After the Confrontation Part Two : Aro's confession to the Guard
This one-shot details how Aro feels about leaving the Cullens on the Field of Snow less than a week later. He, Marcus, and Caius all feel the Guard are entitled to know why the Cullens and their witnesses were left to go home unscathed.
Be sure to read "After the Confrontation" first. This is a mini sequel to that fic.
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Once everyone had returned to Italy and their castle home in Volterra, Felix and Demetri had changed from their battle dress, donning more leisurely clothing. They sat in the training room, neither wanting to say anything about the confrontation with the Olympic coven. They were soon joined by Jane and Alec who sat apart from the other two guards. They glanced at each other, but none of the four guards favoured most by Aro spoke.
Finally, Felix broke the silence. "Jane, what do you think of Master Aro's decision?
Jane looked at Felix, unused to being confronted by anyone, her gift terrifying to any vampire. Felix had already felt her power when he had once questioned her orders while they were in Seattle, America.
Before answering the tall guard, Jane looked over at Alec, her hand resting on his. Alec had always been there for her, supporting and praising her. He nodded at her, his fingers curling around his sister's.
Jane gazed at Felix, raising her chin in the air. "We could have easily defeated the Cullens and their witnesses."
"So you think Master Aro made the wrong decision?" Demetri wasn't sure how he felt, but if the battle had been stopped before it had started, there had to be a good reason. Alice Cullen had approached Aro and let him read her. A few minutes later, he had released her hand, his expression strange. What had he seen, Demetri wondered.
"I just wish Aro would tell us something," Felix murmured. "Anything."
One by one, the lower guards had joined their superiors, standing around the room, alone and silent, or in small groups whispering together.
"Maybe Master Aro knew we could defeat the Cullens, but didn't want to destroy his old friend," Afton suggested.
Chelsea reached over and smacked her mate. "Surely, my love, you don't feel Aro would let the law be flouted merely for friendship! Immortal children are too great a risk to our kind."
"What about the spoken rule, we give no second chances," Santiago remarked.
Heidi huffed. "What has the confrontation with the Cullens have to do with that? Master Aro believed them guilty of a crime. When he found out there was no crime, he still expected them to explain the child and any threat she might be. When he found there would be no threat, he let them all go. Master Aro is a man of justice, as the rest of the Volturi should be viewed."
Many of the vampires murmured their agreement with Heidi.
Just then, Caius entered the room, able to hear the guards even from a distance. He knew they were unhappy running out on a fight. Hadn't he been also?
"Aro wishes for everyone to gather in the audience hall in thirty minutes." The blonde vampire felt the guards staring at his back as he left the training room. Aro had ordered him to say nothing more to them.
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The guards entered the more modern, larger audience hall that was reserved for such meetings and special affairs. They stood in relation to the circular wall, all facing the dais where the three masters now sat. Aro greeted the guards.
"Welcome, everyone. I have asked you all here to explain my actions on the Field of Snow. I have heard your vocalizations, but I will leave your thoughts to yourselves. I know many of you feel it displayed cowardice to leave the Cullens unpunished, but..." Aro stood from his chair, and stepped down the stairs while holding out his hands. "...had any of them committed a crime?"
Some of the guards were visibly happy to hear they would be left alone. They had feared Master Aro would want to read each one of them, their thoughts being less than complimentary.
"The reason I did not continue any attack on the Cullens is because Alice Cullen showed me a vision of our future if we continued on that path. In that vision, I saw our coven nearly destroyed. Only a handful remained. And I saw not only the final deaths of Masters Marcus and Caius, but myself."
The guards looked shocked at Aro's words. How could this be, they defeated instead of the other way around?
Aro walked up to Jane and Alec. "My dear, you and Alec are like my own children. I not only sired you, but I have watched you both grow in power." He touched her smooth cheek. "Seeing you die in Alice's vision...I could not let that happen for the sake of my pride." He turned to the group of his fellow coven members, his voice raised for effect. "I could not let that happen to any of you."
"Master Aro, how do you know it was not some sort of trick devised by the Cullens. How do you know the vision was real?" Santiago was unaware that in Alice's vision, his final death came from the actions of one of the shapeshifters. Aro had seen that as if he had been there.
Aro replied to his guard's query. If only he had the ability to show them all the horror he had seen. "Santiago, before I myself had been dispatched in the vision, I saw Alec, Demetri, and Jane destroyed in their own fashion. Caius, Marcus and so many others of you killed by the Cullens, their witnesses, and their guard dogs. Not to say you all didn't get your fair share of their side, but does the desire alone to defeat an enemy outweigh the survival of our coven? Caius, you still wanted to fight, feeling insult in the presense of the shape shifters. I could not tell you then how unimportant that had become compared to your impending destruction. We don't always agree, brother, but we serve the Volturi together, and that makes you as important to the coven as myself." He took several steps across the floor, his hands clasped together. "I trust Alice's gift enough to want her to join us. Why would I doubt the veracity of her vision."
Aro remembered the scenes so clearly. It had felt absolutely real, even up to the moment of his own approaching death by fire. When he had been pulled from the vision, he realized it had been only that, but Aro was shaken all the same. He had looked at the Cullens and his own people, still very much alive. But the feeling he had at losing everything remained with him.
"Regardless of what you may think of me, there is no way I will be able to share with you what I saw. It was either accepting your final deaths, or allowing the Cullens to leave in peace, ourselves surviving to return home."
The guards began to murmur among themselves. Perhaps they had judged Master Aro too harshly. It was believe him, or see the ancient vampire as a coward. None of them truly believed that. Aro had led the Volturi for thousands of years. Were they not the creators and enforcers of vampire law? Were they not the strongest coven, and the most feared?
Jane walked over to Aro, and after waiting a half minute, impulsively hugged him. When she pulled away, she looked up at her sire. The two spoke to one another without one word between them, such was their relationship.
Aro reached to brush her chin with his fingers, giving her a light kiss on her lips. He looked around the large room, knowing his people believed him and no longer thought ill of him.
To prove that point, Felix took a few steps toward his leader. "Master Aro, we of the guard respect your decision, now that we know there was a reason we left the Cullens and their witnesses alive. There is no purpose in fighting if you end up losing everything you have."
Aro nodded at his executioner. "Thank you, my friends. You may go now." Aro turned back toward the dais and returned to his chair.
Aro, Marcus, and Caius remained in the audience hall, waiting for the guards to leave. Some looked back at Aro with a new appreciation for the vampire who led them with such resolute determination. They now knew he would do nothing to put any of them at risk as each was integral to the strength of the coven.
When the hall was empty of all except the three Volturi masters, Aro stood and faced his brothers. "I believe they all understood," he said, his expression one of equanimity. His coven was intact. The leadership was secure. Aro was worried about Marcus, however, his one wish now exposed. Marcus had wanted to experience final death. To keep Marcus with the coven, Aro had to sacrifice his beloved sister, Didyme. This action had literally changed Marcus and dulled his desire to live. Aro decided he would have many, many years to make it right for his true brother. Somehow.