CHAPTER THIRY-NINE:

Bella's POV:

The Apocalypse, Armageddon, Judgment Day, Ragnarok, whatever one wished to call it, it felt like the end of the world to me. Dark, putrid, rotting magic filled the clearing and it felt like every inch of my skin was burning and freezing and melting, all at the same time. I think I might have been biting my own tongue to keep from screaming, but I couldn't be sure- it was just one small feeling among a massive sensory overload.

Eventually, the darkness in front of my eyes faded and the screaming pain that wracked my body and soul died down. I pushed myself up to my hands and knees, wondering just when I'd fallen face down in the snow. Not that there was any snow left. There wasn't even the grass under the snow anymore.

As I looked around, I realized that everything had been scorched. What was once a snow-covered clearing was now a stretch of bare, blackened dirt. Bare, except for the vampires all either crouched down or curled down on either side. Felix was dead, nothing but ash, and every member of the Volturi had been driven to their knees.

Hermione was the only one still standing. Her "Elizabeth" glamour had fallen away, leaving her tall and proud. Her hair was whipping around her face, and her chocolate brown eyes were tinted red- not the crimson, burgundy red of a blood-drinking vampire, rather a glowing ruby red, her pupils slit like those of a cat. Dark magic.

Her face was completely expressionless: a sharp, blank mask seemingly carved out of bleached bone. Even her feral eyes were not eyes at all, but inlaid glass. And then her face twisted into an almost sinister smile.

When she spoke, her voice was strange, like it wasn't her voice at all. "You are nothing," she said, and her voice was calm, like they weren't even worth her anger.

Her terrible, terrible eyes swept over them, over the guard, over the three brothers, before resting on

Caius. "You are a coward." She said, and she extended a hand towards him.

Nobody moved as he burst into flames, his screams echoing through the field, a terrible cacophony of endless agony and terrible horror tinged with traces of disbelief.

It was Aro who broke the silence. "You... you are not Elizabeth." He barely whispered. Hermione laughed. "No," she agreed with him, once the chiming sound ended. "I'm not."

"What are you?" he whispered, and the expression on his face was almost reverent as he looked up at her.

"Would it be terribly clichéd of me to say your worst nightmare?" Hermione wondered. Another smile curved her lips, and her gaze turned to Jane. "Jane," she says. How a single word, a proper name even, could become an insult was a mystery to me. Still, it appeared as if Hermione had mastered the art of insulting people by needing only to say their name- I was impressed.

"If there's one thing I hate- really, really hate- it's someone who hurts another person for the hell of it." She said, conversationally. "Your life was forfeit the moment I witnessed you torture Bree."

Jane let out a shriek of rage and leapt forwards. She was dead before she even crossed the halfway mark.

I looked up at Hermione, and for the first time, as I looked my sister in the eye, a tendril of fear trickled through me.

This wasn't my Hermione. This ruthless, cold, icy monster, with gleaming scarlet eyes. The only time I'd ever seen her even slightly like this was when the vampire Riley Biers broke into our house, and she questioned him using the torture spell- the Cruciatus curse.

"What is your plan from here?" whispered Aro. Fear was clear on his face now, along with the reverence, and I wondered when was the last time he'd ever felt fear.

"You're going to leave." Hermione told him, simply. "You're going to leave and you're never going

to go near us again."

Edward suddenly twitched beside me, and his eyes flicked away, over my shoulder.

Three vampires entered the clearing from the southwest. One was a face so familiar to me, it could have been my own. Alice, looking rather curious with an undertone of something I couldn't identity, came to a stop beside Hermione. Two other vampires followed her.

One was a small olive-toned female vampire with a long braid of black hair bobbing against her back. Her deep burgundy eyes flitted nervously around the confrontation before her. And the other was a young man... not quite as fast nor quite as fluid in his run. His skin was an impossible rich, dark brown. His wary eyes flashed across the gathering, and they were the color of warm teak. His hair was black and braided, too, like the woman's, though not as long. He was beautiful.

And he had a heartbeat.

"I see I wasn't needed here after all," Alice spoke up, with her musical voice. "This is Huilen and her nephew Nahuel," she introduced the two newcomers, as if without a care in the world. "Nahuel is another half human, half vampire hybrid. As you can see, there is no risk from him- or any other vampire hybrid. A pity you didn't wait to see that. If you had, you wouldn't be in the position you're in now." Alice then turned to face my sister, concern flitting over her pixie-like features. "Hermione?" she asked, softly. I answered Alice's unspoken question for her.

"Seth is dead." I said, and sheer, unadulterated grief flashed across the small vampire's face, before she turned back to face the Volturi, fiercely.

"You monsters!" she hissed, "you all deserve to burn!"

"Alice," I placed a hand on her shoulder, "help Hermione." Alice shook her head slightly, and turned back to face my twin.

"Hermione, my treasure," she said, cupping Hermione's cheeks in her small hands, "come back to me, dear heart. I love you. It's over."

"It's over." Hermione echoed, before turning her gaze back to the kneeling Volturi- none of them had dared move. "Go." She ordered them, "go and never return, or next time I will not be so lenient."

None of them hesitated to flee, except Alec, who lagged behind, venomous eyes fixed on my sister. Aro's hand closed around Alec's shoulder, and he squeezed sharply. "We are leaving, Alec," he said, in a clear order.

Alec's eyes clearly promised that this wasn't over, but he retreated with the rest of the Volturi.

Once they were gone, several minutes having passed, I turned to Edward, who was stiff by my side, staring at Hermione with a muted sort of horror.

"What is it?" I asked him. He turned to me, golden eyes bewildered, swimming with traces of fear.

"Bella," he said, "who is she? Where is Elizabeth?"

-

"You wiped his memories," I repeated, for the umpteenth time, as I stared at Hermione with a sort of disbelief.

Elizabeth was curled up on my lap, curious eyes taking us all in. Our witnesses, all of them keeping a wary distance from Hermione, kept coming forwards to look at her, curious to see the actual human- vampire hybrid.

"What else was I supposed to do?" My sister asked, looking at me like I was the unreasonable one, like I was overreacting. I gaped at her wordlessly for a few seconds.

Once the Volturi had retreated, Alice had dragged Hermione away, both of them disappearing in a flare of blue magic, to go do something I had no intention of ever knowing, as I highly expected a bed was involved... well, traditionally a bed was involved- Alice and Hermione didn't seem to particularly mind where they made love as long as they were making love.

I had gone to England to retrieve Elizabeth, before returning to the Cullen mansion and explaining to Edward the best I could what had happened to him, and that yes- magic was real, yes- my sister was a witch, yes- I had a sister and yes- that sister was Alice's mate.

After leaving me floundering for over an hour, Hermione and Alice finally appeared, Hermione looking much calmer, her eyes back to their normal chocolate brown, identical to my human ones, identical to those of my daughter, giving me a target for my anger and frustration.

"He can't remember half of what happened last year!" I finally manage to snarl out at Hermione, who still looks annoyingly nonchalant, though she does seem apologetic.

"We can use a pensieve," she informed me, as if stating the bloody obvious, like I was the unreasonable one. "Between us all, I think we can give him a fairly good idea of what he missed."

"Argh!" I throw my hands up in the air, frustrated. Edward places a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't mind, love," he tells me, and I look at him considerate, an idea niggling at the back of my mind.

Zafrina and I had gone through a certain exercise, while trying to strengthen my shield, where I pushed the shield away from my mind.

"Can you hop off momma's lap for a moment?" I ask Elizabeth, who looks at me curious, but does as I ask.

Remembering what Zafrina had taught me, every bit of advice she had given, I put my hands on both sides of Edward's confused face and closed my eyes in concentration.

I hadn't done very well with this before, but I knew my shield better now. I understood the part that fought against separation from me, the automatic instinct to preserve self above all else.

It still wasn't anywhere near as easy as shielding other people along with myself. I felt the elastic recoil again as my shield fought to protect me. I had to strain to push it entirely away from me; it took all of my focus.

"Bella!" Edward whispered in shock. I knew it was working then, so I concentrated even harder, dredging up the specific memories I'd saved for this moment, letting them flood my mind, and hopefully his as well.

Some of the memories were not clear— dim human memories, seen through weak eyes and heard through weak ears: the first time I'd seen his face... the way it felt when he'd held me in the meadow... the sound of his voice through the darkness of my faltering consciousness when he'd saved me from James... his face as he waited under a canopy of flowers to marry me... every precious moment from the island... his cold hands touching our baby through my skin... And the sharp memories, perfectly recalled: his face when I'd opened my eyes to my new life, to the endless dawn of immortality... that first kiss... that first night...

His lips, suddenly fierce against mine, broke my concentration.

With a gasp, I lost my grip on the struggling weight I was holding away from myself. It snapped back like stressed elastic, protecting my thoughts once again.

"Oops, lost it!" I sighed.
"I heard you," he breathed. "How? How did you do that?"

"Zafrina's idea. We practiced with it a few times." I told him. He was dazed and I smiled. "Let me show you what you've forgotten." I told him, and he smiled back at me, still dazed.

"I'm pretty sure this is much better then a pensieve." He said, and then he fell silent, once more, watching, listening, appreciating this gift I'd given him.

-

Trumpets faded into a soft, yearning countermelody. Some kind of high-pitched instrument- flutes, maybe, took up the tune. The entire ensemble continued for another minute, then faded into pianissimo.

It had been three days since the confrontation with the Volturi. Three days in which I spent all of Elizabeth's waking hours with her, and all of the hours she slept with Edward, letting him watch my memories, re-learn what he'd forgotten.

Until now. The inevitable. Something I'd been dreading, desperately so.

"We've all gathered here today," Billy said, in a quiet voice that was thick with emotion, "to farewell one who left us too soon." In my peripheral vision I could see Hermione gripping on to Alice like she was some kind of lifeline. Elizabeth's arms were wrapped around my middle, her face pressed against my stomach. Sue was crying into a black hanky while Charlie supported her. Leah, poor, poor Leah, looked shell-shocked, as if still struggling to process the fact that her baby brother was actually gone.

As well as Hermione, five other witches and wizards were present. Out of them all, Fleur, Harry and George looked the most upset. That didn't surprise me as they'd all gotten to know Leah's little brother Seth over this last year.

A dry sob escaped me at the thought. A year. A single year. That's all I'd truly had with Seth meaning anything outside of just one of the boys Jacob sometimes hung out with. I hadn't been until Hermione came that I actually got to know the young boy, so vibrant with life.

I listened as Billy, as chief of the tribe, spoke about Seth, about his loyalty, his acceptance and fairness to everybody, no matter who- or what- they were, his kindness and his smile. And the way that when he loved, Seth loved with every part of himself. It felt like my heart was being ripped in half.

As a show of respect for the Quileute's, out of the Cullens only Alice, myself and, of course, Hermione were present. Teddy was also present, and Leah was clinging to the solemn looking toddler, who although he was too young to realize what was happening, had picked up on the somber atmosphere.

Teddy's hair was currently a mass of short dark brown curls like Emmett's, though as he peered at Billy, at all the Quileute's present, the curls straightened out and turned black, his pale, snowy skin- an imitation of his momma and daddy- darkening to a coppery russet.

I wasn't worried about his actions- there was no one here who wasn't aware of the supernatural, and everyone was too wrapped up in their grief to really notice the one small boy Leah was holding onto like a lifeline.

"Erma? Where Sef?"
"He... he's up in the stars, Teddy." My sister had choked out.

"Wif mum an' papa?"
"Yes, with mum and papa."
"Bu'... bu' I don' wan' him to be in da stars! I wan' him to come an' pway wif me an' my Lee-laa!"

Distracted by the memory, I barely realized Billy had finished speaking until I heard the gasps. Following everyone else's, I turned my gaze to see a golden phoenix soar through the air. It let out a trill that made my heart ache and, along with the rest of the small gathering, I started following the magnificent bird.

The phoenix, who I guessed to be Harry, judging by the jewel green eyes, and his sudden absence from the small group who had gathered to farewell Seth, led the funeral procession along the path in the forest, to a clearing that had been temporarily transformed by Alice, Esme and Fleur into something out of this world.

Foxgloves and lupines climbed along the paths' sides, fringed by smaller zinnias and morning glories. Further away, immense rosebushes and hedges stood tall and proud over the rest of the garden, rustling softly in the slight breeze.

The phoenix led us serenely towards the bushes and turned a corner. As we followed, rounding the curve, I heard someone gasp.

Rosebushes climbed all around us. Their flowers were every color imaginable, and even a few that were not: classic reds and sapphire blues and deep twilight purples. Some were frilled, some multicolored, some big and some delicate and small, but the branches were so closely intertwined they all seemed to grow from the same plant, all reaching for the sky, arching over everyone, exhuming their intoxicating scent.

The flowers surrounded a small stone square- no, not a square, more like a gently rounded oval. Moss and tiny, tiny flowers peeked up from between the natural stones. A single pedestal sat in the middle of the oval, and on it a black lacquered urn with traditional Native American designs, swirling in gold and greens and reds. Slightly to the side of the urn was a bouquet of flowers, a small floral garland of gardenias, roses, violets, geraniums, lilies and tansies, bound with a black silk ribbon. Behind the pedestal was a portrait.

My breath caught as I looked at it- it was like someone had just punched me. The captured image had been painted painstakingly by an artist of such immense talent I new it had to be a vampire- no ordinary human could pay attention to such minuscule details. Seth was smiling his happy, goofy

smile at us, his eyes bright and shining with happiness and laughter.

The trumpets were back, as were the flute-like instruments. They repeated their melody, swelling into grandiose heights and finally settling into a wistful, yearning piano. Everyone watched as Sue walked forwards and opened the urn with trembling hands. The ashes floated out, a delicate spiral that, for a handful of tantalizing seconds, seemed to coalesce into an outline of Seth, an arm raised in a wave, a farewell to us all, before disappearing, scattering in the wind.

I recognized this for what it was- the tragic end to this chapter of my life.

But now... now it was time to start something new. As a sobbing Elizabeth grabbed my hand tightly, I steeled my spine and raised my head. Life was unpredictable, but with my family by my side I was ready to begin this new chapter. This new piece of forever.