storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2008-11-26 09:52 am
storypaint) wrote2008-11-26 09:52 am
Shreds (Edward/Bella)
Title: Shreds
Day/Theme: Oct 3 // forever
Series: Twilight
Character/Pairing: slight Edward/Bella
Rating: PG-13 for childbirth, death themes
Excerpt: Breaking Dawn AU. After she lost the baby, Bella belonged to all of the Cullens in a way she didn't before. Sure, she was part of the family-- a sister, a daughter-- but first she had been his.
After she lost the baby, Bella belonged to all of the Cullens in a way she didn't before. Sure, she was part of the family-- a sister, a daughter-- but first she had been his.
No one wanted to say it, but she wasn't his anymore. The child had come from her body, stillborn, with the blood and the afterbirth. A great part of Bella's love for Edward had died along with Renesme, and most of his for her. There it had been at his hands-- an opportunity to be a father-- and he had torn it from her, and she unwilling at that. He had held the creature in his arms for only a second before Jacob had cried out and taken it away.
Dogs were good at burying, he had supposed, in the three seconds of thought he had before he had to make his wife into a vampire, to salvage the bits of his life that remained.
It wasn't the same.
*
Bella lay in Alice's bed at night with the covers pulled over her head, as though she could still sleep, and Alice wrapped her arms around the girl and breathed, slowly and evenly, to complete the illusion.
And in the day Jasper took long walks with her, and patted her head, and told her all the history he knew, just to fill the silence.
Emmett taught her how to box, and she was good at it; Rosalie taught her how to pretend she didn't care, and she was bad at it. Carlisle did his best to counsel her and Esme just held her when the rest of them went away to hunt. They always brought the two of them something back, but Bella barely drank. Her eyes were always dark bronze.
Edward didn't know how to touch her anymore, so he didn't.
*
Sometimes she wondered if she should get a divorce, break a marriage bond that was really supposed to be forever, time cupped in their hands like a promise. When they were planning to marry, forever hadn't seemed so... long.
Alice told Carlisle the things she was beginning to see, and his brow creased. He counseled patience.
*
Alice was too late to stop it when she Saw it happen; she screamed wordlessly, pain and grief and loss and forever would she live without her brother. She rose from her chair, knocking it over in the process, and she only walked to the door before she began to run in earnest.
She wouldn't be able to come back to school again, but it was the last thing on her mind.
It played in her head over and over-- the argument, the slap, the snap, the instant of relief/happiness before he fell. Bella was crying blood-tears, the last remnants of her humanity, when Alice arrived on the scene.
She saw Alice and took a step back. Alice put up her hands in a defensive posture. She didn't want to hurt Bella (they were both hurting enough), but Bella spun on her heel and was gone, faster than Alice had ever seen any vampire run.
Alice had never felt so alone.
*
She saw Bella in two more visions before she could determine her exact location. When she told Carlisle, he nodded grimly, and they all packed for the journey to Alaska. They needed no warm clothes, and no weapons but the ones on the ends of their arms. Alice clenched her delicate fist, experimentally, as they loaded into the car for the drive to the airport.
Because Bella belonged to all the Cullens in a way she never had before, and they had their responsibilities.
Day/Theme: Oct 3 // forever
Series: Twilight
Character/Pairing: slight Edward/Bella
Rating: PG-13 for childbirth, death themes
Excerpt: Breaking Dawn AU. After she lost the baby, Bella belonged to all of the Cullens in a way she didn't before. Sure, she was part of the family-- a sister, a daughter-- but first she had been his.
After she lost the baby, Bella belonged to all of the Cullens in a way she didn't before. Sure, she was part of the family-- a sister, a daughter-- but first she had been his.
No one wanted to say it, but she wasn't his anymore. The child had come from her body, stillborn, with the blood and the afterbirth. A great part of Bella's love for Edward had died along with Renesme, and most of his for her. There it had been at his hands-- an opportunity to be a father-- and he had torn it from her, and she unwilling at that. He had held the creature in his arms for only a second before Jacob had cried out and taken it away.
Dogs were good at burying, he had supposed, in the three seconds of thought he had before he had to make his wife into a vampire, to salvage the bits of his life that remained.
It wasn't the same.
*
Bella lay in Alice's bed at night with the covers pulled over her head, as though she could still sleep, and Alice wrapped her arms around the girl and breathed, slowly and evenly, to complete the illusion.
And in the day Jasper took long walks with her, and patted her head, and told her all the history he knew, just to fill the silence.
Emmett taught her how to box, and she was good at it; Rosalie taught her how to pretend she didn't care, and she was bad at it. Carlisle did his best to counsel her and Esme just held her when the rest of them went away to hunt. They always brought the two of them something back, but Bella barely drank. Her eyes were always dark bronze.
Edward didn't know how to touch her anymore, so he didn't.
*
Sometimes she wondered if she should get a divorce, break a marriage bond that was really supposed to be forever, time cupped in their hands like a promise. When they were planning to marry, forever hadn't seemed so... long.
Alice told Carlisle the things she was beginning to see, and his brow creased. He counseled patience.
*
Alice was too late to stop it when she Saw it happen; she screamed wordlessly, pain and grief and loss and forever would she live without her brother. She rose from her chair, knocking it over in the process, and she only walked to the door before she began to run in earnest.
She wouldn't be able to come back to school again, but it was the last thing on her mind.
It played in her head over and over-- the argument, the slap, the snap, the instant of relief/happiness before he fell. Bella was crying blood-tears, the last remnants of her humanity, when Alice arrived on the scene.
She saw Alice and took a step back. Alice put up her hands in a defensive posture. She didn't want to hurt Bella (they were both hurting enough), but Bella spun on her heel and was gone, faster than Alice had ever seen any vampire run.
Alice had never felt so alone.
*
She saw Bella in two more visions before she could determine her exact location. When she told Carlisle, he nodded grimly, and they all packed for the journey to Alaska. They needed no warm clothes, and no weapons but the ones on the ends of their arms. Alice clenched her delicate fist, experimentally, as they loaded into the car for the drive to the airport.
Because Bella belonged to all the Cullens in a way she never had before, and they had their responsibilities.