THE SCEPTRE
Isabella clutches The Sceptre with all her might. She would rather sacrifice herself than to allow it to fall into the hands of her enemies. And if there is something Bella has plenty of, it's enemies. Her strongest and most formidable however, is the Lord Cullvenia. He is also the worse kind of bad guy; charming and witty and handsome to boot. But she has never been fooled by such artifice! She is way too clever to be fooled by any of their tricks.
That isn't to say, however, that she has been particularly efficient in protecting herself and the Sacred Sceptre of Volturi! For you see, she finds herself trapped inside a prison. It isn't her first time being captured by the enemy, it is in fact the third. This cell, however is far more secure than the others she has been captured in. This one will take all of her skill to escape from.
The sound of unlocking mechanisms echoes through her cell, so she is now to see whom has skill enough to ensnare her. When Lord Cullvenia walks in, she cannot say she is surprised in the least.
"I am very pleased to see you again, Bella. I do not know how you managed to escape last time, but I assure you it won't happen again. Now, if you please, hand it over… or I will have to bring McCarty in here to remove it from your grasp."
She flinches at the mere thought of his boorish henchman, McCarty. Not out of fear for him, but fear of losing possession of The Sceptre. It is her sacred duty, one trusted upon her from her predecessor, Aro, her mentor. "I'm afraid I cannot do that! it is mine and I will protect it from your greedy, nefarious intentions."
"I assure you Bella, my only desire is to help you. I promise."
"I'm not handing it over! you will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!"
"McCarty," Lord Cullvenia taps on the fortified door and a hulking man joins the duo. "Please retrieve that from Bella, I fear she may harm someone."
"Of course, sir." McCarty approaches the smaller-statured woman and removes The Sceptre from her grasp with far less fight than he was expecting.
"There, you have it, now leave me to my failure!" she spits at them, and they comply, leaving her to calm down.
They close the door behind them, leaving her solitary and she wastes no time rushing over to her bed and retrieving the real Sceptre from underneath her mattress. 'Suckah!' she gloats to herself. She sits in the corner closest to the door so they cannot see her if they are to look through the spy hole. Closing her eyes, she summons the power of her Sceptre and summons the essence of Aro, his wavering translucent form sitting in front of her.
"What troubles you child?"
"Aro… I've been captured and I'm afraid, this time escape won't be so easy for me."
"Fear not child, all will be well, I assure you."
"Tell me Master, what do I need to do?"
The figure smiles serenely, "wait and bide your time, an opportunity will arise when you see the sky for the third time. But you must be vigilant! it won't be easy. Ensure you wait for a distraction, there will be one."
"Thank you Master Aro, your wisdom and insight will forever surpass that of anyone.'
She gets up from her corner and returns The Sceptre to her hiding place under the mattress. Feeling exhausted from her earlier pursuit and lack of anything else to do, she lies on the mattress and falls asleep.
She paces a zig-zag pattern through her cell while she waits for something to happen. She doesn't know how long she waits, but it has to be hours after she awoke. It's way to hard to recognise what time of the day it is, but she presumes it has to be late morning. "Bella, did you sleep well?" Lord Cullvenia asks.
"I fail to see what that has to do with anything."
"I want you to be as comfortable as possible."
"Do you?" she asks skeptically.
"Yes. Now, if you will behave, I can allow you access to the common area where you will be able to talk with your fellow peers and even play games."
"Games? You keep me trapped here and take The Sceptre and expect me to play. You really have no idea what you have done!'
'If you cannot calm yourself, then I am going to have to keep you isolated a while longer."
"Fine, I'll be good."
And she is. They start allowing her to visit with other inmates in the 'common area' as Lord Cullvenia calls it, but she prefers the much more apt, killing floor. For two weeks they allow her then on her fifteen day they allow her outside for the first time. For some sort of prison camp, she is quite surprised at how nice Lord Cullvenia keeps the grounds. She walks around the fenced yard as much as possible looking for holes in defences and possible vantage points in the event that her masters insight comes to fruition and a distraction is to occur. She finds none. Nor does she on her second excursion outside and when the third finally comes, she has no solid plan, just The Sceptre stuffed under her loose-fitting clothes.
'Master Aro, you vex me so!" She mumbles to herself. Isabella's time outside is almost up, so instead of storming the fence like she wants to, she bides her time and awaits the opportunity.
"Bella," Lord Cullvenia approaches. "I would like to start talking with you again, if you agree."
"I wish to hear nothing from your conniving mouth!"
"Then perhaps you just wish to talk."
"Not with the likes of you."
"Very well Bella, perhaps I can convince you tomorrow, may I escort you back inside?"
"No! I wish to be outside as much as I can, it is the only freedom I get," she sneers at the villain.
He sighs heavily but leaves her there nonetheless and retreats inside. She doesn't have to wait long after he retreats for Aro's distraction to occur. One of her fellow inmates have taken the pains to acquire an accelerant and spark and have managed to set themselves, or one of their enemies on fire. The screaming man runs around hysterically, his pain-filled screams soul-piercing. The whole yard rushes to help so Bella wastes no time in scaling the very high fence. As is usual with security fences, it has razored-wire protecting the top, but she proceeds without stalling, ignoring the deep cuts inflict upon her. She drops to the ground when she is at the halfway point of the fence and scampers away hurriedly.
She scampers behind a carriage so she cannot be seen and takes a moment to catch her breath. She inspects her cuts closely, all of the deep and gaping. It is nothing her sceptre cannot heal however, but now is hardly the place to do so. She pokes her head up and inspects her surrounds through the carriage window, seeing no one. It appears she has gotten away clean.
"Was escaping to the car park really worth all of those deep cuts?" The familiar voice of Lord Cullvenia asks from behind her.
With all need for discretion gone, she stands and faces her mortal enemy. "My freedom will be worth any sacrifice! I am no animal and I have a sacred duty that I will carry out, even if it costs me my life," she replies angrily.
"Then I am sorry to hear that."
"Are you," she challenges with a raised eyebrow.
"Come with me Bella and I will take care of your wounds."
She contemplates denying the offer, but she still has The Sceptre tucked into her clothes and she doesn't want it discovered. Denying the assistance may make him suspicious. "Whatever."
Not wanting to wrestle with McCarty again, she follows the much stronger Lord Cullvenia inside to a treating room where she spends a total of thirty minutes getting treated after which she is sent to her cell.
"I am not letting you out again for a week Bella, you have to realise that there are rules here that need to be followed. I think I have been quite generous with the freedoms I have granted you, please don't make me regret it again."
She doesn't reply to Lord Cullvenia, she just waits for him to leave so she can consult Aro once again.
The door shuts behind him and he makes no attempt to move. "She is quite…innovative, isn't she?" An elderly woman passing by comments to him.
"Yes she really is. I'm afraid I may have to assign her a detail when she is not in her room."
The older lady peeps at the woman in question through the hole in the door, "I thought you took that thing off her."
He looks through the door at what the older woman is seeing, and like she says. Bella, sitting in the corner near the door, talking to the item in question. "How on Earth… could you be so kind as to retrieve Mr. McCarty for me, I feel as though she won't give up this one as easily as the last," he sighs, getting quite frustrated with the woman. Mr. McCarty arrives a short time later, awaiting instruction. "She has another one Mr. McCarty, I fear this retrieval won't be as easy as the last.
"Not a problem."
He produces the keys and unlocks the door, finding Bella pretending to be asleep on her bed. "Get up Bella, I know your awake." The young woman ignores the instruction and continues to lightly snore. "Mr. McCarty," he prompts and the large hulking man lifts her from her mattress.
"Get you hands off me!" she shrieks hysterically, and the large man deposits her in the corner away from the bed. He walks to the bed while McCarty stands by Bella and he lifts the mattress. Low and behold, there it lies. He retrieves it from its place, clutching it firmly. "No! give it back! it's mine you thief! Mine!"
She tries to claw her way past McCarty, but he keeps her subdued. "Bella, I cannot allow you to have this!"
"Why? are you scared I will use it on you?"
"A little yes, God only knows what diseases it's holding." He shakes his head. Toilet brush in hand, he leaves the woman alone to serve her week of solitary confinement.
McCarty leaves behind him, pulling the door shut and secure. "It is sad to see Dr. Cullen, where do you think she got that one from? The common area toilets?"
"Who knows Emmett, who knows."
A/N: SO THIS WEIRD SHIT WAS INSPIRED BY MY TOILET BRUSH. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AND DIDN'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY. UNTIL NEXT STORY, ADIEU