Jasper: The next chapter has arrived.
Whitlock: And so I have. Let's get to it partners.
Alice: Fuck…
Twilight: Future Unbound
Chapter Three
Forks, Washington – Cullen Residence
Bella Swan
"A new face?" Carlisle asked.
"Yeah…One we never seen before…He showed up out of nowhere," Future Alice said with a frown on her face.
"Who is this guy?" Emmett asked.
"Astaroth…" Future me answered.
"Astaroth…That name sounds so familiar…" Carlisle said.
"It should. He is Alistair's sire," Future Jasper said, which surprised Carlisle greatly.
"You know Alistair?" Carlisle asked.
"You sent me to find him to gather allies but we are getting ahead of ourselves," Future Jasper said with frown.
"After we saved Eddy boy from fucking up big time, Astaroth and his army attacked the Volturi head on," Peter said with a cross of his arms while the others gasped in shock.
Despite me not having the full picture on their scope of power, even I knew that this sounded really bad…
"It all happened so suddenly," Peter continued. "One minute, we were feeling relieved and the next minute, we were all fighting for our lives as well as Bella's…We were barely able to get out of there in one piece…"
"This is grave…" Carlisle said. I could hear a hint of sadness in his voice as he said this. I wonder why…
"Astaroth and his army not only took over Italy and revealed to the world our existence but they put a massive dent on the Volturi. They suffered some huge losses and two of their strongest members, Chelsea and Corin, were killed during that assault on the Volturi."
"Oh! That's bad!" Rosalie exclaimed. "Those two are basically the linchpin of the whole empire, right?"
"Really? Two people being the linchpin of their entire organization?" I asked. "How?"
"Chelsea can both increase and decrease the emotional ties between people. She can make partners turn away from one another, disband covens and friendships, but also can strengthen the bonds between people and potentially create new ones. Meanwhile, Corin has the ability to make anyone content, and even happy, regardless of his or her situation."
"Oh wow, I can see now…That's really messed up," I muttered.
"But that wasn't all," Future Alice said. "Every major super power on Earth were attacked on that same day by with Japan, Germany and Russia being fully taken over by the end of the night. The remaining World leaders then banded together to try and defeat them."
"This is getting heavy…Far too heavy," Emmett muttered.
"So it became human against Vampires…It seems far too easy for us to win," Rosalie said.
"You'd think that but when backed up against the wall, humans could create some powerful weapons and they did but it wasn't enough…Astaroth and his growing army of Vampires stomped through the world, spreading his chaos…Any vampire that didn't join him on his quest was brutally executed and the Humans were rounded up like cattle to the slaughter…It was horrifying," Peter said.
"I don't get it," Rosalie said. "You guys all drink blood right? Why would it be horrifying to you guys?"
"We only drink from criminals. Murderers, rapists, cannibals, the works," Future me explained with a hint of annoyance. "They were rounding up everyone! Men, women, children…babies…"
"Oh no…" Rosalie whispered.
"Yeah…Things were very dire…Every new day brought a new atrocity to the world…It was like relieving Maria on a global scale," Future Jasper said.
Both Jaspers, Peter and Charlotte shuddered at this, despite not needing to.
I wonder who she was…
"What was going on with us during this time?" Rosalie asked, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.
Future Alice glanced at Future me for a moment before she replied "I'm sure Bella wants to tell her own story so I will say this. After the attack happened and we fled from Italy, Edward tried to plead his case to Bella, who didn't want any of him anymore due to breaking her heart three years previously and whatever was building with her and Jacob, one of the shape-shifters from La-Push, ended due to Jacob imprinting Zafrina, the vampire from the Amazonian Coven. "
"How the hell did that happen?" Emmett asked.
"Ironically, she was there to warn the Volturi about the oncoming threat," Future Jasper said with a wry grin. "Her coven was destroyed by these guys and she was able to escape due to her illusions…"
"What's imprinting?" I asked.
"Oh right, she doesn't know about them at this time," Future me said with light smile. "Well, Jacob is a shape shifter. In about a few months from now, if you decide to continue to be his friend, he will become distant and not talk to you. He's able to change into a large wolf. Everyone from his tribe can."
Oh…That's…Not what I was expecting to hear today…Then again, all of this is hella weird, as my friend Chloe used to say.
"Like werewolves?" I asked.
"Kinda…Sorta…" Future me answered. "Well, they are not werewolves. Leah used to be a shape shifter but now…She's a different story…"
"Wait…That reminds me of something. When that Leah girl was here, we didn't smell her at all," Rosalie commented.
"We can talk about Leah later," Future Alice said with a grumble. "So anyways, Our Carlisle decided to have us separate to gather allies to help protect humanity and sent us all over the world, with me going to Egypt with the pack, Char and Pete to South America and Jasper and Bella to England while the rest of you went to Alaska. It was the last time we saw any of you..."
"That…doesn't bode well at all," Emmett said with a worried frown.
"A year after Astaroth's attack, The Volturi suddenly reappeared and made an alliance with the humans to combat Astaroth and his armies but they were losing. From what I heard, you guys hide out of sight to keep out of the entire war but that's when the Volturi came knocking on your door to call in a favor Carlisle owed them…" Future Alice said.
"So we were forced into the Volturi in the end. Bummer," Emmett grumbled.
"Well you had no choice. They wanted to stop Astaroth's takeover of the world and they wanted to bring order back to it and with humans dying left and right, they would all suffer if Astaroth kept it up so they called in a lot of favors and in the end, you guys went with the devil we know than the devil we don't…" Future Alice said.
Charlotte picked up where Future Alice left off with "But despite this, the Volturi were falling apart. With Chelsea and Corin dead, there wasn't any way to keep Marcus complacent nor attached to the Volturi so began to break down over his deceased wife. Somehow, he found out that Aro killed his wife, Didyme and that was when he did the unthinkable…"
"He betrayed the Volturi," Charlotte finished, shocking all the vampires around me.
"This is unheard of…" Jasper said, his face looking every bit as stunned as everyone else except me. I didn't really understand how severe this was but I could get a hint.
"But it makes sense…I was told that he and Didyme were deeply in love and her death tore him apart…Aro was always obsessed with power and what would kill him more than watching him lose it all," Carlisle said. "The ultimate killing blow…"
"He became Astaroth's link into the Volturi and on the anniversary of the Volturi's first attack, Astaroth's army attacked and since you guys were there…" Future Alice said softly.
I looked to Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie and then Emmett, whose shocked faces told me all that I needed to know.
"No fucking way, we died?" Emmett said.
"Oh no…" Rosalie muttered.
"My goodness…" Esme whispered sadly.
"No…That's can't be…" Carlisle shouted angrily as he rose up from his chair. "That's not true!"
"It's true," Future Alice said sadly, further breaking my heart. "Emmett and Rosalie died trying to cover for Esme and Carlisle's escape. Carlisle died shortly after by destroying a wall to block Astaroth's soldiers from getting entrance to the escape tunnels and Esme was killed by several soldiers that were waiting for fleeing people," Future Alice said softly.
"Welp…If I died helping you guys escape with the woman that I love, that's honorable enough. I just hope those bastards put up a tough fight," Emmett said with a smirk.
"The toughest fight imaginable," Future Alice said with a small smile.
Rosalie let out a soft laugh and muttered "How great…"
"Well how honorable but you told us that you were in Egypt during this so how do you know all of this?" Edward asked.
She looked to Edward and said "You told us when we all reunited in England."
"How could you not have seen this coming?!" Alice suddenly asked with despair and fury in her voice "Did you forget that we have the ability to see the future? We should have seen the attack happening! Why didn't you warn them?!"
"I couldn't," Future Alice said with a sad smile. "My gift was slowly burning out since seeing Bella and Victoria…I lost the ability to see into the future shortly before the attack..."
"W-Wait? We l-lost our ability? H-How could that be?" Alice asked with the most fearful voice I had ever heard.
"After we thought Bella had died, my visions began to come less and less. I realized it when Edward's mate found us and told us about she went through. I hadn't known anything about those events. The last vision I saw was finding the Vampire that would help us get to the past and then nothing since…" Future Alice whispered sadly.
Edward's mate…So at least he found who she was…
That just makes it all the more clearer that we were never meant to last. It was then I felt a dose of calm and I looked up to my Jasper, who gave me a sympathetic smile.
I sent some gratitude his way.
Our future was getting darker and this was no time for my emotions to mess with me.
I then looked to Alice, who seemed to be hyperventilating. "W-We can't lose it…" Alice said as she began to panic. "T-That's all I h-have…I-I can't…"
"Calm down," Future Alice admonished faintly as she walked to Alice and placed her hands on her past self's shoulders. "I know how upsetting it is but things like this happen…"
"Losing my gift happens?!" Alice yelled. "You don't understand how fucked that is!"
"Don't you dare say I don't understand!" Future Alice screamed, which caused everyone to flinch. "Did you fucking forget that I am you?! I went through this. The breakdown, the stress, the guilt! I went through it all while the world was going to shit with my family, my daughter and my wife's lives in the balance so don't you dare say I don't understand!"
Alice looked guilty at this. "I…I'm sorry…"
"It's ok…I've been pretty wound up before we got here…I shouldn't have snapped…" Future Alice replied softly before turned to Carlisle and said "This is what he meant about our diet. Human blood gives us the power we need to maintain not only our gifts but our own power. Without it, it weakens them significantly…I had gone so long with just animal blood that it degraded my abilities…Until it was gone. And because of that, you guys died…"
"I knew it," Jasper whispered softly. "I could tell my gifts were getting weaker every decade…To now know that my theory is correct is both reliving and terrifying."
"Vampires were never supposed to be on this diet," Future Jasper said. "Especially those with gifts…Sure we were able to maintain them but sooner or later, they degrade until it's gone…I learned this much later when I was on the brink of losing mine."
"Hey…I know you guys went through hell and I'm sorry but there is one more thing I don't understand. How did you guys come back in time in the first place?" I asked curiously.
Charlotte let out a long sigh and replied with "It had been years since the war started and at the beginning of 2019, we had become the last bastion of hope for every free human and vampire alike…Aka, we were the Resistance. Things weren't going well…Food was running out for both the remaining humans and vampires, tension were high and we were at our wits end."
"Every plan that we had up until that point had been foiled by his army showing up and stopping us. With every skirmish, a friend of ours would wind up killed. Benjamin and Tia, the entire Denali coven, the pack, Alistair…Jacob, Zafrina…The entire pack except Leah…All of our allies perished and we were alone, trying desperately to keep hidden from Astaroth and his soldiers around the world," Future Jasper said with a stressed out tone.
"As a group, we were at the lowest point we had even been in," Peter said, picking up where Charlotte had left off. "But we were trying to make it work until a huge attack happened at the small village we had created…We never knew it coming and we never stood a chance…The last bastion we had created just gone…just like that."
"After that, we all hit rock bottom and began to prepare an all out suicide mission. Kill Astaroth at any and all costs. We were in the process of planning when Jasper recalled the three vampires he and Bella found back during the start of the war when they were searching for Alistair."
"One had the ability to transport anywhere on earth, the other could absorb special abilities and give them to another and the last one had the ability to temporarily enhance special abilities to unheard of levels," Future Jasper said as he crossed his arms with a firm look on his face.
"So we decided to find them and see if there was a way that we could kill Astaroth but unfortunately, the one that could teleport has to have seen the location…We were desperate but it was then they told us that they had the ability to go back in time…We didn't believe them until they managed to do it with Jasper," Future me explained.
"What happened exactly?" Carlisle asked with wonder.
"Well from what I could see, when the transporter does his instant transmission, he goes into this world known as the Teleportation Zone. In this zone, he can lock onto the spirits of any life form he had come across during his long life and transport to it. When his mate enhances his ability, this zone can go outside of time itself and the best part; he could bring others with him. In order to prove this, he took me back to meet Alice before her change which was a trip in and of itself…"
"Wait!" Alice exclaimed. "I remember that!"
"You do?!" Future Jasper exclaimed.
"I had the same reaction when he came back…" Future Alice said with a small smile.
"Yeah! I had accidentally bumped into some guy and he said "Oh, sorry Ally-cat." And I was so confused but I liked that nickname…I always kept that memory because he was so beautiful looking to me and I wished I was like that…And now that I know that it was you…Wow!"
Future Jasper grinned at this and said "It's truly amazing their gifts…"
"Fascinating…" Carlisle said with a growing smile. "To be able to travel through time with such ease…"
"There is a risk. When in the past, there is a very short window we have to go through if we need to get back to our time. If we didn't, we would be stuck in that time," Future Alice explained with a frown.
"Yeah…When we told them our plan, they didn't immediately agree to it due to them being so far underground, none of the changes on the outside world mattered to them but somehow, we managed to convince them…But without warning, we were all attacked by his army once again."
"Oh god, how did he find you guys?" Carlisle asked curiously.
The group looked at each other before Future Alice said "No idea but this is how it kept happening. We would be in the process of planning and then we would get attacked and barely get away."
I don't know how or why but something immediately set my "Bullshit" alarms off but I couldn't place what it was.
"During the battle, their daughter absorbed her father's power and gave it to Alice and her mother enhanced Alice's new ability and with Edward and his mate holding the army back, we went through time and that's how we got here," Future Jasper finished.
"Fucking hell," Emmett muttered. "So Alice lost her original gift but she now has the instant transmission?"
"Yeah," Future Alice said before she flickered and appeared behind Emmett and tapped his shoulder before she flickered again and appeared back beside Alice Emmett swiftly turned around in surprise then looked at Future Alice in stunned silence and she grinned. "The best part is that when doing it, our scent doesn't reveal us until thirty seconds after we appear...I'm still not used to this gift so I can only instant transmission about four times…"
"Whew fuck. The future is really dark and sad," Esme whispered.
"I know. Our future is fucked if we don't change it," Alice said with a depressed tone.
"It's why we are here," Future Jasper said with a determined smirk on his face.
"So it sounds like all we need to do is find this Astaroth and kill him before he can destroy the world. Sounds easy," Emmett said with wry grin.
"I doubt it," I replied. "He's probably got stand-ins to act as him."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Future Jasper said. "But we have three years before his plans come to fruition. We gotta make them count."
"And we need all the allies we can get…" Carlisle murmured. "We have a lot of work to do."
"I already contacted Past Char and me so they will be here soon," Peter said with a grin.
"Well, you can count on our help then," Carlisle said with a nod but I could see the troubled expression on his face didn't go away with this.
"Good but before we start…We need a break from all this torture," Peter said with a tired smile.
"Wait! You didn't tell us when our little Bells was changed into a vampire. Nor who her mate is," Emmett said.
Future Jasper and Future me exchanged a grin between each other before Future me looked to Emmett with a smile and said "England was truly a life changing experience for me."
Emmett tilted his head in confusion but I saw Alice, Esme and Rosalie's expressions change into realization, shock and then large smiles. Carlisle seemed to put the pieces together as well before he muttered "You two are…?"
Emmett seemed to realize the implication as well because he rose up from his seat immediately and shouted at the pair "Holy shit! You two are mates!" He then turned to me and said "Bells! Jasper is your mate!" he looked to Jasper, who had a small grin on his face. "Dude! Dude! Seriously! You should be freaking out!"
"Give me some credit," Jasper said as he opened his eyes to look at me and then our future selves. "I had a feeling this was the case."
"Oh my, this is wonderful news!" Esme said happily as she clapped. "When you kissed that girl Alice, I thought Jasper was all alone. Looks like that wasn't the case!"
Future Alice smiled a bit and said "He got together with her way before me and Leah was a thing."
Edward stared at the future pair then glanced at Jasper and finally at me before he shook his head and stood up and walked out of the house. I tilted my head in confusion and stood up to follow but Future me said "Let him go He needs the air."
I looked at her but at her disarming smile, I nodded.
I don't know why but this nagging feeling had something to do with Edward…
Rain: Hello all! That is the end of this chapter. So we know the full scope of what happens in the future but there are still some pieces missing. What are they? Well…Only one way to find out!
Future Alice: See you all next time!