Disclaimer: I do not, nor will ever, own the Twilight Saga, or any of its characters and plots.


Where there is power, there is resistance.

Michel Foucault, 1978


Whatever persona had become of me whilst staying with the Cullens quickly fell away in Maria's presence, and when we reached the first house, I didn't hesitate.

I could feel Maria's eyes on me as I tore through flesh and bone, the blood finally quenching the burn in the back of my throat that animals could never completely soothe. We left a path of destruction down to New Mexico.

By the time we made it back to the base, we were all covered in blood and debris.

"Guard duty." Maria snapped at the newborns, and they scurried off while she took me to the only building on her land - a large warehouse.

"Undress." She commanded, and my clothes dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

She circled around me, her face blank. Uncaring.

The pain that followed was comparable to when she first found me before she'd ever bitten me. I remained silent, allowing her to do as she wished. When she finally finished, she healed me. Her touches were gentle, almost caring, as she fixed the damage she'd done.

"You know why I had to do this. The golden-eyes made you soft." She murmured as she held me.

It wasn't an apology, but I didn't expect one. She didn't need to apologize, and she never would.

"Thank you, Mistress." I responded, grateful that she cared enough to make me strong.

She gave me a cold smile, but a smile, nevertheless. I was forgiven. She was merciful.

"Mistress, intruders!" A voice shouted out, and Maria's eyes darkened in fury.

I saw my own eyes darken too, my hands clenching into fists.

"Kill them all." She ordered, and then turned, running out the door.

I followed her, barely pausing when the sight of large fires burning met my gaze. It didn't matter how many newborns had to die. They would never kill us.

Years ago, before Maria had allied herself with the Volturi, they'd come for us. Aro and his army had wiped out hundreds of our newborns, but none of them could come close to us. I had forgotten why; perhaps Maria had changed their minds?

Now, though, I could see exactly why. The newborns and the intruders glowed - the newborns bright red, the intruders a cool blue. Instinctively, I knew what the glow was. Their life force.

Aro had known it, and he didn't dare come close after that first brush with my hand; Maria had known it, which is why she would never kill me. Torture me, of course, but her stunt with the lighter was just a warning to the boy.

I had their lives in my hands, and I could kill all of them with only one touch.

"Elisabeth!" The voice that shouted my name was familiar, very familiar, but Maria claimed my attention.

"Don't listen to them. Do what you must to get rid of the intruders. No prisoners." She ordered.

"Yes, Mistress." I bowed my head in submission before I turned.

She'd return after the threat was taken care of. She trusted me to take care of the intruders.

I moved swiftly across the grounds, destroying newborn and enemy alike. The sickly sweet flames swirled through the air, warming my skin.

I heard an animalistic growl and turned just in time for a large wolf to lunge from the trees, snapping at me. I reached out, my fingers only brushing against its fur before it fell to the ground, still.

I continued onward; wolf and newborn alike falling to the ground. I needed to take out the golden-eyes though. They were the strongest link; with them fallen, the rest would die soon enough.

My eyes latched onto the largest of the golden-eyes, and without hesitation, I moved across the field.

"Emmett!" A girl screamed before I grabbed his arm tightly, latching onto the glowing blue surrounding him and yanking.

He fell to the ground, and the girl screamed in rage, lunging at me. I made short work of her.

The newborns around me were slowly falling to some unknown force, but their lights weren't dying. They seemed to be... unconscious.

There were more blue lights than previously thought; about twelve golden-eyes, ten without the fallen two, and three blue lights with as red of eyes as mine were.

In a matter of moments, it was only them and me. The wolves growled from behind me, a few of the blue lights tensed to attack. I wasn't stupid... I knew they'd kill me before I got close enough to them. Just then, the smallest of the golden-eyes gasped, her eyes staring through me.

"She's a seer."

The words sounded familiar, but I had no idea why. If Maria didn't kill her, the small girl would be intriguing to keep around.

"Bella..." The redhead whispered, horrified.

The next moment, Maria entered the clearing, a human girl in tow. The girl stared around herself, obviously frightened. When her eyes met mine, she stiffened.

"Elisabeth." She muttered, and Maria turned, smacking her hard across her face.

I flinched at the sound, my eyes tracking the bruises forming on the girl's cheek. She hadn't even cried out.

"Silent, pet." Maria sneered, and then met my gaze.

"You know where to go." She said quietly before she vanished into the trees, taking the girl with her.

The redhead started after her, stopped by the blonde who looked very familiar.

"I'll kill that witch!" He snarled, pulling away from the blonde, but turning towards me instead. "Where did she go?!"

Where she always went with her prisoners... the dark room.

"I don't know." I answered, feeling like I was staring into the void.

"Bullshit! She said you knew!" He shouted, glaring.

Of course I knew... that doesn't mean I was about to tell him. He lunged at me, enraged. Once again, he was stopped by the blonde.

"Bella." The small girl whispered again, and the redhead turned towards her, his eyes widening in horror.

"She's going to try to break her." His voice trembled ever so slightly.

"Try? She'll succeed." I corrected, smirking as he spun on me, growling.

My smile faded at the look in his eyes.

"She's just a human."

"She's my mate!" He roared, looking like he was seconds from killing me.

He probably was.

"Mistress says mates are stronger when one has died." I replied, confused.

His eyes darkened in fury, but I wasn't afraid. Maria wouldn't let him kill me.

"She lied to you. How do you think we were able to break her hold? She was going to kill Char." The blonde, red-eyed male said, his eyes slightly knowing as he watched me. "Then again, you don't need a mate to break her control over you. You have a second gift that allows you to see when someone is using their own gift against you. She's manipulating you, and you know it... yet you allow it to continue."

His voice was emotionless, matter of fact.

"She created me. Of course I obey." I replied, narrowing my eyes. "That's a neat trick you have, but it doesn't know everything."

He waved his hand dismissively, his eyes staring through me.

"Maria didn't sire you; she lied to you to keep you from following your true maker. Major changed you. She stole that memory from both of you." He revealed, and my eyes flickered to the soldier standing next to the redhead.

I knew he was familiar.

"How do you-?"

"Because I was there. I know the sort of things she, and Major under her command, did to you. The memories were so gruesome, she had to make both of you forget. Just like she made you forget the week you spent with the Cullens, up north and away from her." He answered quietly, lowering his eyes.

Some part of me recognized his words as truth, though I truly had no way of knowing.

"You're a Rogue. I can't trust you." I muttered, and he smiled coldly.

I stared at him, and he looked back at me, the same uncaring look in his eyes as I had in mine.

"Elisabeth, please." The redhead bit out.

Something cold was rising up inside of me, something uncomfortable.

"...Come on." I whispered and took off without waiting to see their expressions.

I was running directly into death's arms - and why?

Because the thought of Maria breaking this particular human was horrifying. Because a large part of me would rather go against everything she's taught me than for her to destroy another girl.

I wasn't completely unaware of what Maria had done to me. I was broken. She had shattered the human I used to be and continued to break me as a vampire. It turned out that repeated trauma could still affect a vampire.

I led them south, across the Mexican border. The closer I got to the dark room, the colder I felt.

"Don't talk to the prisoners. Don't even look at them." I murmured, crossing into Maria's territory.

None of them responded, but they didn't have to. I could feel the red-eyes and the soldier and his mate watching me.

The redhead stormed on ahead when the human's screams reached our ears. Almost immediately, four prisoners were surrounding him, their hands gripping his writhing arms tightly.

"Intruders." They whispered breathily, their cloudy eyes staring intently at him.

The redhead, thankfully, remained still, his eyes fixed on the large building.

"New recruits." I corrected sharply, and the prisoners turned towards me.

"Elisabeth... you've returned to us." They breathed, releasing the redhead to come to me.

"Where is the human our Mistress has found?" I snapped at them, and they swayed lightly on their feet, creepy smiles forming on their faces.

"You should remember your old cell, Elisabeth... you were so young then, so fragile." They replied and moved away from us.

A foreboding chill ran down my spine. The redhead's human mate screamed again, and he ran towards the building.

"Edward, no! It's a trap-" the words had barely left the small girl's mouth before the building exploded.

The redhead flew backwards, caught by his leaders. Something cold surrounded us, blocking the rush of flames that consumed every prisoner in sight before it died out.

"Bella!" The redhead cried, falling to his knees.

I felt a tug at the edges of my mind, and I automatically looked up.

"She's still alive...?" The redhead demanded.

I didn't bother responding, taking off after the call. Whether they followed me or not wasn't my concern.

Maria led me a few miles east, into a very dense forest. There was one building for miles, and that is where I went.

It was barely a house, more like a rundown shack, and Maria stood in the main room, the human girl lying at her feet, barely conscious.

"My lovely pet..." Maria crooned as I entered the house, and I went to her, kneeling in front of her next to the human.

"Mistress..." I breathed.

She ran her fingers through my hair.

"Did you take care of the rebels?" She asked.

I leaned into her touch, closing my eyes.

"Yes, Mistress."

She chuckled lowly.

"Such a good pet. Now, take the girl down to the basement while I prepare." She ordered, pulling away and rising to her feet.

I waited until she'd gone upstairs before I picked up the human and, without hesitation, ran from the house. The blue-lights watched me as I handed the human off to her mate.

"Elisabeth!" Maria's voice pierced through the silence, and I froze up.

"No." The small girl whispered, and it was the only warning I got before I heard an audible snap.

The blank spots in my memory was suddenly filled in, the screams of the past echoing through my mind, the blood-stained images making me feel colder the longer I watched them.

I was nine when Maria first met me, ten when Major raped me at her command. Eight long years of torment before Major changed me, and then it was decades full of pain and anguish as she broke what little willpower I had left.

I had run countless times. I had tried to kill her even. I had screamed that she never was going to break me. She'd just smiled.

Bella stirred in Edward's arms.

Peter was right. The memories were gruesome.

"Don't you see, my pet? Even the 'good' vampires are only pretending." She laughed mockingly.

Alice whispered my name, sorrow in her voice, but I didn't look at her.

"Go on, then. Do what I created you to do!" Maria commanded.

Even after she'd stolen my memories, I had still been fighting her.

I remembered the week I spent with the Cullens. At first, Major had had to stop me from going to her, but towards the end... I had stopped myself. And even now, with her control swirling through my mind, I found myself resisting.

Maria had never broken me entirely. It was always my choice to bow to her. A lesser man would've relinquished responsibility, claiming that she'd made him do all that evil shit. Did that make me as evil as Maria, if I claimed I was acting of my own free will?

"You want me to kill them." I spoke dully.

Though I could feel the fiery anger rising up inside of me, I wasn't able to express it properly as I turned to stare at her.

The woman who had taken a child and turned her into a weapon. Maria smiled at me like she'd already won.

In the end, I wasn't the one who killed her.

The boy I had sired lunged from Peter's side, his shields wrapping around Maria and holding her still as he ripped her head from her shoulders. He set her ablaze in the next moment, dropping her burning head on top of her body.

The shift from being under her command to normality was sudden and utterly disorientating. The boy turned and gave me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I just couldn't listen to her drivel anymore." He apologized, like he hadn't just killed my biggest enemy.

"Damn lad, you just gained my respect!" Peter exclaimed, and the boy smiled.

"How is she?" Esme asked Edward.

The rest of the Cullens rushed forward, surrounding the two of them. I backed away from them, but they didn't seem to notice. Peter, his mate, and the boy watched me as I stopped at the tree line.

Major looked up, his eyes meeting mine. The memory of us, of him, Alice, and me, was tainted by the memories of what he did to me when I was a child. I looked away from him, looking at the boy. I inclined my head towards the forest, and his face lit up.

A rush of relief moved through me. A part of me had feared that he'd rather stay with the others. His hand wrapped around mine, his grip comforting.

We left without a glance in the others' direction.

Right before we passed outside of hearing range, I heard Bella whisper, "Elisabeth?"