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Chapter Seventeen: Sail – AWOLNATION

"… this is how I show my love,

I made it in my mind because…

…this is how an angel cries

I blame it on my own sick pride…

…maybe I should cry for help

Maybe I should kill myself…

…Maybe I'm a different breed

Maybe I'm not listening…

Disclaimer: It's on my profile.

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"Is this all you guys do?" asked Lucy, bored.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the young vampire.

Lucy was sitting in the corner of the room with the rest of her coven. She and her sister, Sophie, had been playing rock, paper, scissor together and before that, they played with each other's hair. But now they were feeling restless.

Ever since they had returned from Bree's house, they hadn't done much of anything except move from spot to spot in the house.

After the Cullen's had pleaded their case to Bella, Bella only said one sentence.

"I never planned on you changing your mind."

And then Alice broke out into the biggest smile ever, causing the rest of her family to feel excited. Ava signaled for the rest of the Swan coven to return back to the room with the exception of Alex. Alex carried Bree back up with Ava following behind him.

When they entered the room, they found it empty with the exception of Bella, who was still on the floor and hugging her knees. However, when Alex carried Bree into the room, Bella jumped to her feet and gently took Bree out of his grasp.

"Thanks," she whispered even though there was no need.

Ava and Alex jumped out of the window just as Bree stirred and said, "You're leaving, aren't you?"

The Swan coven then followed the Cullen family back to their house in Forks.

Bella stayed quiet the whole way there, letting the children she had created surround her as they ran. When they made it back to Forks, she was sure that the Cullen's weren't prepared for the ramifications of what they had done.

Ashley was gone.

The Voltuir had taken her.

They had damned another soul to death, either by actual death or by vampirism.

Bella felt bad. She hated the girl for loving Edward and for Edward loving her (and for being so annoying), but she hadn't wanted the human to suffer the same fate she had.

Bella watched as the entire Cullen family seemed to be heartbroken. Apparently, they had forgotten about the human in their house and had simply dashed off to find Bella.

She found it unnerving. They kept on leaving people behind. What happened if they left her again?

They couldn't leave her, if they didn't have her.

And they didn't have her. She was just giving them a small chance. Any sign that she couldn't trust them and she was out of there like a bat out of hell.

She really didn't even want to give them a chance at all.

But they had seemed so sincere when they were talking to her. And she didn't want to be so angry for the rest of her existence, however long that would be.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Sophie snuck a peek at Bella.

It had been a couple of days since they had left Forks behind.

It was Ava who had suggested to the Cullen's that it might be best to leave. At first they didn't think it would be best, but Ava convinced them.

They had faked a story about Ashley's death, saying that she had driven from the Cullen house in heartbroken tears when she crashed into a tree, 'causing her car to go up in flames. Emmett and Rosalie had been the ones to crash the car before setting it on fire. Hailey had found a body nearly identical to that of Ashley's.

And then they set off.

They moved to a place very similar to Forks, if you were to ask Sophie. There were trees, and there was rain, and there was a very large house. Very large. It was large enough to house the entire Cullen family and the Swan coven, though Bella preferred to keep her coven at the small house located on the property.

Bella hadn't said a word to any of the Cullen's since she had said goodbye to Bree for, probably, the last time. Instead she chose the time the Cullen's went hunting to come out of her shell.

The Swan coven was learning to trust each other.

Slowly, but surely.

Bella had changed since their visit with Bree. It was like she remembered how children were supposed to be treated or maybe she remembered that they were, in essence, just kids. She no longer punished them if they didn't listen to her (mostly because she didn't boss them around anymore). And she also helped them turn to vegetarianism. She made sure that they didn't wander to close to humans.

It was easier for Sophie, Lucy, Ava, and Hailey then it was for Sadie and Alex.

The twins, Ava, and Hailey had been with Bella the longest and had therefore gotten used to being around humans for a short period of time when they were hungry. Also, in times of need they had been forced to drink from animals as well, so they were used to it.

Sadie and Alex were just newborns and had never tasted animal blood before.

They were struggling, but being away from humans made it a little easier for them. Both of them also admitted that they didn't want to kill any more innocent lives.

Sophie, Lucy, and Ava had no problem trusting Bella quickly as they had never been on the receiving end of her punishments. Sadie and Alex were much the same, trusting Bella quickly seeing as she was helping them to not kill humans, also the fact that they were nearly newborns and hadn't ever seen Bella on a rampage.

Hailey was slowly coming around to Bella.

It was a work and progress.

o.o.o.o.o.o

"Bella, hide!" squealed Sophie. She didn't give Bella any time to think, instead grabbing her hand as she ran past and dragged Bella along with her.

"What the –" Bella gasped, caught off guard.

"Shhh!" said Sophie.

Sophie pulled Bella along the side of their small house and ran into the woods that separated the large house from the small house. "I know where they'll never think to look." And then Sophie pulled Bella through the woods and towards the larger house.

Bella's immediate reaction was to freeze.

"Whoa!" Sophie exclaimed as she flew back towards Bella, crashing into the older vampire and sending them flying into a nearby tree.

"Heard that!" the unmistakable voice of Sadie yelled, laughing.

Bella and Sophie heard the sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves.

"Wow," whispered Sophie. "She sure doesn't know how to be quiet."

"I heard that too!" growled Sadie from behind them. She burst through the trees and threw herself towards Bella and Sophie.

Bella, being more experienced, rolled out of the way before Sadie could grab her.

Sophie wasn't as lucky.

"Ah!" Sophie yelled, rolling along the ground with Sadie.

"Get off me!" shrieked Sophie, her voice slightly muffled from being under Sadie.

"Mmm, no," replied Sadie before, "Ow! Holy macaroni!" she yelled, flying off of Sophie and bouncing around the clearing behind the large house. Sadie turned to glare at the young vampire. "Hey, no powers!" she complained.

Sophie smiled all innocent.

"Cheater," teased Alex, who had teleported himself into the clearing.

"Oh, you're one to talk," chimed in Bella.

Sophie, Sadie, and Alex turned to look at Bella and found her smiling. She was enjoying herself!

"Ooo, smack talk. I like it," said Ava, who then walked out of the forest with Hailey and Lucy following her.

"What were you guys up to anyway?" asked Bella, realizing that she had no idea what the children were occupying themselves with.

Lucy smiled. "We were playing tag."

Bella felt a tug at her chest. They were just children. And she had treated them so cruelly in the past. What if Bree had been one of them? Would she have treated Bree that way?

"I was 'it'," said Sadie at the same time as –

"I love tag!" Emmett yelled from the house.

Bella jumped, forgetting that they were so close to the main house. She listened to Emmett rush out of his room, down the stairs, and burst through the backdoor. She had to force herself not to flee when she watched the entire Cullen family follow behind him.

"I bet you can't play the version of tag that I have in mind," taunted Ava, causing Emmett to cross his arms. Bella couldn't help but think that he fit in with the children she had created. He was a big child himself.

"Bet I can," he replied stubbornly.

Ava smiled. "Okay, you can be 'it' then."

"But I like running," Emmett whined, causing his family to chuckle.

"Tough," said Ava. "We'll be playing –" she indicated towards herself and her friends. "Anyone else want to join in on this round?"

All the Cullen's shook their heads.

"No thanks, we'll watch first," Rosalie responded.

Alice was smiling like crazy and Bella suspected she knew what was going to happen.

Ava took on an commanding voice, "Rules; first, you can't leave this clearing –"

Emmett was smiling and Bella knew he was thinking that the game would be easy. But Bella was catching onto the plan and she was excited to see how it played out for Emmett.

"- second, all powers are fair play and can be used –"

Emmett groaned. "That's not fair!" he whined. "You know I don't have any cool powers like you guys."

"Tough," repeated Ava. "You wanted to play. This is how the Swan coven plays." She stuck her tongue out at Emmett before continuing with her rules, "and third, we start when I say start… Start!" she yelled suddenly, causing the children to scramble around the clearing.

Emmett appeared confused for a moment before he charged for the person closest to him, Alex. Emmett looked excited that he was going to win, his arms stretched out before him. He was so close to Alex, who just stood there when…

"Damn it!" growled Emmett, who ran through thin air where Alex used to be less than a second ago.

"Emmett!" admonished Esme. "Watch your mouth."

But Emmett was hardly paying attention, focusing on his next target; Hailey.

o.o.o.o.o.o

In the end, Emmett lost.

No surprises there.

Bella watched with the faint of a smile on her lips. She felt the gazes of the Cullen family on her, but she was such a good mood that she decided to ignore them.

She was starting to feel a little more at peace.

When her children all fell to the floor laughing after Emmett gave in, Bella went to lie down on the grass next to them.

They lay there together, looking up at the gray sky. It looked like it would rain soon.

"Bella?" said Sophie.

"Yeah?" replied Bella.

"Do you think your parents are watching over you? From heaven?"

Bella's breath caught. Her senses seemed to amplify as Sophie waited for an answer. She realized that the Cullen's had lain down on the grass as well. She knew that they were listening intently for her answer.

Just an innocent question, Bella chanted to herself.

"Well, I –"

"Who said they were in heaven?" interrupted a voice that Bella only heard in her worst memories. "More like hell, if you ask me."

Bella flew to her feet; the Cullen's a second behind her.

"Victor –"

"Bella," she whimpered, struggling against the cold arm around her. "Help me."

Bella's eyes widened in shock, "Bree!"

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Ya'at'eeh! (Fact: That means 'hello' in Navajo).

So, chapter sixteen was giving me a headache. I might have realized that if I post chapter seventeen, then chapter sixteen will show up. Let's hope this will show up! Fingers crossed.

If it doesn't… well… ha-ha, ha-ha… I'm going to shoot my laptop. It's seriously that aggravating. I've been playing hide and seek with chapter sixteen and FF all day.

I love me some feedback guys. Give back some feed…? That doesn't make sense – feed, it makes me think of a horse. I just called myself a horse. How about that?

Well! I'm off to watch my recording of Glee! MJ songs, whooooop!

Leave me a review! I'd really love you if you did (in a non-creepy way)

And do me a favor and check out my other story! FF has been giving me crap on that too.

Puh-leas and thanks!

Xx. Liv.