AN: Everything will finally be explained- very sorry for the wait, my fellow readers! Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Three: So, It Was All In My Mind?

The cold wind whipped harshly at my bare skin, biting at my exposed legs and arms with an unrelenting roughness. I shivered, trying to keep whatever warmth I had left in my body to myself. It was evening, by the time I had stumbled out of the hospital and into the dark car park.

Sweeping the parking lot with my eyes, I stupidly looked out for Edward's Volvo, praying to all the Gods that it was there. I could honestly not remember the way to my house- all I could see was a mass of unrecognizable street names and various trees that signalled the way. Eyes burning with effort, I tried to look for his car again, panic gripping my heart in an iron hold. Where was it?

Unless..

Nausea rolled up my stomach, as I heaved into the tarmac, bile and acid burning its way up my throat. Tears sprung into my eyes, clouding them with salty liquid until I could barely see in front of me. Oh Lord, please no.

He wasn't here.

He'd left me.

My knees hit the concrete with an audible thwack, the grit and rocks biting viciously at my skin, until the unmistakable feeling of warm liquid spread around my legs. Blood.

I was bleeding.

Vampires didn't bleed..

As the first few drops of rain spilled from the clouds, I could vaguely hear my name being called, frantic and fierce, panicked yet soft. The voice reached my ears, swirling softly with a melodic tune before disappearing into the winter air. For a second, I was calm. For a second, I felt safe.

But, as the voice ended, so did my reign of peace.

Feather like footsteps hit the tarmac softly, the noise getting louder as the stranger approached me. An odd sense of embarrassment and the feeling of being exposed washed over me like a tidal wave as the person was a mere foot from me. I shakily stood up, knees stinging from the wind's touch.

"Bella?" My name caused me to stiffen and become rock hard, unblinking, unmoving, and completely bereft of any movement. I hadn't heard that name in so long, in fact it seemed like months since anyone had even dared say it.

"Bella. Look at me." The voice was soothing, like liquid to a parched throat, and I could do nothing to resist the tempting voice that was ordering me what to do.

My heart smashed against the bones of my ribs, hitting them with such a force, I felt as if I couldn't breathe. In all honesty, I don't think I was. But, even as I exhaled roughly, trying to throw away the madness that clouded my head, the person calling my name still remained.

Edward.

His dark, molten eyes were scanning me from my ankles upwards, slowly and heatedly, leaving no inch of skin unlooked upon. Blood rushed to my cheeks, as his gaze flickered up to meet mine, a sense of comfort and security swarming my body as he stepped forward, palms facing upwards as a sign of peace.

He was exactly as I remember.

Bronze hair, muscular arms, toned chest, pale skin. An eerily beautiful magnet of attraction to me.

"You're not real." I spoke deliberately and loudly, ensuring that my hallucination would hear and cease to exist. But, it carried on standing there, muscles tightening beneath his skin, a frown twisting his lips downwards, brow furrowed in concern.

"Carlisle said you'd be like this."

Carlisle? He was here?

Were they all the Cullen's back?

Confusion swam through me, causing my head to pound with bemusement, until my hands went up to grasp my temples, in hope that it would stop. The never-ending thump of a broken heart, torture of being left pumping its way through my veins until it replaced any other feeling.

Why couldn't I just feel peace?

A swish of fabric lashed through the air and suddenly, he was in front of me, crouched down, cool fingers touching the skin of my cheek in a gesture of unease and anxiety.

"I know how bewildered you'll be feeling right now, Bella, but I swear it's going to be okay." Edward's voice was like honey, trickling with a softness and delicateness that made my body slump forward in a wave of calm.

After all this time, he still held this power over me. He was the puppeteer and I was the broken puppet, strings snapping and heaving with effort to keep me upright.

"Why won't you just go away? Must you always show up when I want to see him most?" I mumbled, closing my eyes, questioning my hallucination, praying to whatever God that it would just disappear and leave me to grieve and mourn as I did before.

It was so much easier when you didn't have the person you wanted the most in the world right in your line of sight.

"Listen to me. You went cliff diving at La Push, remember? You hit your head on the rocks as you went down." Recognition dawned on me, as Edward continued to replay the story, soft voice enchanting the memories from the deep recesses of my brain.

"You fell into a coma, Bella. You've been in one for about 3 months now. I don't know how but, you've woken up. You're alive and breathing and you almost left me." Edward's voice quietened down, forehead resting against the crown of my head, breaths of relief escaping his lips.

I was numb. I could feel nothing.

An odd buzzing sound rang in my ears, before Edward pulled back and bore his gaze into my eyes.

"Whatever you remember was a dream, alright? All just an illusion to keep your brain functioning and alive until it healed enough to come out of a coma. Nothing more. Do you understand me? This is real, I'm real, not what you thought before."

Every single molecule of oxygen left my body in one whole rush.

"So, I didn't get turned into a vampire by Victoria?"

"No."

"Or get beaten by Charlie?"

Edward's grip on me tightened with a bruising force, a muffled growl working its way up in his chest.

"No."

"You left." I stated flatly, my sluggish mind still trying to process this overload of information that had been dropped on me.

I could see Edward shake his head slightly, before he breathed in deeply, a sign that he ready to talk.

"I left Bella. I did, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. When I saw Jasper running at you like that, I knew, I just knew that you couldn't be a part of my life anymore, otherwise I knew you'd either be killed or turned and that is not the life I ever wanted for you. You're my life, Bella, okay? I love you and I always will."

He paused, dipping his head slightly to press his lips against my forehead before straightening up. He must of recognized my silence as permission to continue, as his lips quirked up slightly before continuing.

"We met a stranger when we moved away. A vampire. She fed on humans, much like any nomad. She looked at us all like she knew us and that's when I knew something had happened to you. She approached us, eerily calm, despite having this wild look about her. She told us that we needed to get back to Forks and fast, that you were near death's door and that you may never wake up. She somehow knew."

I absorbed every bit of strength I could, soaking in the fact that Edward loved me, that he never truly left. He had always cared.

"I love you Edward."

"I love you too Bella."

We stood in comfortable quietness for a moment, before he bent down and crushed his lips against mine, marble against flesh, cold against warmth. It couldn't get any better. The overwhelming scent of cool freshness that radiated off him filled the air, dazing and lulling me into a peaceful state of content.

I was home.

I was where I belonged.

Edward pulled back first, a genuine smile overtaking his face, crooked and perfect like it had always been.

"What was her name?" I queried, tilting my head back so I could meet his onyx eyes level on. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"Who?"

"The nomad that you talked about. What was her name?" How did she know so much? Did she possess the powers that Alice did? Curiosity spiked within me.

"Her name was Nikohl."

"What did you just say?" I breathed, my heart missing its occasional beat, before righting itself again.

"Nikohl, ex-member of the Volturi. She said she would be visiting you soon, something about being good friends."

My heart thumped once. Twice. Then, skipped a beat.

Then another.

A/N: We reached the end of this fanfiction, my fellow fanfictioners! I can't believe that took me so long to update, I'm so ashamed of myself, but I hope you've been entertained. Certainly a cliff-hanger;-) Tell me what you think in the reviews, please! If I get reviews, then I can either re-write the ending or start a sequel.