A/N: Look! Look-a-da-ting! I updated! What is this madness? I hope you enjoy, this one is action packed.

Before Alice could respond I was moving towards the center of the smooth floor. It was unremarkable for a the most part. My eyes sharpened to pick out flecks of different minerals, trying in vain to look past them at what lay beneath.

"Wait, so what is it?" Alice asked finally, moving to my side. "Like, treasure or some sort of artifact or...?" She let her sentence hang.

I knelt and she moved to face me, kneeling as well. I closed my eyes and sat with my hand in my lap, calling forth anything and everything within me. I dug deeper than I had ever allowed myself, fighting at the restraints that held me back. For the first time in a long time I wanted desperately to be my full self once more. I had turned my back on my old life when I woke up confused and disoriented and scared, determined to carve out a new existence. I placed my hands down onto the rock and Alice placed her hands on top of mine. Now, all I wanted in the world was to be what I once was. As our skin connected, for a brief, flashing instant I knew exactly what that was.

In my mind's eye, I saw a tall woman at the height of beauty. Long hair floated on an invisible breeze, billowing about her waist. She wore long elegant robes of spun silver and black silk. In the sunlight, shimmering flashes of blue and red and orange caught in the folds. Her face was hard and determined and tears glinted on her cheeks. Her hands were held upwards, and from them blazed an immense light. As my view panned outwards, I saw that she stood on a tall cliff overlooking a raging sea. Farther down a crack in the rock shone faintly, and I recognized what I saw. It was me.

That recognition snapped something within me, and I gasped as power poured forth from my hands and into the rock. I felt the tendrils of power as distinctly as if they were my own hands, and they moved at my will. They knew their goal and dove towards it with a falcon's precision. Finally they grasped it and imbued it with power I had not tasted for thousands of years. With a great cosmic stirring, a soul deep ringing, a body jarring pulse from the heart, the balance of the world's energy shifted. As keenly as I felt it in that moment, I too felt as if it had echoed in every second I had lived. For every moment of my existence, it had been building and now finally it's purpose had been fulfilled and it released. The rocks beneath us cracked and shuddered and from the rock burst a living, breathing dragon. My body moved, as my mind could not, grabbing Alice and pulling her backwards all while my eyes drank in everything they could.

Knowledge and thoughts began to pour forth of match my observations, even though I could not name a source for them. He was very young, perhaps only twenty five feet from nose to tail. He couldn't have been more than two decades old, and it occurred to me that that made him quite dangerous. I didn't know if he had been a wild dragon or a civilized one, or how he might react to seeing a vampire here. If he had been sealed at the end of the old world, it would have been at the height of the Draco-Sanguine War. His color was a dusky red-bronze with white accents here and there. I determined his species to be of some relation to a North African breed, due to the jet black color of his horns, claws, and spines.

I stepped forward, drawing his attention onto me. Fear made him hasty and as soon as he registered the movement her shot out a jet of yellow flames. Extremely conscious of Alice standing behind me I raised a hand and absorbed the the heat inside of me. The strong magic in his jet invigorated me and I smiled. The dragon was clearly caught off guard and shrunk back a pace.

He narrowed his eyes and in a guttural language asked, "Who are you, to stop my flame? Why do you not roast, mortal?" I understood the words, though they were not English nor any other language I knew.

I responded, "Do I look mortal to you?" I pulled my final form around me, making space in the cavern quite cramped, but oh well. He looked upon me with fear and recognition, and immediately bowed with one foreleg bent, nose brushing the ground and wings pinned back.

He murmured, "My Queen..."

For lack of space, I returned to my demiform. "I have much to explain. What is your name, young one? What do you remember?"

He looked quizzical as if he were thinking very hard. "Little and less. My name... My name is Bjorggrashk. I was in a war. As a scout and scribe. We were looking for... Something. And then there was a bright light, and... Now I am here."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "The world is very different now," I said with a sad smile. I filled him in as best as I could, sad to see that he remembered as little as I had. He seemed to grow more and more desolate as I went on, until I told him about how Alice had helped me to bring forth a clutch of eggs.

"Then our kind is not lost? There are more of us locked away in the stone? You can free our brothers and sisters?"

"It would appear so. You are the second to be found." For Alice's benefit I asked him, "Do you speak English?"

Bjorggrashk grimaced. "Little manspeak. Crude words. Bad for speak."

I smiled. "I understand. I would like you to meet Alice, and this is the tongue she knows. Without her, I could not have brought you back." I turned around to where Alice stood stone still. I beckoned her forth and she came slowly, tentatively, her eyes round and somewhat awestruck. "Alice, this is Bjorggrashk. He was a scout and scribe in the Draco-Sanguine War."

She looked him in the eye and smiled faintly. "Hello."

Bjorggrashk's neck snaked around so that he could examine her more closely. "Hello, stoneskin. Much happy you help Queen. Much thank."

Alice smiled, likely at his somewhat comical garbling of words. I smiled too and turned to him, saying, "The world is no longer safe for dragons. The humans have forgotten us, but I am in the process of building a new castle, on new lands. Will you come with us, and stay with us?"

Bjorggrashk seemed surprised by the offer. "I am of low birth, Your Grace. You do me too great an honor, I could not disgrace you in this way."

I smiled sadly once more. "What am I Queen of, young one? A broken empire and bones in the ground. Three eggs, yourself and I are all that remains. We must stick together, no?"

He mulled that over, then finally said, "I would be honored to fly with you, Your Grace. I fought in your army once, I will gladly resume my service. My life and blood are yours to command."

"There will be no commanding, Bjorggrashk. Only hope."

Escaping the lair was quite the feat. I did not want to do any damage that would be noticeable by humans, but there was no feasible way to get Bjorggrashk out otherwise. He proposed digging out the cave in, but it was too great a task, even for two dragons. In the end I escorted Alice out of the cavern and to the surface so she would not be harmed, and together Bjorggrashk and I melted out way through the debris. The volcanic stone was filled with gas and pockets, making it easy to melt. I did spend some time once we had returned to the surface pushing boulders around to cover the entrance we had made, Gods forbid the humans find a lair.

Once it met my satisfaction I took stock of our party and our surroundings. Bjorggrashk, while looking healthy enough, seemed wary and disoriented. I proposed a hunt, and he and Alice both agreed with gusto. I watched as the young dragon stretched his wings and, after only a moment of trepidation, launched into the air. I smiled as I he climbed into the sky. He circled over us until Alice and I were flying with him side by side. I lead with him flying at my right wing, keeping a sharp eye out for human habitation while he searched for anything that could be prey. He spotted a herd of caribou and I smiled, tipping into a dive. He and I spread out, angling for targets at opposite sides of the herd. They did not notice us until it was too late.

I snatched one up in my claws as I skimmed over the ground. My wings flared and I dropped down, dispatching it quickly. Bjorggrashk, out of practice, missed his first attempt but quickly corrected and brought a deer of his own down. Alice leaped from my shoulders to take a deer of her own. I charred the fur from my quarry and snapped in up in quicker fashion than my younger counterpart, and indulged in Alice's left overs too by the time Bjorggrashk had finished. In only an hour we had all fed and in my opinion, looked to be each in better spirits.

We did not fly through the night, as Bjorggrashk in his youth lacked my stamina. Instead we touched down perhaps four hours before dawn to rest, and picked up once more when the sun had risen. Throughout our flight I questioned Bjorggrashk extensively on what he did remember, hoping to glean some new information myself. We discovered little, except that he had been born in what many years later became Egypt, and had been apprenticed to an order of scholars. The war had already broken out by then and once he came of age he had enlisted in my royal army. He remembered spending time in the capital as a scribe, learning battle technique and strategy. He had been in North America when the tides had turned against us and my spell had entombed him.

The sun was setting above the clouds that blanketed Forks when we returned. As soon as we touched down the vampires came to greet us, shock blatant on their faces. I smiled and as soon as Alice dismounted I shrunk back to my fully human form.

"Well, we've returned!" I said unnecessarily and made a b-line for the Forge. The Cullen's and Bjorggrashk followed me, each keeping a distance from the other.

Carlisle chuckled nervously. "I see that, and you come with company. Bella, could you introduce us?"

"Of course," I said, checking the eggs first. The coals still held some warmth, but clearly after two days needed more fuel and flames. I turned to Alice and gestured for the packs she carried. She smiled and tossed them both to me. I upended them and the obsidian poured onto the ground. I tossed the shards onto the coals that surrounded the eggs. I shifted to my Demiform and took a deep breath, then blew a jet of flame onto the eggs. The shards of stone glowed red then orange then bright yellow before melting to mix in with the other molten stones.

Once that was done I turned back to the group of onlookers. "Okay! Introductions. Cullens, this is Bjorggrashk. He was born in North Africa and fought with my army as a scout and scribe before the Fall. Bjorggrashk, this is the Cullen Coven. They are all vegetarian vampires that I have aligned myself with, and they are building the new castle up north that we will relocate too."

Bjorggrashk gave them all a stern once over, then said, "Queen ally be my ally. Much happy that are not fighting stoneskins."

I turned to them with a smile. "English is not his first language, but we can work on that."

Bjorggrashk just grinned and shrugged his large shoulders. "The human tongue is a graceless one, but if I must."

I chuckled both at his words and at the fascinated look on Carlisle and Edwards faces upon hearing him speak Draconic. "Would you be interested in learning Draconic?" I asked them both.

Edward grinned. "I speak eighteen other languages, why not this one too? Bella, I didn't know you spoke this... Draconic, you said?'

I nodded and shrugged. "I didn't either until Bjorggrashk burst from the stone. It just happened. There are things we need to discuss about this, by the way. Something happened when I called on the power to bring him up."

Instead of moving inside, chairs were brought out into Esme's garden so that Bjorggrashk could join in if he wished. Once we had all settled I recounted our journey up, the mountain that had drawn me in, the lair and then my vision.

"Fascinating," Carlisle mused. "And you believe it was a vision of your old life's final moments?"

I nodded. "I do. I recognized the cliff face as the one Mavrik and I woke up in. Speaking of, where is the furball? He should have been back by now."

Jasper answered. "He did return, at least by scent. I went out hunting this morning and caught a trace of him, a few miles north of town. I think he found a pack, or else a separate pack was in the same place recently."

I smiled at that. "I'll go track him down shortly, then. But anyways, yes, I believe I saw myself casting the spell that placed the dragons, Mavrik and myself into dormancy. But more than seeing it, I felt the power of it, as if I were back in that body again. I think it helped me unravel and link to the power that reversed it. I had to know what it felt like to put them to sleep before I'd know how to wake them up."

"That makes sense," Rosalie said, thoughtful. "And did Alice help again?"

"Of course," I said, turning to smile at her. "It was her touch I think that unlocked my vision."

Rosalie and Esme smiled, flashing a glance at one another, but Rose only nodded in response.

"So where do we stand?" Carlisle asked me.

I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. "I'm not entirely sure. The eggs look as if they will hatch within a week, I was wondering if you guys will help me out on egg watch. Also we can't exactly bring Bjorggrashk to school with us, so we need to find a safe lair for him until it's time to move. How's that coming along?"

Esme grinned and said, "Well, we ended up hiring another twenty masons and carpenters to speed things up. We could head up there any day now and find livable space, but it will be completely finished within a week, I think. The timing is lining up perfectly."

I just shook my head and smiled. "One day I will repay you all for this."

I would have said more except Alice clapped a hand over my mouth and glared at me. "We've discussed this already."

I rolled my eyes and in a fit of immaturity, stuck my tongue out against her hand.

"Ew!" She said, pulling it back and wiping it frantically against her jeans. "Thousands of years old my ass! Bella, that's gross, and not very Queen-like at all!" Her voice rose an octave with every breath.

Her siblings were cracking up and I couldn't help but laugh as well, she just looked so frazzled. Bjorggrashk looked like he was reassessing his opinion of me, and I smiled at him. "Like I said, a lot has changed."

Later that evening, as Bella was out reconnecting with Mavrik and assisting Bjorggrashk in finding a lair, the Cullens sat deep in discussion. They gathered round the century old, ornately carved table that served in their dining room, thoughtful and intense at the same time. Edward rubbed at the back of his head and nodded slowly.

"Yes, I agree Rose. Bjorggrashk is certainly a risk of exposure. Alice?"

The small vampire's eyes lost focus for a moment. "I see us at the castle before the full moon."

"That's only five days from now," Emmett said with a smile. "And Bella will keep her new friend in line, I'm sure. Plus Mavrik has his pack keeping an eye on the human's movements, he'll let us know if they venture too far out."

"Speaking of Bella," Carlisle said pensively. "And this may just be myself over thinking things, but has she seemed... different lately?"

Alice's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Her father figure quickly threw up his palms in a placating manner. "Nothing bad, Alice. I only meant that she seems to be changing somehow."

"I agree," Jasper said. "I've felt her aura changing ever since she found those eggs."

Alice frowned slightly. "I haven't noticed anything," she said. "And I'm with Bella more than any of you. What, you think the eggs are doing something to her?"

The table was silent for a moment before Rose said. "Maybe. Or maybe something else."

Alice's gaze turned confused and she looked around the table to find all eyes on her. "What?"

Carlisle cleared his throat gently. "And we've stumbled upon the second reason I've called this meeting. Alice, why do you suppose you haven't noticed a change in Bella when the rest of us have as well?"

The small girl shrugged.

"Perhaps because you're changing as well?" Jasper said quietly. "Maybe you have a... connection, of sorts, with her?"

Alice's eyes widened a fraction. "Well we're close of course, maybe I'm too close to see-"

"Alice dear," Esme broke in. "Do you remember Carlisle and mine's story of how we knew we were mates?"

Confusion cleared from Alice's eyes in an instant and her jaw dropped. "Is that what you're all trying to say? You think Bella is my soul mate?" For all her shock, she did not sound angry or in disbelief, only stunned.

Carlisle spread his hands. "I think the past weeks have provided a convincing case. You two clearly have a strong connection. You bring out things in her, she seems to bring out the best in you."

Jasper smiled and said, "I can feel how strongly you care for her."

Esme smiled too. "I haven't seen you this happy in years, Alice."

"You ought to see the way you two look at each other," Edward chuckled.

"Not to mention your little ploy at school," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes. "You're both enjoying yourselves way too much."

Alice's eyes narrowed and she huffed. "How long have you all been discussing this?!"

She was met with a group-wide shrug.

"We only think it's worth some thought," Esme said. "Do some soul searching. We all adore Bella, I know I would be thrilled to add her to the family."

Alice leaned back in her chair and propped her chin up on her fist. Their arguments... Well, they struck a surprising chord within her. Sure, she had had fleeting thoughts about being with Bella in sexual ways, but she had always assumed that was her inner monster reacting to someone she found attractive and had thus immediately dismissed the them out of respect for her friend. Now that it had been brought up to her in this sense, Alice found herself actually enjoying the thought of being with Bella in a more meaningful way even more. Her dead heart seemed to twitch, imagining herself in Bella's arms. Across the table Jasper grinned a shit-eating grin.

Alice stood up abruptly and said, "This isn't something I can think about with you all breathing down my neck, I'm going for a run."

The other merely shrugged and turned back to their own conversation as Alice fled the house. Her mind raced as she ran over the lawn and into the woods, sucking in the cold night air and hoping it might clear her mind. To no avail she ran on and on, letting her body and instincts guide her path so that her mind could grapple with her heart.

A/N: A little shorter than usual but quite action packed :D What did you guys think? What do you want to happen next?

Also, of course, a giant thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and readers! I love you guys (: