* Content Warning: Strong Sexual Situations with some Explicit details. Discussions of Suicide, Murder, Abuse and descriptions of Neglect and Poor Living Conditions. *
Chapter Ten: Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole
La Push - February 7th
Eliza clutched Leah's hand tightly, staring down at the gravestones of half a dozen names that were painfully familiar. Susan Clearwater, Harry Clearwater, William Black, Abigail Black… Seth Clearwater, Jacob Black and Leah Clearwater. It was a strange thing to look down at the name of her lover in stark bold lines carved in granite, giving her a twinge of grief regardless of the hand resting in hers.
"We had to fake our deaths, technically I'm my great grand-daughter. The community knows, but they don't really acknowledge it openly. Mind if I talk to my parents?" Leah felt a bit awkward doing her usual conversation in front of Eliza.
"Mind, I would be upset if you didn't." Eliza nudged Leah forward with a playful grin. Leah gave her a grateful look and then knelt down in front of her parent's grave.
"Hey mom, hey dad. I know it's been awhile, but I have some news. I finally met her, yes I know neither of you will be surprised that I fell for a woman. Her name is Eliza, short for Elizabeth Renee Swan. Yes, I'm involved with the Swan family, can you believe it? Charlie is alive, and he promised to come visit all of you soon. Isabella not only survived, but she has a daughter. Actually two of them. Brianna just joined the family, and she's lovely. Michelle imprinted on her, I know Billy that has to be a surprise. Your granddaughter is in love with a Swan girl, it's just unprecedented." Leah chuckled slightly at her own sarcasm, before it turned quickly into soft sobs.
"Eliza is wonderful. Her past sucks beyond the telling of it, but somehow she's just beautiful in every way. She makes me laugh, lets me be a geek again, like I was with you dad. I know you would love her as much as I do. There is one thing, she's a vampire. I know, I still don't understand how it works. But I don't care, because I'm so happy. I spent so long alone, I never thought this would happen. I… I wanted to introduce you to her. She's just behind me." Leah looked back to find Eliza wiping away tears, she sniffled and smiled and stepped forward to kneel next to Leah.
"Mom, dad, Billy, Abby this is Eliza, the love of my life." Leah's voice was shaking with nerves and joy, but also a real sense of sadness remembering how important these people were to her.
"Hello all of you. I have these strong memories from mom. It's a thing, don't ask. But I can see all of your faces, except for you Abigail. No matter, it's a strange thing to sit here so many years later. It feels like we were robbed of decades of happiness, but I'm here now. I promise to never hurt Leah, and I will always strive to protect Michelle. They are family, and so are all of you. Billy, I wanted to thank you for helping look after my mom. The gesture meant so much to us over the years. Jacob and the pack did their best, so there are no grudges, no hurt feelings. I also wanted to say that Leah makes me feel normal and loved. She cares about the things I care about without pretense, and I'm… wow this is hard." Eliza stopped and looked over into Leah's eyes. "I am powerfully and completely in love with her. With you. I know it's fast, but I've never been so sure of something in my life." She turned back towards the stone, "she's also one of the most competent and courageous women I've ever met, and I know she will be an amazing pack leader should Jacob ever retire. You would all be so proud of her."
Eliza turned towards Leah who was trying to stay quiet while tears were streaming down her face, a look of awe and love in her eyes. Leah stared into Eliza's eyes for several long seconds trying to process what she just heard. She wasn't just stunned, she was starting to lose control of her entire sense of self. The person who meant everything to her, had just told her the thing she most desired above all. It wasn't just euphoric to hear, it was foundational. Her world split apart, the sky seemed to be shining brighter suddenly, and everything she knew focused on those beautiful purple eyes. She leaned forward and they kissed deeply and passionately, until they heard other people approaching the main gate. They stood then, and both waved at the stones before heading towards Leah's house.
"Are you sure you want to stay here? That house in Forks is amazing." Leah asked, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the much smaller property that she had been proud of before spending time at the Waterfall house, the Cullen residence and the new Swan house which were all massive.
"Mom and I have some money. We were set up with fairly large trusts, which we were able to separate out from Volturi control and manage in private over the years. However, we're nowhere near as wealthy as the Cullens or apparently Charlie and Angela. Personally, while I loved the Waterfall house, it hadn't really felt like home yet. The Swan house is fine, but it is a bit cramped, and I also don't feel quite right about living with the Cullens yet. Alice being the exception, since I am already starting to feel like she is the second mother I always should have had." Eliza sighed softly thinking about everything Alice had done already, and it gave her a lift to know that her mother finally had someone else in her life.
"That's wonderful, honestly from what I've seen she's earned it, she has done nothing but love and protect this family." Leah said with a happy smile, settling in next to Eliza on the couch.
"I love that you are thinking of yourself as family now, because you are. I don't know if we're soul bonded or whatever mystical nonsense might be working behind the scenes. All I know is that when I look at you, I feel like I'm home. The place doesn't matter, you do." Eliza leaned over to kiss Leah again, keeping it short and sweet this time. "Although to be clear, I love this house."
"That means a lot, and I love you too." Leah's expression was somewhat lost, not sure what to do next. Eliza just grinned and held out her arms and Leah fell into them immediately. Eliza leaned down to kiss her, and then nuzzled closer pressing her cheek against Leah's.
Leah reached up and began to take off Eliza's shirt, not caring about anything else but feeling her skin and seeing more of her body. Eliza chuckled and gently placed her hands on Leah's and shook her head while sitting back and delicately, slowly unbuttoning her blouse, and seductively taking it off trying her best at looking sultry. Leah watched with rapt attention as Eliza threw the shirt behind her, and then reached back to unhook her flimsy bra. With one arm Eliza removed it and threw it over a nearby lamp for the fun of it, keeping her modest breasts covered with one arm.
"Do you want to see them?" Eliza asked with a breathy voice, her own excitement almost impossible to conceal.
"Yes." Leah couldn't really think, and it took more focus than she had at the moment to find that simple word. Her breath caught in her throat as Eliza slowly lowered her arm, exposing her nipples little by little. Darkly colored and perfectly round, Leah couldn't stop herself from leaning up and taking one into her mouth. Eliza moaned and almost laughed joyfully at Leah's obvious need, and gently wrapped her arms around Leah's back, cradling her close.
Leah then slid her hands up into Eliza's hair, pulling her down for another hungry kiss. She felt Eliza respond, relinquishing control letting her lead. Leah slowly shifted to press her thigh up between Eliza's legs and in turn Eliza responded by grinding herself against Leah's thigh with a soft groan of pleasure.
Leah met Eliza's eyes, the intensity in Leah's expression seemed to grow deeper as a feral grin crossed her face, before she curled her features into a playful mask, hiding the part of her that was raw nerves and tentative fear. She felt giddy at diving into things so completely. The other more primal part of her wanted to howl with triumph. Her heart was beating so quickly, that she couldn't count the beats anymore even if she tried.
Then she thought of the one word, the perfect summation of love that would make sense to Eliza. She wanted to groan at the slightly absurd nature of it, but it was exactly what she felt no matter where it came from. She hadn't seen all of the shows, but her father and Seth were deeply into Star Trek. What she had seen stuck with her, and was kind of looking forward to when Eliza suggested binging through it.
"Imzadi." Leah murmured quietly as she nudged her nose lightly against Eliza's. She knew that Eliza would get the reference, but she was more than a little embarrassed at what she was sure would be perceived as an awkward and clumsy attempt to play to Eliza's interests.
However Eliza didn't seem to read the awkwardness at all. She was stunned, her mouth open in shock, and her mind racing from the beautiful sentiment behind the word. She was deeply touched, and she tried to move her mouth several times in an attempt to come up with a way of responding to Leah's wonderful gesture, but she had trouble forming the words to express how much it meant.
Eliza threw herself forward, her lips connecting hungrily with Leah's again as she pressed in against her with almost too much force. Leah grunted a little, but wasn't about to complain and started to laugh but it was quickly stifled by Eliza's heavy kiss. Their hands began to wonder over each other's bodies. Desire quickly morphed into lust, which devolved into something so animalistic, that without thought, the rest of their clothes were soon being torn from each other's bodies.
Leah had the presence of mind to drag them both out of the living room and up the stairs into her room. Eliza on the other hand didn't seem to care if the whole world watched. She hadn't even really noticed that Leah was moving them into another room. All that mattered was this woman that had become one of the most important people in the world to her.
Leah shifted her weight once they hit the bed, and spun them around so Eliza was beneath her. Continuing to take charge, Leah spent her time kissing down Eliza's jaw line, along her slender graceful neck, to the depression above her collar bone. Eliza had never felt anything like that before, the heat from Leah's tongue on Eliza's cool skin, playing with her sense of touch sending waves of unexpected tingling pleasure down her spine all the way to her toes.
Leah didn't stop, she started to move down her body. Stopping to lavish attention to her nipples, which gave Eliza the chance to run her fingers through Leah's dark hair. Eliza's soft sighs of pleasure turned into low purrs of bliss as she shifted beneath Leah's tongue. Leah responded to Eliza's purring with a soft possessive growl of her own, the animalist nature of it only heightened the mood. Her lips trailed down Eliza's rib cage across and over the sensitive skin of her toned stomach, and then along the juts of hip bone just below her waist. Her tongue traced along the ridges of her abdominal muscles. Each touch focused on driving Eliza just a little more crazy.
Leah felt Eliza tense and took a deep breath in anticipation as her lips trailed lower before she shifted and skipped the juncture between her thighs, and instead nuzzled and kissed down to her thighs. She couldn't resist another smile of triumph when she heard Eliza whimper in protest at being teased, even though Eliza made no move to stop her. Instead Leah took her time and worked her way slowly all the way down Eliza's legs.
Then with a grin, Leah worked her way back up Eliza's legs, tongue exploring and caressing every inch of Eliza's skin as she moved her way back up her body. This time however she didn't shy away from Eliza's most intimate spot, her tongue instead lingering there, exploring every bit of her. Leah shuddered involuntarily as Eliza bucked, writhed, moaned, and shivered, while she tried everything she could think of to push her pleasure even higher.
Eliza's climax made her scream, hard and long and loud enough to push against the glass of the room she'd barely been aware of, threatening to shatter it. Eliza shuddered and spasmed for nearly a minute after she came drifting back down from her orgasmic high. Then she lay still, since she couldn't quite seem to make her limbs work for a while after that. Leah slid up into her arms, a wide grin splitting her face as she started to kiss her again. Eliza purred and responded to the kiss, tasting herself on Leah's lips and not minding in the slightest.
Eliza wasted almost no time in responding, flipping them back over and exploring Leah in a similarly slow and teasing fashion. Taking her time to coax little moans of pleasure from her partner, and pushing Leah to the brink again and again without letting her climax. It was almost a game, and she enjoyed watching Leah lose herself in the sensations. When she did finally let her go, Leah's body almost began to shift but forced the change to stop. Her orgasms lasted for several minutes as Eliza worked to keep her going. After Leah came down completely, Eliza crawled up her lover's body and laid down next to her, keeping their sides touching.
"So that's what sex is supposed to be" Eliza said after a few minutes of blissful silence.
"It has never been like that before. That was absolutely amazing." Leah said breathlessly, circling her head and cracking her neck with her eyes closed.
"I don't have a huge amount of experience to compare it to, but yeah that is something I want to do, like multiple times a day." Eliza giggled at the thought, to get to have something so wonderful more than once made her mind race and her body tingle.
"Me too." Leah said, looking over and giving her another quick heavy wet kiss.
As Leah pulled away Eliza's eyes went wide. "Oh shit, mom just made a choice. I'm gonna be out for a while…" Then her eyes shut and her body went limp. Leah looked confused until she realized she had seen that expression on her face before.
"Alice." Leah whispered, and then just pulled Eliza close and held her while her lover went through another major change in her life.
Biloxi, Mississippi - 1920
The house was different since she moved in, cold and empty, and recently decorated sparsely with beautiful ornate furniture. A steadfast rule was the new items were to remain untouched by children's hands. Mary Alice Brandon didn't care about the rules, she sat where she wanted. Her little sister Cynthia was far too afraid of the beating she would get to follow her sister's lead.
This day however, Mary had to follow the rules. She was standing awkwardly in the large foyer with her sole bag packed hastily with clothes. Her father was standing near the door, his arms folded across his chest and his expression was anything but friendly. Mary was trying not to fidget under his glare, afraid of making any move in fear that he would turn his malicious attention towards Cynthia too.
"I don't want you to go." Cynthia almost whined out her protest, clinging to Mary as their father began tapping his foot with notable impatience.
"I'll see you soon, I can have visitors." Mary tried to calm her down, hugging her tightly.
"Mary, do not tell her lies." Her father said with a touch of a sneer. "Now if you are done with the maudlin display, it is time for us to go. Say goodbye Cynthia."
"I love you Alice." Cynthia hugged her big sister just a bit tighter, before pulling away reluctantly and bringing her arms in front of her clutching her hands together tightly.
"I love you too Cyn." Mary lowered her eyes and followed her father out to the car, sitting down in the back seat and trying not to think about what was going to happen. She was partially convinced he was going to kill her on the trip, dumping her body somewhere in the middle of the Mississippi wilderness somewhere between Biloxi and Hattiesburg.
"If they ever decide to let you out, you will not be coming home. Is that understood?" He said looking at her in the rear view mirror.
"Why would I want to come back, except for Cynthia?" Mary said with as much defiance as she could, but couldn't quite meet his eyes.
"You'll never see your sister again. I promise, if you keep making accusations against my wife I will kill you." Mary felt a flash of anger, and raised her eyes to glare into his. They stared at each other for several protracted seconds, before she reluctantly nodded and looked out the window. She wasn't about to cause a fuss until she was safely out of this car. Her last vision was of her father and stepmother planning to kill her in her sleep. It was vivid enough that she tried and failed to find help. All it ended up doing was giving her father the right ammunition he needed to have her committed. This trip was because the asylum was two counties away and they wouldn't come to pick her up.
"I had a sister." Alice whispered, as the vision of her past faded away. "My name was Mary." Alice was in awe as the memories of her human life began to flood into her mind.
"Your father seems like a peach." Eliza's voice broke the vision completely, and Alice found herself and the rest of their little family standing in the middle of the great front lawn of the Waterfall House.
"He was a monster." Alice said with a small sneer.
"Where were you from? I didn't recognize the town." Isabella asked, drawing Alice out of her anger, her own mind adjusting to this new version of their peculiar transition.
"No, you wouldn't, my love. Biloxi, that long ago was very different." Alice said with a big smile, now fully versed in her first life.
"Biloxi, so you remember?" Isabella asked, her eyes wide with excitement. It has always been a sad topic, Alice and her missing past. Having woken up as a vampire with no human memories and no past. She had always wondered how Alice sorted out who she was without her humanity to cling to, and it was always awe inspiring that she chose the moral path in direct conflict with her instincts.
"Yes. He dropped me off at some backwater institution under an assumed name, Alice. My middle name for sure, but the bastard used my mother's maiden name, Clearfield. Because there were no records for Alice Clearfield existing before I was committed, I had no legal rights as far as the Asylum was concerned." Alice sneered at the memory of her father's actions. She was immediately worried about Cynthia, although she had to hold onto the faint hope that her baby sister lived a good life.
"So your father was as bad as mine?" Brianna said, sending the impression of a tight side hug as the representation of her body mimicked her thoughts.
"Yes, he killed my mother. Just like… oh god Brianna. I can see your life now. All of your lives." Alice pulled the representation of Brianna into an even tighter hug as Brianna buried her head in Alice's shoulder, closing her phantom eyes and choking back tears.
"You'll have time to explore those memories, but now I think we need to find out what happened to you." Isabella suggested, and Alice pulling away from Brianna nodded with a sad smile.
"Was your transition sharing like this before, were you able to control what you could see?" Alice asked, and all three of them shook their heads almost in unison.
"No, it was a download of random experiences, the strongest memories floating to the surface. I imagine your gift has something to do with this." Eliza suggested, her eyes roaming around the walls forming around them, the Pearl River Asylum taking shape.
"So my father dropped me off like I said. The first thing they did was shave my head and delouse me. I had no lice, but typhus was common then in institutions because it was difficult to maintain hygiene with people who regularly refused to bathe." As Alice explained the scene shifted to the medical ward where Mary was sat down, clippers were savagely used to remove her long dark locks and then she was forced to strip and stand against a wall where white powder was thrown on her back and front. Isabella never stopped watching, but both Eliza and Brianna averted their eyes to give Alice some semblance of modesty.
"I'm sorry." Brianna said as the scene shifted again to Mary in a small room, sitting on a cot in an old tattered white smock that was starting to yellow. Her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her shins. Her eyes were staring off into nothing, stained with dried tears. Her hair had grown out a bit, but was still short highlighting how young she looked.
"That wasn't the worst of it. I had two sessions with the resident psychiatrist, a sadistic misogynist who hated his patients and had no tolerance for what he considered lies. However, he was kind at first, asking me gently about my family and then when I trusted him, I told him about my step mother and father and how they were planning to murder me. He immediately diagnosed me as a paranoid schizophrenic and prescribed shock therapy and if that didn't work a frontal leucotomy." Then there were a series of memories of Mary sitting in an oversized leather chair in the same position she was on the cot, talking to a man who appeared friendly despite his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
"What's that?" Brianna asked, not understanding what Alice had described.
"A Lobotomy. That's fucked." Eliza said with disgust.
"It never got that far, but I did get shock treatment. Of course I didn't have schizophrenia, I was just having a manifestation of my gift. So it did some not great things to me, including complete memory loss." Alice explained as they witnessed several sessions of her on a table getting the shock treatments. After the first she was nearly catatonic for a day, the second she seemed to be even more zombie-like. Then with the final session Mary seemed to change completely. She no longer seemed aware of her surroundings, but was suddenly bright and cheerful all the time. While the burdens of her life were erased, it was heartbreaking to see. Isabella was very quiet, her face hard and her teeth gritted.
"I never really understood how limited your memories were." When Isabella finally spoke, she managed to modulate her tone so that it was very soft. No matter how much fury she was feeling, she couldn't let herself give into that anger. Not when her partner was reliving such trauma.
"Actually, now that I have my human memories back, I remember something else. I thought Jasper was the love of my life, but when I found him things were never quite right between us. I loved him, and he loved me but we were not a great match. I think I was there to help him become who he is now." Alice started to explain something that had occurred to her, but Brianna immediately began to shake her head.
"Yeah, about that." Brianna interrupted, drawing everyone to look at her. "Jasper admitted to a few things that have caused a separation between him and Adara."
"What could he have said to have caused that kind of rift?" Alice lightly shook her head in disbelief, her phantom brow furrowing.
"He slept with one of his indentured servants and former slaves and he knew about Edward being twisted and manipulative. Maybe the worst thing was that he chose Adara because she looks like his mother." Brianna tried to not sound quite as damning because Alice had been close to him once, and she could feel those memories of love and friendship between them curling with the collection of family memories in the back of her mind. However, she couldn't sugar coat his admissions.
"Damn it Jasper." Alice swore in frustration.
"What's going on?" Brianna asked, feeling confused.
"He's being an idiot, again, sacrificing his own future and happiness for some reason." Alice closed her eyes and let out an exaggerated blast of an angry sigh.
"I don't understand." Brianna looked to Alice with a look of her own frustration. She was starting to get fed up with always being in a state of feeling uninformed or left out of things. Although she did like that she was always clued in when she asked.
Alice took a deep breath trying to figure out how to explain that these were all things he had discussed with her at length in the past, "Jasper is always down about his past. He told me about Patty years and years ago. Despite it being a relatively straightforward situation, he always felt a bit guilty about it. To set the record straight, they basically grew up together. Although she was about five years older than him, she wasn't his nanny, in a lot of ways she was his only real friend and confidant. When he came of age and was about to go off to war they had a night of talking and drinking that led to a very mutual one night stand. They parted as friends, and he missed her after he was turned but never wanted this life for her. As for Edward, I know Jasper tried to help him all the time using his empathy. We both knew he wasn't entirely stable, but we didn't know to what extent. Lastly, his mother. Sure, Adara might look like her, which probably drew his attention at first as a curiosity. But I know for a fact he loves her for her, not some ancient forbidden lust for his mother."
"Then why would he paint himself as a villain?" Eliza asked with a raised eyebrow, looking between Brianna and Alice.
"I'm not sure, wait, Carlisle. Shit, it has to be Carlisle. He must've felt something from Carlisle and needed to go to him, possibly long term and didn't want to drag Adara along with him which would separate her from all of us. So he must've fudged the truth of his past to force a separation. It's the only explanation." Alice's explanation made sense, but it still didn't sit right.
"Still kind of fucked up." Brianna said with a big frown.
"That's Jasper, he will do anything to protect those he loves, including making himself look like a villain. He did it for Maria, would he do any less for us?" Alice said easily, although she was now pissed off at him, since he could've easily told the truth instead.
Isabella nodded, "No, you're right. Okay, but why did you bring up Jasper in the first place?"
Alice looked at her and a warm smile shifted her expression into one of longing, "I had other visions when I was human, which manifested as dreams most of the time. For me, the most frequent and powerful dream was of a woman with brown hair and brown eyes or bright red eyes. I knew she was the love of my life, even when I had no idea that love between two women was possible. Somehow that vision vanished when I was turned, only to emerge with force when I first laid eyes on you Isabella. It was always you."
Isabella stared at Alice, knowing now how completely true it was as Alice's memories filtered in, along with nearly a century of guilt and longing. For Alice, Isabella's image had haunted her from her earliest childhood daydreams. A child talking to a vision as though it was there. Isabella was about to reply when Eliza interrupted.
"Awww, that's amazing." Eliza said with a big smile. "Now can we end this so I can go back to spending time with my girlfriend, who must be freaking the fuck out right now?"
"I don't think I can control that." Alice said, staring at a frozen version of her former self.
"Then let's get this vision moving again at least." Eliza said with a scrunched nose and small frown.
The room melted around them, into an inky black void which quickly gave way to familiar looking walls. Suddenly they were back in the Brandon house, up in a room clearly set up for a small child. On the floor playing was a tiny girl playing with a cloth doll. She was all brightness and smiles, and as soon as the room came into focus the girl turned her head to look at Isabella.
"I think she needs a bath." Mary said, holding up her newer doll. She had noticed that the cloth had been smudged up after she spent time playing in front of the fireplace. "I promise big Miss will get one too."
Isabella stared down at the girl in confusion, as the girl smiled brightly up at her, "will you help me? I can't run the bath by myself." Mary clumsily stood, and walked over towards her toy chest and pulled out another doll, then holding both tightly against her chest looked to Isabella expectantly.
Isabella looked up at Alice in confusion, but remained silent. Mary sighed, "I wish you would talk to me."
"Mary Alice, who are you talking to this time?" A woman with a lovely face and bright intelligent eyes charged into the room, picking up her four year old daughter and forcing her to drop her dolls.
"She didn't say, I don't even know her name." Mary hugged her mom tightly, but kept her eyes on Isabella who furrowed her brow in confusion as she absorbed that the girl was really looking at her.
"Isabella. My name is Isabella." The words seemed to form inside little Mary's head, but it didn't matter. She had a name and that was all she wanted.
"What just happened?" Isabella looked over at Alice needing an answer.
"It's hard to explain, I distinctly remember seeing you like you are now as a child. Maybe we just intersected with my past somehow, which kind of blows my mind a bit." Alice smiled with disbelief and bewilderment, awed by the sheer power of her gift.
"That's a mind trip. I thought your visions were subjective." Isabella asked with a curious expression.
Alice thought about it for what felt like a long time, but it was a fleeting second to her companions, "I don't think they are anymore. This memory was forgotten, and what followed were the dreams. So my visions feel almost circular now."
"When was this?" Eliza asked while surveying the room trying to place the objects in the room to a time period.
"1905 give or take." Alice said with a shrug, she was far too young at the time to actually know the year. Then the scene shifted to a beautiful summer afternoon. Mary was older, about nine or ten and she was walking along with her mother who was pushing a stroller.
"If I were human, I might be getting nauseous with all these shifts in reality." Eliza snipped, glancing at her mother who just gave her a slight shake of her head.
"Sorry." Alice gave her a sympathetic smile. "I think I remember this day. Dad was out a lot on business, and mom liked to take long walks with us. I loved it because I could see new things and meet new people. As you can imagine I was precocious, but this day started to change that."
"What happened?" Isabella asked, trying to help coax the past from her lover.
"We're about to see." Alice motioned towards her former self who was holding her mother's hand with joy and excitement written on her face. Mary smiled brightly at a couple who she had seen on numerous occasions on other walks with her mother. They had always given her a happy response back. But this time they averted their eyes, and the woman whispered loudly 'Witch'.
Once they were out of earshot Mary looked up at her mother, "mama what is a witch?"
"Witches are not real my darling, it is just a word used by the ignorant. Those two are just listening to gossip." Mary's mother glared openly at the couple who quickly turned away realizing they had been heard.
"Gossip?" Mary asked, unable to conceal her sadness and not understanding why they had suddenly become so mean.
Her mother sighed with tired exasperation, "gossip are tales told by strangers who only know partial truths."
"I don't like gossip." Mary declared, the spring in her step had faded and her hand dropped from her mother's grasp.
Mary kept walking, but stopped after a few steps because her mother had paused. She held out her hand again, which Mary took immediately, and smiled at her daughter with pure and unfiltered love in her eyes, "that is because you are a good girl, always remember that my love. Never let others dictate your happiness."
Brianna made a happy noise which paused the memory, "your mom seems wonderful."
"She was my world." Alice confirmed, her eyes tracing her mother's face again and again to burn the image into her memory.
"What happened next?" Eliza asked, in an attempt to keep things moving.
"A few years after this, things got worse. My visions were always a problem, I would openly tell people if I saw danger coming. Sometimes it didn't happen, of course we know why now. Then it just made me unreliable, a liar and someone to be feared. Predictably things came to a head in the most painful way possible… shit. Here we go." Alice flinched, the memory of the next major event still fresh in her mind as the world shifted again back to Mary's room. The furniture was different, the arrangement of the pieces moved around and the smaller accents showed someone had lived in the space for years. This was no longer a baby's room, but a teenager's room.
"Arnold, watch your feet." Mary said randomly, breaking the silence of the room. Mary was reading, her best friend and cousin Donna was nearby wrapped up in her own book, Arnold who was Donna's little brother was staring out the window deeply bored. He looked down at his shoes and then over at Mary.
"My feet? Is this one of your dreams again?" Arnold looked down and scrunched his nose at a small piece of caked dirt on his shoe, picking it off and letting it drop to the floor.
"I see you at the bottom of a flight of stairs, your eyes fixed. Please be careful." Mary had taken to being blunt, her vague warnings had fallen on deaf ears far too many times. Arnold just began to shake his head, suddenly terrified but masking it with a flare of indigent anger.
"I'm done, I'm going home. Are you coming Donna?" Arnold got up in a huff, and stormed out of the room, throwing a strained look at Mary and then a pleading one towards his sister.
"I'll see you later Mary." Donna closed the book and set it down with a small frown. Her family wasn't quite wealthy enough to afford books. Not twenty seconds later there was a loud clatter and a terrified scream from the hallway.
"Arnie!" Donna shouted in horror and Mary shut her eyes and just started to cry. Eliza ran out to the hall and came back a few seconds later shaking her head.
"Poor kid." Eliza's face said more than her words, the image of his neck twisted and his arms broken now seared into her memories, and then shared with Alice who had never actually seen his body.
"The police came, and so did Arnold's mother and father. Donna wouldn't look at me, and she ran to them and told them what happened. I was holding onto my mother, when their father came right over to us with fury on his face. He had been a supportive and kind Uncle up until that point. He even entertained my gifts as truth, but this was something else. He was devastated and in retrospect no longer capable of fully rational thought." Alice sounded upset and Isabella moved over and reached out towards her. Alice immediately took her hand, interlacing their fingers and she felt a wave of relief and calm at the touch.
The memory of Alice's Uncle stormed forward with rage in his eyes shouting at he mother with a finger pointed and jabbing towards Mary, "your daughter did this, she spooked him with her changeling ways and now my son is dead!"
"I just wanted to warn him, I didn't want him to die." Mary pleaded, hoping that he would understand. His hand flew at her cheek, slapping her so hard she fell to the ground.
His eyes wide and wild, "we never want to see her again, is that understood? She will not be welcome to the.. the funeral or any holiday dinners!"
"Brother, this is not Mary's fault." Mary's mother tried, but he just shook his head and left without another word. His shoulders shaking from grief and anger.
"She always defended me, even when the town basically shunned me. She never showed it, but it did bother her. Years of verbal abuse from friends, relatives and strangers wore on her until… oh no not this." Alice's voice broke, her face contorting into absolute sorrow.
"Mama what is it?" Brianna asked, moving over again to try and comfort Alice. The words broke Alice further as she held out her hand for Brianna, who took it, and then she pulled the girl against her chest and kissed the top of her head a few times. Her emotions teetered on the breaking point.
The vision shifted again, the house was the same but the furniture was rearranged and the two girls that were coming down the stairs were notably older. Mary was nineteen and little Cynthia was around ten or eleven. They seemed close, and the way Cynthia looked up at her sister it was clear she idolized her. Mary suddenly stumbled forward at the bottom of the stairs having to use the railing to catch herself and sit down on the steps. Her eyes lost focus and then her brow rose up sharply and her mouth formed into a grimace of pain and horror.
"Mama! No!" Mary screamed out loud, her voice echoing through the empty house. Cynthia, having no idea what was going on wrapped her arms around her sister attempting to comfort her.
"What was the vision?" Isabella whispered the question into Alice's ear.
"I saw my mom getting murdered. So I warned her." The vision moved forward as Mary broke the news to her mother who looked shocked but took it in stride and managed to console her daughter. "The vision kept shifting, the timeframe altering every time I warned her. Until one day she just couldn't handle it and she went out anyway. She never came home."
"I'm so sorry Alice." Eliza said, holding herself and shaking from the emotional weight of all of it. Her entire family was steeped in trauma. Isabella and Alice both reached out to her and she quickly joined the family as they held one another for a while. Then when they parted, they remained close, keeping hands on shoulders and waists for comfort.
"I was devastated, then dad went back on a business trip the day after her funeral. He was gone for most of the following six months, leaving me to tend the household. Then, in the spring he returned, with our new step-mother. She was immediately cold and distant with me, even though I tried to accept her with as much grace as I could." Alice explained as the events unfolded in front of them. Mary was alone and trying to keep the household as best she could. Then the glare of the woman who became her step-mother.
"Okay, what are we seeing?" Eliza asked as a new figure entered the home.
"He was my new step-mother's brother. As soon as I saw his face I knew a horrible truth, he was the one that killed my mother. I didn't have a lot of wherewithal back then, so I immediately accused him of the crime. This incensed my father and step-mother but they did ask him to leave, begging his forgiveness for my outburst. I was obviously inconsolable, putting together that she had probably conspired with her brother to kill my mother. I had no idea what design she had, but I just knew she was involved. Meanwhile she lavished attention and praise on Cynthia who took a liking to her. It made me ill to see them so close, but I couldn't tell my sister the truth. It was too much for me, let alone an eleven year old girl." Alice explained, shaking her head at younger self and the naivety she displayed.
"So what did you do?" Isabella asked, squeezing Alice slightly to convey support.
"Nothing, what could I do? Until I had my next vision." Alice gave a helpless shrug, the events of her life were tragic and she finally understood why she could never remember, she suppressed the memories. The physical damage from the shock treatment would've healed when she became a vampire. So it had to be a psychological issue, maybe a subconscious choice to forget.
"I'm not sure I want to know what the next vision is at this point, this just keeps getting worse, and we saw where you end up." Eliza was obviously affected by everything. Brianna switched to her sister and held onto her tightly, Eliza reacted warmly to the embrace and hugged her tightly back.
"I learned from that vision that my father was directly involved in my mother's death, and they were planning on killing me next. I ran, first to my uncle who just slammed the door in my face. Having never forgiven me for the death of his son. Then the cops, well the local Marshall, who just took me into a room and nodded politely as I tried to explain. Except he was lying, and my father came in a few minutes later. He had already gone to them and explained that I had a mental break. He took me home, then very shortly afterward we left for the asylum." Alice felt numb as she spoke, the only spark of joy was the close contact from her new family.
"It wasn't completely awful there, despite the doctor being a two-faced monster. Especially after I lost my memories I just thought of it as home. Despite feeling like something was wrong, I was bright and happy most days. I even befriended a groundskeeper named Carl, who was such a kind soul. I didn't know this at the time, but he was a vampire like Carlisle who had found his conscience and refused to feed from humans. Things were almost nice for a while, until I had my final vision. I'm not sure how he found my scent, but a tracker vampire who I now know was James, immediately began a hunt for me. Carl and I only had a few hours to figure out a solution. We thought about running, or maybe laying some kind of trap. But soon we realized the only way to protect me was to turn me."
"I'm so glad I remember him now. Carl, my friend, my savior. If he hadn't acted…" Alice smiled at the image of Carl who was sitting next to her old self.
Carl smiled with a sadness that could be felt across time, "I wish I could see how you turn out, you're such a beautiful soul Alice, you make me want to be human again.' He looked down at his large hands as before continuing his thoughts, 'you know my hands used to be so scarred, back when I was human. My back was covered in lash marks too. In a strange way, I miss those scars. They were reminders of who I once was, of the life I lived, and things I experienced. I think it's sad that vampires heal from most wound's without even a hint of a scar. Does that mean we're truly alive, or do we merely exist? In a very real way, you gave me back that feeling, that I am truly alive again."
"You're talking like this is the end." Younger Alice said, shaking her head, not accepting the idea that this was the last time she would see her friend.
"It is my friend, you'll be strong when you wake and I'll be gone." Carl said, taking Alice's hand in his and bringing her wrist up to his mouth and biting down gently.
"Why?" Alice asked, before wincing at the pain now starting to seep up her arm.
"This man, he's a tracker. I am no match for him. But I'll do my best to protect you." Carl gave her a smile trying to placate her fears, knowing there was nothing she could do to change anything.
"No! Go, don't sacrifice yourself for me." She begged, hoping he would listen to her.
Carl sighed, "I'm gonna do my best to survive, I just mean I have no illusions that I'll win the day. But that's okay, it's been a long sixty years, I don't know if I have it in me to live another sixty. But I will miss our talks, have a good life Alice. Goodbye." He reached out and touched her cheek, and for the first time she realized his affection was more than just platonic. Then the venom overtook her senses and she fell into a deep unconsciousness.
"That was the last I saw him." Alice said, looking at him and memorizing his face. The face of a friend, the only one she had in the world at that point in time. "As I laid there in transition, I was vaguely aware of the fight. It was one-sided and my dear friend died protecting me. James realized it was too late, and instead of killing me decided it would be interesting to see what kind of immortal I would become. So he left me there. The orderlies found the groundskeeper's mangled and dismembered body, and I was in a 'coma', so they put me in the hospital ward. I woke up a few days later. I think I was furious with my circumstances, enough that it overrode my newborn thirst. With my newborn strength I broke free of my restraints and made my way to the psychiatrist's office and drained him in seconds. Then I ran."
"God, that's… I wish he had survived. But now at least you know, and when we get out of this we can look for records of you and your family." Isabella moved her arm up around Alice's shoulders and pulled her in closer. Alice shut her eyes and pressed her face to Isabella's chest. They lingered, hoping this was the end when suddenly everything changed. The world expanded out into an outdoor scene. The sky was heavily overcast, with a light flurry of snowflakes. Down a small hill into a wide empty expanse of white untouched snow was a mass of nearly a thousand vampires and wolves. The roar of their battle cries could be heard for miles, and all that stood between them and the annihilation of the small town of Forks were the force of Isabella and her coven, some of their friends from abroad and both packs of Quileute shifters.
"Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw." Eliza said upon seeing the battlefield laid out in front of them.
"Ewww, please tell me that's a quote or something." Brianna said with a cringe, despite her eyes dancing around the scene in front of them looking for some kind of answer to the apparently hopeless odds.
"Heathers, part of the Slater oeuvre." Eliza said easily, casting a small glance towards her sister before returning her attention to the battlefield.
"Still gross." Brianna said off hand, her attention now transfixed as the battle began.
The core family all took to the air, Brianna waving her arms and leveling dozens at a time. Isabella and Eliza teleporting like superheroes, taking out so many in seconds. But the numbers were not on their side. Then the first of the coven fell, Esme, who got caught between an enemy shifter and a newborn vampire and lost her head in a millisecond before anyone could help. Irina followed a few seconds later, along with Laurent who lost his mind watching his wife die. One by one they all fell, until it was just Isabella, Eliza, Alice, Brianna, Zoey and Angela standing back to back and killing as quickly as they could. Yet even their heroic efforts were in vain as they lost their positions one by one. Isabella was the last, her fury suddenly reaching a new level of destruction as she plowed through the enemy hordes, her mind clearly gone with grief. Wiping out the last of them without thought or reason, and then taking to the sky and flying in a random direction, a scream of pain pulsing through shadows.
"Please tell me this isn't going to happen. You said your visions are no longer subjective, so is this just inevitable?" Isabella's eyes were black again, her mind spinning after seeing her entire family slaughtered and her worst fear realized.
"No, this is just one of a thousand possibilities. I mean it is no longer subjective, because through my visions I can now see all variations, not just one path. I know this because my future self knows it. You'll get used to it." Alice gave her a small hopeful smile, knowing that despite her assurances this future was still a possibility.
"Makes total sense to me." Eliza said with a big toothy grin as the scene shifted to a completely different version of events. This time the family used a different strategy, but still failed completely. "Although I don't want to run through this, it'll give me nightmares."
"Me too." Brianna said distractedly, watching herself die again.
Alice looked at her family, and cleared her throat to gain their attention. "I know watching this is impossible, but we'll figure it out. It may sound off, but welcome to my world. I promise I will explore these scenarios and figure out what we need to do. But this journey through my past would've broken if you three hadn't been here. I hope all three of you know how much I love you."
As she spoke, the vision faded and the real world flooded into her senses. She found herself still wrapped up in Isabella's arms, their bodies pressed tightly together. Isabella was already awake and watching her.
"I love you too Alice." Isabella said as she reached out and began to stroke Alice's hair, showing her how long it had grown out. Alice giggled, and buried her face in Isabella's shoulder feeling a wave of sensations she hadn't felt in nearly two hundred years.
Cullen Residence - February 7th
"Carlisle!" Jasper shouted as he entered the house.
"Jasper?" Kate questioned as she bounded down the stairs.
"As you see, where is he?" He asked with a touch of desperation in his voice. He had felt the emotional triggers for suicide, and he had hoped he could make it in time to stop Carlisle from doing something irreversible like jumping into a fire.
"Gone, vanished. His scent was totally lost in the chaos from the past few days." Tanya confirmed as she joined her sister.
"Gone? Where?" Jasper said with a note of desperation, already knowing the answer but hoping he was wrong.
"No idea, he wasn't in his right mind." Tanya said with a worried expression.
"So you left him alone?" Jasper didn't care that he was leveling an accusation, there was too much on the line to worry about hurt feelings.
"We were downstairs, we have no idea how he slipped away so easily." Irina clarified, her annoyance clearly written on her face.
"Damn it." Jasper shook his head in frustration, had he burned his relationship with Adara for nothing? He took out his phone and called the same number Carlisle had dialed hours earlier.
"Twice in as many days, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The woman's voice was playful, and Jasper would normally play along but this time he had no patience.
"Where did Carlisle go?" He asked forcefully, causing the other end to go silent. Jasper was about to ask again when she cleared her throat.
"Mr. Hale, as you are aware I cannot disclose…" She no longer sounded playful, instead she sounded flat to mask her irritation.
Jasper interrupted, "I don't care about your rules right now, did he go to Italy?"
There was another small pause, then she took a deep breath before answering. "Yes, the flight is in transit. I can book you a commercial flight, but it will arrive several hours afterwards."
Jasper clicked his tongue in irritation, and tried not to let loose the hiss of disappointment.
"Timing is of the utmost importance. Can you arrange a jet charter?" He asked without any attempt at his usual politeness, hoping to impart the potentially dire consequences of his request.
"On short notice that will be difficult." She said, although he could already hear her typing away quickly.
"Please, this is very important, and call me as soon as it is confirmed." His voice returned to almost normal, even though inside he was bordering on frantic.
"Understood. A quick look at the time tables shows that a jet charter will still arrive an hour after Carlisle's flight." She had pulled the information up very quickly, yet she still had a slight bit of fear in her voice.
"It will have to do." Jasper replied, trying not to sound too disappointed in even that much of a delay. "Thank you."
"You're welcome Mr. Hale, you will hear from us shortly." Her professional tone gave him a bit of hope that she would come through, but he was still worried.
"What's going on?" Tanya asked him with real concern now.
"It's too much to explain." Jasper shook his head, feeling as though he took even a minute to pause, his world would unravel completely.
"We're going with you." Kate said with a resolute tone that made it known there could be no arguing with that point.
Jasper thought about it for a moment, he didn't want them to march into what could be a deathtrap but he couldn't really stop them either.
He finally nodded, "sure, I'll need back up, but not all of you."
"I should go, the Volturi council will see me." Eleazar said before anyone else, then turned towards his wife, "Carmen, I do not know their disposition right now so I would beg you to stay."
She immediately shook her head and took his hands in hers, "your fate will be the same as mine my love, I will not leave your side."
"Of course." Eleazar nodded, and brought her hands up to his lips to kiss before pulling her close and keeping ahold of her hands.
"Carlisle is my brother, I am going." Tanya stated matter of factly, and leveled a look at Jasper that begged him to argue with her, he just nodded in response.
"Me too." Kate started, but Eleazar shook his head.
"You're too powerful to dangle in front of the Volturi, plus the Swan's may need your talents in the coming fight. Garrett, if a fight is coming your expertise will be invaluable. Both of you should go to Isabella, ask to join their coven because we may not come back." Eleazar set his jaw as determined even as Kate's nostrils flared and sparks began to dance along the knuckles of her right hand.
"He's right." Garrett placed a hand gently on her shoulders, and she relaxed her power immediately reaching up and taking his hand in hers.
"Fine, but I'm not happy about this. You all better come back." Kate looked around at her family and realized this could be the last time she might ever lay eyes on them. The thought made her feel ill, but the decision was made. Irina and Laurent volunteered next, and the call for the jet a few minutes later, and another ten minutes before the family started their run towards Port Angeles and the connecting flight to Seattle.
"They'll be back, I can feel it." Garrett said after everyone was finally out of earshot.
"You better be right." Kate looked up at him, and he leaned down to kiss her. "We should go, they need to know what is going on." Garrett nodded, and they set off towards the Swan house without even a backward glance towards the now dark Cullen house.
Author's Note:
I had originally wanted to just edit the original chapter. Except when I went to start it I realized there were multiple problems with the chapter as it was written. First was the fact that it was written in first person, which made the prospect of editing it daunting. Secondly, the entire basis for that section is to resolve some conflicts that have already been resolved in this version. Namely Isabella beginning to move on from the cabin and the hole she was thrown into, and Alice coming to terms with Edward's betrayal. Then there was the overall format which was a stream of consciousness and it was very confusing. This is similar in a way, but focuses on Alice alone instead of jumping to Isabella. I worked to keep the flavor of the original but did something wholly different.
So surprise, Jasper isn't a villain, he never was going to be one. His entire reasoning may have been a bit extreme, but he reasoned that the entire family just left Carlisle and he couldn't just say hey, I need to go back to him. Adara would've gone with him and he wanted her safe. So he pushed her away the best way he knew how. Hoping that when he came back she would forgive him for essentially painting himself as a monster. While he didn't actually lie, he did exaggerate and imply rather heavily as to his motivations for his actions being corrupt.