Oh man, guys, I promise, I have a perfectly good reason for my absence – er, I discovered Torchwood. Maybe I don't seem like an uber sci-fi junkie, BUT OH MY GOD TORCHWOOD IS GOOD! I have been feverishly writing about it for my friend; we started our own stories where we and our other friend got turned into vampires (Twilight style) then we go visit the Cardiff base; Torchwood Three. They're so much fun, and I've already done seventeen chapters... sorry for neglecting things here! A very long chapter (by my standards) to make up for it.

I think I'm a bit over Twilight fics now. I won't be publishing the Torchwood fic I've been doing, because it involves real people I've put into the story, and it's all just for fun, but I think I'll move on to Dr Who and Torchwood type fics after this one is over. If you haven't seen Torchwood (don't bother with Dr Who if you're not into it; but I would recommend Torchwood to anyone who likes any of the following: humour, aliens, technology, sex, gruesome-ness, conflict, angst, science, Dr Who, or [hopefully] all of the above!) then don't bother with the fics because it's the kind of series that makes zero sense unless you've seen an episode or ten.

Thanks to Catty for one of the lines towards the end. The anti-climactic one.

Anyway, enough of this. I hope you enjoy this – I'm a bit rusty with the Twilight fics! Don't get too angry if I am crappy this chappy. It is indeed the very last chapter, so please don't be mad at me! I have tried to tie up all the loose ends, but if there was anything you still want answered, review and ask me!

Anyway, enjoy your obscenely long final chapter!

Edward POV

I listened with bated breath (not that it had any affect) as Carlisle spun a web of what sounded suspiciously like lies.

Primarily, apparently that big buff vampire who I clearly remember battling Bella, actually knocked me out and ran for the bloody hills!

What a coward.

Anyway, that's just preposterous, because I wouldn't have been so easily beaten by someone who's mind and future moves could be read straight from his head.

Unless he had a power of his own, muttered Bella in my head.

Hey!

Sorry! I can't help it – it's not like you're a quiet thinker...

Oh, whatever.

"He didn't block me, though, I'm sure of it," I said out loud. "I would have remembered if someone had an ability so much like Bella's." At least, I hope so.

"Brute strength?" suggested Jasper wryly.

"No," muttered Emmett irritably. "He just had a power, that's all."

"A little jealous of someone being so much more buff than you, Emmett?" gasped Alice in mock amazement.

"Shut up!" he growled, shoving her, then Jasper all but tore his head off, and they had a little scuffle over in their corner.

And then Jasper went all anime and grew mushrooms in his dark little corner, thought Rosalie dimly; thoughts still centred around cheap Japanese animation, lipstick, and sex.

"Anyway..." I said dryly.

"Well, after they took off with you, we got a message from Aro."

"Oh yes?"

"Yes... erm, apparently he was thanking us for being so permeable..."

Bella growled at the next part.

"... and offered to exchange you for Bella and Alice."

"After all, we're much more special than you," said Alice happily. She seemed to hold the opinion that since it was over, it didn't really matter anymore. I disagreed; still diligently attempting to find out exactly what had transpired while I was... wherever I was, doing whatever it is I was doing. Yeah, I had to find that out too.

"Exactly what was I doing for the past.... um-"

"Few weeks?" supplied Bella.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Bloody peaceful, it was, except for Bella's little rages."

"Yeah, but it was funny that time when-"

"Shut up!" I called out in irritation. "Doesn't anyone care that I have no recollection of anything that has happened to me, or apparently anything that's happened to any of you, for the past while? I'm trying to find out what I've missed. And how. So can you all start caring, please!?"

A short pause.

"Of course, dear, we'll-" began Esme.

"Nobody cares!" called out Emmett.

After Emmett was removed, and everyone else got bored (their tender, loving care and support overwhelmed me) I was left with Carlisle and Bella.

"So, please just start from the start, Edward," said Carlisle. "Brief synopsis – what did you see? What do you remember? And also, what point of view was it from? You've made it sound like you were just watching events from afar..."

"Not for all of it," I said slowly, thinking back. "I remember being held hostage in a field or something... and the Volturi were there as well as the wolves, and everyone was annoyed... maybe. Or they might have been really happy. I'm not sure, it's a little fuzzy."

"Well, maybe just begin from the fight," said Bella. "No big details, just what you remember. We have a theory, see."

"Pray tell."

"After you," she said infuriatingly. I rolled my eyes, something I'd been doing increasingly today, and started dully.

"Ok, we fought with them, can't remember why, you were knocked out, they yelled a bit, you got away, we killed them all because the wolves showed up and helped, Jane was dead... oh, but then she wasn't... or some shit... what the hell is that doing in there... anyway, she jumped out a window then-" I stopped. "You know what, this is a little weird; wanna tell me what the hell actually happened yet?"

"Maybe that's when they gave it to him," suggested Carlisle to Bella musingly.

"Yeah, that would explain the bizarre memory he has at that point," she agreed. As always, I sat there with tight lips as their thoughts betrayed nothing.

They weren't shielding; they were just thinking really unhelpful things. Quite by accident, apparently. My eyes narrowed further and I let out an exaggerated sigh as they continued to speculate.

"Oh, forgive me," said Carlisle, appearing to notice me. Why thank you, father.

"Do go on."

"Okay. So, then she jumped out a window, and then I heard that Leah wanted to kill Sam, then she tried, then they both died or something... huh, that sucks... anyway, then the wolves took them both away, then it really stank, then..." I squinted at the memory, trying to see it better. Kinda stupid, really. "That's pretty much when it gets weird. I was seeing myself get abducted... after going out for a hunt... alone... after the Volturi came.... jeez, that was dumb." I gave myself a little slap. "Bad Edward."

"Okay," interrupted Bella smoothly. "I've got to say, you're acting a little weird. A little too... carefree. And a little more normal than usual. It's really weird; can you stop it?"

"Okay, I'll get right onto that," I said sarcastically.

"That's more like it," smiled Carlisle.

"Okay, so then I just remember some kind of warped hostage scene, and then the world became a little ball, then I was in a room, then-" I stopped mid-sentence and my eyes became hostile. "And then I attacked you," I jabbed a finger at Carlisle. "Because you were hugging my Bella."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Okay, Edward, what's been and done is been and done, et cetera, so can we get back on to this?"

"That's all I remember," I said hostilely, still eyeing my adoptive father suspiciously.

"Relax, Edward," he sighed. "Bella, I think I have got enough information."

"Okay, give it to me straight, doc," I said dramatically, bouncing on the sofa.

He gave me a funny look.

"Symptom one, mild to semi-severe personality alterations. These can range from mood swings, dietary changes – luckily not in this case – or odd cravings, loyalty alteration, temporary short and long term memory loss, among other things."

He straightened his papers in that 'doctor' way that doesn't really reassure the patient – just makes them feel like they're being scrutinised. Which they are.

"Symptom two, warped memories and long periods of unconsciousness."

Bella was nodding along like she knew exactly what was going on. I was getting annoyed with the pair of them, with their whole 'yes, I understand, yes, I know what's happening' attitude. I tuned out of their thoughts, waiting for the verdict.

"About 20% of cases also leave the 'victim,' if you will, with severe speech impediments. Luckily, it hasn't affected you in this way."

"Okay, so what is 'it,'?" I asked.

"Prolonged drugging," said Carlisle bluntly. I stared.

"What?"

"And not just any drug," continued Carlisle mildly, as though he hadn't heard me. Stupid doctors and their medical speeches. "It's a human drug that causes medically induced comas. See, sometimes it has the supposed side-effect of giving odd psychic visions to the patients."

"You're kidding, right?" I said dumbly. "I've been a science experiment? And doesn't that psychic vision thing sound a little 'fantasy' to you?"

"I don't mean they just become psychic or something," he 'explained'. "They might have intense premonitions, or strange dreams that end up linking to something that happens to them later on."

"Like that JFK thing," said Bella.

"What?"

"Reportedly, John F Kennedy had a dream one night that he was walking around the White House at night, and he could hear crying. He walked around all the corridors and checked all the rooms, trying to find the source. Eventually he walked into his own office and found a group of people weeping over a corpse covered in a white sheet. He asked, 'what's going on here? Why is everyone crying? Who is that man?' and he was answered by a sobbing paperboy. 'It's the president. Somebody's killed the president!' JFK woke abruptly at that, sweating. In the morning he told his wife of the troubling dream, and she wrote it in her journal. Later that very same day, JFK was assassinated."

I was speechless. Quite apart from being to do with Carlisle's diagnosis, it was just a creepy story in general.

"You're a good storyteller," I told Bella nervously. She smiled, and Carlisle continued.

"People have premonition visions like, ah... like that," he said. "The Volturi thought that it would be interesting to find out what the people would turn out like as vampires; the ones who reported this side-effect. Turns out that all the people who were telling the truth actually had some dormant abilities, and upon becoming vampires were graced with rare psychic abilities. Like Alice, only much less prominent while they were human."

"What has all this got to do with me?" I asked slowly.

"Well, they thought it would be interesting to adapt the drug for vampires, to see if it had any interesting affects on powerful vampires. If it awakened such things in humans, who knows what it would do to an already mentally gifted vampire?"

"Like me," I muttered.

"Exactly. To be honest, you were just unlucky. They would have settled for Alice or maybe even Jasper, but they got you instead. They very nearly got Jasper, but Bella saved him, then saved herself, but then you got caught. I don't think you remember that part."

"So... just tell me what went on really while I was away? Keep talking."

"Okay, you were taken away, and we got that message, right? Well, turns out that the drug was pretty botched. It did enhance your ability, but your mind just went out towards those you were most linked to and could hear best – your family. Our emotions and things that went on influenced your visions, and your own dormant feelings while you were in that state also influenced what you saw for your time under. Basically, it was like a monumental mood ring."

I'd been following him up to that point, but I lost him there.

"What?"

"You know those rings that humans like... your body heat changes the colour of the ring. Well, our emotions and thoughts, as well as yours, changed the colour, or I guess the plot, storyline, of your visions. Aro, upon discovering what it did, thought at first that it would be a great way to spy on us, so he would always know what you were doing, but when he touched your mind and saw all the conflicting facts in your dreams, like people being alive as well as dead, and himself being in odd places, he knew it would never work. So, he tried to make some good from the situation by pretending he would give you up for Alice and Bella. He knew we would never agree, but he tried anyway. He had no use for you."

"What was he expecting to happen to me?"

"No idea. But he was hopeful. With your talent, who knows how it might have boosted you? If you were a coven vampire, not a family vampire, it might have had more of an effect on you because you wouldn't be so receptive to feelings."

"So... how come I could see myself with the Volturi? What spawned the dreams?"

"Your mind sensed that we were thinking of the Volturi and you, in a negative aspect, with the wolves involved, and with us trying to find you. Your mind was evidently confused, so it tried to produce a feasible excuse for the tumult of information it was receiving. Also, some part of you probably subconsciously knew where you were and reacted accordingly."

"Why didn't I realise that Sam and Leah were gone? Are they even gone? How did they give me the drug in the first place? How did I get back here? Why-"

"Wait, slow down!" he sighed, rubbing his forehead. I felt the same way. "Okay, Sam and Leah are gone... you wouldn't have known, because your subconscious doesn't exactly listen – it feels. It felt our sorrow for their deaths, but it couldn't process situations. It didn't know, for example, what was happening and why. It just got information, processed it, and tried to make sense of it's odd predicament by creating scenarios that it thought were really happening... Edward, the mind is a difficult thing to explain, can we continue?"

I nodded, not really understanding any of it anyway. Bella was hanging onto every word with ease of understanding. Yet another annoyance.

Carlisle's story made everything around me seem unreal, like I was still dreaming. I unconsciously started touching things around me to ascertain their reality.

You'd know if you were dreaming, Bella said.

I didn't before. Why should I now? I could be dreaming you right now!

You think my kisses earlier were dreamed up?

I always told you that if I could dream, it would be about you.

She rolled her eyes, but grinned.

"They were able to administer the drug by cutting your skin with a werewolf tooth – one of the only things that can cut into vampire flesh – and injecting the drug through the wound. It circulated your body as any drug would. As for how you got back here, well... Aro, for some reason, didn't seem to have the heart to kill you."

That came as a surprise.

"Alice just got a vision suddenly of you being dumped near the meadow... they had stopped blocking her; as they had been while you were there, and since she couldn't search for a trap because they would have blocked one if there was one, she had to search for everything except a trap. Searching for a blind spot. Searching for the one thing that she wouldn't be able to see. Of course, it was risky; because there was no guarantee that she would even find any blind spots that were there, but we decided just to proceed with caution and go and get you. Of course, the wolves weren't going to help; because they – and rightly so – blame us for the whole affair."

"So I take it you found me alright?"

"Yes – and that explains your vision of a standoff in a grassy area – the end of the scene, and then the warping at the end was the drug starting to wear off. You woke up... er, attacked me, and left. Then we found you. End story."

I took a few minutes to process this, and then looked up again. Carlisle was studiously shuffling through his notes.

"Okay... well, that feels weird. Having everything explained, and having no questions..."

"You have no questions?" asked Carlisle in surprise.

"Well, while you were talking, I had a million of them, but now my mind feels kind of blank. I don't really have anything else to say... can I go now, then?"

"Well, looks like the symptoms are wearing off... you seem to be back to normal. You can go." He smiled.

"Well, that was anti-climactic," remarked Bella, and I froze as I heard the responding remark before everyone else (save Bella) heard it.

"You'll have to get used to that if you're with him!" called out Emmett from the stairs, laughing and running off.

"Oh I am so going to kill him," I snarled, taking off instantly.

As I ran upstairs, giving chase, I heard the remarks back in the lounge room.

"Huh...." said Bella.

"Looks like things are back to normal now, hmm?" said Carlisle.

I could picture Bella's gorgeous smile.

"At long last," she said softly, and even as I tore into Emmett's face with my fists, I felt a smile bloom on my face.