Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from Twilight!
Leah's entire body hurt, even the places she didn't know could hurt, and she was pretty sure that if there was a mirror nearby, the reflection looking back at her would be one giant bruise. Purple had always been her favorite color, but she wasn't sure that she would ever be able to look at it without having flashbacks of her torture sessions hosted by Marcus. For the rest of her life, she would remember her time in Italy, and not with fondness in her heart.
She missed home; the home she had made with Vladimir and Stefan in Romania. Leah never thought she would see the day when she wanted to see a vampire, but there you go. She missed Dracula One with a passion she had not felt since before Sam broke her heart. What she wanted most was to close her eyes and open them again to find her vampire rushing to come to her rescue like the prince who rescued the damsels in distress in the fairy tales her father used to read to her when she was a little girl. But alas, Leah knew how her life worked, and nothing good or romantic like that ever happened to her. She figured she was simply destined to die in this pit of death, despair, and blood.
She wasn'tt actually concerned about what would become of her when she died. She did, however, worry about her brother and mother. Who would watch over Seth? Sure, the bloodsucker-version of the Brady Bunch probably would, but they weren't exactly her idea of a good influence. Jacob was so wrapped up in Nessie he tended to forget the people around him, so he was out, too. And the last person Leah wanted to look after her brother was Sam Uley. Maybe Charlie would keep an eye on him; he was pretty cool when he wasn't banging her mom. Or if Charlie couldn't step up, maybe Vladimir could. If she trusted one person to make sure her brother lived a long and healthy life, it was the blond Romanian. He knew what Seth meant to Leah and would do everything in his power to keep him safe and happy, the way she would have wanted him to remain.
All of sudden it was if a light turned on for the she-wolf. She realized that her train of thought was depressing the shit out of her. She needed to remain strong and stop acting as if she were dead already. The fact was that she was still alive and as long as she had a breath left in her body, there would always be hope. If she simply gave up, the Italian bloodsuckers would win and that was just wrong on so many levels. Leah knew that if she wanted to make it out of Italy alive, she needed to stop mentally whining and get her inner fight back. Crying and moaning was something that Bella or Emily would do, and she was levels above them.
Get a grip, Leah! she thought at herself fiercely as she got up off the floor. You don't need someone to rescue you; the only person who you need to save you is you, dammit! The next time that emotionally warped leech comes in here, you're gonna give him the fight of his miserable existence. You're Leah fucking Clearwater, and you're gonna start acting like it.
Finally managing to make it to her feet, Leah stretched her aching muscles, which groaned in protest. Shaking off her body's complaints, she took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. It wouldn't be easy taking on one of the Volturi leaders, especially because she hadn't eaten a real meal since being kidnapped from Romania, but she knew that it wouldn't be impossible. All she needed to do was remember everything Vladimir had taught her about the Volturi. Of course, she would have to wait for exactly the right time because she couldn't risk messing up her one shot, but when she did make her move, she would win. She was sure of it.
Leah was fighter through and through and she would do this in order to get home, her realhome with the two Romanian vampires. She would live to see her brother again, she would live to see her mother again, she would be there to make gagging noises when Jacob eventually married Nessie. Yes, she would be there for everything; it was a promise she made not only to herself, but to everyone she cared about. Plus she just had to live to continue to make Sam's life a living hell, just as she and Vladimir had joked about so many times.
TBC…