#sorry bella swan lovers if you see this. love what you love; not hating on you for liking her

[yuttikkele]

bella swan is the only fictional character that you can just hate for being there. you can defend her as much as you like but i dont think my mind will be changed. i think yall are just seeing the imagined fixed version of bella in your minds because she is NOT just an “awkward relatable teenage girl."

it's like her life DEPENDS on a man, which just has so many terrible implications (your life should depend on God not man bro)

she is so ungrateful, and it's presented as a good thing. "yeah i hate my dad who's made some mistakes but he still loves me and is just trying his best. yeah i want to be a vampire being human sucks. yeah i hate my friends i just want to hang out with edward." and its all just like, good? bro that is not good bro. and i was fine with it in the first book because i thought she was gonna grow as a person and move on from that. nope. shes like that the whole time. the. whole. time.

she was so manipulative specifically in new moon, and she didnt really get repercussions from that and it wasnt really brought up again so that upset me. i just tried to ignore the weird tropes going on and fix them in my mind while watching, but let's face it, bella was a senior leading on a freshman she knew liked him in order to see her boyfriend again. just because she felt bad and centered her whole life around that man. just because she couldnt take a step back and realize that other things like family or friends are important. just because she couldnt see jacob as an another person who had feelings and looked up to her. she only saw him as a means to an end because she knew he would do anything for her.

she was NOT cutesy and NOT likable. i dont like hating on female characters like this, but she is SO badly written it's insane. it's one thing to have a female character with flaws and have her grow, it's another thing to have those flaws written as if they were strengths.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

How about this: Jasper/Squishy stay as nomads. There's no Squishy with the Cullens to inhibit Alice's visions, so she still joins them. Canon could still occur, but someone else messes up in New Moon (Esme?), Edward packs up the family and leaves. Bella's devastated. Later on, Jasper/Squishy wander into Forks. Perhaps she meets them on one of her treks to the meadow? What goes down from then on?

Anon's referring to Squishy, a tentacle monster of love who sometimes is Jasper's significant other.

Alright, then, through a whole bunch of odd events Twilight canon mostly happens (looks like Esme tries to eat Bella at the birthday party, sorry Esme, I'm sure this was a shattering blow that you'll never recover from nearly eating your son's girlfriend) but regardless Bella runs into Jasper (presumably now vegetarian thanks to Squishy somehow helping him find the diet) and Squishy.

Bella Meets Squishy and Jasper

The short, boring answer, is that Jasper immediately murders Bella. Bella sees himself and Squishy, even under cloud cover, too much of a risk. He might pass as human, but Squishy is very clearly... something.

Jasper does not want the Volturi on his or Squishy's tale ergo Bella Swan must die right now.

But if you want me to be slightly more interesting then Squishy talks Jasper down: Jasper's a lover not a fighter!

Somehow, this works, probably because Squishy can promise Jasper that they can murder Bella later if Jasper doesn't like any of this. So, Jasper gives Bella Swan five seconds to live.

Bella asks that if Jasper's going to murder her anyway, could he turn her? Jasper then gets to spend the next hour listening to a story he never wanted or asked to hear about Bella Swan falling in love with some punk vampire named Edward Cullen who told her the secret then vamoosed after his Vampire Mom nearly ate her at a birthday party.

What the fuck is this, is Jasper's reaction.

Jasper really doesn't want to turn her. First, he will fail, guaranteed, second that means he'd be stuck with this girl for at least a year.

No.

"Have some humanity!" Squishy gurgles, look at this girl, she has so much to live for!

Bella points out she doesn't mind dying and she's doomed to die anyway because the universe hates her. Being eaten by a strange vampire would be coming full circle.

"Kill me, Jasper, kill me!" Bella cries and Jasper wonders if the gods are mocking him right now that a delicious human girl is flopping like a fish on his dinner plate asking him to eat her, because she tastes delicious.

Jasper really doesn't want to do this but he can't think of anyone who would turn her in his place and if he shows her off to anyone else then he still might get in trouble for not killing her immediately.

He's going to have one hell of a headache after this, and probably hate himself, but she is literally asking for it.

He does it.

In the boring future, he eats Bella then feels massive amounts of pain due to her agonizing death and has to be comforted by Squishy for weeks. Not worth it.

In the less boring future, Squishy tears Jasper off of Bella in time, Bella successfully turns. And the trio get out of dodge as they find themselves surrounded by angry, giant, wolves (THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE, Jasper cries).

We'll say they get out alive for the sake of the ask.

Bella finds herself a nomad companion with Jasper and Squishy. While she's still hung up on Edward, this is a new, better, stage of her life.

Jasper hates her.

He hates her stupid control where she can just count to ten and walk away.

He hates her so much.

(Meanwhile, as Bella blinked out of Alice's vision upon meeting Squishy, Alice assumes Bella is dead and tells Rosalie, who calls Edward, who then goes to Volterra to kill himself.

As Alice goes to Forks and finds that Bella, indeed, is missing and presumed dead, there's no one to save Edward from himself and he's murdered by the Volturi after attempting to break their law in Saint Marcus' Square.

Esme never recovers as she is now inadvertently responsible for Edward's death.)

Bella probably imprints on Jasper like a baby duckling, due to his having saved her from humanity (and Victoria, who is likely now also in agony as Bella Swan is presumed eaten by a different vampire altogether and HER REVENGE IS RUINED) and doesn't realize that Jasper is sleeping with Squishy.

Jasper has to explain that, Bella tells him she's very supportive of his relationship.

Jasper still hates her so much.

[alpacinosimp69]

Daddy (Charlie Swan x Reader)

A/N: Guys I just watched twilight 😩 it was so scary :((((( but anyway i thought charlie swan was kind of a dilf so i wrote this little thing :))))))) please be nice this is my first fanfic ever!!!!!

Jacob sits on the windowsill, legs dangling over the edge, the moonlight painting him into a jet black silhouette. I’m lying on the bed in a sensual unicorn onesie, holding back tears.

“It’s not right,” Jacob growls softly into the night. “This man’s no good for you. Does he even know what your true form is, Tentacles?”

“Why does he have to know?” you shoot back angrily. “It’s just a casual thing. I’ll forget about him in no time.” Under your breath, you add, “And don’t call me Tentacles. You know I hate that name. You know Dad was still a coke addict when he chose it.”

“Alright,” he sighs. “What do you want me to call you?”

“Tenny.”

“That’s so fucking ugly. I will not call you that.”

“Don’t make me angry,” you growl. “You know what happens when I’m angry, Jacob.”

He punches the wall out of anger. The whole house caves in. Distantly, I can hear the screams of all our brothers as they are crushed to death beneath the debris, but I don’t give a shit. I hate them all anyway.

“You need to hear this, Tentacles!” Jacob yells sexily. “I don’t want you seeing that man anymore! It’s only gonna end badly, for the both of you!”

“Shut the hell up, Jacob! How do you know what’s good for me?”

His eyes soften, and he slumps back against the bed. He stares at his own hairy hands as though he can’t recognize them. “Because I’m your older brother and I care about you, Tentacles. I don’t want to see you hurt. I’m only doing this to protect you.”

I’m so angry i can feel my skin harden into magic rainbow scales that glimmer in the moonlight. Oh 𝓝𝓸... Jacob made me angry. Im transforming. This isn’t good. I don’t want to accidentally hurt him or drag him into the river and hold his head underwater until he drowns and his body gets washed upstream into Portland again (it’s one of my silly little quirks)... 𝓝𝓸. I have to get out. For his own good. Quickly, i leap out the window and flop on the ground until I reach the banks of the river. I have to get into the water soon, or I’ll run out of oxygen and die.

Before I jump into the ice cold water, I yell out of spite, “You can’t tell me what to do, Jacob! You’re not my daddy!”

Suddenly, at the mention of ‘daddy,’ Charlie Swan is summoned from the police station in his policeman uniform with his porn actor mustache and manifests through the cold autumn air. He stares at you, shocked, as you flop madly around and asphyxiate.

“Did someone say daddy?” he asks breathlessly.

“I-I-I-I-I-I did,” you gasp. “Quick, Charlie, dunk me into the river before I asphyxiate and die!”

There’s a panicked look into his eyes as he picks you up roughly and carries you in his arms. You’re a little shy sitting naked in his arms like that (every time you transform into your true mermaid form, you rip out of your clothes... another silly little quirk xD), but his coarse thick dilfy dark dominant arm hairs feel so nice and gentle and warm and sweet and rough... but not too rough, just the perfect amount of roughness... on your bare skin. You blush. He dunks you headfirst into the river.

“Is that better, baby girl?” He asks.

You bring your head out of the water, dripping wet, and say, “y-y-6ay-y-y3s daddy”

He stares somberly into the moonlight and shimmers. “Good. If you died... I-I wouldn’t know what to do. I can’t imagine living without you, baby girl.”

“Even though you’ve only known me three days and we managed to have sex fifty-three times in that brief timespan?”

“*precisely* because I’ve only known you three days and we managed to have sex fifty-three times in that brief timespan.”

You blush. “C-c-c-c-c-can we do it right now daddy?”

“Anything for you, baby girl,” he smirks sexily. You blink and suddenly all of his clothes have been torn off and he’s wading into the water after you. God he’s so fucking sexy. You give him a sexy stare as your papilla widens and you sexily release dozens of your eggs into the water, just ready to be fertilized. He smirks sexily as he sexily releases his sperm, which floats all the way down to the bank of the river and fertilizes all your eggs.

“Oh yeah daddy,” you moan.

Suddenly he sobers up and stares at the moon through the surface of the cool blue water. “We can’t do this anymore, Tentacles.”

You immediately start sobbing and searching for a cliff to launch yourself off of. “BUT WHY DADDY”

“Because.......” he sighs. “I’m a man. You’re a fish. It just won’t work.”

“I’m not a fish!” you scream. “Okay, I’m only part fish! But I’m part salmon! That’s the sexiest fish!”

“I know that’s the sexiest fish,” he confesses. “But babygirl... it’s just not right. I need to protect you. Listen... what if I’m... not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?”

You sigh and stare somberly up at the moon. “Then... I guess I’m in love with the bad guy, aren’t I?”

He stares at you somberly, eyes shining. “Do you mean it, babyiglr?”

“Of course.” You bite your lip, afraid to go on. “What if I... turned you? What if I turned you into a mermaid? So we could be together forever? Mermaids don’t die, you know. I know we’ve only known each other three days now and we’ve managed to have sex fifty-four times in that timespan, but I... I just know you’re the one, daddy. I want to be with you forever.”

He starts sobbing. “That’s beautiful.”

You’re about to mark him into a sexy shirtless dilfy merman by tearing off your scales and forcing him to consume them one by one when suddenly the water above you ripples and Jacob crashes into the water in his wolf form. He barks at Charlie until Charlie starts crying.

“How dare you touch my sister?” he growls.

“I’m sorry, Jacob!” Charlie begs as Jacob begins to mercilessly maul him to death.

“𝓝𝓸 JACOB STOP!” you scream, trying to pull him off of your lover and soon-to-be father of your seven thousand children.

Jacob turns to stare at you, his eyes softening. You can see a hint of his humanity in those dark brown orbs.

“This isn’t like you, Jacob,” you say quietly. “Look at me, Jacob. This isn’t the real you. You’re letting all the demons inside of you out. I know it’s hard, but you have to hold them in. For your own good.”

“Tentacles...” he says softly, as all of his hair starts to fall out and his skin stretches and disfigures into the shape of an extremely buff human male.

You hug him and sob into his shoulder. “I thought I was gonna lose you, Jacob...”

“Don’t you understand, Tentacles?” he says, staring somberly at the moon. “I would never give you up. I would never let you down, run around, or desert you.”

You smile at him when suddenly you hear the sounds of Charlie desperately gasping for air as he drowns in the river. You immediately start sobbing. “don’t DIE DADDY!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll save him” Jacob growls, immediately grabbing Charlie by the stomach and throwing him onto the bank with his superhuman strength. He immediately starts gasping for breath.

“Is he gonna die?” you sob.

“𝓝𝓸,” Jacob says, staring off into the distance. “Not if you give him mouth to mouth. That’s the only way to save him now.”

“Why can’t you give him mouth to mouth?”

“Because that’s gay.”

You sigh, resigning yourself to your fate. You lean your head down, about to give Charlie mouth to mouth and revive him, when suddenly Edward Cullen bursts through the trees, carrying Bella in his arms. She’s limp, and hopefully dead, but when you get a closer look at her you realize that unfortunately she’s still breathing.

“Jacob, I need your help,” Edward screams, sparkling even though it’s moonlight and for some reason he’s shirtless. “It’s Bella... she almost died again.”

Jacob stares somberly at the moon. “What happened this time?”

“She fell down the stairs and immediately fell into a coma,” Edward screams. “And then she somehow flew out through a window, where she sustained numerous lacerations to the skin. And then she fell off a cliff, where she broke all 206 of her bones. And then the smell of her blood attracted all the nearby vampires, who immediately began to feast on her blood. I had to suck all the poison out of her body for an hour and twenty seven minutes while at the same time resuscitating her and fighting off all seventeen vampires while simultaneously ripping my clothes off.”

“I don’t understand,” Jacob says. “What do you need me for?”

“Guys, Charlie’s dyin—“

“Shut the fuck up!” Edward screams, turning to you. “Nobody cares! Can’t you see someone’s dying over here?” He sets Bella down in the grass and begins sobbing and staring somberly at the moon. “Jacob I need you to give her mouth to mouth.”

“Why me?” Jacob growls. You begin to perform the Heimlich maneuver on Charlie, but you’re too distracted by the sight of edward’s sparkling six-pack to focus.

“Because....” Edward screams, staring sexily I mean somberly at the moon. “If I do it.......... I won’t be able to control myself.”

“From doing what?”

“Just shut up and do it, Jacob!”

Jacob immediately rips off his shirt in order to perform mouth to mouth more efficiently and brings his lips to Bella’s. Edward gets so jealous watching them, he leaps three inches through the air and punches Jacob across the face.

“What did you do that for?”

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Edward screams. “She’s mine and mine alone!”

“You abandoned her!” Jacob growls. “She’s mine now!”

“Guys Charlie’s dying what do I—“

Jacob immediately unleashes his wolf form and begins to maul Edward, but Edward continuously punches him, sparkling in the moonlight all the while. The fight lasts for thirty-two seconds, before Jacob rips Edward’s face off and begins cannibalizing that ugly mf’s body. You watch in horror, and then you realize that Charlie’s still dying. You can’t save him in time and he eventually dies. You get so sad that you start sobbing and fling yourself off a cliff where you hit the stone bed beneath the river and die on impact.

[goldeneyedgirl]

Jaliceweek21 - Day 2: Anti-Soulmates: House of Cards

Fics like this are written when people decided to be unnecessarily angsty, Rae. 

I’m only a little bit sorry. 

--

The visions have been stalking her for weeks.

She didn’t want to know, not really. She’s certainly not going to tell.

She doesn’t know how to fix it.

She just wants them to go away. To stop. To change.

But they don’t.  

—

It happens so quickly. Jess is fine, standing beside her, and then she has Bella in her grip.

One minute Bella is cutting her finger, and the next there’s blood on her throat.

The thing about Jessamine is that she moves like a feline - solid or fluid as it suits her. And in that moment, her movement was fluid and intentional so that no one could stop her. Bella was going to be hers.

She cries out at Jess, but it’s not enough, and Bella’s bone-white and there’s yelling and somehow, somehow, Emmett has Jess, who is hissing and spitting and her eyes are black.

(Thank all the deities for Emmett McCarty Cullen. His salvage and rescue mission only took a second or two, but it’s because of him Bella lives. It’s because of him the House of Cullen does not fall. She’ll never tell him that, because she’ll never want to put the truth out there for them all to comprehend. That Bella died and then Bella lived, and time folds itself over again all because Emmett got to Jess.)

Bella’s lying unconscious on the rug, blood spilling out of her, and the smell is overwhelming, and Carlisle and Edward are hunched over her, and she runs out to the back yard with the rest of the family; Jess still struggling.

She never saw any of this.

—

She always thought that love was infinite and iron-clad; that they were above the pettiness that parted so many human lovers. They were Alice and Jess, and would be until time stopped. That there would never be a time that Alice reached out and Jess wasn’t right beside her.

She was wrong. She was so wrong and maybe if she’d known she could have protected herself better.

(That’s a lie, a damn lie. There was never a possibility of her not falling head over heels in love with Jess. There was no way she could have held even an ounce of herself, her love, back. That’s just how it was. How it is. How it will always be. Jess owns her, heart, mind, and soul.)

They’re out on the lawn, sucking in fresh air, trying to let the hunger and desire fade away. Only Carlisle and Edward have remained behind with Bella; the rest of them are week.

Jess is kneeling in the grass, her gaze vacant and fixed on the flower bed in front of her.

And a new future, one where Bella’s throat bares a ragged scar, and all her impossible, silly fears surface, begins to take shape.

“Jess, Jess,” she begins, half throwing herself at her girl. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, this isn’t how it’s meant to be. “You can’t.”

Jess looks at her with haunted black eyes that make her face seem hollow, makes her seem - somehow - both ancient and very young, and Alice wants to burrow into her arms, make it better for both of them.

“I tried so, so hard,” she murmurs, words for Alice’s ears only. “This isn’t working.”

“It was an accident, Bella’s going to be fine.” She’s babbling and wondering if a vampire can hyperventilate, because she certainly feels like it’s possible right at this moment.

“I tried to rip her throat out.” The words are somehow flat but curious. Whatever Jess is feeling, she’s not sharing.

Bella’s blood is drying around Jess’s mouth, on her chin, dripped onto her top. The same top Alice bought her and tailored for her and then peeled off her, giggling, just two weeks ago.

The rest of the family is watching them, watching Alice kneel beside Jess in the soft dirt, in her party dress. They aren’t touching just sitting close because Alice is trying to stop herself from shaking.

“You didn’t mean it,” Alice says desperately, trying to stay focused and not fall into the future filling up her mind. “It’s okay! We can go away for awhile, just the two of us, it’s been stressful with Bella here…”

“Alice, I’m going home!” Jess finally yells, and Alice feels like her strings have been cut through, that the girl who holds her heart in her hands has just crushed it to dust, that the future she has worked so hard to build and protect has collapsed like a house of cards.

There are a million things she could say right now, she could argue about, but all the words have been stolen from her because she knows. Nothing is going to change this. The ruby red eyes in her vision have been Jess’s future since Bella Swan arrived, the catalyst for disaster.

(Monterrey isn’t home. It isn’t - Jessie told her that, years ago. They were lying in a motel bed, just happy to get away for a little way, and Jess had run her fingers over her stomach and told her she didn’t care the family had to move again; that Alice was her home. Maybe it was sweet talk, maybe that’s been something that Alice has never wanted to face - that all these years Jess has been longing for a place she shouldn’t want, that for her, the Cullen family wasn’t their destiny, just a place to kill time, tread water, a particularly pleasant waiting room…)

(The fact she knows exactly what and where and who Jess means when she says ‘home’ makes her want to vomit.)

Jess won’t let her come, and she knows that’s a worse fate for Jess anyway; to have her witness first hand everything she came from, everything she has to be when faced with Maria of Monterrey. Jess Alone can survive the Southern Wars, but Jess and Alice cannot. And she won’t burden Jess with her survival, with her presence. She is not that cruel.

She presses a kiss to Alice’s forehead, and for once last time, Alice feels Jess’s gift wrap around her, sink into her. It’s a feeling she’s known and loved for so long, and this is the last time she’ll feel it.

“Jessie,” she whispers but it’s too late.

There are no farewell kisses or promises or chances to hold her tight - Jess is simply gone, walking away from them so easily without looking back; her course is set, and Alice can only watch.

She’s shaking so hard, and Esme’s kneeling beside her, holding her tight, promising her it will be okay, Jessamine won’t have gone far. Won’t stay away long. Just needs time…

There aren’t any words left to shape the truth, and she tries not to cry when a new future begins to piece itself together in her mind.

—

She doesn’t go back to school. (She doesn’t know what the cover-story is.)

She doesn’t go much of anywhere. (She is coerced into hunting and maims two deer in her struggle to control herself. Her eyes lighten some, but it isn’t the curative moment her family was hoping for.)

She goes right up stairs to curl up in a tight ball like a wounded animal, tries not to cry, or scream or let herself sink into the endless void of panic. And that’s where she stays. (For awhile it still smells like them. But that doesn’t last long.)

She watches Jess closely, as close as she can manage. She sees red eyes and foreign blood join the stains that Bella left behind. (She wants there to be a precious reason Jess doesn’t discard her clothing immediately, but she knows its inherently practical.)

She sees fresh newborns snap and break skin. (Fresh scars, scars she wouldn’t know the shape of with her fingers or her mouth.)

She sees Maria touch Jess, offering something a little bit more. (She’s not sure what’s worse; having to watch Maria pull Jess back into their hideous dance, or understanding that it’s better than watching Maria actively destroy Jess. And she hates herself for not being able to decide.)

She doesn’t look to see if Jess reaches back. (The present is all wrong, the future is broken, so she decides to hide in her memories, in old visions that never got to come true, and in the happiest places and parts of her she can think of.)

—

It’s a day in January when she finds Carlisle, Edward, and Esme packing up Jess’s study.

She hadn’t been in there. Opening the door and finding it empty meant this was real. That Jess was gone and there was no future that she saw her coming back.

She screams and hollers and cries and threatens and they try to explain to her that this was to help; just to put things into storage, nothing else. To give her some space to breathe.

And she wants to spit back that when Edward left, the house remained a monument to him - Carlisle and Esme moved twice, and there was always a shining baby grand arranged in the living room, just waiting for him to return. And yet Jess’s sanctuary has already been despoiled, everything that she was keeping in there gone the second the door was opened. She can put the books back on the shelf, plug the computers back in, but it’s over. There’s no fixing what they’ve done.

(It’s Emmett who reads them the riot act, holds her tight, and looks at them and says, “Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell were you thinking?” and she would be more appreciative if she didn’t feel like a raw wound being torn further open by the day.)

—

Jess never married her. They couldn’t, technically, get married. Maybe they would have in the future, if it were allowed, but those conversations were usually silly, romantic, and not a fixed plan.

Instead, Jess gave Alice a locket she’d carried with her since she was a girl, right through one war and then another. It had a ‘W’ on the front, and the photos had been lost in Jess’s childhood. But Alice has put their photos in it, cut from photos taken in the ‘60s.

She takes it off and puts it away the day after Jess’s study is cleared out. She tucks it into a drawer of her jewellery box, like she’s preparing for its burial. She lies it out against the velvet and she closes the drawer. Like she can put aside her pain and hurt and loss for later, can walk downstairs and pretend that every single second isn’t a war against panic and grief.

(She’ll try anyway. Try and be someone. Leave the room and sit in a chair and have a conversation. Push away the visions. Change her clothing, do some laundry, not react when she finds one of Jess’s t-shirts twisted up in the hamper. Try and fight back to the surface and find something to hold her steady.)

—

She’s failing at everything.

She’s distracted and not talking much and not really interested in anything.

The rest of the family is trying so hard, trying to talk to her, trying to include her, but it’s hard.

(It’s especially hard because it’s easier to live in her memories than in reality right now. When she’s talking to Carlisle, the gaping hole in her chest stretches and then she’s standing knee-deep in a river with Jess someone in Canada, and they’re laughing and smiling, and she knows what happens next and it was a happy time. So she lingers there for awhile, remembering the fall of Jess’s hair, and the weight of her hands, and the way she smelt. And when there’s nothing left to catalogue, she’s back and Carlisle’s left for work and Edward’s back from school, and Esme’s turned on the lights.)

She watches Esme and Carlisle, Rosalie and Emmett, Edward and Bella and she feels angry. It’s unfair, it’s cruel, that they have that and she lost hers. She knows it was Jessie’s choice entirely, that nothing would have convinced her otherwise, but she wants someone to blame. She wants to lash out that she worked so hard for the family, to keep them happy and safe, and ended up with nothing. Ended up with less than nothing and it’s unfair.

Instead, she hides. She hides in her room, in the library, in the room that used to be Jess’s. She hides in her memories, in her visions, in outright delusions.

It becomes really, really easy to hide.

—

One minute, Bella is sitting on the couch, the next minute Alice goes for her face. Bella screams.

(She said something. Something bad and wrong and terrible. Something hateful. But the words ring silently in the air. That just means she hasn’t decided how to say it yet.)

Her eyes keep changing colour.

Red.

Brown.

Red.

Brown.

Then the brown and the red falls together and Alice realises she’s made a terrible mistake.

—

Immortality makes time a strange thing.

So does fortune-telling.

But somehow the months fall like dominoes, and soon Bella and Edward will graduate. She still doesn’t know the official story of where her and Jess vanished too. She wonders if anyone cared.

She hasn’t seen Bella in awhile. She’s not entirely sure when she hurt Bella, and her horror at the event left her squirrelled away in her room for days, still seeing the girl’s blood under her nails even after she’d scrubbed through an entire bar of soap.

She doesn’t blame Bella, not at all. (Not yet. Blame will come after the words are actually said out loud. Then she’ll hit and scratch and remind Bella that she nearly blinded her for them the first time.)

Then… well, she gets a vision about Edward and Carlisle realising there’s an army in Seattle before the army is robust enough to be noticed. She tries to focus enough to research, tries to explain, but only Rose and Emmett think she’s onto something.

Of course she’s right. Victoria is coming, and they’ve lost the only one of them who knows how to face down a newborn army and live to see another day.

(Carlisle makes the call, and that tastes like betrayal, that Carlisle knew how to find her this whole time and never told her. Never thought that maybe a voice on the other end of the line might be a balm, a life-preserver, something to pin her hopes and her sanity to. When he tells them Jess is coming with help, she laughs sharp and hard, a foreign sound out of her mouth and they look at her, startled. But she’s too far gone to explain herself, and she doesn’t owe anyone the opportunity to gawk at all the pieces and pain that made up her and made up Jess, and made them up together.)

—

She sees Jess arrive on the battlefield with Maria, Peter, and Charlotte in tow. Her chest feels tight at the sight; Jess’s eyes are luminous red, and she looks grimmer than ever and Alice knows how much she’s hurting, how much that life always hurt her. She wants to take that hurt away.

Maria has a smirk on her face, walks close to Jess. Too close.

But the weight in her chest is nothing new; it’s been sitting there since September, getting heavier. She knows what the future holds for her, without Jess. She doesn’t know if Edward doesn’t know, doesn’t believe her, or doesn’t care because she knows he still holds a grudge against her and against Jess. But it’s as unchanging as those first visions, and she’s accepted what is to be her fate.

She doesn’t care. She doesn’t care about much anymore. She knows what her future holds and it’s nothing she can change.

Jess’s gaze is fixed to her, where she stands next to Emmett. She nods in greeting at Maria, Peter, and Charlotte and wonders what this would be like if she didn’t feel like she was slowly being taken apart. She wonders if she’d slap Maria, if she’d kiss Jess and beg her to stay.

She doesn’t say anything, but Jess is probably the only one who notices that. She hasn’t done much talking in a while.

Jess slams her up against the tree, her mouth hot and demanding and Alice meets her challenge, tearing into her clothing. There’s no doubt that everyone can hear them, everyone knows what they’re doing, and she doesn’t care - she has the press of Jess’s body against hers, she has Jess in her arms, it’s all she ever wanted and needed. They’ve only got this moment, this singular point in time, because Jess is going to leave again. But Alice will take this, take any small assignation every once in awhile because it’s Jessie.

Except…

The bite mark on her throat is fresh, and reality is that Jess went right back to Maria in every way that mattered. That the marks Alice left on Jess’s body have already been obscured by fresh bites. It makes her want to cry.

“Alice?”

She blinks. The world has changed again; Emmett is beside her, and Rosalie is watching her with kind eyes. Rosalie, not Esme. After Bella, then. She thinks. God, she can’t remember. They aren’t home, she can’t go and hide until the world tips right again.

(She shoves that vision away because as much as she wants it, she knows it can only end badly. And every time she thinks she’s found rock-bottom, thinks she can’t hurt or weep any more than she already has, she finds new depths to plumb.)

—

“…What happened to Bella’s face?” Jess finally asks.

Jess’s eyes are red, and Maria’s here. Victoria, then. The battle. Creeping closer, closer, to her fate.

There is silence and then perfectly diplomatic Esme speaks.

“Alice had a vision and didn’t know where she was. Bella was standing close to her, and there wasn’t … it was an accident.”

Jess is horrified, she knows. She knows the look on her face, she’s seen this before. That Jess doesn’t recognise this version of her.

The mad girl, the demon, the monster.

(It took her twenty eight years to lock all that away, and only months for it all to come spilling out again.)

And sweet Esme hasn’t told the truth. The truth is, she was attacking Bella. But not the now-Bella, a later-Bella. A vampire Bella who could fight back. Instead, she lashed out at soft, human Bella and tore at her face - the scars run a furrow down the left side of her face, stitched back together as neatly as Carlisle could manage. Her left eye droops a little now but no one says anything.

She can’t remember what story they decided upon in the end, but maybe a fall? A wild animal? She knows that Charlie was ridiculously grateful to Carlisle for the medical care. She knows that the pack only know the cover story, believe that cover story completely - after all, there was no bite.

But after that, after Esme had to scrub Bella’s blood off the carpet for a second time, she stepped back from Alice, fussing over her human daughter instead. She knew Esme loved her, but she couldn’t make peace with the hurt that Alice inflicted on Bella, couldn’t comprehend the rage that had made Alice lash out. She knows that Esme confessed all her confusion, all her grief, all her anger to Carlisle behind closed doors. She saw it, heard Esme say the words, that - the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother - felt like she’d lost two daughters when Jess left.

That Alice alone was worth less than Alice with Jess.

That had hurt in new ways.

How many girls had two mothers turn away from them?

But she’d learnt how to carry pain.

—

Her head swoops, and suddenly she’s in her bedroom again, curled tight in a ball in the still of the night, and there is pain in her head like nothing else. She reaches to hold her head, but the pain doesn’t flicker or change. She lets out a cry and then…

“Alice? Alice?”

It had been Emmett and Rosalie that reached out to her. Rosalie has been a good sister, the very best sister, since. Emmett is so sad for her, so gentle. Neither of them get upset with her, neither of them get frustrated. They try to keep her calm, remind her of where she is, remind her that they love her, even on the bad days. She knows they stayed for her, instead of travelling. She loves them for it. She should tell them that more often.

Rosalie has her arms around her, and she’s clutching her head, her eyes squeezed tight. But the pain has gone. Or hasn’t happened yet.

It will.

“Rose?” her voice sounds hoarse and bewildered. Everyone is staring at her, and she straightens up.

There’s no point explaining what she’s seen. Her visions have been shrinking in range for weeks now, shrinking down to just her and Jess; Jess’s moments hurt like nothing else (or rather, they hurt like something she thinks she should remember but doesn’t), and her moments are meaningless, unhelpful. Apparently, the only valid visions are the ones that protect and benefit the family.

Any others, she needs to keep to herself. That’s what Edward said to her, his voice sharp and imperious, when she told Bella, yes the scar would be noticeable. (Bella had asked.)

The world is crisper than before, and it’ll take a moment, but for now, she’s fixed in a time and place.

(She hopes.)

—

“Alice can’t fight.”

The words are sharp and dispassionate and her name sounds strange coming out of Jess’s mouth in such a way. It doesn’t sound like her name. It sounds judgemental and dismissive, and she remembers a future where Jess would be holding her hand, where they would be standing close enough to each other to touch. When she would protest at Jess’s overprotectiveness, and Jess would give in but worry.

(That’s a nice future. She might go looking for that one when she’s home again. Sink into a reality where she cannot smell or touch or taste, but is close enough to give her some kind of peace, for a little while at least.)

Everyone exchanges looks.

“I’ll be fine,” she says mechanically, staring at a spot just past Jess’s right shoulder. “I’ve seen it.”

Emmett and Rosalie meet Jess’s gaze and nod, a silent agreement that the three of them will keep an eye on her, will keep her out of trouble. She pretends she doesn’t see it, doesn’t acknowledgement.

(Everything will be fine. They’ll fight, they’ll win, Victoria will die. Victoria has to die, she knows that. But… maybe she understands a little. Maybe she’d tried to tear the world down if Jessie was dead, and not just gone. Maybe she’d want a pound of flesh in her rage if someone else had taken Jess out of the world.

Maybe that’s why she ripped open Bella’s face. Maybe that was her trophy, her retribution, her act of war. Not a vision at all, just grief and frustration and so very much regret.)

—

They fight, they win, Victoria dies for love of an unworthy man.

It’s the oldest story.

(It’s going to be Bella’s story, and that makes her giggle, and that makes them all look at her, concerned, because they’re burning body parts and cleaning up the battlefield, and there’s nothing inherently funny about a fifteen-year-old girl losing her head in a made-up war.)

She watches Jess from across the field, and she wonders what is better - dying for an unworthy man, or pining for the one that discards you.

(She’s never going to stop wishing for her. There will never be a time when she wouldn’t welcome Jess back, cling tight to her, and give her anything she wants. She can be angry, furious, heartbroken, and desperate, and still want Jess back home.

She’d give anything for that.)

—

Jess doesn’t say good-bye. She didn’t the first time either. There is no kiss on the forehead this time, either, no benediction to see her through. She just walks away.

Again.

She watches Jess leave with Maria from her bedroom window.

She could run after them, beg Jess to take her with them, but she won’t.

She knows her future, can see the emptiness stretching before her, unbroken.

She sees no reason to change it.

[alvinchalamet1]

Sims 4 Movie Character Legacy Challenge

Introduction: This is a new challenge me and my friend came up with based around some of our favorite movie characters. (if it’s been done before, sorry). It follows the original rules of all the other legacy challenges, (or not, if you hate rules like me). There is no reason we picked any of these characters, and our choices are completely biased, so don't @ us if you think I skipped an important character. Feel free to add on extra generations with your favorite movie characters. Also, please share your legacy families to the gallery with the #MovieLegacy

Have fun!

Can be used with Base Game but for best experience uses: City Living, Vampires, Get to Work, Pets, and Parenthood 

Generation 1: Dorothy - The Wizard of Oz

“There’s no place like home”

Information: You’ve always loved your home, and now it is time to set roots and create a home for future generations as the founder.

Rules:

Complete successful lineage or big happy family aspiration

No career allowed, only farming/gardening

Reach level 10 gardening

Must get married

Have 3 kids 

Always wear red shoes

Must “accidentally” kill an elderly woman before becoming an adult

(Extra) Be good friends with Patchy the scarecrow

Generation 2: Anne Shirley- Anne of Green Gables

“But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne with an E”

Information: You had a golden childhood, and want to find love and adventure of your own, and share your imaginative stories with the word.

Rules: 

Complete the childhood creativity aspiration

Complete best selling author aspiration

Reach at level 10 of the writer career- author branch

Reach level 8 gardening, cooking, and parenting

Marry sim you used to be enemies with as children/teens

Have 6 children 

Generation 3: Rose - Titanic

“You jump, I jump, right?”

Information: You always admired the perfect relationship your parents had, and wanted to find your one true love, no matter what

Rules:

Complete soulmate aspiration

Must have romantic trait, and either materialistic or snob trait

Reach level 10 charisma

Reach level 10 in painting or any instrument

Marry a poor sim before becoming an adult

Have 1-2 children

Partner must drown in a pool before they are an elder

Generation 4: Annie Wilkes- Misery

“I’m your number one fan”

Information: After seeing your father die and your mother mourn, you grew to have a warped perception of love.

Rules:

Must have evil and erratic traits

Reach level 10 in criminal career

Complete public enemy aspiration

Must kidnap an author sim and keep him locked in a basement

No marriage 

Just enough romance to have 1-3 children with man in basement 

Never let the author sim escape

Generation 5: Elle Woods - Legally Blonde

“What, like it's hard?”

Information: Having a psycho for a mother is hard, and what was with all those strange noises coming from the basement? You break free of your mother and start your own life determined to be successful and as unlike your mother as possible. 

Rules:

Must have cheerful and good traits

Have high manners, responsibility, and conflict resolution before becoming a young adult. 

Must always wear pink

Reach level 10 business career

Complete Friend of the World aspiration

Marry someone in the same career as you

Have 2-4 children

Go out with friends at least once a week

Only move back into family home once your mother has died

[Don’t have parenthood- skip that bullet point]

Generation 6: Hermione Granger - Harry Potter 

“We all could have been killed- or worse, expelled”

Information: You grew up surrounded by a hardworking family, and of course, lots of books. You value education over everything, and want to use your brain to make the world a better place for your friends. You are told you can be a little bossy at times, but that can’t slow you down. 

Rules: 

Complete Whiz Kid childhood aspiration

Be a perfectionist 

Only have two good friends 

Reach level 10 logic

Complete Nerd Brain aspiration

Reach level 10 political career in Charity branch 

Marry a sim with red hair OR one of the two good friends (or both) 

Have more than one child 

Must add a library to the house 

(Extra): can be a witch if you have Realm of Magic 

[Don't have City Living - pick any career you think fits]

Generation 7: The Queen of Hearts- Alice in Wonderland 

“OFF WITH THEIR HEADS”

Information: You grew up with perfect parents and perfect siblings but in your case, the apple fell far, far from the tree. Ever since you were a child you had a mean streak a mile wide, and a temper to match. You live for starting fights and causing drama, but sometimes you take things a little too far..

Rules: 

Be mean to all the members of your family as a toddler and child

Have insane and mean traits 

Complete Public Enemy aspiration

Must have at least 20 sims hate you

Kill at least 5 of your enemies (or more if you choose)

Only have children through one night stands, never marry 

Have a bad relationship with your children

Die from anger 

Generation 8: Neytiri- Avatar

“Sky people cannot learn, they do not See”

Information: Spending time outdoors was your salvation from your crazy mother, and you grew to cherish Nature and all she gives. You felt alienated from all your peers, and you were always wondering, are we really alone? 

Rules: 

Be an outdoor lover 

Have only animal friends as a child 

Complete one of the nature aspirations

Get into Sylvan Glade and do all important life events there 

Be a rocket scientist and go into space

Fall in love with an alien and get married 

Have any amount of children (alien or not) 

(Extra) Always build the rocketship when GeekCon is in town 

[Don’t have Pets - Skip that bullet]

[Don't have Get to Work - Marry a Sim with bright features; like skin, hair, ect]

Generation 9: Bella Swan- Twilight 

“So the lion fell in love with the lamb” 

Information: Even though you were different from your family and friends, you were still surrounded by their warmth. They loved to be outside, and you, not so much. You just thought you were weird, until you met him. He was special, unique, and cold. What exactly was he? 

Rules:

Have the gloomy and vegetarian traits

Have a childhood best friend that you grow to have a crush on

Meet and fall for a vampire

Go back and forth between dating your childhood best friend and the new guy, before finally picking the vampire. 

As soon as you age into a YA marry and get pregnant

After having your only child, have your husband change you into a vampire

Complete the good vampire aspiration

Your childhood best friend and your daughter become close friends.

[Don't have Vampires - Marry an emo or an ugly sim and complete any aspiration]

Generation 10: Velma Dinkley- Scooby Doo

“Jinkies”

Information: You grew up around monsters, and throughout your life you began to learn that all real monsters are human. You devote yourself to putting real criminals behind bars, and become a famous detective. You are so focused on your career, family is the last thing on your mind. 

Rules:

Always wear orange and glasses

Have clumsy, geek, and ambitious traits

Be best friends with a dog and 4 other sims 

Move in with all 4 friends when a young adult

Must live in a haunted house and have frequent encounters with ghosts 

Reach level 10 in detective career

Never marry or have kids 

(Extra:) Solve Strangerville mystery if you have the pack

[Don’t have Get to work - just be around ghosts all day]

[this-is-your-heichou-speaking]

Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Aro (Twilight)/Harry Potter, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan (minor) Characters: Aro (Twilight), Harry Potter, Felix (Twilight), Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, Bella Swan Additional Tags: Angst, Lovers Fighting, and making up, Harry is some vampire/wizard hybrid, Also Italian endearments

Bitter He is in the library when Felix finds him. The room is huge, more akin to a cathedral's main chamber than a library, except that every wall is covered in thousands and thousands of books. There are novels here from when novels first started to be written, original copies ancient tombs and several books that there's only rumour of outside the walls of Volterra. Harry knows, because he's been through most of them, at first desperate to find answers in some obscure tome, and then just to pass the days without losing his mind. The vampire sidles up to the shelf atop which he is seated, looking very much like the cat who caught the canary, and waits smugly for Harry to acknowledge him. The younger immortal tries to ignore him, frowning as he attempts in vain to keep his concentration on the words before him, but they prove ultimately drab in comparison to the mystery Felix presents. So, with a huff, he shuts the cover with more force - especially for such an old book - than necessary and chances a glare down, meeting the vampire's bright red gaze. Freshly fed, then. "What?" he snaps, irritated. "Was there something needed?" 

"Needed?" Felix laughs, light and airy as if Harry has told a mildly amusing joke, and waves his hand at the irate green eyes staring back down at him. "No dear, but your attitude forces me to ask how it is I've offended you?" he grins, flashing perfect, pointed white teeth in a show of nonchalance, but Harry senses that he's upset the older vampire. "I'm sorry," he says, then sighs and puts the books down next to him before jumping down to stand next to Felix. Now that they stand on even ground, the difference between their heights is only too obvious, but Harry had spent near enough his entire life as the shortest among his peers, so it doesn't really faze him anymore. Felix shrugs. "I just thought you'd want to know," he says, then pauses. Harry frowns. "Know what?" he is forced to ask. Felix grins again, slinging a conspiratorial arm around his small shoulders. "Aro has visitors," he whispers in his ear. Harry shrugs off the arm, crossing his own in irritation. His face immediately morphs into a sneer at the sound of his name. "So?" he asks dismissively. "He's always entertaining some guest or another, what makes you think I care now, when I have never cared before?" "Well, for one, this is a party including a human girl." Harry sighs hard, raising an eyebrow at Felix as if to tell him to get on with it. "Again, not uncommon." "Not even if she's a vampire's lover?" The vampire's tone is very much sly, and loathe though he is to admit it, Harry's interest is peaked. "Surely..." he starts, trailing off. "Surely you can't mean-" "Oh but I do, dear. A human girl and her vampire lover, here in the middle of Volterra whilst the three lords of the Volturi hold court." He pauses, and then admits, "that isn't even the best part." "Oh?" Harry tries to keep his voice from wavering, but he doesn't think that he manages to keep it steady to the fine ears of vampire. If Felix notices, however, he does not mention it. "The vampire in question," he murmurs, "is the telepath." Harry's breath stutters on the way into his lungs, and his eyes widen. "Oh," he says. That was significant. That was really significant. Aro had wanted the Cullen vampires for his little collection for longer than Harry had been alive, he'd never pass up the chance to play with them now. "Oh dear," he whispers, then looks at Felix, who nods. "Exactly," he replies, smiling much too widely, and Harry feels a pang of pity for the pair he has never even met. Stupid as they are to have come here in the first place, Harry would never wish Aro and his devices on anyone, though he would be the first to admit his clear bias. Without another word, Harry strides out of the room and down to the large chamber Aro fancies as his throne room. He doesn't run, but nevertheless he may as well have for his incredible speed. Upon entering the room, he finds the three vampire lords on their appointed thrones, and three unfamiliar faces. One he immediately recognises as human from the flushed skin and frightened brown eyes, and he imagines that the one standing by her side is her foolish lover. Behind them stands another female who, from the amber of her eyes, he supposes to be another Cullen - though he does not know enough about them to hazard a guess as to which one. Aro has a smooth, friendly smile on his face when Harry first enters, fooling absolutely nobody but, perhaps, the human girl who would be unfamiliar with him and his ways, but it falls as soon as the old vampire sets eyes on him. "Harry," he says, his surprise more obvious than he should have let it be. Harry doesn't reply or even look over, acting as if Aro is not even there. Marcus frowns, Harry knows this even without looking, but all eyes in the room fall upon the girl at the sound of her loud gasp. "Bella," the telepath murmurs chidingly, but both his and his sister's eyes are intent upon Harry, and he knows exactly why. Vampires do not have green eyes and a beating heart, nor do they breathe like their living counterparts. And yet, Harry's unnaturally pale complexion, speed and stillness does not allow him to fall into the category of human either. He is something distinctly other - something he is loathe to be, and still resents Aro for turning him into after so many years. Speaking of the devil, the vampire coughs politely, and eyes swing back to him almost as if their gazes had been pulled. "Ah, yes," he says smoothly. "This is Harry, my... dearest." He waits expectantly, but Harry merely sneers and turns away. "Don't mind me," he says dismissively, refusing to make eye contact with the one who would call him beloved. There is a brief, cold silence, and then Aro laughs benignly. "Yes," he says, smiling once again at Bella and her beau. "Don't mind him. He'll not have anything to say to you." The emphasis on the last word is subtle, but nevertheless understood. To the three foreigners, it is an insult, but to Harry? It is a warning, and despite wanting nothing more than to irritate the vampire, Harry desists, and heeds it. Because Aro knows how to hurt Harry, and he would rather avoid it if he could. And he's not thinking about Jane either, who's gift would make the strongest men tremble, though it still fails on him. No, Aro would never cause him pain in that sense, he fancies himself too noble, and knows how to hurt him through his words, how to strike right at the heart regardless - he has seen all there is to see in his mind, after all. And he truly hates to do it, Harry knows that too, but if he's been angered enough, well... He turns away, and closes his mouth in a firm scowl. The proceedings go quickly. Harry knows what to expect before the words even leave Aro's mouth, but he is surprised at the devastation on the male's - Edward's - face. And yet, when he thinks on it some more, why not? After all, Harry had never wanted to be turned, had never asked for the bite that had been bestowed upon him despite it all, so is it so surprising that a vampire - one who refuses human blood, even - would be against turning his lover? Harry had thought only of the fate of living eternity without the one you love, but he wouldn't be surprised to find that Edward holds some sort of hatred for his own kind. It doesn't matter in any case - it has been settled. The Cullens will do as Aro asks or risk losing their lives and their hard-won peace, and Harry knows well enough now that Aro does not make idle threats. He stands and watches, expressionless, as they leave. There are few lingering looks, but the two vampires do spare him a curious glance each. He supposes he cannot blame them for their curiosity, but that doesn't not mean he can't hate Aro for turning him into the circus freak he apparently now is. He turns, silent and mostly unseen for the shadows that cloak him, but Aro already has his eyes on Harry, and calls him closer before he can leave, or get far enough to at the very least pretend deafness. He debates for a moment to run any way - what would the vampire do, after all? Harry walked away from him all the time, and the vampire seldom did more than scold him. But there is an edge to his voice that, try as he might to deny it, worries Harry, and so he stops where he is. Aro gets up from his seat and moves a few steps towards where he stands, utterly still. "Walk with me," he says in a low voice, as if the rest of his host could not hear regardless. Harry does not answer, but nods and allows himself to take the proffered arm. They begin a relatively swift stride that leads them out of the vast, ancient castle and into the lush gardens that surround the property, where Aro then slows down. "Harry," he says, his voice almost gentle, and Harry's muscles tighten almost instantly at the sound of it. He hears Aro sigh, but the vampire carries on regardless. "Beloved," he says, "I would have you tell me why you came to visit me today, at exactly that time." It is not a question, in the regard that Aro knows exactly why Harry was there. That is not what he is asking. After a while, Harry tells him anyway. "I heard rumours," he says softly. "I was curious." He pauses a second, and then, "is there some reason I shouldn't have been there?" Aro is silent, and Harry can feel his deep, crimson gaze fixed so heavily upon his face, but he doesn't look away from the intricately carved fountain near which they stand. "No," he says eventually. "No reason." He turns so that he faces Harry, and raises the hand that is free of his grip to the younger vampire's face. Before he touches even a hair, Harry let's go of him and jerks away, green eyes wide with anger and anxiety. "I've told you not to touch!" he exclaims, raising a hand to his cheek as if Aro had slapped him, and not merely failed to brush his fingers along his cheek. "I am able to control myself," the elder replies coldly, advancing a step. Harry laughs bitterly as he backs away even further. "You are," he says, his tone accusing. "But that does not mean you will. You never have before." The not-so-subtle jab brings Aro up short, and immediately his face morphs into one of sadness. "Harry," he whispers. "Amore mio, how long will you punish me like this?" Harry shakes his head, wrapping his arms around himself. "For as long as you've cursed me," he answers, tone flat. "Which is to say, forever." "This was never meant to be a punishment-" Aro starts, but Harry turns on him, eyes narrowed and suspiciously shiny. "It was against my will, Aro. I never agreed to this, you forced it on me and now look. I'm yet again a freak of nature-" He breaks off when Aro straightens his back at those words, bringing himself up to his full height until he is glaring down at Harry with blood red eyes that remind Harry, for just one split-second, of Voldemort. He blinks, and still Aro stares down at him. "You are a gift, Harry!" he exclaims angrily. "Look at you! There is nothing on this earth, or even the entirety of this universe that is anything like you, don't you understand? You are precious. Why," he continues, his eyes softening as he stared at Harry. "Look at your eyes. They are so beautiful, so perfect that I think not even Mother Nature wanted to destroy them, and how could she? They are jewels in their own right." "Perhaps," Harry replies with a sardonic laugh, "I should just gouge them out myself then. Do you think if I did, that Mother Nature would finally just let me be?" Aro twitches then sighs, reaching out and yet still not touching. "You don't mean that," he murmurs gently. Harry laughs again, harsher. "Don't I?" he challenges, and yet he knows he doesn't. Aro is right, of course he is. The older vampire doesn't answer, but draws ever nearer, arms out as if he would embrace Harry. "Caro," he whispers, voice low. "Please, this has surely gone on for long enough?" Harry's heart stutters at the utter desperation in that tone, and he stills, staring wide-eyed at the other vampire. He has never seen Aro like this, has never seen him so open and raw, and despite his best attempts to feign indifference he fails, ever a slave to the quickening of his heart. And yet... And yet, he has never been so pathetic as that either. He turns his gaze away, and Aro sighs harshly, pushing his hands into his hair in an oddly human gesture of frustration. It is surprising, because Harry has imagined that the vampire has trained all these little things out of himself by now, over his millennia of life, but he has no mind to dwell on it when Aro turns to him again. "What would you have me do, Harry?" he asks, a growl in his voice. Harry smiles sadly. "Why, Aro, what would anyone be expected to do for wronging someone?" Aro stills, and a slow, angry smile spreads over his face. "Of course," he murmurs, "of course. I-" he breaks off, and then suddenly kneels. When he attempts to touch Harry's skin this time, the younger vampire lets him, and Aro takes his hands in his own. He is hesitant to do so, remembering a time when Aro's touch had been as good as permission for his magic, which protected him from most other abilities, to have open access to every memory he holds. When Aro had not told him what he could do, and read every secret Harry had ever kept like it was his right. But he doesn't feel the vague sensation of sucking at his brain this time, and he knows Aro is holding back purposefully. Perhaps his words have cut deeper than he has imagined if this vampire, who famously only cares for himself, curbs his curiosity and need for knowledge for Harry's sake. Aro looks him right in the eyes and he seems a like he's at a bit of a loss, but even so he drops a soft kiss on Harry's small hands and says "I am so, so sorry." Harry doesn't know what to do for a while, shocked as he is. He knows what he has said and done has fully implied that this - an apology - was what he wanted, but even so he has never dared imagine- Because, before all else, Aro is proud. Proud, and not arrogant, for he has every reason to bask in his achievements and power over others. He has worked for it, earned it, and yet here he is - kneeling before Harry and asking his forgiveness, admitting he's done wrong and- And Harry feels so many things, he thinks he could explode with it all. He feels smug, a little, but more than that he feels stupid for having held on to this for so long. For having worn Aro down to a man on his knees. It is testament, he thinks, to not only his regret but also his love that he is willing to lower himself before Harry. But a part of him knows that he could not have felt secure in this, had the vampire not truly apologised for what he has done to Harry, and now that they're here he feels, most strongly of all, relief. He curls his fingers around the hands that hold his and pulls faintly on them, prompting Aro to rise once again. He looks as beautiful and strong as ever, his hair combed neatly down his back and his head just as high, but the glimmer of hope in his eyes tell Harry all he wants to know. "I forgive you," he whispers, and now that he lets himself he admits that Aro's eyes are nothing like Voldemort's, if only because of the way they soften and darken to a delicious shade when they rest upon his form. "My dearest," Aro says, but it is so soft that Harry reads his lips more than he hears the words. Even so he feels like he wants to cry, and yet he is also strangely happy. Because while he has resented Aro for turning him despite his refusal, for reading him without permission, the reason it hurt so much was that he'd trusted the vampire with himself in the most intimate way he could, and Aro had just continued on as he would without a care that his actions would break that trust. The reason he has never been able to leave was that, despite his anger and hurt and resentment, Harry had loved Aro, and believed truly that Aro did so in turn, only to be presented with the proof of his folly by fire through his veins and secret words on bloody lips. And the worst thing? The most difficult thing by far had been to admit to himself that he still loved him. Aro slips a hand around his waist, still grasping one of Harry's hands with the other as soft music begins to play indoors. It is time for a feeding, and yet Aro has never seemed more uninterested in blood. Instead he begins to sway, resting his head against Harry's, and whispers, "dance with me, cuore mio. It has been too long." Harry hums, a smile stretching across his face before he can stop it, and he closes his eyes in contentment as he too begins to sway along. "But Aro," he replies teasingly, feeling for the first time in a long time like he is young again, happy as he was the first time in the arms of love. "As sweet as that sounds, your heart doesn't beat." Aro laughs, the sound deliciously dark and honeyed and low. "Ah, dearest," he says. "My heart does indeed not beat, but despite that it feels as strongly as any mortal's, perhaps even stronger. And I can promise you," he adds, twirling Harry around and then back effortlessly, "that my love for you will endure like nothing else." "Such sweet words," Harry laughs. "I must wonder how many innocent maidens and young men you've seduced with these very words, whether for lust of their blood or their flesh." "I cannot deny that," Aro says, and then suddenly pulls Harry in close until they are chest to chest. "But how could my eyes possibly stray from one such as you?" And loathe though he is to admit it, Harry cannot help but feel pleased at the praise. It shows, he knows, because unlike a vampire his heart still beats, and his blood flushes the skin of his cheeks regardless of his wishes. Aro leans down slowly, eyes intent on Harry's lips, and for a minute Harry lets him draw nearer and nearer, until, just before they touch, he spins outward again. "You play with me!" Aro exclaims, but he too is laughing as he picks Harry up and swings him around, his arms and hands strong and safe around the younger immortal. "Aro!" Harry cries, and though he does not know it his eyes are sparkling like they haven't since he was but a child, and his lips are spread wide in a happy smile. In a second, Aro's face changes from joyful to wanting, and his pulls Harry in so fast that the wizard can only blink before they are kissing, lips moving against each other and bodies moulded tightly together. Aro wraps both of his arms around Harry's waist, his hands on Harry's back, and Harry in turn has his hands buried in the long black locks of his hair, clutching tightly as he pulls Aro closer into himself. They kiss until Harry becomes dizzy with the lack of oxygen, and even then Aro needs only to take a glance at swollen wet lips before he once again swoops down and takes his lover's mouth. Harry's lips part for him, and he tastes his beloved deeply and passionately as he hasn't done in years, the desire heating his blood at the absolutely glorious sensation of the lithe body so tight against his. "Harry," he murmurs when they finally part, his voice gruff. The wizard in question still has his eyes closed, a soft smile on red lips, but he does not answer. Instead, he lays his head down onto Aro's chest, and whispers into the cloth there, "take me to bed, Aro." And Aro, unwilling to deny such a sweet request, picks him up off his feet and takes him to the chambers highest up, where he knows they will not be disturbed, nor heard.

Amore mio - My love Caro - Dear Cuore mio - My heart