Hey everyone. Before you start reading this story I just want to make a few quick comments on it.

I've been toying with the main character, Aden, for a long time now. He's been buzzing around in my head for years but I never really found a plot for him. I'm still working on giving him his own universe buy for now I'm looking at this as a good opportunity to develop his character while letting him play in Stephanie Meyer's world. Please do not expect him to be a Bella clone. While Aden and Bella do have a lot in common, I don't plan to make the interchangeable.

For a while the story will mirror Twilight's plot but will eventually veer off. So just bear with me. :)

Twilight and all Twilight characters are (c) to Stephanie Meyer.

Warning: Story (will) contain a Male/Male pairing. Later chapters will be rated M

The Arizona sun was blazing over the eastern horizon, shining with a fierce heat despite the early hour. If it wasn't for my sweet mother or my patient step-father this ridiculous blaring sun would surely be my favorite thing about the home I was soon leaving. It was overbearing, oppressive, and completely inescapable. Yet it felt safe and familiar, comforting. There was a sort of ease in knowing that Shorts Season was 10 month out of the year. In always stuffing a second shirt in my backpack on days I wanted to appear presentable - knowing I'd sweat through the first before lunch. Of knowing that despite the stares that skirted around my gaze and the rumors I'd been surrounded by - despite all that - I knew exactly the next time I'd see that friendly, consuming, sun. If not tomorrow than certainly the next day.

As the thought ran through my mind, a slow grumble ran the course of my body. After today, when would I see the sun again? I sighed, I would have to learn to live without.

There were many redeeming qualities about the dinky (and that's being kind) town of Forks, Washington. My father, Charlie, for instance ranked high on the list. He was a genuinely good guy with nothing by honorable intentions - even if he did make deplorable choices when it came to geography. And he loved me, a lot.

There was also the landscape with its winding forests' paths and graceful hills. It was all perfectly picturesque. And really, there was only one thing catastrophically wrong with the town. Well, 305 things depending on how you chose to look at it. 305 overcastted, soggy, cold days. More rain than rays, more clouds than blue sky. Suddenly my heart jumped at the thought of my harebrained mother and the sprawling, scarce, Arizona view.

My mother had very recently remarried. The whole thing seemed a blur in hindsight. The journey from, "I'm done with Men, Aden. I'm happy to be single," to, "Honey, Phil proposed! Isn't that wonderful?" Had only taken a year. I was happy for her, happy for them - for us. Phil was an amazing, caring guy - if a little young. But what my mom had on him in years she made up for in being unusually erratic.

Renee was an exceptional woman who raised me, for all intensive purposes, alone. She was strong and loving but she took some serious work. She was twitchy, inconsistent. She jumped from hobby to hobby the same exact way she switched from idea to idea - with the blink of an eye. Just keeping up your side of a conversation with her was a mental exercise. Phil was young and grounded, he was good for her.

I had been set to leave them midsummer. It had been my idea, my own little present to them. I knew neither of them had ever thought of me as a burden but I also sensed my mother's desire to travel flare up and saw how Phil's eyes twinkled at the mention of exotic places him and my mother would go… someday.

The plan had been to start my senior year at Forks High and figure college out from there. It had taken months to convince my mom that it was what I wanted. Months and lots of carefully inserted comments those good intentions of Charlie and a secret desire to reconnect with my childhood. In October, she finally conceded to let me go after I finished my junior year, though she remained suspicious. I would be relocating in July and, at the time, the date had seemed ominously too soon.

But things had changed since October. Its March now and my bags are packed. Thrown into the back of my old Chevy with the few belongings I cared to take with me. Only one large duffel bag and one suitcase. All secure under a green tarp - protecting them from the same elements I would soon need protecting from as well. I cringed at the thought of my new waterproof wardrobe.

I stared at the small unearthed cactus in my hand. It was the only piece of Arizona I was taking with me. I tried to make it seem like enough.

"Aden!" Phil called. "If you plan on getting there before Easter you may want to start thinking about heading out soon!"

He smiled at me but I could see the sadness lingering in the back of his eyes. It touched me to know that he was sincerely sad to see me go. I would miss him too.

"Phil!" My mom scolded, smacking him lightly on the arm. "Don't rush him. He should at least get some breakfast in him before he leaves." Her eyes lingered on me, pleadingly.

"No mom, really," we had already had this discussion. "I'm just going to take some coffee for the road. Phil's right, I should get going."

She bit her lip, something we both did when we were trying to hold back something we desperately wanted to say.

"I love you mom," I said, wrapping her in my arms, "I'll call you as soon as I get there, okay?" She looked disapproving. "Fine, I'll call you ever time I stop. But only if you promise not to worry yourself to death."

Phil laughed, grabbing my arm and pulling me into his own hug . He slapped my back where some bruises were still fresh. I tried to bite the cringe back. He didn't notice but my mother, of course, did.

"This basket case?" He joked, "She'll be out of her mind the entire time you're on the road."

My mother walked away, wiping her eyes, and grumbling something about getting my coffee.

I walked to my truck, an old beat up thing that only I wasn't worried about making the trip in one piece. The outside was rusted and dented but the ancient engine was built to last. I yanked the ever-stuck door open, placing the potted plant on the passenger's seat next to me and climbed in.

"Take care of her, okay?" I asked, holding the steering wheel hard and stared straight out the windshield. I fought the urge to bite my lip. "She's going to need you to take care of her."

"I will," he said as I met his eyes, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Now you don't worry. You're no better than her sometimes. Just try to take care of yourself, huh? She'll never forgive herself if something happened to you, you know that."

His eyes said more than his words and I nodded to him once and started the reluctant truck.

With a travel mug placed vicariously between my knees and the two people that made up the majority of my family waving in my rearview mirror, I drove down the street. Out of Arizona, away from home. Towards the rain.

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Forks was exactly how I remembered it to be, which is saying something considering I hadn't been here since I was ten. I guess there wasn't a lot for my mind to forget or for time to manipulate. Forks was small, simple place. Small enough of a town that everyone stared as I drove past them. In Forks if you didn't recognize something, say a face or a car, than that meant it hadn't been around long. Things seemed to fall in only two easy categories: Familiar and New.

There were so few of everything that nothing new ever went unnoticed. And if by chance anything had been able to slip under the radar it wouldn't have been me wearing shorts and it wouldn't have been truck which could be heard coming for at least four blocks. I tried to slouch down lower in the cab.

I navigated the offensive vehicle down the streets as the roads became impossiblely smaller. I had already abandoned my MapQuest print out, now following the handwritten directions of my mother.

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Here," she said two weeks ago, shoving a piece of paper in my hand as I walked past her in the kitchen.

"What's this?" I asked as I stared down at what was obviously a set of directions.

"I know you looked up how to get there," She said, waving disgustedly towards the living room where the computer sat in the corner. "But I wouldn't trust those."

I could feel myself rolling my eyes and she eagerly continued. "This isn't just about my aversion to technology. I just wrote out the way from Route 101 to the house. The roads aren't like they are here, Hun. Its easy to miss turns. I'm not sure they all even have names." I knew my eyes has barely softened. "Trust me, kiddo. Take them - you can be all on your own until 101."

I scanned the directions as she went back to making her salad. They were miles away from the internet ones I had all but memorized. These seemed much more direct. The other set had been winding, the map had taken long loops and sidetracks. Thinking back, it seemed that roads had been missing. Renee was probably right.

Though as I read more carefully my skepticism returned. 'Take a left at Randy's Hardware' I read followed by, 'Go straight past the playground.'

I looked up, a slight laugh on my lips. "Mom, 'Left at the broken traffic light'? What kind of instructions are these?"

She shrugged. "Its been a while, Aden. I can't remember the names anymore. You know how bad my memory is sometimes."

"Yea, but how do you know none of this has changed? You could have me driving all over the straight looking for 'the green fire hydrant'." My smile dropped as I saw the expression on her face.

She stared out of the window into nothing, the corners of her mouth drooping as she shook her head. "Aden," she said softly, "Forks never changes."

Very slow chapter, I know. We'll get to Aden's special abilities in the next chapter, I promise!

I have about 20 Chapter written out and about 8 actually editted (I swear it takes me four times longer to edit than it does to write) so hopefully updates will be fairly regular.

Thanks for reading!