(A/N) This is chapter 28 'The Future' of Breaking Dawn form Alice's POV. Enjoy!
Crash!
I hear the vase fall and the indivual glass shreds scurry across the floor long before I realize I was the one who dropped it. I was too caught up in my vision:
The Volturi are stalking towards us. There feet are moving too quickly to leave an imprint on the soft snow that has blanketed Forks for only a day. There dark cloaks are billowing out, creating a stark contrast against the pale white. Everyone on our side of the clearing is scared. It's only reasonable. What other emotion would you feel as death itself floated forward?
Half out of my vision, I turned to face my family, whose destiny had just been displayed to me and my brother as clear as the glass vase I had smashed. Edwards musical voice formed a gasp so broken and terrible, I wanted to cover my ears. But I was still frozen.
"What?" I heard Jasper growl as he leapt to my side, crunching the shards more.
Jasper. If I could save anyone from this twisted fate, it would be him. My first and, hopefully my last, memory is Jasper. He shook me in his hands and his touch bought back memories of the many times his hands had met shoulders. When he wanted me to calm down, he would hold them still to stop me bouncing. When he hugged me he was so tall that his arms could rest nowhere but there. The countless nights we spend together, he would hold me close by grasping my shoulders.
As much as I wanted to keep Jasper from what was going to happen, I had to answer him. I knew what suspense felt like and it was amplified in him, because he felt everyone elses too.
"They're coming for us." Even as the words left my mouth, I could here how dead they sounded.
"All of them." Only when I continued with my warning did I realize Edward was speaking with me. I was too caught up. Part way in the future, predicting. Part way in the present, warning. Part way in the past, remembering.
I heard the deafening silence fill the room, threatening to suffocate us all with its vast nothingness. I could almost see everyones quick brains slowly try to make out what we were saying. Jasper may or may not be shaking me out of my haze.
"The Volturi." My short moan seemed to drag on for far too long. These were the forbidden words.
"All of them." I heard Edward moan just as sadly.
This made no sense.
Why?
How?
Then, as if I'd been asking myself aloud, the room was filled with answerless questions.
"When?" asked Edward.
"Why?" asked Esme.
"When?" There came the voice I could not refuse. Even now. Pulling myself into the future, out of the past and present, I searched for the unknown answer.
"Not long." Edward was still speaking with me, his voice melding into mine, drowning me out.
Stop it! I hissed mentally.
"There's snow on the forest, snow on the town. Little more than a month." I spoke alone this time.
"Why?" asked Carlisle. I was getting tired of this game of ping-pong. Wasn't it obvious I didn't know?
"They must have a reason. Maybe to see..." Esme's voice drowned out with a suggestive look at Bella.
"This isn't about Bella" I tried to snap. "They're all coming - Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the gaurd, even the wives."
"The wives never leave the tower. Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never." I concentrated on Jasper's voice, not the words. I may only have a month left of this sound.
"They're coming now." Edward whispered.
"But why?" There goes the ping-pong again. "We've done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring this down on us?" I felt for Carlisle, I really did. He changed his whole being to try and fit in. He found a son, a wife, a daughter. Slowly, ever so slowly, his family came together. Just to be destroyed. He had put more work into this than any of us.
"There are so many of us. They must want to make sure that..." Edward didn't finish, lost as he was in the agony of losing his new mate and his new daughter.
"That doesn't answer the crucial question! Why?" Carlisle begged for an answer, but what could I say to him? I didn't know.
"Go back, Alice. Look for the trigger. Search" It hurt when I had to shake my head, saying no to my Jasper. I felt my shoulders hunch with despair.
"It came out of nowhere, Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be..." I didn't finish, too confused as to where this was going.
It was silent as my family too, tried to understand how Irina had anything to do with the terrible vision.
Silence. Confusion. Thought. Confusion.
Confusion was everywhere. Blurring the room with it's underestimated power. Blurring the furniture into the people. Blurring it untill everything came together, becoming one. Blurring, blurring, blurring...
Among the blacks and greys that enter, there is one figure that is odd. Not only is it different because it's face does not show power and fury, but instead regret. Also, it is familiar. Too familiar. The beautiful pale skin and golden eyes. The dead straight blonde hair...
Irina.
"She decided to go to them. Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide... It's as if they're waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her..."
"Can we stop her?" My Jasper's desperate voice defined the blurred lines. Making everything seperate again.
"There's no way. She's almost there." I explained.
"What is she doing?" Carlisle asked. There was a second of silence.
"She's... upset. I thought she was grieving Laurent, but I guess she was deliberating instead. She know's whats right, but she knows what she wants. She was torn."
Emmett opened his mouth to speak, but Bella interrupted.
"Think of what she saw that afternoon. To someone who'd lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Renesmee look like?"
I thought I'd get annoyed at any more guesses. But that wasn't a guess. Bella had hit the target.
"An immortal child." Carlisle whispered, as if saying it aloud would correct what everyone wanted to call a misunderstanding.
Edward knelt beside Bella, sharing one of his last embraces with his family.
"But she's wrong. Renesmee isn't like those other children. They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She can control herself. She's already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason..."
An awkward silence followed Bella's babble, in which we all shared anxious looks. No one wanted to witness the breaking of Bella's heart and much less wanted to inflict it. Luckily Edward spoke up.
"It's not the kind of crime they hold a trial for, love. Aro's seen Irina's proof in her thoughts. They come to destroy, not to be reasoned with."
"But they're wrong." Always the stubborn one, Bella argued with the facts.
"They won't wait for us to show them that." Edward said quietly.
"What can we do?" Bella's voice grew desperate as she began to feel the gravity of this situation.
"We fight." Emmett said calmly.
"We can't win." Jasper growled holding on to my shoulders again, as if needing to assure himself I am not gone. Yet. I had No doubt the same images that were flashing through my mind were flashing through his. From when we first met, to when we kissed. When we first made love, to when we arrived at the Cullen's doorstep. The timeline of our life together.
"Well, we can't run. Not with Demetri around. And I don't know that we can't win. There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone." Emmett, of course, was trying to persuade us to take the fighting option.
Bella, on the other hand, seemed completely disgusted.
"We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!"
"Chill, Bella. I didnt mean the pack. Be realistic, though - do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinkning about our other friends." Emmett did not lack the abbility to find a challenge such as this thrilling, instead of scary.
"Other friends we don't have to sentence to death." Carlisle's voice had not yet regained it's normal volume, he spoke in a whisper.
"Hey, we'll let them decide. I'm not saying they have to fight with us. If they'd just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella's right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight..." The plan made sense, though Emmett most certainly didn't. I felt like hitting him..Who'd want to fight the Volturi?
"Yes. That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to listen." Esme was eager now.
"We'd need quite a show of witnesses." Rosalie: always the pessimist.
"We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness." Esme was used to Rosalie, so she ignored the pessimism.
"We'd do it for them." Emmett said.
"We'll have to ask them just right." I murmered, lost in the future. "They'll have to be shown carefully."
"Shown?" Jasper asked. I nodded, another vision playing out in front of me:
In the end we had gathered many witnesses: The Denali's, the Irish coven, the Egyption coven, a few American nomads, some European nomads...
I called the names out as I saw them.
"What about Peter and Charlotte?" Jasper asked. I looked for them, but it was unsure.
"Maybe."
"The Amazons? Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna?" Carlisle asked. I looked for them, and saw what I needed to do:
Jasper and I were running through the Amazon rainforest. Searching desperatley. We were upset, but we never lapsed our concentration. Legends. We had to find Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna. Legends.
As if foreboding was my friend, something was warning me not to share this vision. I skimmed through it very fast, not allowing Edward to see clearly. I knew what I must do. I looked at Carlisle, but I didn't deserve the trust in his gaze. I looked down.
"I can't see"
"What was that? That part in the jungle. Are we going to look for them?" Edwards whisper was a demand.
"I can't see" I repeated. Stop pressuring me, Edward! This is hard. I can't see alright? "We'll have to split up and hurry - before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them. Ask Eleazar. There is more to this than just an immortal child."
More visions to keep from Edward. I scanned through them quickly.
Forests. Legends. Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna. Jasper and me. Volturi. Clearing. Snow. Guests. Friends. Witnesses. Renesmee. Quick.
"There is so much. We have to hurry." I was almost in a state of shock, whispering my exact thoughts. There is so much. We do have to hurry.
"Alice? That was too fast - I didn't understand. What was-" I interrupted Edward.
"I can't see!" I snapped, being maybe too harsh. Thinking quickly, I used an excuse. "Jacob's almost here!"
Rosalie walked towards the door, muttering to herself. "I'll deal with -" But I interrupted her too.
"No, let him come." I said, panicking. I grabbed Jasper's hand and pulled him with me out the back door. "I'll see better away from Nessie, too. I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see everything I can. I have to go. Come on, Jasper, there's no time to waste!" I blabbed, trying to hide my panic with unconvincing words. Jasper hesitated, and I pulled him harder towards the back door. Yelling back to my family the whole time.
"Hurry! You have to find them all!" And then we were free, from confused looks and worried eyes at least. I still had to work to keep my mind quiet. Running through the tree's of Forks, as fast as we could. Jasper still didn't understand.
At last we were far enough away that my thoughts were my own. They exploded in an instant, millions of them rushing through my brain. Working at vampiric speed, I formed a plan.
Telling Jasper to stay put, I detoured to the cottage. I stole the opening page from one of Bella's books and left a note on the next one along. Hopefully she would get the message.
On my way out I snatched a pen, then scurried of to find Jasper.
"Alice? What's going on? Please explain this to me." He begged, and how could I refuse? He deserved to know that I was cruelly taking him away from his family.
"We have to leave. We must find Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna. We are going to investigate the legends. I'm sorry Jazz, for taking you away. But I can't do this by myself. We'll come back. We'll save them." I promised, all the while hating myself. How should I know if we would ever again see the Cullens, let alone save them? "Please don't ask questions, I'll explain on the way."
Quickly I scribbled down a note:
Dont look for us. There isn't time to waste. Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find. We'll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us.
We love you.
Feeling the invisible tears roll down my cheeks, Jasper and I continued our journey. We're saving them, I tried to remind myself. So why did it feel like we were taking away necessary fighters? Like we were dooming them?
(A/N) I didn't know how to end this, so the last part is pretty rusty. Please review!