"True Redemption is when guilt leads to good."

Khaled Hosseini

"We were unusually fortunate," Gabrielle informed the Cullens and Chief Swan. "Renesmee seems to be suffering no ill effects of any kind. I suspect that this may be due to the imprint being less-than-stable or secure, since Jacob had been compelled to imprint and merely on an illusion rather than the real person. The illusionary imprint may have kept him from losing his mind as well as his conscience and abusing his power, but it was never meant to last. Least of all since Jacob and Renesmee could not make things work between them."

She shrugged, exhaling silently. Every single person looked entirely relieved. "So..." Rosalie dared ask "she's not at risk of going insane?" Bella hitched in a breath. Even though they knew this, they were just desperate for confirmation.

Gabrielle shook her head. "No. The fact that the imprint was an illusion and they had no chance of ever getting together, as evidenced by how easily the connection between them broke, we can safely say that the imprint-bond between them was never meant to last in the first place. It was simply there because Jacob's pain and rage forced it to trigger or else he would have gone against his very nature and lost both his mind and his soul." In a small undertone, she added, "Like Voldemort."

Bella remembered the conversation Gabrielle had with them when she told them about the evil wizard who split his soul apart and stored its pieces in separate containers in order to achieve immortality, and that the only way for a person to split their own soul was to commit murder.

And the only way to put it back together was to feel remorse, Bella remembered. She chastised herself for not seeing this sooner at the time. So focused was she on Edward- again- and what he said and told her about himself and his soul, that she didn't realise the instinct must've reacted to save Jacob's soul, not just his nature. Once he had completely lost his mind and been compelled to murder an innocent baby, would he have broken completely at one point when he realised what he'd done but returned his soul to its former self, or would he continue to be defiant and arrogant, blinding himself to the truth and insisting that what he did was right and that Renesmee, Edward and Bella deserved it? Edward and Bella maybe, but Renesmee...

Somehow, even if he later felt remorse and shame, without the imprint Bella knew Jacob would have been more inclined towards the second option. A lump rose in her throat at the thought of what her baby was almost subject to and what the state she had compelled Jacob to be in to push him to commit murder.

"Actually, since Jacob was able to spend time apart from Renesmee, despite his desperation and desire to be near her, without feeling pain the same way that Quil did when he was preparing to have his connection reversed, Leah, her mother, their pack and I all had a strong suspicion it was going to be easier to get rid of their connection than with even Claire and Quil." Gabrielle continued.

"Jacob knew what it was like since he had already been in the minds of and relived the memories through the eyes of the other Wolves who have imprinted, and his instinct knew what it was like and felt it had no choice, but it was never meant to be anything other than a means to stop him killing a newborn baby in the throes of grief, rage and madness, consequently losing himself, his identity, his mind, his conscience and his soul." Bella swallowed and looked down, staring at her feet.

Charlie might not have noticed the emphasis Gabrielle placed at the last word, but the Cullens did, and with their perfect recollection they could remember the conversation Gabrielle had with them about Voldemort when she talked about souls.

"So Jacob, I suspect, will also not feel any side-effects other than the devastation and grief at first," Gabrielle continued, "and then, I suspect he will feel both shame and horror when he realises and finally understands what he was about to do and did to Renesmee, especially now that he now knows that she is not guilty of anything. At the very least, the imprint forced him to accept her, but despite everything it did, it forced him to see that she is an innocent and a good person, and to live without you." She nodded to me and paused.

"He may need counselling as well as therapy after this." Gabrielle said softly. "I know the therapy centre will have that, but..." she held out her hands.

"He might not be the only one." She looked pointedly at the Cullens and Charlie, and back towards the direction of the room. She sighed.

"What do you think?" She asked quietly. "There's been a lot of trauma and this will help her move on, or try to get a new perspective apart from the ones which she already possessed and have now been shaken. Her confidence, her belief and esteem in herself..." she trailed off.

"Renesmee told me that while she resented Edward's control, as well as Jacob's in every minute detail of her life, she did, to an extent, believe what they said and made her to feel. She began questioning herself: her own sense of reasoning, her judgment, what she even wanted in life..." Bella felt her soul curl up again. "And maybe she doesn't know these things, but that's alright since she's actually very young. But there's no need to make her second-guess herself every step along the way." Gabrielle sighed and looked at them knowingly. "Gas-lighting and psychological manipulation of any kind leaves scars. She needs to recover her self-esteem and confidence, and the ability to trust if she wants to go through life and find happiness."

Gabrielle handed Bella, Charlie, and the Cullens a name card. "These are the contact details and address to the office of a certain psychologist and licensed therapist in Los Angeles. She knows," she told them. "Doctor Marie Solace is a non-magical human, but she's the mother of a witch and wizard and they're all descended from Squibs who married non-magical humans. So I can easily explain to her the basic details and you can go speak to her. I know she's in Los Angeles, but there is a way to get from here- or anywhere you might be at, like in the Carpathians- to L.A and back in no time at all." Her voice held the hint of a smile behind the silver mask. "We're magical after all."

Charlie shrugged as he examined the contents of the card. "I suppose we should give it a shot. I'd already been speaking to a counsellor, but I think..."

"Wait," this caught Bella's attention "you went to-" Charlie nodded.

"Yeah. I didn't know how much I needed it until Sue suggested it." He admitted. He exhaled deeply. "Even though I never told him anything about the supernatural, it felt like a relief to get this off my shoulders." And indeed, he looked much lighter.

"I also needed help not just sorting out my feelings, but how to communicate them to you." Charlie admitted. "I didn't think anything would get you to listen but the doctor suggested I try asking you to put yourself into my shoes and making you see through my eyes rather than arguing with you, and acknowledging you and Edward's good points instead of just getting confrontational and angry with you guys. Otherwise..." he hesitated "we might have never talked. I would have bottled up this resentment but, especially knowing you were so occupied and your eyes were filled with Edward and he could hardly care less about how I would feel, I would have stopped seeing you entirely, especially knowing that you'd already tried to cut me out of your life in favour of Edward if need be." A lump rose into Bella's throat. "I couldn't even manage seeing you everyday anyway, pretending to be blind and hoarding all this baggage and resentment which I knew would only explode someday, which would then trigger you to get mad and upset, turn your back and leave for good. Then we'll never see each other again, anyway. But I worried on how bad of an influence Edward was, since he didn't seem to think it too concerning to mistreat, disregard and disrespect your family members in front of your own eyes and since you were so blinded by him and backed him up in everything he did, you refused to even listen to any genuine concerns about him and his behaviour or accept that he was capable of doing any wrong or being anything less than perfect-" Bella looked like she had been slapped "-so you probably wouldn't care too much in the end, even if you got a little upset at first, since you'd just listen to all his reassurances that I was the unreasonable one, and you weren't to blame and acted the only way you could and that'll make you feel better and forget about the whole episode, or at least get convinced what he was saying was the truth and drop it, for now. But you couldn't go through life acting like that so I was genuinely worried about you." His voice was flat and nonchalant. "So I decided to go to therapy to figure out a way to communicate that with you before it's too late and you guys left for good."

Now Bella felt like she had been stabbed. She took an involuntary step back. The worst part was, that sounded exactly like something she and Edward would've done less than a month ago, even if it meant cutting ties with her own father for the rest of their lives, or just the remainder of Charlie's natural life, especially since she would've taken any criticism or refusal to do anything or go along with what Edward said or did as Charlie refusing to accept and rejecting Edward and, by extension, her. She would've refused to have seen otherwise or kept in touch with Charlie if he refused to have anything to do with, accept or in act in any way less than friendly to Edward, even if he tried to argue his case and prove his points. Once again, she would've insisted on choosing Edward over her father and any feelings of hesitation or guilt would only have been immediately lessened if not completely alleviated when Edward reassured her, claiming it wasn't her fault. Even if that tactic didn't work, he could do what he did when she learned that Jacob had overheard about their engagement and blamed herself for not being honest with her: Edward would blame himself and Bella would focus her attentions on him to try to get him to stop, even if it never fully eased all her negative feelings. Charlie was also clearly more observant and knew the two of them more than she did or had been willing to open her eyes to or admit. Once again, Bella asked herself if this was the kind of person she was and had been, feeling sick with pure horror and revulsion at herself and what she had been thinking all this time.

And remorse. Guilt, shame and remorse welled up inside of her at the thought of everything she had done, not just to her father, but to everybody else, including all the friends she'd had.

The Cullens all looked away. Carlisle looked completely sorrowful and full of remorse and regret. Esme closed her eyes. Emmett looked pained and Rosalie bowed her head. Alice covered her face, burying it in her hands, while Jasper put an arm around her while looked saddened. Each of them looked ashamed at what they had neglected to see and allowed to happen.

Bella looked like she would have been crying if she could. "Dad-" she choked, but Charlie held up his hand.

"Don't," he said shortly. "I've forgiven you and a large part of that was my fault too. I should've tried to reach out to you more, after all. But we're past that point. The most important thing is that we can heal and recover ourselves from all this," he looked sternly first at her and then the rest of the Cullens "and that Renesmee gets better."

On that, everybody could agree. Esme bowed her head. "Charlie," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should've seen-" Carlisle stepped up next to her. He laid a hand upon her shoulder.

"We all are." He addressed Charlie directly. Charlie heaved a sigh as he contemplated on what he would say next. "We're all to blame." He said finally. "I don't know about Edward or even Jacob, I should like to forgive them, especially Jake and knowing that I contributed, in part, to all this but I can forgive you guys. I just need time. And something else." He looked directly at Bella.

"I need you to be a better person than this," he said sternly but not harshly to her. Bella bit her lip hard. Her eyes stang. "I need you to treat everyone better. And be a better version of yourself, the one I knew you once were and could be- minus the slaving away and acting submissive or like a doormat towards your mother, Edward, Jacob or anybody else." He said hastily. "I need you to become a better person and not just for Renesmee. Not for me, or for anyone else. But for yourself." Bella swallowed hard. "Now that you've opened your eyes, don't close them ever again. Don't blind yourself to reality, what's goin' on, what you're doin' and what's been done. You understand?" He looked at his daughter expectantly.

Bella's teeth sunk hard into her lip. Her throat seemed to close up but she managed, "I understand, Dad. I won't, I promise."

"Keep that promise," Charlie warned. "Or you'll be living eternity with more regrets than any human criminal and their lousy parents who sent them on a path to jail 'cause you'll be living far longer and doing more things than they do. I don't think I'd like to live forever with barely anything other than a mountain of regrets that just keeps piling up."

Everybody winced, with the exception of Gabrielle whose violet-blue eyes were looking at Charlie with nothing less than admiration and respect.

Charlie looked at the Cullens. "The same goes for the rest of you."

Esme nodded, and slowly, the others did the same while Carlisle said, "We won't. We promise."

"Good. One more thing," Charlie warned. "Regardless of what happens with her and Edward... I need you to promise that she'll always be a part of your family. If I can't be there-" Charlie closed his eyes and his shoulders sagged with his regret, but he opened them again, and they and the lines of his face became hard. "If I can't be there I need the assurance that she'll always have the family who supports, loves and is loyal to her no matter what. The family that she needs and should've had since the day she was born. Whether she sticks with Edward, or leaves him, whether she stays alone or finds somebody else, with or without Renesmee, I need you guys to promise me that she'll never be alone. Or forgotten.

"And I need the same thing to happen to Renesmee." He said sternly, his voice leaving no room for argument. "For the rest of eternity or for however long they live. Do that and I'll have no grudge. I might not be insane enough to risk your exposure to the rest of the human world, and I might not be able to shoot you, but I can make your lives miserable, especially when I'm dead, 'cause I'm guessing that ghosts exists too." He gave Gabrielle a look.

Gabrielle, grimacing behind her mask, nodded. "Well, you can't kill me twice." Charlie shrugged. He turned back to them. "I might not be able to forgive Edward, not really, but I would like to try. Not 'cause he deserves my forgiveness, respect or consideration in any way, but 'cause, despite everything he did or tried to do to both of them-" a note of loathing entered Charlie's voice but just as quickly it disappeared "-he gave me Renesmee, and the one thing we can all agree on is she makes it all worth it." The Cullens nodded. "That and I don't want to be carrying this rotten baggage for the rest of my life. I'd like to heal, move on and finally be happy without him or Renée hanging over me like a cloud of impending doom. I've lost my two best friends: I've lost Harry, I've lost Quil, I lost my parents and my aunt Molly, I lost the best years of my life after wasting it with and moping about Renée and losing myself not just with her loss but allowing myself to believe what she said just as she was leaving. The results of that were not good. And now I've lost Jacob who was like a son to me just as I've long-since lost Bella- even when she came back and even if she can visit from now on since she's leaving, but I'm not sure she was ever really here in the first place." Bella winced.

"I refuse to lose anything else." Charlie said softly but with a firmness that brokered no argument. "I want to be free. And I think Bella and Renesmee both deserve to be free without having doubt about and second-guessing themselves and what they wish for. Dead or alive, I won't rest easy until I'm certain they won't be left on their own forever."

"They won't," Carlisle said quietly. "I promise." And instinctively, he remembered Elizabeth Masen and her dying wish, how she never looked at peace even in death since she refused to be until Carlisle had done as he promised for her son. Unbeknownst to him, Bella also remembered the same thing, and so did Esme. While he fulfilled her dying wish and did the best he could for him, Bella wasn't sure if the results were good. What would Elizabeth Masen think if she saw all this? Bella wondered.

Bella supposed she shouldn't be too unnerved at the idea of ghosts existing as much as anything or anyone else, but she did wonder if there were ghosts as Gabrielle just confirmed, whether Edward's parents or Gran had stayed on earth or moved on which they also must have. And if there were such a thing as life after death and some people stayed, could this mean that heaven and hell also existed? Gabrielle had mentioned, during the earth-shattering discussion about soulmates, that vampirism or anything that happened to a person's body did not change their soul, but murder could unless they felt remorse and regret for their actions. Edward had felt regret at his actions in preying upon helpless humans, even if they did deserve it, but Bella wondered if Elizabeth and Edward Masen Senior, along with Gran and Charlie's parents, her paternal grandparents, could watch and keep track of what was going on down on earth. And if so... what would they think? How would they feel?

Bella bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she could look Gran in the eye if she did. But then she remembered, by Charlie's admission, that Renée had been screwed over by her parents, just as Bella had been by hers. Maybe Gran also felt a bit of remorse and regret up there, Bella thought. But what did this mean for the future? Would the cycle going to continue? Gran and Gramps with Renée, Renée and Charlie with Bella, and Bella and Edward, with the extra addition of Jacob, with Renesmee. If Renesmee could have a child, and Gabrielle hinted that she may have difficulties, and if she could get over the trauma of her childhood and learn to trust again, would the cycle continue? Or would Renesmee decide that it was better not to risk anything? Bella had heard, when her history teacher in Phoenix mentioned in an off-hand manner during class about World War Two, that some kids who had Nazi parents or relatives refused to have children because they didn't want their kids to turn out the way their infamous relatives had had or to suffer the shame and stigma of being related to such criminals. Some even had surgery to turn themselves infertile, just to be certain. Would Renesmee decide to do the same? Would she feel the same way?

Bella bit her lip. She felt like crying again, especially when remembering the happy life and marriage and the brood of kids her daughter would have had in the future had Bella not chosen Edward and vampirism. Did she ruin everything for her daughter: her future chances at happiness, her childhood, her ability to trust and to look at the bright side of everything? For all her efforts, did Bella turn her only child into herself? Unable to see the potential of a bright future and all the chances and opportunities she had in front of her?

"I'll take counselling," Bella said in a small and quiet voice "with Renesmee. With all of us, you included, Dad. I think it's for the best that we should, especially her.

Charlie looked at the rest of the Cullens, one eyebrow raised, asking whether they would agree to the same thing. Slowly, they each nodded and he relaxed.

"Good. You'll be surprised not only what you can get off your chest- which you guys must've had for centuries- but what you can figure out about yourselves and how to work things out." Charlie remarked. "I know I was. Wish I'd done it sooner, but, like Bella, I didn't want to admit that there could be something wrong with my head, even to myself. But it doesn't have to be that way, and as the good doc said, we have to put aside all stigma and idea that there is something wrong with asking for help from someone else, or that we are in any way lacking or wrong in the head for doing that. Otherwise, we'll never get anywhere in life." Charlie shook his head. "I don't know how long you guys have lived for, or for how long you will end up living for, but it's best if you don't waste your whole damned lives trying to fit in with everyone else, which you must've done for God knows how many decades or centuries since you've turned." He looked meaningfully at Carlisle. "A doctor with your knowledge and experience... might do better if he or she didn't work as a GP in a small town hospital."

Bella agreed. Now they were separating themselves completely from the non-magical human world and forming their own society, living together to stay hidden from the non-magical humans, they didn't have to hide or be held back. Carlisle, Esme and the others could fulfil their potentials to the fullest instead of trying to stay hidden in small towns and repeating high school and college all over again. That must've been hell. Just another thing she didn't think about when Bella chose vampirism.

Carlisle exhaled deeply. "You're right." He looked at his family. "This could be an opportunity for a bright new future." Although his shoulders seemed lighter as if a great burden had been lifted from them, his face remained clouded over. Jacob's impending exile and the destruction of Bella's friendship with him as well as Edward's actions and his imprisonment and separation from his family, as well as his public fall from grace, the destruction of Edward's marriage which had not even lasted a year, along with Renesmee's broken trust and estrangement from her father had hit them all hard and remained a cloud over the sunshine that had now emerged, but they could at least have some hope for the future.

Charlie nodded. "Good."

"So this means that you've agreed to take my offer?" Gabrielle asked, raising an eyebrow behind her mask as she addressed Carlisle and Esme.

Esme took Carlisle's hand and squeezed it gently. "Yes." Gabrielle turned to the others, including Rosalie. "Me too."

"I don't think your new government will protest as this will bring them benefits," Gabrielle murmured. At Charlie's quizzical look, she explained, "I've asked the Cullens to join an organisation I and a few others are forming. Science and research will be a part of it, as well as diplomacy and inter-species cooperation. Which we will all need to make the world a better place and to get along with everyone, now that everyone knows they are certainly not alone." She gave them a meaningful look.

"Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor- it's anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living."

Pete Walsh

Leah pursed her lips as she approached Emily's house. She knew Sam wasn't there. He'd run off, in his Wolf form, and gone somewhere. No doubt he needed space and time to think and process all of this and, most importantly, figure out what he wanted or should do next.

She knew she should speak to him, but for now the first person on the list would be Emily.

As she left her house she noticed Embry on the beach, taking a few deep breaths and looking up at the sky. Concerned, Leah went over to him.

Embry heard her approach and knew who it was before he even turned. "I'm going to tell my mom." He said slowly as he turned to face her.

Stunned, Leah didn't know what to think. Tiffany Call probably didn't even know about the Quileute stories, even the ones that were not kept secret from the general public including visitors to La Push since she was a Makah at birth. In fact, Leah wasn't sure if she even had any Quileute blood in her, meaning that Embry's Wolf genes must've come from his father, whoever he was. She didn't know what Embry's mom would think when she heard about the stories, or whether she would react in horror and fear, or worse, should Embry phase in front of her.

"Embry..." she said, faltering. Embry gave her a sad smile. Leah took a deep breath. "We'll go together." She promised him. "I am the Luna of the pack now. This is my responsibility. You can't do this on your own." She said firmly in a voice that brokered no argument. "In fact... to make things easier, I think we should let the Council of Elders in as well as the whole pack. Billy, Old Quil and my mom are all family members of Quileute Wolves... might make things easier to adjust to... all this." She gestured.

Embry hesitated. There was fear, even apprehension in his eyes, but Leah also saw acceptance, understanding and determination. "Okay then."

Leah cast one last look towards the direction of neutral territory... well, what used to be neutral territory whenever the Cullens were here. But they were not. They were gone. And with the exceptions of Bella and Renesmee, none of them were coming back. None of them wanted to, as a matter of fact.

Leah didn't know what to think. She'd hated and resented the Cullens for so long, blaming them for what happened... now she could see they were simply there and, moreover, she'd even grown to respect them to some degree. Sure, they made mistakes. But their mistakes were surprisingly... human.

And that was the truth about it. She felt sorry for them, knowing what had happened; no family would be happy seeing their son or brother gone to prison, and living under the depressing knowledge that your marriage had ended and the bitter and shameful truth that someone you loved was not who you thought he was or all that right after all... and then there were the things that Esme and Rosalie had both been through and even Bella... Leah found that she understood. And that helped more than a little. While she never excused any of the things that Bella did, Leah no longer hated her.

Leah found she no longer held a grudge against any of them, except maybe Edward. And even then she was willing to let that go. It was time to move on.

She could only wish them all the best and pray for the same for them. Taha Aki had guided her to this moment and she wanted to see things through the best she could. Leah was, after all, now responsible for the pack as much as for herself.

"To leave home is to grow. To return is to understand."

Unknown

Bella

All our baggage, the ones we had chosen to take, had mostly been sent ahead to a penthouse apartment in Seattle, while the luggage we would need would come to the Carpathians. I had to be grateful for Gabrielle: she showed us more magic in the form of suitcases which could comfortably fit as many things inside of them than was normal. Not even Mary Poppins' carpet bag had that much holding capacity.

We said goodbye to my father. I inhaled his scent deeply, trying to cram as much into my perfect memory as I possibly could of everything about him. I knew I didn't have forever and I wouldn't see him as often as I could. Now I felt like I'd wasted these past two-and-a-half years I'd had with him in Forks, as well as every summer when we'd spent time together. I truly regretted it. But I was determined to make as much time as I could to see him.

We boarded the cars. Charlie stood at the front door to bid us goodbye and we left. I scanned my eyes around the beautiful surroundings, truly breathtaking in the light of the morning, chastising myself for my stupidity and blindness in not seeing or appreciating all this sooner until it was almost time to leave.

Once again, I was with Jasper and Alice, only this time Renesmee was with me. I could see her staring at the town with wide eyes and remembered, to my shame, that she had scarcely, despite living her entire life in Forks, been permitted to stay and take a good look at her surroundings unless she was on her own or with someone she trusted at someplace we were familiar with and where others were unlikely to intrude. Now she would never get the chance.

Alice and Jasper also seemed like they wished to take one last look at everything, to say goodbye. Either that or Jasper felt our emotions and our sense of trepidation, nerves at facing the unknown. I was leaving the human world well and truly this time. When voicing our nerves and uncertainty about what kind of society we would form and have, along with how we would get along with wizard-kind, we heard from Gabrielle that witches and wizards lived in their own society which was almost entirely self-contained and self-reliant, not just with its own separate governments within each country, running a nation within a nation, but complete with entirely-magical settlements like towns, villages or even cities depending on the country and the size of its national enclave, their own economies, schools, shops, banks, prisons, et cetera. It was almost too detached from the non-magical world even though there is a small degree of contact between the two. Vampires, as evidenced by the large underground city we'd seen in the Old-World Coven, were almost the same, although not to the same extent. Vampires could also go in and out of the magical world, and there was a significant amount of trade and diplomacy between the two.

I didn't know what kind of society we would be forming, or my place within it. I just hoped no one got too upset with us for what had- and almost- happened. The curse had been averted, Gabrielle assured me. But at what cost?

I knew none of our old friends would ever look at Edward the same way ever again, much less welcome him once he'd been released and returned back to us. I didn't know whether they would have the same sort of hostilities towards me or, God forbid, Renesmee. Surely they wouldn't, right? She was innocent.

Yet somehow, remembering Victoria, the Volturi and so many, I didn't think that vampires tended to differentiate between the innocent and the guilty that much. And apart from raising my daughter and making sure she healed and had a happy life from now on, I didn't know what else to do.

Who was I without Edward, without Jacob, without Renée, without Charlie even? Who was I without the rest of the Cullens? Now that the former four were taken or separated from me, and while I was still with the Cullens they all had their own individual plans as what to do with their lives now they were no longer repeating high school or college, I found myself at a loss.

We slowed as we neared a familiar road. It was the path to our old school where the Cullens had attended, trying to blend in and relive the teenage experience over again and where I had first met and set eyes on Edward and that one event had changed my life forever... for better and for worse.

I knew we would never see it again. Renesmee would never have a chance to come here. And Jasper and Alice, Emmett and Rosalie, who had been in this place for far longer than I had, would never again return. We were truly moving on and leaving.

As I laid my eyes on our old school for one last time, noting the maroon-coloured bricks and the many trees and shrubs which surrounded these otherwise humble structures with rich vegetation, making it look like it lay partially within a tropical rainforest or a lush wonderland, I wondered just how stupid I could've been to have ever thought that concrete, the dusty sidewalks and graffiti-filled alleyways, skyscrapers, desert sands, chain-link fences and metal-detectors was something to be missed. I didn't have a home in Phoenix. I had a safe prison I was too afraid to walk out of. I found it here, or rather, I could have and would have realised it, if I hadn't been so blind to anything other than Edward Cullen and what he represented, as my own immediate desires to be loved, to be more than I was and never to be alone. I should have realised I had a chance to belong here. To find home. Just like many things I'd taken for granted until I lost or was about to lose it permanently.

Renesmee peered through the window. "What's this?"

I swallowed. "This is a school. Our old high school." Her eyes flew to the board which said: FORKS HIGH SCHOOL HOME OF THE SPARTANS in bold capitals complete with a cameo profile of a helmeted Greek warrior. "It's where your uncles, aunts and your fa- Edward attended from time to time after they moved around for a while and then back here, where they pretended to be human. It was also where I attended the day after I just arrived to live with your Grandpa for the first time. And where I met Edward." I said quietly, suppressing a sigh.

Renesmee stared at the school. I didn't know what she was thinking when she gazed at the building. Was she musing over the circumstances of our meeting and the progression of our relationship, regretting that we had ever met and gotten together? Or did she see the place as the beginning of the path which led up to her own existence?

Or was it a reminder of what she would never have or see? Or all of them at once?

It was Sunday. The school was closed. It was summer break, anyway, no one was going to be back until August. In a way, I was grateful. I missed the mundane normalcy of everyday life which seemed like luxuries now I had turned my back onto them. I envied every human inhabitant of this town for the normalcy of their routine, the peace that it brought them, the lack of turbulence. I was also grateful that Renesmee would never have to again glimpse sightings of a world she could never join and could only watch from a distance, for a short while and when and where no one could ever see her. Film and television were the closest she could ever get to an ordinary life, which had been deprived of her, due to her parents, the circumstances of her birth and her status as a hybrid.

Now, knowing this and the part I had played in it brought me severe emotional pain and anguish as well as guilt.

Alice and Jasper stared too. And in the front, the car which Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie had taken, I also noticed they had stopped. I could see the four of them, particularly Emmett and Rosalie, staring at the school, just as we were. Even though repeating high school and college must've been purgatory for the Cullens, it was tough saying goodbye.

Especially when you didn't know for sure what you would find.

I inhaled deeply and roamed my eyes around the collection of buildings and its surroundings one last time. Did I miss the cafeteria where Edward and I first saw each other? Where I had sat with Jessica and Angela, Ben and Mike, Erik and Tyler? Even Lauren? All those people I had known...

I still had to say goodbye to them. And apologise. I would... just not yet. Not until I came back to see my father again once everything had been settled.

I didn't know where Ben, Jessica, Angela, Mike, Erik or Tyler had gone. I didn't know whether they were at college, which ones they had gone to, what they were taking or their plans for the future. I didn't even know whether Angela and Ben were still seeing each other.

And I didn't know whether Jacob could be alright because I couldn't afford to stay for my daughter's sake and because he wouldn't be able to stand the sight of me now. After all, he only stayed and made peace with me and Edward after I became a vampire because he'd imprinted on Renesmee...

I exhaled. "Let's go," Jasper said quietly, and it seemed like Rosalie and Emmett also decided it was time, and moved away.

And so we left. I took one last look at the surroundings knowing that even when I came here... I would be too ashamed to stick and have a look around, especially if Jacob never came back for whatever reason. It wasn't fair that I could get to stay here and enjoy the view, meet the people I had missed, while Jake never would.

But it was time for us to go. I could only pray that Jacob could heal and move on, same as Renesmee.

Anonymous Wandmaker: Healing doesn't come straight away. Yes, Viktor whether he appears or not, will be quite a major antagonist, although I'm not saying that he's the worst. The thing is, even when a major villain, like Voldemort or just Viktor, is absent and do not appear they can always cause problems. Sonja is most definitely dead along with her unborn child, yet I won't say anything about Lucian's fate: just don't get high hopes about him.

The Wizarding World will have more of a focus in later sequels, but since this fic is mostly seen through the eyes of the Cullens and their Denali cousins when they and the rest of their species first interacts with the rest of their kind and enters the wider world of vampire society, there wasn't much time to explore. Remember, this is a multi-crossover fic and I would have to include more than one species of witch/wizard/warlock from other fiction canons. We've seen the vampires from the Vampire Diaries universe and we know they have witches who just haven't appeared yet and haven't been seen interacting with the wizards and witches of Harry Potter. As for Teen Wolf... Heck, there's a lot going on and sadly I can't include everyone without a purpose of any kind.

As for Harry, powerful as he is, he's actually not on the same level as Dumbledore and Voldemort, although that's largely because he doesn't wish to be as powerful as them since he's not ambitious. And yes, he certainly is a devoted family man and he also has other responsibilities. Harry is now the Head Auror of the DMLE in the British Ministry, and he's got a wife, two kids (with one more yet to come), a godson and one large extended family and friends. Albus is almost eleven months old at this point and needs a lot of care, and his older brother is also quite the handful. As soon as the sentencing was over, Harry flew straight back to Britain with Ron and Hermione. Ginny was on maternity leave to take care of the new baby and her toddler son but even with her mother and the other Weasleys' help it's not easy, and Ron and Hermione also needed to return to Rose who's staying with her grandparents.

Maybe Harry will appear in the future, but not often enough to be a major character since he definitely also needs a break. As for Allison Uley and Tiffany Call... wait and see. All I can say is that, for now, Allison has no idea about Sam being a Wolf or imprinting, and she is estranged from him after Sam, like Bella with Charlie, threatened that if she still wanted to stay in contact with her son she would have to accept Emily too, despite the fact that she was Leah's cousin and was very close to her before getting together with Sam. You can imagine how it rubbed off on Allison, seeing her son hurt Leah- with her own family, no less- and not even trying to hide it in public, knowing what happened to her. But unlike Charlie, Allison was under no illusions and had the extra assurance that Emily, for all what she believed was her faults, was no abuser the way Charlie knew Edward was deep down, even if he never admitted it even to himself until it was too late. She didn't have the same fears for her child's safety as Charlie did, so she decided to take Sam's threat seriously even though he also made clear that he didn't want to cut her out of his life and he still loved her- but him evidently choosing Emily over his own flesh and blood, publicly rubbing salt into Leah's wounds by making his new relationship clear immediately, and refusing to back down from what seemed to be the same path which Allison had seen Joshua, Sam's deadbeat dad and her cheating ex whom she had raised her son not to be like and whom he had previously been determined not to be like... Well, Allison decided she wasn't a glutton for punishment and wasn't going to waste her time in a futile attempt hoping every single day that this would be the day Sam looked away from Emily for just five seconds to realise that there were other people who loved and cared for him, who were also worth a damn, while indulging his bad behaviour. If she couldn't save him because he wouldn't listen, would even go far enough to hurt her by saying those things just to try to excuse himself and get her to back down... well, she couldn't bear to see her son turn into a monster so she showed him out the door. Poor Allison didn't just have the worst husband; she lost her son as well.