Fanfiction: Invisibility Chapter 12

-Insanity's Partner

Rated T

I sat there, still and unmoving for several days before someone finally knocked softly at my door and swept into the room.

It was Aro.

I still didn't move. I laid facing away from him, wanting so badly to just die. Right then and there.

He stood there for a moment. Probably waiting for him to acknowledge him, but after he realized I wouldn't, he stared by saying my name. My old name.

"Bella," he said, and I twisted around, staring at him in shock. How would he possibly know who I was? "Bella, I know exactly what you want. You wish to cease walking this earth, to rest numbly for the rest of eternity." I nodded numbly, and he continued. "But… But, I cannot give that to you. You have so much potential. If you joined us, rather than left us -us being this world- then you could benefit the world, instead of disappearing from it." He paused for a moment. "We refuse to kill you, Bella. But we would be pleased if you would join us, as you had asked."

I rolled over on my side, away from him. "Whatever." I said, numbly.

I sat like that for a few more hours. Or days...I wasn't sure which; contemplating what to do with myself for the rest of eternity.

Every so often, Aro or someone would enter to tell me something.

The first time was to tell me that Jalin had left. That hurt the most. The second time was to tell me that 'dinner was served'…so to speak.

The third time, I was entirely ready to dead-bolt my room shut, but Marcus managed to convince me to let him enter.

"Bella, let's talk about your gifts." He said, calmly. I lay back down and turned away from him again.

"Whatever." I mumbled.

"Bella, even though I can't read your thoughts, I can easily read your past on your face." I didn't move. "You didn't ever get what you wanted, did you?" I shook my head, trying to keep myself still and composed. "You were always looking out for everyone else, even when there was no reason or thanks involved. I can imagine the circumstances were always against you, as well…"

He was silent for a minute, thinking, before continuing.

"And now, these powers come to you…" he said, like he was realizing something. "When you needed them most; to make the most of the situation, correct?"

I froze. I'd never thought of it that way. But now that he says it, it makes sense. I only had a power when I needed it for the moment. Then when I usually forgot about them, until I realized they were gone.

Huh. So then, what is my power, if it all has to do with one thing?

As if reading my mind, he seemed to say something else that makes sense. "Manipulation," And I thought about that. But manipulation of what? "Manipulation is a funny word." He continued. "In this particular case, it means that you can manipulate your environment to make life easier for you." He stopped for a minute. "I'll leave you to think about that." He said, leaving in a hurry. Turning around to go tend to something I was oblivious to. I was too numb to care.

If that's my power, then why am I still so miserable? Why can't I let myself die? Why can't I disappear completely?

I decided that I no longer wished to remain conscious, and I shut my eyes, and tried my best to shut down my mind into the thoughtless oblivion I craved.

Just as the world began to fade away, into the dark, black nothingness, Edward's voice rang through my ears again. "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…"

I cried out in agony, as the light flashed glaringly into my face, making me throw my hands over my eyes to shield myself from the blinding radiance. It was too much, far too much.

I tried again, whimpering, to shut down my mind, to become unconscious. But it was hopeless now that I had the venomous tears streaming down my face with his voice still echoing in my ears.

Finally, after a few hours, I managed to calm down, and slip away.

---

It felt like seconds before Aro shook me awake.

"Amazing," he muttered as my eyes fluttered open. "Simply amazing…"

"Bella, I wish to speak with you." He spoke, in a rush.

"Then speak." I said, calmly, mellowed out a little with however long it was I'd managed to sleep.

He frowned slightly, but didn't argue. He was, however, hesitant to tell me what he planned on telling me. "Bella, dear one, we have…visitors approaching." He said slowly. Cautiously,

"And, who are these visitors?" I asked, carefully, already knowing the answer.

"Isabella," he said, firmly. "We ask that you not do anything drastic when they see you." That sent me over the edge.

"Aro! Please, no! Please don't tell them I'm here!" I begged with pleading eyes. "I left to escape him! If he sees me here, he won't rest until he pries from me my secret! I'll have to turn to werewolves to finish me off!"

He frowned, and pursed his lips, but he didn't argue the point further. "Fine," he said, calmly. "We'll keep your identity hidden…but we won't be happy about it."

Just then I heard a crash from downstairs, and a loud ripping snarl.

"Where is she?"

Edward:

I could feel Alice trying to restrain me as I burst through the large, thick wooden doors. I want my Bella!

"Where is she!" I roared.

Aro was before me in an instant. "Edward, calm down. We'll discuss this calmly, or we won't discuss this at all." I tried to jump at him, but Alice seemed to be stronger than I ever thought possible. I tried to shake her off to no avail.

"Edward, calm down!" she hissed. "I'm sure Bella is safe, don't worry about it."

I calmed down a little at Alice's words, and when she saw it reasonable to release me, she did.

Aro reached out his hand for me to touch his, but I ignored it. "Where is she?" I demanded. I want my Bella!

"Edward…" he said, like he was undecided toward something, or like he didn't want to tell me something.

"Where is she?" I asked, for what seemed like the millionth time. How many times do I have to ask one question to get one answer? What's wrong? Why is he making that face? Why is he blocking his thoughts?

"Edward…" he said again, this time with regret.

"Where. Is. She." I said slowly, enunciating every word, filling each with threatening anger.

"I'm sorry, Edward…" he said, and I felt a snarl building up in my throat.

"No." I said shaking my head in disbelief at what I knew was coming.

"She's dead." He said, his voice shaking with regret.

"What did you do to her?" I asked, taking a shaky, threatening step forward.

"Nothing." He said, taking a shaky step back.

"I'll ask once more," I said, taking another obvious step, as I noticed Jane had flicked her eyes over to mine, silently daring me to step closer. "What, did you do to her?"

"I'm sorry, Edward." He said quickly. "She died in a car accident leaving the city."

I didn't believe him. "Liar!" I barked, taking another step forward. Jane tried to train her eyes on me, but Aro waved her off. I tried to read his mind, to lift the truth from it, but all I could hear was 'I'm sorry Edward, she's dead. Please grasp that.'

"No," I whimpered, almost falling to my knees in pain. And then it clicked together for me. There's no further reason to live. Before there was at least a chance she might live. Now, there is nothing. She is gone. I have no reason to live. I need to die. I can't suffer the rest of existence knowing I was close… so close, to saving my Bella, and she died…she was gone...she couldn't have been gone...

And then it hit me, again, not just the pain, which felt as though it were crushing me. No, the thought of suicide. How to die? I was already in Volterra. I was already before the Volturi. And Jane was already threatening in her mind to kill me if I took another step forward.

It was almost too easy. Like training a gun on a cop.

I took another step forward, before I felt myself falling to the ground writing in my painful agony. I could feel the flames, burning at me, smoldering me to nothing. But that was not what made me cry out in agony. She was gone. The image behind my lids was her dead lifeless corpse, mutilated in a smashed car. The fire seemed to burn hotter, but it wasn't enough to warm my freezing heart.

I could hear Alice shouting for her to stop, and Aro trying to wave her off, but I stopped them.

I managed to frame a sentence through my yells.

"No! Finish me off! Let me die!" I yelled, as I writhed and squirmed on the floor, anxious to die.

I could hear Alice screaming more frantically, and I could feel it when the fire stopped. But the pain didn't stop. No, with nothing to distract me from it, the pain hit me even harder. Harder than her tantalizing scent did on the first day I met her.

The memory seared through my brain, and my hands went up to my face, rubbing at my eyes, trying to dispel the image of my brilliant and beautiful porcelain angel. The angel I'd been deprived of for twenty-seven years because I'd been an idiot.

Am an idiot. I am an idiot. I am an insufferable, incompetent moron. Aro might as well have told me I'd killed her myself. It was the same thing after everything I'd put her through.

I stared at him with hate raging in my eyes; self-hate.

"Don't make me go on, Aro, after everything I'd ever been through, I can't survive." I said, breathing heavily.

He stared at me in obvious shock. I wasn't surprised even a little by his reaction. Here I am. The only suicidal vampire he'd ever had the displeasure to meet. I had snapped; I knew I was now insane.

I think I always was. And now, here before him, was a vampire, who not only threatened to kill him, but also begged to be killed himself.

Then without a word, he turned and sped away from the room.

"Come back here, you coward!" I yelled after him, angered by his quick retreat. Who did he think he was?

But he was gone before I could even run after him. I turned around to look at Alice who had a very hurt expression on her face.

"Please, Edward…" she whispered, "Please don't… I won't let you!"

I scoffed. "Please," I sneered. "It's not like it makes any difference. I've been dead for the last twenty-seven years."

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Twilight Series" or the fanfictions by other authors...
LINK:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3451216/1/Invisibility