"The road of denial leads to the precipice of destruction."

John Bunyan

After what seemed forever, Jacob had been let out by Billy and the Council of Elders.

"Edward's sentence has been carried out. We're having a meeting. Sam and his pack are there. Yours too. The Cullens, including Bella and Renesmee, are going to join us soon in neutral territory." Billy noted grimly. He gave Jake a sad look. "Renesmee's said goodbye to her father. She's not going to see him again until long after Sue, Charlie, and I are all dead."

Jake looked up. Hope lined his face. His father flinched and then restrained himself. Jacob stared.

"Last chance, Jake," Billy said quietly. "Leave Renesmee alone for good."

As Jake stared incredulously at him, Billy explained, "She's been through more since her birth than what most people have been through in a lifetime. Enough." He gave Jacob a warning look. "She knows."

Jacob blinked. "About what?"

"About how Edward tried to arrange for an abortion without so much as asking Bella for her input, or her opinion." Billy stated grimly. "And that you also argued for that. They both know." Jake gasped.

"That's right," Billy nodded gravely. "They all know. Jacob... do you know that a forced abortion- an abortion made without the woman's knowledge or consent- or against it- is not just a crime- it's a serious violation of her own body?" Jacob flinched involuntarily.

"Dad- I can explain-"

"Do you also know that Renesmee knows that you were in love with Bella?" Billy asked archly, causing Jacob to pale. "And that you tried to kill her as soon as she was born?"

Jake felt like he couldn't breathe. Like a whole wave of Arctic seawater had been dumped over his head, drowning him in ice.

"Well, now you do." Billy confirmed quietly. "And clearly you've never researched what the effects of a forced abortion were on the women who'd endured them." He shook his head. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, son. And not just to Renesmee." Billy pushed himself forward on his wheels, causing Jacob to snap out of his frozen state to catch up with him. "I'll let you in on another secret: while you were out of the loop, your friend Quil asked Gabrielle Delacour to reverse the imprint he had with Claire." Jake's jaw crashed to the floor.

"What?" He choked. He froze again, just as they reached the kitchen. Billy sighed and wheeled himself around to face Jacob.

"Quil voluntarily gave Claire up to give her the life she deserves." He explained quietly. "And also so that he could live his own life. He had Gabrielle reverse the imprint, which she did successfully. And she made sure that Quil would be able to imprint again someday, but that this won't repeat itself: he won't imprint on an underage kid or anybody who has the slightest chance of not wanting a romantic relationship with him. He won't be as obsessive, feeling like every step away from her causes him pain and that only touching her, being right next to her, gives him any kind of relief from this agony. Claire's gone, Jake. Quil has let her go."

Jacob's vision spun. He wasn't able to breathe. He clutched onto the table to stay upright. He began hyperventilating. There was a ringing in his ears.

"Jacob," Billy's frantic voice sounded and he looked up to stare at his father in the face. Jake realised that he'd doubled over, still clutching the table for dear life. He felt light-headed. Nausea rose in his gut. Bile filled his mouth.

"Look at me Jacob," Billy whispered urgently. "It's alright." He said in a calming voice. Billy grasped his son's face in his hands.

Jacob tried to breathe evenly, calmly, to try to calm himself down.

Billy pulled out a chair. The sound of wood scraping against the floor brought him somewhat back to reality. "Sit down before you fall down." He ordered.

Obediently, Jacob sat. He sat, gaping at his father, as soundless as a fish. His face felt bloodless.

"How?" He managed to croak.

"It wasn't easy at first." Billy heaved a sigh. "But now Quil has no regrets." He paused thoughtfully. "It was better than running the risk, should Claire grow and find out when she gets old enough, of forcing someone to stay who doesn't want to stay." He gave Jake a pointed look. "Or influencing her, moulding her mind, and turning her into his puppet, even unintentionally. Every person was given free will for a reason, Jake. And even if Claire did grow up to consent to a relationship with Quil, would it be on her own terms, of her own free will, completely without the slightest bit of influence on Quil or anybody else's part? How about the rest of us?"

Billy arched a brow.

"That's not fair on her and you know it." He pointed out frankly. "She would've had to live out her entire life with even less freedom than Rachel has now, and it's also not fair on Quil, because he has to wait for her to grow up, and at the same time, run the risk of losing everything including all of his hopes and dreams should she reject him, or even request a bit of freedom. Claire wouldn't have been allowed to stick posters of boy bands and male celebrities on the walls, slip secret love notes in class, hide photos of her crush and giggle over it with the other girls, the way so many kids typically do as they're growing up." Billy looked saddened. "She would never have been able to have any kind of childhood. Or experience in getting to know and dating guys apart from Quil, to know what kind of guy she likes and how to live in or conduct an actual relationship, or any kind of future, especially since imprinting... it definitely alters your purpose in life, your personality. The kind of relationship that Paul has with Rachel, and Jared has with Kim, and Sam has with Emily isn't exactly normal, even if they are closer in age than you and Renesmee, or Quil and Claire. If you feel like you're in pain- literal pain- just because you take a few steps away from her, and only being close enough to touch her gives you some kind of relief, that's not love, Jake. That's bad. That's something that needs to be fixed."

Jacob couldn't breathe. "Rachel..."

Billy nodded. "Rachel wants out, Jake. She's made up her mind and no one and nothing can change it: not that anybody has the business to even try and influence or to take away her choices." Billy gave Jacob a stern look.

He pressed a glass of water into Jacob's hand and gestured to the plate of steaming food in front of him: eggs on toast, hash browns and beans. Jake hadn't even noticed. "Drink and eat up, Jacob." He ordered. "You're going to need all the strength you can get."

The hard glint in Billy's eyes was something Jake had never seen before. Something in him felt compelled to follow Billy's order, knowing that he wasn't going to get any more answers any time soon. So Jacob ate, trying to get the food and water down. It felt like his throat was closing, but once he'd managed to choke some of it down, he instantly felt better. At least for a time.

"It's the fool who plays at the precipice. But only the prince of fools blames another when he falls."

Jay Kristoff

Inside the Cullen house, they had finished the last of their preparations. Most of their things, including furniture, ornaments, and surplus clothing that wasn't likely to be worn, would be sent to Seattle, to an apartment Carlisle had rented. The cars would be placed on loan, or for sale. The Cullen house was officially put up for sale too, along with the cottage that came with it. And while Bella had taken the paintings within it, along with the more personal and valuable items inside, she'd asked Esme and Alice to look for cheaper but equally pretty paintings to put in their place, so they could appeal to any buyers or renters.

This would be the last time they would leave this place, never to return.

Except maybe to Charlie's house, for Bella and Renesmee's case.

Bella sat in a private corner, her eyes focused on the bracelet she held above her lap. Her fingers traced every detail of the Wolf figurine, which Jacob gave her. In the other hand, she held an intricately woven and braided Quileute promise bracelet, the one which Jacob had given to Renesmee and the one which she had taken off. Renesmee had, at some point when she had gotten frustrated at her own lack of space thanks to Bella, Jacob, and her father, ripped it off her wrist and stashed it into the drawer of her vanity table. When Bella stated that they should return it, Renesmee instantly flew to the vanity, opened her door, grabbed the woven band, and held it out for Bella to take.

That had saddened and pained Bella more than she knew, especially exacerbating the guilt she had at not only destroying Jacob's life but playing a part in ruining her own daughter's childhood, despite her intention to be as different from Renée as she could possibly be. Now, Bella completely understood, accepted, and agreed wholeheartedly with her daughter's decision. While the MP3 player Edward had given her for Christmas, holding no less than five thousand songs, most of them being Edward's favourites, had stood undisturbed in the same drawer, Bella had no doubt that some part of Renesmee would still compel her to take Edward's gift with her wherever she went, even if she couldn't, especially on most days and difficult moments when she was feeling particularly sad or upset, even bear to look at it, much less use or touch it. Renesmee was going to have to process a lot of things and do a great deal of healing, before she could even begin to forgive Edward, and trusting him again would be another matter entirely. Bella had then sat Renesmee down on her bed, gathering her suddenly-vulnerable daughter on her lap, and held out the items of jewellery which had belonged to both the English royals of the Middle Ages and Elizabeth Masen. She had then proceeded to explain the value of these items, not so much in monetary worth but the people who'd used them, and the story behind each of them and how they ended with them, as little as she knew about Elizabeth Masen and what she had researched about the English royals at that time, the Plantagenet dynasty and how they ended up losing such a priceless treasure.

Part of Bella also wondered whether Sulpicia and Athenodora would return to Volterra, along with members of the former guard, to retrieve the possessions they had, including jewels like these, long believed by humanity to have been lost, and whether any of them had any meaning. Aro and Caius must have piled priceless treasures aplenty to their wives during their years of imprisonment. Bella doubted that any of them would ever wish to return to that tower which had been their gilded prison, but she wondered whether either of them could look at the gifts their husbands had given them without feeling a conflict of emotions the way Bella was sure her daughter was feeling. They must have felt betrayed by the ones they loved and trusted the most in the entire universe, yet did they truly hate them? Did they still love them? Did they vindicated, like justice had been done, or did they feel pain and guilt at doing absolutely nothing to save them while standing by and bearing witness to their gruesome executions? She briefly recalled Sulpicia and Athenodora fleeing from the room while Aro and Caius were being executed. Even though they had been under Chelsea and Corin's spells, they had been with their husbands for thousands of years...

Bella didn't know. She felt a strong surge of sympathy for Sulpicia and Athenodora, whose names she hadn't even known prior to the lead-up of the trials. She also felt pity for Marcus, knowing now that he had been enslaved by Chelsea and forced to continue existing for the sole purpose of being useful to Aro and Caius, all the while suffering the loss of his mate for thousands of years and being unable to even investigate the circumstances of her death, much less avenge her. All the while, the ones he'd trusted, the person he least expected to be, had been the one responsible for Didyme's demise. Compared to the three of them, Bella really had been lucky; she'd snapped out of it only months after her wedding, and it was largely due to her own stupidity that she hadn't before she'd gotten married. Not bad luck.

Bella explained that the crystal heart, and the engagement and wedding ring, same as the other pieces in Chicago which had once belonged to Elizabeth Masen, as well as the antique necklace and its box, now belonged to Renesmee. While Bella explained that she did not want to keep anything of Aro's, she couldn't deny not only the value of these priceless treasures, but the history behind it. She felt a strong surge of guilt for tossing the necklace onto the floor of Renesmee's bedroom once the confrontation had ended and they had returned to the cottage, as well as her ingratitude when she had received these priceless (to Edward) items that once belonged to Elizabeth Masen, someone who- supposedly, according to Jasper- meant so much to Edward, even though the latter showed very little evidence of that, apart from gifting her jewellery to Bella, Alice and Esme. While Edward's love had been an illusion, the meaning behind these items was undeniable, and he had entrusted them to Bella. If Renesmee did not want the necklace and the box, Bella told her that they could donate it to a museum or, somehow, as Renesmee soon suggested, return it to the British royal family who were its rightful owners. Bella didn't know how they could do that without any explanations, but maybe Gabrielle or her sister's extended family in the British magical government could take care of that. She reminded herself to breach that subject with Gabrielle.

The locket which Bella had given her daughter for her first Christmas, hung around Renesmee's throat. Bella explained that, along with the woven Quileute promising band which had been Jacob's present, the Wolf figurine on its silver bracelet which Jacob had given to Bella, would have to be returned to him. But she wondered, what he was going to do with either of them now? These items were made with love, so intricately crafted, it would be a sad thing to see them destroyed or discarded, as Jacob would undoubtedly do so, as he would want no reminders of either of them.

And Bella couldn't blame him. Oh, how she couldn't blame him. Because in the end, despite Jacob, despite Edward, despite what they did to her and to Renesmee, she was, if not equally, then ultimately to blame for leading Jacob on and encouraging them both. In the end, the buck stopped with her. She had the power to say yes or no, and for the most part, she had thrown most of it away and used the remainder to cause harm to the people around her for all the wrong reasons

Once again, Bella asked the question she seemed to have been asking endlessly: How could I have been so stupid? If she hadn't meant to hurt anyone...

Esme slowly walked up to her. "I've contacted the agent in Chicago." She said softly. "Edward's put the house and all his property up for sale, and we've already brought it. We just have to go there and sign everything."

For a moment, Bella said nothing. And then she spoke:

"I still have to speak with Charlie... tell him I'm sorry. But we've overextended our welcome. We can't stay here any longer."

Silence reigned between them.

Esme sat down beside Bella. The two of them didn't speak. Outside, the Calawah River rushed, trickling through the forest. The birds sang on the treetops. The sky was a clear, vivid blue, the sun lit the sky, and the greenery was lush. Despite everything that had happened and what was about to happen, Bella still felt a strong surge of peace. Again, she couldn't believe she had taken the beauty of her surroundings for granted and now she would never get to appreciate it ever again.

"The Quileutes will never bar you from seeing your father," Esme said quietly.

"I know this."

For a moment, Bella didn't answer. She knew that they wouldn't, and while Leah and Sue didn't blame her, and neither did Seth, and Embry, Quil, and Billy didn't appear to either, she knew she couldn't stay. For their sake and all of theirs. This would be the last the Cullens ever set eyes upon their house, and the Olympic peninsula that had been their playground, hunting grounds, and safe haven for so long.

"I'm so sorry I ever brought you guys into this," Bella whispered.

"I'm sorry I ever caused this. I'm sorry everyone has to pay the price for my mistakes." Her eyes stung.

Esme gathered her close. "We've all made mistakes." She whispered. "Some worse than others. I have my regrets as well. But I don't regret meeting you, Bella, and seeing you as one of my own. And I don't regret Renesmee." She sighed. "We just have to build a better future for ourselves and her, and learn the lessons this harsh time has given us."

But it went unspoken that Esme also knew that Renesmee would have had a future as a human which would have been envied. Although her existence seemed like a fairytale, they all knew that the cottage they had built which should have been a safe and happy home, had been anything but for Renesmee.

"At the end of your life, you will never regret having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent."

Barbara Bush

Charlie Swan sat in front of his kitchen table, eating breakfast before he headed off to work. It was Saturday, but he'd decided to come in to take his mind off of things, especially what was to come. As he sat, not focusing on the breakfast cereal he was supposed to be consuming and was quickly becoming soggy, Charlie contemplated all he had learned and felt a strange acceptance of. It wasn't like he had any other choice but to accept that his best friend's son, whom he had known all his life, could now turn into a giant wolf. He now knew that werewolves existed, and fairies, and witches and wizards, along with vampires, and that his daughter had made the decision to be one of the latter, and her daughter- Charlie's granddaughter- was a half-human, half-vampire hybrid. That wasn't what bothered him.

No, 'cause no matter what, she was still his daughter. Regardless of whether she was a vampire or a human.

It wasn't her change into a creature in horror films and books that bothered him. It wasn't the load of secrets that he sensed hanging around her for years that bothered him the most. It wasn't even the fact that Bella wasn't being truthful either; it was the guy she had chosen to be with who seemed so... without conscience or any consideration and empathy for the plight of others, that made Charlie incredulous as to how or why his daughter could have ever chosen such a guy. That she could have ever fallen in love with such a person. If vampires weren't the soulless monsters that film and TV made them out to be, then how can anyone explain Edward Cullen?

It disgusted him, the way Charlie had confronted Edward about all these lies, and straight-up telling him that while he didn't need to know the whole truth, he sure as hell did not deserve to be lied to: no one did. And the smug little bastard had simply and calmly said he was sorry- the most insincere apology Charlie had ever heard- and he was a cop who dealt with all the fake apologies and tears while he was in the interrogation room or when he caught someone speeding- before calmly launching into an entire speech of excuses that could have made up an entire paragraph in a book.

And now, he knew that Edward had been a worse father than Charlie himself had been. Which was truly saying something.

Charlie sighed. In the end, he knew he only had himself to blame. His own failings as a father were what drove his only daughter into Edward's arms. And while he knew that Renée was equally to blame- if not more- Charlie refrained from even thinking about her as it would only cause a firestorm of rage and bitterness to swell within his belly and threaten to consume him from head to toe. He would have to deal with and process all that later, although he doubted he could ever forgive Renée. He needed to clear the air with Bella, but first...

Charlie knew what was going to come next. And his heart broke and filled itself with regrets that he had never looked into Bella's life in Phoenix more; that he'd never fought for custody or more time, or tried to reach out to her; that he never tried to communicate and reason with her better the way he did when he confronted her just before- as it turned out- Edward got arrested. Or that he never pushed for her, if not to go back to Jacksonville (and now that he knew what Renée had been up to with Bella, before the latter had moved to Forks, if he had known back then, Charlie certainly would have never let Renée come anywhere near Bella, much less to be alone with her), then had gotten her help, instead of pushing her towards Jacob and expecting him to deal with her issues. And what's more, despite being around Jacob his whole life, Charlie had never thought that not having a mother, and being left behind by his sisters to take care of the house and his dad, could ever have had an impact on Jacob. The kid seemed so normal, and yet, even without being able to turn into an animal...

Yes, Charlie Swan was filled with more regrets than he could have ever imagined he would experience. And, unbeknownst to him, just like Bella he found, much to his own sense of heartache, he was unable to do a damn thing to take it all back, and little to fix it. Not as a helplessly human person. Not as a cop. But maybe as a father and a grandfather, but even then it would only be to an extent. Charlie sensed that the Cullens would have to leave Forks, even if Jacob agreed to sever the imprint-connection (Charlie shuddered at the thought) with Renesmee and left to go to Canada. It would've been too awkward to expect the Cullens to stay, and they also made it clear they were done with all the memories they had been left with. Now that vampires were, most thankfully, agreeing to stop preying on humans, had a better government, and separated their society from most, if not all, contact with the human world, this meant that Bella would be leaving as well, taking Renesmee with her. While they promised to visit, and Charlie knew that Leah, Billy and Sue certainly would have no issues with that, they knew that the tension between the Wolves and the vampires was back (somewhat), and that it would be more comfortable and better for everyone, the humans included, if they all left. Besides, Renesmee was growing, in every single way. She needed to expand her horizons, and Edward, Jacob and Bella had denied her that for long enough. His granddaughter deserved better.

Charlie had never been a religious person, even though he respected and allowed others to believe as they would, but now he thought that if vampires, fairies, witches, and werewolves existed, then somewhere up there, God would too. And he prayed, if God would listen, that there would be a peaceful resolution, somehow. And that they could all heal and move on, and make a better future then what they had.

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever."

Keri Russel

Renesmee

Renesmee didn't know if she could come back. She didn't know if the Wolves would want to see her after she rejected Jacob, even though she hoped she would be allowed to see Grandpa and Sue, and Seth and Leah. Even Embry and Quil. But she wasn't sure if she could ever come back.

Renesmee didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone from Sam's pack, and she was sure that she was going to have to face Jacob later tonight anyway. She felt a strange mix of conflicting emotions, as her mom had called them.

She pondered how they had even gotten there in the first place. So she went outside of her bedroom window and ran what seemed to her to be a short distance until she reached her favourite tree. She clambered up, enjoying the view, as she did the morning before Dad- Edward had been arrested.

She also wondered what her mother had said, when she conceded that Renesmee had been right, and that had shocked and frightened her more than she dared to admit. More than Renesmee could ever feel triumphant about.

For a long time now, Renesmee's view of the outside world, the world of humans, had been through films, books and TV. But unlike her mother had expected, she didn't look at fairytales like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty: that held no interest for her. Oh, she watched them, for a time, particularly Disney's version, but that also got her thinking about how lucky Prince Philip and Aurora were since they'd been engaged to get married when they were young, far younger than Mom had been when she married Edward, but had separated and not seen each other for well over ten years, only to fall in love and eventually find out that, while being betrothed, the one they had each fallen in love with was the one their parents had chosen for them. But what if it hadn't been? Renesmee wondered. And what happened after the famous 'And they all lived Happily Ever After' line?

Aunt Rosalie had told her that Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White had been made on an earlier date than the Little Mermaid, Mulan and Beauty and the Beast, and it showed. Renesmee could see the grainy, yet misty and dreamlike clarity of the pictures onscreen. How the quality increased as time went by. At times, the princesses had seemed so silly to Renesmee that she wondered how or why people, including her own mom, could ever think or talk about them as being something good, something heroic. Something special. Something a little girl wanted to be. They weren't. She thought that it anyone else had been in Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, or Snow White's positions, anyone could've done a better job then doing absolutely nothing and letting someone else look after them all the time. Renesmee thought that the best and smartest princesses she'd seen so far had been Belle in Beauty and the Beast, and Mulan. Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora... in the end, they had just been lucky. That was it.

And so had her mother- until now. Things didn't turn out so well in the end. Renesmee had, on her own admission, and shame, been lashing out, feeling betrayed and angry by her parents and Jacob, including her mother for choosing and deciding to stay with Edward, when she'd confronted Mom about her relationship with him. Yes, there were little clues that things weren't right, the way Da- Edward controlled everything, even on the rare occasions when Mom didn't take his side- although she never stood up to him. Edward basically didn't look like he actually cared about what she wanted, unless it was to keep her quiet and content to do what he wanted, he didn't look like he cared about anything she might want or think, and made all her decisions for her without even asking or telling her what had happened. And while Mom didn't like that, she just grumbled while Edward smiled, him knowing perfectly that Mom would do what he wanted and what he told her to do anyway and not remain angry for long, as she turned around and went on her way, doing exactly what he knew she would. Renesmee didn't want to live like that. She'd gotten angry at being pushed around and played, and her father had seemed so upset and hurt about her being angry about that, or even just wanting to do something different, and then he made her feel bad about her wanting something different than what he'd wanted and for getting angry at him. And then Mom would take his side.

Renesmee had been sick of that. But somehow, amidst all the stories and Gabrielle's revelations- along with Leah and Sue's- about how much Edward had betrayed Mom more than anyone, except for Renesmee, Renesmee thought about how true love was presented in film and TV, but not the Disney fairytales her mother liked and wanted her to watch. And how it all changed the newer the films and TV shows were. In some films, the message the heroes had learned was that it didn't matter whether a person was a prince or a princess, or someone who wasn't rich. It didn't matter if they didn't shower you with expensive gifts, make you live in a palace, and get beautifully dressed up. It mattered that they were honest, treated you fairly, even if they didn't spoil you, and that was true love. Or friendship. And that wasn't what her parents had, and it wasn't what Jacob gave to Renesmee.

Renesmee who started to look up to the heroes and heroines who didn't marry who their parents wanted them to since they were young, compared to the Disney princesses who- luckily for them- usually fell in love with the people their parents had chosen. Or, like Ariel and Mom, with someone they didn't really know, as it turned out. Ariel had been the luckier one, but she did wonder what happened in the end.

So Renesmee admitted to herself that she lashed out, after comparing her parents' love to the love all these heroes and heroines had that wasn't expected, as well as the kinds of friends that they had. That had come out of nowhere; she didn't really think that Mom would take things seriously, and certainly not to believe Renesmee when she pointed out that Edward didn't seem to love her for who Mom truly is, because he never really seemed to care about what she really wanted or liked. He just wanted a fairytale like any other, something which had been written and repeated time and time again.

Yes, she believed that, and made sense back then and, strangely, even more now. But Renesmee never thought that her mom would take the remark she'd thrown while she was acting out of hurt, sadness, and anger than she had ever felt that seriously. Or even that mom would believe it. Or that Renesmee herself was more right than she knew in saying all that. After all, it was just TV, right?

Part of her felt terrible, especially since Dad was now imprisoned. Maybe Dad and Jacob were right and she really was a monster. No, not Dad. Edward, she reminded herself. But Mom had firmly denied it, saying that Edward, Jacob and her had betrayed each other and that Renesmee had nothing to do with it. She just happened to arrive into their mess after everything had been done, and had gotten into this mess precisely because of their own bad decisions, nothing that Renesmee had ever done on her own. Mom also said that her and Edward's marriage would have broken down anyway without Renesmee ever existing; given enough time, she would have eventually had to face that fact. And if she'd chosen Jacob instead, they would've also broken up. None of the three, Mom admitted, had been good for each other. And while she would never regret Renesmee, Mom seemed to regret ever meeting and falling in love with Edward- and Jacob- more than anything.

It was strange, hearing Mom say these things, to mean them, and yet... to talk about herself like she was a silly kid in all those high school dramas, making all these mistakes everyone watching them knew they were going to make, and yet... it all made sense. Bella was Renesmee's mother, but Renesmee was starting to see her mom as well... while still her mother, also someone who hadn't yet grown into an adult, or had been forced to be one while she wasn't ready yet.

What would happen now? As much as Renesmee was angry with Jacob, as much as she felt betrayed and hurt more than she could have ever imagined she would, she didn't want Jacob to suffer. Renesmee didn't know why. She thought that she would hate Jacob- and maybe she did. But a small part of her still cared about him, as angry as that made her feel with herself. As worried as she might've been, since Jacob could have easily used this part of her to get her to do whatever he liked, the way he and Edward had done with both her and Mom in the past. She felt the same way towards Edward too. As much as she desperately wanted to hate him, Renesmee found that she couldn't. It wasn't fair; they hadn't really loved her, least of all for herself, they'd played with and used her to do whatever they wished, and they'd both wanted her dead at some point until they each found out she was more use to them alive than dead. That was the only reason Renesmee was still alive, she was sure of it. Edward didn't kill her either before or after she was born because he heard her thoughts, saw that she didn't want to hurt Mom, and thought he could play happy families with both of them in the end. Jacob wanted to hurt- no, kill her- so he could get back at Mom and Edward, and only stopped because he imprinted and saw that he could have someone else. A replacement or a substitute. That thought made her more bitter and angrier than she had ever been. She was absolutely sure she wanted nothing to do with him. And who wanted to be with their mom's old boyfriend- or almost-boyfriend- anyway? Someone who'd even kissed her more than once? The thought of that made Renesmee feel sick.

If only she could hate him. And if only she could just hate Edward too, and feel nothing else towards either of them. It would have been so much easy if she could just hate them both without caring a tiny bit for them. But she couldn't. And the only thing Renesmee was completely sure now, was that she wanted to leave.

"Everyone has choices to make; no one has the right to take those choices away from us. Not even out of love."

Cassandra Clare

Rachel sat in silence at the porch of her house. She knew she would have to confront Paul soon.

And she hated it. She hated that it had come to this point.

When she thought about how her brother likely ended up imprinting on his almost-girlfriend's newborn daughter, Rachel thought that maybe this could all have been avoided if she'd just grown a pair and been there for her little brother, the way her mom would've wished. Maybe that way, Paul would've also gotten to know her, seen her as just another girl hanging around La Push without ever imprinting on her. Or maybe he would've imprinted on her, but they would've been better suited for each other, and the kind of life that he wanted would have appealed to her more.

But it didn't happen. Rachel was too used to being independent, too free. And while she didn't apologise for that, Paul wasn't like that and he'd been involuntarily stuck with her while also not wanting that. Rachel didn't know whether it was just the imprint or Paul himself, but she felt like she had been drained dry.

If they had been two entirely regular humans, Rachel was certain they would've never gotten together. Worse, if they had both been two Wolves, she was also certain that they would have both been happier apart. Because Rachel, if she had been a Wolf, would have been a wild one, even more free than she was now. Independent and self-reliant, Rachel would've been the lone Wolf, or maybe she would've occasionally visited the pack, but she wasn't meant for pack life. She didn't know. Rachel thought that she wanted love, she wanted a sense of home and belonging the way she once felt back when her mom had been alive, but she wasn't ready to sacrifice her freedom and independence for that.

And that was what Paul thought was ideal in a relationship. He thought that being soulmates should mean that they were each other's world, with nothing and no one else involved. That they constantly had to be together since they were two halves of a whole, and that it wasn't natural or normal to want any time apart on their own. It was normal, even natural to feel so much pain, even just taking a few steps apart, and Rachel had been appalled and horrified when she'd heard that. And either Rachel wasn't suited for this life, or she wasn't ready for that just yet. She found that out not long after Paul had imprinted. It seemed so great at first, Paul was handsome, loving and tender, he acted like he'd found his purpose in life just by finding his 'soulmate' and Rachel, admittedly, like the idea that she had a soulmate. But it soon became burdensome. And she knew deep down, she really didn't have a choice. People were expecting her to get with Paul, and the problem was, no one had ever survived the death or rejection of an imprint before. By the time Jacob had returned home after months in the wild, Rachel was struggling to find relief, finding any excuses just to get away from Paul just as she had, to her shame, found whatever excuse she could to avoid coming home. She knew in her heart that they weren't soulmates. It just wasn't meant to be.

Rachel bit her lip. Her eyes brimmed with tears of pain and guilt. Towards Jacob, towards her father, towards Paul, and towards her mother who had taught Rachel never to solve her problems by running away from them. She looked up, hearing the waves crash onto the beach in the distance. Tears filled her eyes. She squeezed them shut, but they fell anyway. She brushed them aside and went back inside the house. As much as she would love to stay there and think, she was afraid that Paul would, as he inevitably did, come looking for her.

Rachel was determined to end this, but she'd promised not to get confrontational, especially since she'd learned that Paul could be very aggressive, and imprinting had mellowed him out. She had to plan this out carefully. So Rachel went back inside the house.

Rachel doesn't yet know that Jacob is prophesied to leave and never return home.

And yes, Renesmee's thoughts do sound like a mix between a small child- who's been kept prisoner and whose only window to the real outside world has been through books, film and TV. She really didn't intend for her mother to take what she said seriously; she felt incredible pain and betrayal, and she took what she saw in pop culture fiction about true love being about loving someone of their own free will, for themselves as they were regardless of their looks and it being convenient in any way, and giving the others what they actually want instead of what the other person wants them to have, as well as true love not necessarily being the most glamorous in appearance.