Wow this was hard to write simply because it made me feel incredibly guilty towards these guys...and yay the return of Tobias Correll :)


The forest that surrounded the small town of Forks, Washington was a mess. Ruby blood and ivory flesh stained the leaf-strewn floor and small fires flickered sullenly in the failing daylight. Tobias Correll picked his way through the still cloaked remains of the Volturi army. "You were right." Sam's voice told him from his side. It was odd; he hadn't even known that there were still werewolves in Forks these days so when he'd found them it had been a pleasant surprise for the boy. There were others, scarred from their cavalry rush helping with the clean up.

"I usually am where the Volturi are concerned." He replied with a faint smile, recognising one of the cloak clasps as belonging to Aro himself and kicking it to the side.

"I meant to bring us here." Toby had caught the wolf pack on their way out of town with a small group of civilians, trying to save them from the war. Toby himself had already dealt with the town by telling the human's council there was an unexploded war bomb in the forest and that Forks must be evacuated quickly. The humans had moved surprisingly quickly and without asking questions too, which he had found convenient.

On his own escape he had caught sight of the Cullens waiting for the battle. It had hurt him to flee but he'd done it knowing that they couldn't survive but the wolf pack. The wolf pack had been exactly what the Cullens needed and Toby had sent them to help. "You did good kid." Sam clapped him on the shoulder and he loaded another vampire's corpse onto the nearest fire.

"Did you find Leon?" A small voice asked the alpha and Toby felt his heart twist as the albino girl that had been with the wolves came sliding down the small pile. Sam shook his head. "Lucy?" Another shake. Tears welled up in the child's eyes, spilling onto her cheeks.

"Someone say my name?" The trio turned quickly to see a blonde boy leaning heavily on a tree, holding a shattered arm to his chest. A Volturi cloak was tied haphazardly around his waist, obviously one handedly, and he was daubed in splashes of dark blood but there was still a faint smile on his face. Toby guessed that he was Leon and a smile of his own tugged at his lips as the child raced over the treacherous ground and pulled him into a tight hug. Leon cringed in pain but hugged her back anyway. Sam gave a sigh of relief. "We got a body count yet?"
"Most of the Volturi went down. Only a few got away, I'd say we missed thirty or so." Sam gave the answer carefully, bending to pick another corpse into his arms and throwing it unceremoniously into the flames.

"And ours?" Toby looked between the two wolves, one battle scarred with tears in his eyes and the other bloodied with a child helping him stand.

"Go back to the Cullen house. I'm sending the survivors back as I find them." Sam averted his dark eyes. The blonde wolf nodded sadly and turned away from the battlefield. The girl turned with him, his good arm wrapped around her shoulders even though she was shorter than him, and acted as a crutch as he limped away.

/

Alice's bruised eyelids flickered open to reveal jet-black irises that rendered her pupils invisible. The room was too bright and she couldn't see much bar the bright light but she had to find Bella. The one thing her mind was sure of was that she needed to find Bella. She wasn't sure if she was alive, dead or even where she was. But her heart needed Bella. Her knuckles could still remember the feel of the other girl's granite skin as they pounded into her flesh. Her ears could still remember the cracking of bone and her eyes the sight of dark blood mingling with venomous tears. She stood and began to stagger away, using her hands to find her way. "Alice?" A warm voice called and cold hands stopped her progress. She blinked and found she could see slightly better, it was Esme. Cracks spider webbed across her face but she was smiling and she pulled the girl into a hug. "I'm so glad you're ok." Alice hugged her pseudo-mother back carefully and only then noticed that she was still missing her right ring finger. It was a curious sensation to be missing it because she was sure she could still feel it attached to her hand.

"How're the others?" She felt Esme tense and the older vampire pulled away a sad gleam in her golden eyes. "Esme?"
"Jacob's entire left side was crushed but he's healing. He'll be ok. Jasper was torn to ribbons and your father's still unconscious." Esme stopped speaking and Alice wanted to shake her to get her to keep talking. They couldn't be the only survivors. They just couldn't be. But they had been vastly outnumbered, the traitorous voice in her brain whispered. The others could easily be dead. Bella could easily be dead.

"Bella?" Alice's voice cracked on the single word and she couldn't help the single glance down at her cracked knuckles. She flexed her hands to rid herself of the feel of Bella's cheek breaking under them. Esme shook her head and Alice swore the earth shook slightly. Her knees buckled but Esme caught her easily and cradled her in her arms.

"Emmett's with Sam. They're looking for any signs of the others." Alice's mind questioned why Emmett seemed perfectly fine when Bella was lost. It was a bitter voice and it made Alice feel slightly sick.

Downstairs she heard the door swing open, hope flashed in her heart and she tore herself away from Esme and raced down the stairs only to see Leon shuffle inside, Ruby holding onto his elbow. Alice stopped suddenly and shared a sad smile with the man. Silently she took his arm from Ruby and half-carried him to the sofa.
When Esme found them she was sat beside him and Ruby was sat in his lap dabbing at the blood on his face with a tissue. "Who are we still missing?" The blonde wolf's voice had lost its usual exuberance and Alice found she knew exactly how he felt. Esme sighed, setting a box full of medical supplies on the floor as she knelt before the boy, ushering Ruby off of his lap with a smile.

"Rosalie, Lucy, Amber, Michael, Leah, Seth and Bella." Esme murmured, beginning to tie Leon a sling. Alice's world shook again. A loss of seven was good considering what they had been up against but Seth had only been a child and Bella was…Bella was everything. Alice now sympathized completely with Edward. She got to her feet, ignoring the concerned looks when she swayed slightly.

"I'm going to help look." She announced making for the door. Esme flitted from the floor to block her path. Alice locked her eyes with Esme's stern gaze. "I need to know, one way or the other and I can't just sit here. I can't." Tears burned in her eyes and Esme finally relented, returning to Leon.

"Be careful." Alice focused on simply putting one foot in front of the other as she fled her home. It was nearly completely dark outside and she thanked her enhanced vision it would mean she wouldn't have to give up the search when the light failed completely. It wasn't until she reached their battlefield that she saw that neither would anyone else.
The torches that the Volturi had brought with them had been used to light impromptu funeral pyres in the battle and now those pyres were piled high and were burning well. Her stomach roiled when she recognised Alec's face smouldering in the orange flames. She looked away.

"Alice." Emmett jogged over to her, concern in his darkened eyes. "Are you ok?" She could feel the cracks in her skin and the dried blood that caked her body, even the loss of her finger now but she was determined. Thunder rolled in the distance as if it was agreeing with her choice.

"I'm fine. I need to help." He nodded and she noticed the intense worry in his eyes. "Any luck?" Emmett looked at the ground sadly.

"No." A cry from the other side of the clearing caught their attention and nearly started both of their hearts.
"Over here!" The two vampires sprinted to where Quil was leaning over a pile of bodies; tears rolling freely down his tanned face. Sam looked down and quickly looked away one hand over his mouth. Leah Clearwater had been mauled. Her grey fur lay around her human body and there was almost no flesh left on her bones. Only enough to identify her. Just to the side of her lay Seth, his body heaving as he cried.

Alice swallowed. He was just a child; he shouldn't know anything even like what he had seen. She firmly believed that a child should know nothing of war, of death.

Sam climbed down to the boy and pulled him into his arms, letting him cry as he carried him away. Seth screamed for his sister and Quil picked the dead girl up before following Sam. Alice's heart wept silently. Emmett cleared is throat.

They wandered the battlefield carefully, desperately searching for survivors. Sometimes a limb would fall and hope would burn back to life only for it to be a Volturi limb. The owner would then be killed and thrown on the nearest fire. A flash of blonde hair caught Emmett's eye and he dropped to his knees to unearth it. Soon the pair could see Rosalie's porcelain face smeared in blood.

Emmett howled brokenly and the familiar golden eyes opened. A pale hand rose to run along the man's face and wonderment covered the pain as he cradled his wife to his chest, tears of venom falling down his cheeks. Alice could just hear 'I loves you' whispered repeatedly as she turned away.

The moon had risen behind heavy clouds but they were still missing people. Amber had been found nigh on an hour ago, still piecing herself together and still missing her left hand. Most of the Volturi soldiers had been burned and patches of grass and dirt were now visible on the battlegrounds. Finally Alice wandered away from the clearing, knowing that she needed to check the place Dante had lured her and Bella to. Alice had somehow crawled back to the original battle but the thought that Bella had been too weak to, physically hurt her. Especially knowing that she had been the one to hurt her.

Sam had been trying to send her home for hours, saying she needed to heal herself instead of making herself worse helping them. That they could manage the search without her. She knew she still looked severely hurt but many of her injuries had healed already, it was only the more serious ones that remained and they weren't as bad as they had been. So even with a fuzzy head she had continued to search.

As she reached the foot of the Olympic mountains she noticed that the ground was stained with blood. Searching frantically she finally saw Dante or what remained of him slumped against the cliff face with that infernal smirk still on his face. She felt like screaming at him, forcing him back to life so he could tell her where Bella was. It wasn't until she nearly tripped that Alice saw the other body.

The pixie-like vampire fell to her knees next to Bella's unmoving form, hearing her heart and mind scream in unison. "Come on Bell." She whispered, placing her tiny hands onto Bella's cold body in an attempt to rouse her. "Bella, please." Her voice cracked and rain began to fall as the storm finally broke. "You can't die. Not now. You promised." She clung onto a stray hint of anger. "Isabella Marie Swan you promised you wouldn't die out here!" Rain lashed her body and began to wash away the blood that had covered her body for what seemed like an age. "Please?" Alice sat back on her haunches, colder than she could remember ever being. "I love you."

"I love you too." Bella's voice was barely a whisper and for a second Alice thought the wind was playing tricks on her tortured heart. It wasn't until Alice's sharp eyes caught movement in Bella's hand that she believed it. She flew forwards and pulled Bella to her, not caring that it pulled an injury in her chest that she could remember getting. Not caring that the rain was now whipping their flesh painfully. Bella was hugging her back with all her newborn strength but Alice didn't care that her ribs were creaking in protest. She only cared that Bella was alive. Alive and in her arms.


I feel really bad for Seth now, I can't believe I killed Leah :( I liked Leah.