A/N: Hello. My name is Kaelyn, and I will be the annoying person who leaves a message at the beginning and end of each chapter. That's right! I'm your author! This story, my first and hopefully best Twilight fanfic, takes place in the year 2043, 35 years after Bella becomes a Cullen. However, I am horrible at writing science fiction, so you can expect all the modern appliances, technology, etc. This story will ONLY make sense if Bella was transformed in the year 2008 after her and Edward's wedding, directly following Eclipse. So if you would all just play along with me, that would be great! And now, brave and noble readers, read on!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all. I don't even own Kylie! All fictional characters own themselves. They make their stories, and us authors just write them down as they go along. We are their messengers. But I do own a laptop, another useful object that I am glad to thank for making this story possible. You rock, Laptop!
Will's P.O.V.
"You have got to be kidding me!" she screamed. I just managed to maintain my expressionless composure. Her golden eyes bored holes into my silver ones with their unrelenting glare.
"I'm not, actually."
"America!? Your leaving me here, with him, to go to America!?" Her glare would have given any human permanent emotional damage. I glanced at Ach to see how he had reacted to her horror of being alone with him. His jaw clenched and his grip on the arms of the red sofa tightened.
"Helen, you have to understand. What was the point in making this if no one sees it?" I said, holding up the heavy leather covered book. She wasn't appeased.
"But-" she began, her mouth barely opening before I interrupted her.
"By the Gods! You always complain about me being around, and now you won't let me leave?" I was a little annoyed now.
"How can you want to leave!? You started this whole thing! You forced me to live with him," here she pointed an accusing finger at Ach. "and now you're telling me it was all for nothing!?"
Why didn't she understand?
"You should be happy! Both of you! You, Helen, can go run off and wed Paris and live a 'normal' life now! And all you've ever wanted was to be in charge of the Clan, Ach, and now you are!"
"But how can they ever accept me as a leader if they've had you?" I slumped in my chair and put my head in my hands.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because you're the BEST FIGHTER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!! MAYBE BECAUSE I TRUST YOU ENOUGH TO LEAVE!!"
"Dude, chill out," was Paris' reaction to that. I raised my head and glared at him. His eyes didn't leave the Play Station, but the corners of his mouth twisted upward in a smile. I was about to yell, but decided against it when I realized that he was immune to my anger.
"What about your library?" Helen asked, sarcasm dripping heavily off her words. "Could you really leave your only love behind?" A snarl escaped my lips.
"Leave him be, Helen. If he wants to leave, let 'im." Then Paris swung around on the rug, putting the controller down. "Do either of you guys even know what this is about?" Ach and Helen turned their gaze to him.
"Paris," I warned through clenched teeth. He glanced at me, his lips still turned into a mocking smile
"Dear William here wants to fall in love, didn't you know?"
That was it for me. I stood up, walked out of the room, slammed the store so hard that the hinges broke, and walked away, both Ach and Helen staring after me. I jumped the four hundred feet off the cliff that our civilization had been chiseled into, leaving the Clan…all of my people….every one of those two hundred vampires….behind.
I arrived in the airport in New York, and a young vampiress named Alice ran into me when I walked into to Starbucks. She introduced herself and then began a long story while I enjoyed a few coffees (Explanation Later). She told me about her family, about their vegetarian lifestyle, and about someone named Jasper. She told me about her home, in Forks, about the people there, and about Jasper. Then she told me about her unique power to see the future, and about Jasper. She told me she had seen me arriving at the airport and about me needing a place to stay. She said she had been shopping in New York, and how she had missed Jasper there, with her two sisters when she had the vision, and had told them about what she'd seen.
Then, the mind blower.
She asked me if I wanted to live with them.
Ten Years Later:
Kylie's P.O.V.
I was at a beach party. Miraculously enough, the sun was shining. It's rays were oddly bright today, reflecting off the water in bright beams, and also caused the white sand to be unnaturally warm, but being around my friends and family, I had grown used to that. Sam, our leader and the closest thing I will ever have to a father, was sitting on a bright blue beach towel, chatting with Embry about seemingly meaningless things. I mean, who really cares about the price of tea in China, or about how long you should seep said tea?
Okay, so maybe they weren't talking about tea, but it was dull enough to be about something similar. After their chat grew boring and meaningless, I turned my attention to the lovebirds in the sand.
Claire, the gorgeous, blonde, 37 year old creature, had on the traditional boarding shorts with a bikini top. The shorts were black, and the top was a bright green color. It matched her imprinted husband's eyes. Quill looked down at her and ran his fingers gingerly through her hair. Her eyes were closed, but a small, adorable smile was noticed upon her lips as she savored the feeling. I glanced again at the golden band glittered with small diamonds upon her left ring finger. Marriage. What that must be like.
Jake and Leah were walking down the beach, their fingers interlaced. Occasionally Leah would bend down and pick up a seashell washed up by the waves that were currently lapping at their feet. Once, Jake bent down with her and flicked some water at her playfully. She laughed and splashed some back at him. Jake narrowly missed the droplets by running foreword and jumping, headfirst, into the water. Leah laughed again and stepped lightly into the waiting ocean. She waded deeper, cautiously waiting to splash Jake when he came up for air. I waited for a few seconds, but when Jacob did not resurface, I grew confused. Within the next second, she too was in the water, spluttering, gasping for air, and laughing all the while as Jacob lifted her into the air. I could only guess that Jacob had swept her feet out from under her.
And then, there was Paul and me. He cradled my head on his warm, muscular chest as I watched everyone around us from my spot atop his knee. He had had his hands on my waist and his arms holding me close. He was humming gently to the music playing. Each time I shifted, he would look down at me with dark, almost black eyes, his shaggy black hair falling slightly over them as his thin lips curved into a smile, and I would melt. His welcomed warmth spread through my body like a shockwave. It was nice living among heaters. He leaned down and nestled his chin in my blondish-brownish hair. I was sure I was about to fall asleep, there in my boyfriend's arms, when suddenly Sam stopped the boring talk, sat up and sniffed the air.
"Aww, shit. Jared? Are you burning those?" Jared, leaning over the grill that was burning our lunch, didn't answer, but just looked up at us with a feeble smile. The boys groaned.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted his cooking! Don't you remember Kylie's birthday cake?" The entire pack laughed, some louder than necessary, at Paul's words. Not me. I cringed as I remembered my eighteenth birthday cake. As far as I can recall, it was a lumps of crusty, black, stuff piled on top of each other. Though the strawberry frosting had made it look innocent enough….and the birthday girl is supposed to get the first bite. I remembered the gagging and the chocking after the piece entered my mouth and my taste buds bitterly refused it. I got up, trying to avoid the subject, and went to salvage the hot dogs. When I got there, Jared glanced up.
"Sorry about that cake. I did try."
"Yeah, but you only serve something when it's edible, retard," I said, picking up the tongs and grabbing the first hot dog on the grill. Using a pocket knife from my pocket (imagine that), I scraped off the charred ends and set it in a bun, loaded it with honey mustard and ketchup, put on a tad of relish, and handed it to Jared, who grabbed it and walked away. Then I started the process over. It was a boring yet time consuming task that kept me busy for a while, until I realized I was getting short on meat. After I placed the last hot dog on a plate and handed it to Emily, I heard my name called. I looked up and saw Seth sitting in the sand a few yards away. Wondering what this pack would do without me, I flashed to where he was sitting and loomed over him, my shadow blocking the sun from his bare back.
"You called me?" I asked. He looked at me with his bright eyes, and the next thing I knew, he had a grip on my wrist and pulled me into the sand with him. He laughed heartily at the surprise in my eyes, his own gleaming. I glanced at Paul, who was watching us with an air of interest hovering about him. He smiled reassuringly and turned back to his hot dog.
"I need your help," Seth began. I shifted slightly.
"What with?"
"I need you to help me practice…" he paused.
"Yes?" I pressed further. He looked up at me with eyes begging for forgiveness.
"I need you to help me pick a girl to go with at the Spring Dance."
My hand flew up to stifle the oncoming giggle. That not working, I coughed loudly. I knew this would happen to Seth. All my family had a swarm of girls around each of them, but Seth, it seemed, had got the best genes in the pool. He was the best looking in the pack, no doubt about it. But I liked Paul better for myself.
"It's not funny," Seth groaned.
"To you," I muttered. "Let's narrow this down. How many have asked you?"
"Twenty-seven," was his answer. I whistled. He nodded in agreement.
"How many are you really willing to go with?"
"Twenty-six." It was my turn to groan.
"You are outstandingly ridiculous, you know? I'll need your yearbook."
"I'll have it at dinner." and with that, he was off.
Paul, who had snuck up on us without me realizing, chuckled and sat down next to me, wrapping his muscled, warm arms around me and pulling me closer to him. I sighed, causing to look down at me in concern.
"You're exhausted." It wasn't a question.
"Well, Quill deciding to stop phasing last month didn't quite help as far as the no-sleep-because-of-patrolling problem."
"Kylie, Claire is getting older-"
"I know why he's doing it," I interrupted. "I just wish he would have done it later."
"He looks like he's twenty-five, Kylie. And she's thirty-seven. If anything, he should have done it sooner." I sighed again.
"Paul, the pack used to have sixteen wolves. Sixteen! Most of them stopped changing before I was born. Now it's just you, me, Embry, Jacob, Leah, and Seth. And I'm not even a freaking dog!"
He glanced down at me. His eyes were sympathetic, an emotion I hated with a burning passion. I rolled my eyes at his weakness and stood, my back to him, and walked away. But in the next second, his arms were around me again. His fingers traced the outline of the tattoo on my right bicep.
"You're part of the pack, Kylie. Remember that." I glanced down at the tattoo. They were specially designed for each of us. Since I couldn't change into a wolf, Claire had drawn what she thought I would look like if I could. It was a silver wolf, with so much detail it seemed as if it was coming out of my arm. Covered partly by it's, -well, my- ear was a whole moon, but it's feeble light was put to shame by the gleaming silver fur of the graceful creature. It had a few of my features, the arched eyebrows, the slight smile, just what I would look like if I were to be whole werewolf. The background was a midnight sky, and at the bottom of the tattoo wrapped all the way around my bicep, and separating the end of the border from my skin was an intricate silver border.
I sighed and sat down again, and Paul joined me. We talked for a while about the rumors flying around La Push, cracking jokes and laughing at our awesome selves.
He often caught himself staring at me for longer than necessary, looked away, and blushed each time. I told him it was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I couldn't blame him. I had looked in the mirror before, and I knew that what he had to look at each day was hard not to stare at. I didn't like to acknowledge it, but I knew what I was. Sandy blonde hair, dark blue eyes, extremely pale completion, natural black eyelashes, pointed nose, perfect shaped lips that had a rosy hue, high cheek bones, angular features, spotless skin, black eyebrows that did not match my hair color but emphasized my eyes, and the sort of body one sees on Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover. I was beyond pretty, and I HATED it.
Beauty only attracts jealousy from females, guys who think you are too good for them, and people who don't like you but cling to you to gain popularity. Hanging around with the coolest guys in town didn't help matters. Nor did being every teacher's pet, perfectly balanced, a straight 'A' student, and extremely wealthy.
Jake, now in a wolf form, jogged over, sending sand flying several feet in front of him. His furry coat was dripping with water; he had been swimming. When he stood a yard away from me, he stopped, a discomforting grin upon his wet face. Paul, the wise one, turned and ran.
"Don't you dare." I said. His grin grew wider.
"I'm warning you!" Did he listen?
Of course not. He shook vigorously, sending droplets of water through the air. It only lasted a second or two, but when I wiped the water away from my eyes, I found myself soaked. Before I could help it, a low rumble escaped from my chest, my teeth bared. Then, without knowing exactly how I got there, I was on his back, my arms around his neck in a choke hold. He howled in surprise and bounded down the beach.
Have you ever been on the back of a werewolf? No? Well, it's unexplainable. I shouted out in pure glee, in spite of myself. I'd been running with the wolves since I was five. By the time I was ten, I was able to run as fast as Seth, the slowest in the pack. The pack couldn't believe it, at first, even after they had seen it. After a while, though, Sam came up with a slightly logical reason for his adopted daughter to be as fast as I am, when becoming a werewolf was impossible do to the lack of the Quillette blood. He said that when Tarzan was raised by his gorilla family, he was able to do un-human things to adapt to their ways, such as contort his feet in order to cling to vines. As he had said this, other things were brought up, like my extremely keen sense of smell, my un-normal 67/20vision, and my ability to move almost completely unnoticed.
Jake was panting underneath me, and his fast gallop grew remarkably slower, until he collapsed in the sand. I whooped at my triumph and jumped onto the sand, the giant beast heaving beside me. I found a stick, picked it up, and jumped back on Jake, causing him to snarl. I smiled and placed the stick on his thick hair, like an explorer claiming land for their country. Jared was the first to arrive on the scene, and the second he saw the composed look on my face, he was laughing like a hyena. Soon the rest of the supernaturals arrived, shortly after followed by their human spouses. Paul laughed the hardest, I think. When the crowd had cooled down, I jumped off of Jake into Paul's arms, with much applause from the on-lookers. I kissed Paul gently, let my self down, and bowed deeply and dramatically for the amusement of my friends. The laughing began again.
"I never thought I'd see the day…" Sam began, but was cut off when Jake grumbled something and stood up, shaking the sand off his coat, but making sure not to get one grain on me. He tore off into the forest, and in a few minutes, he emerged on two feet. He walked to where I was standing, a giant smile on his face, and held out his hand.
"Truce," he laughed. I laughed also, and shook his outstretched hand. Suddenly, Seth sprang up.
"First one to the camp gets all the food!" he shouted, and was off. I was not to far behind him, and as most of the pack sped ahead, I finally got in front of him. When we finally arrived, not long after the others, we ate our fill and then chatted some more.
Leah, Kimi, Jared, Emily, Sam and I started heading into the forest. There was a green light filtering through the leaves of the trees, and the laughter of my family echoed through the trees as we made fools of our selves, tripping and stumbling. Then the path came to an end, and the parking lot began. Once we were at the van, we waited a while, giggling and talking.
Then, suddenly, a giant wolf burst through the trees. Loaded on his back were beach chairs, blankets, and cooking supplies. We all helped take the stuff of Seth's back and load it into the van. Then, four minutes later, Jake came through, his back also carrying the remains of our beach party. Seth went to get the last bit as we began transferring the items upon Jake's back into the van. When we were all finished, I straightened up, wiping the sweat from my brow.
We said our goodbyes, and I hopped in Sam's car with Emily. The drive home took a while. When finally we pulled into the tiny garage, I realized I had nodded off in the back. The rest of the day I stayed home, finishing some essays and homework. Paul called once, told me he was going to get dinner with the rest of the boys, and that he'd meet me at Sam's when it was time for patrol.
At around six, I heard a car pull in the driveway and peered out the window. There were two trucks. I pulled on my night clothes; black shorts for running and a black sweatshirt with a hood to cover my light hair. I jogged down the stairs when something occurred to me. Patrols didn't usually start till eight, and the boys would still be eating if they wanted to get full. I paused in front of the doorframe and peered into the kitchen. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the entire pack there, talking in hushed voices. I peered out the front window, and sure enough, there were two more cars parked on the street. I turned back to the scene before me.
"Paul, it's alright," Emily said gently. All their expressions were tensed, but Paul's looked like he was being hurt by something internal.
"It's not alright, Em." His voice, small, weak, and pain stricken, surprised me. None of the pack replied to that. Sam had his head in his hands.
"My poor girl," he said quietly. Claire seemed to have had enough and jumped up.
"I know Kylie, she'll be okay…at least…maybe….I mean, she'll get over it." Everyone, including her, winced as she said this. "I didn't mean that…she'll understand…I hope…" She sunk back into her seat as her hope diminished. Awkward silence lasted awhile. Then:
"I'm going to Hell for saying this," Jake began, pausing and biting his lip. "but maybe it's for the best."
Paul sunk even lower, if that was even possible. I had had enough and I walked in the room. As many pairs of eyes met mine with sympathetic looks, Paul's reaction was the one that shattered my heart. The look of utter pain on his face turned to one of complete agony. I instantly wished I hadn't come in as the horrid truth dawned on me.
I couldn't move, for a minute. A weak 'oh' was the only thing that escaped my lips. I just stood, looking at my first boyfriend. My boyfriend. Boyfriend. The way the word echoed in the tunnels of my brain seemed empty, meaningless, pitiful. Then, without remembering getting there, I was on the ground, sobbing lightly as wet tears slid gently down my cheeks. I was in his arms, then, for the last time.
He hadn't wanted to hurt me. He was in pain because he had.
We'd known this would happen, someday.
We'd hoped it never would.
We'd tried to make it work.
And yet, here it was, as fate had determined.
Paul had Imprinted.
A/N: Lemme know what ya think! Cullens in next chapter, maybe. Bad beginning, I know. Next chapter's dedicated to whoever figures out something about the characters in the beginning.
o