Author's note:

Heeeeyyyyyy. Is anyone still here? It's meee, "Melanie Sparks," eleven years later. I stopped publishing this story when I was sixteen. I remember it clearly: I had run out of ideas. I ran out of time to spend sitting at my computer writing about characters and a universe I was losing interest in. I was too busy hanging with friends, chasing after boys and coming into my own. Sixteen was a big age for me. I realize that now at twenty-seven, which also, in its own way, feels like a big year for me. I began penning this final chapter when my industry shut down last year in the midst of the pandemic and just recently, during a mandatory quarantine, I was able to finish the chapter. I'm sure it is filled with inconsistencies and errors and hiccups that won't match the original story/grammatical/logical standards, but it poured out of me, and I'm so pleased to share it finally. I'm so happy to have finished this project so many years later. I'm sure fifteen year-old me would be pleased.

Most of all, I genuinely hope this chapter finds you all well. I hope you've found so much happiness over the last eleven years. I hope you've experienced triumph and love and joy. I hope, especially over the last year and a half, you've stayed healthy. Please know that your encouraging reviews brought me so much joy when I was a kid figuring it all out.

Take care of yourselves, and thank you for reading.

Love,

Mel

32. Alive

I don't think I ever, in my life, expected to look at the calendar and realize one hundred years had gone by, practically before my eyes, so it seems. I've lived multiple lives in those hundred years, but they all seemed to fly by.

One hundred years.

A century.

I believe I never expected it because I started this life as a mortal. Mortals don't experience that seemingly casual day on which they realize, oh, hey! One hundred years ago today, I became a vampire! What? Crazy how time flies, man. Let's get a beer and celebrate.

And just as I started this life as a mortal, I would never, ever, ever leave it as an immortal. I don't die. I'll never die. And the beauty of indestructibility is the ability to do whatever the fuck you want for all of eternity (including incessant cussing, which in this particular life, I'm fully basked in.)

What are these "lives" I speak of? Well, in order to fill you in on the one hundred years of Ava's immortal chapter, I must start where I left off…

After I told, no, hypnotized my family into thinking that I was dead, we went through with Carlisle's far-fetched yet extremely efficient plan of hypnotizing the whole world into believing supernatural beings were purely fiction-based. We boarded that private jet in Seattle and we flew to DC. I convinced secret service and the president herself that I was, indeed, the president, and insisted that I must "address the union" and I, well, addressed the union. I donned a black ski mask to hide my identity, gave the camera my hypnotic eyes, and speech was as follows: "My fellow Americans, and to those around the globe, there is, I assure you, no such thing as supernatural beings, including but not limited to vampires, werewolves, mermaids, unicorns, leprechauns, elves-" at this point, I saw Carlisle anxiously twirl his fingers around one another, signaling for me to wrap it up "-witches, warlocks, wizards, sorcerers-" if vampires could have veins pop out of their perfect-marble foreheads, Carlisle would have definitely broken a blood vessel or two "-uh… ghosts, fairies, changelings, hellhounds, chupacabras… or any being of such a fictitious nature. Thank you, God Bless you, and goodnight."

I reassured the White House staff that President Elaine Warren was, indeed, the president, and we got back on the private jet to Seattle. We waited as every news outlet all over the world showed my address, and everyone believed it. There wasn't a single question. We were safe, and I felt like a celebrity, a power-crazed-newborn-vampire celebrity. I realized that I could control anyone and anything. I could have anything that my heart desired and if I happened to get bored of that desire, I could reverse it whenever I damn well wanted to. People, occupations, objects could be attained and thrown away as quickly and as painlessly as I pleased with my hypnosis power. As you can probably imagine, this kind of power coupled with my very intense emotional world didn't go over so well in my personal life. While I had everything else I could ever want, my relationships imploded, including the one with my soul mate.

When we arrived back in Seattle and realized our plan had worked, he asked me to be his wife. At this point, this seemed like the logical next step in our rather accelerated relationship. I mean… I stuck a fucking syringe full of venom into my HEART for this guy. We were Romeo and goddamned Juliet. It only made sense for me to joyously accept and have Alice plan the whole thing and Esme vampire-cry watching the proposal and Bella reminisce on her wedding and Jasper feel my excitement and utter disdain (which I later hypnotized him into thinking I was totally invested and excited and yay-rainbows-and-butterflies… I also had to do the same for Edward). It all seemed very logical, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't.

The rest of the Cullens decided to move to Denali to be with their Alaskan clan for a bit while Ronan and I enjoyed engagement life for a moment in the cottage. This was my idea. The Cullens were suffocating, especially Bella The Shield. She saw through all of my shit, but she gave me the benefit of the doubt, blaming it on "newborn tendencies." No newborn could be as "mature" as Bella. The Cullens gave me an unrealistic, useless standard to live up to. So I took it upon myself to defy that standard as savagely as I possibly could.

Ronan really tried. I'll give him that. It was as though he had memorized the manual to Taming Newborn Vampire Women cover to cover, as if Edward had penned the whole thing in his gorgeous 20th century script.

He implored me to give up my fascination with human blood. He tried to get me to plunge my fangs solely into the pulsating necks of four-legged fiends. I did give it a shot, but it ultimately depressed me. Imagine depriving yourself of all sweets, alcohol, meat, dairy, gluten and fruit, even, and limiting yourself to only celery and water. I felt starved.

Alas, I aimlessly killed behind his back, and when he caught me, I hypnotized him into thinking I was being a good little vampire girl eating her veggies. When he began to distrust me and catch me in my memories, I hypnotized him into never looking in my head. At this point, I began shamelessly controlling him.

Now, please don't label me as a cold-blooded murderer or masochist. In a way, I was a tame-as-Bella murderer; I didn't drain just anyone. I had enough self-control to serve justice with each kill. I decided instead of hiding my kills from Ronan, I'd convince him to join me in my justice seeking. I'd send Ronan into the world to fetch us murderers, child molesters and rapists to slaughter together. I decided, once I gained enough self-control as a newborn, I would go into the world myself and explore extravagant ways to lure my victims. Maybe buy them a few drinks. Dance with them at a club. Take them back to a room before lecturing them about karma and then drinking them up.

Ronan began to find this fun. Sometimes we'd lure people by convincing them they were in for a three-way hook up. Instead, they would watch Ronan and I ravenously make love, and as soon as we were both crazed enough, we'd simultaneously pounce for the kill. We drained many a sicko together. It was very Bonnie and Clyde in a very righteous and lusty way. But after a while, I began to realize I wasn't doing this with my soul mate. My happy, "vegetarian," surfer, shaggy-haired, loving and sensitive soul mate was now an expensive suit donning, silk tie-buying, drug-pushing, rock-n-roll loving, debaucherous murderer. This wasn't the man I knew and fell in love with. Sure, the sex was fantastic, but it wasn't authentic. He wasn't real. He was someone I fabricated with my powers, and it wasn't fair to either of us.

We were in a swanky hotel we frequented in Seattle. The windows were open, letting the thick, soggy city air waft through our top-shelf suite. I lay naked on the bed as Ronan dragged on the joint we found on our latest rapist. At this moment, about a year into our engagement, I slinked off of the bed and into his arms. I took a drag on the joint, put it out in the limp arm of our victim who's corpse was slumped in the chair next to us, and kissed this fabricated Ronan hard and long for one last time.

"What are you doing?" He chuckled.

I grabbed his face between my hands. "I'm letting you go."

He then whisked me off of the chair and onto the bed, hard, straddling me. "I'm still thirsty. Let's find another asshole." He began biting my neck, hard.

Who is this guy?

I grabbed him forcefully in this moment and flipped him so he was underneath my forceful straddle. He grinned widely at me. He had no idea what was coming next.

I locked eyes with him in the way I'm gifted to do, staring straight into the darks of his eyes, into his soul. He immediately went limp under my forceful gaze.

"Ronan," I paused. I felt like I had to clear my throat, like a lump should be there, but there wasn't. There should've been, but vampires don't get lumps in their throat. Even one hundred years later, these human-phenomena still surprise me with their absences. "Ronan, let every hypnotic command I've ever given you go at this instant, but always remember, I love you very much."

I was expecting a number of different reactions to this hypnosis. I expected sadness, anger, defeat, and betrayal… something easy. Something reasonable.

Instead, I got desperation.

He grabbed my arms hard. "Avs." His eyes and his voice pleaded with me.

I ripped away from him, hard. My back hit the flimsy hotel wall, cracking it.

He tackled me onto the ground. "You can't do this. You can't leave me. You can't erase yourself. I forgive you. It's okay."

He knew me far too well. I should've when I had the chance, but he was on to me.

I threw him off of me and ran for the hotel door. I would do this tomorrow, or a week from now, a year from now. Right now, I needed to get away from the misery I'd created. I couldn't kill myself for another person I loved. I needed him to let me go.

He grabbed my leg and dragged me towards him. I was about to fight back when I noticed he was sobbing, a violent, pathetic, loud sob that was far too dramatic for a being who couldn't cry.

So I lay there, underneath him for what I thought would only last a few minutes. The minutes turned to hours. The sun started to come up. I realized he must have been experiencing all of the memories I had been hiding from him over the last couple of months. He didn't let up. The shrieks were still blood curdling… for someone with blood. I grabbed Ronan's face.

He squeezed his eyes shut. "NO!" he bellowed, loud enough to wake our floor. "Please don't erase yourself, Avs. Please, please, please don't. I love you so much."

I pulled his head to my chest. "I love you so much, too, Ronan. I want you to calm down, though. Can I do that for you?"

He continued to choke. "I don't know if I trust you. Please, just let me try again. I'll live your lifestyle. I don't even care. I'll disown my family. Just let me be with you."

"Of course." I lied. "Of course. Let's do it. But please, let me calm you down so we can get this body out of here before everyone starts to wake up. Okay?"

He didn't budge.

"Ronan, please. I love you. I'm not going anywhere, I just want to calm you down so we can go downstairs without any suspicion."

Still, no movement.

"Baby, just kiss me… please. I need you to kiss me. I need to know that you're still with me. Please show me I didn't mess this up."

I felt some movement on my chest. He lifted his face to mine, eyes still plastered shut, and he gave me a soft, tender, real-Ronan kiss. I had him back, and he was more fragile than expected, but he would be fine. I kissed him back softly, slowly, reassuringly. I threaded my fingers through his gorgeously soft hair and made my decision. I bit down on his lips, hard. His eyes popped wide open in surprise and were immediately met with mine.

I made him forget I ever happened.

I then flew to Denali, hypnotized Ronan in tow, and did the same with the rest of the Cullens, aside from Bella. I arrived on defense while they remained oddly submissive. Alice must have seen this coming and they must have been relieved to have their son and brother back. Bella could have relinquished her shield, of course, but she instead swore herself to secrecy.

"I don't want you to be alone in this world." She told me outside after I hypnotized her entire family. "I can't imagine it will be easy. Just always know I'm a phone call away if you need anything." She grabbed my hand and stared at me with grateful eyes.

Yes, relief. They were relieved to have their pre-Ava life back. And in return for Ronan, they provided me with Bella the Lifeline.

At the time, I felt betrayed. I thought they would have put up a fight to keep me around. I thought I was going to have to pin each and everyone of them down and beg them to let me erase myself. Instead, they wanted me erased. I ripped my hand from hers.

"Whatever. You hated me from the beginning anyway. Now you're finally getting what you want." Looking back, I blame these immature reactions on "Newborn Hormones." I was very, very ugly.

"Come on, Ava. You know that isn't true."

"Honestly, have fun with this little secret, it isn't going to be an easy one to keep when my face is plastered on every bus and billboard you see."

She cocked her head, puzzled.

"I'm headed to Hollywood," I clarified. "Give me a month."

"Ava, you really need to be careful."

"I know what I'm doing," I chuckled. "Clearly, I know what I'm doing. I can erase myself whenever I'm done with people. Who says I can't do that to the entire world? Actually, no one can say that, because I just convinced the entire world I was the President of the United States, so…" I laughed ironically.

Bella pursed her lips. She didn't know how to respond because, well… I was absolutely right. "Look, Ava. I know it seems like we want to be rid of you. Please know that isn't our intention at all. We're just afraid that you're reckless and you're going to get us into trouble, and we think you need some space…"

"I thought I meant so much to all of you. And now they don't even know I existed." I cut her off. If I were human, fat, hot tears would've been streaming down a red, puffy face. Instead, vampirism thankfully kept my face stone cold. "I almost killed myself for all of you. Your reasoning is bullshit, Bella. It's done. I'm out."

I turned to leave then, but Bella saw right through my false bravado. "Wait. I made a promise to Edward before you came. Please, Ava, listen to me." She sprinted in the way of my escape path.

"Did he promise to finally heed your advice to forbid your brother date psycho paths?" I pushed her out of my way, hard.

Bella whirled around, grabbing me by the neck and pushing me into their brick house. "No, but you're making me wish he did. Be a fucking adult, Ava."

I laughed, amused. "Not like a squeaky-clean vampire bitch to drop the f-bomb. Chill." I tried to flick her hand off of my neck, but she pushed me harder into the brick, indenting the exterior of their home.

"He made me promise that eventually, I would lift the shield off of him and show him my memories of everything that happened while you were here with us. He is afraid that you're going to go through what I went through with him when he left me."

I was stunned for a moment before I started laughing in her face. I was in hysterics, when, disgusted, she finally let me go. I collapsed to the ground in a very human way. I couldn't stop laughing.

She was facing away from me, arms crossed, when I finally gained enough composure to speak. "Is he fucking serious? Do you know how many insanely passionate lives I will have lived by then? You guys will be a distant, useless blip on my radar by then. Why even bother?"

Bella didn't turn around. "Goodbye, Ava."

I chuckled again, on the verge of hysterics again. I kept it together. "Ooo, cold. Okay. Goodbye, Bella. And do me a favor? Make me a promise? Don't fucking bother."

She remained still. I finally started on the path to my rental car when I heard her say, "Naple's Coffee. 10:30 BST."

I whirled around, incredulous. "What?"

"We'll be there. One hundred years from now. So meet us if you'd like."

"You're delusional enough to think a coffee shop in existence now will still be running in one hundred years?"

"Why anyone would bet on Alice, I can't imagine." She turned to look at me.

I nodded stiffly. "Good point."

Bella headed for the house then. As she had her hand on the doorknob, she added, "Take care of yourself, Ava."

I couldn't help but say it. I practically vomited the words. "Bring Ronan. To the coffee shop."

"He's the 'we.'" She responded.

"Keep him safe." I added.

"I promise." She opened the door and closed it behind her without looking back.

I consider that the end of Ava Jameson, and marked the beginning of my next life: Elpheba. I was on the next private out of Denali to LAX. For free, of course. I should also mention that I stopped paying for any service or product rendered from this point forward. Why should I?

I'd loved the name Elpheba since I played her in school, after my idiot boyfriend cheated on me and I managed to swipe every award from him in return, and with that name I harnessed exponential international star power for the next fifteen years. I was a one-named wonder. I joined the likes of Madonna and Cher in that regard. I became a full-time actress, singer, model, designer, producer, director, writer, philanthropist and, of course, hypnotist. I was EGOT within the same five years of my 6-inch purple spikes hitting the LAX tarmac for the first time. I married three men during this time: first an executive producer, second a lowly, budding director, and finally the male equivalent to me star-wise, Eduardo: another one-name-r.

It was so easy, it was boring. I couldn't believe how bored I was. I made all of my wildest dreams come true within five years, and I was bored. I stuck to it though, because I couldn't possibly give up what I had been passionate about for my whole entire life. I owed it to myself to live out those fifteen years as Elpheba; I owed it to 17 year-old human Ava. So, I hypnotized executives into letting me show run, I hypnotized committees into honoring me with more awards, I hypnotized Eduardo to leave his wife and marry me to keep the tabloids interesting, I closed his Broadway show when I found out he was cheating on me, I hypnotized entire audiences into obsessing over me. I was huge.

And in the same instant, I erased myself.

After the 15-year clock ran out, I made everyone think I died in a fiery private shuttle accident. Tragic. I even hypnotized some Broadway stagehands to create the scene for me in rural New York. It was quite beautiful. In turn, I hypnotized the Tony's committee into honoring them that year for their respective musicals. I wasn't that selfish. Which, speaking of, my next life…

Pediatric cardiologist, Doctor Gillian Anderson (what? I love her. Almost stole her name during the actress life, but Elphie was cooler).

During that life, I dialed back a little bit on the hypnosis. I wanted to see if I could actually pass medical school without cheating, which I did at the top of my class. I did forge a bachelor's degree from Harvard, however. Aaaand I slept my way into Yale Medical. The admissions director was hot. Like, Patrick Dempsey McDreamy hot. But younger. And hotter.

McDreamy's name was Dr. Daniel Dashford.

Daniel and I met shortly after Elpheba died. I was having a drink at the bar in my New Hartford neighborhood, and there he was, looking like a snack. Truly. And he smelled amazing. Luckily, I had some blood bags in my purse. For emergencies.

It didn't take long to wine him up and get him back to my place. And he blew my mind, which by this time, wasn't an easy thing to do. Luckily, he was also a casual sex person. And he put my application through immediately, and not just so we could see more of each other, but because my application was flawless. My MCAT scores were well above average. And because after a few long pillow talks, he was sure I would make an excellent physician. Sure, we continued to sleep around, but we always came back to each other. We understood each other on a level the superficial Hollywood people I dealt with for 15 years never could. He was 6'5," in obnoxiously good shape, ridiculously intelligent, dark-wavy haired, blue-eyed, compassionate, and swore like a sailor. He was my breath of fresh air. And trust me, my loyalty in this life was unwavering.

The month I was supposed to graduate was the month the Euro Influenza infiltrated the US, infecting 20,000 people within 3 weeks of its presence. This pandemic was particularly insidious, shutting down healthy immune systems in a matter of 24 hours. It was a chillingly similar disease to the second wave of the Spanish Influenza, primarily affecting healthy people in their 20s and 30s. Daniel, myself and my entire class were put on the frontlines pre-graduation in the hard-hit New York City, and I witnessed suffering like have never seen suffering before. All I wanted to do was save these people with my venom, but it was too overwhelming. These people were so sick, they were dropping dead upon arrival to the hospital. And it was thousands of people a day that would die in our hospital alone. I couldn't change thousands of people. So I did what I could, intubated every person that I could, held as many hands as I could as people took their last breath. Then, Daniel got sick.

We were staying together in an apartment in Astoria when I felt him burning up next to me. I caressed his face, dreading what I assumed would be happening next.

"Daniel… do you have a fever?"

He suddenly shot out of bed, running towards the bathroom, stumbling and vomiting on himself and our bedroom floor. I scooped him up effortlessly, cradling him like a child and brought him to the bathroom. He eyed me with wild surprise as he tried to catch his breath. Daniel was my best friend. I had been overfeeding to maintain self-control at the hospitals. I could change him safely. My decision was made.

"What the fuck Gilly, have you been lifting?" he asked ironically as he wheezed.

I set him on the cool linoleum floor, ran at vampire speed to the bed and back with a pillow, and set it behind his head. He was bewildered.

"Um… I'm hallucinating right? Lack of oxygen?"

"Nope. I'm a vampire."

He guffawed. "You're a fucking idiot."

"Thank you." I smirked. "You don't want to die, right?"

He stared gagging. I sat him up, more vomiting. He was shaking violently at this point.

"Well, it's kind of inevitable. We can get me to the hospital, intubate me, whatever, but I likely won't wake up."

"Forget inevitable. I'm being dead ass. I am a vampire. Do you want to live forever?"

He laughed again, an ironic laugh. "Honestly, that sounds amazing. But I'm pretty sure you're fucking high, dude."

I took him by the shoulders at this point, and stared deeply into his eyes. "Daniel, you will not scream, you will not thrash, you will be completely still until you've completed your transformation. When you do, there will be blood bags in the fridge to drink from, go straight to them and drink as many as you desire. Do not leave this apartment. This is going to hurt like a bitch." Then, I plunged my teeth into his carotid. As I set him back on the floor, bleeding slightly from his pulsating neck, his eyes were wide with terror, but he laid still and quiet.

I cleaned up the apartment and went to Daniel's next shift, hypnotizing people into thinking it was mine. When I came back, he was still lying there, motionless. He almost looked peaceful, except for his wild eyes.

When I arrived on the third day, I found him draining one of the blood bags I left, very casually, as if it were a cup of morning coffee.

"Oh. There you are. Care for some A neg?" He offered the bag to me.

I ran to him and threw my arms around him. "Holy shit, welcome to the other side."

He kissed me hard on the lips. "I just have to say, you're a bitch. Thank you for saving me. But why didn't you do this to me four years ago?"

"Really? I thought you would be super bummed about the whole blood thing."

"Nah, it's cool as long as we can get more of these bags and I don't have to kill people."

I smiled. "Luckily, one of my vampire powers is hypnosis, so you'll never kill a person on my watch. You have some life saving to do."

"Waaaait. Can I hypnotize people too?" He pulled me into his arms and stared wildly into my eyes. "Take off all of your clothes."

I pushed him away, laughing. "No, dude. That's just me. Thank god."

He pouted. Fuck, he was a ridiculously hot immortal. "Well then, take advantage of me, please?"

"Later." I waved him off begrudgingly. Later we'll literally make this fourth floor apartment concave into the third… my god… "I have to get you to the hospital and see what you're made of under hypnosis."

He smirked. "Honestly, I can see the veins of the leaves on the tree across the street. From here. I won't even need loupes anymore. Like whaaat. Wait." He paused dramatically. "Am I going to want to eat everyone?"

"Will you just shut up? I'm going to make sure that never, ever happens. Right now." I locked eyes with him. His face went blank, like every subject I've ever hypnotized.

"Daniel, you will never deliberately kill and or feed on another being." Simple. I released him from my gaze, he smiled and he immediately started making out with me. Typical newborn horniness. I remembered that like it were yesterday… the torn clothes… the muddy forest floor… Ronan…

I pushed him off of me playfully. "Later." I laughed. "Work time."

He pouted as he picked up his scrubs. "But I don't wannaaaa. I'm immortal now! We don't have to quarantine or worry about spreading disease! Let's go to Paris." He was fully dressed now. In the scrubs he was… Wow.

"Again, dumbass. Later." I grabbed my keys and purse. "Let's go save some lives first."

He groaned dramatically and took my hand.

I eyed him nervously as we walked through the hospital doors. I was very confident in my powers… but I knew there was always a merit of error. He could have developed shield powers as a vampire.

Luckily, he seemed cool. Totally at ease as he waved to our nurse team whilst flashing his breathtaking smile… the nurse's eyes practically popped out of their heads. I couldn't see behind their facemasks and shields, but I'm sure their jaws were on the floor at the sight of Vampire Dr. Daniel.

After donning all of the PPE we didn't need, we were immediately sent to the Euro virus trauma unit to do our rounds. We were greeted by twenty new cases, all hacking and vomiting. Another day of terror.

As I tended to my patients, I watched Daniel closely. He seamlessly worked, intubating patients, holding their hands, speaking to his colleagues calmly. There wasn't an ounce of him that seemed preoccupied with feeding. He was brilliant.

As we stripped out of our PPE at the end of the day, he laughed. "I was lightning fast today… and no one died. For the first time in… I don't know, since this started? Holy shit. That was incredible. Thank you, Gilly."

I smiled and nodded, musing over his clean death record. I had five die today alone, and he handled many more patients than me. "That is incredible, Daniel. That was all you. I'm really, really glad."

His smiling eyes became sultry. "So… let's shower together when we get back?" He flew towards me and grabbed me hard around the waist, pulling me into him.

The Welcome to Vampirism, Here's the Truth About My Entire Past, Don't Piss Off the Volturi talk could come after a really solid night breaking every surface in our apartment. We didn't have to sleep tonight, or ever, after all. "Abso-fucking-lutely."

Not to go into any detail… but the first night with Vampire Daniel in our Astoria apartment was the absolute best sex I've had in all of my lifetimes. Hands-down.

In between all of that, I filled him in on all of the ins and outs of the Volturi, the do's and don'ts of being a vampire, my time in Hollywood, and my time in Forks. This was my first time ever briefing anyone on any of this… and the reaction I thought I'd have talking about my first life was completely the contrary. I promised myself when I marched away from Bella that the Cullens would be a blip on my radar. I swore that the beautiful life I was bound to live would erase the empathy, the love, the loss and the pain. But when I began to speak about the small, rainy, green town where I began this journey, I could barely do it. I found myself breathless, even though I don't need oxygen.

When I spoke about Ronan, my chest was heavy. When I spoke about my mom and sisters, their faces were blurry in my memory, as hard as I tried to remember every outline. It broke my heart.

He held me close, our cold bodies intertwined as I practically whispered about the last moments in my old house and the complicated ending with my first love.

"Jesus," I breathed. "I've never told anyone about all of this. It's… I'm sorry."

He kissed my forehead. "I love the name Ava. Wow."

If I were human, I'd have tears streaming down my face. "Thank you. So do I."

"She sounds like she was really brave, Gilly."

I let out a long breath through my lips, letting them trill. "Yeah, she was."

"And at sixteen, damn it."

"Yeah."

"Ronan could've done more." He held me tighter.

I sighed. "He really couldn't, I didn't let him. He loved me so much. I just wasn't ready for it. Not sure if I ever will be."

"He could've fought harder. That family could've fought harder for you. You were so young. Where is… the shield or whatever the fuck…"

"Bella."

"Yeah, you would think by now, during one of the worst global pandemics the world has seen in over one hundred years, she would at least reach out, right? I've had so many people come out of the woodwork to check on me."

I chuckled, turning my face towards his cheek. "Well, the difference between your friends and my friends is that my friends can't die… so…"

"Good point." He took the opportunity to kiss me passionately. I thought we were about to go again when he pulled away and looked deeply into my eyes, searching.

"I need you to know something before we inevitably have sex again."

I laughed. "Okay, shoot."

"Okay. I want you to know that I'll never leave you like they did." He put a strand of hair behind my ear, cupping my face in his hands. "You're my best friend. You saved my fucking life, Gilly-Elphaba-Ava-whatever-the-hell… and I've been wanting to tell you for ages that I love you. But I didn't want it to be weird or for us to then have to define this because we don't have to. I just want you to know that you can always count on me, for all of the years we are on this planet, which I guess is forever. You or I might find someone new; you might need to go live a crazy passionate life in Spain while I'm in Portland, who the hell knows. Regardless, I will be here in any capacity you need me, always. Does that make sense?"

I kissed him then, in a way that was more than what would be considered a best friend, a fiancé, even a husband-and-wife kiss. It was a soul mate kiss. It was to seal an unspoken promise that Daniel and I would absolutely never break.

It was then that Daniel's phone rang. It was 4am, hours before we were supposed to be back to the hospital for rounds.

"Hello?" he answered, before falling silent for minutes staring into my eyes intently.

We listened as one of the nurses on our floor cried to him over the receiver, telling him that all of his patients were off of their ventilators. Every single person he tended to the day before was awake, responsive, and had incredibly improved vitals. They were each subsequently tested for the virus, and each test came back negative. It was a miracle. He was told to get to the hospital as soon as he could.

He didn't let go of my gaze as he hung up the phone. My jaw was practically on the floor. I didn't know what to say. If my theory was right… he was about to cure the world.

"Holy shit, Daniel. Do you know what this might mean?"

"Yeah, I'm waiting for you to say it before I do. I feel like having this assumption come out of my mouth first will… I don't know… sound stupid coming from a novice vampire."

I chuckled. "No, Daniel. I think your power is healing."

He shook his head. "That is… insane."

"Yeah, it is. But it makes sense to me. One of the most talented and empathetic doctors would have this power. A vampire that saves human lives. It makes total sense."

He jumped out of bed at that moment, took me by the waist and swung me around. We laughed and squealed at the irony. A vampire literally made to cure infectious disease. What kind of joke was that? It was a beautiful one, but a very ironic one indeed.

We donned our scrubs immediately after this realization and went to the hospital. From here, we took extra caution. With my hypnosis and his expertise, we were able to cure everyone in our hospital with a "vaccine" that I convinced everyone was experimented with only in this hospital. From there, we found a bit of Daniel's saliva (which we found was not vampire venomous) could be replicated in a lab to become a distributed vaccine. A month later, the Euro Virus vaccine he created was available around the world and saved millions of lives.

Daniel and I stayed in New York after this, we collected the accolades for being the "Doctors that Cured the World," lived in a brownstone in Brooklyn and partied hard. During all of the partying, we found he could cure only infectious diseases and only in humans. His touch or his saliva could cure pneumonia, the common cold, viruses, influenza, measles and the like. Unfortunately, we found that cancer, broken bones, traumatic head injuries and the like weren't on this list.

At around year fifteen of this life, after an insane night out and consequent foursome with strangers, we stared at each other in bed for a while, holding hands. We knew it was time; he was just waiting for me to say it. The "novice" vampire looking for the "experienced" vampire's lead.

After a while, I sighed. "We're going to die in a fiery cab accident tomorrow."

He laughed. "Jesus, again with the dramatic death."

I shrugged. "Hey, gotta go out with a bang."

"You're right, we deserve it. It was a good run for Gilly and Daniel." He held his hand up for a high-five.

I reciprocated. "It really was."

My next life was that of a lawyer's in London as Faye Madigan. British accents are fun. And so is partying in law school.

Daniel headed to France to be a painter named John Libby. We saw each other once a month and spoke to each other on the pod everyday.

Falling in love with Daniel was slow, fun and completely unexpected. After Forks, I didn't think I was capable of anything as real and enveloping as my love for Daniel. He made it so easy to do, though. He was my partner in this insane life. There was nothing complicated about us.

One night in Paris, beneath the Eifel tower, he proposed to me.

"I figured… why not? In this life, we can be engaged. Next one, maybe get married? If we feel like it?"

I decided to end the lawyer life early. Litigation wasn't my thing. I died in a tragic swimming accident and became a marine biologist. Clara Lowe. Clara was the lucky lady that had the honor of becoming Daniel's bride.

We were married in Alaska where I was studying orcas while Daniel was teaching medicine at the University. We exchanged vows in front of a very small group of colleagues next to the ocean. We picked the day of the summer solstice so we could have an entire twenty-four hours of celebration, which after the quaint ceremony, we did alone by the ocean.

After hours of swimming, sex and feeding on fresh bags, we laid in the luxurious tent we pitched on the beach, watching the sun graze the coastline.

Daniel's fingers were interlaced with mine. "Forever and ever and ever. I'm so glad I get to do it with you, Gilly."

"Me too." I sighed as I laid on his chest, feeling the happiest I ever had. Or the happiest I'd been since the teenage days of Forks, which at this point, was a little over fifty years prior.

The next five years in Alaska were married bliss. Studying magnificent creatures, living in a little house in Rogers Park, brilliant summers, dark winters, adventures through the glaciers, love making under the Northern Lights. I think when I look back on my life these will be some of my most cherished memories. Anchorage with my husband, Dr. Daniel Dashford. My compassionate, hilarious, beautiful best friend.

Our next life, Daniel decided, would be as performers on the West End.

"GILLY. Come on. Could you imagine us playing opposite each other in Les Mis?"

I chuckled. Daniel knew as much about musical theatre as I did about being human at this point.

"Daniel, I'd be Cosette and you would very clearly be Javert. We would never be on stage at the same time."

Daniel beamed at me. He loved my love for the performing arts. He was getting antsy in the small city of Anchorage. Now that he had perfect pitch as a side effect of being a perfect being, he wanted to sing in a musical, but on a huge stage where he could practice his since perfected British accent.

"I want to watch you be brilliant first hand, my beautiful, smart, sexy songbird." He swooped me into a waltz and began bellowing "Ten Minutes Ago" from Cinderella. I belly laughed and joined in.

"Ten Minutes Ago" reminded me of mine and Ronan's swift, dangerous, young, passionate love. A love that remained etched in my heart, a permanent scar.

I kissed Daniel as I felt those memories resurface, and I felt his fire engulf me. This, this was what love was supposed to feel like all along. It was supposed to encompass every inch of your soul in a warm, safe, supportive, secure, passionate grasp. It was supposed to feel long, historically fiery, and most of all, easy-going. It wasn't supposed to be full of loss and grief and theatrics and fear. Daniel and I had been together for thirty-five years and it never felt dire. The stakes were never high. We were always on the same page. There was never any questioning. We were safe and uninhibited with each other.

"Let's do the West End, love." I bellowed in my greatest Cockney dialect.

I now wish that I never agreed to something so reckless.

We entered the West End scene as Christine Pearson and Dylan Greer, recent MA grads from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I hypnotized our way into being replacements in My Fair Lady, Eliza and Henry Higgins. At first, it was incredibly fun. To witness someone fall in love with live theatre for the first time was heartwarming. Daniel was incredible and so humble. Audiences loved us, giving us rave reviews and extending the closing show by six weeks. However, as we were approaching the final weeks of our extension, articles started to emerge about Christine Pearson's striking resemblance to the late megastar Elpheba. These articles were breaking on small, insignificant gossip sites at first. I would laugh off the questions in interviews:

I've been getting this huge compliment since I was a kid. Although, I've always been a natural brunette and Elpheba a redhead… she was much, much prettier.

I wish I was Elpheba reincarnated! She was a star, gone much too soon.

Oh, thank you for thinking that we're twins! We're not, we don't even have the same eye color. I admire her so much.

I started hypnotizing these people to stop asking such crazy questions, but they kept coming. I couldn't keep up.

By closing week, there were conspiracy theorists showing up at our stage door, screaming and throwing things at us. At this point, I figured enough was enough. I would repeat the Carlisle plan: I'd hypnotize the whole continent into realizing that Elpheba and Christine were not the same person by going on national television.

"That's a brilliant plan from my brilliant Eliza." Daniel cooed that afternoon before our closing show, as we lay in bed, naked, intertwined.

"I'll see you at your very first closing night, you fucking star." I unlaced myself from him and gave him a long kiss. "I love you, Henry Higgins."

I got dressed and left for the BBC headquarters, feeling confident I had it under control, as everything in my vampire life had been up to this point.

I hypnotized my way on to the 4pm live news spot, said my piece and left.

When I got to the theater, Daniel wasn't in his dressing room. He wasn't on stage warming up. He hadn't signed in.

I felt myself starting to panic.

The stage manager ran up to me, "Dylan isn't answering his phone. Half hour until curtain. Why aren't you in costume? We're going to have his understudy go on. Please get ready Miss Pearson."

I could barely speak. "I… I have to find Daniel…"

"Who? Miss Pearson, we need you ready to go on…"

I saw it in my head. I knew what had happened. I was too late. I could barely respond and I slipped into my American accent: "Please have our covers go on tonight, I'm sorry, I'm sick."

I bolted out of the theater at vampire speed. I didn't care. I could feel it in my bones. Daniel was gone. I was too late.

As I got closer to our flat, I heard the sirens. I heard the screaming. I heard the crying.

Fire! There's a fire!

And there was our flat building, ablaze. Where I had left Daniel in bed. Where we had made love for the last time.

It was at that moment, I stopped dead in my tracks. I began screaming. Screaming, and screaming, and screaming. I fell to the ground. They got him. They got him, and they were here. The legendary Italian vampire dictators were real, and they were here. And I was next.

In that instant, I was thrown off of the ground and into the alley, away from the wailing sirens and people.

My head cracked on the pavement and my arms were held above my head. I was still screaming. I couldn't stop screaming.

"Quiet, you stupid, stupid girl." A man snapped at me.

I did stop, a quieter wailing still slipped from my lips as I tried to inch out of his iron grasp.

"Ava Jameson…" a woman this time, a girl. She approached and locked eyes with me. A small, crimson eyed girl. Sudden, searing pain shot through me. I screamed and thrashed at the agony.

"STOP!" I screamed. "STOP! YOU ALREADY KILLED HIM! JUST KILL ME! I DON'T WANT TO BE ALIVE IF HE'S NOT HERE."

The little girl smiled. She began to chuckle, and the pain subsided. "Demetri, sit her up, please."

The man swiftly ripped me off of my back and into a seated position. I gritted my teeth as I faced the little girl who I had only heard about in my human years. The girl who inflicted excruciating pain with just a look. Next to her was a boy of similar stature, and next to him, a gorgeous, formidable, Italian looking woman. My heart sank.

"Ava, allow me to introduce myself. I am Jane. Here with me today is Demetri, my brother, Alec, and our newest member-"

"Gianna." I sneered. Gianna grinned at me. I imagined her ravaging Ronan's family, his Ree…

"Right." Jane said haughtily. "We are members of the Volturi, we keep the vampire world in check, and we've been waiting for you to break another rule. In my opinion, we've given you too many passes, Ava Jameson. Aro, Marcus and Caius decided it was time for you and Daniel to pay your dues. Daniel Dashford's sentence was death-"

At this confirmation, I began to thrash and scream again. Jane locked eyes with me and the agony began again, shooting up my spine and through my extremities. Nothing hurt as bad as losing Daniel. Nothing. My grief began to spiral into anger as Jane's spell wore off.

"Quiet, idiot." Gianna quipped.

Jane continued. "Saving human lives by vampire intervention is far too dangerous, which Gianna found to be true in checking inconclusive medical journals published by you and Daniel Dashford during the pandemic years. Scientists are catching on. The data isn't adding up to something of human conception. Your second offense, and also your first offense: entering the limelight as a vampire. It raises too many questions, no matter how powerful your persuasion ability is. There are too many holes left by those resistant to your power. Therefore, Daniel is gone."

"What about me? What are you gonna do to me, Jane?" I asked, indignant now.

Jane smiled. "You, Ava Jameson, are too valuable to kill. You will be coming with us."

"Oh yeah, Jane? You can fuck yourself before I ever go anywhere with you murderous tyrants." I locked eyes with her, ready to cast my spell, when she snapped her fingers.

"Lucky for us, Ava Jameson, we've enlisted some familiar help. Show yourself, Isabella."

And then she approached from the shadows, her brown hair falling perfectly by her sorry, amber eyes. Bella Swan-Cullen. My ex-sister.

"Hi, Ava." She greeted me in a steady voice.

"Should've fucking known." I spit. The Shield.

Jane continued. "Isabella has been enlisted by us as a protection, you will be unable to use your powers of persuasion on us as long as she is here. You will be coming with us to Voltura."

A long, sleek black car pulled into the alley. I was pulled off of the ground and shoved into the car. Bella slid in next to me and the rest ushered behind her. We rode in silence to an airport where we were shuffled onto a private jet to Italy. Bella tried to make eye contact with me on the flight, but I refused to look at her. I knew she wasn't good, but I didn't realize she was downright evil.

We were shuffled into the Volturi's medieval compound about an hour later, my mind reeling in the fog as we weaved through the halls. My love, dead. My life, over. Bella, the evil bitch, shielding my ability to escape.

Through the fog, I thought, how the hell did she end up working for the Volturi? What about-

We rounded a corner that opened to a large atrium where I saw him, stone-faced, waiting for our arrival.

"Edward." I muttered.

His solemn eyes found mine. "Avs."

I was stunned by his greeting. He remembered me. Just as Bella had promised Edward, she lifted her shield and shared her memories of me with him. She reversed my erasure.

Bella joined him, holding his hand. They kept their eyes on me, their concern apparent. Why were they apprehensive? It was at this moment it occurred to me: they were not here by choice.

My eyes went straight to Edward. Could he hear me? Or was Bella ordered to shield the whole room?

Edward. Blink twice if you can hear me.

He remained unmoving, but eyes intently on mine.

"What do we have here? Our little talented, troublemaking superstar. My name is Aro." An ancient, paper-skinned yet angelic, red-eyed being slinked my way. The leader, I assumed. He took my hand in his and stared deep into my eyes. After a moment, he smiled. "Fascinating. You are more powerful than I ever could have imagined. I've never met a persuader as strong as you in all of my years. Luckily, we have the ever magnificent Isabella here to keep you in check while you're in training."

Aro then sauntered towards Edward and Bella, taking their hands and intently looking into their eyes as they did mine. What was he doing? Reading them like Ronan could read memories? If he was using his powers on us, Bella must have momentarily lifted her shield. Is this why Edward didn't blink back? Was he withholding until Aro was done reading? Or had Bella and Edward truly betrayed me?

"Thank you, Edward and Isabella." Aro crowed, clapping his hands together. He turned towards me. "Now, you must meet the rest of the family, young Ava."

My eyes hadn't left Edward's, who at this moment, blinked twice. My confirmation. They were on my side.

Have Bella take down her shield when I snap. Close your eyes and shield Bella's. I'll get you both out safe. Blink once if you heard this.

Edward blinked. He took Bella's hand. I watched him caress it. Bella's eyes caught mine. As far as I could tell, they were in.

As Aro lined up the Volturi clan, I went through the plan in my head. I didn't usually persuade this many people at a time if not on a screen. When doing it live, it was a bit more difficult, but almost always worked when using a commanding voice and character presence. When I was Elpheba, I'd persuaded live audiences to stay silent, cry, or clap for entire shows when I got bored during Broadway runs. I once hypnotized entire audiences to leave mid-show when my partner/co-star Eduardo was cheating on me, causing the production to close that very week.

If my plan worked, this would be closing night for the Volturi. However, never in my life had I hypnotized an entire room of vampires.

"Alright, Ava Jameson." Aro beamed. "Time to meet your new clan."

I snapped my fingers. Edward squeezed his eyes shut and shoved Bella's face into his chest.

"EVERYONE FREEZE." I commanded.

Everyone obeyed, eyes wide open, not moving a muscle. All of those beautiful, ancient, incredibly powerful vampires, who spent their years victimizing others, were now about to be brutally victimized by each other.

I walked up to Alec first. His eyes wildly searched mine until they went still, pupils dilated, under my control. "Alec, when I snap my fingers, you are to kill your insufferable sister, Jane."

I approached one of the ancient ones next. "Edward, who is this?" I asked.

"Caius." He stated. "Next to him is Marcus."

I waited for Caius' searching, ancient eyes to meet mine and for his pupils to dilate. "Caius, when I snap my fingers, you are to kill Marcus."

I continued down the line, giving each evil vampire another evil vampire to kill, until each was set for execution by the other.

I stepped into the middle of the room, ready to snap my fingers, when Bella piped in.

"You forgot about Gianna."

I turned to her and smiled. "She's for us, Bella."

She nodded and joined me. Edward followed.

I looked at my ex-brother and sister and gave them a nod. Bella grabbed my free hand.

I snapped my fingers.

The carnage began immediately. Limbs being ripped apart, screams, cries, fires, and absolute confused chaos. We stood; holding hands, while the Volturi brutally murdered one another.

Finally, as the last died, we approached the still frozen Gianna, the last one standing. It didn't take much for the three of us to get our revenge.

Once the clan was dead and the pieces were sufficiently burned, we carjacked the black Mercedes we arrived in and headed to the airport in silence. My brain was empty. I think this is what it felt like to be in shock as a vampire.

Once parked in the parking garage, Edward and Bella shoved themselves into the backseat with me, each taking one of my hands, as the shock became unbearable grief. I screamed. I cried. I kicked. I broke the middle console of the car. I laid in Bella's lap when I was spent, Edward stroked my hair.

I cried for Forks. I cried for my lives. I cried for my family, who at this point, was probably if not long dead, close to dead. I cried, mostly, for Daniel. And, surprisingly, I cried for Ronan. I cried for how badly I wanted to be in his arms. To be comforted by him. To be comforted by the Cullens, to be in their safe, warm embrace. How it was too late for all of that. How that part of me was long dead, long forgotten, and all that was left was a dead, empty shell of a being.

Finally, when I was silent, I realized Edward was crying with me.

"Avs, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Edward." I breathed. "I'm so sorry, too."

"Don't be." He said, stroking my hair.

"Ava, you know you can come with us, right?" Bella said. "We're all separated at the moment, anyways. Esme and Carlisle are in Paris, Emmett and Rosalie in Berlin, Alice and Jasper in Vancouver, Renesmee and Jacob are in Portland. Edward and I explained everything; they remember you and they so desperately want you back in their lives. Take your pick."

I wanted to so badly, but I couldn't bring myself to ask where Ronan was. It was on the tip of my tongue, so I bit it back. I knew I didn't need to ask.

"Avs… do you really want to know?" He tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Edward…" Bella warned lightly.

"She deserves to know. If she wants to know."

"Just tell me, please. But… only if he's doing really, really well. That's the only way I want to know. I couldn't handle it if he's anything like me." I was choking the words out.

"Shhh…" Edward put his hand on my cheek. "Okay, I will only tell you because he is very, very happy."

I grabbed Bella's hand, holding on for dear life. She squeezed back. "I'm so, so, so relieved to hear that." I bawled.

Edward continued. "He lives in Portland, very close to Jake and Nessie. The three of them travel together, moving up and down the coastline every few years between Portland and Denali. About thirty years ago in Portland, he met his wife, Delaney."

I gasped as I was filled to the brim with gratitude. "He's married."

"Delaney Langford. You would love her, Avs. She's fiery, ambitious and loves so much, just like you. I think that's why Ronan took a liking to her right away. It was a long, confusing ten years for Ronan after you erased yourself. He was tormented by the confusing, diluted memories of the rising star Elpheba. He was enveloped in her memories every time he accidentally caught her on TV, and as you know, she was everywhere. She haunted him with a deep twinge of nostalgia that he couldn't explain, and he couldn't place why the man starring in these dull memories resembled him so much. Bella kept us all from the truth during those years as to not tip off Ronan's unknown trauma, so he was spared, Ava, you don't have to worry about that."

I squeezed Bella's hand. "Thank you."

Bella took the story from there. "Ronan met Delaney in college, they studied at the University of Washington together. Ronan was very popular at school. We all warned him to be careful, but he was done listening to us. He wanted to live a big college experience. He felt he had been robbed of that human privilege. He joined a fraternity and became its vice president his junior year."

I thought about Ronan doing a keg stand. I chuckled. Edward joined me.

"I have pictures." He whispered.

Bella continued. "Delaney was the sister sorority's president. She was a senior pre-law major. And while all of the girls in her sorority drooled over Ronan, she was focused on one three things: graduating, getting into a top law school, and working for a top law firm on the west coast. Ronan was starry-eyed for her. And she couldn't give him a second look." Bella chuckled.

"He's such a hopeless romantic." I murmured.

"He would not give this girl up." I could hear Bella roll her eyes. "She graduated and they kept in contact. She wouldn't date him, but they were friends. She went on to study law at Stanford, and we helped him forge his way in as a master's student in literature. At this point, Delaney was dating a very powerful attorney's son, and she was very much in love. Ronan stood dutifully by her side through all of this. I remember being on the pod with him during this time. 'Ronan,' I would say, 'this is insane. You look pathetic. Why are you letting this happen?' He would reply so calmly, in that puppy-dog way… you remember… 'I just want her to be happy, Bella. She's so happy with this dummy. But, when she isn't anymore… she'll remember who was always there for her.'

"I think back to this time, and it's been confirmed: Alice always reassured Ronan that Delaney and this attorney, named Chad, ha-ha, wouldn't work out. But I'm not sure how much of a long haul Ronan knew he was in for, and neither did Alice, I'd assume.

"Delaney and Chad got married right out of school and moved to Seattle to work at Chad's father's firm. Ronan followed, working on his 'book' and at a publishing company while he waited for Delaney to be done with Chad. Years passed, she cried to Ronan about neglect, suspicions of cheating and feeling so, so alone. She was moving up at the firm, however. It was working in her favor, so she had to stay in the relationship. Her dreams were coming true. Years continued to fly by, she had a baby girl, and then a baby boy with Chad. Ronan became their beloved uncle.

"After her second child, Chad admitted to cheating on Delaney. He abruptly left her and the kids, leaving them the house and child support, but ultimately Delaney was left as a senior partner at the firm and single mother of two. Ronan became a live in at that point, dedicating his life to the children and to Delaney, as he had for the prior ten years. The children loved him like a father. This is when Delaney realized her feelings for Ronan… it was Ronan all along. Of course it was.

"Once the divorce was finalized, it was Delaney that got down on one knee and proposed to Ronan, and this was when he had to come clean about who he really was. In true Delaney fashion, she 'did not give a single fuck.'" Bella chuckled. "Her words."

"I like her." I mused.

Edward took it from there. "They were married with out a second thought. They would move every ten to fifteen years with the kids to dodge suspicion; they would professionally age Ronan for family visits. It was settled. But the question that begged to be asked would be left unasked until finally, on Delaney's 36th birthday, a distraught Ronan couldn't keep it inside anymore.

"He asked her, 'Delaney, I don't know how I'm going to be able live without you. I could safely change you and the kids if that's what you would want…' to which Delaney cupped his cold face and sighed. Tears sprung into her eyes. She had been waiting to have this conversation, too. 'I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. I can't think about leaving you in death, either. But I can't ask my children to be immortal, because I run the risk of one of them telling me they would rather be human, and I want to be gone before my children are gone. I don't want to live past them. Does that make sense?' She pleaded with him. He smiled his Ronan smile, embraced this woman eighteen years his senior, and promised to be with her until the day she died. He would live as an eighteen-year old boy next to his aging wife and adopted children who would soon surpass him in age."

"Delaney is fifty-eight now." Bella took over. "Their daughter, Sage, is thirty and Bryce is twenty-eight. They are happy. So, so, so happy. As they move around, Ronan plays a different part. Right now, in Portland, Delaney is playing his great aunt. Before that, Ronan went to med school with Bryce. They're both doctors now."

I was floored. "Wow."

Bella put her head in her hands. "Yeah."

"It's… peculiar." Edward said. "But they're wonderful people. The kids have turned into wonderful adults. They know all about us and treat us like family. Bryce will be doing his residency at the hospital Carlisle works. And Sage actually just came to visit us in Amsterdam before Alice warned us of the Volturi."

I was absorbing the information, but was still in the fog, in the shock. It felt like too much. It was all too, too much.

I sat up from Bella's lap, taking hers and Edward's hands.

"Thank you both for saving me." I told them. "And thank you for letting me know Ronan's happy and surrounded by love. I don't know how I'll ever repay you. I appreciate the invite back into your lives, but I think I have to go away for a while. I'm not sure if you'll hear from me. I hope you understand…"

Edward nodded. "Of course we understand. Alice predicted it would go this way. You need some time. Your time as a vampire, while very vibrant and full, has also been very traumatic, Ava. You just suffered a great loss. Take all of the time that you need."

I nodded, turning towards them. "I should probably erase this, for Ronan's sake…" I tried to lock eyes with Edward, but he was unfazed by my hypnosis.

"No need," Bella said, intently shielding us. "In recent years, my power has evolved past shielding vampire powers, I can also shield certain memories and thoughts. As long as I am here, I will protect Ronan from you."

Her words stung, although I knew that wasn't the intent. Edward squeezed my hand reassuringly. These people really did love me, after all of these years, after everything that I did.

"Thank you both," I said, my emotional well spent, my decision of an isolationist life made. "I love you both very much. Please extend my well wishes to family. I miss them, more than you will ever know."

"Of course," Bella said, embracing me. Edward's arms encircled us as well.

We stayed like this for minutes. Pretty soon, an hour had passed, without a word, without a breath. I peeled myself away slowly at this point, and Edward slid out of the car. I followed.

As we parted ways, Bella stopped me with her words. "Remember, Naple's Coffee. 10:30 BST, exactly forty-four years from today. Ronan and I will be there."

I stood frozen, having completely forgotten about Alice's premonition. "I'll be there."

The forty years that followed were a life of isolation. I forbid myself to make friends. I chose careers that only had to do with animals. Wildlife preservation in Canada. Studying penguins in the Antarctic. Exploration of the Siberian tundra. A voyage through the Amazon.

During this time, I went through all of my timelines in depth. After hearing about Ronan and his happiness without me having invaded his timeline, I wondered how Alicia, Alison and my mother fared. Had they been better off? Were they happy?

While in Canada, I finally brought myself to do an Internet search on the three of them. They had all since passed, I could not find cause of death. In life, Alicia and Alison had started a very successful online fashion site with my mother that was still in existence, called A&A. I ordered a lavender cable-knit sweater from the site. When it arrived to my then apartment outside of Vancouver, I read the company's statement printed on a colorful card that came with each shipment:

A&A: Sustainable clothing made in loving memory of our sister, Ava.

I didn't leave my apartment for two months, losing the job I'd been working part time at a conservation site, nor did I take off that cable knit sweater. I let the grief overcome me, reduce me to nothing, and soon after, I rose from the ashes, paid my overdue rent, and left for Antarctica.

While in Antarctica, I thought about Ronan. He was a husband, and a father. I felt nothing but bliss for him during the years in Antarctica with the penguins. I had imaginary conversations with Ronan about his life, love, and fatherhood. It was probably the happiest I was in isolation, with my imaginary friend, my first love, Ronan Swan-Dwyer.

The Siberian tundra is where I processed my grief for Daniel, which was the most pain I've ever endured. Luckily, there wasn't much to really study here, just samples of the earth and inconclusive explanations written by other scientists. I walked around with the guilt, the fear, the shame and the regret for ten years in the barren, freezing cold. But as we spoke in our imaginary conversations, the memories of our beautiful, once in a lifetime relationship began to blur out the tragic end. I finally concluded that Daniel would want me to be happy. To move on. To enjoy my life as much as we had enjoyed our lives together. He would want me to perform. He would want me to learn. He would want me to sing. He would want me to dance and laugh and make love and fall in love and create. He wouldn't want me to live out the rest of my immortal years in the desolate tundra. And with the blessing from my imaginary, sweet, funny Daniel, I packed up for a voyage through the Amazon with some of the top ecologists in the world.

Through the Amazon, I sang with the birds, I chirped with the insects and I became close friends with my extremely talented coworkers. I saved their lives a few times from wild animals, realizing that my persuasion powers now translated to animals. We became friends with the wildlife, learned about them in the most intimate way we possibly could under my persuasion. I drank with my colleagues under the rainforest canopy, laughing with other people for the first time in over thirty years. At this point, I realized that I had forgiven myself. I was at peace.

After the Amazon, I had four years left before Naple's Coffee. I decided to enroll myself in a BFA music theatre program at a small college in Ithaca, New York. My name was Elaina Dame.

It was a beautiful place, Ithaca. And the kids in the program, so full of excitement, their whole lives ahead of them. It was exactly where I needed to be.

Once in the program, I relinquished my powers of hypnosis and let the semesters play out. I could've taught the classes, I could've corrected the teachers as they spoke of what they thought a career in the American theatre looked like, but instead I sat back and listened.

I wasn't the star of the department. I purposely let the other young women shine; I lifted them up and acted as a cheerleader. Of course, there were the typical nasty ones who came after me out of insecurity, but I brushed them off and protected the true talents. During senior year, I lived in a single dorm as an RA, and let the star female of our class crash with me, Leslie, a commuter working two jobs to put herself through school while playing Fanny Brice in the department's production Funny Girl. She was secretly dating the bigheaded star male of our class, Mark, her Nicky Arnstein.

We soon found out Mark was two-timing her with a dancer in the cast. Leslie was losing it before going on stage for our second show.

"How am I supposed to go on with that complete asshole?" She cried, her stage makeup running down her face.

"Leslie, I'm going to tell you a story…" Since I couldn't tell her the tales I had of infidelity and persuasion on Broadway, I somehow pulled from my dull human memory the tale of a boy who cheated on me in high school with my best friend while I was in Wicked. Though many years ago now and from the perspective of someone who didn't even feel like me, this story resonated with Leslie.

"I went on and did the show," I explained to her. "I didn't speak to either of them except for when we were saying lines to each other on stage. It is the most professional and honorable thing you can do, and truly, the biggest 'fuck you' you can say to the guy. Go out there and shine because you're a fucking star and he isn't shit."

Leslie wiped away her tears and pulled me into a tight embrace. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Elaina."

I was holding on to this girl, young enough to be my great granddaughter, when it occurred to me: I would've made a great mother.

Leslie went on to be the most beautiful Fanny Brice I ever did see. I broke abstinence from hypnosis to convince Mark to fall into the pit during "You Are Woman, I Am Man," causing him to break his ankle and be out for the rest of the run. His understudy, a lanky kid with a beautiful vibrato, Gabe, was an incredible replacement. A win-win situation.

Graduation was swiftly approaching at this point and the one-hundred-year-mark date on the calendar showed its face in May. I wasn't going to be able to walk the stage or say farewell to my friends, or, rather, self-proclaimed sons and daughters. I was going to have to board the jet before then. I couldn't say goodbye to Leslie. It came time for me to erase myself in our last assembly class while we were all gathered.

I decided this would be the last time I would ever have to erase myself if London went the way I was hoping.

When all were sufficiently hypnotized, I left a money order check in Leslie's car to pay for the remainder of her student loans. If only I was her mother, I would guide her through the cruel, amazing, terrifying, exhilarating world she was about to enter post-college. I left for the airport, giddy for what lay ahead for that beautiful, talented, ambitious young girl.

When I landed in London the morning of the coffee shop, I suddenly felt the dread wash over me. What if he didn't show up? What if Alice's timeline had changed? They had no way of reaching me.

I panicked as I approached the little place, a hole-in-the-wall, hipster-y place in downtown. Young people bustled in and out, on their way to work, on their pods doing work at tables: a typical day in the lives of many of these London-dwelling youths.

As for me, forever-sixteen Ava Jameson, after all of these lives and working through one hundred years of grief, I felt sixteen waiting for Ronan.

At exactly 10:30, I saw him approach on the busy street. He was dressed in a black pea coat, gray dress pants and black shoes. His hair was slicked back and tame, not an ounce of resemblance to the shaggy surfer hair he once donned. But his face, his face was exactly the same. The beautiful, boyish features. The eyes that once regarded me with so much love. The memories washed over me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. After all of these years, all of this time, all of these events. He was really here.

Ronan.

When my body allowed me to, I slowly stood to greet him.

"Hi." He muttered through slightly gritted teeth, though he tried to hide his pain with a small smile. The memories. He was reading my memories.

"Hi, Ronan." I breathed.

We stared into each other's eyes for a few moments as he continued to process the last one hundred years of my life. His face continued to stay slightly contorted as he did so. He grasped the chair next to him, practically bending the iron seat back in his fist.

"Wow," he choked finally.

I nodded. "Yeah."

He sat down and I joined him. He put his head in his hands.

"Bella told me that we knew each other. I've seen you in Alice's visions as well. You were a television, movie and music megastar and I saw the wreckage of the plane crash you died in on the news. But you were also my fiancé? I'm seeing myself in all of these memories, including yours, but I don't have any recollection of them myself."

"Correct." I blurted. He waited for me to say more. I truly didn't know what to say. I was lost in his confused, hurt, loving eyes.

"Ava, can you explain it to me? Everyone else in my family knows you. Bella won't relinquish the shield on me until we speak. And I'm ready to know… Alice's vision said I'm ready to know now. I was able to ignore the curiosity for so long as I'm sure it's a painful truth. And I was happy, a husband and a father. My wife, she passed about twenty years ago now."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. Bella and Edward told me about Delaney, she sounded like an amazing woman."

Ronan watched me curiously. "She was. She was amazing. And I've grieved for her and processed the loss and will remember her always. But I feel like I wasn't able to grieve you for some reason. Why is that?"

I wanted to reach for Ronan's hands. I wanted to caress his face, run my fingers through his hair. Comfort him. I kept my hands crossed in my lap.

"I have the power of hypnosis. When we broke up, I erased myself from your memory and your whole family's memories, except for Bella who is immune to my powers. She reversed my spell on the rest of your family when I was in trouble with the Volturi. They killed my husband Daniel." I took a breath.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Ronan reached for my hand, and I released mine from underneath the table. I slowly reached for him, feelings of guilt enveloping me.

I don't deserve his touch, I don't deserve his comfort. I ran away, I erased myself, I was a coward.

When our fingers met at the center of the small tiled table, an electrical shock ran through my body, a feeling I hadn't felt for almost fifty years. Something so deep and primal and fiery. Like I had been suddenly tethered to earth, safe after floating into nothingness for so long. My breathing hitched. I heard Ronan's do the same. Our eyes locked.

He cracked a small smile and grasped my hand tightly. "Hi." He croaked.

"Hi." I croaked back, holding on for dear life.

Never let go. Never, ever, let go…

"Um…" I had lost my train of thought.

He smiled larger, laughing a bit. "Hang on, let's get this out of the way." He offered his other hand, and I took it at vampire speed. I felt bliss. I felt tethered. I felt tethered to the ground again. We held on to each other for dear life.

"Whoa." He laughed.

"Yeah." I laughed with him.

We looked into each other's eyes, his searching for answers as to why he was feeling the way he did about me. I didn't want to leave this moment. I couldn't bear to have him let go once he knew the truth.

"I… I don't know if you're going to like me very much once I tell you the rest, Ronan." I admitted. I could feel the hallow feeling in my chest beginning to form.

He's going to hate me. I'm going to lose him.

He grabbed my hands tighter, reassuring me. "Just, please. Go on."

I took a deep breath and continued. "As a young vampire, I couldn't keep my emotions and power-hungry nature in check. I was making you into a monster like me, and you're far from a monster, Ronan. I had to let you go. So I erased myself from your memory. I'm sure that has been confusing for you. And I am so, so, so sorry."

His furrowed brow returned, though he kept his grip on my hands.

"Okay." He said finally. "I'm ready."

Bella then came from around the corner. She nodded at me and put a hand on Ronan's shoulder. "Are you sure?"

Ronan nodded. Bella closed her eyes.

"Wait," I blurted before she could begin. "Let me. I owe it to you, Ronan. This will be the last time I persuade you, I promise. But let me…"

Ronan nodded, watching me intently. I locked his eyes and watched his pupils dilate.

I took a deep breath and repeated the words I did in our hotel room all of those years ago, the night I left him. "Ronan, let every hypnotic command I've ever given you go in this instant."

I watched the memories flood back as my persuasion took effect while Bella simultaneously relinquished her shield. Ronan's hands ripped away from mine, one by one. Suddenly, he was out of his chair, walking brusquely away from the coffee shop.

Bella sat in his chair as I watched him go.

I was floating again, distraught, lost in this vast, infinite world. Bella grabbed my still outstretched hands. "Listen, don't leave London yet. Wait a week. Hang around. There was one more thing that Alice saw that will make sense in a week's time. Just, stay, please. I have to go find him. I'm sorry, Ava, but hang in there."

In that instant, Bella was weaving through the downtown foot traffic, and I was alone in the world again.

I listlessly roamed London for six days, doing mind-numbing tourist activities, hoping to run into him. I rode the London Eye. I walked Abbey Road. Stood in front of Buckingham Palace for hours. I contemplated what I would do for the next one hundred years. I couldn't even fathom another one hundred years without feeling tethered to the earth. Without his hands in mine. Without the warmth of his eyes, his smile, his voice…

I booked a ticket back to New York before the week was up. I couldn't find anything else to do. I figured, the only thing that would make me feel better was singing in an underground New York piano bar. Some applause from anonymous humans. Anything to make me feel like I wasn't an empty shell of a being. Something to make me feel… somewhat alive.

I settled into a hotel in Chelsea and found one of my old favorite piano bars still in existence. I put on my favorite blue dress, one that reminded me of the color of my old human eyes, put some Curl in my hair, and did my face up, not that I had to do much. I wanted to feel beautiful.

I ran at vampire speed through the rainy streets of New York. So much for the Curl and make up.

I marched straight to the pianist when I got to the bar, soaked through, and hypnotized him into letting me go next.

In my most dramatic fashion, I chose "On My Own" from Les Miserables. The bar patrons quieted as I took the mic and began my tune of longing, still dripping from my outdoor stroll.

I was at the climax of the song when I saw him. He rushed in, soaked through like I was, his eyes immediately meeting mine. I stopped singing.

"COME ON!" One of the bar patrons heckled.

"FINISH THE SONG." Another piped in.

They were right. I picked up where the pianist was, my eyes never leaving his, until the song was finished.

I put the mic back into its stand, the bar erupted into ravenous applause, and the rest felt like it happened in slow motion.

My formative human years, falling in love for the first time, falling in love for the second time, the loss, the grief, the reckoning, the endless floating, the nothingness, the moment where I was tethered back to the ground, the feelings I never thought I would feel again, the love I didn't think I deserved after everything I had done.

I approached him towards the entrance of the bar and he offered me his hand. When I took it, electricity. He led me into the rain on the bustling New York City street.

"Ava, I'm sorry I ran away. It was too much. I was too angry and sad and confused." He explained.

"I understand, I'm so sorry, if it makes any difference, I would never, ever do that to you again, Ronan. It was wrong and cowardly. If I could do it all differently, I would have never erased myself. I would've faced it." I said, the rain acting like tears streaming down my face. I couldn't believe he was here, holding my hand. He looked for me. He found me.

Please, don't let go.

He nodded and took my other hand. "I thought about it. I considered everything. I thought about you. I can't stop thinking about you, actually."

I squeezed his hands so tightly. Please don't let go. "I can't stop thinking about you, either."

"It got me thinking… it's been such a long time, we've been through so much… and please say no if you don't want to and I will understand and leave you alone…" He trailed off, staring into my eyes, searching.

"What, Ronan?" I pleaded.

"Do you think… we could try this again?" His brow furrowed. He waited for me to answer.

I let go of his hands at this moment, my eyes not leaving his. His sad, confused, longing eyes. I put my hands on his broad, strong chest. Rain dripped from his once slicked back hair, it was now in waves around his face as I stepped closer, smelling his sweet, familiar scent. I felt my knees almost buckle as my lips met his, lightning striking my body as I felt his arms embrace me, keeping me from collapsing onto the street. He kissed me back with fervor, with longing. I felt all of his years of confusion turn to wonderment, all of my loss turn to beginnings.

When we parted, we caught each other's eyes and we began to laugh. Deep, blissful, belly laughs of two people, sharing a rich history, separated by time and loss, finding each other on a rainy New York City street, wanting and needing and receiving each other after years and years of disconnection.

"Of course, of course, Ronan." I promised between fits of laughter.

No one could hunt us down, no one could hurt us, and nothing could come between us this time.

"I love you, Ava Jameson." He bellowed

"I love you, too." I cried as he pulled me into an embrace, the rain drenching us as we melded into one.

Forever began now.

The End