The memory of her would haunt Carlisle forever.
She had entered the Volturi tower with so many others, like so many others before her, and yet she stood out most clearly in his mind. Her innocent countenance as she had entered the tower room- her eyes twinkling with delighted curiosity- were forever imprinted in his mind. She had not known her fate, had never expected that her journey to the glorious tower was to be her last. She had come as the others had come; delighted, excited even, to see a small portion of the would-be castle that they had glanced at time and time again from the outside. That may have been the most pitiable thing about the young lady; so poor, so raggedy, wanting only a small glimpse of the grandeur she herself could never partake in, but could wistfully look upon, imagining that her worn dress and petticoats were the elegant brocade gowns of the vampire mistresses that dwelled within the tower room. In that first moment, the peaceful instance before the small pack of humans was brutally attacked by the sadistic predators that yearned for their blood, the girl had seemed happy. In that first moment, her eyes had fell upon Carlisle as he stood in the back recesses of the cavernous room. He had caught her eye, and she smiled, radiating the giddiness of a young girl, wanting to share her happiness with him, a stranger, wanting a smile to light his face as well.
But with the end of that first moment, came the end of her young life. At the end of that instant, the vampires swarmed and attacked. The screams of humans had nearly shattered the windows with their terrified pitch. The soft twinkling in the young woman's eyes faded abruptly with the onset of her fear. She had tried to run to him- to this stranger with whom she had shared a smile- to protect her from the monsters that bore down upon her, but was silenced in the blink of an eye, in a flash of marble skin and bared fangs. She, along with the others were done, ended in the most horrific of ways, and Carlisle, the stranger who had received such an innocent smile, could only look on as the innocent life was snatched away.
Many years had passed since that day, hundreds of years had gone by, and yet to this day Carlisle could not forget that girl, that innocent girl, no more than sixteen, who had been murdered right before his eyes. Over the years he had seen countless others pass on from this world, and yet she was the one who he mourned the most. He never knew her name, who she was, where she was from, who loved her, or who she wanted to be, but he knew her smile, the one she was so generous enough to share with a stranger. The memory of her smile stayed with him. When he would think of her, he would think of her smile, and weep. When he would think of her, he would smile the smile that he had wished he could have returned.
Khaos here, It's been so long! Anyhoo, this story came to mind when I was musing over Carlisle's time with the Volturi. What with their differences in diet and all, I figured this would make a pretty good oneshot-HOWEVER! IF I GET ENOUGH REVIEWS REQUESTING FOLLOW-UP CHAPTERS, I WILL (probably) WRITE MORE! I kinda sorta have and idea to continue this, but not a fully formed one (most of my fics tend to be this way if you hadn't noticed) But yeah, I'm proud of this as a one-shot, but feel like their could be more to it. Thoughts? Feedback? You know what to do! ;)
~Khaos