Four Years Later
The forest had forgotten.
Thomas stood near the edge of the old clearing and tried to match what he saw with what he knew had happened there.
It wasn't easy.
Young trees had grown among the older ones. Moss covered fallen trunks. Brush filled the places where bodies had once shattered the frozen ground. Grass and weeds had swallowed the trenches Benjamin had opened during the battle.
Even the line Thomas had carved through the snow and earth with one claw was gone.
Four years.
That was all nature had needed.
Anyone walking through these woods now would see nothing more than another clearing slowly disappearing beneath the forest.
They would never know an empire thousands of years old had ended here.
Thomas did.
Everyone standing around him did.
His eyes drifted toward one side of the clearing.
Somewhere over there.
He couldn't have pointed to the exact place anymore.
That bothered him less than he might have expected.
Vampires didn't need headstones.
They didn't need names carved into stone or a patch of earth protected from the forest.
They remembered.
Thomas's own memories of that part of the battle were less complete.
He had been fighting.
By the time he'd looked across the field, Rosalie was already gone.
What he remembered was Emmett.
Standing in the flames.
Rosalie's headless body held against him while the fire climbed higher.
Thomas hadn't seen Demetri tear off Rosalie's head.
He hadn't heard Emmett's final plea.
He hadn't watched Demetri realize too late that Emmett had no intention of leaving the fire.
Others had.
Later, they had told him. When they thought he could hear it without blaming himself.
Edythe's fingers slipped between his.
Thomas looked down at their joined hands, then at her.
She followed his gaze toward the empty stretch of forest.
Neither of them spoke.
They didn't need to.
Behind them, Charlie's voice broke the quiet.
"I know that look."
Thomas turned.
Nancy stood beside Harry several yards away, wearing an expression of perfect innocence that fooled absolutely no one.
"What look?"
"The one your father gets right before he does something he already knows he shouldn't."
Thomas frowned.
"Why am I involved in this?"
Charlie shrugged.
"Genetics."
Thomas looked at Nancy.
Nancy smiled at him.
He looked back at Charlie.
"...Fair."
Charlie nodded as though the matter had been conclusively settled.
Sue laughed beside him.
Leah shook her head.
"She definitely gets that from you."
Thomas looked between Leah and Edythe.
"I feel like everyone is overlooking the stubbornness of her other parents."
Edythe squeezed his hand.
"For good reason."
Thomas sighed.
The decision to leave Forks had already been made.
Homes were packed.
Arrangements had been settled.
By tomorrow, the Cullen and Raizel families would no longer live here.
They had probably stayed longer than they should have already.
Harry and Nancy's growth had slowed for the last few years, enough that people had stopped noticing anything unusual.
That wouldn't last.
Another rapid stage was coming.
Soon they would start changing too quickly again.
Height.
Features.
Maturity.
Too much difference between one school year and the next.
There was no mystery to what they needed to do.
They had done this before.
They would probably do it again.
This visit wasn't about making the decision.
It was simply one last stop before they carried it out.
Charlie and Sue weren't going anywhere.
Forks was their home.
Thomas suspected it always would be.
Bella stood with Charlie a little apart from the others, Edward beside her and Renesmee close enough that Jacob had somehow ended up within arm's reach without anyone noticing him move there.
Charlie looked at his daughter.
"You'll call."
"Yes, Dad."
"And you're not making me do all the traveling this time."
Bella smiled.
"We'll come back."
Charlie studied her for a second.
"Good."
That was all.
Then Bella hugged him.
Charlie stiffened automatically before wrapping his arms around her.
Thomas looked away.
Sue had no such restraint.
She pulled Leah into a long hug.
"You know we're coming back."
"I know."
"And you'll come see us."
"I know that too."
Sue finally released her and immediately reached for Harry and Nancy.
"You two."
Nancy backed up one step.
It didn't save her.
Sue pulled both children against her.
Harry laughed.
Nancy protested for perhaps three seconds before hugging her back.
"You better not be twice my height next time I see you," Sue told Harry.
Harry glanced down at himself.
"I don't think I get a vote."
"You don't."
Nancy looked thoughtful.
"I might be taller than Mom."
Leah's eyes narrowed.
"Careful."
Nancy smiled.
Thomas wisely stayed out of it.
Harry wandered toward him a few minutes later.
For a while they simply stood together looking across the clearing.
Harry had changed over the last four years in ways that had nothing to do with accelerated growth.
He was still louder than Nancy.
But he had more patience for the human lifestyle than his sister did.
He liked fishing with Charlie.
He liked spending time on the reservation.
He liked helping with ordinary things.
Fixing something around the house.
Sitting around a fire with the pack.
Days where nothing supernatural happened at all.
Thomas understood the appeal.
"I'll miss it here," Harry said.
Thomas glanced at him.
"Forks?"
"The whole area."
Harry looked toward the trees.
"The reservation too."
"That doesn't surprise me."
Harry was quiet for another few seconds.
"When I'm done growing... really done, I think I'd like to have a life like this for a while."
Thomas waited.
"Slow," Harry added.
"That sounds terrible."
Harry gave him a look.
"You know what I mean."
"I do."
"One house for longer than a few years. Maybe a normal job."
"Define normal."
"Not hunting dangerous vampires."
"Low standard."
"Still counts."
Thomas smiled.
Harry looked toward Leah.
"I like being around Mom's people."
"They're your people too."
"I know."
There was no announcement that he intended to leave his family.
No grand plan.
He was still young.
Still growing.
Still leaving Forks with Thomas, Leah, Edythe, and Nancy.
But Thomas could see the beginnings of what Harry wanted someday.
Not power.
Not responsibility.
Just time.
A place where nothing demanded that he become extraordinary simply because he could.
"For as long as I could get away with it," Harry said.
Thomas looked at him.
"What?"
"A normal life."
Harry shrugged.
"I know normal probably doesn't last forever for us."
Thomas rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Then enjoy it for as long as it does."
Harry looked up at him.
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Why would I?"
"I don't know. You and Uncle Jasper do all the council security stuff."
"That doesn't mean you have to."
Harry nodded slowly.
"You get one life, Harry. Even if yours is going to be a very long one. You don't owe anybody enough to build your life around them."
Harry considered that.
Then nodded.
A voice came from behind them.
"I want to be just like you, Dad."
Thomas closed his eyes.
Nancy.
Of course.
He turned.
His daughter stood beside Jasper.
That combination concerned him on principle.
Nancy folded her arms.
"I'd get bored doing what Harry wants."
Harry looked at her.
"You get bored when nothing is trying to kill us?"
"Yes."
"That explains a lot."
Nancy ignored him and looked at her father.
"When I'm older, I want to work with you and Uncle Jasper."
"No."
Nancy sighed.
"I said when I'm older."
"I heard you."
"So?"
"So no."
Jasper remained very carefully silent.
Thomas pointed at him.
"Don't."
"I haven't said anything."
"You're standing next to her. That's enough."
Nancy looked at Jasper.
"He said I have good instincts."
Thomas slowly turned his head.
Jasper met his stare.
"She does."
"She is a child."
"Yes."
"That should have ended the discussion."
"It did. She said when she's older."
Thomas looked at Nancy again.
She wasn't joking.
That was the problem.
She had grown up watching him and Jasper leave when something became dangerous enough that ordinary intervention wasn't enough.
She knew what they did.
Not every detail.
Thomas had made sure of that.
But enough.
"Finish growing first," Thomas said.
Nancy smiled immediately.
"That isn't a no."
"It is a delayed no."
"I'll ask again."
"I know."
She seemed perfectly satisfied.
Harry shook his head.
"You're insane."
"You want to spend fifty years fishing."
"That sounds great."
"It sounds boring."
"Exactly."
Thomas let them argue.
They had grown up in the same house.
With the same parents.
Around the same people.
And already they were becoming very different people.
Good.
Seth and Jennifer arrived a short while later.
Seth came through the trees first.
Jennifer followed beside him.
Nancy spotted the ring almost immediately.
"When's the wedding?"
"Nancy," Leah warned.
Jennifer laughed.
"Soon enough."
Sue joined them instantly.
"Soon enough is not a date."
Jennifer looked toward Seth.
"You see what you've done to me?"
Seth raised both hands.
"I haven't done anything."
"You proposed."
"That was apparently my first mistake."
Sue looked offended.
"First?"
Seth stopped talking.
Thomas smiled.
Four years had done what no supernatural bond could have done by itself.
Jennifer had decided to stay for a year.
Then again.
And again.
Not because Seth's imprint required anything from her.
Not because the pack expected it.
Because she chose him.
Years of choices had eventually ended with a ring.
Thomas preferred that.
The engagement wasn't the only thing that had changed for Seth.
When the new council began forming, someone needed to represent the Quileute.
The word represent had mattered.
The pack had surrendered nothing.
Sam remained alpha.
The Quileute remained sovereign.
Carlisle couldn't order them to fight.
The council couldn't dictate what happened on their land.
If help was needed, the council asked.
If Sam said no, the answer was no.
Seth had become the one who sat at the table.
He carried information back to Sam.
He brought the pack's position to the wider supernatural community.
Jacob could have done it.
He had the bloodline and the authority.
But Jacob's life had become increasingly tied to Renesmee and wherever she went.
Seth fit better.
He liked people.
More importantly, people tended to like Seth even after arguing with him for hours.
Jennifer claimed that was his greatest supernatural gift.
Seth considered it a compliment.
Carlisle eventually came to stand beside Thomas.
For a while, neither said anything.
They simply watched the others.
Charlie talking to Harry.
Sue questioning Jennifer about wedding plans.
Bella and Edward with Renesmee.
Jacob never far away.
Alice beside Jasper.
Life.
Four years ago, Thomas hadn't known how much of it would survive.
Carlisle spoke first.
"I still think it's strange."
"What?"
"That they asked me."
Thomas smiled faintly.
"I don't."
Carlisle looked at him.
"Of course you don't."
The council had never really begun with Carlisle.
Not exactly.
After the Volturi fell, everyone had expected something to replace them.
Some new ancient coven.
A coalition.
Another Aro with a different name.
For several months, nothing happened.
Most vampires simply went home.
They had never wanted a throne.
They had wanted the Volturi to leave them alone.
Then several of the larger covens began talking to one another.
The concern wasn't who should replace the Volturi.
It was making sure no one did.
Eventually they came to Carlisle.
The Denali were among them.
Others followed.
Covens that had survived centuries under Volturi authority and had no interest in living through another version of it.
They asked Carlisle to take the lead in building something different.
He had tried to refuse.
That had apparently convinced them they'd chosen correctly.
Thomas still found that part amusing.
"You didn't want the job," Thomas said.
"I still don't particularly want the job."
"That's probably why you have it."
Carlisle smiled.
"That was essentially their argument."
The first meetings had been less dramatic than Thomas would have expected.
Carlisle explained what they were proposing.
Independent covens kept their independence.
No one surrendered territory.
No one swore allegiance.
No ruler.
No throne.
Representatives could participate if they wanted.
Those who didn't want anything to do with it were free to walk away.
Most vampires had listened, agreed that another Volturi would be a bad idea, and done exactly that.
Walked away.
They didn't care who chaired meetings.
They cared about being left alone.
And about one other thing.
Secrecy.
That was the one issue everyone understood.
The human world could not discover what lived beside it.
A vampire who spent two hundred years quietly minding his own business was nobody's concern.
No summons.
No tribute.
No Volturi arriving because someone had offended a ruler or showed an interesting gift.
But someone creating a newborn army in a major city?
Someone leaving bodies too strange for humans to ignore?
Someone deliberately exposing the supernatural world?
That threatened everyone.
The council existed for things like that.
Not to rule supernatural beings.
To stop the handful who endangered all the rest.
Carlisle chaired it because enough people trusted him not to turn the chair into a throne.
The irony had not escaped Thomas.
"You helped destroy one vampire government," Thomas said.
"And somehow ended up running the council that replaced them."
Carlisle sighed.
"There are days I think Aro's system had one advantage."
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"Which one?"
"He didn't have to convince anyone to attend."
Thomas laughed.
Jasper approached them.
"Complaining about the council?"
"Carlisle started it."
"I did not."
"He implied tyranny is administratively efficient."
Carlisle stared at him.
"That is not remotely what I said."
Jasper's mouth twitched.
Thomas looked toward him.
The council's security side had been considerably simpler to build.
Alice was their best source of information.
Her gift was only part of it.
She saw humans.
She saw their choices.
Their reactions.
A supernatural being might fall into one of her blind spots, but frightened humans rarely did.
If something impossible happened and people began asking the wrong questions, Alice could often see the consequences forming long before those questions became dangerous.
Beyond that, she had contacts everywhere.
Rumors reached her.
Covens talked.
People who wanted to avoid trouble had learned that warning Alice early was usually preferable to explaining things to Thomas later.
Jasper handled operations.
Planning.
Training.
Threat assessment.
Teams when a team was necessary.
Somewhere along the way, he had become Thomas's second in command.
Neither of them had ever formally discussed it.
It had simply become obvious.
Thomas was the final piece.
The one everyone hoped they didn't need.
If Carlisle could settle something with a conversation, he did.
If Jasper could solve it with a small team, Thomas stayed home.
If neither worked..
Thomas showed up.
Fortunately, his reputation had become useful.
The surviving witnesses had carried stories away from Forks.
Then those stories had grown.
Thomas had heard several versions of what supposedly happened during the battle.
In at least one, he had personally killed half the Volturi Guard.
In another, Felix's head exploded because Thomas roared at him.
Alice refused to correct anyone.
Jasper claimed fear prevented unnecessary fights.
Thomas accused both of them of deliberately encouraging nonsense.
Neither seemed ashamed.
Nancy wandered closer.
She had clearly heard enough.
"So Uncle Jasper really is second?"
Thomas looked at her.
"Go bother Harry."
"That's a yes."
Jasper looked away.
Carlisle smiled.
Thomas decided the council had received enough attention.
Eventually everyone drifted close together again.
There was no signal.
No place marked as important.
They simply ended up standing within the same stretch of reclaimed ground.
Thomas stood with Edythe and Harry.
Leah remained several yards away with Sue, their arms linked while they talked quietly.
Nancy had migrated toward Jasper again.
Charlie stood close to Bella.
Edward and Renesmee with her.
Jacob beside Renesmee.
Carlisle and Esme.
Alice.
Seth and Jennifer.
Nobody said Rosalie's name.
Nobody said Emmett's.
They didn't have to.
Their absence was present anyway.
Thomas looked once toward the place where he thought the fire had been.
Nothing remained.
Not ash.
Not scorched earth.
Not even the same trees.
He could still picture Emmett standing in it.
Alice remembered other moments.
Bella remembered the instant she realized two members of her family were gone.
Each carried a different piece.
Together they had all of it.
The forest had none.
Maybe that was the vampire way.
The dead didn't need monuments when the living couldn't forget them.
Charlie eventually cleared his throat.
"Well."
Everyone looked at him.
He shifted slightly.
"Standing here longer isn't going to make leaving any easier."
Bella smiled.
"Probably not."
Charlie nodded.
"Good."
Then he turned toward the trail.
Sue shook her head fondly.
She squeezed Leah's arm once before following.
One by one, the others began moving.
The walk back toward the road was slow.
Sue linked her arm through Leah's again and kept her beside her for most of the walk.
Charlie and Bella stayed together ahead of them.
Seth and Jennifer were still discussing the wedding, although from Thomas's perspective Sue had already planned half of it without either of them.
Harry walked beside Thomas.
Nancy had attached herself to Jasper.
Thomas decided ignorance was safer.
When they reached the road, Sue finally stopped.
Her hand remained around Leah's for another moment.
Then she pulled her daughter into one final hug.
This one lasted longer.
Thomas stayed back with Harry and Edythe.
Sue whispered something he couldn't hear.
Leah nodded.
When they separated, Sue kissed her forehead.
Then Leah came back toward Thomas.
He took her hand.
Edythe moved to his other side.
For a moment, the three of them simply stood together while everyone gathered around the vehicles.
The clearing had been about the past.
This was about tomorrow.
Charlie hugged Bella first.
Then Renesmee.
When Edward stepped forward, Charlie held out his hand.
Edward took it.
Thomas expected that to be the end of it.
Charlie apparently did too.
Then, almost as though irritated with himself for hesitating, Charlie pulled Edward into a brief, awkward hug.
Edward froze.
So did Bella.
Charlie immediately let him go.
"Don't make a thing out of that."
Edward's surprised expression softened.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"Good."
Bella smiled and wisely said nothing.
Charlie adjusted his jacket.
Thomas suspected he would deny the entire event by tomorrow.
Sue hugged Harry and Nancy again.
Seth promised he would visit once we were settled.
Jennifer immediately corrected him.
"We'll visit."
"That's what I said."
"You said I'll."
"I meant us."
"Then say us."
Seth looked toward Thomas for help.
Thomas raised both hands.
"You're the diplomat."
Jennifer laughed.
Seth muttered something about reconsidering his council position.
Nobody believed him.
Harry stood near the vehicle looking back toward Forks.
Thomas joined him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
Harry looked around once.
"I really did like it here."
"So did I."
"Maybe somewhere quiet next?"
Thomas glanced toward Leah and Edythe.
Leah smiled.
"I'd like that."
Edythe nodded.
"For a while."
Harry brightened.
Thomas rested a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find somewhere."
Nancy appeared beside them.
"Somewhere with a training room."
Thomas looked at her.
"No."
"You train."
"That's different."
"How?"
"I own the house."
Nancy frowned.
"That isn't a real answer."
"It works for me."
Jasper laughed somewhere behind them.
Thomas turned.
"Stop encouraging her."
"I didn't say anything."
"You've done enough."
Nancy climbed into the vehicle smiling.
Harry followed.
Leah slid into the passenger seat.
Edythe paused beside Thomas.
He looked back toward Charlie and Sue.
They were staying.
Forks would continue without them.
Charlie would still complain about the weather.
Sue would still somehow know what everyone in the family was doing.
Seth and Jennifer would get married here.
The pack would remain theirs, answerable to no vampire council.
And one day, when Harry was grown enough to choose for himself, maybe he would find somewhere like this again.
Slow.
Quiet.
Normal enough.
Thomas crossed to Charlie.
Charlie looked at him.
"Take care of them."
Thomas glanced toward the vehicle.
"You know I will."
"I know."
Charlie looked toward Harry and Nancy.
"Bring them back before they're taller than me."
Thomas considered Nancy.
Then Harry.
"No promises."
Charlie grimaced.
Thomas hugged him before he could object.
It was brief.
Charlie tolerated it.
Sue hugged Thomas next, whether he intended to allow it or not.
He didn't resist.
When she released him, she looked toward Leah in the car.
"Don't stay gone too long."
"We won't."
Finally, there was nothing left to say.
Thomas walked back to the vehicle.
Edythe was waiting beside the door.
"Ready?"
Thomas looked once toward the trail leading into the forest.
The clearing was invisible from here.
He didn't need to see it.
Four years ago, that place had decided whether his family had a future.
Not everyone had walked away.
But the future had come anyway.
Carlisle had been asked to help make sure no one ever rebuilt what Aro had created.
Seth was preparing for a wedding.
Harry wanted a quiet life someday.
Nancy apparently intended to spend hers giving Thomas headaches.
Jasper had become his second in command.
Alice knew far too much and was entirely too pleased about it.
Charlie and Sue had a home waiting when they returned.
And Rosalie and Emmett were not being left behind.
Not really.
Thomas opened the door.
"Yeah."
He got in.
The engines started one after another.
Different destinations waited for different members of the family.
Not separation.
Just distance.
Harry leaned against the window.
Nancy was already telling him why a training room was objectively more useful than a fishing boat.
Thomas let them argue.
There would be time for all of it.
More time than most families could imagine.
The first vehicle pulled onto the road.
Thomas followed.
Forks slowly disappeared behind the trees.
The forest could forget.
They never would.