Across fictive worlds

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Bella POV

October 2005

Bella's first month as a newborn passed way too quickly.

Bella didn't give up and tried to think up new ways to contact Leia and switch back with her. But after one week of fruitless meditation she had to grudgingly admit that it might take some time. Edward had told his family that him and 'Bella' preferred some time alone so he could help her get used to her new nature but now it was time to meet the rest of the Cullens.

The more time passed the more antsy and short-tempered Edward grew and whenever Bella poked him with the second onion, his mood seemed darker. By the end of the week it wasn't unusual for her to find him just sitting under some tree, staring into nothingness, listless and melancholic. She'd made the mistake of telling him what kind of situation she'd been ripped out of and sharing her worries about how Vader would react to Leia waking up in her body. Now whenever Edward wasn't pestering her to try some other angle to switch back, he was starting to show signs of depression. She felt sorry for him, truly, but she already did everything she could think of.

Edward was against telling his family what had happened but there was also no way they could pretend that Bella was Leia. So instead they ended up claiming that Mario trying to brainwash Leia while she turned had had an averse effect on her that was harder to reverse now that she was a vampire during to her own unique gifts. Bella claimed amnesia, not remembering anything that happened to her since she came to Forks and so Edward introduced her to his coven as if she was meeting them for the first time.

Meeting the Cullens was a strange experience. The way they treated her, everything she heard, it was all so different from the novel Twilight. They asked her what should be done about Mario for example, a vampire that had betrayed Maria and agreed to help them clean up her mess to get away from her. Bella just suggested to let him go, because what could they really do? Everyone was surprised at that, apparently Leia had all those plans about punishing vampires who killed humans in the territory claimed by the vegetarian coven. Mario of course vehemently denied being responsible for Bella's amnesia but nobody believed him with Edward claiming the opposite. Then there was the wolf pack. Bella feared her turning might upset the feeble alliance they had with the vampires. Instead she got barrelled over by a whole pack of them. The boys, ignoring her natural 'stench', all wanted to play with her now that she wasn't 'squishy' anymore. They were positively crushed when she had to tell them that she had no memory of ever befriending them.

Bella also learned that the laboratory she'd woken up in was in use by Rosalie and Carlisle working on trying to make hybrid babies. Rosalie actually hugged Bella and promised her she'd gathered up a bunch of human samples like hair from her house to save it, in case she ever wanted to grow a baby out of it. Bella had no idea how to react to that!

While Bella and Edward were gone, Esme had bought a small wooden lodge deep in the national park for Bella to live far away from humans while she got used to being a vampire. Edward managed to convince everyone to let the two of them live there alone and roped Mario into accompanying them under the guise of working to undo Bella's amnesia. This should also serve as the first part of his punishment for helping Maria in the first place. They did later tell him that they knew he wasn't responsible. But Edward was still the only one who could keep an eye on him and tell if he changed anyone's thoughts and Bella was the only one totally immune to his gift. So Mario basically got sentenced to joining in Bella's journey to get used to vegetarianism and to help control the newborn when she had the occasional emotional or emphatic outburst.

Edward had been officially declared a victim of the Forks massacre as well. The Cullens did not expect to be able to remain in Forks more than two, maybe three more years anyway and nobody expected him to finish school while his mate was a newborn so he had all the time in the world to help her.