Aria Clearwater had an impeccable memory; every last detail of every event- significant or insignificant- stuck in her brain with an indestructible adhesive. She remembered dates, outfits, smells, colors, and everything of the sort. Even from a young age, she was able to remember each miniscule attribute to a moment or person.

Growing up, she had inadvertently held onto some memories tighter than others. To her delight, one of her very favorite memories was still vivid in her head, and it had taken place in one of her very favorite childhood locations: The Black residence.

Aria's childhood was filled with bright colors.

She saw through rose-colored glasses, and looked for the good in every situation- even as a child. Growing up on the Quileute Reservation in the town of La Push, in Aria's eyes, was quite possibly the greatest life she could've been given. She loved her heritage, loved her family, and loved those that she shared her childhood experiences with.

It wasn't until the legends became a reality, her family began to fall apart, and she began to question those whom she grew up with that her rose-colored glasses began to grow dull. The bright colors of her childhood seemed to be washed away with the endless rain that the state of Washington brought.

XXX

"Tag, you're it!"

A six-year-old Quil Ateara yelled, his small hand reaching out and slapping the shoulder-blade of Jacob Black. He had wanted to catch Embry, but the lanky boy had gotten away. Jacob yelled out with laughter, shoving Quil once before sprinting away in search of his victim.

His eyes landed on Aria, and she prematurely squealed, already knowing her fate. She had managed only one step in the opposite direction before Jacob's body came crashing into hers, and the two hit the ground in a heap of giggles. They rolled in the grass for a moment, Aria's eyes squeezed shut in both delight and disappointment for being tagged.

"Jacob, you be careful, young man! She's little." Sarah, his mother, hollered out from the back porch. Ten-year-old Leah Clearwater, Rachel Black, and Rebecca Black all stood surrounding her. The three girls had found themselves permanent homes within Sarah's shadow.

Jacob groaned, but he laughed, nonetheless, as he stood up, offering Aria a dirty hand for assistance. She had smiled, a bright and toothless smile, and taken his peace offering.

"Hey, kiddos, why don't you come inside and clean up? You all have a new friend here to play, and I doubt she'll want to roll around in the dirt like a pack of wild animals." Billy called out, coming to stand behind his wife. She rolled her eyes at him briefly before they softened, and she turned to plant a chaste kiss on his cheek.

The four children groaned with aggravation, though they obeyed anyway; they knew they had to treat Billy with the utmost respect. One after the other, they all trudged into the house and marched straight to the bathroom sink in order to wash their grimy hands.

Jacob, Embry, and Quil all fulfilled this task with ease; they were boys who loved to play outdoors, and they were no strangers to having to wash their hands at least five times a day. Aria, however, did not typically play in the dirt. She was what her older brother, Arto, referred to as a "girly-girl." And so, when it was little Aria's turn to wash her hands, the small child discovered that due to her below-average-size stature, she was unable to reach the sink.

She stared at it with hatred for only a moment, though. Quil, having been the last to leave and the first to notice her disposition, flew to her rescue.

"Hold on," he mumbled, brushing past her and hurrying towards the small closet beside the sink. He yanked it open with all his might and dragged out a small stepping stool. With a toothy grin, he placed it in front of the sink.

Aria mumbled a "thank you" as her mother had always instructed her to do before she began to wash her hands.

Quil was always nice to her.

Upon her return to the living room, Aria came face-to-face with a very unfamiliar porcelain countenance. She stopped in her tracks and offered a small grin as she looked to Sarah Black for guidance. The boys had long gone, and she immediately missed them. Sarah smiled and approached her, gently kneeling down between the two girls.

"Aria, this is Isabella Swan-"

"Bella," the pale girl interjected, quickly covering her mouth in bashfulness.

"Bella Swan," Sarah corrected, "she's Chief Swan's daughter. You remember Chief Swan, don't you?"

Aria sucked her lip in for a moment as she looked up to meet Charlie's brown eyes; they were like her daddy's eyes. She nodded slowly and looked back to Sarah, her hand finding a small string on Sarah's apron to toy with as she spoke.

Sarah smiled at her and shared the gesture with Bella.

"Bella is three years older than you. Can you tell me how old that makes her?"

Aria's eyes traveled to Bella once more as she analyzed her. She was pale and had brown eyes like Chief Swan and her daddy. Her hair was in a braid, but not like the kind that her Aunt Sue always did in her hair; it was different.

"She's nine. I'm six."

Sarah smiled at Aria and nodded, "Very good. Now, Bella came here to play, but I don't think she'll want to play with the boys like you do; they're a little rough," Aria giggled, and Sarah continued, "so I thought that you could all go into Rachel and Rebecca's room and paint your nails. How does that sound?"

Aria liked to make Sarah happy- she loved Sarah- and so she agreed. Sarah smiled once more, a beautiful smile, and led Bella and Aria through the small house and to the twins' room.

Leah, Rachel, and Rebecca were already sprawled out across the floor with a mountain of nail polishes in the center of them all.

"Have fun, girls!" Sarah smiled once more as she left them to return to the kitchen.

"Ari, what color do you want?" Leah asked, her eyes already scanning through the assortment of colors.

Aria shrugged and plopped down beside her, her dark green eyes scanning over it quickly before returning to Bella.

"You can come sit next to me," Aria offered, Bella slowly nodding and sitting next to her.

Though she hadn't spoken nearly as much as the others, Aria liked Bella.

XXX

It was that day that had started the tradition of Bella coming to La Push on her visits to her dad in order to spend time with Aria. As she grew, though, her visits became less frequent, and the age gap between the two seemed to matter more.

Despite all that had changed since then, the memory still proved to be one of Aria's favorites: Sarah Black was still alive, Billy Black was still walking, and everyone spent ample amounts of time together.

Things had changed, though.

Far too many things, at that, for life to be so simple ever again.

Aria didn't like change, though it was something she could deal with; she could deal with mostly anything.

Or, so, she had thought.

She had thought that her life was average: she lived in the middle of nowhere, she went to a small- and average- school, she was average looking, she had an average family.

It was nice.

She was content.

Little did she know that one day, her very average life would begin to spiral out of control. The legends that she had grown to know as simple fairytale stories would come to life and captivate her entire existence. She would grow unable to recognize those who she was closest to, loss would transpire, and the ground would seem to fall out from beneath her feet.

Aria's life would morph from very average to entirely unhinged.