The Tale of the Brokenhearted

Chapter 30: The Forgotten

Alice's POV

Soft tiny delicate particles of snow fell from the sky and had begun to cover her lifeless copper skin. I don't remember thinking, I just went into action. She lay there nude, with blood gushing from her neck, pouring onto the white snow. Emmett handed me his shirt and it covered her like a dress. After dressing her I lay my ear to her heart. I waited to hear something; anything. "Come on Leah… come on… come on, please," I whispered. I hadn't even realized that Edward had kneeled on the other side of her body. He proceeded to lift her into his arms. He didn't share a word with anyone, but the look on his face was indescribable. Victoria had came here and done what she'd intended to do. She had done far worse than killing my brother; she'd taken his reason for existing, and in one simple bite made it evaporate.

We all followed him back to toward the house. I felt Jasper try to send a feeling of comfort over us all, and that's when Edward flipped out. "Don't! Don't you dare try to put a Band-Aid on this! We all need to feel this. I NEED to feel this!" I could hear the sobs in his voice.

"I was just trying to make it better, brother. I'm sorry. Leah was wonderful and I will miss-" as Jasper tried to find the words, Edward dropped to his knees and cradled her to him and rocked her back and forth. He was mumbling something, but it was a little hard to understand. I faintly heard him say "I can't, I can't," over and over again.

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Rosalie whispered to Carlisle, and it surprised her when Jacob responded.

"No, venom is a death sentence to us. Once it hits our blood stream it kills us almost instantly. I've been trying to take solace in the fact that at least she didn't suffer long." Bella stood beside Jacob, but was engrossed in the sight of Edward and Leah.

"What if we tried to suck the venom out? I know that she's not conscious, and her heart may not be beating right now, but what if we took enough of it out that maybe her body would try to heal itself?" Esme offered, and Carlisle shook his head.

"None of us could do that for her. Our saliva is traced with the same venom that killed her," Carlisle explained. I went over to Edward and laid my hand on his shoulder.

"We should keep moving?" I whispered gently.

"What does it matter where we are? The hurt will be the same regardless," Edward mumbled.

"Wh-what if I do it," Bella stepped forward. I was in complete shock that she'd actually offered. Carlisle looked as confused or as baffled as I was. "What if I suck out the venom? I could at least try." She asked it as a question but then knelt down in the snow across from us and began to diligently suck out the blood. Every now and then she spit some of the blood out of her mouth and gag a little. Even though Edward seemed numb from his state of mourning he watched in ex in shock. I could tell by the look on his face he thought her actions to be futile. After a few moments of staring he got up and walked away. I could do nothing but stay with Bella and Leah, holding Leah's hand and begging the heavens for some sort of a miracle.

Bella's POV

Leah's blood was now my blood. As I sucked at her wound I tasted the bitter twang of metal and salt, and the sweet of the venom. As I extracted the blood, it started to be less sweet and more bitter, I saw this as a good sign. I kept asking myself why I was doing this. It was apparent to me that this woman and stolen the heart of the first man I'd ever loved. I could've been glad on some level that she was gone, but in the time that we'd taken to start walking back to the Cullen's house, I realized that Leah had only come into Edward's life because I been so unsure about us. I looked in Edward's eyes now and saw the devastation in them that was unlike anything I'd ever seen. He'd brought me back to life one time, before, and even though I saw the panic in his eyes while I lay in a very similar situation, he didn't seem as lost then as he did now. It was like Leah's death had put out his heat, fire, and will to live. I loved Edward and I didn't want to see him like that. So I continued to clear Leah's system of the poison while the others whispered amongst themselves in tones I couldn't hear. After a while I realized I'd ingested too much and I had to turn away quickly because I began to vomit like crazy.

"That's enough Bella, that's all you can do," Jake spoke up and used gentle hands to pull me away. I looked up at him with Leah's blood stained on my lips. He was worried and concerned about me even when Leah was lying there dying. Edward could barely look in my direction. Jacob, he's who I should've chosen. I felt guilty just lying there; I felt I could do more, so I leaned over to start draining her again when I felt something faintly brush against my knee.

"Stop," Leah murmured one word and opened her eyes briefly before losing consciousness again. Carlisle now came over to the pair of us and listened to her chest. He looked at his son, my first love, whose eyes were now filled with hope. Edward approached Leah's body and scooped it up once more. He took the time, before starting to walk, to give me a look of appreciation and gratitude.

"Thank you, Bella," he said softly as he looked back at Leah. "Carlisle said her heart is weak but it is beating. Thank you so much, Bella, for giving me hope." I nodded. I had no words, but I had plenty of questions that I still wanted answered. Of course I'd saved Leah, because it was the right thing to do, but when did Leah become the center of Edward's universe? We all headed back and I watched as he whispered to the unconscious she-wolf in his arms. He treated her, not like a prized possession, but like the light of his world, and our love was now in the past… forgotten.