Shauna Black's POV

The winds carried me through many worlds and within those worlds, many different lives. I felt as though I could float forever. Enchanted by the freedom of the wind, I would let it take me wherever it wished…

Yet, today, I realized that I still had an earthly string tied around my heart. I soared through the sky with the eagles, reveling in how much air and wind the skies of this world could carry. But as I followed the wind over a series of familiar-looking cliffs, I suddenly felt a tug in my chest. I hesitated, confused. The eagles cawed at me, but most of them flew onwards. Only one remained by my side, noticing that I had been interrupted. Interrupted – but by what?

A call. A prayer to the skies. A wish. A confession.

Willow…

That was my name, my real name. I suddenly remembered that I was more than just a cloud. In my past life, I had been a woman, a wolf, a daughter...

I trembled. Yes, I was someone once. This "I" that I spoke of... I'd forgotten that it was a thing that had been born once.

Here and now, I was utterly free - free even from identity. But without identity, love, too, is weightless - not impossible, in fact, ever present, but weightless... There was no gravity. But where I once came from, where I had once lived and loved, there was a heaviness to it. I hesitated. What is this weight?

My old heart whispered, "Memory. It's called memory. And that weight you're feeling is grief. Someone is remembering you. Someone is grieving for you. Someone is wanting you home."

Willow… You have been called home. Come home.

An eagle turned towards me and spoke to me, and I heard Grandpa's voice in the eagle's caw: Willow, a spirit warrior is only a spirit warrior so long as she has purpose. Return home. To your family. To your friends. To your tribe. Protect them.

Then, the wind will always be within you, and take you wherever you are destined to go.

Suddenly, in a roar of gusting force, the wind pushed me back, all the way back – through time and space – back to the willow tree. Mom was sleeping peacefully under the tree, with a crown of daisies in her hair. I knelt besides her. When I touched her shoulder, she looked up at me and smiled.

Then, through the rustle of the willow branches shifting behind me, I heard another voice, one that I had come to trust and cherish. It spoke to me in such a warm and tender voice: "Willow. Come home."

Slowly, I came to.

I thought I could feel someone's hand gently cradling my head, but the next moment, the warmth slid away, as did the sensation of presence grazing my cheek.

Feet shuffled on the floor. Someone murmured, "I'll give you space, then." A moment later, a door shut somewhere nearby.

Finally, my eyes opened. I blinked as the world, the physical world in which I had been born into and lived thusfar, came into focus…

I heard someone gasp. Then, a voice – the very voice which I had so wished to save – sounded out sweetly to my ears. "Shauna?"

"Mom..?"

"Shauna!" She raced over and kissed me. "Oh my goodness! You're awake!"

"Mom? Is it really you?" I wondered, touching my mother's face.

She nodded. "Oh, Shauna..." She let out a choked sob, and she hugged me tightly to her, burying her face against my shoulder.

"So you didn't die in Volterra," I sighed in relief, hugging her back. "Oh, Mom, I was so worried about you…"

Pulling back a little from my mother, I asked her, "Did anything else happen in Volterra that I should know about?"

Mom shook her head. I wanted her to tell me what had happened, but for the moment, she seemed unable to use words.

I hesitated. "Mom, what is it? What's wrong?"

Then, the bed sank slightly at the edge. Strong, warm arms picked me up gently, but then squeezed me too hard, as always.

"Dad!" I said, half-laughing and half-grumbling as he squeezed me tightly. "Dad, I can't breathe!"

"Is it really you, Shauna?" My father's muffled voice was broken by happy, emotional sobs.

I smiled into my father's broad shoulder. "Yeah, it's me."

Another familiar voice spoke up in a tone of heavy, heavy relief, "Shauna…"

Surprised, I looked up to see my brother. "Gabe?"

He was standing at the end of my bed, but when I said his name in surprise, he moved forward. Stopping besides me, he reached out for me and touched my cheek.

"What are you doing here?" I asked my brother. "What about your music festival?"

Instead of replying, Gabe breathed out slowly, and I could see tears welling up in his eyes.

Why is everyone crying? I wondered. I get that I must have worried them, since I was asleep, but come on, it's only been a day or so... Why are they so emotional? Surely, I was just asleep. I mean, I'm in bed, after all.

Before I could ask what was wrong, Mom finally found her voice. She chided me. "Shauna, how could you do that to us?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, now thoroughly confused.

In a small voice, Mom said, "You sacrificed yourself..."

Frowning a little, I replied, "I thought you understood. How the pack didn't want to go after Carlisle, but I felt that I had to. I thought you realized that that was why I went. I mean, isn't it why you and Dad came after me and phased into your werewolf forms after all of these years...?"

"No, of course we understand that aspect," Dad replied, shaking his head at me. "That's not what we're talking about, Shauna."

"Then what...? What could I have possibly done wrong?" I said, bewildered. "Look, I'm sorry I upset you, but I don't know what I did. Can someone tell me, please?"

"You disappeared," Mom said, and her eyes were still heavy with the pain of remembering what had happened at Volterra. "When we were fighting with the vampires…"

"Oh, that..." I paused, thinking of how to explain. Finally, I said earnestly, "It was the only way to save you, Mom."

"You shouldn't have," Mom said, his brow furrowed. "I'm your mother. You're my daughter. You shouldn't be the one protecting me."

"Shifting into the wind wasn't a big deal," I responded, shrugging. "It's nothing different from shifting into a werewolf. It's just more... spiritual, I suppose."

"Shauna, it is a big deal," Dad told me. "You literally disappeared. You had no - no physical form." His voice stuttered as he remembered the fear of losing me again, and it wasn't like he had even my body to mourn over. No, I had just gone, as though I had never existed.

"Well, I'm sorry, but like I said, it was the only way to save Mom," I said stoutly. "But what's the big deal? Even if I disappeared, I can't have been gone very long. Time works differently in dreams. You could dream a whole lifetime in an hour. I'm sure I was only gone for a day or so."

"A day or so?" Dad said in disbelief. "You've been gone for over three months!"

I stopped short. What?! Three months! No way. No, they're joking.

"Three - Three months?" I repeated, astonished. "Are you sure?"

"Shauna, we just held your funeral ceremony," Gabe told me, slowly shaking his head at me. "We were convinced you were gone. We thought you were d-dead." His voice broke on the last word.

I stared at him, stunned. Hoarsely, I repeated, "My funeral?"

Their reactions were finally starting to make sense to me, but my mind was reeling. Three months? My mouth had fallen open. I stared at each of my family members - Mom, Dad, and Gabe - all in turn.

"Shauna," Dad said hoarsely, "your mom and I haven't been able to live with ourselves, thinking we let your life slip through our hands..."

"Dad, don't cry," I whispered to him, now welling up a little myself. "I'm fine. You and Mom didn't lose me."

"Now, do you see?" Dad croaked out. "Shauna, we -" His voice cut off, and he was crying. Dad was crying...

"Dad, I'm - I'm sorry," I managed to say weakly. "I had no idea..."

"We thought we lost you, Shauna," Mom said. Tears were glistening in her eyes, too, as she gazed hungrily at my face. "My daughter… My precious daughter." She leaned forward and kissed my cheek again. "Oh, Shauna, these past three months without you have been unbearable."

"I'm back now, Mom," I promised her, grasping her hand in mine. "I'm right here. And so are you."

"But what happened?" Gabe asked me. "I wasn't there, and Mom and Dad just told me about… the werewolf thing, which I'm still getting my head around, frankly. But why did you just disappear?"

"I'll explain it all at the council meeting tomorrow night," I said, smiling a little.

Dad frowned. "There's a council meeting?"

"Well, as of now, yes," I replied. "I'm calling it now."

"You shouldn't call it a council meeting, Shauna," Gabe said, shaking his head. "It should be called your anti-funeral."

I laughed and shrugged. "Whichever you prefer, then."

"Shauna, are you sure?" Dad asked me. "You just woke up."

"I know, but I need to convey my experience to the rest of our tribe," I said firmly, and my voice was completely serious. "There are decisions that have to be made, and putting them off won't make it any easier."

Everyone was silent for a long moment.

Then, Mom said gently, "If you're going to lead a council meeting tomorrow night, you need to rest all of today and tomorrow. You need to eat, too. I'll bring you some food and water."

"I'll ask Carlisle and Annabelle to check up on you again, now that you're awake," Dad told me.

My parents began to turn away together, but I called out, "Wait!"

"Is everyone okay?" I asked. "You said Carlisle and Annabelle are here. Are they all right? I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to stall long enough to keep them alive…"

Mom smiled warmly at me. "You did stall long enough, Shauna. You were perfect," she told me. "They're both fine, as are all the Cullens."

"But Dr. Cullen's hands," I murmured, remembering. "Didn't they take away his hands?"

"Yes, but... Annabelle found a way to restore his hands," Mom replied.

"She did?"

"Yes. So don't worry," Mom reassured me. Then, she slipped out of my room.

My father made once more to follow her, but I called after him yet again. "Dad?"

He looked back at me. "What is it, Shauna?"

"How did I come back into this world?" I asked. "I can't remember. Did you have to carry me back from Volterra, or did you find me in my bed?"

Dad shook his head. "Neither. Theo found you, washed up on the shore."

"What?" I blinked hard at this entirely unexpected answer. "Theo did...? Theo Uley?"

"Yes." Dad paused, then he said, "And he woke you up, too."

"How?"

"I don't know exactly. He whispered something in your ear, I think. But I didn't hear what it was," Dad replied. "You'll have to ask him for yourself tomorrow."

Dad walked back over to me and he kissed my forehead tenderly. "However he did it, we owe him now and forever, for bringing you back to our lives."

Then, he also left the room.

But after Dad and Mom left (Dad to call Carlisle and Annabelle and Mom to call Emily, Sue, and Seth), I thought about what he said. He whispered something in my ear… Dad didn't know what Theo had whispered to me, but I thought I might know how exactly he could have called me home.

Just then, my brother's voice interrupted my musings.

"Shauna..."

I looked up to see Gabe sitting in my chair, looking at me with a guilty look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked my brother.

"You must - You must hate me for leaving," Gabe murmured. "This all happened to you because I left, didn't I? To go play in that stupid music festival. How could I have been so selfish?"

"No, Gabe, stop," I said firmly, shaking my head. "Don't think that way."

"Shauna, you can tell me how you really feel," Gabe told me. "I know I'm in the wrong -"

"You're not in the wrong," I responded. "Gabe, it's only because you were confident about your pathway in life that I was able to find my place, too."

"What do you mean?" Gabe asked, his brow furrowed.

I paused. Then, a smile slowly spread across my face as I said finally, "I think, somehow, I was meant to be Alpha. Not that I'm a perfect, or even good, Alpha - I mean, I failed to move our tribe to do anything when the time came to it - but for this generation, I think that our tribe's magic had a very specific message to give to our tribe through me, and I've always had that message, that story, within me. You hear our people's magic through music, I know. I think for me, it's always been story. And this time, a very particular one."

"What story?" Gabe asked me. I smiled at my brother, loving him for immediately understanding me and for taking me seriously.

I replied, "The story of the winds, Gabe, and the true origin of the Spirit Warrior."

Having heard from my father that I had woken up, Carlisle and Annabelle came into my room to give me a medical check-up.

"How are you feeling?" Annabelle asked me.

"Good," I replied honestly. "A little foggy in the head, maybe, but well, I've slept for three months, so can you blame me?"

"Fair point," Carlisle said, chuckling lightly.

"But where did you go? I mean, you literally disappeared from the Volturi's Chamber, and then Theo found you in the ocean... Where were you all that time?" Annabelle wondered, cocking her head at me curiously.

"Oh..." I hesitated. I knew I couldn't say too much, for my journey was intimately tied to my tribal identity and our secrets and legends. Finally, I said, "I was in the skies. Flying."

I thought Annabelle would laugh at me, or be confused. Instead, Annabelle's eyes lit up.

"I have those dreams, too!" she said excitedly, practically clambering into my bed with me. "Sometimes I'm soaring through a universe of sparkling silver stars. Other times, I'm floating on a cloud high above the world, witnessing the sunrise from a horizontal viewpoint. And then sometimes, I'm lost in a deep cloud back, surrounded by glimmering mist, and I can just see flashes of scales from cloud dragons dipping in and out of the mist..."

I laughed a little. "I think you may have a much more vibrant imagination than me, Annabelle. I definitely didn't experience all that. Mine was a simple earthly sky."

"I'd wager that no one has quite her imagination," Carlisle agreed, gazing softly at Annabelle with fond eyes.

"I could show you my dreams, if you'd like," Annabelle offered enthusiastically. But then, she paused and said, "Oh, but you've just woken up and you said you felt a bit foggy... We should wait, shouldn't we?"

She looked over her shoulder at Carlisle.

Carlisle nodded. "It's best to be cautious. But according to your numbers, you're healthy as a horse," Carlisle declared. "Er – wolf, I mean."

Annabelle shook her head lightly at his bad joke, but she couldn't hide the smile perking up her lips.

Then, she looked at me and her glimmering eyes suddenly muted as she said somberly, "Shauna, I don't want to press this on you when you're recovering, but… I feel that I need to tell you how sorry I am. You put your life on the line because I needed your help to save Carlisle. I guilted you into it. I will forever be grateful to you, but even before that, I'm just so sorry for all of the trouble and pain I caused you and your family."

"No," I assured her. "You didn't guilt me into anything. I simply did what I thought was right." I reached over and gently touched her shoulder. It was freezing cold, and my instinct was to immediately draw my hand back, but I kept my hand on her shoulder as I said, "I'm just glad you and Carlisle are all right. My biggest fear was that it was all for nothing, that I was too late."

Annabelle smiled warmly at me. Even as a werewolf, I thought she had a pretty smile. There was just something about her that was so… unassuming. Vampire though she was, there was a certain naivete to her, as though she had yet to experience life.

"We are forever in your debt," Carlisle said, stepping up to my bed and looking down at me. "If you are ever in need, please let us know. We'll do whatever we can to help."

"Thank you," I replied. "But you've already cared for my father, Theo, and myself."

"Well, I'm a doctor," Carlisle replied lightly. "But my gratitude to you and your family extends beyond that, Shauna."

I nodded, grateful for Dr. Cullen's words. "I'll remember that," I said sincerely.

"We'll start doing our part by removing all of this equipment from your room," Annabelle said, looking around. "Alice made sure that our taking these machines wouldn't hinder the hospital too much, but it is rather expensive, so we should put it back as soon as possible."

"How…?" I began to ask.

"Don't worry about that," she chirped brightly. She patted my head. "Just let us do what we do best."

"Steal?" I asked, confused.

Carlisle and Annabelle both laughed.

"Now, now," Annabelle said. She gave me a wink and said, "The operative term is 'borrow', Shauna."

Sure enough, the next day, all of the equipment was returned, and Forks Hospital received a generous donation from an anonymous donor.

When the man working at the front desk asked who it was from, the confused lawyer read aloud, "From a doctor who forgot her papers."