A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 29
Perci POV
The next morning dawned cold, yet bright. When Paul and I woke up, Edward and Bella were taking down the tent that Renesmee had slept in the night before, packing it as small as possible, before placing it inside the backpack that Renessmee was wearing. After everything was packed up, Jacob and Paul both phased, and we began walking into the clearing, both packs coming behind us, with Jacob and Paul being the only two to stand among the many vampires. We only had to wait a few minutes before the vampires clearly heard the approaching of the Volturi.
"The red coats are coming, the red coats are coming." Garrett said softly, making me resist the urge to snort in amusement. Seconds later, over a hundred figures clad in black, and grey had emerged from the opposite tree line. My eyes locked on Felix almost immediately, who looked like he didn't really want to be here, and gave him a subtle sympathetic smile. Carlisle began speaking after that, speaking low enough for the vampires and wolves to hear, but not quite loud enough for me to hear until he suddenly shouted.
"She is not an immortal! These witnesses can attest to that." He said. After another minute of me being unable to hear what Aro was saying, Edward began walking forward, after giving Renesmee a reassuring smile. I noticed Bella stretching her shield out to cover him, before drawing it back as Edward allowed his mind to be read. After a few seconds, Edward turned back to look at us, and Bella, Renesmee, and Jacob started moving forward, only to pause, as Bella looked back at Emmett, who walked forward to play bodyguard, me only a step behind him, to Paul's obvious distress. Bella was slightly surprised when I joined her, but we resolutely walked forward to Aro.
"Young Bella, immortality becomes you." Aro complimented, making Bella stiffen slightly, before he turned his attention to Ren, and held out his hand for her to take.
"Hello, Aro." She greeted politely, before placing her hand on his cheek, showing her own power.
"Magnifico!" He exclaimed lowly in Italian, before drawing back, and turning to his group, the rest of us walking back to our own group.
"Half mortal, half immortal! Conceived and carried by this newborn while she was still human." I heard Aro state before the rest faded from my hearing range. After a few seconds, he turned toward a blonde vampire, the only one not wearing a dark color, who suddenly looked frantic. She seemed to plead for a second, before turning and mouthing 'I'm sorry' to the other members of the Denali clan as Caius approached her with a lit torch. Flicking my wrist, I allowed my new whip to form, and it seemed to lengthen just enough for me to wrap the stygian iron around her wrist and yank her away.
"I think that's completely unnecessary, don't you boys?" I asked, stepping forward after removing the whip from around who must be Irina.
"And who are you?" Caius shouted, seeming to realize I wouldn't hear if he spoke normally. I gave him a smile before walking into the middle of the clearing, where I was sure to hear both sides of the conversation.
"Persephone Jackson-Lahote. Immortal daughter of Poseidon, earthshaker, father of horses, and god of the sea. And you three, have not made me very happy by threatening my cousin and her family." I said, looking up when I saw his eyes stray to above my head and smirking when I saw that I was being claimed again in front of them for proof. When I looked back at the three leaders, they had knelt down, as had Felix, who knew the importance of the claiming.
"Ms. Jackson." Aro started, only for me to cut him off.
"Mrs. Jackson-Lahote to you, Aro of Thebes. I have after all, recently married my soulmate, as granted to me by Lady Aphrodite, and the Fates." I said, glaring at him, and making him flinch.
"Mrs. Jackson-Lahote, we were unaware that Bella was your family." He stated, trying to dig himself out of the hole he had found himself in.
"Funny, I informed the four members of your guard that Bella was my cousin back in June, and I heard Jane state she wished to return to inform you about my presence in Forks. So either you have a problem with your guard lying to you, or you're lying to me. And before you answer that, might I inform you that I have fought the Titan Lord multiple times, as I have with the Earth primordial. I've fought in two wars, and have been through literal Tartarus, and have come out intact. Please think through your answer before lying to me." I said, glaring daggers at him. If possible, I saw him pale and actually gulp in apparent nervousness before he answered me.
"Apologies, Mrs. Jackson-Lahote, I meant that I didn't think you considered her family still. Jane's memories indicated you weren't very fond of your cousin, or the topic of her change." Aro stated, before Marcus stepped forward, placing a hand on Aro's shoulder to silence him.
"Their bonds are strong, Aro. Perhaps we should allow the daughter of Lord Poseidon the chance to explain what she knows before we make judgement?" He said, making me smile, though a bit sadly since he seemed so depressed.
"Thank you, Marcus of Athens, though I doubt Aro would want to hear my opinions, same for Caius of Sparta." I said, glaring at the platinum blonde leader.
"Why is that, my lady?" Marcus asked.
"I am aware of Aro's attempts to recruit my cousin and members of her family despite them saying no. I am also aware that Caius seemed to have a particularly strong kill or turn order on my cousin. As it stands, Marcus, you and Felix are the only members of the Volturi that I know a bit about that I don't feel the urge to see if I can kill just by boiling the venom in your veins." I said, not even bothering to care about the mass flinch the vampires behind the Volturi gave.
"It is our law, Mrs. Jackson-Lahote, I thought you knew this." Caius said, seeming to try defending his actions.
"I know the law, however, Bella is my cousin and I didn't take kindly to your apparent impatience to stop her heart one way or the other. Sometimes turning someone has to wait until it can be inconspicuous. And for another thing, I also know that the two of you were especially eager to launch a full scale assault on the Cullen coven. After all, they have a few things you want, and you take what you want no matter who you kill to do it. You sent a team to scout a newborn problem, but you couldn't do the same to see if Renesmee was truly an immortal child. I am failing to see the civilized vampires Carlisle talks about and calls his friends. All I am seeing is vampires who have gotten greedy and don't care who they kill or hurt as long as they get what they want. You do know what my uncle Zeus did to his father, don't you? Because you're beginning to remind me strongly of the Titan Lord." I said, making Aro and Caius wince.
"The child is not immortal, we know that now." Aro defended, making me sigh and give him a bloodthirsty smile.
"True, however if I asked any of the witnesses we gathered for proof that she is not, I am positive they would tell me you still saw her as a threat." I said, giving him a smug smirk when Marcus of all people nodded in confirmation.
"Well, at least Marcus shows why he lived in Athens." I said, giving the vampire a kind smile, before hearing Apollo's voice of all gods in my head, tell me that Alice and Jasper were entering the clearing with another hybrid.
"As it is, I happen to have proof that Renesmee won't be a threat to the human population, in case the memories of Edward, Renesmee, and my own assurance wasn't enough. Alice?" I asked, turning toward the other edge of the clearing, spotting four figures walking toward the Volturi. I stepped back to stand by Paul again, feeling him sigh in relief and nudge me.
"I'm fine, love." I said, running a comforting hand over his wolfy head while Alice showed Aro her own memories, and the other hybrid told his story. Once everything seemed to calm down, and Aro apparently withdrew his statement of Ren being a threat, I smiled and stepped forward again, seeing the shadows condense in the trees close to where Alice and Jasper had entered the clearing with the hybrid and his aunt, before the great hellhound I knew as Mrs. O'Leary came bounding forward.
"Mrs. O'Leary!" I greeted excitedly, ignoring the stunned looks of the vampires, while Nico slid off the hound.
"It's done, you owe me." He said, quirking the corner of his mouth in a small smile as I hugged him.
"I'll call my mom and tell her you did me a major favor and have her make you your own batch of blue cookies." I said, making his eyes light up.
"Deal." He said, before turning back to the hellhound while I looked at the Volturi leaders once more.
"I don't dislike you three. I do dislike that you've become the attack first, ask questions later types, but I don't dislike you personally. If you continue the way you are now, you'll end up like the Titan Lord, only you'll be burnt to ash rather than end up in Tartarus. Become better rulers, you'll gain more respect that way, because if you continue to lead by making others fear you, you'll be easy to take down." I said, making the three of them nod.
"On that note, I know what happened to Didyme, how the true children of the moon killed her. I've asked my cousin, Nico to do me a favor by retrieving her soul from the Asphodel Fields, on approval from uncle Hades if he did the whole, 'walk out of the Underworld without turning around' bit. He succeeded." I said, gesturing for Nico to bring the newly revived mate of Marcus forward, shocking everybody.
"Just a bit of incentive to become better rulers. According to my dad, she was always the kindest of the six of you, so maybe she can bring that back." I said, smiling slightly at the reunion between the two mates.
"Thank you, my lady. My thanks to your cousin as well." Marcus said, before the entirety of the Volturi's party sans Aro left.
"My apologies for not asking questions first Carlisle. Thank you both for returning my sister to us. I will strive to become a better ruler, Mrs. Jackson-Lahote." He said, nodding in respect to Nico and I before he, too zipped out of the clearing.
"I can't believe you scolded them." Carlisle said, coming up to me.
"I was warning them of what would happen if they didn't stop ruling the way they were." I told him, before giving Nico another hug as he turned to leave with Mrs. O'Leary. Turning back to Paul after the two disappeared into the shadows, I launched myself at him, noticing that he had apparently gone to phase back, as he was now in human form wearing cut-offs. Our relieved embrace was cut short however, by a hand on my shoulder.
"Yes?" I asked, turning around to see Tanya and her coven standing there.
"We wanted to thank you for saving Irina." She said, gesturing to the sheepish, yet relieved looking vampire.
"I've seen betrayal that was later regretted before. I didn't want her to end up like Luke did, because it near broke Annabeth having to watch him kill himself. He redeemed himself with his death, I didn't want Irina to pay for her mistake with her life." I told Tanya before looking at Irina.
"I warn you now though, Irina. If you get it in your head to betray your family, who have become such to me again. I won't save you, in fact, I might be the last thing you ever see. Loyalty is my fatal flaw, I don't like disloyalty, which means at the moment, I don't like you. If you can earn the forgiveness of everyone in the Cullen family, then we'll see where you stand with me." I told her, making her flinch, but nod anyway.
"Understood. Still, thank you for saving my life." She said, before the Denali's converged on each other again.
"Hey Bella!" I called, snuggling into Paul, and making her turn.
"Yeah?" She asked, still with her arms around Edward and Renesmee.
"Do you think you can stay out of trouble for a while? I'd like to enjoy some time with my husband, maybe start a family at some point." I joked, earning laughter from everyone.
"Yeah, I think so. Besides, Renesmee views you more as the fun aunt than cousin, I think she'd like a cousin." She said, making me smirk and look up at Paul, catching his grin, before looking back at her.
"I don't think Paul has a problem with that. Just stay out of trouble, got it? I can't help you if I'm working on giving Ren a cousin." I said, making her throw her head back in laughter.
"Deal." She said, turning her attention back to her husband and child.
"What do you say we go and start spoiling that kid by trying to give her the cousin she wants?" Paul's voice asked in my ear, a slightly husky edge to it.
"Well, I don't have any objections to that. We saved the day, saved Ren. I think we've earned a bit of a happily ever after." I said, squealing in surprise before laughing when he phased right there, and climbed on his back, barely getting a grip before he took off in the direction of the reservation. As we ran, there were three things I was sure of. First, I was glad I had moved to Washington. Second, I had never been happier in my entire life. And third, eternity didn't seem so daunting and terrifying, now that I had family to share it with.
A/N: Holy shit, this was the last chapter. I want to thank everyone who favorited/followed the story, I know some people might be upset with the ending, but endings are a pain. You always feel like you left a loose end untied, and it's nearly impossible to satisfy everyone when it comes to endings. I do want to say one last thing before this ends though. This may have been a request fic, but to me, it was important. Phases of the Sea is the first story I have published since my grandmother passed away on October 9, so I'm dedicating it to her. I got the idea for Perci's wedding date to be October 5, because that was her birthday. Thank you all for reading this story, and even more thanks to those that read this author's note. You guys rock, and I hope you guys come back whenever I post my next story. Xoxo, -Queenoffangirls