Chapter 1 Preparation

Another minute ticked by as I stared down at Renesmee. Would this be my last minute of taking my final good look at her? I wondered what my face looked like to her, wondered if she could see the pain through me in my attempt to hide my fears. It was then, that I saw myself in her deep brown eyes when she 'showed' me my own face. I looked flawless, yet filled with worry and deep creases in my forehead. If I frowned any harder, these creases were as good as molded into my perfectly smooth forehead. Surely, I could've told that I—if I were her—was dreading some terrible thing bound to happen to us in less than a few seconds. Although Renesmee was only a child, she was still mentally mature and clever in her own ways. She could have definitely figured out that danger was approaching us…very quickly.

My gaze upon her was completely fixed on her beautiful face, trying to remember for the last time, her perfectly combined features of me and Edward.

Edward stiffened and hissed between his clenched teeth. His eyes were deeply focused on the dark forest in front of us. All of us stared where he did and simply waited, in our crouched positions.

Then, 'they' appeared. They all walked so peacefully, as if they were walking into a restaurant for a lovely family dinner, except they would never walk into a restaurant for the food of course, but for the guests and waiters.

Their faces, again, seemed as peaceful as ever. Some had slight smirks on their faces, some serious, and some bored. The beautiful pale girl near Aro, Jane of course, had her chin slightly raised up, as if she was implying that we were no match for them.

Their facial expressions, though different, shared one thing in common. All their eyes were fixed on me, Edward, and Renesmee.

It took about a few more steps for the Volturi to finally realize that there was a huge pack of wolves in a straight formation as these big 'creatures' behind me stepped into the orange light of the setting sun. I did not realize that more wolves had been 'conjured,' and I certainly did not realize how gigantic these wolves have become. But, it did make sense that considering a huge coven was planning to come to Forks since last week, a bunch of wolves would be 'born.' And unsurprisingly, the word 'huge' was an understatement to describe the group of vampires approaching us.

The Volturi finally stopped in their footsteps and glanced at the big dark creatures. Their facial expressions have all changed without a doubt. Their mouths, still showing no surprise, were not what gave away their shock at the 'unexpected guests.' It was their eyes that really amused me. Their eyes were blank and as wide as Jacob's head. Ok, I guess that's a bit too much of an exaggeration. But you get the point.

Edward's face was serious. His posture was still in his crouched position, his teeth slightly showing, with a low snarl coming out. Then, his shoulders loosened up a bit and he smirked. I followed his gaze and realized it was glancing back and forth at Caius, Jane, and Aro. I figured he was reading their minds.

What could possibly be funny about their thoughts? Edward did have a tendency of finding other people's mockery amusing. So, they were probably mocking us. About what, though? That our group of vampires wasn't as big as theirs? Or the fact that we even attempted to gather a group of witnesses? But, considering that the size of their big round eyes were not any different than the moment that the wolves stepped into the light, they were probably wondering how any thing could possibly be so…huge. Sounded reasonable about why Edward would find that amusing.

Caius quickly glanced at Aro to check his facial expression then stared back at us…or the wolves, I should say. Then, he took a quick glance at the other vampires and my family in the front row. As he got to me, he smiled. He then glanced again, as if he was checking to see something. Was he expecting something? Or…someone? Then I remembered that Edward had mentioned earlier that he wanted Alice as part of the Volturi. This was probably the only moment that I felt happy that she was not here.

Then, they started advancing slowly towards us again. Jacob got low, ready to spring, and glared at Aro. As he snarled, Renesmee looked over to Jacob and started brushing his fur on his head, as if she were patting him to calm him down. Instantly, in the blink of an eye, Jacob covered his teeth and stopped snarling, although his springing position did not change a bit.

The Volturi finally stopped walking again. There was a long silence and nobody seemed to want to break it. The only thing that any of us could hear was probably the sound of my heartbeat if I were human, the leaves on the trees brushing against each other as the wind blew, and the low snarl inside Edward.

I would have jumped if I still had my human reflexes considering that Carlisle's sudden voice in the midst of the awkward silence surprised me.

Carlisle raised both hands as if he were saying, "I come in peace."

Yet, that implication obviously did not stop the Volturi army from crouching in sudden defense.

Then, he finally spoke: "Ah, Aro. It has been a while since we have met. It is too bad that our reunion was brought by a great misunderstanding."

I then glanced at Aro to see any change in his facial expression. It indeed did change. He was smiling this time, instead of having the blank bored face he had had before.

As Aro remained silent, Carlisle continued, "You see, the beautiful child you see there in Bella's arms is not what you think it is. In fact, she is part human. She has a few vampire-like instincts and behaviors, but she is, without a doubt, not a vampire child. She was given birth by Bella, in her human form. It was not until after birth that Bella was transformed into a vampire.

Apparently, as you can see, we have gathered a group of witnesses who would be more than willing to prove to you that the child is not, nor will she ever be, a threat to us vampires."

Carlisle finished talking and now, simply waited for Aro's response. Aro smiled again and nodded. Then, Caius's sudden voice, rung in the air. He spoke, "That is quite an interesting story. But, our concerns still remain unchanged. How can we know for sure that these vampire witnesses you have gathered are not frauds? Anyone can lie. What is in it for them that they have decided to speak out against us? Against the law?"

Carlisle spoke again, "Nothing. They only seek to show you the truth. We all do. What is so lawful about punishing the innocent, without reasonable proof that this child is a vampire child, a threat to the vampire world? We do not wish to fight. We simply wish for a little bit of your time to consider and listen to our reasoning."

Aro nodded again. Carlisle then waved Edward over, signaling him to come forward.

I was shocked. I was surprised that it was not as difficult as I had expected for them to just stop and listen. Edward looked over to me with his deep golden eyes, then turned and started walking towards Carlisle. As soon as Edward was next to Carlisle, Aro began to walk to the center to meet them. They exchanged a few words, to which I did not really pay attention to as I stared at Jacob and Renesmee.

Jacob then turned to me and whined. He obviously saw the anguish in my eyes. He poked his nose to my shoulder and Renesmee just stared up at us both with her big round eyes. I patted Jacob's head and told him, "I always wanted to tell you this Jacob. When I was…human and Edward left me, you really helped me out. A lot. I have never taken the time to actually tell you how grateful I was for everything you have done for me, but I really appreciate that you have been such a great friend to me.

I regret that I didn't show you how much I loved you and I'm sorry for that. But, I'm glad that you're the most willing, if not Edward and I, to protect Renesmee and love her more than anything. I'm glad that there's someone to turn to, someone to pass Renesmee on to for safety. I hope you understand what I mean."

Jacob's eyes went wide. His eyes glanced quickly from my left to right eye, back and forth, in disbelief. He started shaking his head, as if to deny what I was implying. I wished what I was saying did not have to be true too. Our positions still fixed in our ready positions, only our heads were turned to face each other, only to spend the last few minutes exchanging our love—of course, not the same love we had felt before I had 'transformed,' but closer…our friendship. It was a bond that could never be broken even if I died. I would always be with him, with Renesmee.

I wished I could say so much more, but all I could do was stare into his deep black eyes, worrying. Would the Volturi track down Renesmee and Jacob if they got rid of all of us in the fight? Ugh. Definitely need to prioritize on killing Demetri now. It would be hard to get past the other defensive vampires, but I would have to.

I quickly focused back to what was going on in the center of the field as Aro suddenly said, "Mm…interesting," with his hand placed on Edward's head.

Aro began to speak. Then, I was distracted to look behind me.

Amun and Kebi looked into each other's eyes. Benjamin and Tia turned their heads to face each other and mouthed, "I love you." All the others started to prepare their farewells, in case of the unfortunate events that would soon approach us. Emmett held out his hand and Rosalie stared into his eyes. It took a while for her to finally hold his hand. If it weren't for the big group of vampires standing a few yards away, ready to spring, I would have ran over to Edward by now to hug him and kiss him one last time.

I heard Aro still talking, but I was too distracted observing all the couples.

It was only until the moment I heard Renesmee's name be mentioned that my focus was centered back to Aro and his speech. He said, "..and we do not know the exact future of your…Renesmee. Right now, you can assure us that she is not a vampire child. However, such a ..creation is so rare that we cannot be so sure what she will become in the future years."

Edward replied, "Is that the only problem then? Do you worry that Renesmee may gradually grow into a threat as she grows…" He stopped as Aro nodded.

Then Edward gave his crooked smile and yelled, "Alice, you can come out now!"

I was shocked. My whole family was shocked. Esme grasped Rosalie's wrist as if to balance herself—quite rare for a vampire to do. But, I could understand her, considering that I needed to grab on to Jacob's fur to balance myself too.

Then, I saw Alice dancing and prancing onto the fields with three people behind her. More witnesses I was guessing.

Aro smiled, his eyes completely fixed on Alice. Edward suddenly snarled and started moving back, his back towards us, slowly yet abruptly. Alice realized he was retreating backwards and got into our formation as quickly as possible. Her witnesses stood among our other witnesses, to watch the fight, as Aro's witnesses stood in the back, refusing to fight.

I was confused.

Then, in an instant, I understood. I felt prepared. I crouched down and anticipated the second they ran towards us to fight.

I covered everyone with my shield, trying to get everyone in. I felt something tapping at the shield. I glanced at the Volturi. Jane's stare was fixed on me. Apparently, Jane was testing if I could still be immune to her powers, as a vampire. Her eyebrows pulled together, in confusion and frustration. Edward smiled. Then I felt more tapping.

I quickly put Renesmee into my arms again from my back. Edward stared at her and kissed her forehead. He smiled at her and ran his fingers through her hair. I felt tears swelling in my eyes as we both stared at her. Then, Renesmee finally understood. Her blank look soon looked as if she was about to cry. Her eyes were filling with tears. She whispered to us, "I love you mommy and daddy. You'll come back to look for me right? Jakey and I will be waiting." I held back my tears and just nodded.

Edward quickly looked over to me and whispered, "Is this what you've been keeping from me?" His eyes looked uneasy, filled with worry.

Unable to look him straight in the eye, I then turned to Jacob, placing Renesmee on his shoulders with one hand. I smoothed his head and said, "Jacob, take good care of my Renesmee. I love you and I will always watch over the both of you. Forever. Renesmee, I love you. More than my own life." Jacob whined uneasily.

Jacob turned to me, his eyes full of agony. He whined as I saw a tear the size of my fist well up in his eyes, slowly wetting the fur underneath them, as it rolled down his face.

Edward then said, "Goodbye, Jacob…my brother. Be well." He patted his shoulder and switched expressions of grief with Jacob. As if responding to Jacob's thought, he nodded and said, "Hopefully…we will meet again."