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Dream's Shadow

Summary:
This is my take on the over- and usually poorly- done plot. Edward leaves Bella again. She is changed and they meet again in the future. There will be a big twist! Requested by Iris. Banner by Iris!

Notes:
Try it! I know stories like this usually stink, but I thought I'd give it a try. I own nothing. Stephenie Meyer owns all.

54. Chapter 54

Rating 5/5   Word Count 512   Review this Chapter

“I love you, I love you, I love you. No one but you. Never anyone else. I swear it.”

This is probably the closest our strange relationship will ever get to an honest confession of our feelings. We try so hard to prevent the other’s pain. It’s sad. The only place we can tell the truth is here in this dark, depressing wood.

“Bella, stop promising.”

“Do you believe me?” I demand.

“Yes.”

“Liar.”

He sighs and looks at me. “Why don’t you trust me?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“Of course.”

I spit it out, slowly, painfully. “Edward… I love you, but you’re just not very trustworthy. How many times have you broken promises? How many times have you broken my heart?”

He winces. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve returned the favor. We aren’t blameless, either of us. It’s been a long hard road to our happily ever after. But every day we get closer to the end. Everything will end up okay.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

He smiles brilliantly, a grin shooting across his face full-fledged. “Thank you, Isabella.”

I freeze. Good-bye, Isabella. Good-bye, Isabella, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye…

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t call me that,” I ask weakly, and he nods.

“Why?”

“When you left…” I stammer. “That’s what you…”

“I’m surprised you remember,” he murmurs, trying to distract us both.

“None of the memories have faded. I’m sorry for that. It would save us so much heartbreak if only I didn’t have to remember.”

“Could you take the memories away with your power?”

I probe the inside of my own mind gently. “Probably, but I wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to you, to have to hold that knowledge all alone. I can’t take it from you, so I’ll hang on to it as well.”

“Bella, I don’t deserve you.”

“Nonsense. Come kiss me, please,” I reply, and he obeys.

Splendidly.

When we break apart, Edward says, slowly, “Bella, will you tell me why you keep coming back to me? Again and again I’m stupid enough to push you away, and yet you always follow no matter how cruel I am. Why?”

“I can’t live without you.” The whole world agrees. The trees sway and the moon gyrates to that resounding truth as night deepens over us. “I have to keep coming back. We don’t have a very healthy relationship, really, with all the lies and the desperation of it. We need each other so much, maybe too much. And I’ll always come back. Because of how much I love you.”

His hands surround me, pulling me closer. “I will never leave you again.”

“Don’t make another promise you’ll only break,” I say sadly. Those are words I will never believe.

“I would nev…”

“Oh, but you do. You do, Edward,” I whisper. I can feel sobs in my chest, tight and hard.

His hand strokes my face now, just as gently as if I were still breakable. “No, Bella. Because I’m making a different promise. I’ll always love you. And there’s one I’ve never broken, and I never will.”