(2) Katnis Swan: Moved On?

Chapter 22: Giving Up?

Katnis yanked herself out of his grasp and turned to glare at both him and Alice. "What the hell is wrong with you people? They're killing them! You knew what was going to happen if they continued down that hall and you let them walk right into their deaths!" she hissed.

"There was nothing we could do, Katnis, to save them." Alice said.

"Fight! We could have fought for them."

"We would have gotten ourselves killed." Edward said.

Katnis glared murderously at him. "That would have been right up your alley, Cullen. You wanted to them to kill you anyway," she spat. "You would have gotten your wish."

"Katnis!" Alice gasped.

"Don't Katnis me, Alice Cullen. I didn't even want to be here but you and your sister asked me to come and save your brother and I did," she snapped. "And because of that I just watched a woman get her neck snapped and heard a room full of people being killed. How the hell do you expect me to react?"

Alice just stares at her. Her friend had changed, drastically. She was no longer this soft spoken, kind and broken girl but she was this angry, guarded and broken girl. And she knew, deep down, that their departure, Edwards departure, is what triggered this new Katnis. They were to blame.

"Katnis, about our departure -" Alice started but stopped when Katnis glared at her and shook her head.

"No. We are not talking about that. Not here,  not now,  not ever. It's done. You all made your decision and now you have to deal with it," she stepped toward them,  looked around to make sure no one was looking, then place her hands on their shoulder. "When we get back I will go my way and you can go yours. We no longer have anything to discus.  I'm over it.  I'm done."

She closed her eyes and imagined that they were all at the Cullen's residents and like magic the three of them were suddenly standing in the middle of their living room.

"What the - holy shit!" Emmett gasped,  jumping nearly ten feet in the air. "How the hell did you do that?" he asked no one in particular.

"It was Katnis." was all Alice said.

Katnis dropped her hands from their shoulder and took a step back. "Edward,  son we're so glad you're alright." Carlisle said as he and Esme embraced him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you both, all of you." he said.

"Yes, you should be." Jasper said.

Katnis decided to speak up. "I did as you asked, I saved your brother," she said, looking at Alice and Rosalie. "Now you have to do me a favor." she said.

Everyone looked at her and they could instantly see the difference in her. Everything about her screamed guarded.

"Sure, anything you want," Carlisle said,  stepping forward. "You saved my son and brought him home to us. We owe you for that."

"Stay away from me," Katnis stated, somewhat shocking them. "I want to live my life the way I was intended to, the way I have been the last few months, and I don't want or need any of you coming here and messing that up."

Esme took a step forward to stand beside her husband. "Katnis, sweetie-"

Katnis shook her head. "I'm happy, okay? I'm finally happy everything that's happened, after your sons' attempt to rip it all away from me. I was able to pick myself up and move on with my life," she takes a breath. "So, if you want to thank me for stopping your son from getting himself killed then do me the favor and stay away from me. Unless it has to do with school or medical reasons then we have no reason to speak to each other."

"Katnis -" Carlisle stepped closer.

"Have a nice life." Katnis said and disappeared.

The Cullen family shared looks then looked toward Edward who was now standing where they last saw Katnis.

"She's so mad at us." Emmett said first.

Edward shook his head. "No.  She's angry.  She's angry and hurt because of what I did, because of what I asked you all to do," he slowly turned to them. "She'd finally let me in, she trusted me enough to let me see the real her, to let me love her and just like that," he snapped his fingers. "I ripped it away from her, I threw it back in her face."

"Edward - " Esme started but Edward held up a hand to silence her.

"I abandoned her when she needed me the most. I walked away the moment she put her trust in me," he looked around at her family. "And now because of me she wants nothing to do with you."

"You were trying to protect her." Jasper said.

"That doesn't matter to her, Jasper. From the beginning, Katnis has expressed how much she knew she was risking by being in our world,  she knew how risky it was and yet she didn't care," Rosalie spoke up. "And the fact that we still left, despite her many declorations of not being bothered by our lifestyle, she's furious and hurt by it."

"She's never going to forgive us you guys," Alice stated softly,  looking at all of them individually. "I could see it in her eyes. We broke something in her the day we left. We may have broken the last peice that was once our dear friend."

Everyone shared a look. "We have to fix it then.  We have to make this right.  We can't just let her go, give her what she wants." Emmett said.

Edward shakes his head. "We owe her that much, Emmett. She wants nothing to do with us anymore,  and we have to honor that."

Emmett shakes his head. "The hell I will! That girl was, and is, the closet I had to human contact,  and a best friend, I've had since my transformation," he stated. "She was that for all of us. We can't just let that slip through our fingers."

"Emmett, we already have.  We did that the day we left." Alice said.

"Look, I understand that she's pissed at us, hell livid even, and hurt but I can't just give up on her," he clasped his hands together and sighed. "That girl is the reason we have our brother back, your son, and I will be damned if I just let her walk out of my life because of one mistake."

"I agree with Emmett," Rosalie said softly,  taking her husband's hand. "Katnis means a lot to this family and we can't just let her kick us out of her life."

"What can we do, Rose? She's made up her mind and wants nothing to do with us," Edward said. "I don't want to hurt her anymore by ignoring her wishes to leave her be."

Rosalie stepped forward. "We fight back. We do whatever it takes to win her back, to let her know that we love her and that we will never hurt her like that again."

"And how do we do that? Where do we even start?" Esme asked.

Emmett smiled. "We start with Isabella and Charlie Swan. We have to get on their good side, again."

"That's going to be very hard. We hurt their loved one, Emmett." Carlisle said.

"I know but we have to try. We should invite them both over for dinner next week and talk," he suggested. "Tell them the truth. Tell them that a situation had come up and the only way to protect Katnis was to leave."

"What was the situation?" Jasper questioned.

Emmett shrugged. "I'm not sure, yet, but we have a week to come up with something."

"Do you think they'll come?" Esme asked.

Carlisle kissed his wife's hair and pulled her into his side. "I don't know but I'm hoping for the best."