A/N: DxGRAYxMAN - A for effort man. But still a no. Think of the opposite coast.

Again everyone, super sorry about these prolonged updates. I feel horrible. But there's not much I can do. When life gets busy...

I'm fucking tired as shit.

You stepped with a heavy tread,

And left your mark

Oh, your mark on me

The space you used to fill is now this great black hole

Oh, you're out of sight but not out of my mind

Chapter 23: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It…

Liam POV:

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Because Bella was our big gun and now with her gone we need more manpower." The tone in my voice held a bored note as I explained this all to Jake. Jasper took over on the strategic end of things, but I still needed an extra set of hands when it came down to business.

Rosalie set her foot down when it came to taking Emmett, and Edward wasn't a great brute force fighter, so Jacob was the way to go. He was reluctant at first, but my begging eventually won him over.

I really fucking missed Bella. And not just from a coworker's standpoint, she was my best friend. I missed the hanging out and messing around. Fucking with Emmett and talking about our relationships. All these small things really added up and I felt abandoned.

Of course I understood why she did what she did, but it still hurt. We were supposed to be a team, one family. Yeah what the Volturi did to me would never even compare to what they did to her, but I was still fucked up. The Volturi created both of us, I felt like I deserved to at least be part of the revenge planning.

Sure my sire was dead, but that didn't leave me satisfied. Marcus may have helped the Volturi acquire all their power, but he never played a role in the actual torturing of us.

"Dude? You're zoning out on me. I'm kind of trying to ask you some important shit right now." Jacob's voice finally broke through my thoughtful haze and I shook out of it quickly.

"Fuck sorry Jake. What's up?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes at my lack of attention.

"Are you going to tell me what I'm doing here? Like is someone going to debrief me on what my job is?" I instantly felt horrible for leaving him in the dark for so long.

"Oh yeah. Yeah yeah. Jesus I'm so sorry Jake. I keep forgetting all the essential things to do. But yeah, Carlisle and Jasper will give us all the information we need."

"It's alright. I get it, you miss her." Apparently my scattered demener was pretty easy to read, Jacob hit the nail right on the head.

"Is it that obvious?"

"I'm afraid so." I sighed and ran a weary hand over my face. Jacob merely chuckled and pat my back. "Don't worry about it Liam. I think we all are missing a big part of ourselves. Somehow that girl managed to make herself an integral part in all our lives. But unfortunately she's stubborn as hell and will end up doing whatever she feels, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just so happened to hurt us a bit in the process."

"I know. But it still sucks right now."

"Which is exactly why we need to do a good job right? Get her home. You did say this might be leading us to the Volturi, did you not?" I smiled at his eagerness. Really he and Emmett should be best friends.

"Yes I did. But probably their guard, not the main two we want. They're most likely in deep hiding."

"Still something to kill." He grinned boyishly and I started leading him towards the debriefing room where Jasper and Carlisle were waiting. "How's shorty?"

"Alice?" Jake nodded solemnly. "She's…. she's how you would expect. I mean, obviously better than last time, the circumstances are so drastically different. But she's still without her mate, and this time it was one of their choices. I'd say she's doing about the same as the time they broke up. Not happy, but not going catatonic."

"Understandable." My slightly bettering mood from Jake's happy go lucky attitude was washed away at the mention of Alice. I fell back on our walk.

"Jake do you mind if I go check up on her? I'll meet up with you all later, I just want to make sure she's ok."

"Yeah sure thing. No problem dude. I'll see you in a bit." He gave me a two finger salute before entering the room and leaving me in the hall. I quickly walked back to Alice's room and knocked twice, waiting for her signal that it was alright to enter.

"Come in."

"Hey Al." She perked up when she heard my voice instead of the typical Esme or Rosalie. I had been neglecting comforting her lately, I knew that. But I had my reasons.

She reminded me of my best friend of course, and I did to her. But while my presence brought her comfort, hers only brought me pain.

"Hey Liam." She rolled off the bed and enveloped me into a hug. Her body was absolutely covered in Bella's scent, and a pang of sorrow went through me. "I thought I wouldn't see you for a few days. Aren't you leaving today?"

"Tomorrow." I moved away from her carefully and sat down on the bed, my physical and mental exhaustion was starting to show. These past few weeks have been a living hell for my work life balance.

"Do you think Jacob's ready?"

"He will be."

"Good. We don't want any unnecessary injuries." She laid back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Any word on Bella?" The inevitable subject finally rearing its head.

"No." Alice was expecting this answer and didn't seem particularly surprised. "She's laying low, which is actually good in retrospect. But it looks like she's going to stick to her plan about not coming home until the job is done." She nodded and snuggled a nearby shirt while I spoke. "You doing alright?"

"I guess." Alice shrugged and continued to stare blankly above us. "Not much I can really do about it anyways." I understood that completely. The mood in the room had fallen into a somber lull again.

"New subject?"

"Yeah." Alice rolled over and sat thinking about what to talk about for a bit. "How are things going with Zoey?"

"They're alright. It's been pretty stressful lately, but she's understanding."

"Have you discussed the human thing anymore?"

"Actually yes." Zoey and I had discussed the big topic for some time now. I didn't want her to feel pressured into making any decisions too fast, we had time. But she had made up her mind a while back. "She wants to be turned right after her eighteenth birthday."

"That's perfect. It's not too far away, but it still gives you some time to enjoy each other now."

"Yep."

We talked aimlessly for a little while, at least until I felt she was alright enough for me to leave her again. I had left Jake alone with two vampires for too long. Besides, I needed to prepare as well.

"Ok Al, I gotta go. You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah I'm good. I'm actually going hunting with Rose and Emmett later today. Stay safe."

"Yes ma'am."

I walked out quietly and then made a small detour into the Cullen home to say hello to my other family. Esme took her own sweet time in letting me go, but my list of things to do before I left was growing.

"You good dude?" Jake greeted me lightly when I finally was able to meet up with him. I'm sure I looked even more disheveled than I had before. Every day was mentally taxing.

"Yeah I'm fine. What'd I miss?"

"Not much. Jasper and Dr. Cullen were just explaining in detail all the Volturi guards' gifts that they know of.

"Perfect."

Carlisle and Jasper droned on for about another hour about everyone's abilities and weaknesses. I tried my best to stay interested during it, but I had already known all this information prior. My main questions were the who, where, and why.

"Think you got that all down Jacob?" Carlisle asked after it seemed he was finally finished. Poor Jake looked like his head might explode any minute.

"Ummmm. Fuck. I think so. Still just trying to wrap my head around the whole Jane and, what was his name, Alex?"

"Alec."

"Yeah him. Those are some serious guns they got." It was a lot to take in for a young local shape shifter.

"Yes they are. It is exactly how the Volturi keep gaining more and more power. Talent."

"So what's the mission?" I had sat back quietly for long enough. It was time for my answers.

"Well, I received a phone call from an old friend of mine. His coven has had slight problems with the Volturi in the past, but nothing major." Carlisle paced the room while he spoke. "However, he seems to have adopted a rather gifted son some time back, and now the Volturi are quite interested. And not just mildly so. Word is, that Aro himself has given the order to get this individual at all costs."

"Ok…. So what's the big deal? We just go in there and make sure that doesn't happen? Or are we supposed to protect him or something?"

"It's a little more complex than that Jacob. See, the boy is extremely gifted, but it can apparently get volatile if he feels threatened."

"Volatile?" I interrupted in confusion. "What the hell is his gift?"

"I'm not sure. He won't say."

"How the fuck are we supposed to help then?" This was turning out to be a complete waste of my time.

"Yeah. Some friend you got there Dr. Cullen. How do we know this isn't a setup?"

"He's just very protective of him. He's had some issues in the past with coven members being recruited by the Volturi. And it's not a setup, don't worry about that. They are totally trustworthy."

"Alright so you trust them. Still doesn't answer our question on what you want us to do." Carlisle sighed at my frustration, but never appeared to be irritated by it. He must have gotten used to this impatient behavior.

"The Volturi main guard are rumored to be the collectors. All we want you to do is keep your distance and disable them temporarily."

"You want us to take them into custody." Finally a grin reached my face. Maybe this wasn't a waste of time after all.

"Precisely." Even Carlisle had a small smile tugging at his lips. We all knew what it meant to take the main guard captive. Not only was it taking away an extraordinary amount of power, it could lead to possible information that we so desperately need.

"Alright then." I couldn't help the smile growing exponentially on my face. "When do we leave and where are we going?"

"Tomorrow morning. Egypt."