Okay, this is the last chapter. You can cry, if you wish. (Just kidding.) This serves as an epilogue, and just a way to wrap up the story. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and kudos for reading it to the end. I might write some one shots and stuff, but it might be a while before I write a long story like this again.
Some stats of the completed story: It spans 55 pages on Word, and is 19,514 words, not counting author's notes.
A look back at last chapter: When we last left the Cullens, they just had finished up the Battle of Volterra. Due to some throwing by Emmett, Bella and Edward were the ones to accidentally defeat Livia.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
Bella POV
One month laterIt had been one month since the Battle of Volturi. We had returned to our home three weeks ago.
Aro had insisted we stay for at least a bit. "We need some reinforcements, in case the remnants of Livia's coven come back," he insisted. No one mentioned that half the guard was chasing down afore mentioned runaways.
The Volturi were, unhappily, touting Edward and I as the heroes of the battle.
"That's nonsense," I'd complained. "All I did was get thrown by Emmett, and put up a wall."
"And all I did was slam into Livia when Emmett threw me," Edward added.
Aro laughed. "But, Bella, your walls were too much for Livia. Her body has been quite fragile after her first attack here. When she hit your wall, it was like she was allergic to it. And her whole body just turned into ash. And Edward, without your push, she would have never fallen into Bella's wall."
There was just one nasty side effect of being heroes- Aro was trying even harder to get us onto the guard.
"Please, not just you two, but the whole family could stay. We could all have so much fun, and cure you of your aversion to human blood…" He kept step with us as we took our bags and piled them into the sports minivan.
Carlisle shook his head. "We'll have to reject that generous offer, Aro. How could you handle eight new vampires, especially with Marcus out of his emotional coma?"
It was true- Marcus wasn't a zombie anymore. It seemed, though, he was trying to make up for centuries of lost emotions as fast as he could. If you ever have a desire to see a centuries-old vampire skipping around, throwing flowers at everyone while singing…just join the Volturi, and you'll see it every day.
After we got into the car and were well on our way to Rome, Jasper spoke. "Good thing we're leaving. Marcus's emotions were making me nauseous."
We all laughed.
Soon afterwards, Alice got a vision. She and Edward started laughing.
"What?" Rosalie demanded.
If Alice were human, she'd be wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "Tomorrow, Marcus is going to be going around kissing everyone."
The car shook with our laughter.
Life went on as usual once we got home. Esme tended flowers, Carlisle went back to volunteering at the local hospital, and Alice and Jasper went shopping. Rosalie tinkered with cars, and Emmett played video games, bemoaning the fact that Alec had turned down an offer to come and play as well. Edward and I spent a lot of time together, whether it was hunting, reading, or just lying in a meadow watching clouds go by.
Then, it all shattered.
Edward and I came back from hunting to find a family meeting in process, Alice heading it. "Oh, good, the two last lovebirds are here," she trilled, then went on. "It has come to my attention that we never did really get our game of tag, which is a depressing thought. It would have been sooo fun. So I decided to hold it this week. Hopefully there will be no covens of territorial vampires to wreck this game."
I groaned.
"Don't be so negative, Bella," Alice said, tossing me a cell phone. I would have dropped it unless Edward had caught it for me.
After everyone got cell phones, Alice announced the 'it' couple. "Bella and Edward, you guys were never prisoners, so we've decided to give you the honor of being it."
"That's a dubious honor," Esme said mildly. "And if I leave my flowers for too long, they'll all die again."
Alice considered that, and then got a vision. "Don't worry, it'll be rainy. Your plants will live."
No one had any excuses of why we shouldn't play, so the other couples packed and left the house quickly. So there was one good side of this- Edward and I got some alone time in the house.
After the nine hours had passed, we bundled into Edward's car- he still had a Volvo, but a newer one.
"Where should we go?" I asked.
He thought for a minute. "I think Emmett and Rosalie were going on a road trip to Alaska. Shall we follow them?"
"A road trip sounds good," I agreed. So we set off to Alaska.
But first, I typed out a text message and sent it to everyone. It read:
'B and E are now it.'
Edward looked at the screen and laughed as I sent it. He took a hand off the steering wheel and clasped mine in it. And so, together, holding hands, and laughing, we headed off to Alaska, enjoying one minute of an eternity together.