I'm sorry there wasn't a chapter yesterday but I had an amazing idea for an original story that I had to get down and then my sugar high crashed :\ but oh well I have a chapter for you now...

In the billowing silence that followed Seth's announcement Bella came running from the house and pulled Alice straight into a tight hug. "I did it!" She laughed into the shorter girl's shoulder. "The shield it worked." Alice couldn't help but smile as she hugged Bella back but the newborn could see the worry on the rest of the group's faces. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" Bella slipped out of Alice's arms slowly and with more than a little reluctance. The other girl's proximity always made her feel safe, no matter what else was going on around them.

"Are Carlisle and Esme home yet?" Jasper saved Alice answering the newborn, he could feel the indecision of what to say rolling from her and it still pained him to see her in distress. Bella nodded.

"Something did happen didn't it? Is it the Volturi?" Alice took hold of her elbow gently and began to lead the troupe inside the house. The only house that was currently occupied in the whole town. A sick feeling was born in the pit of her stomach when she thought of what could have happened to the citizens of Forks.

They could have been taken to feed the Volturi forces or even to swell them a little further but she couldn't believe that explanation; it would draw too much attention to them and no one would miss a whole town of people just disappearing. Would they? "Alice tell me what's going on." There was a hint of anger in Bella's voice that was answered with a twinge of anger in her heart. She quashed the feeling as quickly as she could anger had no place in a conversation with Bella. Ever.
"Carlisle needs to hear this too Love. I'm sorry." She pulled the girl upstairs determinedly ignoring the fact that many of their group remained at the foot of the stairs. Only Leon and Jacob followed them up to Carlisle's study.

Alice didn't bother knocking on her pseudo-father's door, which was the first sign to him that something was wrong. His second tip off to his daughter's low mood was the dark gleam in her honey coloured eyes. It was only present when something was going seriously wrong.
"Alice." Carlisle set his voice a soothing tone and he saw Alice relax slightly. It pleased him to know that he could read his children's moods so well. He smiled. "How can I help?" He didn't miss the movement as the pixie-like girl took hold of Bella's hand nor as the newborn's thumb began to stroke comforting circles on the back of Alice's hand. He was happy for the pair and proud that they had both overcome the obstacles in the way of their relationship.

"The people are gone." Jacob stepped forwards to stand beside Alice. Carlisle liked the boy despite his being a werewolf; he had been a good friend to his daughter and Bella too. He almost thought of Jacob as one of his own so it was with patience and respect that he questioned the boy further.

"Which people and gone where?" The blonde wolf who had remained beside the door to his office rolled his eyes slightly and leaned back on the door seemingly ready for a long wait. Carlisle recognised that boy, Leon, he looked a lot like the girl wolf who had been in Bella's room on the day of her transformation, and they had the same dual coloured eyes.

"The humans. All of them. Forks is empty Carlisle." Alice answered for Jacob with an earnest tone to her usual cheerful voice and Bella's breathing hitched in her throat. It was then that Carlisle knew the extent of the predicament his family was in.

He couldn't blame Edward for the problems even though it was him that had killed Jane.

He couldn't blame Bella or Alice even though it was they who had broken his son's heart and driven him to Jane in the first place.

Carlisle Cullen could find no one to blame and even though his father had been a priest he found that he could not even see it as God's will.

He nodded slowly, resigned to the fact that by the end of the week he would probably have lost another of his children or possibly his wife. He clenched his fists at his sides; he was not going to allow Aro to destroy his family any further.

"Ok. We must assume that Aro has taken them as the first move. We make the second tomorrow." Carlisle detested war but his family was threatened and he would be damned if he didn't at least put up a respectable fight to keep them safe.

"Sir?" Alice looked at him with concerned eyes and he barely caught her grip on Bella's hand tighten slightly. Guilt blossomed in his heart at turning the girls to soldiers but he had no choice. They could not run, knew they would not. And they could not negotiate; Aro would simply kill them. They had to fight.

"Tomorrow." He saw the same realisation in Jacob's eyes as the wolf turned away and left the office, the girls and the blonde boy behind him.

Doctor Carlisle Cullen sat back at his desk and laid his head in his hands, hoping to anything that could be listening to him that he'd made the right decision and praying that his children would survive.

Alice followed Bella back to her room in a daze that she could only usually reach when she was in the throes of a vision. The war would begin in the morning. People would die, she didn't need her visions to tell her that. The sick feeling in her stomach had grown to a physical pain that could not be ignored. "Are you ok?" Bella murmured sitting across from Alice on the bed. It had only been just over a day since she'd been turned into a vampire but it already felt like an eternity.

"No. I'm terrified I'm going to lose you." Alice murmured wringing her hands in her lap. Her usual unflappable confidence was long gone with the citizens of her town and there seemed to be nothing she could do to get it back.

"I'm not going anywhere." Bella whispered scooting closer to take both of Alice's hands in her own. "I'm not going anywhere. Ever." Alice smiled softly desperately wanting to believe her and finding she was unable to. Bella placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I mean it Alice. I won't let them separate us." This time Alice felt her heart begin to believe beating away her brain's doubts. The next kiss was deeper and all of Alice's panic for tomorrow fled her mind as her back hit the mattress.

/

Alice and Bella stood in the forest the next day, hand in hand and flanked by wolves and the other Cullens. Carlisle had gotten back only that morning with his suit torn and dirty. He had been to see where the Volturi had made camp and found that they did not have any of the civilians from Forks imprisoned or among their army.

Everyone of their small number had nervousness rolling off of them in waves. Alice found herself pitying Jasper who was trying his very best to send them all calm and courage but the pain in his eyes worried her.
The wolves seemed ready she mused silently.

Jacob stood at their head, russet fur shifting in the light breeze and dark eyes fixed on the clearing ahead.

Lucy and Leon flanked him, sat on the leaf-strewn floor appearing to be holding a silent conversation with their eyes.

Amber knelt with them one hand buried in the fur on top of each twin's head.

Leah stood behind the trio with Seth, only slightly smaller than her, close by.
She could hear Emmett forcing jokes from his lips in an attempt to keep the mood light, Rose however was attempting to ignore him even with the tiny smile pulling at her golden eyes.

Jasper stood on Alice's other side, holding her other hand and was every inch the classic hero of a story. She felt a wave of love towards him flow from her heart and a corresponding smile from him told her he'd felt it.

Bella was scarily calm even though her hand was shaking in Alice's grip and a strained smile was on her lips. Alice desperately wanted to kiss the painful grimace away but knew she couldn't. Not so close to the battle for their very lives. Not here.

Carlisle and Esme were stood at the very front of their pitiful ragtag army, not touching physically but every now and then one of them would look at the other and give a soft, saddened smile.

None of the group were talking to each other and some were simply lost in their own thoughts and fears but Alice knew they stood together and nothing was going to sway them from that.

Not even the sight of the black cloaked Volturi beginning to make their way across Edward's clearing in front of them.

*enter creepy thriller music here* thank you for reading and of course reviewing lynettecullen yours especially made me giggle :)