Sun and Moon
Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight.
Ch. 14: Into the Maelstrom
KPOV
The mental jolt as I was mentally pulled into my mate's head was always disorienting but this time it was painful as well. I'd squeezed my eyes shut at the first onslaught of pain but after it stopped along with the general dizzy feeling, I opened them and gasped at the devastation around me. I stood in the middle of a small island and the ground was covered with pieces of shattered glass that represented Bella's shield. Suddenly, hurricane force winds bent back the palm trees and other vegetation then whipped the glass shards into the air. If my skin wasn't hard as marble, I'd have been cut to ribbons by the flying shrapnel. Sobs drifted from beyond the foliage and I followed them to their source on a tiny beach.
A broken Bella knelt on the sand, her clothes had been shredded and her body covered in thousands of bleeding gashes from the airborne glass. Off on the distant horizon, a giant wave slowly made its way toward us. All of the brunette's memories played out for before both of our eyes. I felt the loneliness of her childhood in Phoenix and the sorrow at letting her mother go on the road with her new husband while Bells moved in with her estranged father. Then there was the insatiable curiosity about the Cullen's and the driving need to figure out what Edward was. Then came joy from their mutual declarations of love and overwhelming desire that consumed the human girl after that first kiss.
I felt her fear and then the strength of her inner resolve as she gave Alice and Jasper at the airport. Next came the relief that her mother hadn't been in that sadistic fucking tracker's clutches at the ballet studio. Then there was the first hand experience as she refused to beg for her life or for Edward to avenge her. Every little joy and the moments of insecurity were now ingrained into my psyche up to the fateful day when that monster led her into the woods then savagely ripped her still beating heart out. The pain of his callousness had made me want to curl up and die.
That one scene played continuously and trapped her in her mind. I felt the perpetual devastation and learned a horrible truth. Despite being a virtual prisoner in her own body, Bella had been aware of her surroundings but unable to find a way out of her memories. I knew what was coming next and I wanted to spare her but it was too late. I heard the hateful words those filthy dogs spewed then felt the degradation and pain as they raped her. The last months of her life all she wanted was to die in order to get away from the pain. When Charlie Swan shot her, she was beyond hope and had actually felt relieved because nobody wanted her. It was only after she sensed Esme's presence that she found the will to hold on until she was bitten.
The scenes of her new life passed quickly until my own person Edwardesque moment hit me like ton of bricks. I flashed to her side and noticed that the giant wave was almost to shore.
"Bella, baby, I'm sorry I ran away please forgive me," I cried as I dropped to my knees in front of her. The other girl's head snapped up and the pain behind her onyx eyes broke my heart.
"K-k-katie," Bells breathed in a horse whisper before she fell into my arms.
"I Love you, Cookie Monster, please come back to me," I cooed while I rocked her back and forth. I wasn't able to say anything else because the tidal wave crashed over us.
The force of the wave drove us into the ground and threatened to separate us yet somehow we managed to hold on to one another. Bella's arms tightened around me then the tidal surge rapidly retreated back out to sea and I saw determination steel her gaze. She extricated herself from my grasp but kept hold of my hand as she stood up and glared at the mental chaos around us. I watched in awed silence as the brunette vampire held out her free hand and forced the storm to submit to her dominion. The sea calmed, the wind died down to a gentle breeze and the shards of glass glowed before they shot up higher into the air and reformed her mental shield. After the last piece had found its proper place and the whole was fused back together seamlessly, she collapsed next to me from the exertion.
We just held each other for what felt like hours while whispering sweet nothings. Eventually, my mate pulled away slightly then looked at me with weary eyes.
"I can feel how weak my body's become so we need to go back because I need to feed," she said softly.
I felt dizzy and after I blinked my eyes a few times, I found myself back in the backyard of the Cullen house. There were several sighs of relief around the room and I noticed Bella's black eyes flutter open. After a couple of minutes of maternal coddling, she wiggled herself out of Esme's grasp enough to smack me across the cheek. The impact still sounded like a gunshot and stung like a bitch despite her lack of any real strength.
"Don't you ever pull a stunt like that on me again! I'm so kicking your ass later; now somebody fetch me a damn bear or something," my mate hissed and I knew that I was going to have to find a way to distract her because there was no doubt Bella was going to follow through with her threat.
The boys went back out and returned with a decent sized black bear. While the brunette drank her fill, Carlisle and Esme told us that since Cookie Monster still needed to rest that we'd all deal with the Emmett thing in the morning. Naturally, Bella wasn't keen on that idea but I scooped her up then flashed up to our room. She actually smirked when she picked up on my plan to worship her body until she forgot about punishing me.
"You do know that's not going to work," she breathed into my ear then ran her tongue along its shell.
"It can't hurt," I replied huskily and she just smiled sadly then shook her head.
"ROSIE, ALICE, WE'RE HAVING A SLUMBER PARTY," the little minx yelled and my plans were ruined as our bed was overrun with Cullen girls.
The three sadistic women tortured me for the rest of the night by doing makeovers and watching cheesy '80's teen chick flicks and bad lesbian porn. The latter of which was made even worse when said girls all whipped out toys and got off but wouldn't let me. Needless to say, I was very frustrated by the time we all needed to get ready to deal with the dumbass.
AN: So what should Emmett's punishment be? I was leaning toward being regressed into an adult baby but that might be more of a punishment for poor Rosalie than anything else. Besides, I might like your suggestions. Eric was a not so innocent victim but he already had the shit beat out of him so anything Carlisle and Esme do to him would just be kicking him while he was down. Then again, that's usually the best time to kick somebody.