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ONCE IN A BLUE MOON
𝓿𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮 𝓼𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭

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LONELINESS. IT IS THE STATE of being depressed because of literal or perceived isolation. Well, that's the definition of the word in the dictionary. For Valerie, loneliness was the demon that crept inside her mind and shattered her whole being.

Valerie was the person who was broken into tiny pieces and was also the same person who had to glue herself back together because she had no one.

Days already passed since the engagement happened and Alice has been once again busting her ass off to plan the perfect wedding for the two.

Bella and Edward, who were still on their honeymoon, were already informed by Luna about the engagement and the two couldn't be any happier for them. But there was still one question that lingered in Bella's head, but decided to keep it to herself until she sees her again.

"Val! I need your help." Luna exclaimed from her and Jasper's room.

"Be there in a second, love." Valerie replied.

The redhead closed the novel she was reading in the living room and sped her way towards Luna, where she found her standing in front of a mirror with two dresses in each hand.

"What seems to be the problem, Luna-bear?" She asked.

Luna glanced at the redhead through the mirror before she turned around to face her directly.

"I've got dinner with Jazz and daddy in an tonight. Which one suits me best, flowy navy blue dress, or slim red dress?" Luna asked, placing each of the dress over her body to visualize what it would look like on her.

"This one is elegant and charming." Valerie said while pointing at the navy blue dress. "While this one screams 'Take me on this dinner table, Jazzy.'" Valerie answered as she referred to the red dress.

Luna glanced at the red dress before she spoke.

"Huh. I'm definitely gonna bring this dress on our honeymoon." Luna said, causing Valerie to stifle a laugh.

Valerie watched as Luna threw the red dress onto the bed. For only a split second, her sight became sort of distorted that she thought the red dress was her red hood. It was just a fast flicker of an image but it was enough to make Valerie release a slight gasp while she stared wide-eyed at the red dress.

"Val? What's wrong?" Luna asked when she heard her gasp.

Valerie abruptly averted her eyes from the red dress and it landed on the concerned face of her good friend.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Valerie said, clearly lying. But that's not how Luna knew she was hiding something.

"You're not fine. I can feel your pain." Luna said.

Valerie furrowed her eyebrows at the dirty-blonde vampire before she spoke again.

"Oh, I have Jasper's ability. Copied it from him earlier." Luna said, trying to clear up the confusion that bubbled up inside Valerie.

"Oh." The redhead nodded in realization.

She then lowered her gaze to the ground for a few seconds before bringing her head up again.

"I just remembered something. That's all." Valerie said.

Luna tilted her head to the side as she approached her.

"I'm the last person you should talk to about your feelings. Sarcasm is in my blood. But, you're my friend and honestly, I know little about you." Luna admitted.

Valerie gave a small smile before making her way towards the balcony.

"My life's not actually a princess fairytale." Valerie said before leaning on the edge of the balcony.

"I'm not expecting it to be. Only a person who's gone through shit can be as strong as you." Luna said as she followed her into the balcony and stood next to her.

Valerie glanced at the blonde vampire next to her before she narrowed her eyes at her.

"Do you like my hair?" She asked.

Luna furrowed her eyebrows.

"Are you kidding? I worship your hair." Luna replied.

Valerie lets out a subtle laugh before she spoke again.

"Well, back then, they really didn't like it." Valerie said. "They thought that Vicky and I had 'witchy' features. The three of us, including our older sister Anne, got jobs together later on. But we were being mistreated and all. It was not pretty."

Luna watched and listened to the redhead as she went on.

"Vicky and I had received more abuse because we're more visible with our bright red hair. It's ridiculous. When we were twelve, we ran away from that house. Anne saved us from being homeless. She worked for a local pimp to shelter us. But then one night, Anne disappeared. Vicky and I lived in the streets for so long. It was really horrible."

"We would sleep in the smallest corners, steal the smallest foods. We barely got by. Then we were able to get jobs as scullery maids at the age of fifteen. It wasn't any better than the previous ones we had before but it kept a roof over our heads and food in our mouths, that's all we needed. Then suddenly, after three years, Vicky disappeared."

Luna furrowed her eyebrows, her attention undivided and her ears somehow tuning out other noises as she focused on Valerie's voice.

"Losing another scullery maid made the owner of the house furious, beat me up to lash out..." Valerie said, her voice starting to sound fragile and her gaze lowering down to look at her fingers. "I was broken, and scared, and alone...I was so mad at her, but I can never let her go."

Valerie then thought of the red dress which she thought was her red hood.

"Vicky had this red hood that she liked to wear when she goes out. It had become some sort of shield for me. One year later, I was nineteen, I was thrown out, again. I lived in the streets for a couple more weeks. It was much harder than before because I was alone. I had no one. Then I come across this archery place that needed a helper."

Luna could guess that what comes next was not any prettier than the previous ones. And she could tell by the look of anger on the redhead's face.

"Every night, when the owner leaves me to clean up the place and close up, I would borrow a bow and a couple of arrows. I would train myself to use them until I became really good at it. It was the first time I felt good about myself. But of course, good things never last."

Valerie averted her eyes from her fingers and fixated it on the dirty-blonde vampire next to her. She could see the anticipation on her face. She was surprised Luna actually survived being quiet for more than a minute.

"When I finally learned to protect myself...I saw her." Valerie said.

Luna furrowed her eyebrows before she responded.

"Victoria?" She asked.

A small bitter smile appeared on the redhead's lips before she was able to speak again.

"Mhm." Valerie hummed. "She looked different, though. Her hair became even brighter, her skin was as pale as a corpse's, and her eyes...her eyes held more red than her hair ever had. She looked intimidating, but beautiful at the same time."

"What did you do when you saw her?" Luna asked.

Valerie stared right into Luna's red eyes, reminding her of Victoria's similar red ones which made her drift off to the last memory she had before her human life was taken away from her.

"Nothing. I wasn't exactly given a chance to do anything..."

London, England | Early 1570s

The year had just entered its most freezing season. December was right around the corner and already, the temperature outside had dropped to five degrees Celcius.

Despite winter taking over the entirety of England, the twenty-year-old redhead, with her bow and arrows in hand, went out in her knee-high boots, grey dress, thin gloves, and red hood, something that she couldn't seem to throw away despite being furious at the original owner.

Stepping outside, Valerie immediately felt a shiver spread throughout her body as the overwhelming cold hit her face. But, that didn't stop her. Hell, nothing could stop her from doing the thing she was most proud of.

She had been working in the archery place for over a year now. And it definitely had taught her a lot. She liked it here. It was the most decent place she had ever lived in and worked at. She finally had a place that made her feel safe, mostly because the owner, Isaiah, was someone she adored, and someone who actually adored her back.

The two started seeing each other three months after she started working in that place. The man was an absolute gentleman, unlike the ones she had encountered in her earlier life. One might say, he was a literal angel.

She loved him, and it was a feeling so foreign, it made her happy. Because all she felt her entire life was pain, and anger, and loneliness and now that she had someone, she felt delighted.

The 24-year-old man was already divorced with two kids, a four-year-old girl named Diana and a five-year-old boy named Patrick. She wasn't the biological mother, but they sure loved her like one, and she loved them like her own as well. After everything she had been through, she deserved to be this happy. To have a family of her own that wasn't centered on abandonment.

Walking further outside, she went to the field where multiple targets are placed around the area. Taking a quick look at her pocket watch, she saw that she only had fifteen minutes before Isaiah would come looking for her.

She shook her hands a bit to get some feeling in them because it was starting to get numb with the cold. As freezing as she was right now, she was too stubborn to let that get away from her nightly routine.

Holding up her bow, she took an arrow and placed it on the string. She looked at the target which she was standing a great distance from and held up the arrow towards it, pulling it back to store the energy.

The other end of the arrow was touching her lip ever-so-lightly. She let out a slow and steady sigh that caused a cold puff of smoke to form before her mouth before she let go of the arrow, sending it flying towards the bullseye of the target.

But just when she thought the sharp tip of the arrow would gouge deep into that bullseye, a person, out of nowhere, grabbed the arrow effortlessly before it could even touch the target.

Valerie didn't need to guess who it was. She didn't need to squint her eyes to see who the person was. Because all their life, they had been very noticeable. They had been very visible...because of the blazing red hair that sat on top of the twins' head.

Valerie's eyes widened into the size of saucers when it landed on the figure of her twin sister, or at least, what looked like her sister. For some reason, her hair was brighter than ever, her skin was as pale as a corpse, and her eyes, her crimson red eyes were contrasting to the dark, cold night than her hair ever was.

"Vicky?" Valerie muttered in disbelief.

While Valerie was supposed to be scared at how red her eyes were, she felt like she needed to comfort her because nothing was terrifying about her red eyes. Her eyes were filled with pain and anger.

Little did Valerie know that the Volturi had just slaughtered her entire coven and that she was the only one lucky enough to have escaped and survived.

A gasp fell off Valerie's lips when her twin sister moved at an incredible speed. One second she was standing beside the target, the next she was right in front of her.

"Join me." Victoria whispered with a voice that sent goosebumps throughout Valerie's skin.

Valerie opened her mouth to ask Victoria about what she was talking about but before she could even get a word out, her sister's fangs sunk right into her neck.

"She's the one that turned you? But, she was avoiding you. Why would she turn you and make it harder for her to run from you?" Luna asked.

Valerie looked at the dirty-blonde vampire and a sad smile crept its way towards the redhead's lips. And Luna could see it as clear as day.

"Well, we haven't gotten to the best part of the story yet." Valerie said.

Valerie was sat at the corner of their living room, rocking herself back and forth as she kept telling herself 'No' over and over again.

Before her was three bodies scattered on the floor, two kids and a man. It was her family. Isaiah, George, and Diana. They were lying on a pool of blood with their limbs ripped apart.

It was a scene that shocked Valerie to the core. She didn't know what she was doing. She had no control over herself. She kept telling herself that she didn't do it, but the blood smeared across her face, her dress, and her red hood were telling her otherwise.

Valerie had murdered her only happiness, and Victoria witnessed how her sister broke down when she realized it.

The guilt was too great for Victoria to bear. It was her fault that the only happiness that her twin sister finally got was taken away from her.

She couldn't face her. She couldn't look her in the eye. And so, for the second time around, she left her behind.

Valerie continued to look for her sister for centuries 'til the day Victoria died. Because despite her overwhelming anger and hatred for her, her loneliness felt more intense. All she had ever wanted was to have someone by her side. But it seemed like the universe was against her wishes.

"That was my first and last attempt of drinking human blood. I never had one drop ever since." Valerie said.

The death of her family was something that caused her to feel disgusted towards human blood. Her fear of loneliness drove her away from human blood. She always thought that if she ever were to drink and kill a human, someone would feel lonely because of it. It sounded silly, but for her, it wasn't. It was a trauma that she never got over.

She tried to find Victoria, searched for her everywhere, following her tracks, still swimming on the delusion that she might still be like her old self. The twin sister that would always be by her side. Now, she felt stupid for even thinking that Victoria was still Valerie's Vicky.

"My whole human life, I was filled with fear. Which is probably the main reason why my special ability is that I could tap into people's fears. Whenever I tap into mine...I see them, on our living room floor." She added.

Luna could feel every bit of the pain and the guilt the redhead was feeling and she couldn't help but feel emotional herself. The dirty-blonde vampire gently pulled the redhead into a hug to try and comfort her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what you went through was that horrible. I never should've made you recall. You didn't deserve any of that." Luna muttered.

Finally, a small but warm smile tugged on the redhead's lips before she spoke.

"It's okay. I now have you guys." Valerie said.

Luna pulled away looking at Valerie with a smile.

"Like it or not, you're stuck with us." Luna said.

Valerie stifled a genuine laugh. This was what she wanted to hear for centuries. To hear someone say that they actually want her to be there. To hear someone say that she's important. To hear someone say that she was worth staying for.

After centuries of searching for that particular need, she finally found some people who actually valued her.

"Val, Luna," Jasper's voice was suddenly heard from the doorway and the two looked at the honey blonde vampire simultaneously, seeing the worried expression on his face. "You need to come down."

"Why, what happened?" Valerie asked.

Jasper's gaze turned to Luna.

"Alice saw something." He answered.

The three went downstairs and saw everyone gathered in the living room with concerned and nervous expressions. As soon as Alice had told Luna about the vision she had of Bella, she as well had the same expression on her face.

"Alice, what do you mean she's pregnant? Edward's a freaking vampire!" Luna exclaimed.

Alice remained silent, she genuinely didn't know what to say because she didn't know that what happened was actually possible.

"We don't know how this happened. But we need to call Bella and Edward now." Carlisle said.

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Now, y'all know the real Valerie. Our ginger baby deserves a lot of love <3

I hope you liked this chapter!

xoxo Sammy