The Past Returns
Alice, Jessica, and Angela sat on a comfy couch in the common room of the girl's dorm. After talking about the gory details of the tragic loss of the school and Bella's newfound powers, the girls discovered they all shared an equal love of shopping. They were in the middle of discussing which stores they liked to shop at for dresses when Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all walked in through the dorm wall.
Like in the cafeteria, the Cullens had a dazzling effect. All the girls in the room would stop their conversations just for a minute to admire the bunch. Some girls were even sending a few envious glances Rosalie's way and she was drinking it in.
"Oh those poor girls didn't even know I was going to hit them," Emmett remarked as he took a seat in an armchair nearby Alice. Rosalie immediately slapped the side of his head.
"You're an idiot," Rosalie nonchalantly stated while gracefully taking a seat on the arm of Emmett's chair.
Edward proceeded to make introductions between his family and Angela and Jessica. It was clear that Angela and Jessica were in awe. While all vampires did hold certain charming qualities, the Cullens were an especially good looking bunch as if they had a few extra pinches of greatness thrown in during birth.
Edward took a quick survey of the room but could not find Bella.
"Alice, is the Princess still up in her room?" Edward inquired.
"What are you talking about? You texted her like twenty minutes ago to meet you in the courtyard." Alarm broke out on Edward's face.
"No I didn't. Alice, where is the Princess? Where is Bella?"
"Oh my god, Edward, I can't see her! I can't see Bella's future!"
...
Bella started regaining a bit of consciousness. Her vision was still blurry but she could feel her back against something big and rough while something held down her arms. A strong throbbing took hold of her head. It made her feel dizzy and unstable. She could feel a sickly liquid drip down the side of her face and could smell the copper of blood. Her sight began to clear and in front of her was a smirking Jacob. Two of his guys were holding her down against a trunk of tree. She was about to muster up another Spirit command but realized she had tape over her mouth. She could not move and could not speak rendering her powers useless.
"You are one fast little bitch. If you know what's good for you, you would just stop struggling." He walked over to her. He ran his hand down the side of her face and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He then dipped his head to the side of her face and licked her blood. He closed his eyes as he let her royal, magical blood wash over his body. Bella felt like she was going to throw up. She tried to turn away but Jacob grabbed both sides of her face and forced her to look at him.
"You taste so good. I can protect you, you know. If you join with me, stand by my side, I can protect you. You think this place," he gestured to the rest of the school, "will be able to survive what is coming. Join me," Jacob finished with a smile. He pulled off the tape so Bella could respond.
Immediately, Bella spat in his face. One of Jacob's men quickly taped her mouth back up. Anger was apparent in Jacob's eyes and without a second thought he slapped her hard across the face so that the pain from her headache doubled in size. He quickly wiped her spit off his face.
"I see you need a little time to think. And while you are thinking let's have some fun." Jacob began to laugh darkly while reaching for the zipper to his pants.
At that moment, a snarl ripped through the silence in the night as Edward charged Jacob. The men who weren't holding Bella down, rushed to help Jacob. But, Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie all joined in. The two men holding Bella let her go to help defend Jacob.
Bella watched as each of Cullens were matched up to one of Jacob's men. Emmett was fighting two. She didn't want to just sit there. Bella ripped off the tape and stood up to help with Cullens. But the trickle she felt on the side of her face was not really a trickle but more like a gush of liquid. She reached up to the side of her head and felt a huge gash from where she was hit. She tried to take a step forward and summon magic, but the strain was too much. Bella was losing too much blood and all she could hear was the pounding of her headache. Bella took one more step and fell into darkness once again but not before she saw Edward, with his beautiful golden eyes filled with worry, racing towards her.
...
Bella awoke to a familiar beeping of machines. Everything smelled like bleach and medicine. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't. Her entire body still felt heavy.
"Guardian Cullen, it still might be a while before the Princess wakes up. She lost a lot of blood and may have a slight concussion. You should go feed. I'm sure your family here will be willing to look after her," the voice of the kind nurse stated.
"I'm okay here. Thank you for helping her," Edward's voice responded, laced with exhaustion.
"It's my job, hun," the nurse replied. Bella could hear her walk away. There was a loud thump at what Bella assumed was Edward sitting back down in a chair.
"Edward, you need to get blood. I can watch her," Alice kindly murmured to him.
"I don't want to leave her again, Alice. This is my fault. I'm suppose to be with her at all times to protect her from shit like Jacob."
"You can't blame yourself. If anything it's my fault. I should have gone with her. I should have known. But there was no warning because her future... there was nothing."
"What do you mean, Alice?"
"Everyone has a future. Even when someone dies, their future is to lie in their resting place. I can see a person's future if I actively look into it. But, Bella's... she had nothing. It was just black. I've never seen anything like it before. Like a block almost."
"What does it mean?" Edward replied worriedly.
"I'm not sure. We will have to do a little researching especially with that kid still on the loose."
"Can you explain to me one more time what happened after I caught Bella and rushed her to the infirmary?"
"Well the kid you were fighting, Jacob Black, whistled some kind of retreating signal. All of his little vampire boy groupies ran to follow him deeper into the courtyard. We kept up with them until they reached the wall of the school. We thought the enchantments would keep them in but there was a crack in the wall and they all escaped. We tried to follow but the magical barriers stopped us."
"Did you try tracking his future? See what he is planning?"
"I did, but he had that same black wall around his future not to mention he could pass through the strong perimeter enchantments. Edward, there is something dark happening right now. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it doesn't feel right at all."
And then slowly, the voices faded until Bella fell asleep again.
...
"I'm so sorry. I just have no idea how this could have happened. I never knew. Yeah he was a little rough around the edges, but I had no idea my boy could be capable of causing harm to another, especially to a royal, the ones we are sworn to protect. I don't know how I can forgive myself…"
"It's not your fault Billy. All staff here has taught him or at least spoken to him. No one knew. The important part is now we find out who Jacob is working for and why," the headmistresses whispered in a quiet voice. "Do you have any clues for us Guardian Cullen?"
Bella could hear the slight shake of Edward's head.
Professor Black took a breath as if he were going to speak again or try to apologize, but then Bella spoke.
"Before he left he said I needed to choose what side to fight for." The Headmistress and Professor Black were startled by the sound of Bella's voice, thinking she was asleep. Edward immediately moved closer to her side, but didn't attempt to touch her.
"I'm sorry Princess Swan, could you say that again," the Headmistress asked.
Bella cleared her throat. "He told me that I needed to choose a side; that something was coming that no one was prepared for; that the school would not be able to withstand." Bella shivered recalling the dark undertone of Jacob's words and the malevolent smile that lit up his face.
"Oh dear, this can't be…" the headmistress's eyes darted to Professor's Black with a look of pure fear that neither Edward nor Bella have ever seen on another person's face.
"No it's impossible…" Professor Black murmured in quiet disbelief.
"I'm sorry you two, but Professor Black and I must go," the headmistresses stated while immediately heading for the door.
"Headmistress!" Edward called out before she could leave, "No disrespect, but my Royal has been attacked. And if either of you know information that could help me protect her or bring justice down upon those who have wronged her, then as her Guardian, I demand to know. She has a right to know."
Again the Headmistress and Professor Black exchanged glances.
"Emily," Professor Black began, "he's right."
"I suppose you are Guardian Cullen. But this is neither the place nor time to discuss matters as confidential and controversial as this. I will send a request to you, Princess Swan, and your family for a meeting later this evening. Until then, no more should be said. Goodnight." The Headmistress gave a curt nod of her head and headed out the door.
Professor Black glanced once more at Bella before lowering his head and ending with a quick "I'm sorry" before following the Headmistress's lead out the door.
As soon as they both disappeared and the door closed behind them, Edward immediately went to encompass Bella's hand in his.
"Bella are you okay?" Edward asked with so much love and tenderness radiating from his touch and his gaze, Bella took a minute to answer.
"I'm fine physically," she responded with a quick squeeze of his hand so he knew that she meant it. "But I'm upset at myself. I'm upset that Jacob could get the better of me. I'm upset that even with all these powers, I still feel weak and vulnerable. But I'm most upset that I keep ending up in this damn place," Bella gestured her hand to the hospital room.
"It's not your fault. It's all mine. I should have been with you. I should have been protecting you. It was my fault!" Edward said with force turning his face away from Bella in self-disgust.
"Edward, stop it. No one could have seen this coming. I shouldn't have gone outside by myself. And I should have had more control over my powers to fight them."
"Bella you don't need…."
"Edward stop it! I don't need excuses anymore. I'm a fucking Royal but that means nothing if I can't defend myself, if I'm dead. I may have taken forever to specialize, but that is not a good justification anymore. I will never let this happen again. Whether or not you're there, I will learn to defend myself. What use is all this magic, if I can't use it to my advantage?"
Edward looked like he was going to begin another explanation of why she had a guardian, but Bella put one finger on his lips.
"Edward, no more. I adore you as my Guardian, and you are one of the best. Believe me, I've been through plenty. But I don't want to be this delicate little flower that always needs protecting. I want to protect myself. I want to be your equal. And you can either help me or stay out of my way."
"What are you suggesting, Bella?" Edward said as best he could with her finger still on his mouth. Bella removed her hand and placed it in her lap. With as strong of conviction as she could muster still being injured sitting in a hospital bed, she looked directly into the beautiful dark golden eyes of her Guardian and frankly stated:
"I want you to train me. Make me into a fighter. Make me your equal."
Edward's face began to form a tiny proud smirk.
"As you wish, Princess."
...
Bella was released from the hospital, not soon enough for her taste, and was able to change quickly before Edward came to get her.
Edward escorted Bella into a large conference room already filled to the brim with the high ranking staff on campus, the Cullen family, and to Bella's astonishment the Headmasters and Headmistress from the Twilight sister academies.
Edward helped settle Bella into a chair at the conference table next to his family, while he dutifully stood behind her, hands clasped behind his back.
At the head of the table was Headmistress Emily with Professor Black standing behind her and her fellow headmistresses and headmasters seated around her.
"Thank you very much for gathering at this late hour. I promise you it is absolutely necessary but will require the utmost confidentiality from all concerning this matter. We would like to withhold this information from the school as long as possible to avoid chaos."
There was a slight nod of heads from around the room agreeing to the secret.
"Well, no point of denying the gravity of the situation. As you can see we have convened the heads of all our academies. At the permission of both our Royal councils and the Volturi we have been released vital information that will affect all."
She took a deep breath.
"Aro is still alive and is preparing for a repeat of past actions"
The room immediately burst out in disbelieving yells, tiny screams, and murmuring all around.
"Enough!" Emily yelled into the room.
"I know it seems impossible, but it is true."
Bella, thoroughly confused, bravely raised her voiced and asked, "Headmistress, who is Aro?"
"Ah yes, forgive me. I forgot we have those who were not around during events of the past. I will thusly start from the beginning. You may have heard versions of this tale, but these are the true facts, hidden from many for their own protection. Many, many centuries ago, we had a High Royal Council and Volturi as we do today. The High Royal Council was led by Royal Sybil and the Volturi was led by Guardian Aro. Aro was an extremely intelligent man. He had a reputation as the best guardian around, but there were also whisperings of his unorthodox methods of protection. There was even talk of inhumane and cruel actions Aro would take against those who angered him. But there was no doubting he was the best. And as the best, he rose to the top. But the top was a lonely place to him. He decided that even while earning the highest honor a guardian could ever hope to receive; there was no challenge, no excitement in it. He then did the unthinkable. Aro, after convincing others in the Volturi of his future plans, requested a meeting with the High Royal Council."
Emily closed her eyes as if imagining the next part of her tale. She took a deep breath and continued.
"It was a blood bath. Every single member of the Royal High Council was drained of blood. And those evil, malicious members of the Volturi who took part in draining the Royals were turned into Strigoi. A vampire infused with magic from the royal's blood they have drained, who now has a never ending bloodlust without any conscious. Aro and others previously in the Volturi, were able to retain parts of their former personalities, turning them into cruel leaders. They began a rampage making lesser guardians with weaker will power drain royals, creating a heartless and mindless Strigoi army."
Emily opened her eyes, tears beginning to pool at the sides. Other older members around the room all began to tilt their heads down in memory.
"Many friends, and family members were lost during those times. Countless blood lines ended. It was a war that ripped apart our world. With the aid of an individual not too different from our Princess Swan, Aro and his Strigoi army were able to be defeated at a tremendous cost. We thought he was gone. We thought he was defeated. Despite rumors, there was no way he would be able to survive the war. We rebuilt our councils both royal and vampire with dependable individuals. We thought we left it all behind. But, we were wrong. Aro and a select few of his Volturi turned Strigoi leaders remained and have been once again began to build an army."
There was a collective intake of breath in the room.
"We have unfortunately felt the effects as a group of our own students seem to have been infiltrated by the Strigoi leaders, and after attacking one of our own, has fled the school. From my colleagues, it seems like all of our academies have had students somehow persuaded by the Strigoi leaders to leave to join their army."
The murmuring began to start up again, fear and uncertainty apparent in all voices. Professor Black looked equally ashamed and fearful.
"I know this is shocking news. I know we thought we were done with Aro and the Strigoi, but we are not. We are in a precarious position and we require all of your assistance. As members of this academy and educators, it is our duty to ensure the safety of our students. We will strengthen our enchantments. We will prepare. And when the time comes, we will fight. For now, please be patient until you receive further instruction from me. If you have any questions, we can discuss at a later date. For now, keep your eyes, ears, and senses open. We can only survive if we stand together."
