"Anala."

She was warm and comfortable, wrapped in a cocoon of softness. Anala burrowed into it, floating though the dark.

"Anala." someone was calling her name. She continued to float.

There was a soft, distant chuckle. A hand ran over her head and she groaned in irritation as the black began to lighten to grey. "Wake up dear sister."

Anala groaned as the amused, familiar voice chased away the last of sleep and awakened her. The door to her bedroom was open and light that seemed too bright to Anala's unadjusted eyes spilled into the dark room and along the carpet. She blinked groggily. Nolan was kneeling next to her bed. He had been gone almost two weeks, having left rather abruptly one morning with Jasper and a majority of the Black Lotus, her own guardian, Zain, among them. Her irritation abated at the sight of his smile. Her heart warmed at his presence. She sighed tiredly, lifting onto her elbow and mockingly questioned him.

"Why have you awakened me my king?"

He chuckled lowly, rolling his eyes a bit. They were bright, the bottomless blue of them pale and frozen from under his dark hair. The look in them however was warm and vibrant, emotion swimming in them. The expression on his face made her pay a bit more attention, observing him. Nolan reached out and squeezed her hand, his own warm and comforting.

"Let's go home."

For a moment she didn't understand. Her fuzzy head began to piece thoughts together and the last of sleep cleared as hope bloomed suddenly in her chest. "You—you mean . . .?"

Nolan's smile widened, making his eyes practically glow. "I'm taking you home Anala." he shifted, reaching down to pull something from his boot. He pulled open a sheath to reveal Salem's Wrath. Their father's weapon. The blade was intact once more, the missing piece having fused back to the rest some hours after Anala had cut it out of her body. It was deadly; something lethal and incomprehensible and frighteningly powerful yet beautifully crafted, no weapon like it existing. "And I need to return this to its rightful place. It doesn't belong here."

He returned the blade to his boot and straightened, pulling off the covers to allow her to sit up. Nolan laughed softly, happiness radiating from him. He took her head in his hands and kissed her brow. "Get dressed, everyone's waiting."

Tentative excitement filled her, taking the last of sleep and making her alert. Nolan left the room, his unobtrusive footsteps fading outside the door. It took a few moments for her to move before she walked into the bathroom. Anala brushed her teeth and washed her face calmly, feeling a bit detached as her mind wandered to high treetops and distant birdsongs, to music and gardens and familiar halls and grounds claimed in natures embrace. A place she had never expected to see again. Anala stripped and slowly put on the dress she had last worn when she and Emmett returned from the Temple. The brown material was soft and light, ideal for the still-warm weather that was on that plane, if her guess was correct. Time was different here. She pulled on her boots and drifted out of her bedroom. Downstairs, Javan and Elias were stepping off the illuminated porch and into the darkness beyond it. Aside from the light in the front hall the rest of the house was dark and quiet and her silent brother stood under the chandelier, the light shining off his dark hair. The deep blue shirt and black pants he wore were not made of cotton nor silk, created from a different source. His boots were fashioned from the strong hide of a creature that did not reside here, on the plane that existed obliviously alongside her own.

Nolan carried no weapons, save for the dagger he always carried in his boot and the weapon that had once been put away long ago, once belonging to their father and previous Ahrahn. It had been a habit of his for years, since he first began his training with Azrael, and even though he had no memory of it, Anala noticed he still carried that trait with him. Soon after they arrived in France and lived with the three Witches that sheltered them, Nolan was sent to be the local blacksmith's apprentice to keep his restless adolescent body occupied. as soon as he learned to make his own weapons, he always kept one on his person, usually tucked right into his boot, his mind recalling habits created though training he wasn't familiar with. Even when she didn't know it, Nolan had always been Nolan. He had been a leader, inheriting a great responsibility too early in his life. They had fought hard, but ended up losing their home. Anala's brother was determined to restore it. Such a task was not easy. It took time, planning. She may not have been around for all of it but she had seen enough to know it had taken a toll on him as well. She saw the tired shadows he would return with, the obstacles he faced. More than that, he had survived the impossible, they both had, but he was still able to be as strong as he was. Nolan didn't complain, he never had. They had grown up into their own responsibilities, each with their own hardships, and Nolan was a truly born for the role. He loved their home and swore to protect it. He never made a promise lightly. The lengths he went to do it, so willingly and unhesitant, made Anala prouder than she could express.

Nolan moved towards the door and Anala stopped in the hall, listening to the quiet for a moment. She knew they would return back here, but something about the quiet—the sudden emptiness of it—made Anala pause. She moved to the open door, turned off the light, and shut the wooden door behind her as she stepped out into the crisp night air. Rowan stood on the porch, leaning against a post. His lavender eyes were bright and strange, beaming at her in the dark. The halo of his hair glowed softly against his pale skin and he straightened, smiling. It had been a short two weeks since Bella Swan had attacked her, and while furious, he tended to lose his anger quickly, unable to hold onto it for very long. Rowan wasn't easily angered, no, but it didn't mean he was incapable of it. But since the effort of continually being angry proved to be something the blonde could and would not exert time and time again, it died down quickly usually. While Anala had still sensed some aggravation in him, Emmett kept him plenty distracted that day and Anala was happy to turn his mind to more pleasant things.

He did it.

The thought flowed through her conscious gently and she smiled at her Vayar. He did. Nolan had done it and now, she was going home. Behind the kind glow in his eyes, lingered a sadness, old and distant. Anala knew Rowan had been waiting for this day. She and Nolan had their memories ripped away. But Rowan and Elias and the rest of the people in their lives that had survived still had them. Anala knew it had taken a toll on her Vayar. Tied to her soul as deeply as he was, the great sacrifice she and Nolan had made in a last attempt to save their home could not have been easy on him, especially that he knew of her vision regarding her death. They searched for years, aware of all the pain that had happened, leaving behind the devastated ruins where her and her brother's lives ended. Rowan smiled, that aged sadness fading with genuine joy. He jumped off the porch lightly and disappeared into the dark forest. Anala stepped off the porch and moved to stand next to her brother, looking into the forest.

"Ready?"

Home. She had called so few places by that name and she was going back to the one she had lost so long ago. It was . . . unbelievably surreal. She had known Nolan would succeed. Anala had never doubted him. Ever. Her faith in her brother never wavered, not even at their lowest points and she had lost all hope in herself and their small, suffocating world. Nolan had said he would restore their ancestral home and she believed him. Anala just never thought she would be alive to see it. Even in death Nolan had known, sensed somehow, and never lost that resilient and often trouble-inducing determination. Nolan began to move forward and she stopped him, hugging her brother. Anala closed her eyes, taking in the way he smelled, the feel of breaths and the warm current of energy that traveled between them flawlessly; truly the other half of her soul.

"I love you, Nolan."

His arms were warm and tight around her. "I love you too. I wasn't going back without you, I swore it."

Anala listened to his heartbeat, at her side throughout two lifetimes. "Even when I died?"

"Not even then. Dead maybe, but not—" his arms tightened. "Not gone."

"What if you were wrong?" she asked curiously.

He laughed a bit. "Clearly, I wasn't."

Anala smiled as he pulled back and held out his hand to her. "Come on. Let's go."

The Cullen house stood pale and silent, the big, open windows and glass walls dark. The lawn however, was a flurry of activity, the Cullen's occupying the space near the river with Javan and a handful of members of the Lotus. They milled about, chatting quietly. Rowan and Carlisle were standing a short distance away, the elder laughing softly as he spoke to his brother. They approached the group and Nolan nodded lightly. The guard members nodded back and took off into the forest, wordlessly following his silent order. Anala looked at them all, on the grass as they waited for her and her brother. This had become their family. It was far from traditional of course, but a family none the less. Carlisle and Esme were everything Anala had thought loving parents should be; kind and loving and understanding. People who wanted nothing but the happiness for those in their lives and Anala was happy to be a part of it. She had found siblings in Alice and Edward and Jasper. She was closer than blood with them and shared her own special bond to Rosalie. Anala had a Mate. there had been a time she had once believed she would never have a mate yet she bore the mark that showed she belonged solely to a beautiful creature she would never understand the love he carried for her, Anala's soul connected to his simply because he was hers and she was his. Emmett moved to her side as they approached, smiling and winking down at her, his dimpled cheeks giving his appearance a heartwarming touch. He, along with herself, Nolan, Jasper, Elias, and Rowan wore clothes from the neighboring plane, having been the only ones to go there. Until now. Like her, the brawny vampire wore what he'd been in the day he returned with her, the material soft and non-restricting on his large body. The others followed, gathering around and Nolan squeezed her hand. "You want to do the honors?"

Anala nodded as the others approached. Nolan took Jasper's hand, smiling at his mate who wore attire similar to his own. "Take hands."

They did so, and Anala looked around the linked circle, eyes of gold and red and mauve staring back at her. She took a breath, the air cool in her lungs. "Don't let go."