All recognizable characters are the intellectual property of Mrs. Stephenie Meyer. The plot and the other characters are the intellectual property of ME. No part of this fanfiction may be reproduced without my permission. No monetary gain is being made from this work.

Long time no see, huh? I'm still computerless (and jobless too!), but I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I'm just gonna have to putter around on this sad, sad machine. One day, when my roof isn't leaking, I'll have a shiny new one, but for now, *lesigh* this'll have to do.

Previews for "The Last Battle" have been sent out. If you participated in the review challenge, and didn't receive your preview, send me a PM, and I'll get it out to you ASAP.

Next update won't be so long now. Wow me with reviews, and I'll post the next chapter on the double quick!

EPOV

Alice's child-sized hand trembled within my own as we wound through the heavily statued courtyard. Each was the same exact shade and texture of flat gray, as if carved from the same rock, with the same tools, by the same hand. Each was terribly intricate, as if carved by something greater than even modern technology could have produced. Whomever was responsible for the carvings was a master artist of the highest caliber.

Step by step we strode, and I watched mutely as Alice's fingers trailed over the faces and hands of nearby creatures. Their faces were worn, pock marked by the passage of time. Their eyes were were empty, but each wore an indelible mask of fear, as if their maker had terrified them beyond belief. One statue caught my eye, and I paused to study it closer. A slender trunk gave way to willowy limbs-a wood nymph, a dryad. Her hair was her greenery, long strings of verdant leaves; a weeping willow in her youth. Her two arms, with branches for fingers, were covering her face. She had two wood knots for tears, one beneath each eye. I noticed she was leaning back, and to the left, as if in a protective stance.

Behind her was a sprout of a child, with willow leaves hanging in her face. This child was different; there was no fear, no tears; only love. The belief that her mother would protect her, above all else. My heart squeezed in my chest as I thought about my own family, an innumerable distance away.

Alice had to pull me away, for I couldn't bring my feet to walk away on my own. The statue's face haunted me, and I wondered who could have created such a terrible, great masterpiece. I watched as Ileana's long blond ringlets billowed behind her; her pace quickening with each step that she took. The mental voices around me rose to a fevered pitch, even as the stark silence of the cavern loomed around us.

A gentle squeeze of my fingers focused me, and I smiled wanly down to my immortal sister. Her black hair hung limply, unstyled as I had ever seen her. 'It'll be all right.' She thought, as images of Bella and the children filtered through our shared thoughts.

'Mind reader...' I lifted my gaze just in time to stop, before I collided with Ileana. She was mere centimeters in front of me, and I wondered how I managed to miss her presence. Her eyes were wide and imploring, as if she were imparting a message of tremendous importance. 'You must keep silent,' She urged me, and I nodded, that she might understand. We were so close, and yet, so far. Though each step brought us closer to the danger, I felt that we were 12 steps further away from family. 12 steps away from safety.

And a country mile away from my love.

'The Serpent will be my battle, and mine alone.' Unsure of how to respond, I stood still, and released Alice's fingers from my own. 'But you will accompany me, for you act in your mate's stead.'

Alice, noting a change in visions, mentally asked me what would befall the remainder of the army. Her tiny face looked up to me, like the little sister she'd always been, and all that I could do was to look to my immediate superiors. Marie and Carlisle stood nearby, watching the scene around us unfold.

'Take my hand, mind reader.' She goaded, and held out her translucent fingers. The bones within were barely concealed, and I noticed a very slight shimmer to her skin. There was no correct way to describe her ethereal tone, other than the way a jellyfish might glimmer in the right lighting.

Tentatively, I reached out and grasped her fingertips within my own. Her grasp was strong enough to startle me, and I unintentionally took a step backwards. 'I am old, young one, but make no mistake, I am not feeble.' Her stride quickened, as the mouth of the great castle yawned before us. I vaguely heard Marie gather the troops into a tighter formation, and settle in to do naught but wait.

A slight movement caught my eye, and I craned my neck to the left to see a small garden snake slithering away. There were snakes all around us now, slithering away from the castle in question, and closer to our people in the courtyard. 'Do not look, Edward.' She coached, tugging me forward at a quick clip, 'We must keep our eyes on what lies ahead. We must keep our minds away from what lay behind, for it is the only way that we'll ever return whole. Whole to the home that we seek, and to the creatures whom we love.'

I tried to ignore the mental barrage that only grew worse by the moment, as we grew closer to the door. Ileana was right, I needed to focus.

"I can feel your presence, Azubah. At last, we meet." My ears prickled as a barely discernible movement caught my attention. We waited quietly for the door to open, and when it did, I couldn't believe my eyes.

She was seven feet tall, standing stock still in the frame. Her hair was long, and smooth, and hung unimpressively at her waist. I had expected it to be knotted, after several thousand years away from civilization, but it was surprisingly neat, and healthy. I let myself focus on her perfectly human face. She had the same semi-transparent skin, and frighteningly thin build of the Ancient beside me, though her eyes were stone gray, and her cheeks were flush with blood. I could hear a heartbeat from within her, and I wondered how such an organ could continue to pump blood through her serpentine veins for thousands of years.

Her arms were long and lithe, though her torso was made of skin no different from the underbelly of a great snake. Uncovered, I could see that her breasts had no nipple, and they were the same reptilian skin as her stomach. Her face and hair were the most human part of her. Though her neck and arms were smooth, you could see that her body had begun the transition between mammal and reptile. I followed the feminine silhouette of her trunk all the way down to her hips, where two legs should have been. Her thick, muscular tail fanned out for several yards behind her. She was an impressive creature, though her back held none of the typical patterns of a poisonous snake. No diamonds or red patterns to warn away possible predators; just several muted shades of gray, to match the stone gray of her eyes.

She moved out of the doorway with surprising speed and agility, though Azubah did not have legs. She slithered silently, almost too quietly for even my own ears. I began to think through strategies, ways to overcome our next tribulation. If I could not clearly hear her movements, then I would have to listen to her mind.

A mind which seemed to be closed to me. Just like Isabella.

'Focus.'

"Why don't we just go ssstraight to the heart of the matter?" Azubah goaded, as her forked tongue flickered wildly from her mouth with each syllable.

"You know why I'm here?" Ileana said with quiet grace, appearing to be perfectly at ease.

"Of courssse I do, you fool." Azubah spat. I watched venom spit from her mouth, and turn a dark brown, mud colored rock into solid grey stone. The same color as her eyes. The same color as the statues in her courtyard.

It clicked then. I finally understood. The creatures in the yard were little more than conquests won. They were her trophies, as Ileana must have been, seeing as she too was awakened from stone.

'She is fast, strong, and unpredictable, but not infallible. Go for her heart; it always was her only weakness. Save her blood; we'll need it when we're through.' Ileana strode forward, empty handed, and bowed to the serpent creature. She writhed and wriggled in anticipation. I watched as she opened her mouth to speak-her only teeth being ultra-white fangs, dripping with deadly venom.

"Who issss the man?" She queried, barely affording me a glance. I stood mesmerized by her mouth, when she became stuck on the 's' in 'is'. I'd never seen a creature like her, and if I lived a thousand years, I didn't think I ever would again. I wished that I could have taken a picture, if only to show my Bella. She would never have believed me.

"One who will bring balance." Ileana replied hollowly, gesturing me forward with one translucent finger. The word 'balance' seemed to infuriate Azubah, who began darting about, and snapping her mouth open and shut.

"It's a trick! The 'Light Bearer' is a female who will bear rulers to unite the nations!" My eyes widened as I realized that this creature knew the prophecy. If she knew, than others might too. What if Isabella were in danger, while we were all deep beneath the Earth?

Very quickly, she coiled herself into a tight spring, and I heard a telltale rattle in the space behind her.

"It is no trick." Ileana replied, crouching for an impending attack. Another rattle sounded from Azubah's tail as the pair continued their silent standoff. "The children are already born, and your time in this world has, at long last, come to an end."

"I'll turn you, before you can even come near me." She replied without fear, and then she lunged in my direction, her two fangs open, and ready to strike.

Volturi Castle

"Get up, you scum" Dimitri goaded, nudging the bloodied detective Bologna with the toe of his black boot. The man was swollen, and beaten. He was in no shape to take any more hits, and thus far, he had given up no useful information. Either the man was simply acting on whim, which would explain why he'd shown up alone, or he was a better lawman than he let on.

"Che cosa?" The man mumbled, finally returning to consciousness, and spit out several bloodied teeth. "What am I doing here?" The detective asked, as he attempted to push himself up on his elbows. "Where am I?"

"How quickly you forget, Detective Bologna." Dimitri whispered, letting his sharp, venom coated teeth graze the man's mutilated ear. He couldn't resist taking a lick, but the blood was sullied by an aggressive medicinal regimen, and it didn't fuel Dimitri's need to feed. "I'm the one asking all the questions, however; if you don't mind." In a very human, and familiar gesture, Dimitri swiveled a chair around backwards, and then sat himself down, with his hands resting on the chair back.

"You did not come, as you'd like me to believe, simply for a private tour of our castle, for both you and your spouse?" Detective Bologna looked into his captor's dark eyes and shivered. Several men and women had been in and out of the room for two days now, with a seemingly endless stream of questions. Though he'd been fed well, he'd suffered quite a beating. When he looked at the subtle shift in his captor's body language, or perhaps it was the new phrasing of today's barrage of questions, that clued Bologna to the fact that something in today's interrogations was going to go differently. He could feel it in his bones. Something was going to change today, and he could only hope it was for the better.

"Give it up, Dimitri." An airy feminine voice ordered, some time later. She stepped over the body of the detective, and crossed the room to stand behind him. Her soft brown hair was pulled tightly into a bun, which added to the severity of her disposition. She was wearing very casual clothing, unlike the gray robes that were a typical part of her day. "He knows nothing. It truly was a fishing expedition."

"You've been to his wife? His partner?" Dimitri barked, already tired of dealing with this pathetic excuse for a law officer. The detective groaned, and tried to push himself off of the hard stone floor when his wife was mentioned. Both of his arms, which were broken that morning, prevented him from moving. The pain that shot through him was intense enough to make him vomit.

Chelsea watched in disgust as vomit streamed out of the dying man's nose, "Disgusting creatures, aren't they?"

"How's Afton?" He inquired as he scooped the man's near lifeless corpse off of the stone floor.

"He can't stand where he's been placed, but there isn't much choice now." Dimitri was shocked by the tone she had taken. There was malice, and pure venom behind her words. One of her strengths had always been her inability to become riled, and here she stood, before him, in filthy clothing, feathers fully ruffled.

"Friends!" Aro's voice crowed behind the pair, strolling down a foreboding stone hallway.

"Master." Both parties replied robotically, as they assumed positions belying respect.

"What have we discovered?" He asked, falling into step with his two soldiers.

"Wife knew nothing, Master. Neither did his work associates."

"I trust," He began quietly, looking solely at Chelsea, "that any who might share his suspicions have been dealt with?"

"Most assuredly, Master." Chelsea replied gravely, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. Lord Aro, never one to believe what he's told, held out his hand. Once satisfied, he dismissed the pair, with instructions to dump the man into the chasm, with the rest of the humans.

The pair walked quietly down the shallow stone stairs, until they reached the bottom of the dungeon. There, at the foot of the stairs, lay a cliff. They could see the bottom clearly, even in the absolute darkness. Unfortunately for Detective Bologna, he chose that moment to open his eyes, and face the darkness that was the Volturi Castle's very own Oubliette. A place that would swallow him up, just as it had the many thousands of humans that had disappeared across the continent.

Through foggy ears, the detective heard the female call down, and faintly heard an answer. The next thing he felt was the wind in his hair. His fall was so quick, he didn't have the time to scream. He fell open-mouthed, but silent, into the arms of a hulking man. Once caught, the man tossed him into a wooden pen, where hundreds of other men were crammed. He stood, and made use of the minimal lighting, which was provided by very tall poles holding lights most often strung in a parking lot. It was not a natural color at all, but a sickly yellow that cast everyone in an unfavorable light.

Those around him were moaning from sickness, and screaming from fright. The air around him smelled thickly of feces, and the acrid smell of ammonia in urine. He looked around hopelessly at the bone white creatures that were bumbling around like cattle. "Fucking Christ." Detective Bologna muttered, looking down at his broken, and useless arms.

He knew that he was going to die here. There was no question. The noise was too deafening to not drive a man insane. The air too putrid to not cause a lung infection. The ground too dirty with fallen excrement to not provide a feeding ground for dysentery. All too soon, brighter lights than before flickered on. Detective Bologna was caught up in a sea of moving humans as he was herded to God only knows where.

EPOV

I ducked just as quickly as I could, but not before she grabbed a handful of my shirt. It tore effortlessly as I darted away from her deceptively smooth fingertips. Shirtless, I darted up a tree, only to watch as Azubah slowly coiled her way to Ileana. "The boy isss weak..." She hissed, baring her tongue to the blond-haired Ancient.

"The child has more talent than you know." She said quietly, beginning to circle the Serpent. Around and around each other they danced. Each snapped at the other, testing their opponent's defenses, neither finding any holes.

The Serpent suddenly lurched for Ileana, but she was ready. Her venom coated teeth sank deeply into the creature's hand. Instantly, Azubah reacted, and reached her free hand around to grab Ileana by her flowing hair. Grabbing a fistful, she pulled the Ancient Vampire to the ground. The two creatures rolled heavily along the stone floor, sounding like boulders falling off a mountainside. Hissing and spitting could be heard from both sides, and I could just make out the first vestiges of the creature's blood drifting through the air. Crouching on a stony tree branch, I planned my strike with absolute accuracy.

I waited until I had the woman's darkly patterned back to me before I sprung, like a lion on the hunt. For less than half a moment, I felt the breeze through my hair. For a quarter that, I allowed myself to think that it was Bella's fingers, and not this lifeless wind. The thick body I found myself wrapped around was not that of my wife, and I tried to not feel the alien scaliness of her serpentine skin as I broke both her arms. Azubah howled loudly, as she flailed her tail around fruitlessly. She was quick, and her tail was thick with muscle, but I was faster. Ileana held her down, while I severed her spine in several places.

The creature was stunned as she lay motionless, and essentially defenseless, on the rocky floor. Her eyes roved quickly, from side to side, almost begging for some unseen force to come to her rescue. With her arms broken, and her tail destroyed, she was truly beyond repair.

"Atarah, have mercy..." She begged in a language too ancient to be translated.

"I can not." She said icily, standing stock still over her charge. The serpent's blood was spattered over her once fine dress, and was fanned about on her alabaster face. The face of an ancient angel of death. "Hashem showed mercy when he made you this, instead of destroying you. Your time for receiving mercy has ended." Her silvery voice bellowed with authority as she placed a hand on each side of the serpent's neck. "You have never shown mercy in your lifetime, but in your death, the lives of others shall be restored." And like the crunching of fallen leaves, on a crisp autumn day; her neck snapped beneath Ileana's strong hands.

Without a word, she hoisted the creature, who was easily four hundred pounds, off of the ground. She tossed the dead serpent over her slim shoulders, and began to drag the creature back towards the stone courtyard. I tried not to look into her unseeing gray eyes as they limply stared into space.

'She can not warn them now. She can no longer protect them. This battle, however, was far too easy. I feel like the worst is yet to come.' She thought quietly, dropping the creature unceremoniously to the ground. Marie was the first to lean over the body. Fearless, as always.

I tried to curb my appetite for her blood when Ileana sunk her teeth into the creature's neck. "Quickly." She hissed at Marie as they both busied themselves with collecting the dead creature's blood. The vessels that they were using looked to be little more than an aspergillum, or something ripped from a Catholic Church. Ileana, quickly filling her vessel, passed it to Father Savoi.

"Spatter the statues with her blood." She said cryptically, while filling another vessel. "Careful how you aim!" She added before the Priest could begin his duty. "The statues that look like wolves must not be touched." She stood to address the army before her, with the first hints of victory in her eyes, "If any wolf creature should begin to move, it must be destroyed before it draws it's first breath!"

Those in the army simply looked around, and shrugged in acquiescence. I turned to face my family, who were fanned around me, taking in my blood spattered, shirtless form. Wordlessly, Alice handed me a shirt; one of Jasper's spares. Thank God, it was a simple t-shirt. I'd had enough of dress shirts to last me several lifetimes.

After slipping the soft cotton over my shoulders, I began to watch Father Savoi wave the aspergillum as if he were at mass. The crowds parted effortlessly, as he trolled through the statues. I allowed myself to relax my mental defenses, for the first time since before the battle with Azubah, and I was surprised to hear the shouting of far too many voices to be just our army of one hundred.

I watched in awe as Ileana climbed onto the centerpiece of the collection of statues. The great winged creature stood proudly with her ancient form pouring over it. She caressed his cheeks for just a moment before she began dousing him with droplets of dark, sticky blood.

As if on cue, stone all around us began to crumble, and agonizing screams sounded in the air. Every creature that came into contact with the serpent's blood was released from it's stony, venom induced imprisonment. The last to spring free was the winged creature, who's first act was to hold Ileana tightly in his arms.

"Nachman Mati!" She cried as she allowed herself to be enfolded in her arms. "Nachman! Nachman!" As if realizing her mistake, she doubled back to correct herself. "Vladimir, how I've missed you."

I could feel the formerly winged creature's thoughts more than I could hear them. They all centered themselves around the idea that his mate had been returned to him, and that he'd "come home".

I saw a movement, to my left, and so I turned. Standing there was a thin young woman with bright green eyes. Gone were the willow branches, and the long rows of leafy ringlets. Her hair was a dark, rich chocolate, and she held a small child in her arms. The child's face was heart-faced, and rosy cheeked; her lips were plump and red like cherries. It was almost like looking into the eyes of my own little girl. As I gazed at her, I got the distinctive feeling that she knew something. Call it instinct, or a hunch, but I knew that she was withholding information, as she stared into my eyes.

The woman put the child on the ground, and I watched wordlessly as her bare feet padded towards me. Feeling compelled, I knelt down. The child touched my face, and suddenly her voice flashed through my mind. But it wasn't just voice, it was pictures, light, colors.

"Don't touch the fire." Her angel's voice resounded through my skull. "Go home safely, or all that you love will turn sour-quicker than you might think. Go home, Da..Edward." One more look into those soulful green eyes, and she returned to the arms of her mistress. "And don't let the man grab your arm." Her voice was farther away, clouded as if I were under water. I strained to hear whatever else she had to say, but the short distance, and lack of physical content prevented me from hearing more than murmurs. The young, willowy woman stared at me with something akin to awe, and then turned to walk into the night.

I was left with more questions than I began, as I watched them walk away, but I wasn't left mooning long. Carlisle quickly found me, and was soon introducing me to one of our missing Romanians. Vladimir of Romania, mate to Ileana the Great.

All these references w/ the Volturi, and pits, and people should have been tossed into the beginning of the story. When I go back to reorganize, and do rewrites, this'll probably be one of the first things that you see. But because I'm a yutz, I'm tossing it into the last few, and will fix it when I'm not busy writing westerns.

Keep reading and reviewing. You clowns make my lonely day a little bit brighter!