What If: James hunted Alice because she was his Mate. If James became a vegetarian for her. If Bella knew all about her Gift before ever coming to Forks. If she had a Twin and they both knew about the Non-Humans in the world. What if the story you read about was nothing but a Myth written for children with little basis in truth?
This is their story. This is the real story.
A/N: Not sure if anyone knows this, but from description Aro's Gift is a very specified form of Psychometry, the ability to learn from touch.
Axel kept a death grip on the door handle of the closet holding he and his sister inside. It was already tied closed with a rope over the inset metal bar above their heads, but he was taking no chances. Renee had lost another job and come home even drunker than usual. On a usual night, simply locking themselves in a room, preferably basement, would have sufficed.
But not when she was this drunk. Not tonight.
Bella was cuddled to his back with both hands clamped on his shoulders focused on them not being noticeable. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. It was only recently that they realized her Gift could even work like that. But somehow they'd made the jump from controlling Axel's Gift, to hiding from their tormentor.
And it was good when it worked, and okay when it didn't. They were just happy for the reprieve.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Stumble. Clunk.
Both children fell even more still than before. It was doubtful either even breathed as something fell just outside their closet door. A thin, nearly skeletal hand of their mother slid under the offset door, brushing Axel's ankle. He shuddered as her thoughts/emotions brushed into him.
Anger. Dizziness. 'Damn brats.' Desire to cause pain. 'Where the fuck are they?!'
The hand pulled back, having not noticed him despite the contact, either too drunk to notice or Bella's Gift was working overtime. There was the muffled thump thump drag of their mother crawling out of the room. They waited an interminable amount of time before Axel silently undid the rope and peeked out. The room was empty.
The dark-haired, blue-eyed brunette tip-toed across the room and shut the door. Bella helped him lodge a chair under the handle and they both strained and fought to drag their shared dresser in front of it to block it even further. The scent of burning chemicals in the room told them that their mother was more than drunk, and it wasn't safe to sleep tonight. Instead, they moved blankets and pillows into the closet and locked themselves back in.
=-= 7 Years Later =-=
Two heads of brunette hair was visible when a crowd exited the plane at Seattle International Airport. Neither of the teens reacted much to the sight of the brunette adult male waiting for them by baggage claims. Their estranged father gave them a tired smile as he grabbed one of the two battered duffle bags on the conveyor belt.
It had taken many miles and troubles, but he'd finally gained custody of them when they were finally brought in after their last attempt to run away from home. Renee had finally been deemed an unfit mother to the two underweight teens. They were dressed in clothing just as battered as the duffle bags, but there was a quiet stubbornness to them that told him pointing it out would only alienate them more. And he was already having an uphill battle gaining their trust.
They had tried, years ago, to come and live with him. Renee had convinced him that they were just going through a rebellious phase and he'd believed her. He should have fought her for them, and he was always going to regret that he didn't.
Axel grabbed his bag off the belt, Bella eyed her own in Charlie's hands but didn't ask. Charlie gave them both a hug, ignoring the way they stiffened on contact, before leading the way out to the cruiser. Strangely, neither tried for the front seat and sat in the back, hands locked between them. He tried talking to them on the way to Forks, and got minimal conversation from Bella but none from Axel. The teen had quickly fallen into an exhausted slumber against his siblings side.
After a while, Charlie just let it be and turned on the radio. The rest of the ride was silent.
Axel woke with a shudder in an unfamiliar room. The walls had been painted a pale green that he vaguely remembered was called 'Luscious Lime'. That 'knowing' had him groaning as it drudged up everything else he'd absorbed from Charlie insisting on carrying his unconscious form into the house. The only upside had been that he'd been unconscious at the time, and that the house was fairly new for a family home and didn't have much variety in memory imprints. Most of it had sorted itself already, and having basic knowledge of the town would ease any other sets he was forced to absorb.
The door of his room opened with a click and he turned to see Bella peeking around the door. Seeing him awake she smiled and stepped into the room. The door was shut behind her with a click. It was an ingrained habit to shut the door anywhere they went. It was just one more warning of someone coming closer.
"Worried?" Bella asked. Axel Shrugged.
"Not really. I'll be fine as long as we aren't separated for too many classes."
"You're getting better." Bella insisted. He gave her a look that had her rolling her eyes in return. "You are, it's just that your Gift is more difficult to control than mine."
Axel nodded in agreement to that. Her's just needed concentration whenever she wanted it to do something other than just shield herself. And even then she just needed to have a solid belief in wanting to shield someone or something else. The only part that took real effort was the disappearing trick. Axel's wasn't that simple.
He couldn't lose focus without suffering for it. His only safe places were places and things he'd already been imprinted with. Otherwise it was a constant barrage as soon as his concentration slip. Bella was his only anchor when in unfamiliar places. She inverse shielded him so that his Gift reflected back on him instead of picking up everything else. And he could easily ignore imprints of himself. And as soon as he lost consciousness his control lapsed and everything he was in contact with was suddenly imprinting on him without any form of control.
"I guess will know today."
She nodded and gave a pointed look to his duffle bag and the dresser. With an eye roll he waved her out of the room and got up.
"So what do you think of the truck?" Bella asked as they walked into the school.
"I think it came from a Reservation with interesting people in it."
Bella blinked at him, recognizing the code phrase for Non-Humans. She nodded in reply.
"And the truck itself?"
He hummed non-commitally before speaking.
"It'll take me a couple weeks and a good deal of cash but I can fix it."
She smiled.
"Good. We wouldn't want to lose our only set of wheels due to lack of maintenance."
Axel rolled his eyes as he followed Bella into the office. Luckily they'd been moved only a week into the school year so they wouldn't be behind by much. The office worker looked up at them with a smile.
"You must be Isabella and Tristan Swan. Welcome to Forks High, are you here for your schedules?"
Both twins repressed a flinch at the way she addressed them.
"It's Bella, and he's Axel. He doesn't go by his first name."
The woman was taken aback by Bella's clipped tone but nodded and made a note in their files. She shuffled through the paperwork on the desk before holding out their schedules. Axel took his by the corner, making sure not to touch skin with the woman. He glanced at it to find himself with all advanced classes and two study periods in the computer lab.
"Why the computer lab?" He asked. The office worker opened his file on the computer before replying.
"You were listed as taking correspondence courses for foreign languages and mythology classes. The school has spoken with the school you have been taking classes through and they've agreed to let you turn in some of the work if not all of it online to speed up the lessons. Mr. Alucard will have the papers for you when you go to your first study period."
He nodded slightly with a frown. Bella traded schedules with him and he read through it to find he would only have three classes with her. Gym, Biology, and one of the Study Periods in the Lab. He traded it back to her with a nod.
"Anything else?" He asked the woman. She passed them both a sheet.
"Have all of your teachers sign these and turn them in at the end of the day. Have a good day!"
Axel stepped out into the hall with Bella right behind him. She lightly touched his back in support and he nodded to her, shoring up his control before checking the map and headed off in the direction of his first class.
The sun shining through the windows was annoying, Axel decided in his class just before lunch. His focus was beginning to fracture and the sunny weather was just pissing him off. He snatched his signature sheet from the Calculus teacher and slid into an open seat in the back, ignoring the whispers from several other students that someone else sat there. He eyed the empty seat next to him with an eye roll before slumping to the table top.
He closed his eyes and let his control slip, it was a release mechanism for when he was overworked. It let him absorb a controlled amount of imprints rather than every person he'd ever touched. What he got from the table was enough to lock his jaw tight in shock and pain. Apparently throughout the day this table hosted and entire coven's worth of vampires. Four of them were Gifted: Telepath, Tracker, Empath, Seer.
He regretted his decision to let his control go the moment he did. Aside from the myriad of normal imprints, with a heavy lean towards boredom, he also gained an intimate awareness of an Empath's struggle for control, a Telepath's version of overload, a sensory memory of a bored Tracker memorizing every human in the school, and a series of Visions that all occurred at this table. As soon as his Gift backed off he snapped his self-built shields shut.
He ignored the teacher as he shot out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. When an office worker stomped in they found him in one of the larger stalls dry heaving.
"Oh." The man tried to move towards him in an effort to help. But when he jerked backwards hard enough to smack his head off the wall the man got the hint and yelled something to someone in the hall about getting Bella or Charlie.
A few minutes later Bella was brought in and she didn't even pause before sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around his waist to tug him closer.
"Too much, too soon?" She asked, just loud enough that the staff could hear her. He nodded shakily in reply, mentally basking in the protection offered by her contact, her own shields wrapping effortlessly around him in a cocoon. He didn't know how long they stayed there, but the next class had already started before Charlie arrived to pick them up.
"We could leave." Bella offered. Axel shook his head no. She sighed at him. Charlie, being smart enough to realize neither would willingly go to a hospital at this point, had called a friend to come check up on them. When he'd told them it was Doctor Carlisle Cullen, Axel had immediately known that the man was the head of the vampire coven in town.
"They'd just follow."
"How do you know they'll even know we know?"
"A hunch. And they'd figure it out eventually because my shields aren't as good as yours."
Bella fell silent after that.
"Bells, Axe, the Doc's here. Come on down."
When Bella stood up and started down, Axel followed quietly in her wake. When he came down far enough to see into the living room he recognized the trio of teens sitting on the couch across from the Doctor.
Tracker, Telepath, and Empath. Telepath frowned in his direction before turning to Bella and outright gaping before he stilled unexpectedly with a tight look. Doctor and Empath looked at him worriedly before Telepath excused himself and hurriedly left. Charlie frowned after him but didn't say anything.
Empath, after Telepath left, couldn't seem to look away from Axel. The teen stared back at him for a moment with a slight frown before letting it go for the time being.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Cullen, but you can both call me Carlisle. These are two of my sons, James and Jasper. The one that just left was Edward. Your father wanted me to give you both a basic check-up?"
Bella reached down and grasped Axel's hand before tugging him towards the loveseat against the far wall. Axel sat down next to her with a soft sigh, relaxing slightly as her shields eclipsed his own. He resolutely ignored Jasper/Empath's curiosity when the tension in him lessened.
Charlie mentioned something about tea and headed for the kitchen. Carlisle glanced after him before speaking in a low voice.
"We would like the two of you to come over to our house to speak with you."
Axel twisted to sit sideways on the couch so that he could face Carlisle directly.
"We're not a threat to you and yours." Axel breathed, barely able to hear his own words. "We have just as much reason to keep silent as you."
Carlisle nodded at that, listening to Charlie in the kitchen for a moment before speaking again.
"Be that as it may, we would still like to speak with you."
Axel mentally tapped Bella's shields and she cracked open the connection directly between them. There was a brief flurry of directly exchanged thoughts and feelings before Axel nodded.
"As you wish."
Bella snapped the shields shut, well aware that her complete 'lack' of accompanying imprints could be just as bad as an overload of them. And she hated seeing him so fragile. The conversation was put on hold as Charlie came back in with tea. He passed it around to the twins and Carlisle's 'kids' before handing the man himself a cup of coffee that he made a show of taking a sip of so Charlie would ignore that his kids were ignoring the tea. Bella simply waited for Axel to down his own before passing over hers.
"Well then, if you two would come with me into the kitchen we can get the check-up over with."
Axel stood before Bella did, keeping a grasp of her hand as he walked past the couch and into the kitchen. Carlisle kept the check-up completely normal. He recommended that they both eat more and prescribed an anti-nausea medication for Axel. He told Charlie that he would have one of his sons drop off a meal outline for them to help get them back up to a healthy weight.
The sons stood up to leave as Axel was headed towards the staircase. He wasn't paying much attention to where he was going and tripped on the rug by the stairs. Jasper reached out to catch him just as his own shields faltered from the suddenness of the trip. He stiffened as soon as Jasper touched him, expecting the same nauseating swirl of imprints he'd picked up off the table.
….. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He looked up at the blonde male and was surprised to see an equally shocked expression of disbelief. Ignoring the odd looks he was getting from the other Cullens, and ignoring the sound of Carlisle distracting Charlie's attention, he reached out a shaky hand and placed it against the bare skin of Jasper's cheek. Still nothing. And it lacked any form of nauseating swirl he would get from Bella when she was shielding hard enough for the same effect. It was as if the male just wasn't there. As if he was something brand new that had never been touched. Had no history.
"How?" He breathed near silently. "How are you doing that? No one is blank, everyone has thoughts/emotions/imprints. You're impossible."
"I'd ask you the same. I can't feel you either."
The southern drawl was strangely fitting on the male. Realizing he was still touching him, Axel pulled his hand away and moved so that he was standing on his own. He stared at Jasper, fighting the sudden urge to touch him as the rest of the world began pressing in again. He closed his eyes and focused on pulling his shields back up. As soon as they were up he turned and started up the stairs. He glanced at the Empath before he moved out of sight, the male was staring back just as curiously.
And then he was gone.