Heartbreak.

This was what Rosanna felt as Renesmee clung to her coat and sobbed onto her shoulder.

"Don't go, don't go, don't go." She chanted as if she could cast a spell that would keep Rosanna glued by her side forever. Gently, she took Renesmee's hands into her own and moved so that they were a little way apart and could look into each other's eyes.

"I have to." Rosanna said simply.

"No you don't." The angered growl of their Dad broke into the twins' conversation. "You aren't going anywhere."

As if to accentuate his point, Uncle Emmett and Uncle Jasper stepped forward to flank him and cast equally chilling glares towards the Volturi. Behind them Aunt's Rosalie and Alice, and Momma, had ferocious expressions on their faces. Grandma Esme had her hands over her face and Grandpa Carlisle looked grim. Jacob stood to the twins' right and whimpered softly at the sound of Renesmee's distress. Behind her the Volturi shifted into fighting positions and low challenging growls could be heard.

"Stop." Rosanna whispered low and with a sudden commanding tone that her family had never heard before. They all turned their attention to the little girl in surprise.

"We gathered here to avoid a fight and the loss of lives and that still holds."

"No it doesn't" Momma hissed, "Letting you leave with them is just as bad as losing your life."

"Momma please." Rosanna begged at the same time as Renesmee for two different reasons. Rosanna looked at her twin who was staring at their Momma pleadingly.

"No Renesmee." Rosanna stated firmly and Renesmee looked at her in anguish.

"I'm not dying and if I go with them than no one will." Here Rosanna turned to look at Aunt Alice. "You had a vision didn't you Aunt Alice? It was of the outcome if we do battle with the Volturi. It wasn't pretty, was it?"

Aunt Alice flinched and looked appalled that the very same vision she had given Aro to prevent a fight was now being used to take away one of her precious nieces.

"Rosanna…" Dad began and she cut him off.

"No."

"Rosanna…"

"No."

"Rosanna." Her Dad scowled at her and she glared back defiantly.

"What good is having me stay here if it means we possibly lose half our family in the process?" She argued and crossed her arms.

"But we will lose you." Her Momma said and Rosanna was crushed to see the agonized look on her face.

"It isn't like you will never see me again." She said with a confidence she didn't feel. By this time Grandma Esme had begun weeping and it looked as if everyone else wanted to join her.

"Grandpa Carlisle." Rosanna turned her wide chocolate eyes on the one man who had the final say in the Cullen Coven's decisions. His lips were thinned and anger and sadness radiated from him. He closed his eyes and spoke, "Rosanna will go with you."

His voice was the barest of whispers and tremored with emotion but everyone heard it nonetheless. Rosanna exhaled in relief even while her twin sister burst into silent tears against her shoulder again. Dad was holding an enraged and heartbroken Momma in his grasp and looking at Grandpa Carlisle in disbelief. Grandma Esme, Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie went to Momma once again and Uncle Emmett let out a long, unnecessary exhale. Uncle Jasper was suddenly in front of her and Rosanna's heart clenched at the sorrow emanating from him. Where everyone else's grief ran over her like a tide in the ocean, Uncle Jasper's seeped through her skin and soaked her heart in sadness. He gently removed a protesting Renesmee and handed her over to Grandpa Carlisle who was suddenly there before gathering Rosanna up in his arms and giving her a final squeeze before crossing over the snowy field to the Volturi's side.

"You're really going through with this then?" the voice of Garrett made Uncle Jasper pause and Rosanna remember their allies still stood beside them. She looked over her Uncle's shoulder to see a sorrowful look on his face. Next to him Aunt Tanya and Aunt Kate were glaring at the Volturi in disgust. Everyone else had a mixture of sadness or grim solemnity on their face. Only her Romanian friends, Vladimir and Stephan, had carefully composed expressions. As if they were expecting something like this to happen. It wouldn't surprise Rosanna, after all they also held the title of ancient vampire and probably knew all too well what Vampire Twins were like.

Uncle Jasper didn't answer Garrett but simply nodded once and refused to speak. Rosanna noticed that his jaw was clenched tighter than normal and his wiry body trembled softly underneath her. She silently laid her head on her Uncle's shoulder and pressed her nose into his cold neck. None of the other family members came up to say goodbye and Rosanna understood them, for if they did there was nothing holding them back from snatching her away and running. Rosanna didn't want them to fight, she didn't want to see her family hurt or to know that, as far away as she was with the Volturi, death was an even more unreachable place. So she didn't protest, she didn't put up a fuss when gentle but firm hands extracted her from her Uncle's tight embrace. She barely noticed herself being pressed against a chest covered in smooth black fabric or the low humming voices of the vampires around her. All she saw was the huddle of grief that was her family and the broken form of her Uncle Jasper as he gave in to his pain and sank to his knees in the snow. And then the world blurred and they were gone.

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Rosanna sat strapped in a seat on a private jet. Three pairs of milky red eyes stared at her and she stared back unwaveringly. Why it had been decided that she would travel with the three kings was unknown to her. The only other person with that privilege was the pilot.

One of the kings, Marcus, reached out a papery hand and gently ran his fingers down her cheek. The feel of his skin on hers was like shale being rubbed across her face. Yet it wasn't unpleasant and his touch lingered on her skin after his hand was removed and placed back into his lap. Rosanna watched him sigh and the raging torment in his eyes eased slightly. She frowned at him in confusion but didn't want to be the first one to break the silence. Next was Caius who leaned forward to inspect her from head to toe. Rosanna wasn't sure what he was looking for but at one point his face was so close to hers that his breath washed across her face in a dizzying spiral of mint. In that precise moment Caius pulled back a tad sharply and turned in his seat so that most of his back was facing towards her and she couldn't see his face. Neither Aro nor Marcus paid attention to him and the former took her moment of unbalance to run long, slender fingers through her bronze curls. He seemed to enjoy the feeling of her hair for he hummed in contentment with a relaxed smile on his lips.

"It is going to be difficult to wait seven years." He said in his soft, musical voice. Rosanna didn't know what he meant but found herself leaning into his touch. It felt better when Aro did it than it ever had when her Dad had done the same thing. A pang went through Rosanna's chest and she swallowed hard and moved back away from the kings.

"Patience is the key." Marcus said simply and stared at Rosanna with what could rightfully be called sympathy from anyone else.

"She will have to learn to forget them." Caius turned back around to face them and Rosanna glared at him as his steely gaze settled on her.

"Never." She vowed lowly and the white haired king only deepened his glower. Rosanna would not be intimidated though and screwed up her face in an attempt at matching his ferocious scowl only to watch as his slipped off his face and a carefully neutral expression replaced it. Some emotion she was unfamiliar with seemed to steal across Caius's broad frame and he looked away. Aro chuckled merrily at their exchange and Rosanna only glared at him.

"Come my dear, don't look so scary." He said, "You will be well taken care of here."

Rosanna turned her glare towards the floor. "I was well taken care of with Momma and Dad." She muttered.

The three kings were silent for a long moment before Marcus reached over to unstrap her belt and lift her onto his lap.

"We are very sorry that you had to be taken away from your family." He began and Rosanna snorted in disbelief.

"It is true." Aro said and nudged Caius with his elbow.

"Hum." Was all Caius's response consisted of and Rosanna's lips twitched upward a little.

"But it was imperative that we do so." Marcus continued, oblivious to his brothers' brief interlude.

"Why did you have to? Renesmee and I aren't that dangerous. She shows you her thoughts and I read your emotions like Uncle Jasper." Rosanna said, looking up at the three kings with watery brown eyes. "We wouldn't hurt anyone and when we do drink we drink from animals."

Aro shook his elegant head, "No dear you are much more powerful than you think, far more than your Uncle and that is just in terms of your natural ability. The danger we speak of is of a different sort, neither to do with human or animal blood but rather…." He trailed off and attempted to gather his thoughts into the right explanation. It was hard to describe something to someone not even a year old but she deserved to know did she not? Aro furrowed his brow in confusion at the feeling that was driving him to explain himself to this child, a feeling that didn't come from Rosanna herself, it wasn't an emotional compulsion, but it did tug at his cold, marble heartstrings with a deep twang that made his insides shiver, he suddenly became short of breath despite his lack of need for air for 3000+ years, a bubble of intensity grew in his chest and the words spilled from his mouth.

"You are our Queen!"

Silence reigned in the jet for several long minutes. Rosanna stared in shock at Aro who looked positively unbalanced with his shoulders heaving and his normally immaculate hair out of place. Marcus and Caius were both staring at their brother with identical appalled looks on their faces and Aro did his best to collect himself.

"What I mean to say is, fate has intertwined your thread with ours. We are meant to be. Together. Destiny or some such." The youngest brother coughed delicately and glanced away from them, suddenly finding the interior of the airplane the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Um." Was all Rosanna could get out.

"It has already started affecting us it seems." Marcus said and Caius glanced at him and nodded.

"Yes I was feeling it too."

"Feeling what too?" Rosanna finally asked, her high child's voice rose in bewilderment and the three kings lapsed into silence once again.

"Please." The little girl whispered. "What do you mean?"

Three pairs of milky red eyes were back on her again. A sigh escaped Marcus's lips and he leaned forward to study her carefully. He wasn't as affected by it as his brothers were. He lived trapped in a maelstrom of black grief for so long that it created a sort of mental and emotional barrier over other sensations. And yet just his interest in this conversation meant that he wasn't entirely immune to the effects. Given more time he will be just as overwhelmed by it if not more so. It was certainly something to look forward too.

"There is a type of bond that exists called the Mating Bond." Marcus began softly. "It is different for all people but basically it connects you to your intended life partner. The one who you will be with always. The one who you were created for." Here he paused and Rosanna watched his eyebrows come together. "Sometimes though you can mistake the bonds of people you are closest to as a Mating Bond. The feeling of happiness is there and when you are separated it is as if there is a hole in your chest. As if life has lost all meaning." Marcus trailed off again and Rosanna wondered if the image she had felt through his emotions before was the one he held a Mating Bond with. But Aro just said she was their Queen. All three of them? "But a true Mating Bond is something different altogether. Where previous there was an ability to somewhat function through life, anyone who loses a True Bonded Mate face complete and utter devastation. Literally they have been torn in half and they can never function as a whole again. It is often better to simply put them out of their misery than to allow them to linger on in such a state." Rosanna considered this a bit extreme but then again she has never had much experience on the matter. "Oftentimes people wonder if Mating Bonds actually exist. As with anything in life there are believers who hope or know and there are skeptics who have never felt true hope or love. But today in the clearing when I set my sights on you for the first time, after my brothers had laid their eyes on you as well, I saw it. The Mating Bond connecting you to me, to Aro, to Caius. And it was true. What all of the believers have always said about it was one hundred percent correct."

Rosanna dwelled on this for a moment. "If you guys saw the bond then why didn't I or anyone else see it?"

"No dear, we did not see it." Aro gestured from himself to Caius. "Marcus has a gift to see the bonds between other people."

"Yes, I am obviously not the first or only person with this type of gift. The others who have seen it and myself can describe it as such, the Mating Bond is thin yet strong looking and twines itself like a chain around the heart. Its most vivid feature however is the bright, fiery ruby color that it reflects back at us. Even redder than the eyes of a newborn vampire. This appearance has often earned it the title 'The Red String of Fate'." Marcus lapsed into silence yet again and this time appeared to be finished with his narrative. Rosanna absorbed this all with a thoughtful frown on her small face. It was quite overwhelming and she wasn't sure how much of this information her young mind could retain. It posed several questions though.

"That doesn't explain why I had to leave my family. Jacob is Renesmee's True Mate and she hasn't ever left once."

"Our bond is quite different from that of a Dog." Caius grumbled out loud.

"There are several…. complications." Aro took up the thread of conversation. "For one thing, the distance between the Cullen's and Volterra, our home in Italy, is quite substantial even for vampires. Being in charge also means we can't pack up and move in whenever and wherever we feel like it. A standard base of operations is key for a firm ruling foundation. We aren't nomads."

Unfortunately for Rosanna this did make sense yet it was a rather weak argument for pulling her away in the manner that they did.

"The biggest problem however," Aro stated grimly, "Is the nature of our Mating Bond."

"The Nature?"

"Remember when I said that everyone's bond is different?" At Rosanna's nod Marcus continued, "This means that there is no set foundation for what a Mating Bond is like, no basic set of rules besides crushing nothingness when it is broken. You're pretty much winging it the whole time."

"So. You never know what it is going to be like until you have one?" Rosanna summarized.

"Basically."

"So then, does this mean there is a problem with ours?"

All three Kings glowed at the mention of 'Our Bond'.

"Maybe." Caius sighed and folded his hands together and brought them to his lips in thought. "We can't know all of the details for certain of course but already we can tell that the bond is strong, it has an indomitable will and has so far created drastic changes in our behavior. And our abilities." He glanced at his brothers before looking back towards Rosanna. "As the driving force behind the discipline and protection of the vampire race you can see how something interfering with our performance could be a potential disaster."

Rosanna nodded thoughtfully and glanced at the kings again. The drastic changes in behavior did explain a lot of things. All three Vampires seemed to be off balance and Rosanna herself realized that she could already think of several changes in her own personality whenever they were around. Before she hadn't realized it but so far, despite the fresh separation from her family, Rosanna wasn't feeling the amount of sorrow she should have been. It was still there of course but it felt eased. Around her Kings she felt comforted. As if everything was going to be alright. Her grief wasn't a priority. All she could focus on now was the worry that generated from her Mates' apprehension and the deep feeling that seven years was indeed, far too long to wait.

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Author's Note: I think I might actually be getting a muse for this story 8D

And FYI despite Aro, Marcus, Caius and Rosanna's wishes they will wait to court her until she is of age this is not one of those stories.

Review!