A/N- I just wanted to say that the next couple of chapters will be up fairly quickly; although this story is Rosalie's interpretation of events there is a lot of dialogue in the confrontation with the Volturi that I've just had to take directly from the book. (Although I have also cut that down where I could without losing too much meaning.)
And I know I go on, but a huge thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing and messaging me with feedback- I seriously had my doubts about writing this one when I started (I mean…so much Bella! And imprinting! And Volturi battles that aren't! And a baby that isn't my girl Rosalie's! So much to dislike!) but I've found so much more in it than I thought there was and really enjoyed writing it and talking about it. So thank you very much to all the lovely people who are making it so much fun!
Chapter 44- Half Mortal, Half Immortal .
Carlisle squared his shoulders and held out his hands. "Aro, my old friend. It's been centuries."
There was a long silence, and it was as though we were all holding our breath waiting to see how Aro would respond. At last he stepped forward from the line, a vampire that I guessed must be his shield, Renata, moving behind him as though her hand was attached to his back. This was not the move the Volturi guard had wanted and I heard the low mutters and growls of dissatisfaction. They had come here to destroy, not to listen to Aro and Carlisle spar with their pretty words.
Aro held up his hand to settle his people. "Peace," he breathed, and then walked a few paces closer to Carlisle, looking at him with curiosity in his milky red eyes. "Fair words, Carlisle," he said. "They seem out of place, considering the army you've assembled to kill me, and to kill my dear ones."
Carlisle shook his head, holding out his hand in entreaty. "You have but to touch my hand to know that was never my intent."
Aro narrowed his eyes. "But how can your intent possibly matter, dear Carlisle, in the face of what you have done?" There was a look of sadness on his face but I was far from convinced of his sincerity.
"I have not committed the crime you are here to punish me for," Carlisle's voice rang out across the frozen field, clear and honest.
"Then step aside and let us punish those responsible. Truly Carlisle, nothing would please me more than to preserve your life today."
"No one has broken the law Aro," Carlisle said gently. "Let me explain."
Before Aro could answer Caius had stepped forward. "So many pointless rules, so many unnecessary laws you create for yourself Carlisle," he sneered. "How is it possible that you defend the breaking of one that truly matters?"
"The law is not broken. If you would listen…" Carlisle tried again.
"We see the child, Carlisle!" Caius hissed. "Do not treat us as fools!"
Carlisle was still calm as he tried to press his point. "She is not an immortal. She is not a vampire. I can easily prove this with just a few moments…"
"If she is not one of the forbidden, then why have you massed a battalion to protect her?" Caius cut him off.
"Witnesses, Caius, just as you have brought. Any one of these friends can tell you the truth about the child. Or you could just look at her, Caius. See the flush of human blood in her cheeks." Carlisle gestured towards Renesmee.
"Artifice!" Caius snapped. "Where is the informer? Let her come forward! You!" He waved an imperious hand towards Irina. "Come!"
Irina's eyes barely left her sisters as she drifted slowly towards Caius. I watched her, knowing that in going to the Volturi she had precipitated this nightmare and wanting to hate her, but somehow unable to summon up the necessary anger. What was Irina really, but a pawn in Aro's game? If it had not been her tales of an immortal child it would have been something else.
Caius crossed the small distance Irina left between them and slapped her hard across the face, the sound ringing out through the snowy morning. It wouldn't have hurt her, but the sudden explosion of violence was shocking and on our side Kate and Tanya hissed in unison.
"This is the chid you saw?" Caius demanded of her. "The one that was obviously more than human?"
Irina finally tore her eyes away from her sisters to look at Caius, and then looked past him, past our front line, as she sought out Ness. She squinted a little, confusion clear on her face.
"Well?" Caius growled.
"I…I'm not sure."
"What do you mean?" Caius hissed, his voice enraged.
"She's not the same, but I think it's the same child," Irina said slowly. "What I mean, she's changed. This child is bigger than the one I saw, but…"
Caius' furious snarl cut her off, and Aro stepped over to him and placed a hand delicately on his shoulder. "Be composed brother. We have time to sort this out. No need to be hasty." He turned his gaze to Irina, and spoke with a gentleness that was chilling. "Now, sweetling. Show me what you're trying to say."
Hesitantly Irina took his hand. Aro held hers for only seconds before he released it, saying, "You see Caius? It's a simple matter to get what we need." He turned back to face Carlisle. "And so we have a mystery on our hands, it seems. It would appear the child has grown. Yet Irina's first memory was clearly that of an immortal child. Curious."
"That's exactly what I'm trying to explain," Carlisle said quickly. I could hear the relief in his voice- Aro had at least paused to listen. He held out his hand to his old friend in clear invitation.
"I would rather have the explanation from someone more central to the story my friend," Aro said gently. "Am I wrong to assume that this breach was not of your making?"
"There was no breach," Carlisle insisted.
"Be that as it may, I will have every facet of the truth. And the best way to get that is to have the evidence directly from your talented son. As the child clings to his newborn mate, I'm assuming Edward is involved." Aro raised his eyebrows.
I caught the almost imperceptible tightening of Edward's lips. Of course Aro wanted to touch him- seeing into Edward's mind was to have access to all of our secrets. All our plans, all our resources and talents and knowledge…Aro would have it all.
Edward kissed Bella and Renesmee briefly, and then touched Carlisle's shoulder and strode unhesitatingly across the snow, his face impassive. There was a brief sob from Esme, immediately silenced, as she watched Edward walk towards our enemies alone. When he reached Aro he held out his hand almost benevolently, as though he was conferring an honour in allowing him to touch him. I felt a small flare of pride at the arrogance of Edward, as much on the back foot as we were he was giving Aro not an inch.
Aro too seemed rather delighted by Edward's attitude, although the rest of the Volturi shifted in discontent, snapping teeth and hissing slightly. He stepped forward and then his hand closed over Edward's and all we could do was watch as the Volturi leader closed his eyes and concentrated on everything he was taking in from my brother. Edward's muscles tensed as he then read back from Aro's head everything that he was sharing with him.
It went on for a surprisingly long time, but at last Aro straightened up, his eyes open and glittering with all the new knowledge that was his. He still did not release Edward's hand.
"You see?" Edward said courteously.
"Yes, I see indeed," Aro agreed, a faint smile on his face. "I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly. You have given me much to ponder, young friend," Aro continued thoughtfully. "Much more than I expected…may I meet her?" His interest suddenly sharpened. "I never dreamed of the existence of such a thing in all my centuries. What an addition to our histories!"
"What is this about, Aro?" Caius snapped furiously.
"Something you've never dreamed of, my practical friend," Aro said tranquilly. "Take a moment to ponder, for the justice we intended to deliver no longer applies." He tilted his head towards again. "Will you introduce me to your daughter?"
Sounds of shock ran through the Volturi ranks. Edward's daughter? A small smile played across Aro's lips as Edward nodded reluctantly, and then he answered a question the rest of us hadn't heard. "I think a compromise on this one point is certainly acceptable, under the circumstance. We will meet in the middle."
The instant Aro dropped his hand Edward turned and walked back towards us. Aro slung an arm carelessly over Edward's shoulder, as though the two of them were friends, raising his free hand to halt the guard that would have followed him. "Hold, my dear ones. Truly they mean us no harm if we are peaceable." Aro and Edward were accompanied by three of the Volturi guards, and the five of them stopped in the middle of the snowy field.
"Bella," Edward called. "Bring Renesmee…and a few friends."
Bella straightened, resettling the slight weight of Ness in her arms. "Jacob? Emmett?" she asked quietly.
Emmett. To let you go, to watch you walk away from me and towards those who would end us if they could…
Courage can take many forms; sometimes it is in action, and other times it comes from standing back passively and allowing others to act. For me, that moment of releasing Emmett's hand and watching him walk away from me, towards the Volturi leader, was maybe the bravest moment of my long life. But I smiled at him as I uncurled my fingers from around his, and kept my head high as Emmett reached across and fist bumped Ness before walking at Bella's side across the frozen ground towards the small group in the centre.
Carlisle looked at me across the empty space between us and smiled at me encouragingly. "Aro's listening Rose," he breathed. "How can he fail to be convinced by Ness herself?"
He and I both knew that Aro was quite capable of not being convinced if it suited his purposes, but surely with so many witnesses he would have to follow his own rules? I turned my attention back to the group in the centre of the field.
"May I greet your daughter, lovely Bella?" Aro beamed at the Ness. "But she's exquisite," he murmured, marvelling. "So like you and Edward. Hello Renesmee."
"Hello Aro," she answered politely.
"What is it?" Caius hissed.
"Half mortal, half immortal," Aro announced, loudly enough for his words to reach all the guard although he didn't turn his fascinated eyes away from Renesmee. "Conceived so, and carried by this newborn while she was still human."
"Impossible!" Caius snarled.
"Do you think they've fooled me then, brother?" Aro's tone was light, but Caius was not the only one who flinched. "Is the heartbeat you hear trickery as well? Calmly and carefully brother. I know well how you love your justice, but there is no justice in acting against this unique little one for her parentage. And so much to learn, so much to learn! I know you don't have my enthusiasm for collecting histories, but be tolerant with me, brother, as I add a chapter that stuns me with its improbability. We came expecting only justice and the sadness of false friends, but look what we have gained instead! A new, bright knowledge of ourselves, our possibilities."
He's listened- he believes us. I glanced at Carlisle and saw the twitch in his jaw the belied his tension and for a moment I didn't understand his anguish. Aro was listening to us- wasn't that a good thing? But then I replayed his words, catching the subtleties I had been too anxious to note before. He had told Caius only to wait, to tread carefully, and I knew that they must have other plans and strategies in place to achieve their aims.
And the last words he had spoken- "our possibilities"- and I started to feel sick. Nessie's birth had been a miracle, an almost unbelievable string of circumstances that had led to her conception and gestation and survival, as well as Bella's survival. Circumstances that would be impossibly difficult to replicate, and yet I knew Aro's fascination with the unusual and the gifted…now that he knew it could be done, would he be able to avoid the temptation to try? And if he did, how many people would die for his selfish aims? I bit back a snarl.
On the field Aro held his hand out to Renesmee, but that wasn't what she wanted. Our brave little girl showed no fear as she stretched out her hand and laid it delicately on Aro's cheek.
Aro was accustomed to the flow of thoughts and images from another, and as Ness communicated with him in her special way he only smiled. "Brilliant," he whispered, as she dropped her hand and settled back into Bella's arms.
"Please?" Ness asked him seriously.
Aro's smile turned comforting. "Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, precious Renesmee." His eyes drifted towards Jacob, and unlike the other Volturi members who had looked at the wolf with disgust, Aro's face was almost longing. "I wonder…" he murmured.
"It doesn't work that way," Edward said, his voice harsh. Jacob's large head swung towards Edward, who hissed through his teeth, "He's intrigued with the idea of…guard dogs."
There was a moment of stunned silence and then a chorus of furious snarls and howls from the wolves echoed round the clearing. Even I didn't stop the snarl that rose up from my centre- I might bitch and moan about the smell and call Jacob a mangy, flea ridden dog, but the idea of anyone even presuming to think about using the Quileutes in that way was appalling.
"I suppose that answers that question," Aro said with a laugh. "This lot has picked its side." Suddenly his voice turned businesslike. "So much to discuss…so much to decide. If you and your furry protector will excuse me, my dear Cullens, I must confer with my brothers."
