Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

soixante et onze

It was very quiet, the air completely still as they stood, watching the spot that they had left. To Roman, she could see each one as they left, could see how some dispersed and others kept in the same direction -- the Volturi -- and she felt like she could watch them go on for miles despite knowing where they were going.

"Is it really over?" Bella whispers, words impossibly silent as she speaks them as if it the peaceful silence would snap if she wasn't careful.

Edward chuckled. "Yes. They've given up. Like all bullies, they're cowards underneath the swagger."

She rolls her eyes, unable to help it as she spins on her toes to give him a tongue touched grin. "I wouldn't exactly call them bullies, but to each their own."

Alice laughed with him. "Seriously, people. They're not coming back. Everybody canrelax now."

There was another beat of silence that Roman felt uncomfortable breaking, unsure of what to do as she supported an antsy Romulus.

She felt much the same as he did, the urge to just go and see them was nearly overwhelming as she stood still, motionless as she waited for someone to make a move, for someone to do something that freed them from this locked state that they were in.

But she couldn't be the one to do it. No, Roman hadn't been left to think that she was abandoned or to think that they were likely to die here. They were all gathered against the Volturi and from what she could tell, things were not going in their favour before she had arrived, not with the way that she had been attacked so quickly and without remorse.

A shiver passed through her at the thought of that haunting pain, that terrible feeling that made her twitch and shake even now. The memory alone was enough o bring it back crawling underneath her skin, burning through her veins and ripping out her nerves.

"Of all the rotten luck," someone muttered.

And then Romulus was demanding to be put down, gasping out for his parents and sister as cheers erupted and she set him on the snow with a faint smile to watch as he danced toward them in much the same way that Alice moved, a petite, graceful thing that seemed to float as he moved.

Edward met him, dropping to his knees as he crushed his son to his chest, whispering his name reverently as he took him in, looking all the tormented, desperate father that he likely was when he had learnt that she had taken his child form him.

Behind them, Bella was climbing Jacob and ripping Renesmee from his back, speaking her name over and over as she gazed down at their daughter, crushing the girl to her chest.

They were all celebrating with loved ones and friends. Rosalie and Emmett were locked in a passionate embrace, Esme had her arms held tightly around Alice and Jasper, Carlisle was thanking Nahuel and Huilen for coming to their aid, Kachiri was reunited with her friends, her sisters, and Roman found herself standing in the same place, unable to actually bring herself to move.

They were all so happy, all had someplace or a face to turn to, but the ones that she wanted to see were occupied with their love elsewhere, or, well, not that their love was elsewhere or misplaced, but they greeting the ones that they thought they were going to lose, the ones that the hadn't seen. How could Roman prevent them from pouring their love onto their children when they thought they were going to lose them? Why would she even want to?

Blinking, she forces herself to look away, to take in all of the other people that had assembled to help them that she had yet to meet.

Roman refused to feel bad about leaving. She did what she had to do, and if any of them thought to condemn or accuse her, then that was their choice.