Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything associated with the series.
A/N: I don't re-read what I write after I've written it. I just use spell check and then call it done. So there are probably lots of mistakes; I apologize in advance for all of them.
We moved to an office that wasn't too far from the throne room. The room was a small sitting room with four chairs in it formed in a way that two chairs were facing the other two chairs. The queens all sat on a chair, leaving me to sit next to Sulpicia and for Heidi and Jane to stand behind me.
"We are going to talk about what Sulpicia saw and then what we are going to do about what is revealed." Didyme said, starting off the discussion.
I was not only still shocked that they are still including me in the decision making, but didn't seem to want to keep anything from me. I was used to having to fight to know simple things from Edward; but here, they were more than willing to save any and all information with me. Their willingness to share with me, left me stunned. And happy. I was happy that they were more than willing to include and following through on their promises.
"Rosalie was completely against Edward getting involved with a human that she felt wasn't his mate from the very beginning." Sulpicia said, telling me something I already knew. At least she was starting off with the easy news. "She even went to Carlisle to express her concerns and told him it was a bad idea; she was ignored. I will not fault her for not abandoning her family and sticking with them when she knew they were in the wrong. I find her innocent." Sulpicia said.
"What of her mate?" Athenodora asked as she placed one leg over the other and leaned back in her chair.
"He wanted to be closer to Bella, but stayed distant because of Rosalie. He did what his mate wanted." Sulpicia answered.
I couldn't help but smile fondly at what she said. I always knew Emmett would have been a great friend, a great brother. But I had guessed he hadn't gotten as close as he could have because Rosalie hated me.
"What do you think of this assessment Bella?" Didyme asked me as she gave me a curious look that I couldn't interpret.
It took me a second or two to realize that she was actually asking for my input, that I didn't have to wait until I thought there was something I could add that would help. I had to fight a smile about how different they were from the Cullen's in the way they were treating me.
"Rosalie never did like me." I confirmed, making the two women behind me to hiss. "I was told that she acted the way she did towards me because I was a threat to her family. At the time, I really didn't understand how a human, me, could be a threat to vampires. Eventually Edward told me that it was illegal for humans to know about vampires and Rosalie was worried that me know about them, would get her family killed." I said, adding just a little more details to what Sulpicia had already said.
"And what of Emmett?" Athenodora asked.
"He would do anything Rosalie wanted him to do; he loves her too much to go against her." I immediately answered. I may not have known him as well as I would have liked, but there was no questioning his love for Rosalie. Those two were made for each other.
"It seems like the only choices those two had, were to either betray their coven or do their best to fix their coven's mistakes without hurting the coven." Didyme concluded.
"It seems that way." Sulpicia agreed.
"They should have just followed the laws and informed us of the situation." Athenodora grumbled and I swore I heard Jane mutter an agreement, which caused me to send her a small glare… of which she only raised an eyebrow in question at me, daring me to say something. I chose to continue listening to the queens.
"They were in a difficult position." Sulpicia said. "But Rosalie truly felt that she would have been able to be rid of the human and her family could escape. But then her family grew too attached to the human and she couldn't bring herself to betray her family."
"What about the others?" Athenodora asked, seemingly not happy with the outcome about Rosalie and Emmett. I was the opposite, I was very happy that nothing would happen to them.
"Jasper is wrapped around Alice's finger." Sulpicia said and it was also something I had already known. "He warned against getting close to Bella because he did not sense Edward feeling what a mate would typically feel when meeting their mate, but Alice was determined to be friends with our Bella. So Jasper gave in to her wishes."
"No backbone." Athenodora muttered and before I could say anything to defend the vampire that I had the least contact with, Didyme spoke up.
"Says the one that does anything either Cia or myself ask because you refuse to say 'no' to us." Didyme said with an amused grin on her face. "Out of the three us, you're the most likely to be called, as this generation likes to say, 'whipped'."
Sulpicia chuckled while Athenodora crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Didyme, but didn't say anything to defend herself. I found it amusing and nearly laughed with Sulpicia; but I wasn't sure what the blonde's reaction would be if I did that, so I kept quiet.
"And what of young Alice, my dear?" Didyme asked when she noticed Athenodora wasn't going to respond to her.
"She saw Bella as a vampire." Sulpicia said. "She has always seen Bella as a golden eyed vampire, just not always with Edward." That tidbit was completely unexpected. I hadn't known that. Sulpicia had gained my complete and undivided attention and she knew it because she kept her focus on me as she continued to talk. "Either she saw Bella with Edward or she saw Bella with the entire family, but not as part of it. Alice did her best to interpret the visions with what little information she was given and did her best to get Bella to be one of us."
"Then why did she leave me?" I desperately asked. Alice had told me that she had left because of her brother, but I wanted it to be more than that. I wanted there to be a different answer. I didn't want to believe that it was that easy for her to leave me.
Both Heidi and Jane placed their hands on my shoulders and I was momentarily confused about why I felt a little comforted by their contact. It was like they were keeping me grounded when my emotions wanted to run away from like they had when the Cullen's had first left.
"She fought with Edward to stay, to not leave, but he wasn't going to change his mind." Sulpicia explained.
"Drama queen." Athenodora muttered. I was starting to suspect that the woman always had snide comments during these types of meetings. For as old as she was, she definitely had some immature actions.
"When she realized that no matter what she said or did, that Edward was still going to get his way, she decided to go with him in hopes of changing his mind."
"But why did she not come back when she saw how bad I was?" I asked.
"Because in her warped thinking, she did not look into your future per Edward's request. The vision she saw of you jumping off a cliff," Apparently none of the vampires had known that was what had caused Edward to think I was dead and they all hissed in anger. They probably were starting think that I may be suicidal. To be honest, I probably was before Alice came back. "Was a forced vision that came to her, not one that she looked for. At that moment, she couldn't ignore you in her visions anymore and refused to continue to follow Edward's wishes; especially since he had already left the family."
I felt my face fall. I had hoped that there was some other reason that Alice hadn't looked to see how I was doing; that something, somehow, was preventing her from checking in on me. I didn't want to believe that she had just chosen to do what Edward had asked and ignored me. It hurt, it hurt a lot more than I had thought it would. I felt like Alice had let me down, had betrayed me. But I had already forgiven her for leaving, but it was really difficult to not take that forgiveness back.
"I'm truly sorry my darling." Didyme said with a frown. "I know this hard for you to hear, but we feel it's only fair for you know everything as you in the middle of this situation."
"I know." I said with just a tiny quiver in my voice that I had thought I had done a better job of hiding. But I knew I hadn't because no sooner had I answered Didyme did I find myself sitting on Heidi's lap with Jane standing as close as she possible could to us.
"I promise to do my best to protect you from ever having to go through something like this again." Heidi whispered into my ear as she was bent over me when her head in the crook of my neck. "Jane and I will never leave you, we will never let you be left behind. Ever."
I nearly cried at what she said. Even though I was very aware, of course, that the Cullen's had abandoned me, I hadn't ever though that they had just left me behind. But was what they had done. They had not only abandoned me and left, but they left me behind to wallow in my misery alone with no way to escape. They had so easily left me behind and I wasn't entirely sure they wouldn't do that again.
"You're safe with us." Jane leaned down to whisper in my other ear. "We will always be there to protect you."
Everyone stayed quiet for a few minutes while I gathered myself and took control over my emotions. I wanted to get through all of this without crying. But if I was already this close to breaking down with just talking about Alice, I was very worried about what would happen when they started talking about Edward.
"Alice's main goal was to keep Bella in her life and to get Bella to be a vampire." Sulpicia eventually said. "Although her actions were clearly not always the best, she did the best she could with what information she had. Jasper, I believe, was in a similar situation to both Rosalie and Emmett. He wanted her initially away from the family in order to protect his coven but went along with his mate's wishes because he can't say 'no' to her. I believe Jasper is innocent." Sulpicia declared.
"I agree." Didyme said as her eyes stay trained on me, as if watching to see if I was about to break down again or not.
"Do you believe Alice is as innocent?" Athenodora asked and for a few moments, no one said anything and that made me worried. I didn't want anything to happen to Alice. I didn't want anything to happen to any of the Cullen's.
"I don't believe so, as she did push for Bella to be involved with the Cullen's." Sulpicia said and I was about to argue with her, to defend Alice, but I didn't know exactly what I would have said. Thankfully Sulpicia continued talking to give me more time to think of something. "But ultimately, she wanted Bella to be a vampire and to be with her family. Without Bella's involvement, I highly doubt we ever would have found Bella. She would have likely never had a reason to come to Italy and we rarely bother the Olympia Peninsula. Without Alice's actions, however guilty she is, gave us Bella. I can't punish her for that."
I felt relief sink through my body as I sagged into Heidi, completely relaxing against her in relief. Alice was safe.
"If we were anyone else, she may even think we owe her for bringing us our daughter." Didyme said. "I think granting her, her innocence is a good enough gift of thanks."
Athenodora didn't say anything about Alice, but I could guess that she wasn't happy about letting another Cullen get off without any type of punishment. I was very grateful that she didn't say anything though, not even a snide comment about it. I was even tempted to think that she didn't say anything because she didn't want to say anything to upset me. It was touching.
"Carlisle was blinded by his love for his first turned." Sulpicia said, not bothering to ask what I thought about what happened with Alice and Jasper, which I was very thankful for. I didn't want to say anything that may change their minds about Alice since it seemed she was already on the border of being punished. "Both he and Esme felt so sorry for Edward being the only one without a mate that Carlisle bent to Edward's wishes. It also didn't help that both he and Esme had so much trust in Edward because of his ability that had saved their coven several times when people became too suspicious of their family."
"Did Esme go with what her mate wanted?" Didyme curiously asked.
"She fought to stay with Alice, and even continued to fight after Alice had learned it wouldn't work. But, in the end, she opted to go with her mate. Carlisle truly felt that Edward knew what was best and he felt that since Edward was so adamant that it was best for Bella for them all to leave, and from their complete trust in Edward that had grown over the decades from his ability, he caved." Sulpicia said and I swore her eyes bore into mine and for a few seconds she seemed to be looked for something. She sighed and looked away from and faced forward again to face her mates. "I believe I will have a very intense talk with our old friend and explain to him that if this situation happens one more time, his coven will be disbanded because they can't be trusted to keep our secret. If they leave a human alive and unturned once more, Carlisle will be killed and his coven will be no more."
"I think that is more than fair." Didyme said. "Bella, my dear," She said, earning my attention. "Please bear in mind that we are being extremely lenient with this coven because even though their actions risked our existence being known and that alone is punishable by death, all of their actions lead you to us. If that wasn't the case, they would all be dead. They are getting off with warnings because they weren't the actual ones to break the law, initially at least, and they gave us you. I cannot stress that enough. We are letting them go because of you. Because our love for you outweighs what we know should be done. You mean too much to us for us to do something that may very well cause you to hold a grudge against you."
I had thought that was the case, but I didn't want to believe that I really had such a huge impact on the leaders of vampires, of the Volturi queens. To fully realize that I was able to have such a big influence on them was very mind boggling. I knew it was a great honor to be in that position, but I was still on the fence about if I really wanted it. But, having this connection is saving the Cullen's, my family. Why not start to embrace what is clearly saving who was important to me?
"Now that leaves Edward." Athenodora said. "The boy who willingly stayed with his singer, the boy who can read the minds of mated couples and of mated vampire that had met their singers. The boy who was the best person to know what the difference was between a mate and a singer. The boy who even after being told you have met your true mates and has read the minds of both Didyme and Jasper to confirm the connections from a third party point of view and from the minds of the Jane and Heidi, he continues to deny the connection you so clearly have. He will not be so lucky in escaping punishment." Athenodora said.
"Please don't kill him." I full begged, my hands automatically gripping the Heidi's arms that were wrapped around me. I couldn't believe how nice it felt to be able to grip onto Heidi and to feel so grounded; it was vastly different than when I held onto Edward, it felt safer and more permanent. It also didn't hurt that Heidi, or Jane from her position next to me, didn't even show a hint of discomfort of being next to me like Edward did.
"We can't promise that." Athenodora said with a smirk that made me very nervous.
I may have been able to save the other Cullen's, but I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to save the one Cullen that I wanted to the most.
A/N: I'm really sorry about my erratic updates. I swear I'm trying to do better, I'm just under a lot of stress at the moment and it's affecting my ability to write.
On that note, I feel like if YouTuber's can get paid for their parodies on movies and video games, what can't fanfiction writers? I know why, but I still think it's unfair =/ Or am I the only one that thinks that?