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Present Day

Edward knows pain well. Discomfort was a focal-point in the lives of the Caledonii, and in the lives of warriors. And the well-over 1500 intervening years have done nothing to diminish his memory of his transformation. Sometimes, less now than at other times during his life, he wishes his death had been Tanya's intention. At least then he wouldn't have had to feel the unendurable agony that is the transformation from homo sapiens to homo vampiris. Having her teeth slice nearly to his spinal cord would have been plenty, and his mouth contorts into something between a snarl and a grimace at the double-crescent-insult-to-injury his hand is worrying; nearly every vampire he's ever met has internally commented on the size of her bite mark. That gauche bitch nearly bit my head clean off. Even Jasper with his myriad markings has teased him over her Tanya's wicked underestimation.

This errant annoyance isn't enough to displace his original line of thinking though, and now he's contemplating the fortuity of his gifts all those years ago.

As a warrior, he'd been trained to ignore pain in the maelstrom of battle, and to remain calm under any circumstances and he drew upon this during his transformation. He'd been trained to focus on the fight, the whirling blades, cut and parry as the means to distract from aching muscles and nagging injuries. In the midst of unrivaled fire, there is little for him to distract himself with except only the words being spoken to him. It is mindless chatter for the most part, the gum-flapping of another enamored woman. Gradually he discovers those words being spoken about him, and though the voice is similar he somehow knows these words aren't being spoken aloud. Through his own clever nature, and Tanya's mental conjecture on the manifestation of his human talents, Aedwaerth comes to realize that he is hearing her mind. Despite the overwhelming pain and the disconcertion of hearing someone else's thoughts, he remands the upwelling of panic. The tactician in him engages, and given the situation, opts for intelligence gathering.

Inadvertently, through her mental preparation in how to deal with Aedwaerth as a newborn, and eventually a lover and mate, Tanya divulged nearly every bit of information he needed to know about being a vampire. Lucidity is hard to come by in moments of agony, but Aedwaerth managed to glean one genuine brilliant thought through the pain: run, run from this parasite. When his heart slows then stops, and the pain begins to recede, that's exactly what he does. He doesn't see Tanya again until the early 1900's.

***

As a scientist, and comprehensively curious creature, Edward has done extensive studies on the transformation, and in vampire biology in general. When he and Carlisle heard about the invention of the electron microscope in 1931, he did a quadruple backflip through the roof of their house. They had been looking at human tissue subjected to venom through rudimentary optics since thinking of doing it in the mid-1700's. They were somewhat frustrated there was not a commercially available model until eight years later, but filled the time between planning and executing various preliminary experiments. They bought a fleet of the things when they became available, and what they had discovered by the end of 1940 was profound.

The venom they used to incapacitate prey, lubricate their bodies, and infect and transform others was a hyperactive, fast-acting retrovirus. While fundamentally similar to HIV-1, or any other RNA virus, the venom was infinitely more complex: the genes represented within the venom contained more retroviral DNA than the host cells, and it infected and spread quickly enough to preserve the host's consciousness and life, even if it's in an altered state. Which helped explain the overwhelming superiority of Edward and his peers. He can even remember Carlisle's typically understated grunt of disapproval when he made the joke, "No wonder we think of them as food. We're superior on a genetic level, too! Besides, the difference between a chicken and a human is only a few percent, and this is a staggering disparity."

The revelations didn't end there, though, the clumsy and unreliable TEM being primarily responsible for a multitude of discoveries. What Carlisle and Edward learned next was the beginning of end of all magic to both of them. During the transformation, the retroviral DNA reprogrammed the structure and function of every cell within the body, the main changes happening to structure and energy absorption. The changes involved the molecules being arranged into a cubic lattice, like that of minerals, in turn responsible for the hardness of their skin and it's unusual reaction to sunlight. Mitochondria ceased all function, but it seemed that each cell in the body had become capable of energy consumption on a scale that baffled both vampires; thermal, electromagnetic and full spectrum light radiation were being absorbed into the crystalline cell structure, which in turn powered every motion, thought, and function performed. Furthermore, blood only provided the protein hemoglobin, which was a relatively simple facilitator in the whole wonderful process. Upon their discovery, Edward found he had a need to sit down for the first time in his long life.

The two of them had sat in their laboratory in the basement of their home for seventeen hours, unmoving, in relentless shock, until Carlisle made a joke about patenting themselves, followed by Edward's lame retort on both of them being a perpetual motion machine. Then they left and hunted down some hemoglobin.

That's what he had been doing today when he breezed into a meadow in the Olympic National Park, near Forks, Washington, his family's new home. It captured his attention immediately, the roughly circular space feeling otherworldly, hemmed in so nicely by the spruces and carpeted so completely by the multihued wildflowers. There was a faint human scent that lingered somewhat despite the cool, faintly salty nighttime breeze, and it made his throat tickle, catch and burn more than usual. But Edward attributed this to his intention to hunt, thinking I must still be in the mood. He's still laying amongst the flowers, breathing deeply the heavenly scents of the flowers and forest, tracking the Milky Way in its subtle slice across the sky and thinking about why he finds the meadow so enthralling. It must be the rarity of this place, it's uniqueness and quality. And that I can enjoy it without tarnishing it... or hearing incessant humping while I'm here.

While he values his coven-family immensely, nighttime in a household with them can be tedious at the best of times. And downright maddening at the worst. He's waited so long for love like they have, he's begun to vacillate wildly between two diametrically opposed sentiments: hope for love and companionship, and abject despair and doubt at ever finding it. He begins to wonder if loneliness can destroy a vampire mind, because lately he's noticed a disturbing trend in his consciousness: apathy. It's not something he's familiar with despite living more than twenty human lifetimes. One constant, and consequently something he derived comfort from, was always finding something that engaged him. His disquiet grows each second he ponders the daunting task of eternal life devoid of motivation.

The next day, he mentions this to Carlisle, the creature who knows him best.

"Edward, you've been taking classes for three centuries. No wonder you're bored."

"I suppose, but there were some classes at UW that I was interested in."

"Like what?"

"Well, there was a fluid dynamics seminar, and I had planned on a few economics classes, as well."

Carlisle sighs and feels a little silly giving someone more than four times his age advice, but presses on when he sees the signs of distress beginning to show on Edward's unusually expressive face: the pinched and furrowed brow, lips set in a fine line.

"Didn't you take fluid dynamics in '97 at MIT? Anyway, Smith and Keynes have been dead awhile, my friend, and I don't remember hearing about any astounding new economic theories."

Edward's silence is tantamount to acceptance.

"Why don't you teach? You're the most knowledgeable person on just about any subject on the entire planet. I've always maintained that you would be an excellent professor."

Carlisle is busy backing up his argument with unspoken affirmatives, his medical mind listing reasons for the change-of-pace like a hyper-speed powerpoint. Edward glances up, a quizzical look on his face.

"I wasn't aware you felt so strongly about this, about me teaching."

"It's not teaching so much as a feeling that you need a change. You've been stuck in a holding pattern for nearly as long as I've known you. Maybe it would be a good idea to give back a little."

Upon that final statement, Edward is bombarded by thoughts from his family, all in agreement with Carlisle. He focuses in on Alice, wanting to see the outcome of his decisions, but she's stonewalling him. An atypical reaction, but not without precedent. She sometimes withholds information about the future from him to "keep him on his toes." He takes her annoying predilection for surprises in stride, knowing that she always has his best interest in mind. What she does tell him is slightly annoying, but at this point he's willing to do anything to escape the doldrums that are leaving his mind adrift.

"Edward," she says with a hint a hesitancy, "There is a slight problem with the professor thing. Between the combination of your age," twenty-six seems to be the limit of what humans will believe, "and the expedient need for false documentation," it's always irked him that he couldn't claim his actual academic achievements after moving, "the only place you can teach is a high school. Please, please, please come teach at Forks High! You could be my teacher!"

Despite his hatred for the high school institution, he is loath to upset Alice, the youngest looking Cullen: the only one forced to attend high school on a semi-regular basis. Allowing himself to be caught up in her enthusiasm, he reluctantly agrees. Besides, what better opportunity could he find to shape young minds? He can feel the tedium recede slightly with the thought of imparting the knowledge he has gleaned over the centuries. His instincts, which have served him well, exude a sense of rightness.

"Okay, Alice. What will I be teaching? Anything but health." He cringes at the thought. He's learned to temper his vampire strength, but rolling condoms onto a banana may be beyond him.

She opens her mind to the visions, with the determinant factors decided; lab tables, beakers and microscopes flash through their minds.

"Biology!"

A/N: I've decided to forgo the cursory introduction of canon twilight characters. You know them, I know them. They're all there, though some will be more prominent than others, I just want to introduce their particular intricacies as the story goes. Most will have AU histories, like Aedwaerth/Edward does, but that will all be dealt with in time. Also, the story will be switching back and forth b/w present day, and Aed's past. I hope everyone is enjoying the story, review if you please!