-Jacob-

None of us knew what to do at that moment, the happiness that I had was just sucked out of me as though I was helium being let out of a balloon. I couldn't take my eyes off of Bella, her face turning even more pale than I thought possible. She stared back at me, her eyes wide with fear. None of us could move for a moment. Then suddenly, it was as though somebody hit play on a remote and we had been paused this whole time. At that moment I wished this was all just some movie, that Bella didn't have to worry about a crazy ex-lover coming back to kill her. That I didn't have to worry about somebody wanting to kill her. That I didn't have to worry about the fear that painted her features now or the pain I knew she was still carrying. I wish that she didn't have to feel any of it, that it would all go away. I feel Jasper brush past me as he rushes to Alice's side. I still didn't take my eyes off of Bella's.

"How much time do we have? What did you see?" His voice was oddly soothing, as though he was washing over me with some sort of calm.

"I-I don't know. A few days, maybe. I just saw them coming, there are at least fifteen of them...not counting Edward and Victoria." Her voice was laced with anxiety as she stumbled through her words. Her face seemed paler than usual, which was unusual for a vampire. I could feel Jasper manipulating my emotions, and no doubt was doing the same thing to Bella. She seemed frozen in place, brown hair draping her terror-filled face. Brown eyes stared back at me, completely full of pain, and terror. I put a hand to her face, to remind myself that she is here and that this moment is actually real.

"Bella, baby?" Her gaze shifts until her eyes gradually meet mine. "Are you okay?" Her lips pull into an awkward smile as she exhales through her teeth.

"Really, Jake? Am I okay? My ex-boyfriend enlisted the help of my stalker psycho's girlfriend and created an army just to kill me. I'm supposed to be okay? To top that, his family is fighting against him just to protect me, a stupid human. No. I'm not okay. This isn't right." She turns and looks at Jasper and Alice, running a nervous hand through her hair. "You guys shouldn't have to fight him just to protect me, that's not fair. I'm not worth you guys tearing your family apart."

Alice's jaw hangs open for a moment as she studies Bella's retreating form. I start to go after her when Alice's soft voice stops me. "Don't, Jacob. I can handle this one. Go and let the pack know what's going on. We all need to be prepared for this fight. Make sure you do something to get Charlie out of town, something that Edward won't think about. Okay? I will talk to Bella." I watch her small frame disappear into the forest behind Bella, and for a moment I realize that she is the only Vampire that I don't mind in Bella's company, excluding Jasper and his strange persona. I guess that if I had to choose a bloodsucker for a friend, Alice would be one.

-Bella-

The forest seemed to be closing in on me, green vines entangled the trunks of the trees reminding me just of how tangled in this mess I am. The moss sticks to my shoes as I make my way through the eerily quiet earth. I stop against a rock for a moment, letting the quiet reach my bones. I don't want to think, I don't want to feel. I just want to be. I just want to be in the moment and not think about all of the things that have let me up to this moment where I contemplate whether or not the fight is even worth my life. Whether it is worth the lives of all of those trying to protect me.

"I won't let you, you know." I smile slightly at Alice's sing-song voice. "I may not be able to read your mind but I know you well enough Bella that you think that none of this is worth it to protect you, and I am going to tell you right now that you don't get to decide that. You don't get to decide what we think is important enough to us to fight for. You don't get to sacrifice yourself and make yourself the 'hero'. Because, the one thing that Edward is doing now, that I am so against is that he wants to take your choice away." I open my eyes to meet her golden eyes blazing intensely into mine. "He wants to take your choice, Bella. I may not agree or ever admit that I like...that dog. Hell, I even think that you and Edward could have made it and sometimes I wish things would have gone back to the way they were before this mess. But, you're happy. You made your choice, and that isn't something that he gets to take away from you. That isn't something that he gets to force you into."

"I-I just don't think I am worth people dying over." I run my hands through my hair and stare back at her.

"I wish. I wish that I had somebody who would've risked dying over me, Bella. You don't get to decide this. You don't get to tell us that we are making the wrong choice. I woke up in a forest alone when I turned. With no idea of who I was, I learned my name from a vision of it being said off of Jasper's lips." She turns away from me, stepping a few feet into the overgrowth before turning and walking up to me, close enough for me to smell her sweet breath. "You don't get to take our choice away from us, the same way that Edward is trying to take yours away. I am fighting for that, I am fighting for you to be able to live the life that you choose. I am fighting for you, Bella."

I wrap my arms around her and lean into her shoulder. Her frail arms envelop me in a hug, trying not to squeeze too tight. "Okay," I whisper against her small frame. I wasn't ready to fight somebody that I knew I still loved, I wasn't ready to possibly watch the people that I loved die, but I definitely knew that I wasn't ready to die either. I had just learned what it was like to be alive, to live. I wasn't ready to give that up and I will be damned if anybody was going to take that away from me.