I would go to the Volturi and put an end to my existence.

"And what if Laurent doesn't kill her? What if he changes her, what would you do then, Edward?"

The answers to the questions that my inner self was asking were simple. Even though changing her into a monster like me wasn't what I wanted, I would be there every second for my beloved Bella. Something inside of my told me I wouldn't need to worry about him changing her. My worry came from knowing he would kill her and I wouldn't make it in time to stop it.

Laurent's desire revolved around tasting the sweetness of Bella's blood. Her scent had fascinated him that day on the field. It however wasn't worth losing his life after seeing how protective my family and I had been toward her. I gripped the steering wheel and it groaned its discomfort at me. If I could inflict physical harm to myself I would. It seemed I was doing a grand job of doing it emotionally.

I couldn't believe how utterly foolish I had been. In making my family leave Forks, I had left Bella open to danger. Guilt of knowing that tumbled down on my shoulders like a boulder. Flipping my phone open, I dialed the number for the airport. I could only hope I could get a private flight back to Forks.

There was the other part of me that tried to urge me to call my family in Ithaca, New York. After a few seconds, I was able to convince myself that it was better if I didn't. Emmett and Jasper would insist that they come with me. I couldn't have that. I was just checking on her. I could do that on my own; I didn't need my father or brothers to hold my hand as if I was a child. Calling home would also start a fight with Alice on how she was right and I was wrong. Now was not the time to argue over this with my sister. Once I was able to charter my private flight, I was hoping I could relax a little. But it was of no use, the only way I was going to relax was if I knew that Bella was safe from danger.

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My flight seemed to last forever. Once I touched down at Forks Airport, I wasted little time. Moving myself though the watchful eyes of humans, I headed off in the direction of the Swan home. For one small moment, I felt as if I was being pulled in the direction of what had been my home in just outside of Forks. I shook the feeling free. Now was not the time to think of the home I had left behind and the few belongings within.

Bella, I needed to check on her. I needed to see that she was safe.

Reaching her home, I scaled up the tree that sat close to her window. Looking through the window, I could see that she wasn't there; so I slipped silently through. I tensed for a moment when I realized that Bella's scent in her room was a week or so old.

I could hear Charlie's upset voice downstairs. It was then followed by the voices of two other men and that of a young man.

They where talking about Bella. Charlie's thoughts were filled with concern for his daughter. The young man that was there I realized was Jacob Black. His thoughts then echoed inside my mind.

'I can't believe Bella ran away; especially after what he put her through.'

An image of me flashed through Jacob's mind. It was then followed by an emaciated image of my Bella. Had my leaving really done that to my Bella? She had runaway? Something strong inside me told me I was to blame.

I could only hope that for now she was safe until I could find her. I quickly slipped back out the window and disappeared into the woods toward what had once been my home. I would hunt quickly and then look for clean clothes to change into. I then planned on searching for Bella.

Just as I was about to enter our home, all too familiar thoughts entered my mind. They were familiar to me because I had tasted this mind last spring. Anger flowed through my body causing it to tense as venom started to fill my mouth. I couldn't seem to shake his thoughts from my mind. Each one of them was of Bella. My hands tightened into fist at the image of his dark lips touching any part of Bella.

The clearer his thoughts were in my head, the closer he was physically getting to me. For now I was glad Bella had run away. It meant that Laurent wouldn't get to her and he never would. Nothing would bring me more pleasure then to be the one to end his life right here. The wind shifted around me, bringing with it the scent of cedar, pears and fresh human blood. I turned quickly to face my unwanted guest.

His eyes were a brighter red then I remembered them to be. It was clear that it hadn't taken him long to grow tired of the vegetarian lifestyle.

"Laurent!"

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A/N: Okay everyone, sorry about the cliffy. It just had to happen. This chapter was one of my favorites to write so far. I had to get into Edward's mind a little bit. I hope I did a good job with his POV. Hopefully within the next I will have a new revised verison of the first chapter of Lunar Eclipse posted.

Brie