And Yet They Shine

Vibrant

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The walls of Olympus took shape around him, but Edward was too angry to notice.

"Esme! Where is she?" His voice boomed through the still air, echoing off of marble and glass.

"Edward." The soft tone of his brother's voice drew his attention, but did not stop his furious footsteps from pounding through the hall. He would find Esmerelda and she would return Bella to him.

"Edward, stop. You'll frighten her."

Carlisle's ploy worked. Edward did stop, almost mid-step, before turning on his brother. The anger inside of him seethed and writhed, was a visible thing on his face. Carlisle averted his eyes for a moment, sorry to see one that he cared for in such pain.

"Where is she?" The younger man glared at his brother, green eyes bright with fury and bronzed hair disheveled more so than usual. He kept his voice low and tight, but Carlisle could feel the heat of his anger.

"We have her," Carlisle said, placing his hand on Edward's forearm. "She is safe. Be easy, brother."

Edward hissed and shook the man off. "Easy? She was stolen from my home! Who does that wife of yours think she is? She has no right!" Edward's voice rose, finishing with a yell.

"I have every right, you fool!" Esme stepped out from behind a gilt column and nudged her husband aside. "You know damned well what you've done. Your claim to her is void." Esme's angry voice belied her calm appearance.

"Void? You cannot void the prophecy – she is mine!"

Esme's temper flared brighter, "You know as well as I the laws of hospitality. You tricked that girl into binding herself to you. I won't have it Edward. She will not honor a contract she did not willingly enter into."

"This is not your business, Esme! What happens in my house, how I rule, is not yours to decide!" Edward squared his shoulders. He would not back down.

"The rules of hospitality apply to us all. You cannot bind her to you with a lie, anymore than I can save her from you if she decides that you are what she wants. The rules apply to all of us!"

"Stop it, both of you!" The voice of the human girl, raised in anger, brought a halt to Edward and Esme's argument.

She whirled on Edward and he looked at the beautiful creature before him. She wore a simple white tunic, probably something from Esme, and her hands were balled into fists. Her hair was wild, falling all around her face and shoulders, and her eyes sparked with bright fire. This girl, this woman, she danced him to the edge of sanity, of desire and greed, and he found himself ambivalent about his impending descent into madness. Aren'tweallalittlemad, he thought.

"Who do you think you are?" she asked, her voice stirring the very blood in his veins. "You come onto me like some fallen angel, some broken thing, and the moment I trust you, you turn on me. You…you tried to trap me, Edward. How could you?"

"And you," she said, whirling to speak to Esme. "You acted like you were my friend, and then you turned everything upside down! What did you think would happen? Did you think he'd just let you take me away? Do you know what that must have been like for him, to find me missing? Of course he's in a panic - you violated his trust!"

The self-satisfied smile fell from Esme's face as the words Isabella spoke hit home. She'd been so angry with Edward, so torn by the girl's tears, that she hadn't considered her actions, she just moved.

"Both of you…you argue over me like I'm some kind of toy, some prop for your pretty little lives, but neither of you, neitherofyou ever asked me what I want." Isabella looked at the ground. Her focus swam as hot tears threatened, again, to fall. Ever since that night on the beach, over a year ago, she'd felt turned around and inside out, too raw for the world around her, and woefully unprepared for anything more.

The gods stood in silence, each of them contemplating the human in their midst. Her anger was powerful but fleeting, and each of them could see that she was on the verge of tears, yet none of them could bring themselves to comfort her.

"I told you this would happen." The nymph from earlier came gliding toward them, looking for all the world as though she were floating. Bella choked back a bitter laugh. For all she knew, the girl could, indeed, float.

Alice's wide, dark eyes took Bella in, and Bella found herself meeting the girl's gaze, searching in her eyes for some shred of hope, some glimmer of kindness. She didn't know if she could trust the girl in front of her, and wasn't sure what choice she had.

Alice reached out to Bella and took her wrist in her hand. She pressed her fingers to her palm and when she opened it, Bella saw that she was still clutching the crystal that Alice had given her earlier.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I broke-"

"It's nothing," Alice said, then plucked the crystal from her palm. "You don't need this anymore."

Bella nodded, though not sure why, and let her hand drop back to her side. Alice leaned in, smelling of lavender and fresh pine, and whispered in Bella's ear. "You're going to be just fine," she said. "You'll see."

But Bella didn't see. She couldn't find comfort in Alice's well-meant words, and the longer she stood there, bare feet on cold marble, the more she wanted to scream or cry or run away. If she ran to the front door – if she could find the front door – what would be on the other side? Were they floating in the clouds? Would there by an abyss? A mountain so high that she could never climb down? She shivered at the idea.

"Isabella?" Carlisle approached her with a soft hand and soft voice, but didn't touch her.

"You're right, Isabella. We've all been terribly selfish here. Tell me, what is it that you want?"

Bella didn't know. She wanted time to think, or sleep. She wanted, god, she wanted a sandwich and a coke and maybe her mother, except that her mother always seemed to have other things to do. She wanted to feel at peace, for a change. She wanted to feel Edward's arms around her and see his bright, open smile, and she wanted to go back to a time before any of this happened, back when she didn't know….

And then she realized what she wanted and she closed her eyes.

"I want to go home."

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AN: This story was originally designed for a Twilight 25 series, and so the chapters were all designed to be roughly 1,000 words each. I know that's very short, and for that, I apologize. Incidentally, as you may have guessed, this story will be 25 chapters long. Thank you for reading.