Once Upon A Midnight Dream

Chapter 17

CPOV (Clint)

She was here. I can't be here.
"I'm leaving. Email me or something if whatever it was, was so important. I can't be here." I said to him as I narrowed my gaze towards him.
I turned and walked towards the door. Reaching for it, it opened.
"Clint." The most beautiful voice said my name. I closed my eyes; I can't do this. I wanted to talk to her, but as soon as I opened my mouth, nothing came out. I stepped around her and walked away. I couldn't even look at her. Cutting myself off from all of my surroundings, I kept moving, attempting to put as much distance between Bella and myself as I could. I had hoped that Caius would honour our agreement, I guess he had in a way, he had told me that she was there, he had said to me that it was also her home. I walked into a place that I knew there was a chance that she would be. I took that chance all by myself. When she turns up in front of me, I bale.

BPOV

I was starting to smile again, even if it was forced. I had to try, thinking of Clint as much as I did, helped, but it also hurt. I called him twice; I hoped that he would have called me back, but he never did. My grandfather asked me to come to Volterra to spend some time, and I finally took him up on the offer. Once I had landed, I hired a car and drove directly to Volterra. I got greeted enthusiastically but Jane and Felix. Jane and I had developed a somewhat tenuous relationship, but only due to her dating my brother. But Jasper seemed happy enough. Athenodora took it upon herself to show me around the castle, after being greeted but everyone. Aro seemed overly excited that I was finally here. Marcus was also happy that I was with them too.
I got shown my quarters, which was apparently in the same wing as my grandparents were. Athenodora insisted on showing me every inch of the castle before going back to see the throne room.

After seeing everything, I was looking forward to meeting with the brothers before going back to my room. We both heard voices as we neared the throne room, as I opened the doors, I looked up, I couldn't believe it. He was here.
"Clint," I said quietly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't. Clint stepped around me and walked away. I watched as he walked away from me. Until this moment I still had hope that we might be okay, that we just needed time to cool down and come to terms with everything, I had apologised to him. I was waiting for him to call me or get hold of me somehow so that we could talk things out. So we could start to heal our relationship. It was at this moment that I realised that there was no relationship. I turned to my grandfather and uncles, smiled at them all, before letting them know I was going to my quarters to rest. Once I made my way to my room, I grabbed my purse and left the castle. I thought about going to find Clint but decided against it. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. My instinct was to fight for my mate. I started to question why I would do that if he didn't want me.
What would be the point to fight for someone that can't even look at you?

I thought about forcing the hand of the Volturi, even though they were family, making then sentence me to my death, but I decided against that.
"What am I meant to do? What more can I lose?" I asked the sky. Sitting on the grass just inside the edge of the forest, I sat down on the ground and sobbed.
I refused to give up altogether. I know I couldn't give up entirely. There had to be some hope, even if it was the barest hint of hope.
But if I had lost Clint for good. All I could hope for was the chance to be happy maybe one day even if it was only in the distant future. I wasn't sure when it happened, but I ended up lying flat on my stomach, sobbing into the ground.
"Why are you here?" I heard from behind me.
"I was asked to come here. I'll leave. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." I told Clint quietly as I was getting up off the ground.
"Why are you here in Italy?" Clint asked me. I was surprised that he was even talking to me.

"My grandfather asked me to come home, said that this was my home also. I don't want to ruin your visit so I'll leave so you can talk or do whatever" I said as I walked away from him. Happy that I always kept my passport is my purse, I left Italy making my way back to the states.
I had enough money stored that I could buy my own house now, so I just picked a place and looked for somewhere to call home, no matter where. I ended up in Portland, Oregon.
I received a call two days later, from Caius and Athenodora, I just let it go to voicemail. They wanted to know where I was. It wasn't long before my phone was blowing up, I didn't want to talk to anyone though, I did receive one call I never expected.
"Hi, Dad," I answered. After what happened, I didn't think I would ever hear from him. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to talk to him at all.
"Hi, Bells. I would call and see if you were okay." Charlie said to me.
"I. I'm fine. How's it at work? Have you been fishing down the Rez lately?" I asked him. I thought about being honest and telling him about everything but couldn't bring myself to do it.
"Works quiet, like usual. I found a new fishing spot and Mark, and I go there at the moment. We are catching a lot — Miss you, Bell's. I got a call from Jasper earlier. You've been going through a rough time, wanna talk about it?" Charlie asked me.