Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Twilight world.
Summary
Leah Clearwater never imprinted, but her life was far from unhappy. On the contrary, she considered herself the happiest of them all for she had been able to do what none of the others had … live a life that was hers on her own terms. Leah/OC eventually (non-vampire, non-werewolf).
Chapter One
Forks, ten years after the end of Breaking Dawn
The doe was picking daintily at the blades of grass in the clearing, almost savoring every bite. Only the keenest of eyes could see twitching of the sensitive ears always on alert. I smiled grimly; her senses would fail her today. Carefully, I circled closer, my feet carrying me forward soundlessly toward the blissfully ignorant animal, my mind focused on the sight and her smell in my nostrils. When it came to having and using hyper-aware senses to detect or evade others, I had no competition.
As I moved in for the strike, I suddenly felt a fast breeze move past me toward the doe. I narrowed my eyes … no way! In less than a second, the doe had been captured, but not by me.
Well, I had almost no competition. There was, after all, another species which had been crafted as my prey, and their skills sometimes exceeded mine, somewhat to my frustration.
The loud growls that were heard across the clearing would probably have frightened a less hardened soul than the fiend who stood there laughing at me with warm golden eyes. Then again, one had to have a soul in order to be frightened in the first place. I growled even more loudly, making my displeasure known to the monster standing across from me.
"That's unkind of you," the soulless fiend said, sounding hurt. Hah, as if he could fool me. "First I'm soulless and now I'm a monster, too. One might almost think you didn't like me."
"You moron!" I shouted at him mentally, letting my fury rage impotently. "Do you have any idea how long I've been tracking her? Now I have to waste even more time tracking another stupid animal to get some food. I swear I'm going to kill you!"
"Ah, but you'd have to catch me first, wouldn't you?" the fiend smirked, making me yearn to hit him. "Or are you confident that your – ah – unbeatable hyper-aware senses are good enough to catch up?"
"Believe me, at this moment, you stand no chance of outrunning me, you preening, arrogant, no-good-"
"Really?"
With a roar, I halted our mental conversation, leaping at him, but he moved at the last possible moment, fleeing through the woods with me right behind him. We pounded through the forest, skirting around the trees and shrubs, leaping over hedges and sprawling, outstretched roots until I noticed the trees lightening and a familiar smell entering my nostrils. Startled, I stopped as we burst through the trees and came up against a tall white house.
The fiend had also stopped. Grinning, he held his hands up in a sign of truce, ignoring my menacing glare.
"If you think that coming here is going to make things easier, you're wrong," I informed him in a precise mental tone, stalking toward him much as I had towards the long-lost doe. "Give it up, bloodsucker."
"Easy, Leah," he cautioned. "You ought to know by now that I wouldn't have eaten -"
"Drunk!" I thought maliciously.
He rolled his eyes and acquiesced, amending his statement to: "-drunk your lunch if I hadn't had a good reason."
My snarl was interrupted by the warm voice coming from the open doorway. "There you are, Leah, you've come just in time!"
I turned an inquiring head towards the speaker. I suppose my expression must have been obvious in my current form because she chuckled and gestured. "Perhaps if you're dressed more appropriately, we can tell you a little more. Alice will help you." She indicated the pixie-like being, waving at her side.
I shot her a pleading glance, and then surrendered with a sigh and padded behind Alice inside the house. The sickly sweet smell that permeated the house barely registered with me anymore. After ten years, I was only surprised that it hadn't seeped into my very pores. Entering the expensively furnished bedroom, I did a double-take at the clothes I found on the bed and rolled my eyes towards Alice. She grinned at me unrepentantly. "Let me guess!" I muttered, heading into the bathroom with a bad grace. as an expletive, hearing the tinkle of laughter from inside. "We're having a fancy dress party, and I'm Cinderella."
"I rather like the idea of being a fairy godmother." I could almost hear the grin in her voice. "Bibbidy-Bobbidy-Boo, Leah!" she exclaimed as I came out, having finished my ablutions and dressing. She turned me towards the dresser firmly. "A little more work, I think."
"No way," I said, trying to struggle with her firm grip. One would never think such a tiny person had the grip of a heavyweight boxer. I gave in with a bad grace, turning to face her and closing my eyes in resignation.
She sighed, moving her hand with featherlight motions over my face. "To listen to you and Bella, one would think you were going to be tortured."
I grinned. I couldn't help it. She sounded so put-upon and unlike herself when she was being bitter. "Don't you dare equate me with Bella," I warned her. She stuck her tongue out at me, her hand continuing to move over my features. Inhaling the powder by mistake, I sneezed. She handed me a tissue immediately and continued her ministrations.
"Here they come," she said, her hand moving even faster. "There, done."
A bare second later, there came the sound of somebody running followed by a loud pounding at the door. "Come on, Alice! What's taking so long?"
"We're coming, Jacob!" she snapped immediately. "Why don't you go downstairs and keep your fiance occupied rather than bothering me?"
I chuckled. With another loud bang at the door, Jacob retreated, growling under his breath.
"Take a look at yourself in the mirror," she said, turning my chair to face the my reflection. Despite the growling in my stomach, I took an extra moment to look at the woman in the glass.
"Thank you, Alice," I said as I stood up, dropping a hand on the petite pixie's shoulder. She grinned at me, reading between the lines as usual to see what I was really trying to say.
"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand from her shoulder and leading me out of the room and down the stairs in the twinkling of an eye.
"I'm still really hungry," I protested, then brightened as we headed towards the kitchen. Maybe they would feed me. Or maybe not – it was dark. Not that darkness would be a problem (hey, superior senses, remember?), but that meant no delicious food waiting to be consumed would be awaiting me.
Once upon a time, I would have (and had) thrown every morsel of food given to me by a group of vampires, but... well, I supposed, even harpies were entitled to change their minds.
As we entered the dark kitchen, the lights came on, and twelve voices called out: "HAPPY WEREWOLF DAY, LEAH!"
A/N My author's notes will always be at the end of the chapter. This way you can skip over it if you wish and head right on to the next chapter. The Happy Werewolf day part will be explained in the next chapter. However, I wanted to say a few words about the story, and the reasons why I am writing it.
Leah is a fascinating character in the Twilight series, and one who, I believe, is often overlooked, not because of her story, but because of her strength. In a way she is a victim and a survivor of a crazy twist of fate which literally handed her a triple whammy: in the space of a few months (or years, I'm not sure which) she lost the man she loved, her father, and herself. It turned her from a loving, ordinary young girl with dreams into the bitter harpy we see in the Twilight series, fighting to be heard in an all-male environment. Yet, as Leah herself says, (to paraphrase) "I wasn't always the way I am now. I used to be kind of nice, you know?" How would Leah go back to being the person she was without the props she used to have? I know that a lot of people have dealt with it by having her imprint, which is interesting. I wanted to explore another option (which is not unique, by any means) in which Leah never imprints, never leaves La Push, and yet manages to regain her sense of self and lives a happy life.
I am also trying to hone my writing skills, so if anyone has any constructive criticism in terms of my grammar, etc., go ahead and leave it as a review. Reviews either way make me happy, flames don't. This is not my first fanfic, but I deleted others I have written because they didn't please me. Thanks for reading my story!