Disclaimer: I do not own twilight or any of its characters.

(A/N: I'm so sorry for and utterly embarrassed by all the spelling mistakes in the last chapter… I would blame my dyslexia and the fact my spell-checked recognised a name that doesn't even exist, but reality is I just didn't check it through properly, maybe I was just too excited to update! Haha. I'm sorry anyway Hope you enjoy this next chapter – we've made it to South America! Ellie x)

Our Arduous Journeys

I was bombarded with many visions on our two day swim. It's surprisingly quiet and easy to focus when the majority of your senses are cut off. Of course it's very, very boring meaning there wasn't much else for me to do other then keep up to date of life outside of the water.

My self and Jasper were not the only members of our family working hard, and travelling out of our comfort zone at the moment.

Bella was being wonderfully devious, searching for ways to find Jenks, thinking of excuses to leave Edward to go and see him, managing herself amazingly in front if him… Watching her speak to him, shake his hand and sit so close to him with such grace and dignity made it hard to believe that she was only three and a half months old.

Rosalie, Emmett, Carlisle and Esme were all pushing themselves to their limits finding witnesses. Each of them had understood the meaning behind my words when I said Nessie would have to be shown to our friends, so they had all made the decision not to tell them about her. Instead they would tell them that our family was in danger and that unless they helped us, then we would certainly die. It wouldn't be a lie either. If we didn't have our strong force of witnesses present when the Volturi arrived then they wouldn't even stop for their ridiculous farce to begin.

I could see Rosalie and Emmett running across the whole of America searching for nomads. They had already found Garrett who jumped at the chance to help. The course they were on would lead them to Mary and then quickly to Randall, both of whom were Carlisle's friends back from his travelling days. They would find each other on the way to Washington and arrive at our home together.

I watched as Esme and Carlisle travelled from North Africa to Ireland in order to track down Siobhan's coven. We had visited the bubbly Irish clan a few times in the last five decades, and I knew them all well. They would also agree to visit our family and would travel to America immediately after speaking with my parents. I then followed Carlisle and Esme as they flew to a small city in England. I was confused as this journey was taking them towards someone who I did not recognise, or that I had ever even heard about. Alistair was his name, apparently Carlisle's oldest friend – the first immortal he had met after becoming one himself. But it turns out that Alistair has a severe case of agoraphobia as well as an extreme fear of the Volturi. All I could see of his future was him being escorted to Forks by Esme and Carlisle, moaning in our attic and then making a run for it some days later.

But for some reason I couldn't help draw my extra sight away from Amun's coven who inhabited the area around Egypt. Esme and Carlisle had flown there straight away to find them. I had never met Amun and his mate Kebi… but from what my visions showed me, I was glad that I hadn't – and that I wouldn't. It looked as though he and his mate would leave straight after their witness. Well, I suppose that is all we could ask for. But it was not the annoying and big headed man who I was interested in… it was the talented boy in his coven – very young – no more than sixteen when he was changed. The word 'talented' was such an understatement when it came to this being. Benjamin possessed an ability that I never thought could have existed…

However, my stone heart felt as though it would sink to the bottom of this ocean when I realised that his presence at our side would lead to more troubles than he deserved. As soon as Aro would see him, then he would want him too. I worried intensely for the youthful, honest and innocent vampire, his powers were miraculous and his tie to his coven's leader was loose. His future was very uncertain and I couldn't help but think it was because of us. Though he wouldn't be the only one making a huge sacrifice that day…

I had been perplexed from the very first time I had seen the image of Irina's burning body, because unlike the rest of us, she was burning on the Volturi's side. With the continuing solidification of the coming weeks and the impending battle came many answers to this question but, unfortunately, none of them indicated a different fate for my distant cousin. She would die – for certain – and although I did not know the reason behind Caius's actions, I wouldn't be surprised if he believed it would cause an unstoppable assault from the ones who loved her most… Kate and Tanya… therefore giving his army the only excuse they needed to fulfil their purpose.

I studied her face as she strolled behind the marching guard, completely out of place, absolutely confused, utterly ashamed. Her eyes intensified on her family, both immediate and extended. Forgiveness was all she wanted – to take it all back.

I blinked my eyes away from the image. As furious as I was at Irina for what she did, she was still my cousin, and she was still innocent, and she does not deserve to die! Her actions were out of anger, a complete impulse that was not foreign for our kind. And the reasons behind her decision, although incorrect, were honest.

But it did me no good to wallow in this sadness. If it did not concentrate and focus all my attention on finding the hybrid then all my family would die.

I flicked my legs harder, pushing all my energy though my body, sending my body flying past Jasper. He has always been the strongest swimmer I knew – his broad shoulders, long limbs and lean body gave him the perfect dimensions – and I didn't want to slow him down any more than I already had.

Forty hours it took. Forty hours to get to Northern Colombia. It was the early hours of the morning when we reached the coast and although the sun was beginning to twinkle over the horizon, it did not bother us at all. The beautiful and ever so conveniently placed Tayrona National Forest provided excellent coverage, unlike the baron beach in California.

Jasper and I ran from the sea into the green forest, both of us feeling more comfortable straight away. It was our natural habitat, so to speak… a densely packed forest, blurring past us at eighty-five miles an hour. This was the beginning of our journey to our freedom. We wouldn't leave the jungle now until we found Kachiri, we would not leave her until we found the hybrid and we would not let her, or him, be until they had helped prove our innocence.

"Alice…" Jasper breathed, making me almost gasp as he spoke. I had not heard his voice in a long time. He brushed his hands through his sun-kissed hair, shaking off some of the moisture. "Would you please tell me what you were thinking of over the last forty hours? What did you see? I couldn't keep track of your emotions… I didn't understand…"

Rosalie always hated it when Jasper asked her to explain the reasons behind her own emotions. "It's none of your business… I've already got one Peeping Tom of a brother; I don't need another one…" She would always say. But she didn't understand… he wasn't asking why she was feeling like she was; he was asking why he was. Jasper lived with other people problems, feelings and emotions all the time, but my stunning sister couldn't bring her self to appreciate how hard and confusing it must be to feel these emotions without knowing why.

I spoke to Jasper for hours about everything I had seen… Bella, Jenks, Rose, Emmett, Carlisle, Esme, Benjamin, Irina… We both mourned together for her loss, though it would not happen for weeks. We managed to find time to hunt as well, making the most of the good time we were on.

I smiled as Jasper wiped a spot of blood from the right side of his lips just after he threw the drained corpse of a jaguar behind him.

"Finished?" I asked playfully.

He mimicked the sound of a human belching. "Quite. Shall we?" He added, waving his arm before him.

I rolled my eyes. "'You can be such a nerd sometimes'!" I joked, calling over my shoulder, already running in a south east direction.

He caught me up easily, jumping on my back as though he was a child on top of his parent's shoulders. I sensed him before I could feel him – the sixth sense cause by complete animalistic instincts. He reached round, kissing me on my cheek before leaping off and running beside me. "Will it take long to find them?" He asked, more serious now.

"It's hard to make sense of time out here, Jasper, so I don't know exactly when we'll reach them…" I looked ahead to when we will be with them… it was dark, well past midnight, but there was a sense of lightness tickling the sky – early morning…. "It won't be for a while though, maybe ten, eleven hours?"

"That's fine. Gives us plenty of time to find the… well you know… and will mean that it won't be long until Senna and Zafrina will get to ours."

He was right. It would be a week until our home would be full of our family again, joined by all the friends we have found – only Jasper and I were missing from the busy picture.

I closed my eyes for the next few hours, seeing the jungle in front of me through my visions only. I reassessed the route I was on every second, making sure that it would take us to the Amazon coven. This was just usual practice for me, second nature even. I did it to find the best meal when we hunted, to keep me away from roads patrolled by police officers and to keep a track on mine or my family's immediate future for any reason. It was all good practice for the coming weeks… Though finding a blind spot would be a million times harder than finding someone, or something, I knew.

We were deep in The Amazonas now. Ten hours and twenty two minutes after we had last stopped, Jasper skidded on the loose layer of soil on top of the ground we were running on. He was completely motionless now. "Alice." He whispered harshly. "Did you smell that?"

I opened my eyes, and turned to face him. He was about thirty metres away from me, his nostrils flaring and his eyes darting around.

If truth be told I didn't catch anything out of the ordinary, but I was also not paying any attention to anything other than my extra sight, just letting it absorb all my other senses and therefore ensuring that all my energy went into finding Kachiri as quickly as possible.

I just shook my head in reply, beginning to listen intently to everything that was around me. A few animals and birds a mile or so away, making sure they didn't come near the beasts that ranked high above them in the food chain; a stream or estuary trickling sweetly chilled water stretched for a few miles both east and west of where I stood. I could see nothing but the wonderful colour of green that the dark night and the bluish light reflecting from the moon gave the foliage scattered all around. I could smell nothing but the scent of the hundreds of varieties of plants, fruits and flowers in the local environment, and the moist soil caused by the latest rainfall.

My assessment did nothing to calm me though… what had Japer sensed that I hadn't?

"Somebody's here." He whispered as the sides of his lips turned up into a smile.

I looked into his future but sighed in relief immediately. He was right, somebody was here…

I smiled as Jasper jumped up onto one of the branches above his head following the scent that he had caught. I moved to where he had been standing and inhaled deeply. I recognised it straight away, as Jasper had. Grapefruit, mango dulled with chocolate and cinnamon.

He sped along the bough of the large buttress tree until he came to a sudden halt, as though there was an invisible wall in front of him. His eyes were looking beyond it though, wondering why the scent came to a unexpected stop.

He looked back towards me confused, and I just grinned in reply. He turned back, once again staring off into nothing. "Zafrina?" He breathed.

The scene I was looking at changed abruptly. The setting was exactly the same, though now we were not the only ones here.

They appeared in front of Jasper before either of us had time to think. His eyes blinked and flickered in shock as they refocused of Zafrina's face, only a few millimetres away from his.

"Jasper?" The newly appeared dark haired figure replied sending Jasper flying through the air, absolutely stunned.

He landed beside me, shaking his head. He laughed once. "You didn't have to scare the crap out of me!"

The three elongated bodies of Zafrina, Senna and Kachiri jumped down from their hiding place and landed gracefully a few metres in front of us. All of their faces wore the same identical expression of confusion.

"Scare the… what?" Zafrina asked.

Jasper grimaced. "Doesn't matter… We've been looking for you for hours. We need to ask you all something…"

"Where's Carlisle? Is he not with you? Is he well?" She spoke again in her bizarre accent that I could never quite place.

I stepped forward, taking the lead. "Zafrina, Senna, Kachiri… our family is in danger… severe danger. Our parents and siblings have been travelling as we have, trying to find friends that will help us."

I paused as all three of them took a slow inhalation of breath.

"You must be fighting quite a warrior if you are summoning so many of Carlisle's acquaintances…" Zafrina questioned.

"… And there is only one warrior I can think of that would have the large Cullen Clan running scared…" Kachiri added seamlessly as if it were the same person speaking.

Zafrina and Senna looked across to her puzzled. "Who sister?" Zafrina asked.

"The Volturi. The ones who make our laws, which we are to stick to every day." She turned back to Jasper and I. "What has happened to call for your coven's execution Alice?"

"Nothing that is actually true Kachiri, we can promise you that." Jasper pleaded.

"They are coming for us all, for a reason that, as Jasper said, is a lie… and from what I have seen, they have no intention of stopping to hear our case that will mute their accusation… unless…"

"… unless we have our friends by our side." Jasper concluded. "And that is all we ask – that you stand beside our family… we are not asking anyone to fight for us."

Zafrina turned to me. "Alice… have you seen this help your case? If we, and Carlisle's other friends, stand beside you? That will save your lives?"

I cringed, it couldn't seem as though that was the case, not to her or anybody. Hopefully Edward would only see it as her hope, and not mine. I had always found it so easy to lie – a natural talent! But I purposely neglected it now, making myself sound more like Bella trying to talk her way out of something... She could never lie… "There are many possibilities Zafrina…" I began. "All I know for sure is that if we are alone, than we will certainly die." I answered honestly, but also remembering that her thoughts would soon be Aro's.

She sighed roughly. "We don't like to leave our rainforest… In fact, there have only been a few occasions throughout the whole of our existence when we have had to – and we have never travelled so far…" She sighed. "But… it is for Carlisle, and I owe that man many things." She looked towards her sisters, standing either side of her. They didn't nod, there didn't seem to be any communication at all – just complete understanding. "We will help you, dear Alice."

"How could we not?" Kachiri added in exactly the same indifferent, but honest tone of voice.

They all smiled, waiting for us to leave so that they could follow, but we were far from done… and the hardest part was yet to come.

"When shall we leave, young ones?" Zafrina asked, her charcoal eyebrows denting her forehead. "I assumed we would have to hurry?"

"Jasper and I will not be leaving with you…" The next intake of breath I took stuttered through my lips. Though I was not threatened by the three vampires, I found them very intimidating – especially since all three of them towered over me. "… And we will not be returning home." I dodged their judging gazes and carried on. "It is the only way that we can survive." I lied again. "So I must ask you, Senna and Zafrina, to leave your home to go and help my family when I am unable to."

"And what about Kachiri?" She almost gasped. She linked both their fingertips as she spoke, almost as if the thought of being away from her made her miss her already.

I repositioned my feet so they faced Kachiri. "There is something we need you to do, Kachiri…and you will not have to leave the rainforest for you to do so. It is your indisputable knowledge of the area that we need. It is of the utmost importance, and I would never ask you to leave your sisters if it were not."

All was completely still for a few seconds. Jasper stood by my side silently, though I could feel the aura of trust and persuasion he was flooding us all with.

The two Amazon's in question looked at each other intensely and then turned their heads to look and me and Jasper. "Very well." Zafrina breathed. "Karachi will do as you ask of her. We trust your judgement was much as Carlisle does, Alice… and I know he thinks a lot of you." Her words were carefully chosen. "Is there anything you would like us to pass on to him? A message perhaps?"

A million things! I wanted to scream. Tell him that I love him, that I love them all so much, and that there isn't a single second of the day when they are not in my minds. Tell Esme that I miss her motherly scent and that I would do anything to have her soft hands held in mine. Tell Rosalie not to dismiss our lives like we are all already dead. Tell Emmett to be careful about the fights he picks… and to just carry on being him – happy and strong enough for us all. Tell Edward to take care of my wonderful sister and beautiful niece and to sit at his piano and play his wonderful music instead of worrying. And tell Bella… Well, tell Bella just how powerful she really is…

Tell them all that I haven't and that I would never abandon my family. Tell them that there is hope for us all - no matter how difficult it will be to make that hope a reality!

My eyes suddenly went harshly dry causing me to blink repeatedly. It was uncomfortable, and all I wanted to do was sob. But they couldn't see it… Edward couldn't see it…

I just shook my head. "He knows all he has to know. But I please have to ask you to hurry on your way – there is not time to waste. We will instruct Kachiri on what she must do after you have left."

The calm atmosphere turned into one of hurriedness immediately and I silently thanked Jasper for doing so… They all needed to hear, understand and feel the sincerity behind my words.

"We'll leave at once." Zafrina said.

"Thank you." I replied. "The easiest way for you will probably be to take the Pacific. Run due west and then swim due north, following the coast line to Washington State, then make your way to The Olympic National Park. Our scent is all over that area, and that will take you to Carlisle."

Senna and Zafrina just nodded.

Zafrina turned to Kachiri and gently released her hand from hers. She spoke something softly in their language. It was something that I could not translate, but it was easy to understand… Goodbye, and take care. There was no need to embrace – it was not part of their culture or society as it was for ours. All three of them just shared a prolonged look, saying goodbye in their own ways. I hoped that they would all see each other again… and if this worked then there will be no reason why they shouldn't.

There was nothing else but a firm nod from Zafrina and their disappearing footsteps travelling in a westward direction.

Four seconds had passed and Jasper leaped to the branch above, following the way they went. He was checking that they had left, and would return after they were out of hearing distance therefore ensure that the words I was about to speak would be held in complete secrecy.

"Where is Jasper going?" Kachiri asked, stepping after him - a complete instinct in order to protect her sisters.

I held on to her forearm, keeping her in place. "He's just making sure we're alone." I leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear." I haven't told you everything I know, Kachiri. There is hope... hope for us all… but I can't allow them to know it."

Kachiri's eyebrows relaxed as she realised what I was saying. "Their leader… Aro. He cannot know there is hope for you?" She assumed correctly.

I did nothing but smile dryly.

"But what is this hope Alice?" Her excitement meant there was a sudden raise of volume in her voice.

The rustle of leaves to my left made me jump, though there was no need. It was only Jasper.

"They've left as instructed. We're safe to talk." He joined me by my side and I immediately relaxed.

"I had a vision Kachiri, of my family safe… all of us safe. But I couldn't see what the cause of this outcome was… I didn't understand why I was blind to it…" I was getting ahead of myself. I wish I had taken some time to rehearse what I was going to say. "Kachiri… you know I have a brother – Edward?" I began.

"Of course, Carlisle brought his to visit us when he was barely past being a newborn."

I smiled – of course he did… "He recently met his mate, but while she was still human… They got married before he changed her… and, well, Edward and Bella consummated their marriage."

"They had a child." Jasper pitched in. "Our niece… our wonderful, intelligent niece."

The expression I saw on Kachiri's face was not how I imagined she would look. I expected shock or confusion, perhaps even disgust… but she was… remembering…

"The Volturi think she is an immortal child… but she is not. She grows, she learns. She has even spent time with humans without loosing an ounce of control. But they want her dead anyway… and the Volturi will find any means to make sure that they get their way. So I had to think of a way to save her…"

Kachiri didn't move and her expression didn't change.

"I could never see Renesmee – the child – in any of my visions. It was as though she cause a black hole, absorbing the vision into the space where she should be… and whenever I look for the reason behind our possible rescue I get the same feeling, the exact same blind spot."

She finally looked up towards me, though her eyes seemed a million miles away.

"Now, there is no way I can be sure that another half vampire-half human hybrid exists, but something tells me that if it does, then it is you who will be able to help us find it."

Nobody spoke for two and a half minutes, until Kachiri's lips quivered.

"I think you might be right..." She finally exhaled.