Hey everyone. Turns out I am actually alive and living. I cannot apologise enough for how late this came. If I am honest, it has been ready for quite some time. But I wasn't quite happy with it and my personal life has been hectic these past few months after exams. As payback I will allow everyone who favourites/follows/reviews to hit me with a rather pointy stick a few times.
Maybe after hitting me, you could tell me how you think this chapter went and general ideas on how I am doing. I love getting feedback, good and bad. An especially lovely review recently made my day and gave me a kick up the arse.
Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all it's lovely characters.
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The plan was simple; distract the army while a small team snuck behind enemy lines and destroyed Persephone and the Volturi leaders. What could go wrong?
Well, apparently a lot.
The battle had started strongly in our favour. With the advantage of home ground, our soldiers tore up the ranks of advancing vampires. Our tacticians (mainly Athena telling us 'idiots' what to do) had given us the best plan possible to stop the enhanced vampiric army.
The heavily armoured centaurs, saytrs's, cyclops's, and dryads broke through the enemy's front line like it was made of paper. Our team, composing of myself, Alice, Jasper, Hazel, Stella, and Charlie had managed to sneak behind enemy lines without so much as a curious glance from our opposition.
That's when the trouble started.
Two of the Volturi's elite guard had been waiting for us, in the middle of their camp like it was a social gathering. Apparently one had the power to take away all of your senses, while the other could make you experience the worst pain imaginable. Hades would have a field day once she got to the underworld.
The two guards were obviously brother and sister, although all familial love had seemed to have been lost between them. This became evident when I had pounced on the small blonde girl who had previously been making Stella and Hazel cry out in agony on the floor. I ripped her head off within seconds and tossed it straight at the male guard, who simply regarded the dismembered head by his feet before kicking it out of his way with his boot. To say I was shocked was an understatement.
With the spell of agony broken, Hazel and Stella had managed to stand back up and face the male vampire, before falling straight back down again as he stole their senses from them. If I'm honest, I am quite upset he wasn't focusing on me at all. I am a freaking Nereid! Show me what you got boy!
As Alice and Charlie ripped the male limb from limb, I started contemplating why two of the elite guard would be idling around in a campsite that just so happened to be in our path towards the leaders tent. It is also pretty obvious that we have lost the element of surprise.
"Hey Alice, do you think we need to be sneaky anymore?" I asked the black eyed pixie-pire who slowly started to grin manically. She picked up the two guards heads and chucked them as far as she could up the camp. The two projectiles pummelled into the leaders tent and gave us the ultimate bad ass introduction ever.
Several gasps came from within the tent a few seconds later and what seemed to be sobbing. On closer inspection, it was a male's voice that seemed to be the source of this.
And true to my instincts, a middle aged man with, dare I say it, lovely thick black hair that flowed like those shampoo adverts on the human's TV, stepped out of the tent. It was hard not to snort at the sight, but his distraught face quickly helped me control myself.
"You! How dare you attack the Volturi princess! You will die for this!" Damn, it was like I ran over his puppy or something. Looking at the way he held the blondes dismembered head, I probably did.
"Aro, I presume?" I asked. Beside the distraught man stood two other old male vampires. The one on his left could rival Edward for best glare award. It looked like his face was permanently in a death glare as he had many wrinkles on his forehead. Scars adorned his face and promised a good fight for whoever faced him. This must be Caius. The other male on Aro's right genuinely looked bored to be here. Shoulder length brown hair framed his depressed face and I couldn't help feeling sorry for this vampire that could only be Marcus. It was as if the two vampires flanking Aro were exact opposites of each other.
"Swan I assume!" Aro shouted across the field at me. I didn't know why he was shouting, it wasn't as if we would have trouble hearing each other.
"So you've heard of me then?" I asked him.
"The Cullen boy was quite persistent on making us agree to destroy you. He thinks you are a threat to our world. And we can't have that now can we?" His face twisted into the creepiest smile I have ever seen.
"Then how about you get on with it then?!" I growled at this messed up man.
He ran towards us at an incredible speed, much quicker than any ancient I have ever encountered. The angry male followed quickly and focused on Charlie and the satyrs. Just as fast, Alice intercepted and engaged Aro, countering every move he made, for a while at least.
Pretty soon it was obvious the sheer speed Aro possessed was too quick for Alice's visions to keep up with. Her defence was letting in more and more hits and I couldn't divert his attention no matter how hard I tried.
After a particularly hard hit to my shoulder, sending me back a good ten feet, I had had enough. "Aro! What the hell has Persephone done to you?" I shouted at the blur of a vampire as he continued to lay into my mate. His maniacal smile turned into a frown as he turned to me.
"Do you think this is her work? No Swan, the Volturi worked out how to enhance our abilities and take on the gods. She merely left the back door open for us to attack, a couple of rituals and consuming the blood of an Olympian and presto." Well, that was annoying. I had pinned her down for being the sole source of the Volturi's power. Once we dealt with her, it was hoped the powers would leave the army of vamps at our backs. Like cutting the head off of a snake.
"Any other questions miss Swan?" Aro cockily asked from his fight with Alice. The anger I felt at this grew in me till all I could feel was pure hatred for this twisted man.
With a loud growl, I flung myself towards him and my tiring mate. I matched every move he threw at me, which is not what could be said for Alice. With every hit that got past her defence, she got slower and slower. I was starting to panic, and this in turn made me more sloppy with my attacks.
A quick glance to the satyr's and Charlie showed they were faring no better with the angriest man in the world. I would need to up my game quickly, or my family will be hurt.
Luckily, I could feel a large amount of water nearby and pulled upon my power. A massive ball of surging water bubbled and coiled in on itself ten feet away. Using my strength, I flung the ball straight into the path of our fight.
I grabbed and wrapped my arms around Alice's waist and protected her back from the water death ball. It slammed into our group and I was catapulted forward up the camp, still holding onto my mate and taking the brunt of the impact.
The sigh that came out of me was quite pitiful, I must admit.
"Bella? Bella! Are you okay?" Alice's worried features appeared above me and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.
"Don't worry babe, you know exactly how much force it takes to knock me out." I winked at her. Her worried expression changed to a slight smile and she got up off of me.
"Yeah, you're fine." She helped me up and we turned to face our enemy together.
Aro no longer looked so pristine. His clothes were torn and his hair was all over the place. Basically it looked like he went through the washing machine.
The growl that echoed out from both of our chests battled for most threatening, as the rest of the battle suddenly erupted around us. Our forces had broken through the ranks of the vampires and were now fighting amongst the tents of their camp. Unfortunately, this meant I no longer had sights on Aro.
"Alice, I can't see Aro anymore. I'm going to clear a path through these vampires. I will be back as quickly as possible, trust me." She stared into my eyes and I could see her answer written on her face before she even spoke it.
"I trust you, come back to me babe." She pulled me roughly by the collar and pushed our lips together in a short, passionate kiss. Gods this was not the time to be turned on. With one last peck, she pushed me forward a little and smiled.
I turned to the jumbling mess that was battle, and leapt into the fray. A punch there, a kick here, duck. Simple training techniques Bella, simple techniques will get you through this.
Spraying water into a vampires face, I quickly jumped onto his back and ripped his head off and moved onto the next one. But then promptly stopped as I realised my next target was none other than Emmett.
His face was unrecognisable in his black eyed fury. "Hey tree trunk man! What number are you on?" I yelled over the roar of battle. His face instantly turned to me and he grinned manically.
"I'm on seventeen!" He yelled back before snapping the neck of the vampire he currently had in a headlock. "Eighteen!" I laughed and got back to back with him.
"I'm on ten, but does a blonde elite guard count as two?" I asked my temporary partner. The chuckle that was my response turned into a booming laugh.
"I was wondering why no one was screaming in agony on the ground!" He briefly turned round to give me a high five before punching an enemy so hard his head flew right off.
I decided I should start showing off to counter his immense strength. "Hey tree trunk man, cover me for a second." I called over my shoulder before concentrating on all the water bodies in the immediate area. Bringing it towards me all at once, I was assaulted with the smell of salt and all I could see was the form of a wall of water flowing in front of me. Emmett's grin just egged me on and I imagined the wall being pushed away from me as quickly as possible. The result was a massive wave knocking out anything within seeing distance from myself and Emmett.
I turned around to smile smugly at the tree trunk man and raised my eyebrows at him. He slyly narrowed his eyes at me and patted my back. "That still only counts as one Bellsy."
"That was clearly more than one!" I yelled at the goliath.
"Yes, but your own troops that you knocked over in the process balances out the numbers." He grimly stated.
Oh gods, I completely forgot about them. I quickly sent tendrils of pure healing water out to my fallen allies on the ground, unfortunately using up the last of my supply. "I will be more careful with my powers. Where is Rosalie?" It was unusual to see a mated pair leave each others company, especially in such a dangerous situation.
"Rosie is staying with Esme at the command centre. It's the safest place to be, surrounded by gods."
"She's probably going mental knowing you are out here risking your life. She seems like a good fighter too."
"She trusts I can take care of myself, we have been together long enough to be able to not go mental whenever one of us is in danger. Also, if by god this battle doesn't go well, I feel good knowing she is protecting Esme." Emmett patted my shoulder and smiled.
"You guys really are the most unique coven I have ever come across." I smiled back at him and started turning.
"We are a family Bella, which you are now a part of." After that bundle of cuteness I embraced the tree trunk man. His muscular frame enveloping me and blotting out all light. The moment was ripped apart as an ear splitting scream shattering the battle field. Looking to the source, I saw a sight which made all my instincts cry out at once.
Aro had Alice by the throat.
He looked straight into my eyes and smiled like a child who found the cookie jar. I did something then that I haven't done since my first days on the job, I lost control of my instincts.
I surged forward with all of my speed and strength available. I was slightly aware of Emmett flashing forward beside me as we raced towards our foe and to save Alice. There were no enemies in our path due to my wave a few seconds prior but it wouldn't have mattered with the ferocity we charged forward.
As we reached the Volturi leader, I slipped down and allowed Emmett to leap over me and crash into our enemy. The two slammed together with a loud boom and allowed for Alice to slip through. I instantly got between her and Aro and braced for the impact that was surely going to come within a few seconds.
Emmett was a great fighter, really impressive actually. But within two seconds, Aro had thrown him into myself and Alice, pushing us back a few feet.
"Alice, are you okay?" Emmett and I both asked at the same time.
"I'm okay, just a little sore around the throat." She replied while rubbing at the cracks adorning her neck. I growled at her injuries and felt my power grow with my anger. I roared and leapt forward once again. Aro met me head on and we fought. I was mostly on the defensive, he was an experienced fighter. It was as if he had spent his whole undead life training.
I ducked under his leg when he tried to take my head off with it, and jumped up over his head. I landed a kick to his head and sent him flying backwards into a destroyed water logged tent. I focused my attention on the liquid he was now lying in.
Two tendrils rose around him and I shaped them into sharp harpoons, aimed at Aro's body. Seeing the water rising around him, Aro quickly jumped to his feet. I lunged one tendril towards his chest, but he deftly avoided it and flashed towards me. I dodged and spun around, ready for his second attack. But it never came.
Once again Aro had his hand around Alice's throat, and his foot pushing Emmett's head into the ground. I stopped in my tracks and readied my water harpoons around me, ready to surge forward at any moment. He looked at my arsenal and laughed.
"Do you really expect me to let your dear Alice live if you kill me Isabella? Use some intelligence and realise you can't win here today and keep your whore!" He squeezed Alice's neck and she whimpered. "Call off your army now or I will snap her like a twig." My harpoons lowered slightly, but looking into Alice's eyes I could see she was staring into my soul. I didn't like the look she was giving me, a look that said to sacrifice her.
I was trying my best to show her I wouldn't do that, before Aro decided for me.
"Too late!" He yelled and held my mate up higher. He brought his hand back to strike and I felt my stomach fall. The water aimed at Aro dropped and instead pushed me forward incredibly fast towards the trio.
I got between his strike and Alice and took the blunt of it, but his clawed fingers sheared the front of her neck. I cried out in pain as his hand clawed my back and I protectively curled around Alice even in my pain and looked up to see her eyes bulge with pain, then slowly close.
"Nooooo!" I yelled as Alice lost consciousness and went limp in my arms. My whole body went cold and all I could think was the beautiful angel that wouldn't wake up. Please no no no no! She couldn't die here! She has waited her whole life for me and we just got together! The fates wouldn't be this cruel!
I clutched her beautiful face in my hands gently and willed her wake up. But she didn't respond. The maniacal laughter reminded me of the devil who did this.
I glanced up at the bastard and glared as he prepared for the final strike. With the last of my strength I fashioned the harpoons back into their form and pulled towards me. The sharpened water spiked through Aro's chest and through towards me. The spikes entered my body and with that, the world gave way to darkness.
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So that happened. I had this part planned for about a year now, it feels good to finally get here. As usually please leave some feedback to tell me how awesome/horrendous I am. Till next time :)