Renewal [Emmett Cullen] (1)

Epilogue

"Sure!" I was about to warn him that I was a pretty decent player, but it would make it more interesting if he thought I had never played. One of Emmett's fundamental personality feature was his confidence, and at times overconfidence. As a human, he had always been the biggest, strongest male around, known throughout Kentucky, as the man to beat in any physical competition. Most competitions he entered, he assumed he would win. The look on his face when he lost would be priceless!

Emmett smiled and rose from the couch. He walked upstairs together, he explained the rules and what moves the pieces could make. I nodded diligently, as if I had never played before.

Sitting on its usual spot on the dining table was a black ebony chess board. The 64 spaces were lined with a thin strip of gold, I wasn't sure if it was paint or the real thing. The white marble pieces also had veins of gold running through. It looked hand carved, probably centuries old. We sat across from each other, the white pieces in front of me.

"White goes first," Emmett said.

"Before we start, lets make this interesting." His eyes suddenly lit up, "Whoever wins gets $100."

He shook my outstretched hand, "You're on!"

I was a bit rusty at first but muscle memory kicked in and I found my grove. A friend back in San Francisco forced me to come to chess club at school. I started playing and was surprised how good I was. It was all about strategy and tactics, a mental game. I won a few local championships but slowly, as my commitment to sports and school grew, I stopped playing.

My new mind was able to process all the possible moves much faster than before. We didn't speak to one another, instead just strategically moving the pieces silently around the board. Alice and Edward were sitting close by, on the couch, smiling. Through her vision, they had already seen the outcome of our game. A few minutes into the game, Emmett could tell that I wasn't a beginner, his eyebrows forming deep furrows as I skilfully commanded the pieces.

We were nearing the end of the game, I felt it. Esme and Jasper were also watching up intently.

"Checkmate!" I said with a gleaming smile. Emmett looked dumbfounded, I could almost see the conflict between his competitive nature about games and laid back personality.

He looked up at me in awe and disgruntlement, "How are you so good?"

I shrugged, "I played competitively in school."

Jasper slowly clapped from behind, "That was impressive." I smiled, he was the resident expert on battle strategy and I heard he was an extremely good player.

Emmett reluctantly pulled out his wallet and handed me my prize. We spent the rest of the day sitting in the living room with the rest of the family, though I knew with his limited patience, he would want a rematch soon.

"You two should go hunting before we leave tomorrow," Esme said. I nodded in agreement, Alice and Jasper had already gone this morning. My desire to run was growing stronger after being cautious of my movements for the last week. I was ready to stretch my legs. Emmett and I gracefully leapt off the balcony, quickly catching the scent of a small herd of moose. As I went on more and more hunting trips, I became neater like Emmett whose hair remained unruffled and shirt was spotless.

We went to our secret spot on the mountain's peak. The sun was growing smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind an outcrop of mountains. I cuddled in his arms, my face pressed against his silent heart. He delicately traced the gold ring on my finger.

"Do you ever wish you weren't a vampire?"

He chuckled, running a free hand through his obsidian curls, "Never. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I was still human. I probably would have gotten married in a couple years, have a few kids. But I never really wanted that and what's the point in thinking about it. It's not like I can change anything. And besides, I would have never met you." I smiled.

It was hard to believe we were born more than 80 years apart. I didn't know if it was fate or a coincidence that we met. It was crazy to think how much had changed. Little did I know that moving to the small, insignificant town of Oakridge would change my life in the most significant way. I was fragmented before I came, angry at the world and what it had done to me. Now I was renewed; full of life and happiness.

"Before you, Eleanor, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars—points of light and reason. And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were sick, lying on that hospital bed, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. I was so scared that I would lose you forever. I couldn't see the stars anymore. That was one of the hardest moments in my life, watching you suffer. But now knowing that I will never lose you, or even come close to it, it would be hard to find someone more happy than I am now."

My hand reached up to his face, his sharp jawline prominent beneath my marble skin.

"We have forever and forever and forever together," he murmured.

"That sounds exactly right to me."

And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever.