Two chapters tonight! And I must say, it's overdue because the leadup to this was so very difficult!
"Never place someone so high on a pedestal that should they fall... you get crushed."
Mark W. Boyer
"All rise for the Lady Laima, the third of the Progenitors and consort to Markus Corvinus," a vampire announced. "For Walter Bernhard, Vampire Lord of the Forest of the Eternal Night, and Elijah Mikaelson of the family of Originals."
Dutifully, everyone rose, except for Edward. The restraints upon his arms and legs made it impossible, so he was certain that he would be excused for the common courtesies in a courthouse.
Edward had been briefed on all of the judges. He had even been allowed to glimpse the Volturi's trial from his cell via some sort of magical television. He had seen the judges. The one who unnerved him wasn't the dark-haired male who eyed him with an unreadable expression, nor the tall one with pointed ears, flaming red hair flowing down his shoulders and the pointed teeth who smiled at him in a predatory manner. No, it was the woman in the centre, the so-called Vampire Queen. The one who had lit her finger on the candle's flame and made every vampire- Edward and Bella included- shout in pain, before healing herself, and, consequently, the rest of them.
Lady Laima was lovelier, more beautiful in person than she had been through the small screen. Like the judge named Elijah, her expression was unreadable. But her eyes... Edward suppressed the urge not to shudder. They seemed to scan everything that was him, down to the very depths of his soul and the very atoms of his body. Unlike Bella, her beauty was, in no way, warm and comforting. Not to him at least. No, this female, this Vampire Queen, was a beacon, a harbinger, a goddess of death.
Right next to the judges, Maggie sat, her eyes a bright sky-blue, both of which stared at him in uncomprehending disbelief. No doubt she herself wanted some answers. And she would be most eager to hear them. Apart from the judges, and the Death Dealers who guarded him, Edward saw that Maggie was the only vampire who didn't wear a silver collar around her neck that prevented her from accessing her powers. He noted that just about everyone else did.
Instantly his eyes scanned the length of the round auditorium or, more specifically, the level above him, where seats were laid out on tiers like in a stadium. There. He found his family.
Bella still found it strange when her heart, which she fully expected to thud and jump, and would normally have had she still been human, was as still as stone. As the crystal heart he'd dangled from the bracelet Jacob had given her, next to his own charm: a carved wolf.
A wolf he'd given to make up for his assault. Bella forced that from her mind. She had to focus on everything that was happening now. Unbeknownst to her, she had started to twist the charms on her bracelet around until they were both in danger of snapping. Same as the ring, Elizabeth Masen's engagement ring, on her finger which now served and doubled as Bella's engagement and wedding rings, since one of the few wishes of Bella's that Edward and Alice took into account was not adding an extra ring or piece of jewellery to Bella. Therefore, both had gone ring-less although Alice had pouted, and Edward had frowned for a while.
Bella still didn't know what to think, much less what she wanted. But before her panicked sporadic thoughts could form one cohesive, comprehensive line, Bella's attention was diverted to the red-haired judge who spoke:
His voice was deep, rich and strangely mellifluous. A hint of amusement echoed in his words.
"Welcome one and all. The final trial may now begin." His silvery eyes twinkled.
Elijah Mikaelson interrupted him. "You are Edward Cullen?"
Edward spoke. "I am." His voice would have been hoarse and trembling for a human. But thankfully, Edward had managed to hide any tremours.
"Born Edward Anthony Masen Junior on June Twentieth, 1901?" Elijah asked expectantly.
Edward swallowed and nodded. "I am him."
The judge Elijah did not react. But the red-haired judge, Walter Bernhard, watched him more intently. His smile widened.
Edward sensed this male was somehow more sinister and dangerous than the Volturi could have ever dreamed of being. Or the Romanians.
Bella shivered at the look the red-haired judge had given him. Unlike with the Volturi's trial, where the other two were more involved, he seemed intent on her husband for some reason. Everything she had previously thought or been warned about, vanished. Her instincts screamed at her to rip that damned silver collar from her throat, jump over the railing and run towards Edward gathering him in her arms, and shielding him with whatever she had, including her whole body. From beside her, Esme gripped Bella's hand tightly, as if sensing her thoughts.
"Mr Cullen," the vampire lord named Walter Bernhard spoke. "You have, perhaps, been made aware of the reasons for your arrest?"
Edward ground his jaw. "I have."
"And of your previous government, the Volturi's laxness in imposing their own laws?"
Bella glanced anxiously towards Edward. Her husband pressed his lips together.
"I was made aware of them," he said quietly. "Although I-" his eyes, green as emeralds, flitted briefly towards Maggie's for just a second. "-I was not aware, or perhaps I did not accept nor wish to believe that they were criminals, despite my wife's insistence on seeing them as such."
"Why is that?" Elijah Mikaleson tilted his head curiously. Edward shrugged helplessly. "I didn't wish to believe the Volturi were actually criminals, since if that was the case then we stood no chance of surviving when they came to confront of on the alleged- and disproven crime- that we had created an Immortal Child which we hadn't. I thought that Bel- that my wife must have been frightened, fearful of the first encounter she had with the Volturi. That she was frightened of them."
"That encounter happened when she was still human?" Elijah spoke. Edward nodded reluctantly, looking like he had swallowed something sour. "Yes."
"What was she doing in Volterra?"
"She came to save me." Slowly, bit by bit, Edward outlined the details of their story. Lady Laima's face was impassive, Walter seemed amused. Elijah's expression seemed as if he had slowly gained some understanding of the events. Maggie too- although her brow was furrowed.
Suddenly, Maggie shot out her hand and gently beckoned to Lady Laima. The three judges turned and conversed quietly with her. Too quiet, Bella thought, frantic unease and fear rising, for any immortal to overhear.
The three judges straightened and turned back to the accused.
"Tell him what you have found." Lady Laima spoke for the first time, addressing Maggie.
Maggie took a deep breath and looked Edward in the eye. "You're hiding something." She said flatly with a deadly finality. Murmurs and excited whispers, along with ones of dismay, rang throughout the hall. Bella's defunct intestines tied themselves into knots.
Elijah Mikaelson banged a wooden gavel on his desk.
"How curious." Walter grinned. "Now what could you be possibly hiding? The part about your involvement in trespass, perhaps? Breaking into the house of the non-magical and very human chief of police of the town and into the room of his sleeping daughter?"
A gasp, almost in unison, rang throughout the auditorium. Lady Laima's brow furrowed.
"Is that true?" Walter pressed, his voice as dangerous and soft as snowfall, silver-grey eyes piercing Edward's, his predatory smile never wavering.
Slowly, Edward swallowed. Then, confronted with no choice, in full view of the whole supernatural world, he nodded.
Alice and Esme looked sick. Carlisle closed his eyes in despair. Emmett looked ashen and Jasper swallowed. Rosalie's face dropped into her hands. Bella moaned in despair. She felt sick. Involuntarily, she looked at the other members of the audience.
The others reacted too. Liam and Siobhan exchanged glances with each other, equally horrified and stunned. Sickened too, if Maggie's corresponding expression was anything to go by. Tanya and Eleazar's jaws dropped, their eyes bugging, while Kate looked on in stunned disbelief. Garrett was motionless, stunned for a while, before his expression and eyes became increasingly grim. Carmen covered her mouth. Peter and Charlotte looked at each other, and then back at Edward and towards Jasper and the rest of the Cullens, bewildered. Amun scoffed, a satisfied glint in his eyes, Kebi nodding alongside him. Benjamin was in disbelief. He seemed... stunned, horrified, even. Tia was utterly aghast, her hand flying to her mouth. Charles and Mackenna looked appalled, their uncle Luca shaking his head, both disapproving and incredulous. Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna were mostly unreadable, but something flickered in their dark eyes. Nahuel leaned forwards, gripping the railing, staring at Edward in disbelief and greater scrutiny while his aunt Huilen blinked. Nahuel's sisters' eyes all widened. Randall and Mary were silent, but both were intently focused on Edward. Alistair appeared stunned and disbelieving. Incredulous but also outraged.
The other members of the audience had expressions which ranged from outrage to disgust. A wizard grabbed onto his wand, while Adsila Sizemore gripped his arm, eyes still focused on the trial in front of her, despite the disgust on her lovely features. Gabrielle closed her eyes, her head bowed. A familiar-looking brown-haired witch from beside her reeled backwards in disgust and outrage.
Many of their friends who came to their rescue during the New Year's Eve confrontation stared incredulously at the rest of the Cullens, and then to Edward and back again. Outrage started to settle onto their features, along with scorn and derision as they looked upon the man Bella loved more than anyone in the world, apart from Renesmee. Bella could perfectly understand why: Edward who had put himself as the paragon and champion of propriety had done something shameful, something which he himself would have expressed disgust upon had it been anyone else. She couldn't meet them in the eyes.
Bella hid her face in her hands. This was far worse than she had initially thought, and she had driven herself crazy with her fears about the upcoming trial. Clearly, because he wasn't very involved with the Volturi's trial, she had clearly expected the red-haired judge, Walter Bernhard, to be lax or uncaring about Edward's case. Less thorough.
Clearly, she was wrong. This judge, Walter Bernhard, seemed to be the most dangerous of the three. And for some reason, he had been waiting for Edward's trial, instead of the Volturi's, eagerly it seemed.
"Interesting," he mused. A smirk played on his lips. "Aro, for some reason, never took note of this part. He certainly never attempted to punish you for it. Breaking into the house of the entirely mundane human town's chief of police and into the bedroom of his daughter... a chief of police who, coincidentally, happened to befriend members of the Quileute tribal council- a tribe with Loup-Garou werewolves as members, as opposed to Lycanthropic ones, with his closest friends being the parents of these 'shapeshifters'." The Vampire Lord Walter Bernhard mocked Edward and Aro's terms for them. Whispers rang throughout the hall. Maggie looked confused. So did Siobhan and Liam, Peter and Charlotte and all the rest.
"Thereby endangering the relationship between vampire-kind and theirs, am I correct?" His smirk widened. He looked like the cat that got the canary and the bowl of cream and was now rolling and dipping it in cream, toying with his food for his own amusement so as to savour it further once had had bitten it. "Including your own family? Did not your family have a treaty with these Loup-Garoux, not to trespass, not to bite, harm, kill nor in any way, endanger the humans of Forks and its surrounding area, along with their own ancestral lands?"
Edward's green eyes flashed dangerously. "I would never have harmed her." He said forcefully. "NEVER!" The aristocratic vampire lord was unfazed, reclining back slightly on his chair, which appeared more regal with him upon it as if it were a throne.
"And yet," he mused "you first stalked and trespassed her. Then you exposed and brought her into your world without the slightest intent of ever changing her." Silence reigned supreme as the judge straightened, his smile never wavering.
"Aro... well, Aro and Caius' failings have been exposed. Corruption and a lax attitude towards imposing their own laws. Imposing them only when they felt like it, abusing their power by piling false charges in order to decimate entire covens which may or may not pose a threat to their reign. Seizing the excuse to ensnare and enslave talented new vampires for their guard and eliminate those to whom they had been loyal to... in short, everyone knows why Aro allowed you to walk free, even though you evidently brought your human lover into the world of vampires and later lured her into the heart of a vampire species' power without the slightest intentions, despite their orders, to turn her." He remarked casually. Alice looked like she was about to be sick. Bella swallowed. Her face was pale for a vampire, pasty even. Esme closed her eyes and stifled a choked sob, Carlisle pressing his lips firmly together as his blue eyes gleamed and he threw an arm around his wife's shoulders. Jasper looked at his wife and family with a sickening worry. Emmett's face twisted in grief and even Rosalie looked like she felt like crying.
It was as if Edward had already lost the battle for his innocence and had been sentenced. Walter Bernhard picked up a scroll of parchment and scanned it casually.
"According to your own admission, you still resisted and debated the need to transform her during your return to the city of Forks in Washington State, the United States of America, during March, on the twenty-first, was it?" He pretended to scrutinise the scroll, squinting even. "Or was it the twentieth?" Many of the vampires, including Alistair, looked at Edward as if he had gone insane. "The meeting must have taken place around midnight, it seems." He remarked, setting the scroll aside.
Edward and the other Cullens stared. They understood that Adsila had passed on the results of her questioning and the other wizards and witches' investigations and questioning to the judges, but she wasn't supposed to know about the precise time of that meeting! Nor the exact details of their conversation! Rosalie was horrified, her whole body felt cold. Alice trembled and Emmett gathered them both into his arms, looking sick. Jasper and Esme groaned, while Carlisle swallowed, trying for the sake of his entire family to hold things together.
Edward stared. "How-"
"That would be me, Mr Cullen," Lady Laima spoke breaking her silence, drawing everybody's attention. "I do have the Sight." Whispers and murmurs rang throughout the auditorium. "And while I would normally refrain from breaching anyone's privacy, the fact of the matter is that your status as a suspect, even a criminal by your own admission, has nullified certain rights that you may possess, and allowed for certain... inspections and greater scrutiny throughout the investigation, the subsequent trials and all your impending sentences." Edward and the Cullens froze. Walter Bernhard smirked, but Lady Laima was expressionless, her gaze piercing. Elijah Mikaelson appeared very grave.
None of which were at all reassuring.
"Mr Cullen," she said clearly but without any hint of her true emotions. "Do you deny that you resisted, despite your family's overall wishes, and even the explicit wishes of your significant other, refusing to transform her into a vampire?"
Edward's face was pinched. His pallor looked ghostly, and his expression stricken. Lady Laima revealed nothing. But Elijah Mikaelson was silently taking note of Edward's face, appearing thoughtful, and Walter Bernhard was evidently enjoying this line of questioning.
It seemed out of the three judges, Elijah Mikaelson, not Lady Laima Corvinus nor Walter Bernhard, would be the most sympathetic. And even then, the Cullens and the rest of the audience doubted that it would be enough.
"I don't deny it," his voice came out as choked. Bella stifled a sob, her whole body shaking. "But only because-" Lady Laima held out her hand. "You had previously made your wishes and the reasoning for them, for her to remain human during the investigation and questioning, perfectly clear." She said shortly. The Lady Progenitor held up a scroll, reading its contents briefly before releasing it to float in mid-air and roll itself up, setting it aside.
"You were aware of the risks and dangers you would bring upon yourself, your entire family, your significant other, her family, and the members of the mundane human town of Forks?" She asked, arching a graceful brow. "Of the tracker named Demetri?"
Edward swallowed again. "Yes." He whispered. But everybody heard him.
"You were previously made aware of the existence of the laws of your species and the reasoning behind them beforehand?" When Edward nodded, Lady Laima continued, heedless of the despair in Edward's eyes. Bella sobbed silently. Esme gathered her close in comfort and she buried her face into Esme's shoulder. "And you were present during your first encounter with the Quileute Loup-Garoux and the formation of your treaty with them?"
Edward closed his eyes. "Yes." He whispered.
Elijah Mikaelson frowned. "Then, you would have been aware of the fact that the Volturi's tracker, Demetri, would have been sent by them, along with members of their guard, to the city of Forks." He pointed. "And if they should find that she was still a human, and still had interactions with the other humans of this town, as well as her father, the chief of police-"
"Charlie didn't know," Edward blurted in protest.
"Silence." Lady Laima spoke. "The question has yet to be finished."
Her face remained expressionless, she did not shout, yet her voice was clear, ringing and firm, leaving no room for dispute. Edward fell back upon his chair, silent.
After a brief pause, Elijah Mikaelson spoke once more: "Would not the Volturi guard have taken steps into their own hands to eliminate the girl?"
Edward ground his jaw. "Not if I could help it."
"You and your family, I presume?" At Edward's tight nod, he continued. "I assume that as this treaty- as far as the Quileute packs and tribal council had believed back then- was not broken at that point, that therefore, especially since your future wife was still human and by extension, connected to the tribe via marriage-" Edward and Bella were briefly confused along with the rest of the Cullens until they remembered what Sue- and Bella- had said: Quil's grandmother, Old Quil's wife, had been Charlie's aunt, Molly Swan. "-this meant that she would be protected by their pack? Would this not have brought them- and by extension, the rest of their kind- into direct conflict with the Volturi should they attempt to tie loose ends by either eliminating the girl and anyone she may have told or insisting upon her transformation at the very least? If so, then you were surely aware of the fact that this would trigger and escalate into a much wider conflict, erasing the fragile peace between vampires and Loup-Garoux, even if you didn't know of the existence of the different species of each kind?" Edward was silent.
The three judges looked at him expectantly. So did Maggie and the audience. "A conflict which would have seen innocents caught within the crossfire?" Elijah Mikaelson pressed further. "Including your significant other and her family, should you resist the Volturi in the first place?"
Edward took a shaky breath. "I... didn't think about it at the time." He looked embarrassed and ashamed. His shame only seemed to grow as he admitted, "I believed that there were ways which she could avoid being turned and to live out her human life, since Demetri's gift works by catching wind of a person's mind, even from the other side of the world. As Bella was seemingly immune to telepathic abilities due to her latent shield, I believed that she would be safe from him."
"And what of her family?" Lady Laima spoke. "Her friends? Her acquaintances? The Loup-Garoux who would have caught this Demetri and the rest of the Volturi guard's scents and reacted accordingly, since not only had they not the permission to be present in their lands, they were seeking out a human girl and also, are unlikely to allow their pack to get between them and their selected targets, therefore, giving rise to merely hostilities, but direct conflict between both parties? Would the rest of your family, who are not immune from telepathic powers, been targeted by the Volturi? Even if part of the treaty your family had signed with them included an agreement that they would protect one another, which it did not?"
Everyone seemed to hold their breaths, although some whispered. Edward swallowed. He looked like he was being tortured. It was painfully obvious that he had not once thought about the other inhabitants of Forks, the rest of his family and his species. His eyes flew to the ground.
The audience, particularly the witnesses from New Year's Eve, looked at each other. Again, people started whispering, but everyone who had spoken for Edward and his family, who had come to their defence were silent... although they now started to wonder, to question, just whom they had defended and listened to in regard to when they had listened to, and in some cases, even befriended Edward.
It was as clear as day. Bella felt sick. She stared at her feet. She couldn't look at the trial, not anymore. She wanted to run from the room. She couldn't look at any of them in the eyes.
She felt an overwhelming feeling of shame. Shame and guilt at what she had asked, expected, hoped and begged them to do for her sake and that of her family's, taking into account her overwhelming devotion, not just to her own daughter, but to Edward whom she sought more than anyone else, apart from Renesmee, to protect.
Walter Bernhard tutted. Bella's eyes stung and blurred. "Poorly planned and thought out," he mocked, disapprovingly. "Careless... and sloppy. Were you perhaps hoping that luck would turn out your way, as it had always done when it delivered your beloved back into your arms in the nick of time, before either of you would be harmed?"
Bella bit her lip. That touched a nerve. Suddenly, she was made aware that someone in particular was looking at her. She looked up. Sure enough, the red-haired vampire lord grinned, showcasing his shark-like teeth.
She felt cold. Was he using his powers since he wasn't wearing an inhibitor? Bella blanched and quickly glanced, alarmed, at Esme and Rosalie on either side. However, the two of them, along with the rest of her family, had their eyes fixed on Edward, appearing not to notice. Her eyes glanced fearfully back at the vampire lord with inhuman speed, but Walter Bernhard looked as if he'd never moved his gaze from Edward.
Bella paled. She knew she wasn't imagining things. Her instinct was to surround her and her loved ones with her shield, but the weight of the twisted silver collar lay heavily against her collar bone. She swallowed, her fists tightening, same as her insides.
This judge... this Walter Bernhard... was far more dangerous than Victoria, than James, than any of the Volturi. And worse, he was presiding over the trial that would determine whether Edward was innocent but misguided and mistaken, or a criminal who would be sentenced harshly. And she suspected that he already knew the answers of what he was asking, Bella realised with a jolt. No doubt, Lady Laima would know what she wanted: for Edward to get psychiatric help.
Realisation struck Bella like a bolt of lightning: they already knew. The judges knew the answers to the questions they were putting before Edward. They were testing him. Testing his answers and responses to see if he was truly guilty or innocent, whether he was inherently malevolent, insane... or anything.
Bella knew that the others might keep an open mind, but Walter Bernhard looked as if he was the type to enjoy and prolong Edward's suffering. He terrified Bella, honestly. He terrified her worse than Caius, the twins before she saw them at their trial, or Victoria and James.
Edward's shoulders shook. "I thought... I was." He whispered. But all heard him. "I was a fool."
Beside her, Rosalie also looked stricken. Her face was ghostly pale, her mouth trembled. Both of them grasped each other's hands, squeezing them for comfort. She too seemed to have caught on with what Bella had realised. But there was no going back now. Edward... Bella sensed that her husband had made an admission that could not be taken back now that he was being examined.
"A fool?" The judge sounded amused. "Is that how you would perceive it?" The other two were silent.
Edward made no response.
Elijah Mikaelson broke the silence. "Mr Cullen," he spoke. "The charges against you were... considerable. Although the laws of the Vampire Confederation and the universal law of morality strictly forbids taking another, including humans, against their free will and consent, the truth of the matter is that your now-wife's consent for anything may be considered... questionable. And dubious." Silently, the audience shifted in their seats. Bella stared at the floor beneath her feet as she felt the weight of hundreds of gazes staring right back at her- and the weight of many more since there were invisible cameras broadcasting the entire case to the rest of the supernatural world.
Alice's eyes gleamed like she had tears.
"Your wife's consent to an abortion, for example," the dark-haired judge continued, eliciting sharp gasps and more agitated whispers "although you then set aside such attempts. Therefore, these charges may be set aside since you had made no such attempt-" Bella's heart could have leaped at her chest and she heard Rosalie and Esme gasp "-however, that can also be disputed, since the only reason you did not succeed in even making an attempt is because your pregnant wife had taken measures to ask the other members of your family to guard her in case you attempted anything and she was powerless to resist."
All hope seemed to sink like a stone in Bella's chest. Beside her, she felt Rosalie, Alice and Emmett's shoulders slump in despair. Esme sighed, closing her eyes and Carlisle did the same. Jasper's mouth pressed into a thin line. Everybody looked at each other, Siobhan and Liam trading incredulous glances while Maggie was stumped. Eleazar was shocked and stunned, Carmen horrified, while Garrett looked frankly appalled, and Kate and Tanya completely both aghast and disbelieving. Benjamin and Tia looked bewildered at one another, and even Zafrina, Senna and Kachiri seemed taken aback while, most shockingly at all, Alistair's finally showed some emotion, albeit a frozen expression of disbelief and horror- which swiftly turned into anger as his blue eyes narrowed. Luca, Charles and Mackenna seemed utterly lost and bewildered, while Peter and Charlotte, Mary and Randall all looked at each other to see if any of them could believe their ears. They couldn't.
"Your proposal for marriage is another matter of debate," the judge continued "since the Lady Progenitor's visions claim that she showed reluctance to even accept your proposal." Bella's heart seemed to fly to her throat "claiming that she had protested due to her young age and the fact that, in the era she was raised, our contemporary age, and the breakdown of her parents' own marriage which had taken place when her mother was nineteen- just a year older than she was-"
Bella froze in shock. Just how much did the judges know about her? In person? But before she could comprehend this, Elijah Mikaleson continued, "- meant that she, quite naturally, feared to take the ultimate step even if she claimed to have been ready to commit herself eternally to you but also panicked at the idea of losing you as you had already attempted to force her to live without you and the supernatural by leaving her behind and cutting all ties and contacts with her while your entire family moved." He finished. "And there's the fact that during the previous year, around February, almost March, you had encountered her during a trip to Port Angeles- or rather, she encountered you. You were already aware that she would be there and had previously been following her for quite some time." He amended.
Maggie, it seemed, couldn't help but twist her head and gaze at Elijah the judge in shock, before turning her shocked and disbelieving gaze towards Edward. Her mouth was somewhat open. Her blue eyes were wide and round.
"I believe mortals have a term for that behaviour," Walter Bernhard was the one who spoke. Bella pressed her lips and teeth firmly together, so not to cry out. "It's called 'stalking', I believe."
A few titters were heard across the hall. Someone was mocking them, as did the judge who heard them, his smile widening. Walter Bernhard's silvery eyes seemed to glow with an unholy, inhuman light.
Elijah Mikaelson cleared his throat. "This combined with the actual consent she had- or lacked- to go with you to dinner in an Italian restaurant La Bella Italia-" a few more snickers. Walter Bernhard's smile widened. "-and of course, the prior lack of consent or even knowledge when you broke into her father's house at night on several occasions, and certainly, even after she was made aware, her father, under whose name the property was under, did not give his consent or permission for you to enter."
Now, everyone fell dead silent. Bella remembered Carlisle and Esme's fury and outrage over Edward's trespass, and how they claimed that not even the vampires who felt no compunctions nor hesitations in preying upon humans would ever do such a thing... with the exception of Victoria and Riley's newborns who weren't probably even aware of the existence of the Volturi. On all accounts, this was not something that could be brushed under the carpet or put aside.
She remembered how Carlisle and Esme claimed that the reason why vampires in Victorian Gothic literature couldn't enter into other people's houses without permission was because even they had a moral code. A person's home was their sanctuary. Their safe refuge. Bella swallowed.
And Edward had broken that too many times to count. He was never going to get away with that.
There was no going back.
Next to the judges, Maggie stared at Edward as if she had never seen him before. He could feel the weight of all the gazes of the people he had known, liked and respected, or even had been merely acquainted with, focused on him.
Edward sat like he could have been a statue. Finally, Lady Laima spoke and addressed him. "Did you coerce or insist that she marries you despite her relucance?"
"What?" Edward shouted. "No!"
Maggie turned away. Her face was aggrieved.
"He's lying," she whispered brokenly. Everybody fell silent. "My lady... he's lying. He realises it too late, and he refuses to admit it even to himself."
Carlisle closed his eyes. Esme sobbed. "I know he is." Came the calm response. The Lady Progenitor stood all of a sudden.
Everybody watched her, wondering what she was about to do. The Vampire Queen closed her eyes.
When she opened them, her eyes were a rich, deep gold.
She opened her mouth. Bella's heart grew cold, her hairs all stood on end when the Vampire Queen opened her mouth.
Her voice... she recognised it.
It was hers. She sounded just like Bella before she turned.
"Condition?" Bella's voice- from Lady Laima's mouth- her very human voice, remarkable in its resemblance to the human she had once been- was flat. "What condition?"
Then suddenly, Bella's whole body froze when Lady Laima's voice turned deeper, more masculine yet as smooth and rich as honey. She would recognise Edward's voice anywhere. From the other end of the world, across a storming sea...
"Marry me first." She spoke slowly, as Edward had when he proposed.
Then came a pause. Bella shook, trembling violently, so much she thought she would topple off the edge of the railing when Lady Laima perfectly echoed Bella's own response:
"Okay. What's the punch line?"
And just like that, the silence broke. The entire room, minus the still stunned witnesses of New Year's Eve and the Cullens, seemed to burst into laughter. It was a mocking one, none more so than Walter Bernhard the judge. Bella thought she had never felt so humiliated in her life, not even during prom when she was nearly fifteen. She would have given anything to be back there, to relive that moment instead of living this one. She'd never felt so many horrible things at once: humiliated and embarrassed; distressed, upset and fearful for Edward and his life; and... horrified. Ashamed.
At and for herself. Bella blinked at the realisation, the other negative emotions ebbing slightly. The conversation, even jarring as it was, faded as Lady Laima continued to speak in both Edward and Bella's voices. Even when Maggie reeled and pointed sharply that Edward's remark about him being almost a hundred and ten wasn't true. Was it truly consensual? The dinner with Edward, the proposal, Edward's pressuring her for an abortion...
And suddenly, it slammed into her: Bella remembered everything that had happened since Adsila Sizemore and the witches and wizards from the American magical government came: Charlie's pointed confessions, Sue's confrontations, Phil divorcing Renée and her regrets and desire to go to therapy, the breakdown in the car, the revelations and dawning realisations she'd had on the way to Edward's cell, Renesmee and Leah's faces when they witnessed Sue confronting her, Carlisle and Esme confronting Edward along with Rosalie, her own epiphany afterwards including when she met the Vampire Queen and confronted Jasper, the revelations about the extent of the Volturi's crimes and how they had betrayed the ones they claimed to have loved the most, Jasper's confessions about Edward making him use his powers to enforce calm upon their daughter, Bella's breakdown, Gabrielle's scientific and logic-based facts and evidence, Renesmee confronting her mother, Bella confronting Edward, Quil reversing his imprint bond with Claire, her own reevaluation of her life and what Edward, Renée and Jacob had done... that included all the times she's been passive and meek enough to take everything in, to believe everything the three of them had said, them making her feel guilty just so she could do what they wanted her to do...
Now, suddenly, Bella felt like throwing up.
She had never felt so certain that she was experiencing an emotional overload like she did at that moment.
Suddenly, she remembered what Edward had done... what she had allowed him to do... in the midst of the trial for his life and freedom.
A trial which he had apparently just lost.
It was far too much. She wanted to run from the room.
And she did. Bella bolted from her seat, uncaring if anyone had noticed and rushed out the doorway and down the stairs.
She didn't care where she was going. She just wanted to get away.
And they hadn't even gotten to Edward's part in the Della Rosa case yet.
"In families you can find the source of every human drama. It is interesting because the cell of a society, the cell of a country, the cell of humanity – everything lies in the family."
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Back in Forks...
"That's the plan." Leah informed Charlie- and Renesmee.
The two of them absorbed this in silence. They said nothing.
Leah sighed. Her shoulders slumped. She hung her head. "For what it's worth Charlie, Nes- Renesmee... I'm sorry."
"We all are." Billy whispered. "Had I known... had we all known... we accepted it because we had always been told it was fate, that it was destiny. We had grown up knowing that, believing that. My grandfather was the Alpha. Ephraim was happy with his imprint. But I never thought-"
"Sam," Leah whispered. "If he hadn't been with me..." Sue flinched.
"If I had slapped myself over the head and mustered the courage to tell the two of them that they were related," Sue spoke softly, eyes moist with tears. "None of this would've happened. It would've saved you a whole world of pain and sorrow, same as Leah, Sam and Emily." She whispered.
"And Jacob." Quil spoke. "He wouldn't have... he wouldn't have been in this state."
"This is my fault too," Billy whispered. Tear tracks stained his deeply lined face, but he was no longer crying. He had aged even more it seemed. "Rachel and Rebecca, Jacob... I couldn't fill the void their mother left. And the girls couldn't take it anymore. They left, leaving Jacob behind."
Charlie sighed, deeply. "It wasn't all your fault." He conceded.
"It was mine too.
"If I'd been a better parent," he began "none of this would've happened. Bella wouldn't have been so unhappy and miserable either. I wouldn't have- and shouldn't have- believed Renée and at least checked up on her, or fought for custody, learned how to cook and so forth." He sighed. "Bella would've grown up alongside Jake. She would've never hurt or played with him, even unintentionally. Jake would've never been to this extreme, because Bella would've never gone to this extreme."
Billy shook his head. "That wasn't your fault."
"My lack of observation was," Charlie pointed. "Besides... I've failed in being a parent as you did, Billy."
Sue spoke. "We all did." Billy shook his head. "You and Harry least of all."
Sue's lips twitched. "Maybe. But I can't deny a small oversight on my part caused a great deal of pain, pain that could've been avoided from the get-go."
Leah was thoughtful. "Would I have listened to you?" She asked quietly. "Any more than Bella did about Edward? Or Jacob did about Renesmee and Bella? Or Sam did about me and Emily- to both of us?" She shook her head. "It's done. We can only focus on the future now, building a better life and a better world. Besides." She looked at Renesmee. "Good things also came out of it."
Renesmee gave a tentative smile. The sight of it gladdened Leah.
She remembered that Edward's trial had already begun. But all of them had deliberately avoided mentioning it for Renesmee's sake.
The crinkles around Charlie's chocolate-brown eyes creased. "Your dad would be proud of you, you know that? Both of you. And so would yours." He looked at Quil. "And whoever the hell your dad is, he isn't worth what he's lost." Charlie shook his head roughly as he looked at Embry. "But you should tell your mom." He gave a pointed look.
Embry shifted uneasily. "I don't know..."
Quil shook his head. "Tell her, Em. It's not worth keeping so many secrets between you." Charlie agreed. "She's the only mom you're ever going to get." He informed him gruffly. "Don't waste your life later in regrets, just 'cause you're afraid to tell her but you're not afraid to create a rift between the two of ya. At the end of the day, she's still your mom. And she would always be, even if you turned into a giant furry animal."
Embry was silent. Seth and Leah were both nodding at her, and so were Billy and Sue.
"Tell her," Seth urged. Embry took a deep breath and straightened.
"I'll tell her."