A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading my fic, I really hope you enjoy :o) Review and leave me some love? Feedback is very much welcomed. Also, you can PM me if you have any questions. As you can probably tell, this IS a prologue. Technically it covers how Bella and Emmett die, and I PROMISE the chapters are much longer than this. Hope you like it enough to comment or follow! Thanks guys ;)
Full Summary: The year is 1935. Emmett takes his little sister, Bella, surreptitiously into the forest to go hunting. What if Edward was accompanying Rosalie the day of that fatal hunt? How would the story change then? Also, what if the siblings weren't so docile once they awoke from their transformations? Rated M, AV, AU, very slight OOC
Prologue
Running up That Hill
"Are you sure this is safe?" My ragged breathing made me realize just how far into the woods we'd ventured. Our parents came home late Friday's at dusk, but I feared we wouldn't make it back on time today. The sun had already started to dip towards the mountains, leaving a midnight blue shadow above and a vibrant sunset below. "Of course it is, Bells! You think I'd let us get scolded by mom if it wasn't?" Emmett laughed. I shook my head and struggled to climb over a fallen tree branch. The cursed fashion of this decade was atrociously out of my reach. I don't think I'd ever want to see a skirt or dress again for as long as I shall live. Unfortunately, I doubt wearing trousers in public was much of an option for 'a girl in need of a husband' as mother so kindly put it.
Before the hem of my dress could snag on a piece of bark, I felt large hands scoop me up and carry me over the fallen logs effortlessly. Emmett's chest vibrated with mirth as I glared up at him. "Thanks, brother." Choosing to ignore my pessimistic behavior, my brother carried on as if I weighed nothing, looking tough with a girl in his arms and a riffle slung over his shoulder when really, he was the biggest softie ever. Emmett and I had grown up on our family's farm in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. All my life I was surrounded by boisterous men who lived to work and loved to live. I guess I had picked up a few tomboy traits along the way, seeing as my mother and I were the only girls in a family of six.
Emmett was the oldest, born in 1915. He had recently turned nineteen this past summer and has been laboring in the fields for most of his life, getting ready to take on the family profit and turning his body into a walking boulder. Then there was my second oldest brother, John, who was the year after Emmett. He's a new years' baby but he seems to have taken on our mother's stern attitude, making him polar opposites of Emmett. After John was Sawyer, two years younger than Em and a year older than me. Sawyer was a very calm and collected person, but he did have his devious moments and was practically Em's partner in crime. Then in 1918 I was born on September 13th. My parents had wanted a baby girl ever since they had met and decided to raise a family. Though as it may seem shocking, father loved my tomboy nature and calmly regarded my mother whenever she would complain about muck covering my dresses from roughhousing with my brothers or the dogs.
"Bella" Emmett sternly said, coming to halt near a rapidly flowing creak with many fish and rocks peeking from its surface. He set me down on my feet carefully and I sent him a confused glance. "You're breaking rule number one. Always remain focused while hunting. You don't know what could happen if someone snuck up behind you and you accidently pull the trigger without any warning." I gulped and nodded shamefully. If I wanted to learn how to hunt then I'd need to prove to him that I'd be willing to pay attention and work for it. Now this our father probably wouldn't regard…
He frowned and spoke softly, "Now none of that, Bells. Were here for fun so I'm not going to lecture you on how dangerous this could truly get. That's mom job, or maybe even Johns." We were serious for a few moments before I burst out laughing alongside him. "Alright," he said, much more enthusiastic and Emmett-like, "let's being."
For the next few hours he showed me how to load, unload, and even clean the riffle. He demonstrated shooting on a few targets and then passed the gun to me, helping me position it under my arms and near my eye sight. At first the giant wooden thing weighed won my arms, making them feel like led with each passing second I had to keep my posture. Finally, he told me to cock the gun back and set my sights on a seemingly large tree with moss covering a majority of its bottom half. I squinted tightly, locked my muscles, and let my finger curl over the trigger before pulling all the way back and letting the bullet fire through. The rebound of the riffle had me staggering backwards, but Emmett was standing behind me just for that reason and caught my hastily.
"Nice job, Bells! Look, you even hit it right on target on your first try!" I knew he was trying to make me smile, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't work regardless if the target happened to be a huge tree branch that would've been pretty damn hard to miss. I smirked up at him, "Beginners luck?" He winked and took the gun back, repeating what I had just done in seconds and managing to shoot a thin little branch. "Damn you" I muttered, sending him into a fit of impetuous laughter.
I was leaning back against a fallen tree branch as I watched my brother cleaning his gun preciously, my eyelids drooping along with the mere remaining daylight. There wasn't a way on Earth that we'd make it back in time now. Our parents were probably going out of their way, possibly even calling the authorities to report their missing children. Hopefully Sawyer had enough sarcastic remarks to last mother the night, keeping her occupied from giving us a second thought. Though I hardly doubted he'd do that. Siblings will be siblings, and I know that I loved to see John get scolded from mother almost as much as Emmett loved when Sawyer was getting a lecture from father.
The sound of a gun being fired abruptly tore me from my slumberous stupor. My now wide eyes were scanning the dark forest mercilessly, my heart pounding in my ears drowning out all other sounds. Emmett was squinting off in the distance, searching for where his bullet had made contact. I followed his line of sight and saw…nothing. It was immensely dark out; I could barely make out my brother giant figure at this hour of the night. "Emmett…maybe we should head back now…" my wavering voice seemed to make my brother finally realize how late it was.
He turned around, gun still in hand and bags under his eyes, but then he froze. He seemed to go rigid with…fright? No that couldn't be it. I'd seen my brother in his worst predicaments, but I'd never seen him fear anything. His eyes widened to saucers, his lips slightly parted as if he were to scream something but couldn't, and his hands gripped the gun to the point where I thought his knuckles would rip through his skin.
"Bella. Don't. Move."
I froze.
If my heart hadn't been pounding before, it now felt like a humming bird trying in vain to escape its cage. I broke into a cold sweat; the fear radiating from just the tone of his voice sent me into my own cowering trance. My curiosity and fright won out the battle with my conscious and I turned around to see what had made Emmett freeze up.
The bear had to be a staggering eight feet tall. Its body was covered in fur blacker than the night, making it far too facile to blend in with its surroundings. The only thing that stood out against the contrast of midnight was its gleaming vicious eyes. As they made contact with the two cowering figures in front of itself, the beast's jaw fell open to reveal a venomously sharp set of teeth that looked like razors. They even dripped with the saliva the monstrosity was salivating just looking at its prey. As it stood up on its hind legs, my head slowly rose to follow its eyes, afraid to loose eye contact and risk anything…though I doubted there was much to risk as of now.
"Bella! RUN!"
Emmett's warning was clear but my brain couldn't process the words fast enough before the beast charged at me and had me knocked to the ground in a flash. The thing was grunting in anger and snarling at me, snapping its jaw in my face. A scream tore its way from my lips, echoing off the sides of mountains and making the birds fly away in fright. I felt my bones crushing as the beast's mass pushed me down into the cold hard dirt. Another shriek of pain escaped me as I heard my left leg snap as the thing maneuvered its claws above me. It's sharp nails dug into the curve of my arm, tearing the skin there and leaving a fresh trail of blood to drizzle down the length of both arms.
A loud gunshot rebounded throughout the forest, and the bear stumbled back, roaring in pain. My vision was blurring as my head swirled with nausea, fear, and agony. Emmett shot at the bear two more times, rushing towards me. He dropped to the floor, staring down at me with wide eyes full of horror and tears. His lips moved, he seemed to be mouthing something…my name possibly…but I couldn't hear him. I opened my mouth slightly and felt a warm trail of blood trickle from the corner of my lips. As he noticed this, his shoulders shook terribly and his eyes blurred. His mouth twisted in agony and he clenched bloody hands in large, warm ones.
I tried to speak, to say anything, but nothing came. So when the giant black monstrosity rose up behind him, all I could do was widen my eyes, grip his hands tightly, and gurgle on my own blood. His devastated eyes met my mine, but then pain replaced his sorrows and I saw him freeze. The bear bit into his shoulder, tearing a chunk of skin off and flinging him across field into a large tree. The monster stared down at me, blood boiling from its anger and marring its fur from where Emmett had shot it.
The beast brought is paw down and plunged its fingers into my stomach. Finally the blood cleared from my throat and I breathed deeply, letting out the loudest cry I'd ever given. He roared, snapping his ugly head to the sky. Emmett appeared from nowhere, gun in hand, and shoved the barrel between the bears face and clicked the trigger. Nothing happened. Not even a sound.
He was out of bullets.
"….n-no…." I croaked weakly, begging with my eyes for him to run. I knew I was dying, but at least Emmett had a chance to fix his shoulder before he bled out. But the beast had other plans for us as he brought his claws down on Emmett and began to tear mercilessly against his torso, arms, and legs. My brothers screams of agony were the last things I heard before my world went black.
Moments later I began to feel the first sensations since the attack. My lifeless corpse felt weighed down and utterly cold. I think I killed my nervous system, for I felt no more pain. Just sorrow. Slowly, I tried to open my eyes but it was to no avail. I allowed my slim senses to scan whatever I could, and to my sheer astonishment I could feel the futile thump of my heart still wagging war against my decaying body. It made me want to both cry and cheer.
Suddenly, I felt cold hands touching me. The fingers were frantically moving along my arms, towards my wounds and around my broken wrists. They continued to scan my body, most likely trying to find the remains of anything that resembled flesh. They must have scooped me up into their arms because I felt the wind brushing painfully against my opened wounds. Suddenly the wind became too much, and whatever sense I had shrunk back in mercy. Not before I heard the words that made my dying heart fully stop.
"Hurry Rosalie, we cannot lose them!"
