ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ɪᴛ ꜱᴏ ꜰᴀʀ. ɪ ᴍᴇᴀɴ, ɪ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ.

ᴛɪᴇꜱ ʟᴏꜱᴛ, ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ ᴜɴꜰᴏʟᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏᴠᴇɴꜱ ᴄᴏʟʟɪᴅᴇ.

To collide with your own mind is beyond frustrating. Finding yourself unable to account for yourself may be worse. What was I but my own knowledge mixed with the experiences I had? Without that, I was but a queen without cause, without the ability to bring justice to those who had broken our very sacred laws.

A crown made of paper, written with corruption and deceit, that is what I would hold on my head if I was found without my own wit.

Finding myself had already proven to come naturally. Most people took years, decades, to find out who they really were. For me, I had already found out at the ripe age of 18.

This year I will not have a party. A birthday without a party was one I already knew too well. Locked inside the castle, none of the guards could throw a big celebration in my honor. It was better knowing that my mates wanted to spend the day with me and Helios.

Dated August 30th, 2006, our castle had gone through many renovations. Our halls often found themselves filled with cheerful guards and waiting missionaries of the law, our law. The Volturi were not in low spirits, no, they always found a way to get through tough times. Even when we found ourselves locked inside our home with no way to see our outside friends, we had ways of finding enjoyment in the thick walls of Volterra.

Today I would be able to see the sun for the first time in two weeks. Of course, I had my own little ball of sun right on my lap, but the real thing did feel nice on my porcelain skin.

"Mamma, what do people do on the day that they are born? Like, the years after?" A question posed by none other than my son, who had not yet celebrated a birthday. I sometimes forget that you're only about three months old. You grow so fast. You look like you're five, little man. Although, you do talk a lot smarter than children your physical age. I see that my vocabulary has rubbed off on you. Poetic child of mine.

"They commonly celebrate with those that they love, but this year we cannot have a big party. We must make sure that you are safe, my baby," Helios snuggles into my chest, but I can tell that he is upset that there will not be a party. Little sneaky pants knows that parties mean cookies and cookies mean that he gets to eat them.

"Can I have a party when I turn one? I want a party!" I laugh and kiss his little head. His hair had grown much longer than I originally expected. Although not biologically related, Helios did have a striking resemblance to Aro, who he shared many physical features with. I did have to say that his personality did remind me more of a mix between Caius and Marcus.

A dastardly combination indeed.

"We shall throw you a birthday party once things are safe for you. Once the world knows about their little prince, they will be delighted to come to your party. We can have anything that you want there, little man," Helios cheers at the proposed party of his. Such a wild child. I wonder if other hybrids are this wild.

"Do I hear of a party, i miei amori?" Marcus' voice rang out through the hallways. My sweet baby. I love you.

"Just a future party, amore," my mate kisses my cheek before sitting down next to me, purring as he runs his hands through my brown hair. Helios is curled up on me and just giggles at the affections to me from his father, who pats his head before returning to stroking my silky hair.

"I can't wait for it. Although I do believe that my brothers are waiting outside for us," I groan, knowing that I would have to move my little sunshine off of my lap and have him walk with me to the gardens. "I'll carry Helios, amore."

Allowing my mate to take our son, I stand up, ready to walk to the gardens of the castle/

Our gardens really were something to behold, with the ponds and the jade grass that surrounded them. Most of the time we would have human servants tend to them, but I knew that some of the guards watered the plants during their free time. The place was full of flowers and fruit that Helios loved to pick and eat while he was here. I had never gotten the chance to experience the place as a human, but as a vampire it was gorgeous, my red eyes not knowing where to look first.

"Cara mia, you finally grace us with your glorious presence," I could tell that Caius was annoyed that we had come later than expected.

"Leave our mate alone, Caius, she isn't that late," Marcus defends me. Aro just stayed quiet, allowing Helios to jump up on his lap and give him a hug.

My mate left it alone after he saw Aro shaking his head at him. Instead of any further comments, my blonde mate kissed my cheek, pulling me on his lap. They had set up quite a nice picnic. All of the blood smelled fresh and the three of them had even made Helios cookies for the occasion.

"Mamma, how old are you?" My son asks out of nowhere. I could see my mates visibly tense. "I wanna know."

"I'm 18 today, Heelie," I inform my young son, who's eyes lit up with understanding. "Not that bad of an age."

"18," Helios ponders, "What an age to be alive at."

"You speak as if you aren't going to be alive at 18, son," Aro laughs. Helios gives a wicked smile and Aro gasps. "Do not say such things. You will be alive and well at 18 just like your mother."

"But Mamma isn't alive. Mamma is dead like you, daddy," I chuckle at my son. "What is it like to be dead, daddy?"

"We do not have heartbeats, blood, or the ability to eat cookies, but we are more or less the same. Although, normal alive people like humans do not drink blood, as they already have it in their system. You drink blood because you have venom, just like dead people like your mamma and your daddies," Aro explains to the child on his lap.

"If you and everyone around this place are dead and have venom like me, does that mean that I am dead?" It was a reasonable question posed by a smart little hybrid. Didn't think we would have to explain this today.

"Half-dead, just like you are half-vampire," I was lucky that Helios did not question us further on the subject of being half vampire. Having to speak to him and explain his mother was difficult. He knew that I was not his biological mother, as we had learned that he remembered his own birth, but he did not fully understand that what he was, what he really was, did not make sense to most people.

"Cookie?" Marcus hands Helios one of his favorite cookies, the ones that Rose and Jasper made together. We had found out that lemon really was his favorite flavor of human food in general. He did not like many other human foods and mostly preferred human blood.

"Always," Helios giggled as he bit into the cookie, humming away on Aro's lap, swaying side to side. Passing my son his cup of blood, I grab my own and take a sip. Perfect.

"I do believe that we have to give mamma her gift," Marcus announced to us. Aro and Caius' smile's turned to dark smirks as their brother brought out a small box. "I do hope you know that this is not just from us, but from everyone. I know that we were not able to give you a party like we should have-"

"Amore, you never have to give me anything, being with my coven is enough." Marcus sighed and handed me the box.

Inside the small black box was a crest not unlike the one that I was wearing around my neck. Adorned with many more jewels and a picture of a tree in the middle, it spoke to me. At the top there were four jewels: a ruby, a sapphire, an emerald, and a yellow diamond. They were the colors of my mates and of my son, who had taken a liking to the color.

"This is too much," I choke out, putting on the crest. It was so much more colorful than the normal Volturi crest.

"We can never do enough for you, tesoro," Marcus says.

"We love you, mamma," Helios jumps off of his father's lap and runs over to hug me. I smile at my son before hugging him back.

"I love you all so much."

__________________________________________________

"Payback certainly is a bitch."

Word had already gone around the Volturi that Isabella Swan had gotten pregnant with a hybrid child. The fucking bastard actually did it.

"The worst part about it all is that Edward actually wants me to go back and help him while she's pregnant. He's trying to guilt trip us all into coming back," Carlisle sighed.

"He even tried it on me. Edward actually had the audacity to use what happened in my past as a reason that I should come back, as a reason that I should help out Isabella. I don't give a shit how bad things could get for her, you don't just use something like that to get someone to work with you. In fact, it just makes me want to work with him less. I already have a hybrid baby to spoil," Rosalie flipped her hair in the sunlight and laughed. "I mean, it's not like he has medical degrees or something that he could use."

The worst part about it really is that the Volturi warned him and he just didn't listen. We all told him that Bella had to be turned. We said that she had to be turned or else she would die. He literally just proved our point, completely invalidating his viewpoints.

"I mean, look at the letter that he sent me," Rose pulls out a letter that must have been from Edward, likely having come in a few days ago. I grabbed the letter so that I could read it out loud:

Dear Rose,

Things have gotten bad around here. Bella is pregnant and I know that you wanted to be a mom. You would know more than anyone what I feel like right now. I need you here. I know that we have different views on what is right and wrong, but I need you here right now. We're siblings.

The Volturi have a hold on you right now, but just think of the baby. Think about your niece. She could be like the child that you never got to have. I know that being a vampire took that away, but now you have the chance to help me raise a child.

Bella is going to die unless I turn her at the last second. It will be hard, but I know that we can do it. Alice says that it will happen. Her visions on you are blinded by something. By what, I have no clue. Whatever gifted people are there are blocking her out.

I wouldn't be writing to you unless I needed the help. You can still be good, do good in this world, even as a vampire.

Come home,

Edward C-

"Don't you dare say that," Carlisle was angry with it, I knew. The fact that Edward was still trying to use his old last name was infuriating. I mean, my father was on the verge of just changing his name to Volturi to stop being associated with Edward. Why he couldn't just accept the fact that he didn't want him in his life was unknown.

I mean, none of us wanted him in our lives, not after what he had done.

"She should be giving birth soon. Maeve said that the pregnancies last about a month. They must have had sex on their wedding night," I inform. "It's September 6th, so that leaves us at less than a week for her to be on parr."

"That poor kid, with those two as parents. I would rather just not be alive."

"You and me both, Rose."

__________________________________________________

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ:

i miei amori. My loves.