Moonlight in Forks
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Reunion
By the time Jacob and Sam, along with the two packs, reached the sea cliffs it was all over. They stood in a loose semicircle around the bonfire. There were hardly any flames visible, just the thick, purple-black smoke, hovering like a disease against the bright grass. Jacob stood closest to the solid-seeming haze, staring at it, his dark eyes troubled. He kept his back to the others, too numb to feel more than a mild shock at the burning remains of the vampires who had been rampaging through Forks and La Push for weeks. The bonfire was obviously a cleanup operation, orchestrated by their own kind, in order to put a stop to the carnage before any more damage was done.
Jacob knew enough about vampire law, through Bella and the tribal histories, to know who was behind it. The Volturi had come to his home and dispatched the perpetrators quickly, leaving little trace of themselves, they had left as quickly as they had come after completing their dirty work.
Sam came up beside Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come. Its over now. They've done what they needed to do. I doubt we'll see them again."
Even though he knew Sam was right, Jacob still couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. All that was on his mind was Bella and the brief note she had left behind explaining her absence. The words remained burned in his memory:
Jake. I'm with Alice. Don't be mad. I had no choice. If I don't go, the consequences could be horrific. I can't risk you or anyone else getting hurt. If my going can put a stop to whatever is coming, then the sacrifice would have been worth it. Know that I love you. Always. Bells.
"Jake." Sam tried again, a deep sympathy underlying his tone. "She'll be back."
"Will she?" Jacob said bleakly, still staying rooted in place.
"Yes." Sam sounded more certain than he felt inside. He alone knew how much this was costing Jacob emotionally. "I believe Bella is the reason why the cold ones came so quickly to clean up the mess their own kind left behind. We've been chasing these monsters for weeks with no luck, and then as soon as Bella leaves, this happens."
Jacob turned to face Sam, his eyes moist, face desolate. Sam's words gave him a small feeling of hope. Just a tiny flicker against the wind. With the open eyes of a child, Jacob reached out, fingers extended, wanting to grab it firmly with his hand and never let it go. His fingers found Sam's instead. He stared at Sam's face, trying to ascertain whether Sam truly believed what he was saying. That he really thought that Bella would come back to him from the hellish darkness she had so willingly walked into to save them all.
"She will be back." Sam repeated, his voice firm, leaving no hint of doubt.
"I can't live without her, Sam."
After days of trying to keep it together for the sake of his pack, Jacob finally broke. He swayed, Sam quickly bearing his weight before he collapsed to the ground.
The group of silent watchers felt every inch of Jacob's pain, for each of them loved Bella in their own particular way. She was a part of them. A vital part. And now she was gone. Risking her life to save theirs.
The two youngest wolves were openly crying, mirroring their Alpha's anguish. Leah took charge, ushering them away, calling to the others to follow. One by one, with many a backward glance, the others followed the she-wolf in a formal line, leaving to give Jacob privacy in his grief.
Only Sam remained, no stranger to grief himself, his solid presence a blessing in disguise as he did his best to comfort Jacob in his sadness.
Bella hesitated, glancing behind her at Alice, her nerves finally getting the better of her. She saw Alice give a subtle nod as if silently giving her permission.
"I am losing patience." Aro's tone was no longer friendly. "Give me the name of the informer or our deal is off."
Bella gulped in a lungful of air, slowly turning back to face the wrathful face of the Volturi leader. She tried to summon back the courage that had been her friend all this while. Squaring her shoulders, she finally dropped the name.
"Irina."
"Bring her to me." Aro commanded.
A small, slight looking vampire dressed in a non-descript brown robe, broke off from the main group and slunk away to do his masters bidding. He wasn't gone long, soon returning with a nervous Irina by his side. Her face like that of someone who had not entirely awakened from a hideous nightmare. Impatiently, Aro snapped his fingers. The small vampire accompanying Irina prodded her roughly in the back. She blinked twice and then walked slowly toward Aro in a daze. She stopped several yards short, her pleading gaze seeking clemency from the Volturi leader.
Aro closed the distance and took her face between his bone white hands, pushing her down with force, so she ended up kneeling before him. There was something terribly degrading about the action. Like Aro was trying to give a visual clue of his mastery over her.
Irina's sisters appeared out of nowhere, visibly distressed, they took point on either side of their unfortunate sibling.
"You must now face the consequences for feeding me false information about my dearest friend Carlisle." Aro intoned. He took his hands away from Irina's face, stepping back, observing her reaction with a critical eye.
Irina's body went rigid. She knew her life was hanging on a knife edge. "Please, I gave you the information in good faith."
"Ah, sweetling." Aro purred in a warm, sugary murmur. "Show me what you are trying to say." He held out his hand to Irina.
Uncertainly, Irina took it. Aro barely held it for five seconds.
"You see." He said afterwards. "It's a simple matter to get what I needed."
From the corner of his eye, Aro glanced at his audience, enjoying the show immensely. He turned back to face Irina.
"I'm sorry." Irina whispered. "I should have made sure the information was correct. But I had no idea…"
"We all know of your mistake." Aro said with a congenial smile. "It is your motivations that I want to speak of now."
Irina gulped nervously. Her two sisters stood rigidly by her side. "My motivations?"
"You were unhappy with the Cullens, were you not?"
Irina turned miserable eyes onto Carlisle's face. His expression was strained as he looked back at her. "I was." She admitted.
"Because?" Aro prompted, although he already knew. This was entirely for his audience's benefit.
"Because the werewolves killed my friend." She whispered forlornly. "And the Cullens-Carlisle-wouldn't stand aside to let me avenge him."
"You mean the shapeshifters." Aro corrected her.
"Yes."
"So does that mean you want to make a formal complaint against the shapeshifters-and the Cullens for supporting their actions?" Aro smiled a tiny, cruel smile.
Irina's jaw jerked up; her shoulders squared. "I accept whatever fate has in store for me." She said, avoiding answering directly. "If I have made a mistake then I take full responsibility for it."
"Ha ha!" Aro laughed. "Such noble last words!"
"Last words?" Irina faltered. From beside her, her sisters hissed, falling into a defensive crouch.
Aro's amusement faded as he glared at them. "If you don't want to share her fate, I suggest you step aside." He warned them.
Tanya and Kate, very distressed, rose up from their defensive crouch and stepped back. Their despairing eyes met Irina's. She gazed back at them helplessly.
Aro showed no emotion as he raised his hand. The response was so fast that all Bella could do was stare in stunned disbelief while it happened. Before there was time to react it was over.
Three of the Volturi guards that formed part of Aro's entourage leaped forward, and Irina was completely obscured by their gray cloaks. In the same instant, a horrible metallic screeching ripped through the air. With a gleeful smile, Aro slithered his way into the center of the gray melee, with Renata still attached like a limpet to his cloak, and the shocking squealing sound exploded into a startling shower of sparks and tongues of flame. The guards leapt back from the sudden inferno, immediately retaking their places as if nothing untoward had happened.
The maddened cry of pure rage coming from Irina's sisters was heartbreaking to witness. Bella had to cover her ears to obscure the sound. Carlisle, Edward and Alice immediately acted together to restrain the stricken women, yanking them back before they completely lost control and attacked Aro.
"Listen to me, Tanya, Kate." Carlisle pleaded. "Vengeance doesn't help her now. Irina wouldn't want you to waste your lives this way. Think about what you're doing. Mourn for her."
Tanya's shoulders hunched with grief. Kate remained still. She was glaring at Carlisle like she wanted to rip his head off. It was clear they held him and his family responsible for what had happened to their sister. The friendship between the covens was at an end.
Aro floated over to Carlisle, Renata following sedately behind. His former joyful demeanor was fully restored now that he had finished doling out Irina's punishment. He placed a gentle hand on Carlisle's shoulders, completely ignoring the grieving sisters.
"Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against you, my dearest friend." He smiled benevolently. "Well, I must say it has been a pleasure to see you again. I now return to Volterra. Don't leave it so long until your next visit, Carlisle. I know Caius and Marcus will look forward to seeing you again." He patted Carlisle's shoulder before swinging around to face Bella. "And you, my dear. Have a safe journey home. Farewell all." He waved with a flourish, then slowly drifted away, his entourage following swiftly behind.
Bella didn't remember the journey home. The courage that had kept her going throughout the traumatic confrontation with Aro and his cohorts finally deserted her. She felt numb, like nothing could touch her. She was barely aware of Alice sitting beside her in the car, murmuring to Jasper on the phone.
Carlisle and Edward took up the front seats of the car, both staring ahead sightlessly. Edward didn't turn to look at Bella once. Her words to Aro had completely devastated him, he couldn't bear to gaze upon the beautiful face of the girl who had rejected him so cruelly. He knew it was over. There was no way back for them, now she had declared her feelings for the wolf boy so publicly to Aro.
Eventually Bella fell into an exhausted sleep. She was so tired that she hoped to avoid any nightmares. They came anyway.
Finally, she was home. Bella shut the car door, speaking not one word of goodbye to the occupants inside. She was done with them. Even Alice remained quiet, her eyes filled with an immense sadness as she watched Bella walk out of her life for good.
The anger hit Bella as she walked slowly up the porch steps. She couldn't stop the rage building up inside. She couldn't even explain it. She was angry with the universe, with God, for putting her through this continuous cycle of pain. Rationally she knew it is was unfair. Everything she had struggled for, everything that she had set out to achieve, had been done. The pain that had come with it, though, the brutal, brutal suffering of others to achieve that goal, though necessary, turned her stomach.
There was no other way to learn what she had learned. The anger was because she just wanted Jacob. She wanted to be with him so much, but she had to leave him behind, had to keep her own counsel, in order to protect him from danger. There was no way he could have come with her. If he had been put in front of Aro there was no telling what the cunning Volturi leader would have done. Or how Jacob would have reacted. She had a plan and needed to follow it through to its conclusion. One wrong move and it could have ended so badly.
Bella's emotions were on a knife edge. She longed to see Jacob, but feared it at the same time. Would he forgive her for leaving him behind for a second time? She could only hope so. She had done it for him. For all of them. In her mind there had been no other way.
Then, as if she had conjured him up from her own fevered imagination, Jacob stepped from the shadows at the side of the house, stealing her breath and the heat from her skin. Suddenly her defenses were just paper thin. Before she could draw in the air her body needed, she melted into his form, sobbing wildly. She could feel his firm torso and the heart that beat within. His hands folded around her back, there was no hesitation, drawing her in closer. Bella felt her body shake, crying for the missed time they would never make back, crying to release the tension of the long days apart. Jacob pulled his head back and wiped her tears with a calloused finger, even this roughness brought more relief than Bella's heart could hold. He was eating her up with his eyes, running his hand through her windblown hair, as if he can't quite believe she wasn't part of an almost forgotten dream. When he kissed her, it was sweet, gentle, and it tasted of her tears. She wanted to speak, to explain, but all she could do was croak, "I'm sorry. I won't ever leave you again."
Jacob's mouth painted a soft smile in return as and he nodded once before folding her in his arms again.
A/N-thanks for reading!