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This chapter was not proofread so sorry for all mistakes in advance.

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Edward's POV

The night before the fight we were all ready.

The Denali coven, except for Irina, came yesterday. She will never forgive us for the way it had ended with Laurent. Eleazer wasn't eager to meet Aro under such circumstances either; he knew too well the way it ended for those who stood between the Volturi and what they wanted, but he was Carlisle's friend, therefore he was staying not only to witness but also to fight if it came to that.

My father had called all his friends and those who were nearby came. There were only eight of them plus the four from Denali and us. Seventeen in all. I was not the only one to see that it was not enough. I sighed and earned Esme's warm look.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." She murmured and came to sit by my side on a loveseat. "We will all be together."

Rosalie came rushing down from upstairs and took our home phone.

"I don't think using a different gadget will help." I rolled my eyes at her persistence.

"Who are you trying to call?" Our mother glanced between the two of us.

"Adrian and Gediminas." I stated in a matter-of-factly manner. My sister threw me a glare and put down the phone.

"They still haven't answered?" I could feel hurt in Esme's voice. Rosalie shook her head, huffed and sat on an armchair.

"They are safe. That's the most important thing." I knew these words will calm them down. At this moment I couldn't have wished anything more for my children than to be in another country, continent would be even better. They were so young and innocent. It was painful to understand that I was not going to be around to see them grow. Speaking of pain...

Alice snuffled sitting on the floor by her mate's side. She tried imagining telling my children about losing me to the Volturi. I felt sorry for my family because this was sure to cause a lot of emotions. And I could only scream in my mind and heart knowing that I will never see my children again.

Feeling of uselessness and hopelessness hadn't left me for almost two weeks.

Jasper closed his eyes. It was all he could do, move his eyes and eyelids. He still hadn't healed and we knew not a single way to help him. He hated his situation, causing so much pain, not being able to move or help us in any way in an upcoming battle. To make it worse, he knew that in such condition he was putting his lover in danger because Alice was not going to move from his side at all cost.

My favorite sister lightly caressed his shoulder causing another wave of agony. I winced, his pain had long resulted in my migraine.

We still had a few hours before we had to go thus I went upstairs to my room.

I closed the doors behind me and turned on the silent music. Debussy used to calm me, but it wasn't enough this time. I heard a knock on my doors.

"Come in." I sighed. Conversation was not the best thing for my mood right now.

"Mind if we talk?" Kate walked in and closed the doors. She sat on a couch while I was lying on my bed. I shrugged. "What's with Adrian and Gediminas?" She asked and I looked at her surprised. How could she not understand? "Who are they?" Of course, she didn't even now about them.

"My children." I whispered savoring the last word.

Her eyes widened in astonishment. "Your what?"

"My son and daughter." I forced a tiny smile. Those two words were both endearing and excruciating. I had never imagined having kids because we didn't know it was possible so there was no reason to torment myself over things I simply could not have. But when I found them and came to know them, they were always on my mind just like the love of my life.

"How? When?" She couldn't imagine that happening. We were vampires after all.

"How? The same way as humans do." I chuckled darkly. "When?" I took a deep unnecessary breath. "Apparently twelve years ago."

"When you were with that human?" Her thoughts were not insulting, but I barely stopped myself from growling. My love was not a mere human. She was special and wonderful in ways nobody could imagine.

"Bella. Yes." I nodded slightly. She wanted to know more, to hear a full story. Since she was probably the last one to hear it from me, why not? "The last time when I let myself be close to her, we..." I trailed off. Kate could imagine perfectly well what we had done. "Then for her own good, or so I thought at the time, I pushed her away. She always loved me. I knew that. I should have left, but I couldn't. She would have been shattered into pieces and so would have been I." I paused finally realizing what I had done all those years ago. "I chose an even worse way to force her away from me. I ignored her for some time and when I saw that it wasn't working, I pretended crushing on another human girl. Though the mere thought always made me sick. Eventually I achieved that we stopped speaking to each other. Actually, I ignored her enough so that she finally ceased trying to get my attention." I took another breath. My hurting heart was screaming from pain. "Then one day she came to me while we were in the school's cafeteria. She wanted to say something, but I never let her put a word in." I paused. I was right all along. There was no monster worse than me. "That day I said things I had never meant. The worst thing is that some of those metaphors actually turned out to be true without me even knowing that. Bella had survived months of my ons and offs, my defiance, even insults when I thought there was no other way. But those few sentences, those few words pushed her away from me for good. When she left, she never came back. I should have felt happy for her moving on, but I didn't. It was even worse because I knew that I could have spent her entire life by her side and I was the only reason why we were not together." It was my fault that my family's lives had been destroyed.

There were a few quiet minutes. Kate knew there was nothing to say that could cheer me up. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to lift my mood.

"Isn't it time to go?" Eleazer broke the silence. Sun was starting to rise. He wanted to get over with this as soon as possible.

"Yes. It is." Carlisle glanced at his watch and got up. Our guests were by the front door, inside or outside.

I went downstairs and Esme glanced at Alice questioningly. It was obvious that Jasper was not going, not that he didn't want, but he simply couldn't. His lover on the other hand... My sister shook her head slightly and Esme's face fell. Our mother wanted to have as many children with herself as she could. Carlisle put his comforting hand on her shoulder and led her outside. I nodded to Alice and left the house. The two were staying alone at home because we would need everybody we could get in the field. And if it went wrong, staying at home or going to the clearing was not going to make much of a difference.

The sun slowly shifted behind the trees unwilling to rise this morning as if afraid to see the end of the day and leaving the clearance in the shadows. It was indeed a dark day for us.

We were standing on one side of the field. Facing the place in a tree line where they should come. Carlisle was in front of the others hoping to negotiate with Aro. Then me and Emmett, the first line of defense. Behind us were Esme and Rosalie still refusing to leave our backs. And behind us were all our friends willing to fight, though now not so sure anymore about the upcoming outcome.

They emerged from the forest like rulers of this world. Gliding rather than walking. The three kings were in front of the others, closely followed by their guards and a group of thirty vampires marching in the back. I stiffened at the latter's thoughts, they had come for nothing less but slaughter. Though Aro seemed willing enough to talk and let me decide instead of forcing their hand on us at once.

This was it. There was no way back.

The Volturi stopped right in front of us. Aro, Marcus and Caius standing first, hovered by three of their personal guards. A step behind them were thirty vampires talented in one way or another as at the moment they were thinking about the best ways how to use their abilities in killing or torturing us.

"Aro, my friend" My father greeted. He still hadn't ceased hope to end this peacefully without losing me.

"Carlisle. Nice to see you well." Aro responded in his falsely friendly tone.

"What brings you here?" My father tried to remain calm and oblivious to the obvious but miserably failed.

"I am sad to say that this is not a friendly visit, but more of a formal one." Aro became serious.

"What do you want?" Carlisle tensed up. There was hardly a point in pretending to know nothing.

"To maintain an order in our world we need the best people, so we came to talk to your son." Aro shifted his eyes to me. He knew too well that friendliness towards me was a waste of time.

"Edward. Face it, there is only one thing you can do and one thing only you have to do to make sure your family and friends do not get hurt. Join us. We want only you, and we will leave the rest unharmed." Aro said convincingly. "We not just outnumber you, but we are also much stronger." He said with a smirk on his face.

He was right. There were only five of us plus twelve more friends, whereas their side consisted of thirty more or less talented vampires not including Aro, Marcus, Caius and three more of their personal guards.

Seventeen against thirty at least, if not thirty-six. It was more than obvious that the Volturi was going to win. Everybody seemed to know this. I understood that, but still didn't dare to move. "Time" a quiet pleading voice shouted in my head.

"Edward?" Aro reminded me. I hung my head in defeat and he smiled widely recognizing my surrender. He was in no hurry once he knew I was going to join them.

Time? Even if we had time, we had no hope. I will surrender and cease to exist as an individual. At least my two children, who hated me from the bottoms of their hearts, will live on. They were safe, what else could I ask for?

A heartbeat? Even two? I felt shock and disbelief around myself, so I raised my head.

A girl and a boy walked into the clearing from different sides, stopped a few steps in front of Carlisle and turned to face the Volturi. They were both dressed in black. Even the girl's tie in her hair was dark.

"Hello." I heard a strong friendly female voice greeting loudly.

"Good morning." A shy and polite male's voice said quietly.

Adrian? Gediminas? What were they doing here? They couldn't have possibly hoped to help us?! For some completely unknown reason my daughter was smiling. Even my son, usually standing slightly stooped with his head slightly bowed, now appeared to be completely different. They were both standing at their full height, heads lifted up even more than was necessary to see everything, confidence clear in their eyes. Their postures were screamed that they had come for nothing less than an absolute victory and now were simply giving time to the Volturi to surrender and run away.

I couldn't understand that and apparently neither could the others. They were kids, what were they expecting to achieve? In any way, we were still outnumbered, let alone some of us were women and hardly any of us were trained to fight professionally.

Then it was like somebody had turned on the radio at full blast. So many thoughts, so many voices and emotions screaming in my head!

Thank you for reading. A few more chapter left and the story will be over. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't.