Five Years Earlier

"They? Alice, what have you done?"

She hesitated. Ever since beginning to secretly correspond with Bella it was all she seemed to do - hesitate. Alice wasn't sure of any moves she made.

"I warned you to stay away from werewolves, Bella they're dangerous. But you kept seeing Jacob every day and I couldn't see you anymore because of their unpredictability...so I called the Volturi. They were only suppose to give them a warning to stay on the reservation and not cross any vampiric paths and to stay hidden, I didn't think they would-"

Bella was so quiet on the other end of the line that Alice stopped mid jumbled sentence to make sure she was still there.

"..Bella?" No answer.

"Go to hell."

And that was the beginning of the end.

It was everything that was holding Bella together- all snatched away in one foul murderous swoop. The fact that she was standing at all was a miracle. The months that followed were hollow and seemed to go by in a blur. The police couldn't make head or tails of the massacre and although it crossed her mind to out the entire vampire existence, consequences come as they may, Bella ultimately decided to remain quiet. No one would believe her and the last thing she needed was to be committed. The only survivors of the attack were women- Leah, Sue, Emily, and Lissette. Although Leah had already made her change to the wolf side, the remaining women didn't have their transformation until after the carnage. Tragedy had touched them all yet spared them too, because the four women were away on a trip at the time. A celebration of Lissette's 21st birthday. A detail that would soon be forgotten by all.

Bella, for her part seemed to be handling things as expected. No sleeping or eating. Even talking became a daunting task. As a habit, she kept her cellphone off regularly, the last thing she wanted was to hear from Alice. The sister who betrayed her. In fact, a deep rooted hate for all of the Cullen's began to brew in her belly. But she was human, and there was nothing she could do to fix the scales. Drugs seemed to be the easiest escape, Bella's doctor's had her prescribed to some heavy sleep meds, but that wasn't exactly cutting it. A little liquor added with the pills however, provided her with the peace she so desperately desired.

Without help, she was a glutton for waking nightmares and the anxiety that plagued her about the things lurking in the dark.

She was dazed, her eyes barely open like tiny slits when she heard it. The distinct sound of her window opening. But she couldn't lift her head, it was too heavy from the pills so all she could do was lie there, helplessly.

"Who-...what?" She murmured, as she heard the window shut.

"Bella," Alice said, softly approaching her bedside. Upon hearing her voice, Bella grew violent and struggled against the meds in her system but she could do nothing more except flail her arms.

"Shhh," she placed a cool hand on her sweaty forehead. "I know you hate me. But, I had to make sure you were okay." Bella shifted slightly on the bed effectively moving Alice's hand away from her. Alice stopped speaking suddenly, her vision clouding over.

"Get out." Bella hissed, but Alice was miles away in her mind seeing a split screen future that terrified her. On one side, she saw Bella as a vampire- she was beautiful and smiling and holding hands with a man that Alice couldn't see. But love radiated from them, and Bella seemed genuinely happy. The other side was the polar opposite. It was dark, and a vampiric Bella was coated in blood, smiling a menacing smile...holding Edward's severed head by the hair.

She came back to the present with a shudder, eyes wide with terror as she gazed at her old sister. Alice couldn't see who had changed Bella in either vision, in fact- this vision was different from any that she'd ever experienced. Normally, she could see the future based off of what someone was planning to do and what the consequences would be. This vision, or visions, seemed to be just that. A vague vision of the future and Alice had no way of knowing who's actions would bring which outcome. So she bit her.

She just bit her. It was all she could think to do. She could have killed her right then, made it look like suicide to prevent both futures from coming to fruition. But she didn't want to completely rule out Bella's chance of happiness especially after all the pain she'd caused her up until this point. She figured that if she changed Bella, then she could help her find her happiness. She could watch out for her like she should have in the beginning and make sure the left vision took place instead of the right. It was a split second decision, she could only pray for it to work out for the better.

"Alice, what the hell-" Bella hissed as the fire spread through her veins. And then everything went black.

Volturi Manor present day

When the truth was finally out, they were all silent.

Alice kept her gaze on Edward, waiting for him to speak. His lip curled as he approached her deliberately.

"How could you?" He hissed, his eyes wide with anguish. "So all those extended shopping trips to Europe and God knows where else- that's where you were. Off ruining lives-"

"For God sake, Edward! She saw Bella holding your decapitated head. What would any of us have done?" Emmett bellowed, defending Alice. Edward spinned to face him.

"Maybe we would have brought the subject to a vote? Made the choice together?" He said rhetorically. Rosalie took a step forward.

"You made the choice to leave on your own. You didn't ask any of us a single thing about it. You uprooted us and we haven't been the same since- Alice...as misguided as her steps were it's not her fault that we are where we are now. It's yours." He lunged at her. Thus making Emmett lunge at him and then it was utter chaos. Jasper took a breath and released a calming wave. It didn't do much to abate the tension but he had their attention.

"Didn't you say that Bella said we would tear each other apart? This is what she wanted," he turned to Alice.

"What happened after you changed her?"

She hesitated.

"I took her to our old home in forks to finish the change. When she was finally coming out of it I had another vision," she stopped. Her eyes were rimmed red. "The dark vision of her future...it was all I saw. The good version was gone, and I realized that it was me. I was the choice that made this future. I did all of this. She was still holding Edward's head in her hand," her voice dropped to a whisper.

"And I knew I had to kill her. I couldn't bring that kind of evil into the world; there was no telling the horrors she would inevitably inflict. She started to wake up and I knew I didn't have much time so I lit a fire."

"Oh, Alice." Esme clasped hand over her mouth.

"I was going to do it. But four werewolves appeared and I couldn't take them all on so I ran." The shame she felt was palpable and filled the air among them.

"How could you run and just leave the mess you made? How could you come home to us and pretend everything was fine? You know," Edward inched toward her a step. "I knew you were hiding something. Your thoughts were always a scattered mess. I thought I was protecting your privacy...and the entire time you were just betraying me."

Alice's red rimmed eyes fell upon Edward as she measured him.

"I had a choice between protecting Bella or you. Given that choice again I would choose you every time."