AN: S. Meyer owns twilight

CHAPTER 13

JPOV

Dawn approached, sun beams shone against our skin causing us to glitter. There was a knock on the door followed by Marcus' voice calling to us; "there's a meeting in an hour in my sitting room. Don't worry about your cloaks and masks."
"Thanks Marcus, we'll be there." Bella announced, I shot her a little irritation and she laughed, skipping off to shower.

I chased her to into the bathroom and she pounced on me, I immediately wrapped her legs around my hips and plunged into her. Her laughter cut of and she thrust against me, clawing at my back. I pushed her against the wall of the shower. She clenched around me and bit into my neck, with one more thrust I spilled inside her and bit over the mating mark I'd given her. We washed each other tenderly, taking our time. Unfortunately, there were only so many places one could scrub clean and we were on a deadline.

We met a thoroughly satisfied looking Pete and Char in the corridor, they smirked at us. Pete's smirk died when he remembered my mate was his great x5 grandniece. We all wore the t-shirts Demitri had given us and jeans. I laughed at Char's bunny slippers until she brought out a pair for Bella to wear, my mate squealed with joy and hugged Char.

The Healers were already in Marcus' room when we arrived, they had also dressed casually. Charlie hugged Bella and waved to me over her shoulder. "Hi Charlie, how did you recover after healing the whole lot of us in Georgia?" I asked. Esme came through the door and hugged me "he slept for a full week. The Masters were worried." She said and playfully glared at him.

The other wives joined us, I was surprised to see them in yoga pants and t-shirts. Dora caught my curiosity and smiled "Esme took us shopping!" She announced, Sulpicia grinned and added "modern clothes are so comfortable." Their eyes had turned gold while we were away, it was a nice surprise. Emmett gave me a customary bear hug and Rose smiled and kissed my cheek.

Aro, Marcus and Caius arrived in their usual robes, Aro was wearing his cowboy boots. We sat down and they caught us up on everything we'd missed while in America. Emmett started the debriefing. "Little has changed since we put Edward and Carlisle in the same cell. For a week neither of them talked, it was awkward. Edward got pissed off that he couldn't hear anyone's thoughts and started throwing a tantrum. He complained about how he was treated, the food, his accommodations and our behavior towards him and Carlisle. Carlisle yelled at him to shut up.

"The silence was even more awkward after that. They glared at each other for a few days before they started yelling at each other. I'd visit them daily, keeping out of their field of vision. They yelled for a long time, then Edward kissed Carlisle." He shook his head at the memory and continued. "That made things worse, instead of accepting it they fought each other. They yelled out to us, begging us to separate them. Ever since then they've sat on opposite sides of the cell and avoided eye contact."

"Em, we were gone for more than a month!" Bella yelped. Aro nodded and explained. "I was curious about that too, I touched both their hands to find out what was going on. Honestly, I'm surprised they lasted this long. They're fighting the mating bond. I understand that both of them come from strict families who instilled a fire and brimstone view of sex. In Carlisle's day any sexual act other than penetrative sex for reproduction resulted in a death sentence. In Edward's day they saw non-reproductive sexual acts as a sign of mental illness. Carlisle added to Edward's intolerance with his own interpretation of scripture."

Aro sighed. "It was always a point of contention between Carlisle and I. Don't misunderstand me, I have no problem with people believing what they do, I just can't understand the intolerance. Carlisle and I spoke at length about why he felt the way he did. He said it was religion and society that showed him the path to purity, but when I saw his memories I could see how his father beat his values into him.

"Our conversations were always one sided. He'd try to convert me and never considered my perspective. Carlisle was always preaching about a man who may or may not have existed two thousand years ago. I'm over three thousand years old, I've met many good men and women and many evil ones. There have been those who inspired me and those who became an example of what not to do. I can't give myself to a religion that's unfamiliar and the reason for so many lost lives.

"I'd try to ask Carlisle questions, but he'd get offended. This prophet he told me about died and rose three days later, was it unreasonable to ask if he had turned into a vampire?" Wow. I didn't know how to answer that. I'd lost my faith a long time ago, the only belief that guided me now was Fate. Bella shrugged "I wasn't raised religious, it seems like a fair question. I've never thought of it that way." The others nodded in agreement.

Rose was the next to speak. She brought us back to the point of our meeting. "We've been doing our best to heal Alice." Her voice waivered and she paused to collect herself. Aro took over "I have to be the bearer of bad news on that front. I'm aware she found out some of her history after the nomad, James, attacked Bella." We nodded and he continued.

"You know she was a patient in a mental institution during one of the more barbaric periods of mental health care history. Alice's hair is so short because she was shaved bald before she was turned. It was a common practice to keep 'patients' head's shaved because of the poor hygiene and frequent lice infestations. One thing that's important to note is that the visions Alice had growing up had caused a lot of damage to her psyche, she was very ill.

"I saw that Alice found out that there was a vampire in the asylum who cared for her, protected and turned her. He was her true mate and he was killed by James. What wasn't known until recently was that he was not the only Vampire attending to the mentally ill humans. Carlisle was there too." We froze in shock. Dread flooded the room. "Carlisle was the one who took care of her admission and became her primary doctor.

"He was overly curious about the 'modern' practice of Electro Convulsive Therapy and Lobotomy. He saw her as a perfect candidate. He started putting her through several courses of ECT; because of its recent invention the current was dangerously high. Carlisle kept increasing the voltage of her treatments, beyond the recommended guidelines. Anesthesia wasn't used in those days.

"He grew impatient, she wasn't improving. When he had reached the highest current capable of the machinery he gave up trying to cure Alice with ECT. He decided to lobotomize the poor girl. He destroyed what was left of her mind.

"Three months after he scrambled her mind Carlisle was fired, the humans noticed he was too eager to try extreme forms of 'treatment.' Her true mate started the investigation into Carlisle's cruelty and made sure Alice was transferred to his care. It was too late. The damage had been done.

Was this why Alice and I had been so easily accepted into the coven? Did Carlisle recognize her? I asked my questions aloud. Aro nodded, his eyes blackened with hatred of his former friend "he recognized her. That is definitely the reason why you were both given a place in the coven. Carlisle kept her as a testament to his 'skill' as a physician" his voice was cold and deadly. Carlisle would pay.

I felt a jolt run through Pete and looked at him. His body sagged with grief. He explained the shift in his emotions. "Sometimes I get messages that don't give the full information. I assumed fate was seeking retribution from Alice because of how she treated you and abused her gift. My ancestors just gave me the rest of the information. Fate is seeking retribution FOR Alice. I hate that I assumed she was a villain, I should have seen there was something wrong-"

I cut him off "none of us knew, least of all Alice. She had no idea what was going on, she remembered nothing about her human life. The only person at fault is Carlisle. Let him hold the burden of guilt." I pushed my determination at him. I wasn't going to let him take responsibility for someone else's fuck up. He nodded and some of the sadness lifted. Fuck it. I blanketed the room with calm, Peter's grief had been engulfed by anger toward Carlisle. There was a miasma of hatred, sadness and anger in the room.

Char turned to Pete; "if you'd known you would have intervened. Fate only gave you enough information to keep you on your path. You're a good man, Peter. If you or any of us knew we would have acted sooner. Perhaps Fate needed Alice to be bought to Volterra, perhaps Fate needed Charlie to finish his training before healing her, perhaps this is the best moment for Carlisle to be exposed as the vile, sanctimonious cretin he is."

Charlie quietly reported his diagnosis. "Her memories are blocked. Parts of her brain were broken beyond what venom could repair." He was seething with rage, but he looked outwardly calm. "Healing her will be a long process, we must do it in stages and give her time to acclimate. The madness that she developed as a human has been cleared, that was the least of her problems.

"We keep her sedated, in a sort of limbo between awake and asleep. This will protect her mind from the hard flood of reality. We've moved her into Aro's quarters, near our rooms so we can be close by. We talk to her a lot, hopefully she'll see there are people who care and it'll help her. Esme has been a saint, taking care of her physical needs and comforting her. I am doing my best to repair the connections in her brain, but it's a huge mess in there. She gets better a little each day. She's still in a vegetative state, but is gaining awareness with each new connection."

"What will happen with the trial of Carlisle and Edward?" Char asked, I could feel her rage brimming beneath the surface and shot her a little calm. Aro answered her. "We're ready to proceed early tomorrow morning. The Denalis have been a great help, Eleazar is greatly respected in our world and he's been in contact with many people. We need to expose Carlisle for who he is. A few old friends of Carlisle's have turned up in his defense and, if I have your permission, I will share Carlisle's memories of his treatment of you."

"You're welcome to show his memories of me." Esme said "in fact feel free to give them my memories as well." Marcus looked to her in concern, she looked back at him with determination "they have to know everything Marcus. They need proof of his deceit."

"You can show his memories of me too" I said. Rose echoed me; "mine too, can you show them my memories of how he treated Jasper?" Aro nodded. Peter spoke next "Aro, if you make his supporters the jury, give them power over his judgment, it'll go a long way towards undoing Carlisle's slander against the Volturi."
"Will it work?" Aro asked Peter. "Yes, my gift is telling me fate will do what it takes to ensure his demise."

"Who is coming to defend Carlisle?" Esme asked curiously. Marcus answered her "Amun from the Egyptian coven, all three in the Irish coven, the Amazon coven and Alistair."
"Alistair's coming?" Peter was shocked. Aro nodded "yes, he's quite eager to defend Carlisle against us." Another jolt ran through Pete and he barked out a laugh "Alistair will rank Carlisle lower than his feelings towards royalty." Aro smiled in surprise.

"Maggie's coming?" Char asked, Dora answered "she's offered to confirm any truths and lies. We'll put her with the Jury." She said.

Caius directed the conversation to our recent mission "we have interrogated the prisoners. The leaders themselves have been executed. However, with the generals we were able to decide on their fate quickly. Of the 38 generals 13 were executed straight away, 17 opted to join the guard for 6 months and are now part of the lower ranks and 8 requested freedom, we granted it on the proviso they check in with us yearly and allow Aro to read them."

"How long ago did the armies start?" I asked. "57 years ago, a week after we ended the first Vampire War. It has helped us realize that we need to watch the area closely. We've promoted Demitri to coordinator of excursions, he'll be able to run missions relating to maintaining the peace." Aro said. I smiled, Demitri deserved it.

After a full five hour debrief the meeting concluded. Bella and I spoke quickly. "Bella, I need to see Alice." I said. She agreed "I want to as well. After what she's been through I want to help her. Will you be able to help her with your gift?" She asked. "I'll try, there isn't much I can do, the Healers are taking care of her. I just want to see the real her, the person she has become as a result of Carlisle, not the person who hurt me and deceived you."
"I understand, J. You were with her for a long time, you saw the worst of her and you need to see her changing and healing." I let out a breath in relief. I had no wish to start anything with my ex and Bella knew that. Her feelings were similar to my own; she wanted to see Alice for who she really was. We caught up with Charlie, he was glad we wanted to see her. He escorted us into Aro's wing and led us to her room.

Alice was paler, smaller than she had been when I saw her last. Her eyes were golden, but looked empty. Esme had dressed her in a purple t-shirt and brown yoga pants. She was so thin and lifeless, so different to how she'd been. I was so accustomed to her excitement and joy, now she was just a shell. Charlie hugged Bella who was shaking and sobbing. I loved Bella's compassion. I sent her a wave of love and kissed her forehead. "We will ensure she gets justice." I said. Charlie nodded in agreement.

"Will she remember everything?" I asked, he nodded "every moment of her existence. Her human memories will be fuzzy like they all are for vampires, but she'll remember everything."
"Will you be able to pinpoint the moment she remembers?" I asked him. "I should be able to get a few minutes warning before it happens."
"Good, let me know when it's going to happen. I'll be here. I know one way to punish Carlisle." Charlie's eyes widened, pride mixed with his need to avenge the girl he was healing. "You're going to absorb her emotions and give them to Carlisle?" He asked. I nodded. "Damn J, that's a great idea."

"It's perfect for him and no less than he deserves. I'll find out from Aro how many lives his taken and show him the equivalent emotions of each human he took. I have killed a lot of people in my time, Charlie, and I felt their fear and desperation. I will show him what he did."
"Fuck I'm glad you're on our side. There may be something I can do to add to their punishment, I've been in contact with a coven of witches. They have shown me how to bottle the darkness I remove from people. I've already bottled Marcus' for later use. I'd gladly do the same for anyone who has been hurt by Edward and Carlisle" Charlie said.

I looked at Bella, her eyes were black and she smiled strangely. I felt a shudder go through me, she truly looked like Death personified. Her emotions swirled between rage and excitement, she was 100 % in agreement.

We sat with Alice for a while longer talking to her like a distant friend. Bella turned to her dad "if J sends his emotions to Alice will she feel it?" He nodded and confirmed "she'll feel it, just like she can hear everything you say now." She turned to me "please J, send her my emotions" I closed my eyes and held Alice's hand. I focused on Bella's emotions; love, forgiveness, concern, protectiveness. I sent them to Alice and heard Bella gasp. My eyes snapped open and I looked down; there was a hint of something in her eyes that hadn't been there before. It was the shadow of her consciousness, she was getting closer to awakening. I could tell it would be a while before she joined us, she still needed so much healing.

"Hey there Ali. My mate, Bella, wanted me to send you her emotions, that flood of emotions you felt belongs to her. That's how she feels about you." I concentrated on my own emotions; concern, friendship and forgiveness, and sent them to her. "Those were my emotions. Just know you're safe and Charlie is here to help." The deep abyss that had been there was receding, but I still couldn't sense her emotions or see the person I used to know. Any small improvement was a relief.

We watched Charlie work, the glow from his fingers travelled up her neck and swirled behind her forehead. Occasionally there would be a little spark. Huh, I guess Charlie meant it literally when he said he was fixing connections. Rose came in and smiled at us, she moved to the corner and prepared some enriched animal blood for Alice. We said our good byes and headed back to our room in Caius' wing for some alone time.

RosePOV

Alice was slowly healing, but I knew the emotional scars would remain. I spent a lot of time watching over her and talking to her. I painted her fingernails a slightly darker purple than her top, her nails looked black against her skin. "I hope you don't mind me doing this." I whispered to her as I painted. "I don't want you to feel violated."

I finished her nails and rolled up a towel under each hand to let them dry. "Charlie's going to be with you all day today, he's special. He heals us, he can remove the darkness. He's healed me, Jasper and Marcus already. It hurt when he healed me, I hope you're not in pain." Em poked his head in the door "nearly time, Rosey." He said quietly. I nodded and smiled. Looking back at Alice I said good bye "I'm sorry I have to go, I'll be back soon. Good luck today." I kissed her forehead.

We headed to Caius' study for the day's briefing. We weren't going to dress as healers today, we would be ourselves. Play the part of the Volturi guest and hope no one would work out who Em and I really were. I'm so glad Em got rid of Edward's telepathy. I need my strength to get through the trial, I don't want to waste energy on blocking him.

We entered the study and sat down on a love seat. Esme handed us cups of bear blood. Last week Aro and Caius had told us they planned the trial for today, we had stopped having the human blood that reddened our eyes and changed our scent and kept to the Master's quarters so no one would see our eyes lighten and our scent change back. I was glad for the slight alteration to our diet, I'd missed Emmett's scent so much.

The meeting was brief. We all just wanted this over and done with. Aro began. "We'll start by introducing everyone. Rose, Emmett and Esme will be introduced as former members of the Cullen coven and witnesses to their crimes. Those who are here for Carlisle's defense will sit on a small stage we've added, they will form our jury. Maggie of the Irish Coven will act as spokesperson, she will call out any lies she senses. If there are questions asked that you don't want to answer, say 'pass.' We cannot be seen to influence or manipulate anyone.

"No one but Edward and Carlisle are on trial, if you have difficulty you just need to raise your hand and we'll call a recess. I commend you all for your strength and bravery." Aro said. I watched as the Horsemen choked down their human blood, grinning at the look of disgust on Bella's face. She poked her tongue out at me before putting on her mask and pulling her hood over her head.

The Masters and Horsemen waited to line up, Em and I waved goodbye to them and headed to the entrance with the Guard, Carlisle's defense group and other witnesses. Heidi arrived shortly after and reiterated what Aro had told us...blah blah blah...don't lie...blah blah blah ...raise your hand if you become overwhelmed...blah blah blah. Esme, Em and I stood away from the others. I was worried and a little afraid, a lot of secrets would be revealed today. Emmett stood with his arms wrapped around Esme and I. She was shaking slightly from nerves, her face pale. I caught my reflection on a piece of polished bronze and cringed, I looked as pale and vulnerable as Esme.

The Denalis came over to us, Irina hugged Esme and I and patted Em's arm. The whole Denali coven stood by us, Garrett had joined their ranks, his eyes had turned gold since we last saw him. Together, they shielded us from the suspicious looks Carlisle's defense group shot us. The guard stood stoically around all of us, I knew many of the Guard were doing their best to keep their faces blank. Seeing them here was helpful.

Then it began. The doors opened ominously and we entered, Felix and Demitri guided everyone to their places.