Swan
I trudge through the thick undergrowth, set on finding Rory and the wolf pack. I refuse to be left behind; I'm going to be a hunter, these are things I need to learn about and see for myself. Fragile – the thought makes my head spin with self-deprecating thoughts. I should be more than this. It's dangerous out here, yeah, I know, but if I can just keep my focus, pay attention…
Which is easier said than done when my thoughts always lead to Alice. I wish –
"Well, look at this. It seems the Kitten does indeed keep a pet of her own."
My foot pauses in mid-step, the breath knocked from my lungs. The man's deep voice is foreign to me, and I haven't seen his face, but I instantly know who it is. When that realization sinks in and I realize just how reckless I've been, I break into a frenzied run through the trees; I don't make it far.
"Ah, not so fast," John Belmont says, now in front of me, the movement causing only the barest rustle of leaves and clothes, "we've got business, Miss Swan."
I don't know what I expected this mad-man to look like; from Rory's recounting of her childhood, I'd thought him the devil incarnate, but…standing a few inches under six feet tall with similar features to his granddaughter, I can say this is not what I expected – a normal man in his late sixties, with a few tattoos peeking out from under a dark long sleeved shirt. But, while he might look harmless, I have second-hand knowledge to tell me he's cunning as well as ruthless.
"H-How do you know my name?" I try to keep the shaking out of my voice, try to stand tall, but I've got an unassuming looking older man in front of me that has fear devouring my entire being.
He runs a hand through his short silvery locks, and the resemblance he bears to Rory as he makes the motion churns my stomach unpleasantly, "Isabella – may I call you Isabella? – it's come to my attention that my granddaughter Amory has begun the steps necessary to make you a hunter. I can't allow this to happen."
Long, lanky legs take a step toward me and in turn I take a step back. It's like a twisted dance, deadly, and most likely all to a tune of his design. Brown eyes, deep like his estranged granddaughters without the same spark of warmth watch my every tremble with some sort of sick glee.
"Why?" Why can't he allow this? Why is he here? Why now? I try to stop my knees from knocking as I look around wildly for anything to help me.
The frown that creases his face – I see it in that the depravity and ruthlessness that nearly broke Amory. That did break her, at least until she wound up in Forks…
"Because even after all the work I put into her," he starts forward again, backing me up against a tree as he stares down at me with nothing but malice, "even after I made her a tool for war against occult, here she is," with his arms momentarily outstretched in dramatic flair, morbid smile on his harsh and uncannily familiar features, he raises his voice slightly, "bound to a vampire. Living out her days in some…half-assed fairytale, where she thinks she's in love. Can you begin to imagine the horror I feel at this, Isabella, the blind rage I'm in? At least when she was dying I could write it off as some last dalliance of her drug wrecked brain, a deathbed side effect of her Spartan up bringing, but to use the old texts to do this…"
As he trails off he begins to shake, fists clenched until his knuckles are bone-white, still staring intensely at me, "She's obviously still has a lot to learn. I will not have our sacrifices tossed aside so she can have her happily ever after; that's not for her, not for any hunter. Even for you, Isabella," his eyes soften minutely, though I'm nearly positive it's just a contrivance to make me feel more at ease, more like prey, "if you hadn't gone into this because of being rejected by that bloodsucker bitch - "
Lightning fast my hand reaches out to strike his face, but he catches my fist easily. I stare at him in indignant fury, fear forgotten. Bitch? My blood boils as I try to concentrate on getting out of this situation. She did reject me; she rejected my want to become something more than myself…but I'm not about to let this heartless bastard call her that.
My breath hitches in my throat as I focus on the things I want repressed; I can't be lost to my thoughts now. But trying doesn't do a thing; all I can think of is she rejected me and I didn't let her back in; foolish pride blinded me and made the decision stick. To distract myself I scowl at the man in front of me, hoping he hasn't noticed me falter and knowing he already has.
"Maybe she didn't choose too terribly," he says, more to himself than to me.
I take a deep breath and narrow my eyes at him, emotions showing clearly as I speak, "We're going to beat you. Rory's going to –"
He smiles, a compassion-free gesture, "That, apprentice, is almost laughable. You will all fall, because Amory has done what she always does; found a way to fuck everything up. What I'll do to you will make it impossible for those bloodsuckers to resist crossing the border, and this will be perceived as her fault, a failure, something she won't recover from. She's spread herself to thin, and you'll have to pay the price with her.
"I'm afraid I don't know how to make this painless, Isabella, but I'll try to make it quick."
The second part is a whisper as his large hand comes to rest on my shoulder. He cocks his fist back for a brutal hit; he's going to do it. I'm going to die here and I'm not going to get a chance at anything.
His hand strikes the side of my face - my vision goes completely black for a minute before tears spring to my eyes and I cry out in pain; my eye socket is most likely shattered. The turmoil the act sends me into – the thought of those months of training, all the work I did amounting to nothing – has me trying to throw another right hook at his haggard, ink-free face. He catches the punch no problem, of course, and to add insult to injury he laughs.
His face crinkles as he smiles, eyes shining vividly – it's a gesture perverted by cruelty, "Or maybe not."
Then I see the flash of a steel combat knife.
It pierces my abdomen first – or I'm fairly certain it does. I can see the blade sink into my skin and I feel a dull pinch. It's only when he pulls the steel back all covered in blood that my mind seems to catch up with my body. The initial wound starts building in painful intensity; I try to put my hand to it to stop the bleeding, try to scream, but the moment John sees me about to call for help he closes one broad hand around my throat and presses me painfully against a nearby tree – the pain it would usually cause is nothing compared to the agony I'm in. The only thing I can think to do as he starts his slashing with renewed vigor is claw helplessly at his hands – dark spots dot my vision, and I know that I'm not going to be holding on for much longer.
Through dazed eyes I see my own blood painting the woods – there goes all that work I put into getting over my blood sensitivity.
There goes all that work I put into anything.
Somewhere there's the howl of a wolf; it must be far away, but it sounds like it's about to split the forest open. John stops his assault on me at the sound, curses under his breath, and tosses me away to the forest floor.
The only strength I can muster is bringing my right hand up to my mangled front – I'm covered in vicious cuts from sternum to pelvis, but I clasp one of my hands as hard as I can to one of the wounds on my stomach. I'd vomit if I wasn't afraid my insides would tear themselves out. My consciousness fades in and out, and in the blur of green I can make out the hunter's figure as he approaches me again.
With a flourish he bends and places something light in my other palm, and once that's done I hear him sigh heavily, almost wistfully, "Amory...when will you learn?"
I'm already dead to him; he doesn't even bother a look back as he leaves the clearing. I don't follow him with my eyes – I can't – as he dissolves away, leaving me gasping up at the sky in a shallow pool of my own blood.
Screw immortality; I'd give anything for five more minutes. I need to say goodbye – to Charlie and Mom and Rory…
And Alice. My last thoughts are with her – god, what I wouldn't give to be in her arms again, or kiss her one last time…the night before the Cullen family had taken off, before our lives changed into this ride of absolute terror, she'd promised me forever. I held her in my arms that night after we made love for the first time and promised I'd do whatever it would take to make forever really happen. How had I lost sight of that? How had we lost sight of what we had? How did things get so hopelessly fucked up?
So many questions I'll never have answers to.
"Bella!" Rory's face comes into view, tearstained and wide-eyed. I know John failed in his attempt to start a war between the wolves and vampires as soon as I see that face, and I also know it's all over for me. I hear her start talking softly, but I've got something I'm dying for in my hand. With effort I bring the scrap of paper to my chest, where she'll see it.
"Rory he….he's…" I choke out the words; blood trickles from the side of my mouth and into the dirt.
She knows; as I deliver the last bad news I'll ever have to my eyes slide shut and I try to escape the pain I'm in. Rory was right – this sucks.
As soon as I slip from one world I'm in another – there's a gap of nothingness in between, but it lasts for less than a millisecond. Or, that's at least how it feels.
It's like waking up, without the actual waking part; I'm in a vast swath of darkness, dotted occasionally by a dull star. Those stars are a mire of shattered memories, each one foggy and cracked and opaque with age, though how I know that I have no idea. Maybe it's part of being dead. I never put much thought into the afterlife; I'd been banking on becoming immortal, so there was no point. But here I am most likely dead, in some strange place that –
"Bella?"
That's Alice's voice, sweet and calming, echoing around inside my skull, inside my soul. I turn around, still distracted by the shining points of light that are like looking glasses into another life, before my eyes settle on my beloved.
Even here, in this ethereal world I'm not even sure is real, she's beautiful – the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life. I thought it from the first time I saw her; tiny, the definition of dainty, with doll like features and that shock of short dark hair that always manages to look perfectly imperfect, flying every which way. It's her eyes that have me captivated. In this space, every light seems to make them shine an even brighter buttercup gold.
"Alice," her name is a breathy prayer on my lips, "where are we?"
She looks apprehensive for a moment, full lips frowning into a pout and dark brows drawing together, "My mind, or soul, or whatever," she finally decides on approaching the situation with levity and cracks a small, unsure smile, "I'm sorry it's a bit…messy."
Wonder strikes me silent as I look around at the vast black space, filled sporadically with windows of bright light. Looking into one recalls a memory from Alice's past, so far back that the images themselves are unsure of the events within; vague memories of a time before eternity, and all the events that led her here, to me. There's something missing, though.
"Shouldn't there be futures here, too?"
She seems to glide across the darkness to my side and takes one of my hands into her stony grip, "Are you sure you want to see?"
Unable to tell her, I simply nod emphatically. With a soft sigh, she closes her eyes, and it's like someone flipped a light switch.
Where there once was nothing there's now so many possibilities it's like seeing everything. It's so much to take in – so many paths that lead to utter destruction and the tiniest decisions these futures hinge on. Alice must sense my growing disquiet, because we're soon thrust back into inky darkness, dotted by random intervals of light.
"How do you deal with all of that Alice?" The visions I just saw play on repeat in my mind; once I would have likened being able to see the future as a superpower – now I can see how terrible of a burden it is, "How can you see all of that and be the way you are?
"Fuck." I say the last bit under my breath, weary from the split-second visions.
"I'm going to give Rory a piece of my mind – she's turned you into a mini-version of her," the young woman says to herself, frowning, before her countenance changes to a look of piqued, smug curiosity, "and just what do you mean by 'the way I am'?"
I pull her to me then and rest my cheek against hers; I silently rejoice at being so close to her again, "We might not have seen eye to eye these past few days, but that hasn't changed the way I feel about you. I'm…terrible at this kind of stuff, you know that. I guess it took dying to realize –"
"You aren't dead…if you were, I'd be gone too," she looks more vulnerable than I've ever seen her, "I can't…I can't do this, being apart from you, always at odds...There's nothing that matters more than us, that we can't figure out together. I love you. I'm so sorry – for abandoning you, for not supporting you…I was just afraid something like this would happen. I never wanted you to have to go through any of this," her hold on me tightens, as if to reassure herself I'm still here, "I'm just glad we saved you."
Considering I was torn up so badly modern medicine wouldn't be able to help me, I know exactly how they saved me, "…Tell me I'm not bald."
She laughs then, a sound like tinkling bells that sets my heart ablaze, "You're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
I roll my eyes, still uncomfortable with mushy stuff even after all we've been through, "Ali-"
My words are cut short by her lips, soft yet demanding; the euphoria I feel at being with her again is unlike anything I've ever known.
"Wake up! Soon! Oh, I can't wait!" She's all smiles as she pulls away – I feel the waterworks fighting their way forward, but I squash the tears of happiness, "I love you so much."
All the lights fade, leaving everything pitch black once again.
"- couldn't see because of the wolves. Please, please wake up. I can't –"
Water sloshes around in the tub I'm in – though I don't know how I know I'm in a bathtub at the Cullen house without opening my eyes.
Stranger things have happened.
" – wonder if this is how it was for Rory and –"
"Ali-ce?" My voice cracks halfway through her name; I fight through the drowsiness I feel and speak before I try prying my eyes open.
"Bella!" I do snap my eyes open when my pixie, in her rush to greet me back into the world of the living, falls into the water beside me, arms flung around my neck, "I was so scared I was going to lose you!"
"Ah! Alice!" Instinctively my hands reach for my midsection, but there's not so much as a scratch. There's a faint webbing of scars covering my front, but I'll take that if it means living. With a faint blush of embarrassment at my state of undress, I raise my arms from the water to encircle her waist; it's then I see the small runes and line work dotting my arm in red.
The mark of a hunter.
"She does good work," Alice says, molding herself to my side, not caring how drenched her clothes are, "it's beautiful."
"I…I…" How could I ever begin to repay Amory for everything she's done? She didn't have to stick around and babysit me for months, didn't have to stand by my side during all my choices, and she sure as hell didn't have to put everything on hold to save her stupid apprentice. I'm back with Alice again because of her. I'm alive because of her.
"I know," my pixie's lips brush briefly against my collar bone, "you should see your other tattoo."
Thinking she means now, I try to wiggle out from under her. My struggling causes a bright smile to light her face.
"No, not now; I've…I need you, Bella," her eyes are all seduction, and they pull me in instantly, "now."
I fumble clumsily with the wet dress she has on – maybe almost dying doesn't completely suck if this is the outcome.
(A/N: Re-wrote this chapter a billion fucking times, wasn't sure it was going to make the cut, but I liked how it turned out all and all. This was, surprisingly, easy to write without swearing - it just lacks that Rory pizzazz though. A little Swan and Al action though, which I really enjoy; I'm kind of thinking about going back and writing more chapters about that relationship, but that's just me getting ahead of myself – one thing at a time! Romantic stuff, awesome stuff, actiony stuff, all coming up next! Thanks for the support and stay tuned for more! You guys are rad!)