╭ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╮

𝑳 𝑰 𝑭 𝑬  𝑷 𝑨 𝑻 𝑯
❝ 𝚑𝚎𝚢, 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜! ❞

╰ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╯

ㅤ𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄, Ariadne felt exposed. Not because the scent of human blood tempted her, no, she had a thousand years of exposure and her control was near impeccable. But because eyes just seemed to follow her wherever she went. She could understand that being a vampire made her incredibly beautiful, but the stares were irritating her, just as much as the contacts she wore to conceal her red eyes.

You would think that being on the run for so long made her uncivilized, but she was far from that. With her abilities, she was able to go out and have fun, all the while hiding in plain sight. So, she was able to blend in as much as possible, and she was all caught up with all the new things humans constantly came up with. Despite not being a vegetarian like she knew the Cullens were, she can be integrated into society like them, oftentimes even better.

And as she got into a cab, she gave a smile to the driver that she could hear made his heart flutter. Holding back a laugh, she spoke, "To Forks, please."

And off they went. They even made small talk which amused the princess greatly. The way the human stuttered as they talked made her wish she was a human again. That's what she missed the most: the simplicity of it all.

"Just right up there," she said, giving him another smile. She was pointing towards the driveway that led the Cullens' house, which was a little visible from where they were positioned.

"Wow, that house is awesome," the driver, Jack, commented. "Yours?"

"A friend's," she shrugged. "I've known them for a long time." Then she took a look at the meter and pulled out the appropriate amount of bills from her wallet, and an extra bill. "Here. It was nice talking to you." Then she opened the door, and stepped out.

Jack looked towards the money and saw that she gave him a hundred dollars extra. "Uh...miss?"

"Keep it," she winked. "It was nice talking to you!"

The poor driver pretty much melted in his spot at the sight the wink, almost refusing to drive away. But he shook his head to rid of his thoughts. "Jesus Christ," he muttered, before driving away.

Ariadne finally released her cackle, which caught the attention of the many vampires around. The first person that greeted her was someone familiar.

"Ariadne," Amun muttered. "It's been almost two thousand years since I've seen your face."

The princess smiled, walking up to him and quickly pulling him into her arms. "I've missed you, old friend." She released him from her embrace and turned to the woman who was clearly his mate. She wasn't able to meet her back then, but she knew her name. "You must be Kebi."

"I've heard nothing but good things about you, princess," Kebi smiled, embracing her.

Amun also gave her a smile. "May I introduce you to my two new coven members?"

Ariadne gave him an impressed look. "I thought you weren't going to rebuild your coven."

"I wasn't, until I met Benjamin," he gestures to the young vampire who walked up next to him. "This is Benjamin and his mate, Tia. You two, this is Ariadne."

"It's very nice to meet you," Benjamin greeted politely, and Tia gave her a polite smile.

"Likewise."

"Hey, princess!" A shout came from above her, and Ariadne saw the familiar face of Garrett, who jumped out of the tree. "Good to see you out of the shadows."

"I wasn't even supposed to be out of the shadows," she pointed out.

"No one even knew where you were for so long, how come you've heard about the situation?" Amun inquired, leading her up to the house.

"Believe it or not, Alice Cullen found me," she gave him a shrug. "Her gift of precognition led her to me. Speaking of, where's the child I've heard so much of?"

"Here," she turned towards the voice to see a tall man with hair that was a unique shade of bronze carrying a beautiful child in his arms. "Her name's Renesmee."

Ariadne raised her eyes at the name. "That's...a unique name. I like it." The said child smiled shyly at her words. The princess walked closer, and the child raised a hand up to her cheek.

Images suddenly flew through her mind, flashes of the child's parents, the day she was born. When the images stopped, a genuine smile came upon Ariadne's face. "It's very nice to meet you, young lady."

The child giggled, and turned towards her mother who was standing nearby. The princess gave the newborn a smile as well, before focusing her attention to the male that had a distinct wet dog smell. She scoffed.

"He smells bad," she pointed, causing an eruption of laughter from the surrounding vampires. The young man rolled his eyes and turned away, so she shrugged and turned to the mother. "Hi, I'm Ariadne."

"Bella," the young mother introduced. "Were you...named after Princess Ariadne? The one from Greek mythology?"

Ariadne smirked. "I am Princess Ariadne."

As Bella and the wolf shapeshifter gaped, Garrett flashed to the princess' side. "That's why I call her princess all the time," the man wrapped an arm around Ariadne's shoulders. "It's her birthright, plus it's a cute nickname."

With a laugh, Ariadne pushed his arm off her. "This is why people think we're a couple."

Garrett poked his tongue at out her in reply.

Rolling her eyes with a smile, her gaze turned back to Bella who started rapidly asking questions. "Wait, so the myths were real? What exactly happened?"

Ariadne giggled. "Well, kind of. My father did have a labyrinth, but it isn't as magical as the myths made it out to be. Although, back then, it was an impressive architectural feat. And it really didn't hold a half-man half-bull monster who they insisted was my half-brother." She rolled her eyes. "Although, it is true that I fell in love with Theseus." Her eyes suddenly glazed over. "Gave him a string to navigate the maze, but he left me." She shrugged. "Then a vampire found and turned me. Locals chalked my disappearance up as divine intervention."

"Do you have abilities?" Bella curiously asked.

"Valuable abilities," Eleazar suddenly entered the conversation, giving the princess a smile. "She can manipulate future outcomes."

"Sort of like Alice?"

"Hers is more of learning the future, precognition," Ariadne began to explain, walking towards the living room to sit on the couch. The other vampires around followed her there, having heard stories of her from passing vampires. "Just like my string, I have the power to show people what path they should take to reach their goal. One look at a person, and I know what their current goal is, and I can tell them exactly what to do, where to go, and what decision to make to reach it with no repercussions. So in a way, I can tell the future."

Bella let a sigh escape her lips at the new information. "And that made you valuable to the Volturi."

"So why did you come here?" Edward suddenly asked. "I know that your goal is to stay hidden from them. So why are you willingly showing yourself to them?"

Ariadne smiled at him. "Because I've got a new goal: I want a life where I constantly don't have to look over my shoulder. And it led me here."

A smile came across Amun's face. "You deserve as much."

"Thank you, old friend."