ALTERNATIVE ENDING
A/N: So I decided to write an alternative ending, just to see how it would feel. I hope you enjoy it - but don't worry the first ending is my REAL ending, just so you know ;) The following is written from Aro's POV.
As soon as I arrived at the Cullen's empty home during a wild twilight thunderstorm I knew something was not right. Call it vampire intuition. Call it a sixth sense. Call it whatever you will but I knew my beloved little flame was in serious trouble. I fled into the trees behind the house swiftly, my keen sense of smell working over-time to pick up her scent. I caught it on the trees as I sped past at lightning fast speed, I caught it on the air all around me as I flew through the rainy forest. Thunder clapped heavily in the sky and the approaching night was lit up with forks of dazzling light. Victoria's scent was unique, special and utterly divine. It called to me like a siren song. How I loved the way she smelled, the way she looked and her very essence. She was a drug to me and my love for her had never waned over the centuries since I had made her. Our relationship had not been an easy one but it had given me joy and immense untold pleasure, which made up for the hard times.
As I crashed through the trees desperate to find her, my feeling of foreboding would not abate and it was imperative I get to my love soon. If only I was not married to the most despicable woman in the entire world! I would immensely adore Victoria to be my wife. I dare not hope for such a happy ending, our history had taught me that. I could not wait to see her beautiful face again, her now topaz eyes and her pale luminous skin. Her eyes would turn liquid amber when she saw me, it had been half a year already since I had last kissed and held her to me. Our passion for each other never dwindled but only became stronger with each passing year. How I loved to hold her smooth marble body to mine as we fell into the ecstasy and joy of our perfect love-making. She was all I needed at that moment, even blood did not enthrall me when I had my love in my arms. My still ancient heart was hers forever more. No one knew me like she did and no one would ever touch my heart and soul as she could. I loved her.
Sulpicia would have to accept this if she ever returned. I hoped she would never come back, then I would hope she would. I was torn between the two outcomes. I wanted to renounce her but I did not want to see her loathsome face again. I hoped she was too tied up with Noah to care about me or Victoria again, but then there was James, my fledgling, where was he? I could not wish a life with Sulpicia on anyone despite the peace and quiet I had experienced without my errant wife around. I daren't hope that she would never return for I would most likely have my hopes dashed severely. So, I revelled in life without her and the times I could spend with Victoria. I made it my solemn vow to see my love at least once a year. I could not take her with me to Volterra, not whilst Sulpicia was still out there somewhere. Our meetings were special and exciting, our nights filled with passion, our days filled with talking and laughter. I could never regret saving Victoria's life, never regret changing her. I had fallen in love with her almost instantaneously, before I let my venom enter her veins, before she became hard, marble and undead. I tried to resist her, but it was futile. We were destined to be together.
Her scent is strong now. I burst out from the trees and into a large open clearing. The Cullen's are all there, standing in a semi circle. There are wolves standing with them defiantly and proudly. James is there with a small dark-haired boy. Noah! Then my red eyes take in the horror that is Sulpicia gripping my beloved Victoria around her pale slender throat with claw-like hands. My lovers face is torn and bleeding, fresh wounds in her pretty skin which would thankfully heal. I let out a roar of sheer anger and furious hate in the direction of my evil wife.
"Stop!" I commanded.
All eyes turned towards me, my loves the only ones I focused on. Oh she was frightened but her eyes glowed with love and admiration for me. I supposed I must look like an avenging angel. I had dressed all in white to surprise my darling. Sulpicia's red gaze penetrated me with pure fury and she sneered viciously in my direction.
"Ah, Aro, my husband, at last we meet again, my love," she sighed.
The poor deluded crazy bitch! How could she speak such false words laced with sickly sweet intonations to me? Insanity! I growled low in my throat with anger as the whole clearing seemed to hold its breath, figuratively speaking, waiting for my reaction.
"Leave Victoria be! Take me instead! You know it is me whom you wish to destroy, not her!" I exclaimed.
Sulpicia gazed beatifically at me, her smile wide and knowing. How could someone so beautiful be so evil to the core?
"Will you renounce her Aro? Come with Noah and I, let's be a proper family and rule the Volturi together once more! Say you love me! Say she was a stupid fling! Say it Aro! Or I will slice her in two as we speak and burn her body parts until she is just dust blowing in the wind!" Sulpicia stated calmly with deadly intent.
I growled again with viciousness in my heart and mind. I sprang towards her with savage intent just as she directed her full power onto my beloved. As Victoria fell to the ground I saw Edward Cullen reach out to lift her into safety, then Sulpicia and I were on each other like rabid dogs. We snarled and growled, tore and slashed, broke bones and ripped sinew as we fought as never before. Her thoughts were a mass of black confusion. All I could pick up from her mind was sheer hatred of Victoria and I. How I wanted to destroy her such was my hate and angry disgust for this evil creature! We finally came apart and stared at each other maliciously as we waited defensively for the others attack. I did not see her next move coming, so swift and deadly was she. Poor James lay with his head severed from his body as Sulpicia laughed with evil joy in her black heart. Edward and Carlisle restrained her as the wolves growled and snapped their slavering jaws.
"No!" Victoria cried out, her sadness evident as she ran to my poor fledglings body.
"Oh no! Aro! She killed him! She killed James!" my love cried out in despair.
She ran to me, flinging herself into my arms with longing and adoration. I held her to me gratefully revelling in her beguiling scent.
"Oh Aro, how I love you!" she stated boldly, her lips touching mine with a feather light kiss full of love and desire.
"As I love and adore you, my only love," I whispered against her red curls as I held her tightly to me in gratitude of her safety and well-being.
Sulpicia roared behind us with an insane screech filled with anger, hate and desperation. She broke free of the strong arms which held her and rushed towards us much too swiftly for me to halt the horrific events unfolding. Edward screamed and my face contorted in pain as I felt the long thin knife she held in her hand go straight through my back and into my still heart. I fell to the ground, the blade staking me, draining my immortal life from me as my venom blood spilled out of the deadly wound in my chest. I gripped the knife with both hands but to no avail, it had pierced me all the way through and I had no strength to remove it now. I was cold, so cold, even colder and icier than usual. Victoria screamed in heart-breaking anguish as she watched me fall to the ground, my ancient life fading away before her eyes.
"Oh Aro! What has she done? Do not leave me, my love! I cannot exist without you! Aro, Aro! Please come back!" my little flame shrieked in pain as I became dust and bones in the wind blowing through the clearing.
My last sight with vampire eyes was Victoria's beautiful amber gaze penetrating my soul with searing unending love. As my immortal body blew away I was surprised to find my soul, my very essence leaving the ground and travelling upwards into the deep midnight blue sky. Vampires did have souls! We were not so damned after all! I almost laughed out loud with giddy relief but found that my voice would not come, not yet. My body was now ethereal and gauzy. My fingers made sweeping starlight as I moved them through the air. How delightful! I gazed at my grief-stricken lover below me. She had never looked more beautiful to me and I saw her aura, she had always been able to see mine but hers had been hidden from me. Now it shone and shimmered with silver and greens, so beautiful, so perfect, so wondrous, just like she truly was. How I loved her, even more so than before.
Noah was rushing towards Sulpicia with Edward's discarded baseball bat, meaning to do his 'mother' serious harm. Carlisle intercepted him though and the other Cullen's roughly grabbed Sulpicia and whisked her away from the clearing to deal with her someplace else. I hoped they would not kill her. I did not want her following me into the after-life! I watched as Edward held Victoria to him as he tried to soothe and calm her as she broke her stone heart in two over me. He was a good vampire. I liked him immensely. Carlisle had done a fantastic job there. Like father like son. Victoria clung to Edward desperately, her grief threatening to overwhelm her completely. He spoke softly to her as she felt the pain of loss keenly in her beautiful vampire mind.
"My dearest Victoria, it is truly awful what happened tonight, but you must continue your life, for Aro, for me! I will not hear of such infinitely silly plans to destroy yourself! We do not know that vampires have souls! You may condemn yourself to a world of blackness of nothingness! Aro would not wish that for you, he loved you! Please Victoria! Do not think such things! You will stay here with us, you are family, we will take care of you and in time your grief will pass!" Edward stated as he stroked her flame hair.
"Oh Edward! How can I live without my love, my reason for this existence, my lover and my maker? I should rather face an eternity of nothingness! " my darling girl wailed with sorrow.
"No! I forbid it! You will survive this Victoria! I promise you!" Edward said with passion as he held her fiercely to him.
I watched the scene unfold before me and how I wished I could kiss my angel's ruby lips one more time, but I was insubstantial, I was no longer hard, marble and real. I would never hold her nor kiss her again. I would never feel her body next to mine as we celebrated our love. I was suddenly overcome with a sense of rage and unjustness. I found myself being torn away from the scene and I flew over the mountains, to Alaska, then further to the Artic lands where the icy vastness seemed immense and infinite. The rest of the Cullen's were incarcerating Sulpicia in a sealed coffin which they then placed deep down inside her tomb which was an underground icy cavern where no one would ever find her. She would dry up and become a desiccated husk, but her mind would still function until insanity took her over completely. It was more fitting for her than the true death!
I laughed and my voice came into being. My laughter was like soft tinkling bells and I felt my whole being become lighter and freer. My death was avenged. I would never get to be with Victoria again but I was still here in this new form. I could come back to watch over her in time, but for now a higher power summoned me and I saw some bright lights fall towards me from above. How wonderful this part was as I felt a deep love surround me. The entities became more solid, more substantial and I could see their features clearly. They all smiled beatifically at me. It was my human family. They held me as we soared higher and higher, beyond the stars and moon into an infinite wondrous realm of light and music, where colour and sound blended together to create lush landscapes of pure beauty.
I was home.
FIVE YEARS LATER...
So, finally, I was allowed to return to the earthly plane, after a drop in time in that other place. Such a wonderful place where you learnt and were taught, where you loved and were loved unconditionally despite your past misgivings. I was ghostly and insubstantial, but I could observe and hear the inhabitants clearly, although they could not see me.
Victoria and Edward were laying on the grass staring up at the sun in a beautiful meadow filled with abundant wildflowers. Their skin was sparkling with rainbows and diamonds, such a beautiful sight. I felt a longing rise up in me as I gazed at the two vampires. Edward took Victoria's hand and raised it gently to his lips then reverently kissed her smooth white skin. She sighed as their dazzling topaz eyes locked on each other intently. Their gaze was full of love and contentment.
I felt joyous for the couple although it was bittersweet. They had obviously found happiness with each other, of which I was glad. Victoria deserved someone sweet like Edward. I knew he had adored her from the minute he set eyes on her, so it was not a shock to find them together like this. I was happy for my little flame. Her face was lit up with an inner glow of happiness. So delightful to see. I smiled to myself wistfully. Edward propped himself up with one elbow as he traced a finger delicately down Victoria's pale cheek. He brought his lips to hers in a kiss so sweet it was devastatingly good to see. The whole meadow shimmered with the light reflecting from these beautiful creatures as they kissed perfectly in the rare sunshine.
My ghost heart leaped with wonder as Edward pulled Victoria to her feet. He then proceeded to kneel before her as he took her hand in his.
""Victoria Taylor?" he looked up at her through his impossibly long lashes, his golden eyes soft but, somehow, still scorching. "I promise to love you forever, every single day of forever. Will you marry me?" ( A/N: adapted from Eclipse Chapter 20, page 460 )
Her screams of "Yes!" echoed around the meadow as they embraced each other joyously. Oh I was happy, I had wanted to make Victoria my wife, but it was not to be, now she would be Edward Cullen's wife which made perfect and absolute sense in every way.
Somehow, the universe was right, everything was falling into place, wonderfully so.
The happy couple kissed again and I could almost see the love flow between them. How lovely that they should have found ecstasy together. Now Carlisle would have three beautiful matched couples for children. He would be so happy that Edward had found true love and devotion at last. I began to drift away but I caught the Victoria's words as I left.
"Could you give me a moment alone Edward, my darling?" she asked, her voice musical and girlish as ever.
"Anything for you my love. Please hurry though! I am just dying to tell the family our wonderful news! Thank you for agreeing to becoming my wife! Thank you!" Edward gushed happily, his eyes shining with joyous love.
Edward kissed her sweet lips once more then he swiftly sped away from the meadow in a blur. Victoria sighed happily as she flew off in the opposite direction. I followed close behind her, curious as to her destination.
She arrived at the clearing where I had met my true death. She sat cross legged on the grass and closed her eyes, a sad poignant smile on her face.
"Aro? Aro, if you can hear me I'd like to share my news with you. I often talk to you in my mind, how silly! But it has helped me these last few years to come to terms with losing you forever. That and Edward. Which is what I would like to tell you about. From the moment you left me he has been my savior, my dependable rock in whom I could stake my immortal existence! Two years ago our feelings changed, although Edward has confessed he loved me at first sight! That's by the by, I was with you then and I would never consider another! Over the years though I came to have feelings for him too and two years ago in the meadow we finally confessed the depth of our love for each other. In no way does my love for Edward compare to the all encompassing desire and adoration I felt for you, my maker. I will always love you! Edward makes me feel safe, he makes me feel loved and desired and oh so protected! I hope you would be happy for me. I think you would!
Oh Aro! I have avoided this place for five years, since the night the evil witch took you from me! I only feel now that I can return. I hope you would be glad to know that my dear family avenged you. Sulpicia can never be free again to wreak havoc on the world! She will fade and desiccate but she will still remain conscious and she will feel pain and regret! I wish I could tell you I have forgiven and forgotten but I never will. Noah is a fine boy though, she could not contaminate him with her black heart, he is part of the family now and always will be. So, I have come here today to share my news with you and I pray if you can hear me that you will be happy for us. Aro,my love, I hope you have found peace, I pray every day that you have. None of us knows what comes after death, we just wish and hope that there is something out there. Goodbye my love, I will still think of you often with deep fondness and utmost respect. Your little flame is happy!" she smiled up into the wide blue sky.
I smiled as I gazed upon my love, I felt her joy wash over me and I truly was happy for her. There was no point in regrets. I had spent many centuries as her lover, something most do not ever get to have. We were lucky to have found such a love, and now if my darling could find a fraction of that with another, especially someone like Edward Cullen, then I could be content and happy for her. Earthly concerns did indeed fade away on the spiritual plane. I had no ill feelings at all about Victoria's impending marriage, I even managed not to care about how evil Sulpicia had been and how she had eventually destroyed me. It had happened. I was meant to be that way. I saw things much more clearly now than I ever had.
Victoria sat still with her eyes still closed, looking every inch beauty and perfection.
"Be happy always, my darling little flame. I love you beyond reason, I love you infinitely for evermore. I will always listen to you when you talk to me if I can. I am still here, I still exist. Do not forget me, I will never forget you, but I want you to have a long happy existence with Edward now. It is meant to be, it is right. " I spoke softly as I stroked her smooth cheek with my ghostly hand.
I was shocked when she suddenly opened her topaz eyes with surprised wonder.
"Aro? Aro! I heard you! I felt you! Oh Aro! You are truly here? How wonderful! Oh I could weep, my love!" she stated with utter joy.
"Ah Victoria! You sense me? I did not expect you to. I have only just returned to this plane! I wished to see you and I was there instantly, in the meadow with you and Edward. I truly am ecstatic for you both!" I confessed with a smile, even though she could not see me.
"Thank you Aro, it means a lot to me to have your approval. Edward is very special and I truly did not seek to replace you. We were friends, siblings even, who realised we really did love each other. I am happy but I will never ever forget the love we shared. Oh does this mean we can talk sometimes? I will tell Edward of course! " she exclaimed happily, her beautiful face lit up with joy.
I shook my head and sighed a little, "I will be around from time to time but I will not interfere in your happiness Victoria. You must devote yourself to Edward, safe in the knowledge that I am fine. I still exist, I dwell in a most desirable state, I still feel and love. If I was to haunt you, so to speak, it would not be fair on anyone, you do see that Victoria?" I asked succinctly.
She smiled her lovely smile and nodded her head making her red curls fall around her face perfectly.
"Yes, of course. I am just overjoyed to know you have not gone forever Aro. I was overcome with grief when you left. Edward healed me inside and out. I would never betray him now. Holding onto the past would hurt him, it would hurt me too. I could never forgive myself for it. Do you know I blamed myself for your destruction? If I had not loved you, if I had not pursued you against all odds then maybe Sulpicia would not have been in the clearing that day! Now I know it was inevitable that she should destroy one of us one day. She didn't win though, did she my dear Aro? For here we are five years later talking to each other from different planes of existence!" she marvelled in wonder.
I nodded in agreement with a sad smile because I knew it was time for me to go. It was like an invisible thread pulling me back to my new world.
"I must leave now, Victoria. Please be happy, for yourself, and for me my dearest. I regret not one moment of our time together and I am glad I changed you. I will love you until the end of time. Now, go, tell your family the good news. I will be back, of that I am sure! Go towards your future little flame," I said softly as I felt myself leave the sunny field and my only true love.
I watched Victoria smile and nod as I departed. Her face was sheer perfect beauty which would not be out of place on the heavenly plane I now ascended to. I knew now that I had come back for a reason. It was time to move onwards to the higher realms. I did not know when I would see her face again but no matter as she was engraved on my heart and soul forever and ever. I had been changed and enriched because of our love for each other. My very own special true love, my everything and my meaning.
My little flame.
