To Lucyany: Olá, muito obrigado. Mas não, eles são dois tipos completamente diferentes de lobisomens: William é um licantropo, e tão perigoso e ameaçador quanto os vampiros para a espécie de Leah: os Loup-Garoux, que sempre nascem e nunca podem infectar outras pessoas. Além disso, as espécies de Leah são consideradas protetoras da humanidade. Eles nunca iriam querer ter nada a ver com 'os Filhos da Lua'.
To Damarius: thank you so much, I am feeling better thank God. Being sick is awful.
Summary: Bella reflects on how she allowed other people to shape her life, where most of these people had gone and what to do with herself, while Jane and Alec meet their fate. The Cullens return to Forks- for now
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
Carl Jung
Bella
I should have been elated that justice had been done. I should have rejoiced.
When we confronted the Volturi just months ago on New Year's Eve, I thought to myself that if I could, I would kill them. That I would happily light their pyre and dance as I watched them burn.
Now, I felt hollow and empty. The stench of burning flesh- flesh which hadn't crystalised the way our species' skin did- had no effect for me. I felt numb.
I didn't rejoice that Aro and Caius and the worst of their guard were dead, though I felt that they deserved it and we were all safer without them. Neither did I feel horrified that they had died in such a cruel and horrific manner. Aro and Caius had brought so much suffering, not just death, but torture, enslavement and the loss of loved ones like mates and children, to so many. How many lives had come crashing down because of these so-called 'leaders' and 'heroes'. Aro himself had manipulated a chain of events that ensured Jane and Alec, his two most trusted cohorts- and pawns- had their mother murdered and been burned alive when they were young enough to be dependent and look for someone to fill in the void their parents had left, but old enough to control themselves so they could be used, unlike the Immortal Children. All so he could play the hero to exploit and manipulate them for around a millennium.
No, I wasn't even disturbed by the manner of their deaths, even though I disagreed with it. I didn't want such a manner of dying to repeat itself, ever. Yet I also didn't dwell too much on Aro and Caius' fates, or of the fates of the most guilty and willing of their accomplices and henchmen. We had been dominated by fear for so long, and for the most part, it was directly or indirectly because of them. Heidi's own coven had been accused of false charges and executed just so that Aro could acquire Heidi, which enabled Victoria- the other lone survivor- to escape and end up at the hands of James, winding up as the mate of the only other person who seemed to have cared for her, only to turn out to be a sadist and to hunt me... which ultimately led to a newborn invasion, where more kids were violently ripped from their human lives, and used as battle fodder, while many more humans died to sustain them. This included Bree, the newborn who surrendered, not wanting to fight, only to be killed by the Volturi because they didn't differentiate between the ones who were used and manipulated but threw aside all attempts at crime, and the truly guilty. It had been the same for Irina; it didn't matter who was guilty and who may be a possible threat to their power, simply by making them look bad. Even Aro's own sister and Marcus' wife, Didyme, had been sacrificed in the pursuit of power, since they both wanted to leave and Marcus was more useful to them.
So much fear, so many deaths... and all for what? For power? To gain it, to establish a firm grip on it...
In the end, the Volturi loomed over us like a dark ominous cloud, even at the outskirts of my peripheral vision, promising a storm of utter annihilation. In a funny way, they, like Edward, had been a central and dominant part of my life, just like Renée had before them, and Victoria too. And so while I sat on the side of my bed staring blankly into space, I ran through each and every single one of them, and how my life, even now, had not both revolved around them, but had also been completely formed by them, and what had happened to each and every single one of these figures, what role they had played in not merely shaping me in who and what I was, and- most importantly- how I needed to fix or change all that, and what would happen now, since most of them were gone, some completely for good.
My Gran Marie and Renée were the first people on the list. Gran had died when I was young, but not before giving me the tools and her focus into shaping me into a strong, self-reliant, independent person, even though she died before the project could be completed. She had given me the means to survive and to rely on and look after myself, but the fact that I'd been so young when her health started failing, and that I'd moved first to Riverside, and then to Phoenix, meant that we didn't have as much time as we needed, for her to be there and to help shape me into a person who not only could survive in the real world, but to thrive. In the end, due to her death when I was just eleven, everything she had taught me had lost its meaning and purpose. I didn't become a strong, confident or independent person the way she imagined so I could not only survive, but thrive on my own and move forward in life, the way she had failed to teach Renée. I didn't even survive on my own. I instead used the skills she had taught me to look after my mother and to be her slave, so much that I'd neglected to learn how to look out for myself, even though I figured out how to raise myself. And Gran simply hadn't been there to correct that. She would have been bitterly disappointed if she'd seen the way I turned out: giving up everything at an even younger age than Renée, all for a boy I had only known for thirteen months, and only intimately for, for eleven months. My heart clenched at the thought of her reaction if she'd known, that after just six months of dating, I'd spent months after that in a vegetative state, or acting like a zombie. I couldn't imagine the look on her face.
Renée came right after Gran in the list of people who made, shaped and broke me. Charlie had never made it on the list, since I'd been taken away by Renée when I was eight months old and I hardly saw him, certainly never for more than two weeks for every summer until I was seventeen. But Renée had been the one to dominate and shape not only my early life, but my very self and identity, up until Edward had entered the picture. Not as the nurturing mother who looked after and watched out for me; not as someone who I could rely and lean on; not as someone who could teach, lead and give me strength and confidence to stand on my own... but as someone who needed me to look after, care for, calm, watch over, and supervise her constantly. As a consequence, until I'd learned I was pregnant, I never wanted kids. They'd never appealed to me after so long looking after my perpetually childish mother. As much as I had denied it to myself, as much as I hated to admit it, as ashamed as I had been since I felt so easily guilty just to consider letting my helpless, seemingly innocent mother, with her wide baby-blue eyes like the sky, staring helplessly at me, I realised it was the truth. As a more devastating consequence, I could never stand up for myself to her or anyone, including Edward and Jacob. Charlie had been the only one to make it easy for me to stand up to him- although only because he worried even more about what I might do once I was out of his sight and influence. I wished with all my heart I had listened to him... or that he had better communication skills... or that somehow, along the way, I'd managed to learn or become taught that wanting something for myself that was contrary to what my parents wanted- or needed- wasn't a crime.
Maybe it would have been, if the only reason was that I was being selfish at the expense of my family and friends, and that they were the reasonable ones. But that wasn't the case, and I'd become selfish anyway, at least in part because I had never learned how to make a balance between catering to my own needs and wishes, and those of my family. I never learned that it wasn't a sin to not to feel guilty just because, as a kid, I didn't want to spend all day and all night cooking and cleaning, doing the groceries, managing the finances and telling my mother that we couldn't afford a pottery class if we wanted to afford something else that was essential, making sure there was gas in the car, telling my mom to go for job interviews and reminding her of the time, reminding and looking for essentials like her keys and purse, or to feel the need to stay at home precisely because she needed you to be there when she inevitably got lost and couldn't find her way home. It never occurred to me that it wasn't a sin and it didn't make me a terrible person whenever my mother looked at me with her childlike gaze, all wide and innocent and so scared, when and if I didn't actually want to do what she wanted me to do. She looked so hurt and sad, so helpless when she needed my help. I never learned it wasn't wrong to just wish that I didn't have to do all this, or to let her do everything by herself.
When I was young and I watched Disney's cartoon of Cinderella, despite the fact that the ugly stepsisters and the wicked stepmother took advantage of her kindness, the narrative made it sound like it was a good thing that she was unfailingly kind and catered to their whims without complaint. Yet I always wondered why, if her step-family were so cruel, unlike my mother, and she had all the skills that she needed to look after herself, why she simply didn't walk up and leave. She could easily take the dog, who wasn't welcome to stay and would've been bound to get kicked out since the cat hated him, the mice who were even more unwelcome, even the horse since it didn't look like the ugly stepsisters or stepmother took him out to go riding, or even just to pull a carriage. Yet, the fact that she never stood up for herself against them, was always unfailingly kind and did their bidding, was presented as a virtue, not a flaw. It never occurred to me, especially not my younger self, that a girl in a time long gone, living in a society dominated by patriarchal male figures, where money and wealth were so important, who had been left with no money, no educational or work credentials, nor anyone to protect and take care of her, may have wanted to leave but had been completely unable. Cinderella stayed because in having no money, no place to stay, and all the animal friends who did like but needed her and to who she was loyal to, and no male figure to protect her from said-society, she had been kept in bondage, indentured servitude, even more than I was. Cinderella had been orphaned, but she seemed as self-reliant as I was. The only reason I didn't leave was because I couldn't bear to leave my loving and kind-hearted mother to cope on her own, even though she took advantage of me, which I was certain she hadn't meant to do, and that it hadn't all been an act, otherwise I would have no hesitations or regrets with cutting all contact with her now. I also didn't want to be thrown into social services, and I didn't think that Charlie- who needed me to do the cooking, even if he could do everything else- ever would have thought or wanted to help me, if he'd known. Renée didn't deserve to be thrown in jail, or to get into any legal trouble, since she was not inherently malicious. Yet the results had been no less damaging to both me and to herself. She'd never learned to grow up, and in a different way, neither had I.
Not until when Charlie prompted me to imagine my own daughter in my position, doing what I did for him, did I imagine her doing the same things that I did for Renée as well. And it broke my heart, the thought and the prospect of my innocent baby being forced into servitude, and then unable to stand up for herself. It jarred me into reality, and yet at the same time, made me realise that I hadn't merely been keeping Renée in the dark because I wasn't sure she could handle it, but because I didn't want my mother to turn my own daughter into a second version of me, and for her to suffer as I had, as much as I had previously denied it. But just like the cartoon Cinderella had presented it as, I thought it was a virtue never to stand up for myself, and Renesmee's defiance had been seen as akin to blasphemy by me, not just because of Edward's manipulations, but because unlike Renée, Edward and I had looked after her. We'd protected her. And Edward had done the same to me.
And although I thought my life and future were hopeless, when a real-life fairytale seemed to present itself and enter my life, I latched onto and depended upon my prince charming to take me away, just as Cinderella's had done for her...
I remembered how Renesmee looked when she felt she wanted something, how Edward played with her emotions by making her feel guilty and manipulated her thoughts whenever she expressed her desire to want something different, like simply to be let out and have friends, and how I had been so horribly complicit in that... It wasn't a crime to want these things, to stand up for herself, I admitted with more shame than I could ever manage to describe. I had just been so stupid, and just as easy to manipulate as I had ever been. Renée had taken away my anger, my ability to stand up for myself, to think about and do anything for myself, to even want something- anything- just by widening her baby-blue eyes. And then Edward had barged his way into my life by glaring at me in school, breaking into my bedroom and spying on me when I was asleep, and then coercing me into going out with him. He had given me a taste of what it felt like to be loved and wanted, protected and cherished, the centre of someone else's world, the way I had never been for anyone. And I'd loved it. I became addicted to him, just as he claimed that my blood was to him. I became even easier to manipulate. I never once thought to be angry with Renée, or to hold her responsible for anything she had done or failed to do, the way other kids did to their parents, until after so long away from her. She seemed too much like a child to me, the thought of even just being angry with her was like punching a baby in the face and making it cry. It took having a child of my own and realising that I tried to be everything to her that Renée- or Charlie- wasn't to me, and for my daughter who had more guts and brains than I had, or for Charlie to call me out and ask me how I would like it if daughter were in my position, to make me realise that it wasn't a crime to want to do something for yourself, or something different than what your parents wanted you to do. To want something for yourself that doesn't involve catering to your parents' whims. To feel differently to what they wanted you to feel. To have time and space of your own, so you could grow. To do your own things. No child should ever be made to feel guilty for that. No child should ever be forced into indentured servitude, not just in my body, but my mind as well.
My mother was like a spoiled, needy child at worst and a peer who was my sunny and sometimes-annoying friend at best. I urged her to go out and start dating when I noticed she was lonely, but she never tried to nurture or do the same for me, even just to make friends- not that she ever noticed I was lonely. I didn't even notice it either. I was used to the solitude. No one needing chores to be done or to help find their way back home. No one mocking or laughing at me for being the loner kid with the middle-aged attitude, unable to fit in and out of sync with everyone. I was homesick when I had to leave my familiar terrain in Phoenix, but if I had to be honest with myself, a tiny part of me also felt relieved.
Edward was next on the list. He had been the sole focus of my energy and attention; my obsession, my means of escaping the grim, depressing and dull existence that I'd had with no hope for a brighter future. He had promised not only a distraction from my reality, but an escape, something to uplift me and a dream which might just come true. Despite the horror of vampires hunting and thirsting for my blood, despite werewolves and everything else, he called to me. I jumped into what I thought was a fairytale, a love story like Romeo and Juliet, believing that Edward was what I thought he seemed. That he'd belonged in a fairytale, instead of the horror story he believed himself to be in. That like the handsome guy who happened to be a prince, who could make any girl he fell in love with a princess and get her to live in a castle, waited upon hand and foot, never lacking for money and always beautifully dressed, Edward seemed part of a great package deal, which I had, to my shame, been just as enamoured with as I was with him. I'd used him just as much as I'd used Jacob, I now realised far too late. I was in love with the idea of what he represented as much as I thought I was in love with him. I was Cinderella's ugly stepsisters and all the other ladies at the ball, not Cinderella herself who didn't know he was a prince when she first set eyes on him and they fell in love. I thought I was her, taken out of my dirty rags and turned into a beautiful princess. But I never saw the truth.
I had been fooled as much as he has: I never saw the boy, the man. I never knew who he was. He was the first person to go all-out for me, this boy so beautiful he could have been a painting by a Renaissance artist; this wise, graceful, seemingly all-knowing and dazzling immortal... and yet he had chosen me. No one had ever chosen me before. No one had ever wanted me unless it was to do something for them, or- in Charlie's case- to have his little girl- which I no longer saw myself as- with him.
I never thought to ask why Edward would choose me, much less, to look deeper. And he didn't either, it seemed.
And now he was gone. My entire world had been shaped by and revolved solely around him, so much that it seemed to stop when he left two years ago. It was like the sun in the solar system. But I could see that he was no more a knight in shining armour or prince charming than I was the beautiful princess, the heroine of a fairytale. Neither of us saw the other for who we really were, our likes and dislikes... we seemed to see the other as the raw materials and turned them into our personal blank slates or art canvases to fill with whatever we secretly wanted, imagined or dreamed. After that, the two of us both might as well have been the imaginary friend of a six-year-old to each other. We never thought that the other person might be someone else worth looking into, rather than something we thought they seemed. We were both young and stupid. Even though we both made adult decisions without fully understanding or being prepared for the consequences, in Edward's case, he was less to blame than I was, since he had been frozen in this way without his consent. In my case, I had thrown the chances of growing up and maturing enough to think these things through, as well as neglecting to do it as much as I could at that stage, since I didn't want to lose any chances and have Edward disappear from me again.
Jacob was next on my list. He'd dominated my life, but nowhere near as much as Edward had. I'd wronged him and he had wronged me. He had been good to me, and I had taken advantage of that, of his interest in me, getting him infatuated in order to get what I want: a way closer to the Cullens, particularly Edward. I knew it was wrong at the time, but it seemed so trivial. Everybody did it at least once, surely, particularly when they were teenagers. Jacob was likely to move on and be uninterested in me as time went by. There were plenty of other girls, far better looking, more graceful and glamorous than I was. I thought he would forget about that encounter, same as Mike and all the other boys in school, or just lose interest. But he didn't. I'd severely miscalculated his interest and worse, I'd stoked it once Edward had left and when Charlie forced me to start going out with my friends, who I'd driven away, and consequently turned to Jacob to shut him up.
When Jake had finally asked for and wanted more than friendship, which I was never willing to give, he became more forceful and aggressive. Then he reacted with rage and misdirected hatred and revenge in order to hurt me: by hurting the person I loved most in the whole world. That person who was now the sole remaining focus in my entire life.
My daughter. She was all I had left. My relationship with my mother had changed. I was no longer willing to be her slave and I certainly didn't trust her to bear the truth about the supernatural, even less so with the care and wellbeing of my own daughter, in case she became like me. This meant that even if we could reconcile and meet somehow without her knowing, I wasn't sure if I could trust myself not to cave in and do whatever she might want me to do and unwittingly become her slave again, and I certainly could never introduce her to my daughter. If I was going to fail in being strong for myself, I still owed it to Renesmee to be strong for her. I acknowledged that what Renée did was bad for me and for herself. That she'd damaged me and in doing so, had played a part in damaging everyone around me because of who and what she made me to be and what I allowed her to do to me. She wasn't solely to blame of course, but in making me the way I was, she had facilitated more harm than good. The list of people who I had damaged and whose lives I had destroyed included Jacob. Jacob who would soon know the truth about his imprint and that she wanted to be forever free from him. Jacob who- according to Lady Laima- would lose his home, his family, friends and his place in the pack when he left, never to return.
All because of me.
My marriage to Edward was also in its death throes. My love for him had disappeared like the mist. It was never real.
I had given up my humanity... to chase a fairytale.
I took a deep breath. I would have to reflect, think and plan everything later. Soon, I was required to come and see the rest of the sentences being carried out. Heidi, Demetri and the others would remain in medical care. Their actions, done under the influence and powers of Aro, Chelsea and Corin- and the threat of Caius- could not be held against them. Same as Marcus and the wives- if they ever did anything wrong. I distinctly remember Marcus trying to reason with the other two about the truth about the 'danger' that Renesmee had posed.
Jane and Alec should have been spared but they had asked for a mercy kill. They knew there was no cure to their state, what Aro had done, what he had made them to be. They no longer trusted even themselves. They could not bear to continue existing frozen as the pawns, henchmen, torturers and neutralisers that he had made them to be.
Although the British Ministry of Magic had tried to argue against this, even they had to admit there was no cure, no way to turn them back into who and what they once were. And they couldn't bear it. The British Ministry of Magic, Gabrielle had told me, and the magical people of Britain felt responsible, even though Alec and Jane had been born and turned well before any of them were born, or even before their society had broken with the Muggles or No-Majs, for what happened to the twins. It was seen as a failure on behalf of British wizards and witches, against the future. To think that Alec and Jane could have grown up normally and had a future of some kind that wasn't in the servitude of a greedy, power-hungry sociopath was a failure on the behalf of their predecessors and ancestors. As such, they felt obligated to set things right. But they couldn't.
So their American allies in MACUSA had offered a solution: Jane and Alec would be executed for the sake of mercy via their means. Magical America was still one of the few places in the human world, magical or non-magical, that still practiced the death penalty. Their methods of execution were considered much more humane.
Alec and Jane eagerly jumped at the chance. I couldn't blame them. I couldn't live with myself, knowing what I had done towards people whom I thought deserved every ounce of pain and for someone I had trusted and loved more than anyone else... only to find out that I'd been wrong.
I stood. Gliding with inhuman grace through the front door, I felt a haunting sorrow, not because my human clumsiness had been of any use or was aesthetically pleasing, but because the girl I had been was well and truly gone.
And I didn't know who I was. I knew that I only had my daughter left to focus on.
I joined the other Cullens and vampires, and the witches and wizards, a crowd of whom had gathered down below. I barely noticed when they created some portkeys, like the one that we used to transport us to the Carpathians, to transport us to New York, where MACUSA was stationed. We would go straight back after this.
I barely noticed the ride. When we arrived, we were in a narrow black corridor. They ushered us forwards.
Inside was a square room, pure white and blandly sterile, with the exception of a section of the floor which was a large square, smooth and black. No, I realised upon closer inspection. Not a floor. Not tiles. It was liquid.
A smooth, black liquid, thick as oil, filled the square pool, which dominated the floor of the room, to the brim. Two chairs magically hovered above the liquid. They were plain, bland like the rest of the room, but had cushioned backs, head-rests, arm-rests and foot-rests each, and they floated slowly towards the audience.
Suddenly, Alec and Jane appeared. Unlike the Volturi they were dressed, not in the robes of their uniforms or prison tunics, but in simple but appropriate clothing. Jane wore a pretty blue dress embroidered with pink flowers and a green vine-pattern, which made me think that Renaissance artists would weep at the sight of her. Alec wore dark brown pants, a white shirt and jacket with black shoes.
They were allowed some dignity, and for that, especially after seeing Aro and Caius' executions, I felt strangely relieved.
The twins looked blank, empty. It was as if they were lifeless and that's when it hit me: Aro hadn't succeeded in saving either of them. The real twins, Alexander and Jehanne, had died soon after their mother, when they were set ablaze a millennium ago
Somebody cleared his throat. We turned. It was the black-haired wizard with the strange lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, the one who came with the British Ministry of Magic, Gabrielle's sister's brother-in-law: Harry Potter.
But somebody else spoke. The witch with bushy-brown crimped curls and brown eyes moved forwards. She looked businesslike but pale. Her lips and hands were trembling, but she quickly gained her composure.
"Our Minister," she said in a tremulous voice, but quickly stilled it "wishes to say a few words." She swallowed and moved back.
Someone else came forwards. A tall black wizard, bald-headed and dressed in solemn robes. "On behalf of not just our government, but the whole of the British magical community," he began in a rich, deep but sombre voice, "I would like to apologise."
They stared at him. "Even though this happened long before our people split from non-magical society and formed our own, even before our school was built with the purpose of teaching the future generations how to control and use their powers and to keep them safe, even though the ones who live today had not been born to see it happen, we nonetheless feel it was a failing of our predecessors, to find and keep you safe so you could grow and live your lives with your family, without the cruel manipulations and machinations of the Volturi."
Silence descended upon the room. "We understand," the British Minister began "that nothing can ever come close to healing and erasing all the damage that you have undergone, even if we tried. But we also understand if you choose never to forgive-"
Jane interrupted. "I forgive you." She looked at her twin. "We both do." Alec nodded.
Stunned, everyone stared. Forgiveness was the last thing I had never expected from the twins. The British Minister himself started. As did Harry Potter and his family.
"We've hated and raged long enough," Alec said softly. "And Aro used that. He used all our rage, our grief, our hatred and our pain... now we want to be free of him- of them- forever." Jane nodded. Esme stifled a sob. The brown-haired witch, Hermione Granger-Weasley's eyes moistened. It was difficult to watch. The hateful twins full of rage and sadism were gone. What was left now were the children they had once been... who now wanted to die.
"And now it turns out it was all for nothing." Alec stated bitterly. Jane nodded bitterly. "It was all a lie. And we'd lived in for nearly a thousand years, never seeing that... because we trusted him."
The British Minister took a deep breath. "You do not have to do this." He informed them. "We can find a way. We have healers in Britain and across the magical world-" but something in his voice told me that he was doubtful they could ever be cured.
The twins shook their heads. "It's better this way." Jane said softly. "There is no other way," Alec agreed.
All their hatefulness was gone. And so was mine. I choked down a sob. I didn't know why I was crying; I'd only ever hated and feared Jane and Alec, and never really knew them that well... maybe it was because I could finally see I wasn't really better than them. Like them, I too had been manipulated and destroyed the lives of others. Unlike them, I'd asked for it, to lose my family and my soul. And now two of the most hateful individuals in the world had let go of all their anger, their hate.
"Besides," Jane conceded thoughtfully "this may be a way for either of us to repay and compensate for all the damage and destruction that we both have done under the Volturi. Like you, we may never come close to healing or erasing what has been done." My hands trembled. "But it's something. And we can assure everybody else, as well as ourselves, that we will not harm or be anyone's pawns any longer."
"We can't expect anyone's forgiveness," Alec's voice was soft and uncharacteristically gentle. Perhaps it carried traces and echoes of the boy he had once been. "Nothing can ever come close to erasing or compensating for what we have done."
Jane spoke. "But at the very least we could do this: rid the world of us, especially since we can't be cured or saved. Besides," she closed her pale blue eyes and took a deep breath. "We need to see our mother. She's been without us long enough. The least we could do is apologise for doing things she would never have wished us to do or be like."
I realised that I was shaking. I also realised that not only did I no longer hate them, I had forgiven them.
Alec and Jane had let go of all their rage, pain, grief and hate, even though they had every right to feel that way. Even though they also had every right to beg for mercy, to be afraid, to look out only for themselves and each other. Instead, they forgave everyone, and in a strange way, looked to compensate or save them from themselves, and to be set free from the hatred they had inside. To find peace.
I couldn't help but admire them because... because I wished to do the same. I wished I had the strength to do that, if Renesmee no longer needed or wanted me. And to try to compensate... I didn't even know where to begin.
I had utterly destroyed Jacob, Edward, and Charlie's lives. Most likely Renesmee's too, if it couldn't be salvaged. And who knows who else? Billy? Rachel and Rebecca? The newborns that invaded? The Della Rosas, most certainly. Who else that I didn't know had their lives ruined because of me- of us?
I noticed the witch Adsila Sizemore, the one who had questioned us, standing next to Gabrielle who was also there. Every wizard and witch seemed filled with pain, regret and remorse.
"We should have found you sooner," the British Minister whispered "for that, we are sorry."
The chairs slowly floated towards the twins. "Not as sorry as we are." Alec whispered. Jane echoed his sentiments.
A couple of witches and a wizard stepped forwards. They were dressed completely in white, like medical staff. "Are you ready?"
They both nodded.
Suddenly a witch pressed the tip of her wand against Alec's temple. Another pressed the tip of hers against Jane's. Then slowly, they drew it back outwards. The twins' faces had gone totally blank. A glittering, silvery strand of something, glowing with light, was pulled from each twin's temple. Memories, I remembered from when Gabrielle extracted Edward's.
Then they both tossed them straight into the surface of the pool. The liquid shimmered. Ripples spread across the still oil-like surface. Shimmering silver light began to spread, radiating outwards and swirling until they formed images. A woman with brown hair tied in a kerchief, the same shade as Jane's, appeared. She had a kind, lovely face and a warm and gentle smile. Her eyes radiated happiness from the very depths of her soul.
"Ælfscyne," she crooned in a language I thought was Old English, combing a girl's hair with a wooden comb.
With a start I recognised Jane. Or Jehanne, as she was known then. Even as a child she had been beautiful. You could tell that she was going to be a very beautiful woman if she had been left to grow up in peace, as a vampire if she had grown enough, she would have probably been just as beautiful as Rosalie or Heidi...
But she wasn't. Why hadn't Aro waited until the twins were at least as old as Edward and I, before he changed them? I suspected that he thought they would have been entirely dependent upon him, even more than if Chelsea or Corin had been there, had they been younger. Were their powers so enticing he couldn't bring himself to be patient?
I saw them playing together, dancing. I saw a few strangers doting on them, handing gifts, like a small doll to Jane- no, Jehanne- and a toy dagger made of wood to Alexander.
"It looks great, doesn't it?" A witch said softly to the twins. Entranced, seemingly hypnotised by the rosy images of happier times long-gone, maybe even forgotten, the twins slowly nodded. The chairs hovered closer. Close enough for them to climb aboard.
"Do you want to get in?" The witch asked. They nodded eagerly. Slowly, the two of them made their way forwards and climbed onto the seats with ease.
The chairs floated back over the middle of the pool. The images kept playing. In front of their humble cottage, I saw the twins playing. Suddenly, Jane- Jehanne- caught a butterfly in her hand. When the images zoomed in, I saw that the butterfly was frozen. Then they started at the sight of the dark-robed stranger with the glistening pale skin and the long black hair, striding towards them. But their mother opened the door.
"Alexander," I heard their mother call. "Jehanne, hwǣr- gōd morgen sīe þē."
I didn't know what she was saying, only that Aro had introduced himself. I knew there was going to be trouble soon. I prayed that the memories would never show the twins' execution or their mother's murder. I wondered what happened to their father, since it was mentioned during the trial that their father was a Frankish soldier from what was now modern-day France. But apparently, he wasn't there to protect them when their mother was killed and the twins taken, so presumably he must have died, possibly in battle, or went back to his native land.
Suddenly, the wizard whispered a spell and pointed his wand at the liquid. It started to rise, moving around the twins and encasing them both in a huge dome like a shining black eggshell. The last I saw of the twins were Jane and Alec's contented, dreamy faces, full of the innocent joy they once had as human children, before the liquid completely engulfed them, hiding them from view. Then, an acrid, burning stench, much like lit oil, suffused the room. Dimly, I recognised the smell from New Year's Eve or the early hours of the morning, when the Volturi guard had torn Irina to pieces and Caius had set them on fire; right before the winter breeze, the fresh snow and the smell of the pines blew it away.
There was nothing to blow away the stench of a vampire's death now. But unlike with the Volturi, we didn't have to see it, and it was far, far quicker than anything they had suffered, and for that I was relieved.
After nearly a millennium, Jane and Alec, or Jehanne and Alexander of Wessex, were at peace. I prayed they would be reunited with the mother they had lost; the only one apart from each other- and possibly their father who might have been deceased by the time of their execution- who truly loved, cherished and protected them.
We went back to the Old-World Coven. And as I resumed sitting back on the bed, now hours before Edward's sentence was to be carried out, I was well and truly lost. While outwardly I remained silent, inside I was still trying to process everything that had happened that led up to this moment and what would soon come after: my husband's imprisonment and centuries-long banishment, and the fact that I had jumped into a marriage with a person who I didn't know very well, someone who anyone would have been stupid to trust, obsessed with what he seemingly represented and what he had to offer me just as much as I was with him yet not truly understanding it either... and all the while thinking he was a figure from a fairytale or legend. And I didn't even realise it until now. How stupid could I have been? I doubted that all the girls I had derided as being shallow could have gone as far and as low as I had.
Most important of all however, now that I'd reflected, analysed and evaluated myself, my emotions, thoughts and feelings, I had to figure out how my life would go on from here. The ones who had shaped my entire life and identity, who had taken up my every waking moment, it seemed; the ones who haunted me in my dreams and nightmares; whom I either feared and hated, adored and worshipped, or protected and served, were gone. I was no longer in the servitude of my mother, to supervise and care for her, and be ready to do her every whim at her beck and call. Neither my friends, family nor I were under the threat of the Volturi and it looked as if everyone might have a better future with them gone forever, never to haunt our footsteps ever again. And although we remained under the threat of being discovered by the non-magical humans, we had a better chance of remaining hidden now that we had magic, or at least magical allies who could help us to stay hidden. And a different means of sustenance that didn't involve humans disappearing and dying, which would just bring non-magical humans together, sooner or later to pose a threat to our kind. Jacob was under house-arrest and, if Lady Laima's prophecy will come true- and chillingly, it seemed like it would- then Jacob was going to leave and never come back. If we successfully reversed the imprint-bond he had with Renesmee, then it was likely that she would never wish to see him again, even if he wasn't under threat of trying to bring her back and to keep her with him; and we couldn't expect him to want to see her again, even if he had a change of heart and knew that this was utterly messed up, because it was just rubbing everything into his face: having another girl he loved abandon him, even though it wasn't her fault. Besides, he wouldn't want to even look at me after everything I'd done to him, which led him to do all of this, to be what he was right now, and to lose everything. The Jacob that Embry, Quil, Seth and the others had known was very different to the Jacob who had been corrupted by my influence.
Most of all, Edward was gone. Not just the man I married, who dominated, shaped, and controlled every aspect of my life, whom I worshipped as a god and thought of as vital to my existence on earth as oxygen was to a human's lungs, but the idea I had of him: my knight in shining armour. The guardian angel who protected me. He was gone and I would have to live without him forever.
And yet he had shaped not only my existence but my very identity. Who was Bella Swan without Edward Cullen? Even if we took Jacob out of the equation, and Renée, and my Gran Marie, along with the Volturi, and Victoria and James who were minor threats by comparison, who was Bella Swan?
I would have to find out. More importantly, I would have to build everything from scratch, including my life and my own identity. I couldn't afford to be known as Edward Cullen's wife or ex-wife for long. The only person who I had to focus on, apart from myself, was my daughter. I owed it to her to do what Renée had initially intended, but abandoned half-way and, in the end, ultimately failed: I had to be the mother and father that she deserved. Most of all, I had to be a stronger, smarter, and wiser person for the both of us.
We would have to leave Forks, that part was certain. I had no intention of ever settling back into the cottage which now seemed like a mockery of our dreams, a gilded cage to both of us, even if I hadn't noticed it. It was a shame to waste something so beautiful, something which Esme and Alice and all the rest of them had poured all their love and best wishes into, but we couldn't stay. I doubted that the Wolves would have wanted us to stay, especially considering what I- and Edward- did to Jacob and what we were going to have do to him again which would ultimately cost him, not just the leadership of the pack, but his place within it, the council and his friends' respect and esteem, his family and Charlie's trust, and now the home he had lived in his entire life which his family had guarded and lived for generations. We had long-overstayed and breached the boundaries of our welcome and besides, there was a chance that Jacob would never come to terms with Renesmee's departure or the fact that they weren't soulmates.
I wished with all my heart and soul that he could. I prayed with everything that I had within me that he would. Not just for Renesmee's sake, her freedom and safety, and the life she now had ahead of her which she didn't deserve to have ruined, but for Jacob. I had destroyed his entire life and every semblance of his former self just by thoughtlessly flirting with him to get information on the Cullens, leading him on and not having the guts or the brains to think about him and his needs, or how I was damaging him. And then when I was absorbed in my own self-pity and misery, I waltzed back in after a year of not even being interested in seeking him out, all because I needed a new man to latch onto- to depend on.
That wasn't fair.
Quickly, I ran through the rest of the family. Gabrielle had extended some sort of offer to Carlisle and Esme- and Rosalie as it turned out. Apart from their duties in their new government, once they had been settled Carlisle would join her as part of an inter-species team of scientists, diplomats, researchers and inventors, whose details I admit I still didn't know too much about. Esme and Rosalie were also interested, especially in the medical side of things. Apparently, since neither of them could give birth, Gabrielle had suggested that they could help the vampires who could. It would be great for inter-species relations, and the Cullens being natural diplomats, particularly Carlisle and Esme, could mean that vampire-kind could have better relations with different beings and the societies in which they lived. Esme could be a teacher and establish a formal school system for vampire-children- who knows? And Rosalie... well, it was too early to say.
Apparently, we lived in a world where many hidden worlds and societies, full of peoples of all kinds whom humankind either forgot or didn't know about, co-existed in the utmost secrecy with non-magical humans.
Of course, Carlisle and Esme would have to wait, and Gabrielle expected no less. They were on the government for a reason, and they would have to work to get our new society up and running, functioning smoothly like a well-oiled machine or clockwork. But having a research division, and Carlisle being scientifically-minded, would help us in the long-run. Being diplomatic certainly would. He had negotiated peace with and even earned the respect of the Loup-Garoux, ancient enemies, managing to ensure that no one on either side harmed the other for as long as they remained in contact. Some had even become friends. For centuries, he'd lived and worked as a doctor, but was completely unable to take off to his full potential since it would only draw too much attention. Without that weighing him down, Carlisle could have discovered the cure for cancer or been an ambassador.
Emmett and Jasper were joining the armed forces the government was planning to set up. This would also include Liam and Garrett, two former soldiers. Alice's faith in her own abilities had wavered, and her natural confidence, which had defined her and which I sorely lacked, had taken a terrible blow. But someone- a seer- had extended to her an invitation to study the mysteries and subtle workings of divination, and Alice had eagerly grabbed onto the opportunity. The government may find her to be of use, Siobhan had admitted. But that would not be for some time.
That left only me, Edward and Renesmee. And out of the three of us, Edward's case was not going to be a problem until after his banishment sentence had been served. Once we were up and running, the government would soon convene to decide where Edward would go until he had served his time. Renesmee was still a young child and she needed to grow, meet other people, and to expand her horizons. But she also needed a safe place to live and people to grow up with and that was where I had to take charge.
What was I going to do? Raise my daughter, of course. That was the most obvious thing. But while that may take up most of my time, Renesmee grew quickly. I could be there for her, but if and when she wanted independence, I also had to grant it to her. What else was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to spend my immortal life, my eternal youth, on my own now that I finally had it?
"Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Edward had been fasting in preparation for his imprisonment- or entombment. It was similar to the process the High Elders took when they prepared for their respective hibernations. Immediately after the wedding feast, or perhaps during it, Amelia had retreated to her rooms. By the next sunset, her family including her new daughter-in-law, had bade her farewell and the sarcophagus was sealed and buried within her tomb.
None of the family knew about the true nature of Edward's imprisonment, and he fully intended to keep it that way. The Della Rosas may have known, but Gabrielle felt like a gatekeeper: she kept Edward's secrets from the rest of them and now she kept Bella's, including her decision to divorce, from Edward.
Her insides knotted with guilt.
It wasn't an ideal decision, but it was the best one to take in this horrible situation. Now deprived of blood, his eyes had lost their original green colour, the one which he had been born with. They also did not change back to the golden shade which his species acquired after drinking animal blood. They were black, black as pitch, black as the darkness of the tomb he was going to be encased in.
Gabrielle had once heard an old legend from her grandmother, about nine kings who had been enslaved by a dark lord, more fearsome and far more terrible than Grindelwald or Voldemort, whose powers seemed to be infinite. Legend says that when the world was still young and the tectonic plates had yet shifted into the continents they were today, several sets of magical rings were made by the elven smith Celebrimbor or Telperinquar, and given to several races. According to legend, three were given to the race of High Elves, the immortal, ethereally beautiful and wise race which the Fey, including the Vila which they were a part of, descended from. Seven were given to the dwarf-lords, who were miners and craftsmen of unparalleled skill. But nine were given to the race of Men- of humans- nine rings granted to great kings of men. And while Celebrimbor had crafted the three Elven rings on his own, the nine human ones had been made when he was under the influence, possibly the enchantment, of the dark lord. Gabrielle and her grandmother were uncertain on whether the dark lord had anything to do with the creations of the seven dwarven rings of power.
The rings had the purpose of safeguarding their people's borders, of ensuring prosperity and wealth, as well as safety. The magic within them was never fully understood, as was the crafting that shaped them. But the nine rings had a darker purpose, especially when the dark lord was involved. He used them to control the nine men who bore them, enslaving them completely, even after their bodies disintegrated and they were supposed to be dead. They found no peace, no rest and became the Undead, even compared to these vampires whose powers reportedly paled in comparison to these Nine 'Ringwraiths' or Nazgûl. Under the dark lord's influence they terrorised the lands and brought such destruction and horrors that no one had ever imagined. They even desecrated the sacred tombs of human ancestors, turning the dead into the first Inferi or 'Barrow-Wights'. Finally, the Free Peoples rose up to unite and defeat them. They captured and imprisoned the Ringwraiths, one by one, in tombs carved into the rock of barren mountains overlooking the lands which they had laid waste to. It was described not so much as a tomb, but a prison for the dead. For while their leader had fled from battle to be chased, a prophecy claimed that no living man could kill them ("Although a woman eventually did." her grandmother had said with a smile).
Gabrielle could not help but remember that story as Edward's internment fast approached. While vampires, of one species at least, often sought rest and some semblance of peace within a tomb, sleeping for at least a century if not more, Edward would simply be kept immobile. He would be given the means to sleep, from time to time, but he would be fed intravenously just to keep him alive, although he would never taste anything. Other than that, he was cut off from all his senses, unable to tell how much time had passed, what anyone was doing and where they were. He certainly would never be able to see or communicate with his family, and the few friends he may have had who forgave him (if there were any). It was a miserable fate, but he was determined not to cause his family any more grief than he already did.
Gabrielle was certain that he was unaware that Bella knew just how much grief he had been already planning to cause, if not intentionally. And she felt weary just thinking about it. So much hatred, so much manipulations, so many secrets... and for what? Was it all worth it?
It was time to say goodbye. Gabrielle knew what Bella was planning, and so did the rest of the family who fully supported Bella's decision, but also had no choice but to keep this from Edward. So unbeknownst to Edward, this was not a centuries-long farewell, but a final one between husband and wife. She only hoped that Renesmee would someday forgive and love him again, or still keep loving him even if she would never trust him as she once did.
Gabrielle was also certain that Bella never told Renesmee the other little detail about what her father had been planning to do to her before she was born.
As she waited for the family to emerge in the stone corridor of the dungeons after sunset, she wondered if this was a cruel thing not to allow Edward to see sunlight, or maybe it was a mercy. Gabrielle tried to imagine what Edward must be feeling, but she couldn't.
Time passed, and soon the Death Dealers led Edward Cullen out. His family trailed after him in the doorway. A tearful, but brave Renesmee being held by her mother. Bella's eyes were blank for the most part, but they held a hint of pain.
No matter what had happened, this was the boy she once loved, the father of her child. Gabrielle understood, she mourned her marriage, the disappearance of the dream and the life they once led, or thought that they had. She also mourned the girl she once had been, hers and her daughter's innocence.
Edward Cullen was going to emerge from his imprisonment to a very different world. And he would suffer and struggle more than anyone to find his place within a society which had moved away from and looked down upon him. Gabrielle was right: Edward had joined the ranks of Peter Pettigrew and Cornelius Fudge, Dorcus Twelvetrees, Benedict Arnold, Maeglin of Gondolin, Ephialtes of Trachis, Abigail Williams, and Judas Iscariot. No face would ever smile his way. No one would throw their doors wide open to welcome him. No words of welcome and warmth would ever be intended for his ears, least it be from his family. It would have been a kinder fate to kill him, even if he had to suffer the Volturi's fate.
Edward's family embraced him. Renesmee gave her father one last hug. Gabrielle saw the flash of conflicting emotions within her milk chocolate eyes. If only they could spare her of this.
Edward gave Bella one final kiss... Unknowing that it truly was the final kiss they would both share. Gabrielle hoped that Edward could at least heal once he had served his sentence.
"Let's go." A Death Dealer ordered. Edward Cullen was escorted, while his wife stared numbly at his retreating back, seemingly unable to process anything. His mother and sisters wept, clutching their husband's who tried in vain to console them. But Carlisle too was grieving. He must have felt like a failure to his own son. So were Jasper and Emmett who looked truly in pain. Renesmee buried herself into her mother's form, but still kept her eyes trained onto the retreating figure of her father. Edward took one last look at his family and went through the doorway. His request was that they not see his internment, a request his family had been reluctant to accept, but ultimately granted.
Not Gabrielle. She walked silently besides Edward. "I will look after them." she promised softly. "You have my word."
Edward was silent, but after a long moment, he mustered his voice. "Thank you."
Gabrielle nodded sadly. Few sentences were worse than death. She was glad that Edward and the other vampires were still wearing magical inhibitors. The rest of them would remove those once the sentence had been carried out.
They entered a large hall and passed a row of tombs. Some of them caught Gabrielle's eyes. Radu had warned her about these.
A number of them were built out of marble or limestone, ornamented with engraved vine-details or flowers along the borders. There were emblems and coats-of-arms embossed or carved into crests denoting the status and power of these few individuals: high-status prisoners. They were ornate, grand, and magnificently-proportioned. One of them bore the emblem of a dragon, more like a snake with bat wings inside of a circle.
Dracula, she thought. The so-called Vampire King of Transylvania who had staged an uprising and attempted to destroy the human world (she would have to ask the precise details later) and became famous even to Muggles. But she wasn't going to burden Edward with unnecessary thoughts and questions prior to his internment for three decades and three years.
A far shorter prison sentence than these prisoners. It was still going to be torture for him, but Gabrielle suspected that Vlad Dracula would never be released, anymore than Carmilla, who must have occupied the marble tomb carved with the detail of roses and vines and Grecian columns. If she didn't know any better then she would have envied Carmilla her resting place, it was rather pretty and romantic. Carmilla was also known as the Vampire Queen of Styria, the region of Austria where she built her coven. However, to humans, both of these vampires posed as counts or countesses. Gabrielle understood why: a count or countess was wealthy and possessed enough social standing to get into high society and mingle with humans in order to obtain followers, prey or to spy and deduce likely threats from the human world. But they were also inconspicuous enough not to attract too much attention, despite their physical beauty. The ornamentation was also most likely meant as a mockery of their attempts to acquire more power.
She informed Edward, "These are high-profile prisoners, some of the most dangerous individuals who have ever existed. It is highly unlikely that they will ever be released."
Edward's lips twitched. "I suppose I should be grateful." No one responded.
Gabrielle wished she could offer more comfort, but knowing what she knew, what she was keeping from him, hindered even her ability to put anyone at ease.
They passed those grand and lavishly ornamented mausoleums, into more austere edifices. Some of the lower-profile prisoners, those of lesser security risk although still diligently guarded, would receive a limestone tomb cut into the ground and sealed with a stone plaque bearing their name and the crimes they were sealed for, the date of their sentencing and the date they were due for release- if they could be trusted to be set free. Honestly, however, Vlad Dracula and Carmilla should have been executed the same way as the Volturi. No one knew why the ruthless and blood-thirsty (metaphorical as well as literal) Viktor ever decided to spare them. Perhaps he still plotted and schemed certain things, and they had their individual uses? Or did they blackmail him?
She didn't have the time to ponder this, however, as they entered another doorway. The guards drew to a halt.
The torches mounted on their wall sconces came to life. It reminded Gabrielle of a Muggle Disney cartoon: Sleeping Beauty. The evil faerie Maleficent in her ruined castle in the Forbidden Mountains. Despite the fact that it was a children's film, some scenes nevertheless always succeeded in unnerving even adults, such as when they showed the fortress and the scene where the princess Aurora was hypnotised. The menacing and maliciously snarling gargoyles, the human fists which held the iron chains of the drawbridge, the eerie quietness broken in turns by the creepy and menacing music, and the crumbling and decaying architecture also didn't fail to make her shudder, even though she was an adult when she saw it. But of course, to vampires this was nothing.
It was another wide hall, built out of stone. There were polished stone slabs engraved with the names of prisoners, the crimes for which they were sentenced, and the length of their sentencing, same as the rest. The Death Dealers guided Edward forwards to an open grave. In front of it, an open coffin awaited him, fitted to his exact measurements and standing upright.
Edward's lips twisted into an ironic, bitter smile. "I never thought that I would see vampires sleep in coffins."
"I know," Gabrielle said quietly. She knew that the worst was yet to come. Edward may think this was bad, but this was an easy sentence compared with that of any other criminal. "I meant what I said, Edward. I may not always be able to be present, but I can look out for your family and your loved ones. And family will always be there for one another. The Cullens will never abandon you." Even if Bella was no longer one of them. And maybe even Renesmee.
"I know." Edward whispered. His black eyes met Gabrielle's. "Thank you. Goodbye Gabrielle, and thank you for everything. It's more than I deserve."
"I am sorry, Edward. I truly am."
"Not as sorry as I am." Edward stated. His black eyes were filled with grief. "And I am truly sorry. Sorry for all the pain and harm I put everyone through: the Della Rosas, Charlie, Jacob, my family, including my wife and daughter..." his voice choked.
"I know," she found herself saying. But they both knew it would never be enough to absolve or save him from what was to come. Some may never even forgive him and who could blame them? "Please tell them." He whispered.
Gabrielle took a deep breath and nodded. She kept her eyes on him. "I will. You have my word." Edward nodded. "Thank you and goodbye."
"It's time." The Death Dealer named Selene stepped forwards. Several others did the same. A vampiress dressed in ornate black velvet robes drew cloth from a small iron cauldron. It was filled with some kind of potion, a dark greenish-purple liquid with steam rising from its surface. While this was happening, some Death Dealers rubbed Edward's face and exposed neck with a cloth damp with the same potion smeared or poured onto the Volturi to dissolve the crystalline layer of his skin, if only temporarily.
The vampiress plunged all five fingers, tipped with extended talons, into the potion and drew them slowly out. Then she plunged her digits into the direction of Edward's throat. Her talons stabbed into the exposed and softened skin and flesh, and Edward seemed to gag and choke. His eyes widened. Gabrielle flinched involuntarily. The other Death Dealers stepped forward and inserted sharpened copper implants, wires to connect him to the intravenous feeding system which would keep him alive with blood for the duration of his imprisonment, criss-crossing his throat. Then, they all drew back.
"He will be able to sleep?" Gabrielle asked, sharply, eyebrow arching pointedly. They all nodded firmly. Gabrielle relaxed. She turned back to the prisoner. "Goodbye Edward." She said softly.
Unable to speak, Edward could only nod. His eyes were glazing, growing blank, and Gabrielle could tell he was losing the power of sight as well as hearing. Soon Edward would be cut off from the basic function of using his limbs and voice for good. All of his senses completely cut off and suspended. Gabrielle thought that her farewell, image and voice were poor substitutes as compared to the words and reassurances his family could have offered- or tried to offer anyway. Maybe he would have preferred to have theirs as the last images and voices he ever saw before everything fell into darkness and silence. Or maybe, knowing what would come next, it would have been too cruel for him to focus and remember Bella and Renesmee that vividly, in order to keep himself going, only to find out both had disowned him once he was released.
The Death Dealers drew forwards and placed Edward into the empty casket. His eyes glazed, completely blank. His body became as rigid as a board. It no longer mattered if anyone was in front of him, Edward Cullen was trapped, lost within the confines of his own body before they even sealed him into the coffin and the grave. He made a few choking sounds and then was silent.
When he was finally settled, they closed and sealed the coffin, soldering it shut. Edward didn't need oxygen anyway.
Gabrielle took a step back. Her eyes were trained onto the coffin as it was pulled back and lowered onto a ramp of some kind. A hidden dormant machine rumbled to life. The coffin slowly sank, lowering itself into the deep stone grave. Not earth, but solid stone. Gabrielle peered into the darkness of the vertical rectangular tunnel until Edward's coffin disappeared from the sight of even immortals, and settled with a soft but resounding thump at the very bottom.
A rectangular stone slab floated itself towards the entrance and Gabrielle drew backwards. It settled onto the entrance of the grave and sealed itself with solder, while the vampiress in black velvet chanted some spells to seal the tomb and set alarm wards to stop anyone from breaking in and taking the prisoner, or to prevent Edward from breaking out, although that was a remote possibility.
The slab read:
Edward Cullen
Born Edward Anthony Masen Junior
Sentenced for Attempts to Expose the Vampire Race,
Careless Negligence and the Endangerment of Others, and Causing the Deaths of Humans, Wizards and Witches among Them.
Duration of Sentence: 27th of June 2007 to 27th of June 2040
Now it would be three centuries, three decades and three more years to go before his sentence was finally over- if it ever would be. Gabrielle dimly wondered why the number three was so important, before she nodded to the vampires and turned to leave and inform Edward's family what had been done and of his final words before internment.
Once again, the secret of Edward's entombment would be hers and his alone, same as the secret about his and Bella's impending divorce. And she felt the heavy weight of guilt despite not being directly responsible. He may even wish that he was back in the tomb once he had gotten out. Edward Cullen was sentenced to be buried, but it seemed to Gabrielle that Edward had unknowingly taken his marriage with him.
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
George Bernard Shaw
Once the sentences had been served and the prison securely guarded, the vampires took off their magic inhibitors. It was all over. Bella and Edward's marriage had not even lasted a year. They had no time to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, much less any others to come. Edward would not be there for Renesmee's first birthday.
The Cullens made their arrangements. They returned to Forks. Esme and Alice contacted the realtors, while the others started packing. It looked like a storm had swept the Cullen house. Bella went to the cottage. She faltered. She expected to crumble, to break down at the sight of it, but... inside she felt empty. Nothing but the strange echoes of a sadness that mourned not the passing of her marriage or the loss of her husband, but the destruction of her innocence and the person she might have once been and the life she could have once lived. She didn't know why she didn't notice it before. It was a prison, even a charming one. Esme grasped her hand gently as she entered, but Bella declined the offer to help pack. She packed in order to distract herself more than anything, but Bella allowed her daughter a few moments of respite in her bedroom, heart breaking at hearing Renesmee's sobs.
Inside the main house and the cottage, paintings, photographs, ornaments like the cross Carlisle had carved when he was a human, were carefully taken down, wrapped inside cloth and bubble-wrap, and sealed within boxes. Closets, drawers, and shelves were swept clean of money, books, CDs, clothes, jewellery, handbags, and shoes. Table-tops of perfume bottles, ornaments like priceless vases, framed photographs and jewellery boxes were swept clean to be carefully packed away. The bathrooms were stripped bare of their supplies including toiletries and cosmetics.
Soon, all signs that anyone had ever lived there would be erased. The scent of vampires would linger but eventually vanish, like all the rest.
Various items and sundries were sorted through to be discarded or packed, Clothes were selected carefully, which ones to take, which ones to give away or sell, and which ones to store until they could retrieve it. Maybe they could be vintage collectibles someday. Furniture too was carefully selected: some would stay and be sold along with the house, others- the more priceless antiques, would be taken with them and put into their new home, wherever it may be. For now, they would be vacuumed, put to one side and covered with dust sheets.
Carlisle discussed with his family where these items would go to while they lived in the Carpathians, staying in the Old-World Coven to learn how to come together and function as a society and trade with magical beings, including wizards and witches. They knew that there had been plans and discussions made by the new ruling council on building a coven like the Old-World one or the New World in New York, but they had not started anything just yet.
All the while, they needed to be kept as quiet about everything as possible, not to alert the Wolves and allow word to reach Jacob's ears. All of this had to be gone by the time they met with the Wolves of the two Quileute packs, the Appalachians, and Vermont. All that remained was for them to leave, even if they had to secretly make a quick getaway. The house and the cottage would be put up for sale.
Bella had decided to leave some of the furnishings of the cottage. The most valuable, the priceless antique paintings, would be taken, as well as more personal belongings like clothes, books, Renesmee's old toys, jewellery, and money, along with Edward's music collection. Those would remain untouched. And who knew if the world would have moved on from CDs and DVDs by the time Edward was released? Would these things still work? They would take the players, just in case. These things would probably be collectibles by the time Edward came back to them. Priceless antiques or historical artefacts of tremendous value... or simply old junk. Who knows in which direction the world would move? Islands and shorelines could have been swallowed up by the rising waters thanks to the melting polar ice caps, maybe even entire continents and nations? Nuclear bombs could have detonated, either by accident or on purpose due to war, causing entire populations of humans, plants and animals to die from, if not the blasts, then from radiation sickness. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and wildfires... all these things could happen by the time Edward had finished his sentence and be allowed to return to the human world and his family. The town of Forks may even disappear beneath the waves or be buried under the earth, consumed by fire until there was little to nothing left. Just like the places where Lady Laima had been born and grew up in.
If that happened, then humanity would likely fight amongst themselves for resources like food, water and land to survive. They might even seek pathways to the stars and other places to live. Maybe the world didn't have to come to an end for that to happen, anyway. Maybe the aliens would come and show them how to navigate the stars, open trade routes, make alliances or wage war with them.
Humanity would move on. Regardless of what would happen, they would still advance themselves. They would seek new heights. Many things would happen. Things that entire societies were built out of would be torn away and others put in its place. Values would change. Views on everything from politics to the most mundane of things would be altered and reshaped. Languages would change. Homes would change. The people inhabiting this world would change, whether they would be replaced by newer generations or the immortals who would adapt and alter their views, beliefs and ways of thinking and functioning. And through it all, the individuals known as Edward Cullen and Bella Swan would be forced to endure and adapt in order to survive.
There were few things as vital to one's survival... and as burdensome.
And as she packed, Bella still did not know how to reshape her own identity or what to do with her life, immortal as it now was.
It wasn't long however, as she was packing her most valuable belongings that a glitter on her hand caught her eye.
It was her engagement and wedding ring. Not expecting to have any children to pass it onto someday, and never enjoying the cumbersome burden of jewellery or the attention it would draw to her- undoubtedly with the critical eye and judgments of others- Bella had neglected and refused to get a separate ring for her wedding day. Although Alice- and Edward- had wanted it to be as traditional as possible, Bella argued that this meant that Edward would not have a wedding band of his own and that he would simply have to use his mother's to double as both an engagement and a wedding ring, since the entire ceremony, set with a theme based upon the early nineteen-hundreds, was supposed to be designed around Edward's ring and the date from when it was made and presented to Elizabeth Masen.
It was still beautiful, still delicate with an ethereal, old-fashioned feel. Bella gazed upon the ring. The long oval face set with countless round, brilliant-cut diamonds. The delicate and narrow band upon which the stones made a fragile web of light upon it, giving it a surreal glow. It was not made of a single solitary stone, but Elizabeth Masen must have drawn in a breath when she was first presented with it. She certainly cherished it enough to keep and pass it onto Edward, even if she had a wedding ring of her own.
Bella's heart faltered. She went back to her vanity table and took out a box. Inside was the silver charm bracelet that Jacob had given her for her graduation, and to make up for kissing- or assaulting her against her will. The little wooden carving had the most incredible detail. Even seeing it so clearly with the eyes of a vampire, it looked incredible, lovingly thought and crafted. Carved out of wood the same reddish-brown as Jacob's own skin, she wondered if this was truly done out of love and care for selfless purposes or as a means to manipulate her, like with the second and third times they had kissed. Was Jacob even truly sorry he kissed her by force? Or was he simply afraid she would fall deeper into Edward's clutches? Bella knew that he knew she was bad at holding grudges.
Bella took a deep breath. Whatever it had been made and given for no longer mattered. What mattered was that they all heal and move on from this. And if it meant forgiving Jacob by letting go of all that he had done, even towards her only child, then so be it. She was also to blame for all of this.
Bella moved onto the next charm on the bracelet. Ideally, she should have had more than two, but since she only got it last year and she wasn't really interested in jewellery and fashion...
The crystal heart that Edward had hung onto it had also belonged to Elizabeth Masen. Carved out of rock crystal and cut into a million facets so that even in the dim lighting it sparkled, the beauty of it still took Bella's breath away. She wondered if his mother had been given it as a present or had brought it herself. Either way, it was in a similar style as her engagement ring and Elizabeth Masen had had excellent taste in jewellery and fashion. She would have wanted her son's wife- or her granddaughter- to have it. Bella felt shame that she didn't treat either of her heirlooms with more appreciation and gratitude. She truly was not the wife meant for her son.
But perhaps it was meant for someone else.
Renesmee kept the necklace- the one that Aro had sent Bella as a wedding present. The gift had come in its own box, which she had also given to her as an afterthought. Both were priceless. Bella wondered if they should donate it to a museum- someone who would appreciate the history. She also wondered about the another piece of jewellery Renesmee had been given directly: the woven bracelet, intricately braided by Jacob that was the Quileute equivalent of a promise ring. They should give it back.
She closed her eyes. So many memories...
She took the crystal heart off from the bracelet and, after a second of contemplation, tugged off the ring. Bella placed both in the jewellery box and carefully filled it with cloth, before replacing the lid and locking it, carefully tucking it under her arm to pack away. She kept the little wolf figurine and its bracelet firmly clasped within her fist. From now on, with the exception of the carved wolf and its silver bracelet, these would be Renesmee's. Same as Aro's necklace and its box which had, according to Carlisle, came from the English royal family during the Middle Ages, along with the antique locket she had brought her daughter for her first Christmas, a time filled with tension and approaching danger. Now the dim echoes and painful reminders of more innocent times.
Now all she had to do was think of a way to convey her apologies in a way that would not damage Jacob any further or causing war to erupt, while returning to him the bracelet with its figurine, and the promise bracelet that no longer belonged to either of them.
Old English translations: "Alexander, Jehanne, hwǣr- gōd morgen sīe þē." Modern English: "Alexander, Jehanne, where- good morning."
'Ælfscyne' means as beautiful as an elf. Not a House Elf, of course, but Old-English or Anglo-Saxon Jane and Alec's native tongue, is a Germanic language. I chose to put in there because High Elves (both Light and Dark) feature in Germanic and Norse myths and legends, and these are the same elves of Tolkien's universe, which, as stated by him, are the ancestors of the faerie or Fey creatures who remained in the world after many had left for the Undying Lands. These inevitably include Vila or Veela, like Gabrielle, Fleur, their mother and grandmother. The twins were born before the Norman Conquest, after which Old French became the language of the court and shaped the Middle and Modern English languages. Tolkien had found the Norman Conquest to be something of a tragedy for erasing and modifying much of the cultural heritage of England.
The Volturi's execution was based on the execution of Sonja in the Underworld series. Ironically, Michael Sheen, who portrayed the Lycan Lucian, Sonja's werewolf lover, later played Aro. Now he gets the same death. But if Viktor had been awake, he would have had Aro tortured violently before slowly burning him alive, simply for reminding him of Lucian (although he and Sonja met different fates, Viktor still suspected Lucian of having something to do with Sonja's disappearance and likely demise).
The end approaches, but if there are sequels (who knows), Gabrielle is a major part of them, and since she's invited at least Carlisle to join, then Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice's individual journeys and backstories will have more focus than Bella's. Alice's gift of foresight and many of the Cullens' backstories will be pivotal in their journey forwards. It remains to be seen on whether Bella and Renesmee will be a major focus. Edward and Jacob are either safely out, or on the way.