Title: What Dreams May Come

Summary: Bella and Edward settle happily into married life at Dartmouth but Bella's dreams of a mysterious child persist, drawing them into a centuries old deception with devastating consequences. A Breaking Dawn AU.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Twilight and all related places and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: Ok, so this fic has been rattling around in my brain since I first read Breaking Dawn a month ago and I've only just finished mapping it out enough to post. It takes the first six chapters of Breaking Dawn as canon (you may recognise elements of the dream sequence in the prologue) then veers sharply left into AU territory as you soon will see. I will try and post at least one chapter every week (more if I can swing it) and reviews are much appreciated!

Quote: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come. – William Shakespeare

Book 1: Bella

Prologue: Nightmare

The forest closed in thick around me. Gnarled tree trunks twisted with age blocked every turn, every step, their scarred countenances looming over my frail form like silent sentinels, witnesses to my desperate flight. Overhead, creeping vines heavy with moss stretched out their tangled arms to engulf me, the water dripping from their web-like hands creating a steady plink of droplets on my head, the drum beat echoed by the pounding of my heart.

I drew ragged breaths; my chest heaving with exertion as I clumsily followed a small sliver of moonlight which had penetrated through a gap in the canopy above, clinging to its projected path like a lost sailor on the wild ocean would to the northern star. I did not know how I came to be walking through this shadowy wood, but something compelled me to keep going, some unknown impulse that clawed at my insides, urging me to stumble ever forward on this moonlit path.

A bitter wind whipped up around me, my arms providing little protection as I hugged them to my chest. The whistling of the gale as it savagely battered the trees grew deafening and within the howling air I could hear a secondary cry, my name repeated with ever increasing urgency.

"Bella…Bella…Bella."

My steps increased in speed, the darkened forest now passing unnoticed around me as the voice and the moonlit drew me towards an unknown fate. The voice raised in pitch to a near screech, fear colouring its once dulcet tones. After an eternity, I stumbled out of the suffocating darkness into a barren gray field, the moon shining high overhead and the voice fell silent in my ears. A cloying sweetness hung in the air, the burning mounds dotting the landscape spewing the sweet-smelling haze into the now still night air. Up ahead, a circle of figures stood frozen, their ash-coloured cloaks hiding their faces from view but I knew with chilling certainty who they were, their identity settling into my bones like a dull ache.

Volturi.

My feet walked forward of their own volition, the terror in my heart outweighed by the curiosity in my mind. The figures did not turn, did not move, and I knew that to them I was hidden, to them I was nothing more than a walking shadow. A low murmur reached my ears as I edged closer, whispered words overlapping in a hissed cacophony.

"Unnatural…natural…immortal…mortal...devil…angel…destroyer…saviour."

I moved between the cloaked Volturi soldiers as if I was a wraith, my eyes finally alighting on the object of their unmoving scrutiny. A cherubic child stood hunched upon a raised mound of earth, his small hands clenched by his sides in what I instinctively knew was an expression of an inner pain. Soft brown curls framed a rounded face, green eyes glazed with tears fixed upon the burning heap before him, so similar to those surrounding us yet different, in the way a grave of a loved one is different to the grave of a stranger.

Some instinct made me want to reach out and hug the child to my breast, to keep him safe and to protect him from the sorrow so evident in his tears. My hands reached out unthinkingly to carry out this impulse when his green eyes lifted and caught mine, a gasp escaping through my parted lips. Old, his eyes were so old…not the youthful gaze of a child new to the world but the gaze of a wizened mature man, of a life lived and a love lost.

As I was frozen by the child's too-old eyes, the whispers of the Volturi grew louder in my ears, their refrain becoming a jumbled mass of words for which I had no context, no understanding.

"Unnatural…natural…immortal…mortal…devil…angel…destroyer…saviour."

Emotions, somehow foreign to me yet felt as deeply as my own, swept through my tense form. Despair and anger, hopelessness and pain, grief and defeat washed through me in equal measure, my sanity buffeted by a never-ending torrent. I felt myself drowning in their depths, my sense of self slowly suffocating beneath the sorrowful waves. Just as I felt my tenuous grip on reality slip through paralyzed fingers, the child broke our shared gaze and I was myself again, my heart torn raw by his suffering but once more me, once more Bella.

My breath rasped loudly in my ears, my mind disbelieving that one so young could feel so much yet the certainty that it had been his pain, his emotions was unwavering. My mouth opened to say something, anything. To question the identity of this grief-stricken child, to ask why he sought me, why he called me to this place yet before a single syllable could be uttered I felt the pull of the realm of consciousness heavy on my thoughts.

I felt the dark close around me, the Volturi, the field, the cloying aroma of sacrificed immortals one by one vanishing into nothingness, leaving only the child standing still before me, whispered words echoing in my ears as he too disappeared slowly into the dark abyss.

My eyes snapped open with a blinding force, my mind awhirl with visions of pained green eyes and unparalleled suffering. Panic suffused my chest, the loss of the connection with that haunted child creating a physical ache deep within me before a soothing whisper in my ear penetrated my hazy mind and brought me fully into reality. Edward's strong arms were wrapped around my waist, delicate fingertips stroking my stomach in calming motions. His cool body plastered against my back as his head nuzzled against my hair, his sweet breath rustling the brunette strands with every whispered reassurance that I was safe, that the terrifying vision was simply a dream.

As I let the sense of safety, of overwhelming love that Edward so effortlessly evoked in my heart lull me back into the land of nod, I could still hear the lingering echo of the child's pain-filled plea…

"Save me Bella…please save me."