┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺ 　°

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍
|| the fight ||

✦

THE CULLEN FAMILY, EXCEPT EDWARD, all stood in a line waiting for the newborn army to let themselves be known. The sound of rapid footsteps and the crunch of snow could be heard in the distance and the Cullens readied themselves, standing in their fighting stances.

The army appeared from the trees and began screaming, running at the coven, who all ran at them simultaneously, jumping at them. Arlina ran at a man that looked around her age, he had short straw-like hair and evil red eyes which made her want to end him all the more.

He set his eyes on her and smirked, ready to rip her head off but before he could even attempt to do it, fire became visible in her hand and he began to take steps backwards, visibly terrified. She smiled and chucked the ball of fire towards him, causing him to burn alive, screaming in agony.

The redhead ran towards him, ripping his head, arms and legs off, chucking them on top of his torso and allowing the disassembled body to burn to ash. She looked over at another ripped apart body and threw fire towards it, setting it alight.

Another newborn, a woman with dark, soft-looking, curly hair had ahold of one of the werewolves, so she sped over, pulling the woman off of the shapeshifter and holding her arms behind her back, burning her in the process. The werewolf, who identified as Leah Clearwater, stood back up on all fours and ripped the head from the woman's body, chucking it onto the ground before Arlina lit it on fire.

The two parted ways, running off to fight somebody else and before they knew it, all of the newborns, except one, were dead on the ground burning from Arlina's self-made flames.

"How long?" Edward questioned as he walked over to the family that stood around a small fire, Bella followed behind him, seemingly petrified.

"A few minutes. Maybe, ten?" Alice was unsure, but stood tall, confident that it was right. Arlina stood on her own, looking down at the fire. Her mate could possibly be coming, and he could have possibly known about the army without telling her.

"The pack needs to leave. The Volturi won't honour a truce with the werewolves." Carlisle told them, and they all looked over at the pack before a newborn came out from behind a rock, jumping on Leah in her wolf form.

"Leah, don't!" Edward ran over, Arlina hot on his trail, and they were about to help when Jacob sped forward, fighting the vampire off of Leah and tackling him to the ground. The newborn quickly managed to get his arms around Jacob and pulled at his ribs, cracking his bones, causing the wolf to whine in pain. The vampire squeezed slightly harder, hearing more crunches before he chucked the wolf to the ground. Jacob squirmed around for a second before he felt Arlina's comforting warm hand on his back, causing the pain to only slightly lessen.

The other werewolves finished the newborn off, ripping him to pieces brutally for hurting their family.

"Jacob!" Bella yelled, running over to the wolf that was back in his human form, holding his chest in agony. Arlina was trying all she could to help him when Carlisle moved over, crouching down by the boy's side, inspecting his injuries.

"Jacob. Hold on. Carlisle's gonna take care of you." Arlina told the shapeshifter, who couldn't respond and the redhead rubbed his arm comfortingly, hoping she could at least do something.

"The bones on the right half of his body are shattered." Carlisle told his adopted-daughter, and Bella dropped down on the ground beside them, looking down at the boy she loved.

"Bella." Jacob muttered, looking up at her and she frowned, rubbing his shoulders carefully.

"Jake, I'm right here." She reassured him, smiling slightly. The rest of the werewolves came out from behind a huge rock, all dressed in jeans shorts, — Leah with a shirt on and they all ran over.

"Jacob, you idiot, I had it!" Leah exclaimed, her hands balled into fists by her side and Arlina looked up at her, sending her a 'calm down' look but with a kind hint to it.

"Leah!" Sam scolded, crouching down beside Edward at Jacob's legs, looking over the quickly appeared bruises that rested all over Jacob's torso.

"I need to set the bones before his accelerated healing kicked in. It's already starting." Carlisle lifted Jacob's left arm, looking over the injuries underneath.

"We need to get him out of here." Edward told his father, glancing up at the pack that surrounded them, "We're not gonna want a fight with the Volturi."

"We'll take him back to Billy's." Sam nodded at the oldest vampire.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Carlisle looked over at him, nodding too.

"Hang in there, Jake." Bella felt tears prickling at her eyes and Arlina placed her warm hand on the girl's arm, giving her some sort of comfort. Edward and Carlisle stood, moving away from the hurt shapeshifter and Arlina pulled Bella up gently, hugging her as they walked away from Jacob.

The pack all surrounded Jacob and carefully picked him up from the ground, the boy grunted in pain, his eyes squeezed shut and his arms crossed over his chest.

"It's okay. We got you. We got you." Paul Lahote told the boy, making sure he was gentle not to hurt him even more.

"They're coming!" Alice called out with concern written all over her face. The Cullens, including Bella and a newborn that Esme and Carlisle had taken in to take care of, were all stood in a group, watching as the four of the Volturi's Guard walked over to them.

As soon as Alec's eyes met Arlina's, his frown softened and it turned into a smile. They all stopped a few metres away and pulled their hoods down, dropping their hands by their sides. Felix and Demetri both smirked and nodded towards the redhead, who nodded with a small smile back, glad to see them again.

Their smirks and smiles dropped when Jane began to speak, "Impressive. I've never seen a coven escape an assault of this magnitude intact."

"We were lucky." Carlisle told them, holding tightly onto Esme's hand for comfort.

"I doubt that." Jane responded with a straight face.

"It appears we missed an entertaining fight." Alec spoke up, looking at Arlina only and she nodded, her eyes lighting up at the sound of his voice. Hearing his voice like this was completely different to hearing his voice over the phone, it sounded like music to her ears.

"Yes... It's not often we're rendered unnecessary." Jane said, her eyes were stuck on Bella Swan, wondering why she was still human although the family had told her coven they'd turn her.

"If you'd arrived a half hour ago, you would have fulfilled your purpose." Edward commented, his arms wrapped tightly around his girlfriend's waist, assuring that nobody would hurt her, even ancient vampires who were considered ten times stronger than him.

"Pity. You missed one." Jane looked over to where Arlina stood in front of a newborn, protecting her. The girl was stood, terrified with her long hair covering her face. Jasper walked over on the other side of the girl, nodding at his redhead sister, both making a pact to protect her.

"We offered her asylum in exchange for her surrender." Carlisle told the Volturi, hoping they wouldn't end her.

"That wasn't yours to offer." Jane told them, her voice loud and clear, "Why did you come?" She yelled and before the girl could respond, her body leaned back and she began to scream in agony. The newborn lay on the ground, crying out in pain and Arlina leant down beside her, rubbing her arm to comfort her as much as she could, "Who created you?"

"You don't need to do that, she'll tell you anything you want to know." Esme told the blonde, who released the burning feeling from the newborn with a sickening smirk. The other three of the Guard watched in horror through their minds as they attempted to show they weren't, they were used to Jane's evil ways and they knew not to protest against it.

"I know." Jane stated.

"I don't know!" The girl choked out from the ground, "Riley wouldn't tell us. He said our thoughts weren't safe." She looked over at the beautiful red-haired Cullen who took her breath away, and nodding at her, grateful for the kind gesture.

"Her name was Victoria. Perhaps you knew her." Edward spitted, and he slightly glared at the blonde millennial vampire, knowing for the fact that they did through their minds.

"As a redhead, we don't accept her." Arlina muttered quietly under her breath and the dark-haired girl heard her, smiling lightly at the Cullen.

"Edward, if the Volturi had knowledge of Victoria, they would have stopped her." Carlisle told Edward before he looked back over at the witch twin, "Isn't that right, Jane?"

"Of course." Her eye twitched, and she looked to the ground toward Felix, "Felix."

He nodded and began to walk forward but Esme took a step towards them and Jasper & Arlina stood up, protecting the newborn, "She didn't know what she was doing." Esme protested and Jane put her arm out, stopping Felix, "We'll take responsibility for her."

"Give her a chance." Carlisle pleaded and Jane held her head higher.

"The Volturi don't give second chances." Jane spoke and Arlina frowned, "Keep that in mind."

"You didn't even give her a first chance, Jane." Arlina told her and Jane snapped her head in the redhead's direction, glaring at her. Alec watched his mate intently, staring into her pleading eyes and he looked over at his sister.

"Sister, perhaps we let the girl live, she will cause no harm with the Cullen family caring for her." Alec spoke calmly and Jane looked over at him, her eyes squinted before she nodded curtly, not wanting another argument with her brother. This caused Esme and Arlina to sigh in relief, thankful that they wouldn't take the life of the newborn who had a lot of potential.

"Caius will be interested to know she's still human." Jane commented after a second of silence, staring at the Swan girl, who leaned back into Edward's chest slightly.

"The date is set." Bella spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay. We best be going, I'd like to go home." Jane turned on her heels, along with the rest of them besides Alec, who stood still, holding an intense eye contact with his mate. The rest of the Cullens looked between the two, and Jane glanced back, causing her to roll her eyes and insist that herself, Felix, and Demetri leave him behind.

After a moment of silence — the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fires Arlina created — Alec sped forward as fast as he could and held the redhead's face tightly, smiling at her. She nodded swiftly, giving him consent before he planted his lips on hers softly, allowing his face to move to the side so they could connect comfortably.

Everybody smiled at the two, glad that Arlina had found her other half, even if it was the Volturi. Edward was slightly concerned but Bella reassured him, telling him that it was perfectly okay.

They kissed for a minute or two before they pulled away, looking lovingly into each other's eyes, smiling sweetly and then they embraced, holding each other tightly, "I missed you." Alec told her, smiling into her fiery-red hair.

"I missed you more." She rested her cold cheek on his chest, attempting to wrap her arms tighter around his torso and she looked over at her mother, who had her hands clapped together with a warm smile on her face.