By the Light of the Moon I Will Always Love You

Jacob stood there helplessly, as Ariel embraced William, hugging him, asking him question. Were had he been? Why had he left her alone for all those years.

Jacob turned away to look out to the sea, where the setting sun sent auburn crystals over the surface of the water. He tried to ignore the whisperings of the vampires behind him, tried to ignore the burning feeling in his chest, because he knew as soon as William had appeared…he’d lost her. Because there was no way that Jacob, a mere werewolf, a shapeshifter, could compete with a vampire, a vampire like William who had already shared so much with Ariel. Memories, and experiences Jacob couldn’t imagine. He must seem like such a child to them…what had Ariel ever seen in him?

A soft touch met his arm and Jacob looked sideways, at Ariel who was gazing at him with troubled eyes. He could sense William near the edge of the forest, retreating but stopping, waiting for Ariel.

“Can you go back and get the others, we’ll meet back at the house,” she whispered softly.

Jacob couldn’t meet her eyes, dropping his own and nodding, “yeah, sure..”, his voice was hoarse and unpleasant in the silence. He winced at the sound.

Ariel walked around him, so she was facing him, and held his face between hers, “please Jacob…I love you, nothing will change that.”

Jacob gave a shaky sigh, “but you loved him more. He was your everything. I only got my chance because you believed him dead…”

Ariel didn’t say anything, and looked away but then hugged Jacob close, and whispered in his ear, a low breath so no-one could hear him but her, “you will always be my everything Jake, I will never stop loving you. Go back to the house, get the others and wait for me. And tell Peter to hide himself, use his gift…I need to find out everything before I let people know about him..”

Jacob nodded, stepping away from her, unable to have her touch him. If she was going to leave him, walk away from everything they could have had, could have been…he couldn’t feel her little hands on his arms…that look in her eyes, so kind and sincere.

She’d promise she’d come back…but he knew she wouldn’t. She deserved to be with the people just like her, who knew what she’d gone through…and Jacob could at least give her that chance of peace…

The ring in his pocket weighed him down now, and he tried to ignore it. Better he had never asked her, that she had never known…

The walk down seemed to take forever, each fall of his foot on the ground sent another wave of pain throughout the whole of Jacob’s body. Each footstep was a step away from her, a step leaving her alone with the love of her life, her William…

William’s Ariel…not Jacob’s.

As soon as he appeared, Edward read his thoughts and sent a look to the others. They immediately knew something was wrong. They gathered around him in an instant, and Bella’s hand on his arm broke him down completely.

“He’s back,” he whispered to no-one in particular.

Edward shook his head as the others looked at him for answers, “William.”

Peter jerked back, and Bella and Emmett gasped. Rosalie looked at Edward, “He’s suppose to be dead..”

Jacob shook his head, “Well he’s not. He looks very alive to me.”

Carlisle and Edward took action, rounding the others into the cars, and Edward forcing Peter to disappear. Alice and Jasper took charge of Jacob, who was frozen, not wanting to go back, to see Ariel leave with William. To hear her say those words of ‘goodbye’.

“Come on Jacob, please, you’re coming with us. You’re not driving your bike like this,” Alice pleaded with him, dragging him to her car. Jasper walked beside her, not speaking, not thinking…he sent several waves of calm to Jacob but Jacob’s worry and despair drowned them. Thos tricks wouldn’t work on him tonight.

They drove silently, Jasper’s hands shaking a moment on the steering wheel. Alice enclosed her own around it, and sent him a supportive smile. Jasper took a breath and continued along the road as if it was a normal day.

“Alice,” Jacob whispered almost in silence from the back seat. Alice turned, her golden eyes round and kind,

“Yes, Jacob.”

“Try and see…try and see something, anything.”

Alice nodded, and focused on her hands, searching for something that could lead to Ariel’s going away. Or her staying with them. But there was nothing, just countless moments of indecision.

Alice shook her head, “I’m sorry Jake, she hasn’t decided. She doesn’t know what to do.”

Jacob shook his head, a small bit of hope lighting inside of his chest. Perhaps she might stay, tell William she no longer loved him, to go without her. But that thought seemed impossible, even in Jacob’s head.

They pulled up shortly, the tyre wheels loud on the gravel. Jacob took a breath, seeing moving figures inside. He walked inside slowly, stopping when he reached the door. Alice gave him a nudge, and he walked forwards once more, up the steps, into the front room where they were all gathered.

Silence descended as Jacob walked into the room, and his pace of breathing increased. He looked at all the faces in the room, Carlisle and Esme, Bella and Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, Reneesme and no doubt Peter was in the corner of the room,, hiding within in his gift, but listening.

And then there was William, beside Ariel, too close for Jacob’s comfort. Suddenly he wished he had Peter’s gift, to be able to disappear, to get away from all these eyes, which were full of remorse and pity, meaning only one thing.

Alice broke the silence as the vision flooded her. She gasped, and walked forward swiftly, enclosing Ariel in a warm hug. Ariel closed her eyes into Alice’s grip, holding her tight. The air went from Jacob’s lungs as if he had been punched, and his whole world collapsed around him. He shook his head, and without looking at anyone, walked outside, shrugging off Reneesme’s grip on his arm.

Ariel watched him go, and closed her eyes against burning tears. She was going to come back. But she had to see if what William said was true, that there was a coven of vampires that had escaped the Volturi’s witch hunt. She needed to know, how many of her kind there was…and if it was true, she could come back, she could tell peter, introduce them. But only if it was true.

And then she would have a decision to make. William or Jacob. She needed to understand why he’d allowed her to believe him dead for hundreds of years, left him alone. Was it really true he’d watched over her, gathering others until it was safe to live together in peace again. She didn’t know…but her William, he didn’t lie. He would never lie to her.

All the others hugged her, saying goodbye and memorising her face…just in case. She stepped away from William and into the grasp of Jasper, who hugged her close, his strong stone arms around her, safe and protective, like a brother’s should be. She sighed, kissing her favourite brother,

“Thank you Jasper, for believing in me when no-one else did. I owe everything to you, all of this, my family, my friends, Jacob…if it weren’t for you, I’d have nothing.”

Jasper nodded, his smile tight with grief. He felt as if he were losing her, though he did believe she’d return to them. But he didn’t want his sister to go away in the arms of somebody he didn’t know. But William seemed trustworthy and that, at the moment, was all he could be.

William walked towards the door, and Ariel looked at him, “wait for me several metres into the forest. I need to…say goodbye.”

William nodded curtly, and smiled at everyone before disappearing from the house, and into the forest. Jacob watched him go from his position on the front steps. Bastard.

Then Ariel came out, sitting beside him and placing her tiny hand in his. He looked away, and then back at her, his eyes full of unshed tears. They fell then as Ariel whispered, ‘Oh, Jacob.’ and they burned cold on his face and evaporated instantly.

“You can’t leave me Ariel, please…don’t go.”

Ariel gasped a sob, falling on top of Jacob, kissing him deeply and frantically, “I have to Jacob. I have to see, if there are others. I need to know my kind are safe once more, don’t you see. I’ll be back, for you all…I’ll be back for you Jacob.”

Jacob shook his head, “don’t lie to me. You’re going to disappear, you’re never coming back. Why would you need me, when you have him back again. I’m nothing but a silly child to you all.”

Ariel shook her head, “No Jacob, don’t say that, never say that. I will always love you, I will always be here with you. And when you miss me, like I will miss you, look up there, to the moon, our mind…and remember that first night, when everything came together. When I found what I didn’t know I was looking for…I love you Jacob, and that will never ever change.”

Jacob stared at her, and couldn’t speak. He traced down the chain of her necklace, to the howling wolf, and then grasped her face in his hands, and kissed her. He kissed a kiss of goodbye, a kiss of love, of lust, a kiss of despair. He kissed her as if he were kissing her for the very last time.

“Goodbye Jacob,” she whispered and he closed his eyes. He opened them and she was gone.

He placed his hand in his pocket, and took out the engagement ring he’d never gotten to place on her finger. It lay in his palm, taunting him. He closed his eyes against the fresh wave of pain from a broken heart and enclosed his hand around the piece of silver, crushing it within his fist. He opened it again, and watched the dust of what once was diamond, disappear in the breeze.