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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.

8. Chapter 8

Rating 4/5   Word Count 519   Review this Chapter

Yes, yes, do it. Please.

I plead silently with the perfect pale face. It bends closer and closer to my throat, the teeth gleaming. Maybe Aro will kill me. Maybe he will not.

Either way, this is a dream come true.

A relief…

Yes, yes, yes.

His teeth reach my throat. For an instant, they are merely a cool, wet pressure on the skin, and then he closes his jaw. The pain is instant, just that of the teeth biting through my skin. Then the venom seeps through. I don’t scream. If it were the one I love (I don’t think his name) I might cry out, but in this home of monsters, I will be brave and stay silent.

The pain rushes through. I can hear my heart beat, it’s rather disturbing. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. I know this is the last time I will ever know that regular rhythm. I recall that he liked my heartbeat… if that wasn’t a part of the lie. My beautiful memories are all stained with pain now, with doubt, because he never loved me.

That hurts worse. The venom is terrible, agony rushing through me like my own blood, but knowing he does not want me, that hurts worse. “Not as bad,” I whisper to myself, and I am comforted. Because it’s true… nothing is that bad. It’s like when Jake imprinted. I loved him. My heart could have broken, but it didn’t, because it’s gone, and so nothing in the universe can be that bad. “Not as bad,” I whisper again, and I am comforted.

That becomes a mantra, of sorts. I do not scream throughout the four long days. I merely grit my teeth and whisper to myself. I can survive this. I have been through so much worse. I have lost the most precious thing in the universe, twice. I have had my greatest dream, found, lost, returned beyond expectations, and again dashed to shattered pieces, this time beyond repair. Not as bad.

My body is not broken half so badly as my heart.

My life flashes behind my eyes… the last time I was dying, I thought it was not so. I see the same thing, but this time I know I am no different. I do not see my childhood or my friends. I only see him. I see my life, the reason for my living, and I wince at the pain…

And yet I smile at the incredible, jaw-dropping beauty. Even in imperfect memory, he is perfect. I should be glad of our brief and blessed time together, but I cannot bring myself to that. No, only agony is there… it hurts too much for gratitude.

Edward smiles crookedly in my head. “Are you all right?” he whispers. “I’m sorry you hurt.”

He’s talking about the pain of transformation. This hallucination is unconscious of the far greater agony. “Fine, as long as you’re here.”

“I’ll always be here.”

I smile at my delusion while my broken soul weeps.