Chapter Three: Potential Futures - Alice

"I keep my visions to myself, it's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams..."

- Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)

Monday, August 23, 2004

Everyone in the school was talking about the new arrival, Isabella Swan. Curious, I glanced into her future and found a good life ahead of her. She would write a series of best sellers, get married after college to a nice man, have two daughters and die at forty-seven from complications during routine surgery. Perhaps too short, but good.

That future vanished as Edward noticed her. I then had a flash of her with us as a vampire, happy and married to Edward. She was my best friend and closest sister and we spent the next thousand or so years together as a family. I could feel the familial love we would share for each other, enough that Bella had become almost as important as the rest of my family in an instant. Edward seemed very perturbed by that one, so after a few seconds it vanished and the other version returned. Yet my feelings lingered, as though some variation on that future was still possible. In frustration I bussed my tray and headed out to mope in the forest, returning my attention to Jasper and his never ending struggle with his thirst. Edward didn't actually need a lab partner after all.

Rosalie was the one that came for me after the incident.

"Edward almost killed her." Rosalie said from atop a rocky outcropping just above me. My shallow alcove under that rock was a perfect spot of privacy. Or it used to be.

"Almost. That's good." I said, holding in a sigh, as I quickly ascended the small rocky cliff to her side.

"Perhaps, but he seems to have lost his mind. Emmett thinks this girl is his Singer, so we're pretty much screwed." Rose hopped down to sit on the edge and worked out a stone embedded in the mud and threw it into the forest. A small thump could be heard far off as it tore into a tree.

"Curiouser and curiouser. First he cannot read her mind, then I see them together and her as one of us. Now she's his Singer. This girl is special, that's for sure." I pondered aloud, not really talking to her directly.

"Just because your name is Alice, doesn't mean that Lewis Carroll works for you." Rose shook her head slightly, but her grin let me know she was not serious.

"You're no fun. Alright, I can divide my attention between Edward and Jasper if you're worried."

"Thank you very much, see you at home." Rose gave me a big smile and kissed my check before disappearing into the forest in the vague direction of home. I wondered if Emmett would let me drive her car back, and a quick flash of the answer to that question quashed that possibility.

I walked back towards the school, intending on finishing up the day, partially because I had skipped one class already, and because I missed the one time when going to class would've been vastly important. Jazz had saved me a seat and motioned his non-verbal 'My Love' gesture as I sat.

"I heard our brother encountered problems." Jasper spoke in a voice inaudible to humans, and I nodded once in response.

"He may have encountered a Singer." I said in reply, and immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say. Jasper's head snapped in my direction and his expression made it clear he couldn't handle that kind of emotion.

"I'm sorry." He got up and made his way to the front of class. "I just learned of a family emergency, Alice and I need to leave immediately."

I tried to look sad, but couldn't manage so I just kept my expression neutral as the teacher nodded and Jazz motioned for me to join him. Once we were out of the school and in the car with Emmett I knew we were in for a long night. We were halfway home when Jasper touched me on the shoulder. I could feel his future wavering and it made me worried about what was coming. How could this mortal girl cause so much strife?

"I'm going. I need to keep away from Edward while he goes through this struggle." Jasper's mind was set, and I could see any argument made against him leaving would cause a far more dramatic response, so I nodded once and gripped his hand and brought it to my lips. I kissed the back of his hand twice, and in the next instant he was out of the car and already obscured by dense forest, headed in a generally northeastern direction.

"He'll be back." Emmett said confidently and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. I nodded once and turned to watch the trees flash by. Before long we were home, and I could already hear conflict brewing inside. Edward was leaving too, for Alaska. We made it inside just in time to catch him before he left. I moved over and grabbed one of his hands to hold him back.

"Wait, let me wish you a safe trip first." I said as he turned towards me and gave me a desperate look.

"I need to go, I'm seconds away from giving in to my thirst. Hunting that poor girl down and proving I have no soul." Edward said with an overly melodramatic flourish.

"Let me look, you might have more strength than you think." I offered, and he nodded once. I focused on his future and saw it shifting rapidly, in most he gave into his thirst. A few he managed to stop and the girl ended up as one of us. Only the one where he left town to gain distance and perspective ensured he didn't give in to his impulses. I sighed and let go.

"Thank you." He said as he took off towards Alaska. The run would take him almost a full day and he wouldn't be back until Sunday night. I knew he would want me to stay away from her, but in almost every version of the future he just made, I could see Bella Swan as a part of our lives.

This was my one chance to get to know my future sister before Edward dominated her life, and I wasn't about to let his bullheadedness get in the way of that. The plan was simple, sit in with her in Bio and get to know her. Possibly invite her to spend time outside of school with me. But first Rose demanded a family meeting, and we all gathered in the living room since we were short two. I sat on the piano bench, and Carlisle stood in his usual spot. Esme sat next to me and Emmett and Rose took the couch like always, his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Rose you called this meeting, the floor is yours." Carlisle took a step back and sat on the edge of the couch. Rose disentangled herself from her husband and stood.

"I asked Alice to keep an eye on Edward, but it is worse than I thought. He is a danger to us, if he cannot contain his thirst for this mortal we could all be in danger of exposure." Rosalie started relatively calmly, but grew more agitated as she finished

"It's more complicated than that. I've seen her importance to Edward and this family. Even you will end up loving her as a sister Rose. We cannot just abandon that future because of possible risks. It isn't like the Volturi have a death squad waiting in Seattle to take us out." I argued, I had already seen myself invite Bella… and Angela out on Friday. It went well, but something was missing from the night. Then I tried to add Rose and things worked out far better. It softened her to Bella and was an overall better experience.

"That's not my point and you know it. I just don't think it is worth the risk." Rose continued clearly getting more frustrated. I knew it was going to take work to get her to ease up.

"What risk isn't worth completing this family and giving Edward a chance at happiness?" Esme interjected, her posture was tense but she was sitting forward clearly excited by the prospect of a new daughter.

"There's more,'' I said somewhat reluctantly. "While their love is almost a forgone conclusion, there are variations on what happens. Ways things can go well, and other ways it will go sideways. Some of the time it is just Bella who joins us, in a few others her friend Angela also joins us."

"Angela Webber, the minister's daughter?" Esme asked somewhat in shock, I nodded once to confirm. "How does she get pulled into our life?"

"That's harder to say. She and Bella are forming a friendship right now, they will have dinner together tomorrow. That sets off a small chain of events that brings Angela into our orbit. Of course Bella may still reject the offer for tomorrow when they get to school. It's still a little bit in limbo. Honestly, I do not want to interfere with their friendship, they both need each other from what I've seen of Angela's future. If Bella rejects her friendship, Angela winds up with that Chaney boy who treats her like garbage and she ends up divorced with three kids and no real career because she couldn't finish college and her singing career never took off."

"She likes to sing? I never would've guessed." Rosalie said unexpectedly.

"I was planning on inviting them out to a girls night on Friday, would you come with us?" I looked at Rosalie, and her initial reaction was to shake her head. Then she frowned slightly and nodded once.

"Angela is a sweet kid with a kind heart, if she feels Bella is worthy of her time then maybe I should give her a chance."

"That's all I'm asking." I moved over and gave her a hug, she was a little tense but accepted it.

"You better plan well, I have no interest in something ordinary." Rosalie said as I let go, and I nodded enthusiastically.

"It'll be great!" I bounced a little, and turned to Esme and sat down next to her and let her bring me into her embrace. I had no memory of a mother, and she treated me as if I were her flesh and blood daughter. Rosalie and Emmett left the room to be alone and Carlisle went back to his office.

"Mom, Jasper left for at least a couple of weeks. I'm afraid I'm losing him." I pressed into her a bit as I spoke, I couldn't face the potential pain.

"I hope not, he's been a valued member of this family. I would miss him…" She trailed off, but I nudged her to continue. She looked down and ran her hand up my cheek and into my hair.

"Alice, you are my daughter. As much as I care about his well being, I've always thought of Jasper as a son-in-law. Someone who could detach from us and we would survive. We would never recover if we lost you." Esme spoke softly, so it would be a private sentiment for me only. While I loved the reassurance, it did bring up a subject I had been avoiding for a long time. Jasper was not one of us, he had barely adapted to this life and still struggled after fifty odd years to suppress his thirst.

"So you think it's possible?" I whispered, almost unable to admit the possibility.

"No, no. He's just struggling." She kissed my forehead as she pulled away, stroking my hair a few times in an attempt to comfort me. While the contact worked, I still felt uneasy about Jasper's future.

"Thank you, I have some planning to do." I tried to sound as bright as usual, but I knew it came across a little forced.

"No flying to Paris again." She chided, which actually brightened me more than anything.

"We'd be back by Sunday…" She gave me a look of mild impatience so I pouted for a second and nodded. "Fine, no Paris. Or Rome. What about New York?" She shook her head. "No. Alright I'll keep it in the area. I love you mom."

"I love you too Alice." Esme said with a soft chuckle as she retreated up to her studio. I was half tempted to change direction and follow her, watching her paint was wonderfully distracting. However, I had too many things to coordinate.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

The next morning I waited in Rosalie's car after Emmett and Rose went inside, watching through the rearview for Bella and Angela to arrive. They pulled in one after the other, and Bella almost immediately began to check out our car. Angela approached her and managed to work up the courage to ask her to hang out that evening and Bella accepted. As she did, one branch of reality began to fade into nothing. Soon it would be as if it never existed and my own memories would be all that remained of that potential future.

On one hand it was always strange to watch future children vanish, as both Bella and Angela's kids disappeared from existence. It was sad in a way, but an easy trade off for a potentially better life. Now their future was more uncertain, amorphous. Their friendship was slowly solidifying and that was altering their paths. Although I couldn't quite grasp how they would take shape... yet.

One good thing about the changes to most of the new realities was that Angela no longer fell in love with Ben Chaney. That brightened up her prospects quite a bit. While the roulette wheel of fate spun I caught a few possibilities, one path was fairly dark, as Angela joined a band and died at twenty-six from a drug overdose. I circled around these strange alternate futures again and again for most of the morning as I half paid attention to clases. Then I followed them after lunch, towards class. None of them were aware of my presence, and it made for the perfect introduction.

"I don't need a lab partner in the first place!" Bella's temper was fiery and the Newton boy immediately drew back realzing he had done something very stupid. I took my cue, and positioned myself behind them.

"That's a shame, because I was just about to offer." I kept my voice light and my smile even brighter.

"Alice right?" Bella asked, pushing the irritating boy behind her.

"Yup, I had to skip yesterday, but I usually partner with my brother. But I can fill in while he's away." I put on my best smile, and tried to lure her in with it. For all of a second I was curious if it would work, thankfully she shrugged.

"Um, sure." Her voice was non-committal and her expression was a bit lost, but I could work with that.

I almost hopped forward and locked an arm with Bella and started us towards class again. "Great, let's get going before we're late. That way Mike you can keep your lab partner and won't leave him in the cold."

"So what happens when Edward comes back?" Bella asked after we were halfway down the hallway, it was clear no one had expected one of us to be so social.

"We share you." I said with a playful wink.

Once we were in the classroom Mr. Molina called me over. I leaned in and he tried not to look at me directly. I could hear his heart and smell his pheromones, he was attracted to me on a level he was deeply uncomfortable with. The stress in his shoulders made me feel for him, but after a few seconds he cleared his throat and looked at me directly.

"I have to give you an absentee mark for yesterday. I also heard that your brother will not be in class for the rest of the week?" He sounded professional and it almost made me smile.

"That's right, my father gave me a note to pass on to you." I reached into my cardigan pocket and pulled out the excuse Carlisle had written out this morning. He took the paper on the farthest edge so as to not touch me, and I appreciated his discretion. The fact I was probably old enough to be his great grand-mother was irrelevant.

"Thank you Miss Cullen, you can have a seat now. Please partner with Miss Swan, we'll figure out what to do when Edward returns." He motioned towards Bella

"Yup." I nodded and headed to sit next to Bella. She looked a bit uncomfortable but I scooted my stool next to hers anyway, so we could talk more privately.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Edward wasn't prepared for you." I tried to sound as apologetic as possible, without laying it on too thick. Which was a much harder balance than I expected, and I wasn't entirely sure I pulled it off.

"Prepared, that's a strange way to put it." Her face flashed irritation and a touch of humor about the situation.

"Well, to be honest it isn't something I can entirely explain. At least right now. The crux of it is this, he did react to you in a negative way. It wasn't your fault, and he is mortified by his actions. He will apologize when he gets back on Monday, but for now he is spending this week with our cousins up in Alaska." I tried not to react to my own flub, I hadn't meant to mention Alaska.

"Wait, he went to Alaska to get away from me?" She looked shocked, but managed to keep her voice down.

"Not exactly, it's complicated. I can promise one day soon we will explain everything to you." I knew I was talking in circles, and realized that perhaps it was right to stay out of it. Had I made a mistake engaging with her?

"That's.. Okay. I guess I'm just supposed to take your word for it." She scrunched her nose a little, and frowned slightly and her voice told me she was frustrated.

"Exactly, and I know that's hard to accept. Let me put it another way, do you want to get to know him better? If he wasn't acting like a spaz?" I kept my tone playful, hoping to placate her frustrations a bit.

"Maybe, he is the prettiest guy I've ever met." Her eyes grew wide. "Sorry, I know he's your brother."

"No, you're right he is gorgeous." I said almost off hand, and she gave me a look. "I'm not related to him by blood, but we've been siblings for most of our lives."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. It feels a little weird to talk about this, especially with his sister." She gave a short breathy laugh, and shook her head once.

"Yeah well, I know what he would say about this conversation and honestly I shouldn't be talking to you." As I voiced my concern, I wanted to slap myself on the forehead. I was in danger of just confusing the girl for no reason. What if Edward didn't pursue her like I had seen, and she went on to live a normal human life?

"Why not?" She sounded curious more than confused, and I wasn't sure if there was any way to say what I wanted to say.

"It's complicated." I said, choosing to wave off the question.

"I'm gathering. Look if you think me and your family interacting is a bad idea that's fine, I don't really care. But now would be the time to back off." She had turned somewhat hostile very quickly, and I felt myself frowning. I hated to frown. I was messing everything up, all because I couldn't wait. I sighed, and thought about my answer.

"That's just the thing, I don't think there's a point." I said after a few seconds of thought, which for me felt like an eternity.

"Okay, now you're really not making sense." Now she looked confused.

"That's my curse." I tapped my fingers on the table for a couple of seconds. I had to change tactics and present my plans for Friday. "Hmmm, what if we go out this weekend?"

"Like a night on the town… in Forks. No thanks." She looked almost disdainful of the thought. Which made me wonder why she had agreed to dinner with Angela.

"No, not Forks. I promise fun." Bella glanced sideways slightly almost as she wanted to look back at Angela but changed her mind. "Of course Angela's invited too." I didn't like to manipulate situations to fit a future most of the time, but I felt this would be good for all four of us. Nothing from that night stuck out as bad, in fact all I could see happening was a minor hangover for the girls on Saturday.

"Alright, as long as Angela agrees. Let's pay attention." She moved her book over and opened it to the section Mr. Molina was covering for the day. He was deep into the phases of mitosis, and promised an exciting exercise on Monday. Just in time for Edward, I glimpsed the two of them interacting over slides… I thought it was cute.

"Ha, like you need to." I said without thinking, reacting to my vision of her knowledge. Then I remembered, thankfully, that she had said something before class so I was in the clear.

"I guess you heard. If you don't need this class either, why are you here?" The question made sense, but I already had a bottled answer for it.

"Both of us were a year ahead in Alaska, but our credits didn't transfer. So instead of being Seniors here, we're both Juniors. It sucks, but what can you do?" I hated to lie, but it was easier to give a falsehood now and explain later, than try to explain now when she wasn't in on the secret.

"Right, I just lost some credits too, transferring up from Phoenix." She nodded in sympathy, that was one I hadn't encountered much. I guess making friends with someone new to a school had some perks.

"I suppose it doesn't matter, schools love repetition anyway. I swear the first month of any class is going over what you learned in the previous class." I let myself rant a little, the capacity for memory being somewhat limited in mortals, and schools always had to accommodate those with the poorest retention just in case. Yet I had to wonder, if it was such an issue, why not just eliminate the summer vacation and so there would be far less need for review?

Bella laughed quietly, and nodded emphatically. "It drives me nuts. I wish there was an option to skip the review section so that we could learn more overall."

"I think I've had one class here where we actually got through the entire textbook." I replied with sadness, not that any class was new for me. I could teach any one of the classes I attended, and there were times I wished I was the one up front giving the lecture.

"There was one teacher back in Phoenix that paced themselves so they would always get through the text. Sometimes taking notes was impossible, because she spoke so fast. Which was why she always taped her lectures and distributed copies to her students. It was such a great tool that a couple of the other teachers started to do the same. Rumor was they were implementing it district wide next year." She spoke with more animation than before, and I could tell she was opening up some more.

I thought about the implications of recording education in such a way and nodded a few times in agreement of the method. "Those recordings should be saved and archived at the school for posterity."

"They might be. I mean wouldn't it be neat to listen to a recording of a teacher from thirty years ago who is still teaching today? We could literally hear how their style and methods evolved over time." I looked over at her and couldn't help but smile. It was such an interesting take on the idea. It left me with no doubt in my mind that she and Edward were an almost perfect match, and would bring joy to our family in many unexpected and undefinable ways. Yet was it selfish to condemn her to our life when she had another option?

I had also been listening to Angela and the Chaney boy dancing around their attraction for each other. Their potential romance was based on a conceit that because they were of a similar temperament they were well matched. Yet I knew their fate, that their connection was doomed to fail, but as I struggled to look into the futures of Bella and Angela I realized things had finally solidified into three distinct possibilities as the only paths forward.

Their human life path was based on their lifelong mutual friendship through the remainder of high-school and into college. After which they shared an apartment as roommates into their late twenties. Angela pursued a life as a medical doctor and Bella wrote novels. While similar to their previous future lives, their influence on eachother was enough to overcome the darker aspects of those futures. Bella's underlying medical condition was discovered at an age young enough for correction, and Angela's confidence with Bella's support allowed her to find a much more suitable partner. Unfortunately removing either of them from the other's life dangerously curtailed the other's life in dark and horrible ways. And yet just glimpsing that future for them made me want to step away, and I was glad that Edward wasn't there or he would force the issue.

On the other hand they could both end up as a part of the family, both having been turned after circumstances that were blurry and hard to sort out. Bella within about a year after a long rocky romance with Edward. Angela a year or so afterwards, surviving an encounter with a vampire out in the world and getting turned. She managed to put two and two together and found us, joining our family and becoming an integral part of our lives. In that reality she had been with Ben, but their relationship was strained due to his controlling nature. There was so much more in that reality that I couldn't see, and swaths of it were entirely blank.

The last was almost completely obscured from my sight, only short flashes of violence and pain could be seen through the wall of fate. I attempted to focus on that future, despite the fear it conjured in the pit of my stomach. I strained against it and felt not just Bella and Angela's fate, but the entire family was in a swirling state of flux. There was love, pain, death and a great battle. Thousands of voices layered together, both familiar and unknown dominated that future. All I could hear were three things that peaked my curiosity and at the same time chilled me to the bone.

"This ends in blood or something new." The first voice was feminine, but I didn't recognize it. It was spoken in anger as an obvious threat.

"Join us Alice..." There was no mistaking the second voice, it was Aro offering me a position in the Volturi guard.

"Good morning my love." The last was Angela, I was sure of it. Her tone was happy yet sleepy, had she woken up with a lover?

I felt drawn to the darkness of this strange future. There was something hidden in that possible reality that was greater than any of the other timelines. Whether it was horrible or wonderful, I couldn't tell, but it was a grand destiny for all of us. I just had no idea what caused it, or if I even wanted to know.

I knew it was selfish, but I was hoping for the second fate, and would consider myself lucky to have two new sisters to spend eternity with. Yet all of it was contingent on Tuesday morning, there was something elusive coming that day that would change everything. I just couldn't see it. The forces pushing it into place seemed to exist outside of my influence and decision making. A twist of fate, or more frighteningly, a fixed point in time that I could not alter. Three outcomes, three destinies taking shape from a single point of inescapable fate. I opened my eyes, turning my focus back to the present. I found her waiting on my reaction to her thoughts on education. To Bella it would've looked like I had blinked as only a split second had passed.

"I love it. I think you should suggest it to the school board here. I mean what could it hurt?" I found my usual voice right away, and she didn't seem to notice how scattered I was.

"Haha, right." She gave me a nervous laugh, but cocked her head in thought and almost immediately shook her head. "No, it's a neat idea but kind of alters the nature of the classroom. It would always be performative, and the lack of privacy for students may cause legal issues."

I stared at her again, her own counterpoint was kind of amazing. I gave her a soft smile and I turned to the lecture. "Well, let's see if he has any points of which we were not aware."

"Okay, I'm game." Bella smiled and we actively paid attention to Mr. Molina, but after his lecture and the classroom exercise it was clear he didn't have anything new to contribute.

I waited until the room was mostly clear before turning and inviting Angela to my evening out. I gave her my biggest smile, and started to speak before she could really react.

"Friday we are doing girls night, just the four of us." I was excited, I felt like it was my last opportunity to rely on my visions, because it was pretty clear I couldn't see anything concrete beyond Tuesday.

"Four?" Angela asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

"You, me, Bella and my sister Rose." I explained, and noted that Bella looked confused as well. My only guess was that Rose's reputation was as bad as I had imagined.

"Rose wants to come?" Angela looked shocked, but also clearly a bit ashamed of her comment.

"Ha, right. Yeah Rose needs to get out too, she's a bit of a shut in." I said off hand, hoping to wave away any perceived strangeness in the invitation.

"I can sympathize." Angela said it below her breath, and didn't expect me to hear. But it just made me want to bring her out even more. I found myself reacting to her comment while pretending to have not heard it.

"Hmm?" I cocked my head at her, hoping she would come around.

"Oh, I would love to." It only took a second for her to accept, and I kept my relief from showing in my expression or body language.

"Great, see you guys tomorrow." I got up and left class before they could change their minds, and spent the rest of the day watching the future carefully. Thankfully nothing shifted.

Friday, August 27, 2004

I waved to Angela and Bella as I passed them hallways, but for the most part I left them alone through Wednesday and Thursday. My only significant interaction was during Bio class, and on Friday when I confirmed our outing. I was partially afraid of saying or doing too much and influencing their future, but mostly I was waiting to see if they would make overtures of friendship to me, but their own burgeoning friendship took priority. I knew some altercation between Angela and Jessica Stanley on Thursday separated them from their previous crowd, but it seemed to give them a boost of confidence, and I was glad to see they both seemed happier on Friday.

The preparation work I had done included heading into Seattle. I had gotten some candid pictures of Bella and Angela, and ordered some fake ID's from J. Jenks, he did fast work and they were temporary… for now as they wouldn't hold up to a police search until he put in the background information, but it seemed a bit premature to put in a full order yet. I knew Carlisle wouldn't approve anyway, but at least Rosalie didn't notice or care.

They arrived at the house a little after five, and we spent a good hour getting them ready. They were both stunning fully dressed up, and it made it incredibly clear how devastating they could both become as vampires. I pushed the thought out of my head, I had to ignore that future for as long as possible, especially once Edward got back home in a couple of days. It would be difficult enough keeping this night out of my thoughts.

The dinner Carlisle made was exquisite, even though I couldn't really taste it. Angela in particular seemed to enjoy it, making a passing remark about her mother's cooking. They both seemed closer to each other as well, an almost intangible connection shared by the best of friends. I was frankly a little jealous, but I didn't let it bother me. If I looked at the future logically, there was over a thirty percent chance they would be in my life for centuries to come.

We had our smaller private plane meet us in Port Angeles, and Rosalie gave me a look as we boarded. I had pushed the rules a bit, but the flight down to Los Angeles was not terribly long. There was another more important reason for the trip, their new ID's would have a greater chance of working if they were out of state. It was a silly thing, but I wanted to give them anything they wanted. Knowing their human future, this was one of the few times either of them would ever go out like this.

The concert was not as much fun as I hoped, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. The band was popular with their age group, and I'd heard Angela singing along in her car to their music at least twice. The backstage passes made Rosalie chuckle. I had to take a moment to appreciate their style as we made it to the menagerie the band had set up for their honored guests. There were two lions, a bear and a couple of wolves, and a massive space decorated with a jungle theme that matched their album.

It was a fun diversion, but only lasted about an hour. Afterwards we headed for a club. The bouncer almost didn't let me and Bella inside, but didn't look twice at Angela or Rosalie. Eventually we were standing around a table with drinks that I had insisted on. Both Bella and Angela were a little uneasy about the alcohol, but eventually their curiosity got the best of them and their inhibitions began to fade. Soon they were both out on the dance floor, as two of the prettier women dancing, they drew a lot of attention. Bella made it back after twenty minutes or so, but we lost Angela for a while on the dance floor. She did eventually make it back to our table with a big smile on her face.

"I've never had so many guys want to be near me." She said breathlessly.

"Honey, you're gorgeous." I reassured her. "If you gave the word, any guy in here would take you home with them."

"I couldn't do that, but wow, what a rush." Then she gave Bella a big grin and dragged her back out onto the dance floor. I glanced over at Rose and she just shrugged so we joined them. The four of us danced like fools for another hour before the girls nearly dropped from exhaustion. They slept most of the way home, but we made it back to Forks just before dawn.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

The morning was normal, unseasonably cold, but normal. Yet I was tense, focusing on the event of the day while trying to keep my worry from Edward. It was tricky, but training my focus entirely on the Jasper situation seemed to work. Jasper had returned home looking rough, and avoided Edward until he was sure there was no more danger. Thankfully Edward's first real encounter with Bella went almost too well, and her human fate had almost completely vanished. Angela's life was now in flux, as Edward began to dominate Bella's future in a number of ways. While it was clear Angela would be Bella's friend, I wasn't sure if they would continue to be close after today.

I was completely stumped over the reason why. It felt like Bella's choice, maybe pushing away her friend for her own safety. I just didn't have a full grasp on it. I was momentarily distracted as I waited for the moment to arrive, and it came faster than I expected. Spread out before me like a grand tapestry was Bella's life with Edward, up to an event far off that I couldn't see. She would be one of us, I was sure of it. Angela would go to Seattle with Ben and end up being turned in her Senior year of college. There was strife, drama and even a small inkling of something amazing… I felt my breath release as the universe started to click into place.

Then Edward made a different choice.

I felt my stomach clench as if I were human, as I realized what he had chosen not to do. My eyes went wide, and I began to move, while fighting against the fate he had thrust us into. I screamed in my mind at him, I raged against the future… but there was no hope.

Tyler's van hit a patch of black ice, and spun wildly out of control. I pushed my legs to get there in time, but I was too late. Bella had been looking at Edward and didn't see it coming, as the hulk of the van slammed against her, pinning her body against her giant red truck. I stood in utter shock, as the future spun out of my view and we were suddenly thrust into the darkest path.

Author's Notes:

Just a small note regarding backtracking. Due to the nature of the story, occasionally when a POV shifts I will cover some familiar ground. I do try to minimize the repetition, but some of it cannot be helped. In this case, I felt the conversation with Bella was important enough to cover in its entirety.

Alice is always a bit strange to write. Her personality is relatively easy, but quantifying and keeping track of her ability is not so easy. When I originally wrote this story a lot of the prophecy scenes were very rough, knowing where things would go but not having written it I could really only guess at the substance. This time is different, I know exactly what is coming, when, and how things change. I also know how much and how little Alice can actually see with her visions. It's a different set of rules to follow, I now have to be careful I do not reveal too much.

If you hadn't guessed the second timeline is canon, with my own personal addendum to that story in the form of a sequel to Breaking Dawn told from Angela's point of view. That story already kind of exists, but it isn't in a state that I can post without substantial work. I am also not writing a story about the human timeline, which is a fun thought experiment but sounds kind of boring to write about.

The cliffhanger will have some context in the next chapter. The actual event will be explained in chapter 6, but four and five will have the moment shown from two other points of view.

Until next time, next up will be titled: Golden Eyes - Bella (POV)

Please take a moment to comment on this chapter, I love to hear what you think. I am also posting updates about chapter releases on my profile.

Thank you for reading!