AN ~ Surprise! I haven't forgotten about you I have been busy lately with writing some original fiction but I did promise I'd get these up so here they are and still coming. Not long now though!
Chapter Eighty-Two: Above and Beyond
Esme:
Caius' confident smirk faded. His bloodthirsty glare turned furious, staring in disbelief at Kate and Garrett, still lying in the snow. Aro, too, watched the pair but in awe, no doubt of the fact that had withstood such a powerful shock. The black-cloaked warriors crouched, ready to attack immediately after we made the first move. Behind them, the red-cloaks seemed very confused. Clearly they had not been expecting this outcome.
My eyes were drawn towards the third elder. Marcus hovered eerily in the corner, watching me with hazy red eyes. He seemed bored, and perhaps a little sad. Sad that he would not get his fight, or was it that he knew I was about to suffer immense pain as my family was taken away from me? Maybe he knew what was going to happen; maybe he knew how painful it would be. Would it hurt him, I wondered, to feel our bonds snap and fray as one by one, we were plucked from existence?
This train of thought was interrupted by Aro's voice.
"Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against this child. Perhaps we should return to the matter at hand?"
Caius straightened and made his face almost unreadable, though he couldn't hide the hurt at the fact that Aro had just cut him down; no doubt he had been plotting while we had all been paying attention to Tanya and Kate. Aro drifted forward, followed by the two guards Edward had invited, and the cloaked girl who insisted on keeping contact with her master at all times. Why was she there? Was she a shield like Bella? I glanced at Edward; he nodded. She must be weaker, though, else she wouldn't have to be in contact with the one she was protecting. Edward nodded again. Even though I had finally found out a little more about Aro's mysterious living shadow, I was no better off for it. The hair at the back of my neck bristled with a warning as the cloaked ones approached.
"Just to be thorough, I'd like to speak with a few of your witnesses," Aro explained to nobody in particular. No doubt he was clarifying things for his own witnesses. "Procedure, you know."
The cruel smile crept back onto Caius' face, eyes glistening in anticipation. Edward balled his hands into fists and hissed. He looked so tense he might explode; luckily for us, he resisted. Carlisle glanced anxiously at Edward before neutralising his own expression: we couldn't do anything yet without inducing the fight ourselves. We had to let the cards fall where they may. Though Carlisle tried to keep his face still, I could see his discomfort as Aro passed him and Tanya, and approached Amun and Kebi.
"Ah, Amun, my southern neighbour!" Aro greeted with enthusiasm that far exceeded the situation. "It has been so long since you've visited me."
"Time means little; I never notice its passing," Amun replied through tight lips. For all his stoicism he looked slightly panicked. Kebi, meanwhile, was an elegant statue by his side, her eyes steady on Aro's face.
"So true," Aro agreed. "But maybe you had another reason to stay away?"
Amun said nothing, and Aro continued, unfazed.
"It can be terribly time-consuming to organise newcomers into a coven. I know that well!" he said. "I'm grateful I have others to deal with the tedium. I'm glad your new additions have fit in so well. I would have loved to be introduced." No doubt of that. Ben's ability was beyond explanation even by Carlisle; he would certainly be an object of fascination for Aro and his beloved historical records.
"I'm sure you were meaning to come see me soon," Aro said, more of an assumption than a suggestion. I recalled the hefty pendant he had sent Bella, and wondered if Ben had received a similar package – and if so, what he had done with it.
"Of course," Amun agreed, concealing any fear or sarcasm his words may have held. Aro grinned.
"Oh well, we're all together now!" he cried, as if the rest of the gathering were not shying away from him in an odd sort of fear that felt a bit like embarrassment. "Isn't it lovely?"
Amun nodded, his face blank. It seemed he was just as convinced by Aro's cheerfulness as the rest of us - that is to say, not at all.
"But the reason for your presence here is not as pleasant, unfortunately," Aro continued. "Carlisle called on you to witness?"
"Yes," Amun replied, in the same emotionless tone.
"And what did you witness for him?"
"I've observed the child in question. It was evident immediately that she was not an Immortal Child-"
"Perhaps we should define our terminology now there seem to be new classifications," Aro interrupted. "By Immortal Child you mean of course a human child who had been bitten and thus transformed into a vampire."
"Yes, that's what I meant," Amun agreed.
"What else did you observe about the child?"
"That she grows...quickly."
"And...do you believe that she should be allowed to live?" Aro's lips stretched into a smile. I hissed - and I was not alone. Amun glanced around uneasily.
"I did not come to make judgements," he said, carefully weighing up his words. Aro laughed, trying to ease some of the tension.
"Just your opinion," he invited.
"I see no danger in the child," Amun decided. "She learns even more swiftly than she grows."
Aro nodded thoughtfully and turned away. Amun called after him, and he whipped around, the sudden speed amidst such tension making everyone jump.
"Yes, friend?" Aro queried amiably.
"I gave my witness. I have no more business here. My mate and I would like to take our leave now."
"Of course. I'm so glad we were able to chat for a bit. And I'm sure we'll see each other soon."
Amun's lips were tight as he nodded his acknowledgement of the threat - which Aro hardly bothered to conceal. He had no reason to; Amun couldn't do anything about it anyway, except run as fast and as far as they could. I spared a thought for the two of them, hoping they would not be punished for their role in helping us.
.o.o.o.
Carlisle:
The fear, anger and confusion of his audience slipped off Aro like water from a duck's back as he glided over to Siobhan. I don't know how he could act so carefree: the weight of it made it hard for me to stand.
"Hello, Siobhan," he greeted. "You are as lovely as ever."
Siobhan inclined her head and waited for Aro to continue, which he happily did:
"And you? Would you answer my questions the same way Amun has?"
"I would," Siobhan said, "but I would perhaps add a little more. Renesmee understands the limitations. She's no danger to humans - she blends in better than we do. She poses no threat of exposure."
"Can you think of none?" Aro pressed. Edward growled roughly; furiously. Caius' eyes lit up. Garrett pushed away from Kate and stepped forward. I glanced at Esme, and watched the realisation dawn in her eyes as an objection, any objection, rose and was strangled in my throat. They knew how they would do this. They had found the crack – or rather, the gaping chasm of unknown that was Renesmee's future.
"I don't think I follow you," Siobhan said slowly.
"There is no broken law," Aro explained. "No broken law. However, does it follow that there is no danger? No. That is a separate issue." He began to pace, as calmly and thoughtfully as I had done millions of times, in hundreds of offices, before this whole thing began. "She is unique...utterly, impossibly unique. Such a waste it would be, to destroy something so lovely. Especially when we could learn so much..." He sighed exasperatedly. "But there is danger, danger that simply cannot be ignored..."
Aro continued his little monologue, and I watched, blind. Behind my eyelids was Esme, with the ghosts of tears in her eyes. I could not speak, I could not breathe. It was as though I was drowning in those tears. But worse. It was like not drowning. It was like having every cavity full of water, my senses choked, my very bones as heavy as anchors and yet I was not drowning.
"Only the known is safe," Aro pointed out, no longer talking to himself, but to the red-cloaked Volturi witnesses. "Only the known is tolerable. The unknown is...a vulnerability."
"You're reaching, Aro," I murmured bleakly.
"Peace, friend." He brushed me off. "Let us not be hasty. Let us look at this from every side."
Once again, Garrett came to my rescue. "May I offer a side to be considered?"
"Nomad." Aro nodded, giving Garrett the floor. Silence fell over our side. A flicker of hope, like a beacon, drew us all towards him. I forgot about drowning for the moment, and leant towards his famous words, as most of his audience did. Garrett, however, focused on the group of red-cloaked witnesses. Confused by the hidden agendas, by Irina's hasty execution and by the hectic events that had followed, these witnesses were the Volturi's own random factor in this equation.
"I came here at Carlisle's request, as the rest, to witness," Garett began. "That is certainly no longer necessary with regards to the child. We all see what she is. I also came to witness something else. You." He jabbed a finger at the witnesses, who froze not unlike a deer who had just heard a rustling from the trees and was yet to decide if it was a threat. Caius huffed to himself, and Aro watched Garrett with a polite smile on his face.
"Two of you I know - Makenna, Charles," Garrett went on. "And I can see that many of you are also wanderers, roamers like myself. Answering to none. Think carefully on what I tell you now."
"What's he up to?" Tanya murmured under her breath. I twitched my hand and she fell silent, but the same question was on my mind.
"These ancients did not come here for justice as they told you," Garrett was saying. "We suspected as much, and now it has been proved. They came, misled, but with a valid excuse for their action. Witness now as they seek flimsy excuses to continue their true mission. Witness them struggle to find a justification for their true purpose: to destroy this family here." Garrett gestured towards Tanya and I. The witnesses glanced at us and then flickered over the rows behind us. They seemed too stunned to so much as murmur amongst themselves.
"The Volturi came here to erase what they perceive as the competition," Garrett continued, drawing the attention of the Volturi witnesses back to himself. "Perhaps, like me, you look at this clan's golden eyes and marvel. They are difficult to understand, it's true, but the ancient ones look and see something besides their strange choice: they see power."
Aro shot a glance at me, and I saw a glimmer of desperation – fear, almost. He had hoped until that moment that I had never suspected his coveting of my family to be any more than talent scouting and collecting. When I met his eyes, but did not change my expression, Aro shifted uncomfortably before recovering his mad, amused veneer.
"I have witnessed the bonds within this family," Garett continued. "I say family and not coven. These strange golden-eyed ones deny their very natures, but in return have they found something worth even more, perhaps, than mere gratification of desire?" He paused for effect. "I have made a little study of them in my time here, and it seems to me that intrinsic to this intense family binding - that which makes them possible at all - is the peaceful character of this life of sacrifice. There is no aggression here like we all saw in the large southern clans that grew and diminished so quickly in their wild feuds. There is no thought for domination. Aro knows this better than I do."
This time, Aro hid his reaction very well; there was only the slightest falter in his condescending smile. The red-cloaks glanced at each other again, but remained silent.
"Carlisle assured us all, when he told us what was coming, that he did not call us here to fight," Garrett continued. "These witnesses agreed to give evidence, to slow the Volturi advance with their presence so that Carlisle would get the chance to present his case. But some of us wondered if Carlisle having truth on his side would be enough to stop the so-called justice." Garrett dragged his eyes across the mass of gray-cloaked guards before returning his gaze to the witnesses.
"Are the Volturi here to protect the safety of our secrecy, or to protect their own power?" he asked them. "Did they come to destroy an illegal creation, or a way of life? Could they be satisfied when the danger turned out to be no more than a misunderstanding? Or would they push the issue without the excuse of justice? We have the answer to all these questions. We heard it in Aro's lying words - we have one with a gift of knowing such things for certain - and we see it now in Caius' eager smile. Their guard is just a mindless weapon, a tool in their masters' quest for domination."
A few of the guard hissed at this, but Garrett ignored them.
"So now there are more questions, questions that you must answer. Who rules you, nomads? Do answer someone's will besides your own? Are you free to choose your path, or will the Volturi decide how you will live? I came to witness. I stay to fight. The Volturi care nothing for the death of the child. They seek the death of our free will."
Garrett turned to the ancients and glared defiantly.
"So come, I say!" he challenged. "Let's hear no more lying rationalisations. Be honest in your intents as we will be in ours. We will defend our freedom: you will or will not attack it. Choose now, and let these witnesses see the true issue debated here."
He turned back to the witnesses to conclude his speech. They were taken aback by the whole scenario, but Garrett's words had obviously struck a cord.
"You might consider joining us," Garrett offered gravely. "If you think the Volturi will let you live to tell this tale, you are mistaken. We may all be destroyed - but then again, maybe not. Perhaps the Volturi have finally met their match. I promise you this, though: if we fall, so do you."