Changes

(Carlisle POV)

Emmett was writhing in agony, and Esme had dropped to the floor beside him.

"Aro, what did you do?" I growled. He looked up at me defensively.

"Oh, nothing really. It'll only hurt for a little bit!" he half-sang. Emmett was yelling in pain, and everyone had gathered around him. Rosalie was shaking him hard, and he let out another scream, doubling over in pain. He continued to scream louder and louder. He then began shaking hard. Rosalie was screaming with him, and looking around helplessly. Emmett's eyes were wide with pain, and he tossed his head from side to side, straining his neck harder.

"MAKE IT STOP!" Emmett screamed. Rosalie turned to me, her eyes wide with agony.

"DO SOMETHING!" she screamed and I shrugged helplessly.

"I CAN'T!" I yelled at her, my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach as I watched Emmett shudder harder. He screamed louder, and struggled against whatever was hurting him so badly, gripping his stomach in pain. Emmett then froze mid-scream. His eyes wide and fearful.

"EMMETT!" Rosalie screamed, shaking him harder. Emmett moaned and stood up.

"I need to throw up," he groaned, and ran with Rosalie at his heels. He only made it to the end of the room before writhing in pain, and falling. There was a flash of light, that glowed white for a moment, and then there was nothing. And in Emmett's place was a tiny little boy, with curly brown hair and big yellow eyes, looking up at us in surprise.

We approached him carefully. He watched us silently, and then frowned.

"Do I get to kill Aro?" he asked in a baby voice. Rosalie scooped him up into her arms, and we all stood. She brushed Emmett's hair from his face, and held him tightly. He looked up at her, then back to us.

"Well?" he asked, sounding babyish in his new voice. Aro came to stand behind me.

"Oh dear. I'd say he ended up about five?" Aro asked. I turned to him incredulously.

"What happened?" I demanded. Aro shrugged modestly.

"Well, I don't want to brag, or anything, but I made that one myself. Turned out pretty well, wouldn't you say?" Aro beamed at me.

"I don't like this at all," Emmett growled in his baby voice.

"Emmett is a child!" Esme cried. Emmett snarled.

Aro held up his hands defensively.

"He always was," Aro insisted.

"Was not!" Emmett retorted, sounding more childlike than before.

"On the inside you were always, we did settle on about five years old, didn't we? I think he looks about five, approximately," Aro insisted, looking thoughtful.

"You made him the age he is inside?" Rosalie said slowly, looking down at Emmett. Aro nodded, clearly relieved she understood.

"So, shall we say five?" Aro repeated.

"Yes, I suppose that's about how old he looks," Esme allowed. Aro nodded, and then grew serious.

"So, by technical new definition, Emmett is five," he said.

"Technical new definition?" Jasper echoed.

"Yes, we're redoing all the laws, going through old textbooks and papers, just fixing it all up," Aro explained.

"Ah," Jasper said and nodded, looking at Alice with his eyebrows raised. Aro was totally and utterly crazy.

"Well, this is dumb, Aro," Emmett declared. Aro laughed.

"This is most interesting. I was betting a little younger, but apparently he is older than he seems," Aro mused. Emmett looked outraged, but Rosalie covered his mouth, holding him closer.

"Rosalie, give Emmett to me," Esme said softly. Rosalie looked up.

"Why?" she asked sharply.

"I'm afraid you'll crush him. He is only very small, Rosalie," Esme reminded her. Loosening her grip on Emmett, she gave him to Esme.

"You must admit, even as a five-year-old, his mind is virtually the same," Aro insisted.

"So, he now also has a five-year-old mind?" Edward asked, surprised. We were all a little shocked at the lack of change between the five-year-old Emmett and the twenty-year-old Emmett.

"Yes, couldn't you tell?" Aro smirked, an unusual expression for him. I sighed and looked at Esme.

"Why aren't they mad at Aro, Momma?" Emmett asked. Esme beamed at him, and sat down on the couch with Emmett on her lap, her arms around him.

"Can you tell the difference?" Aro persisted.

"I don't think he's ever called Esme 'Momma' before," Alice offered. Aro smiled.
"But still, Emmett has the mental capability of a five-year-old," Aro insisted.

"And?" Rosalie protested.

"Thus, he is an immortal child. I'm afraid, he'll have to be destroyed," Aro said lightly. We gasped.

"Come along, Emmett," Aro called. Esme wrapped her arms around Emmett tighter so he could get off her lap.

"Aro-" I began.

"If you touch Emmett you're a dead man," Rosalie snarled.