Chapter 1!

Title: 'Agreements'

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!

Note: My first Twilight fic, and probably my only… I never really planned on writing one before, but after seeing New Moon, inspiration for this particular couple wasn't too hard to catch. Lol :D

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Well, I hope somebody can enjoy this…

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"Edward…." I called his name sleepily as I stretched out my hand to the other side of my bed, hoping to feel the sudden chill of marble-textured skin.

I shouldn't have felt that crushing disappointment when my fingers only fell through the air to land on the rumpled, empty, blankets beside me…. I should've been used to it by now…

… The same way I was slowly starting to get used to the dreams again.

I had gotten so used to them that I didn't wake up in fits of screams anymore…

…

It was strange that I was actually a little proud of myself for that.

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I guess it was easier this time because this wasn't the first time I've had to deal with them.

The dreams were all the same from the ones I had those several months ago, with only small differences.

I was always in the forest… it was always dark… and he was never anywhere in sight… but I could his voice:

'I'm leaving you.'…

'This is for your own safety.'…

'I've accepted the Volturi's offer.'….

…

That last one was new.

…

The only thing that changed in my dreams was whether I was frozen to the spot, or if I was allowed to run through the dark trees, looking for him, just like that night so long ago….

But all the dreams ended the same despite the differences: I never found him…

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I cringed to myself at the all-too-vivid memory of that day, and of the night only a few months ago, when I had to watch him leave me for the second time...

I ran my hands through my hair as if I was scrubbing the memories away.

I could feel my throat tighten as the corners of my eyes burned.

I had only gotten him back for what seemed a moment. And he was gone….

… Again…

A little less than a year ago, when this had happened before… he said he left me in order to 'protect' me… and this time he left me in order to 'save' me.

It was funny how whenever Edward used such usually comforting words, I could only imagine the amount of pain they would cause me.

I began to wonder whether or not he really had me in his thoughts anymore… he made all of these decisions claiming they were for me, but in the end… he was the only one that gained any sort of peace from them.

My thoughts immediately revisited the words that were passed in that large throne room in Italy.

I had heard them many times in my nightmares, too.

"She knows too much. We can't allow her to leave here alive, Aro." Caius called out to the slick-haired vampire in front of Edward again, his cold voice echoing off the stone walls of the high-ceilinged chamber.

I remembered hearing my heartbeat quicken and feeling my stomach twist viciously as I stood there, listening to those ancient beings discuss the issue of my life.

Aro looked over to me, his eyes as slick as his hair, his gaze followed my own as I checked Edward's face, hoping for some reassurance.

Aro's eyes seemed to widen with interest when he found that Edward was also looking over to me… his ochre eyes full of a sort of fear that I thought was impossible for a face of marble to hold.

…

"Perhaps, if she were to be turned as soon as possible, we could overlook this… unfortunate situation." Marcus's softer voice offered quietly, barely disturbing the tense moment…

Silence fell again as the short echoes of Marcus' voice faded away, all the while, Aro's gaze shifted between me and Edward until his eyes finally stopped on Edward...

"No… I've a better proposal." Aro's smile, which hadn't weakened throughout the conversation, suddenly widened into a full grin. "I say we let young Edward's siren live… as long as we receive something in return."

"What do you want?" I heard Edward's voice almost interrupt Aro's. The desperation in Edward's voice was barely strong enough for me to hear.

Aro simply chuckled a small, false, breathe.

"All I ask is that we simply… borrow your talent… for a while." Aro pieced that sentence together carefully, inflecting every other word smoothly.

"What?" Alice apparently shared my confusion.

"In exchange for the life of your human, we will be requiring your powers and your loyalty… temporarily, of cours-"

"Aro!"

Caius' voice thundered through the chamber, I flinched unwillingly. The platinum blonde vampire stood up immediately from his dark throne, anger in his ruby eyes.

"We cannot afford such a liability to the secrecy of our kind for the sake of merely completing your 'collection'." Caius waved a pale hand towards the line of supernaturally-gifted Volturi Guards, including Jane and Alec, none of which seemed at all insulted by their collective title.

"Oh, but I'm sure this won't be a liability at all…" Aro's ancient eyes found mine before a moment had passed. "I think even the simplest human can understand the consequences of revealing the truth about our race… Isn't that right?" He asked that question, his voice rising a pitch, as if he was speaking to a child.

I didn't even get a chance to think of something to do before Caius' voice interrupted.

"That isn't enough." Caius disagreed seriously.

I knew better than to look over at the blonde ancient when I could feel his crimson glare digging into me.

"Wait!" I suddenly heard Alice's voice call out, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Alice?" Aro seemed all too pleased to have her in the conversation now. He waved a hand at the guard, the one named Felix, who was holding her away from us. She was let go… she took a few light steps towards Aro.

"She won't tell. I've seen it. She's never planned to tell anyone about us." Her voice quivered a little as she offered her ineloquent answer.

Aro simply held out his hand with an amused smile... He looked at her like she was a prize doll.

She reached out her own hand to his.

Had she not been as graceful as always, I imagined she would've been shaking.

Aro's eyes glazed over after their hands touched, he looked towards the wall with a content, mile-long, stare before finally letting go.

"I see…" He chuckled unnecessarily to himself… something told me he saw something more interesting than what she intended to show him. "You're quite a loyal human…" Aro was suddenly talking at me again. "…or at least a smart one." He turned away from me before I could react.

"There, does that satiate your suspicions, Caius?"

The blonde ancient shared a heated glare with the innocent-faced Aro before taking his throne again, silently.

I noticed that the one named Marcus was only looking at the scene with a pitiful look in his eye.

I was distracted from his strange expression when Aro's voice suddenly boomed happily through the hall.

"Now, I understand this agreement isn't quite official, and that there are other 'family matters' to attend to for the Cullens…"Aro joked playfully, his humor missing us. "So, you may leave now to make arrangements… We will send one of our own to collect our new protégé before the week is out."

And with those words and one last malice-tainted smile, our future was sealed…

After what happened in Italy, there was no rest for any of us.

Even when I was finally reunited with all of the Cullen family, there wasn't any time for any sor of celebration.... not that a celebration was something we had in mind at the time anyway... not when the oldest son of the family was about to walk willingly into the Volturi's forces.

Their entire family debated over everything, each with their own idea of how we should treat the situation, while I only sat by.... being the cause of all this without being able to solve anything....

Emmett felt that violence was the best answer, but that idea was, of course, the first to be shot down.

Rosalie's argument had been the same as Emmett's, so she only ever scowled at me whenever she got a chance.

Alice had been willing to go to the Volturi in Edward's place since we all knew Aro had been interested in Alice's powers for decades, and probably wouldn't have minded the trade.

Jasper stood by Alice's side, ready to follow her to Italy if that was her decision.

Esme wanted to wait for the Volturi member to come for Edward before they negotiated any terms to whatever contract Edward was signed into.

Carlisle was willing to use his previous experience with the Volturi, as well as pull some old strings, to perhaps overturn Aro's hasty arrangement. He said that even if vampires didn't have many laws, he could've probably figured out a way to buy us some time.

… But Edward didn't hear any of it.

He ignored their offers of help, and by the end of the week, he was gone.

...

It almost felt like he had wanted to leave again…

I shook my head tiredly at the thought.

I really shouldn't be thinking about him like that. He's over in Italy right now for me… he was willing to leave his family, his home, for me…

… It was for me, right?

I let out a sigh, trying to push that question to the back of my mind.

I opened my damp eyes to take a look at the glowing numbers on my alarm clock.

'3:23am'

Only a few more hours before I can see them…
I thought to myself, trying to calm down.

Even though Edward was gone, and the hole from when he left me the first time was now reopened... and was probably going to be harder to patch up than before… having the rest of the Cullens here was definitely something I was grateful for… even if I could only see them once or twice a week.

Just knowing they were here.

It helped…

...

I closed my eyes.

They didn't want to open again.

… these days I found that I could only sleep after I cried enough to dry out my eyes…

I was getting used to that, too.

...

I fell further into the darkness as I stared out the window… on the edge of consciousness I noticed something that didn't seem important enough at the time to wake up over…

The window latch was open a little, like someone had opened it since I closed it before bed.

...

… Something about that was actually comforting…

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More to come! :)

(Sorry if you were expecting more in the first chapter, but I wanted to pace this series as realistically as I could [but not too slowly, of course]…)