Hi all! Sorry I'm running late again, it's been a weird day. All par for the course for April Fool's right?

This chapter is being posted unbeta'd as the wonderful Fran was on holiday this week.

Thank you to Pienuniek for keeping me on track.

SM owns Twilight.

Chapter 31 – Full Circle

"Ah, so it comes to this after all?" Stephan asked.

"No." Aro stated. "We're here to give you a chance to change your minds before this happens."

Stephan, Vladimir and Balail burst out laughing. "You think…" more laughing, "That you can… beat us with… only your guard?" We watched non-plussed as they fell about laughing some more.

"No, we know we can." I said forcefully, making them fall silent.

"The newest Volturi brother, it's such a shame your reign will be short lived. Your wife however will have a long life serving our friend here." Vladimir said while pointing at a russet colored wolf. "He gave us such wonderful information on your coven, Edward, I'm surprised they aren't here."

I growled low, more towards the wolf than what Vladimir had stated. The wolf, named Jacob, I read from his mind, was having some very disgusting thoughts about my wife. He was watching her with great interest while she was doing her very best to ignore his existence, she could feel his eyes on her and it was taking all she had not to shudder.

Balail decided it was the best time to get his two cents in. "Don't worry, Edward, I'm sure Jacob will take good care of her. Just like I'm going to take care of Didyme when this is all over."

Marcus and I let out feral growls at what he was insinuating. They'd never get their hands on them.

'Look, Edward. More of them are leaving.' Bella pointed out. I took a quick look at the back of their group and watched as more creatures tried to flee through the trees, only to be shot down by the Cupids sitting behind them. What I didn't notice before was that after they were shot they disappeared. I realized that Constantine was using his fabulous talent to hide them so their leaders wouldn't know what was happening.

'Calm down, baby, please? You know it will never happen. We've got to get to the bottom of it.' Bella pleaded.

I nodded to let her know that I had listened. Time to get some answers. Let's start with the one with the longest grudge, bar the Romanians.

"Balail, what happened? Why wait so long to try and get your revenge? Not hmmm… smart enough in your previous reincarnations?" I taunted. "I mean it's taken you four and a half thousand years to even attempt it, sounds like you weren't sure to me. Or maybe none of your reincarnations were man enough for the job."

He kept quiet at my accusations but I could see that I had hit the nail on the head. Although, it was only part of it. He had taken that long because he had tried to train his mind and soul to remember everything from previous lives. It wasn't until he was born into the Quileute nation that all his hard work paid off. He was born into a group that believed in the supernatural and were willing to share the information that he needed.

He was in his twenties when he came across Stephan and Vladimir. They'd left Romania to go through the States looking for people they could turn. It looked like they had a second location, one that we had no idea about – that explained why there were so many vampires here – they were going to turn him but he managed to talk his way out of it. He volunteered the wolf pack.

"How the hell did you manage to get the wolf pack to agree to help vampires, Balail?" I figured that it didn't matter about my gift, I'm not sure they'd put it together anyway. "Hmm, Jacob? What are they promising you that would get you guys to give up your protector status and leave the tribe behind to help those you deem your enemies?"

It seemed Jacob was willing to share because he phased and stood there, right in front of all the ladies, stark naked. What was amusing though, was that he wasn't paying attention to the snickers coming from them. I smirked at their thoughts because they found him lacking, they didn't think that he had anything to be proud of.

"We are protecting them." He smirked. "We were promised money and power. Things that we need. If we don't get money we are going to become another extinct Indian race. And with power we can take back what was taken from us. Our land, our heritage."

What he wasn't saying though was that, with what they were promised, he and some of the other wolves could take control of their tribe and the women. But his eyes were set on his prize, my Bella. She was promised to him by Balail for convincing the other wolves to join, most importantly the ones that were reluctant like Seth, Embry and Quill.

Those were here under duress, they really didn't want to be.

I took specific note of that, to tell the others later.

But what made it funny and sad was that Jacob was so sure that they were going to get what they were promised. Our group found it just as funny because they knew that the Romanians would never follow through on their promises. They had always wanted to rule the world, and handing over part of it to the tribe would never mesh with their ideals. It annoyed Jacob that there were snickers coming from everyone on our side.

"You believe that?" Marcus asked. "You really think they're going to give you what they promised?"

When he nodded we all cracked up.

Caius was the first to calm down. "No, no they won't," he snickered. "I can guarantee you that they will find some way to keep you in their employ without giving you what was promised.

"We on the other hand would love to have your help and we would pay you very well. Your tribe would flourish and you could leave whenever you felt like it. We'd even expect some of you to stay there as protectors, maybe we'd even pay you to keep an eye on the entire state."

This caught the attention of the three boys that didn't want to be here, fighting a battle that wasn't theirs to fight. We watched as they started to retreat, the other wolves were too busy salivating at a chance to rip me apart, even if they couldn't get the rest of my family. I looked to the trees, shaking my head subtly at the Cupids. I watched as Seth, the wolf, dropped from the pack and became an Alpha wolf all on his own. I also watched through Marcus that the loyalty of Embry and Quill dropped from Sam's pack and latched onto Seth. They had now swapped sides and were waiting in the wings for the fight to start.

It seemed that Jacob was the Beta to the Alpha. Only now he was acting as Alpha because they were following him, it was giving him an over inflated ego. He had the role down but it was also how Seth knew that he could break from the pack.

Another mind caught my attention as the others bartered back and forth, arguing about what was going to happen here and what they had promised the others. This mind was trying to figure out why his powers with the elements weren't working against us as the others bickered. It was what he was told to do. Bella must have picked up on my thoughts, as she looked at me. I nodded in the direction of the thoughts, I realized that he didn't want to be here either. He was coerced by his creator who threatened his mates' existence. She was being held captive by a group of rather smart giants, one of the few strong creatures able to hurt a vampire.

'We have to help him,Bella. And those wolves that have switched sides.' I advised.

'We will baby. They deserve our help. I presume a lot of them are here under duress and because they have been brainwashed as they were being turned. They aren't all evil creatures. It's just going to take time.'

'Why can't that vampire, umm… Benjamin, use his powers against us?' I asked. It was plaguing me, because even Bella mentioned before that it wouldn't matter.

'Because as an Earth Angel our abilities take precedent. They won't ever be able to be used against us. We can use them against him, essentially turning them on him, but I have a feeling that soon enough he'll realize that he can get his own payback during all this fighting.'

'Oh.'

We tuned back into the conversation at that point.

"Well since we aren't here to surrender and you aren't going to give into our demands, I guess, there's nothing else to do but war it out." Vladimir stated. All of their minions, misguided or not, sank into their battle crouches.

"I guess not. Of course you may want to change your mind in a few minutes."

At that more of our allies flooded the area.

"Never, we came here to win a war!" Stephan yelled.

Everyone ran towards the middle of the clearing we were standing in, including Bella and Didyme. I thought they were going to be flying in the air with the other Angels. Arrows came flying out of the woods all over, knocking out those that were able to be knocked out.

I ran straight at Jacob, I wasn't going to let him get his filthy paws on my mate.

There wasn't a whole lot that I noticed after that. The ones that had them were using the Angel blades to maim and not kill, we didn't really want to kill anyone and if we could avoid, it we would.

I searched out Bella, often, and every time she was holding her own. She'd used the environment all around her to help capture her enemies and then the Cupids would put them to sleep.

Jacob and I went a few rounds without him ever getting a purchase on me. Eventually I punched him hard enough in the head to knock him out all together before moving onto my next target.

All of a sudden their side was flooded with more help and I lost sight of Bella and even Didyme since they were working together. I did see Vladimir, Balail and Stephan standing off to the side watching like it was a science experiment.

"Bella, nooooooo!" I heard Rose yell so loud that it shocked the person I was fighting against. I threw one last punch before turning around and looking for her.

What I saw then turned my stomach, she was fighting all three of the Denali succubae, Tanya, Irina and Kate. Tanya and Irina had somehow managed to get a hold of her wings and arms and were pulling out her feathers while Kate stalked her from the front.

I was just about to rush forward to help her when the three women in my family came out of nowhere, Alice landed on Tanya and Esme on Irina getting them to let Bella go. Rosalie ran in between her and Kate, protecting my Bella. I ran forward to catch Bella as she collapsed on the ground, whatever they had done to her had worn her out and she was bleeding from a gash on her temple and one on her side.

I laid her on the ground with her head in my lap as she closed her eyes in pain. She opened them up as there was an unholy screeching sound, we turned and watched as Kate pulled Rosalie's arm off and used some sort of potion to singe the wound on her shoulder.

"You'll never get that back on!" She cackled manically. "You're never going to be a whole woman again Rosalie, you should have helped me get Edward and then you would have never lost it!"

"No," Rosalie cried. "Edward and Bella are meant to be and I should have never fed your delusions with your family.

"I'm sorry it took me so long." She sobbed as she turned to us. "Please, forgive me." She screamed, as she got up from the ground and charged at Kate. She knew she didn't have a hope of winning against her but for Bella and to apologize she really tried.

We watched in horror when Kate quickly gained the upper hand. Putting Rose in a headlock and shocking the living daylights out of her. Tanya and Irina struggled against our family, who lessened their grip in horror. Just when her sisters got free and Kate grabbed Rose's chin to remove her head Bella let out a deep groan and used her powers to summon the vines under the earth to capture the three mad women.

As she finished wrapping them up she spoke in a whisper, "you'll never hurt my family."

I looked down at her to see that she had passed out from the pain of what had been done to her. Her wings were mangled, missing feathers and some askew and she was bleeding pretty heavily. I gathered her up in my arms, and stood just as Benjamin figured out that he could use his powers against his mate's captors.

Esme helped Rosalie as Alice and I watched in a stunned stupor as the wind picked up and the earth separated. More vines came out of the earth to capture the remaining vampires on the Romanian's side, including Stephan and Vladimir. But what shocked everyone into silence and take a huge step back was the ring of fire that exploded around a very mad Balail and a determined Didyme.

"No, no, no, no. Let me in there. Let me help you! Didyme!" Marcus screamed.

I sensed somebody near and covered Bella with my body to protect her when Charlie and Renee landed next to me to check on their daughter. I sighed in relief, with my mate injured I was in no form to fight rebels off.

"She'll be fine, Edward." Renee expressed as I looked down again. "See, her wounds are healing already and her feathers will grow back, she just needs to be cleaned and then have lots of rest, okay?"

I nodded before looking over at Rosalie and her arm as the rest of the family caught up. "What about Rosalie? She sacrificed herself to try and save Bella."

Charlie clapped me on the arm. "Don't worry Edward. We'll make sure her arm is reconnected. It may not work properly but I believe she'll be well compensated."

Looking up I could see he had the same gleam in his eye that his daughter did when we talked about Rosalie before. It was like they knew something we didn't know, but I let it go because Didyme called out to Marcus and her mother and father as they had joined the spectators around the ring.

"NO!" she thundered. "I need to do this myself. I have to face not just him but my fear of him. He's nothing now. Just a big bully."

Balail chuckled with a mad edge to it. "You think so do you?" He asked. "I'll show that I can still take you, Didyme. You couldn't beat me then and you won't beat me now."

Didyme smirked, "that may be true about back then, you useless twat. You did beat me, physically and emotionally but now, down here, I have all the power."

Balail's mouth dropped open as Didy used her speed to fly at him faster than he could see. He ended up flat on his back looking up at her.

"You are no longer an Angel, you're a puny human. My family's debt has been repaid. My granddaughter brought her mate and revolutionised Angel communication. The two of them travelled through time to show my new family how to live a peaceful life. You only reincarnated with one thing in mind, revenge. If you'd concentrated on retribution you might have gained more time. But as it is, this has been deemed your last life, how do you want to spend it? Do you want to die here or spend the rest of it in the Volturi's cells? Either way I won't see you in Hell!"

"I'll die before I'll be thrown in their dungeons!"

"So be it." Didyme let out a war cry before flying at him once again.

Balail tried to hold his own against her, his attempts were futile, though. Soon her strikes were hitting their marks and he became weaker and weaker.

He was losing blood at an alarming rate from gashes of her Angel blade. When he couldn't avoid a full blow to the head he went down.

Didyme loomed over him like the avenging angel that she was, she held her blade to his heart while pinning his hands and feet with vines from the earth.

"Do you yield?"

"I will never yield, not to any woman and certainly not to you." Balail gritted out.

"Gabriel, what say the Gods?" Didyme called.

He snorted out loud. "The Gods say they have forgiven you already, Didyme. It's time."

"Goodbye, Balail. Say hello to Lucifer for me."

Didyme then plunged the blade straight into his heart, giving him a much easier death than I think he deserved.

As soon as he stopped twitching the ring of fire collapsed around them. Didyme was standing tall and proud in the middle over his body. She looked up and around at everyone. We were all waiting on what she had to say.

"Round them all up. I want them all in the dungeons by nightfall. And those three…" she pointed at the Denali sisters. "I want them chained onto the racks we have down there. They need to be stretched as far as they can go. Nobody, and I mean nobody, does that to my granddaughter."

The three sisters flinched at the anger in Didyme's voice. She was furious.

"Where are Eleazar and Carmen?" She asked in a hard tone. It looked like we were all too stunned to argue with her. But as she turned to me her voice, look and stance softened. "Edward dear, take Bella back to your villa, clean her up and put her to bed. I don't expect her to help me with putting this forest back to rights until the day after tomorrow."

I nodded to her to let her know that I had heard her before I turned and ran. The last I heard was her yelling. "Now. Where. Are. Carmen. And. Eleazar? I. Have. Questions!"

I didn't think I wanted to meet that Didyme in a dark alley any time soon.

~*~HS~*~

I got back to the villa as fast as I could, running straight upstairs to place Bella on the bed. After laying her down, I walked into the bathroom to run a hot bath in our deep claw foot tub.

When it was finished I walked back into our room to find that Bella had rolled over onto her stomach and managed to put her wings away. I could see she was awake but very weak, she had dark circles under her eyes and she was so tired she couldn't even undress herself.

I sped to her side and knelt down on the floor. "Hi baby, how are you feeling?"

She shrugged as good as she could while laying down on her stomach.

"It's alright my beautiful girl, let's get you undressed and into the bath, okay?"

'Will you join me?'

"If that's what you want."

She nodded at me. I stood up and undressed her as careful as I could before undressing myself and picking her up. I walked us into the bathroom and lowered her into the warm water before climbing in behind her.

Bella let out a deep groan as the warm water hit all her sore spots.

"Just relax, my girl, let me take care of you." I washed her all over before leaning her forward a little to wash her back and to also wash her hair. Soon she was smelling more like herself and less like the battle.

'What happened after I passed out?' She asked sometime later.

"Are you sure you want to know that now?"

She nodded to indicate that she wanted to know. So instead of telling her I spoke to her in my thoughts showing her what happened, Didyme's fight against Balail and how she was afterwards.

'It seemed to have done her good. She looked to be so much more confident.'

'I agree, Bella. It did her the world of good.'

We soaked for a while until she fell asleep and the bath water was cold. I lifted her up, dried her as best I could before placing her on the bed and covering her up. After I finished cleaning the bathroom and drying myself I slid in behind her and pulled her to my chest, cuddling her as close as possible.

"I love you, Bella." I murmured.

"Love you, Edward." She whispered.

~*~HS~*~

It took nearly two days for Bella to be back to her normal energy levels. Her wings started looking better although the lost feathers had not grown back yet, that would take time. It looked like she wouldn't be flying for a while.

We made our way down to the castle at the end of the second day to find out what had happened. But instead of finding out about what they had done, we were bombarded by all of our loving families. All the Angels, Volturi, and Cullens. The biggest hug, though, came from Didyme.

We all celebrated a job well done and the fact that Bella was okay.

Rosalie and Bella went off and had their own conversation. Her arm had been reattached but she'd never have a full range of movement in it ever again. By the time they came back to the group they were smiling and holding hands. It seemed that Bella and Rosalie had solved all their problems and were going to be friends now. I was glad to see it.

"Excuse me, everyone!" Aro called.

We all became quiet and turned to see what he had to say.

"I want to thank all of you for helping us when we were in need. The ladies have gotten together over the last couple of days and decided that when the cleanup is done we will be inviting all those that have helped to a grand ball in their honor. Any help that you could give will be appreciated.

"Didyme and Bella have the cleanup and repair of the woods where the battle took place. Edward, I am going to need your help interviewing all the people we have in the dungeons. After we've heard everything you picked up at the beginning of the battle."

I nodded, glad that he knew there were things that needed to be talked about before it was all conducted.

"For now, let's be happy that we are together, that we were victorious and that everything we believe in, have built and stand for is still standing!"

We all cheered before spending the rest of the day just being one big, happy family.

Hmm, so how did that go?

I don't have any rec's this week. My health had taken a turn so I have been unable to read anything new.

Let me know what you think and I'll see you next week!