Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

48 - ᴘʀᴇᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ

THE DAYS leading up to the battle were full of constant checks and preparations that quite frankly bored the will to live out of her. The only positive check was when she and Jasper checked to see if Bella's scent could be masked through Jacob carrying her to a destination. They talked for hours, laughing and getting into some of the deeper things as they walked through the forest trying to catch any sign of Bella. Once they couldn't find any, the two may or may not have taken a little detour in the woods before returning to give Edward the relief of knowing that his girlfriend could not be tracked by the approaching hoard of Newborns.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Athena tried to lay down in bed after a relaxing hot bath so she could take a nap until she had to go and meet Billy like usual. She was fried mentally and exhausted to the point that just crawling underneath the neatly made covers of her bed seemed like a chore. But she did it slowly and reluctantly, knowing that the refreshed and reset mind that came with sleeping was far worth the exhaustion. Usually, she didn't even have to try to get into a state of relaxation that meant she could sleep but on that morning, her mind was just cycling the many memories of the Volturi and their stupid red and black cloaks. She tried everything she normally did and even used some of the methods she had used when learning how to sleep again but none of them worked. She frustratedly groaned into the pillow on her bed then went into her mind, shutting off the thoughts in her brain once and for all. She knew that action came with a brain fog that lasted a few hours but it was better than her current zombie-like state. Even if she had promised Billy she would never do it again, after last time.

With the foggy brain, the walk to Billy's became more difficult than it had ever been. She stumbled into a tree and ended up on an unrecognisable path, having to rely only on her sense of smell to get her to the reservation. She took deep breaths of the cold air and splashed river water on her face before walking into Billy's, hoping he wouldn't figure it out. "Okay so," she cleared her throat, setting a shopping bag full of the things he had previously asked her to buy down on the counter. "I got milk, things to make bread because it tastes better than shop-bought and fruit and veg."

Billy sighed out of relief as she began putting the various items away. "Thank you. Jake was supposed to go but he's out with the pack, for the battle. "

"It's no problem really. I like shopping," she shrugged, being completely truthful. Anything could be fun if she had the right playlist to match the vibe.

"So are you worried about the battle?" he asked, moving further into the room.

"Not the battle per se," she shrugged, closing one of the cupboard doors."Just the possible appearance of the Italian Weasels."

She could sense the rise in his level of concern and could feel his eyes boring into her back as she began to make the bread dough. "How high is that possibility?"

"Well, Alice says under ten percent, since she hasn't seen it but..." she trailed off, struggling to form a sentence as the blurriness invaded her mind. Her grip on the already used bag of flour tightened, making small trickles of powder fall down the sides of the bag. In the millisecond it took for the severe brain fogginess to pass, she knew he had already noticed it but hoped she continued like normal it wouldn't become a problem. So she continued, putting on a casual voice as she began kneading the dough, "I don't know I just have a feeling. But it won't be Aro, it'll probably be Jane and her brother."

"Did you-" he trailed off and she had never been more grateful for the fact that the one uncluttered kitchen side faced out of the window, where she didn't have to hide her reaction.

"Hmh?"

He sighed, rubbing his temple, "You did, didn't you?"

"Did what?" she replied, putting on a false expression as she turned to look at him. She hoped the action would make her look more innocent like she hadn't broken a promise, but it just made the guilt rise in her throat.

"You shut off your brain," he spoke slowly, stating the facts without even a hint of questioning. She opened her mouth to talk, to deny his claim when he interrupted, "Don't lie to me, Athena."

She sighed and put the dough ball in a glass bowl, covering it with a tea towel so it could rise. "I needed the rest and the brain fog was worth it," she explained softly, not looking gat him since she would already picture the appalled look on his face.

"Worth it? You almost killed a human last time," he half exclaimed, attempting to keep himself somewhat calm because he knew she only even thought of that option when there wasn't another one.

"Well I haven't this time, plus it wasn't even that bad because I'm not that hungry today," she replied quickly, not even feeling at risk for killing humans. She had passed a huge group of hikers on the way here and like usual, hadn't even been tempted. One of them even had a grazed knee, so it was quite the achievement for a brain fog day.

"You promised," he pressed, frowning at her so intensely that she did not even need to use her gift to know his thoughts.

"I know and I am sorry, I just hate being emotionally exhausted and I couldn't sleep."

He sighed and didn't reply, just thinking over whether he was ready to forgive her yet or not, "Your favourite movie is on in two minutes."

With that response, she knew she had been forgiven to a degree that she wasn't concerned about an argument occurring anytime soon. She grew a grin and hurried into the living room, grabbing her favourite blanket along the way so she could watch her ultimate favourite movie for the first time in years.

She and Billy spent most of the day on the sofa, chatting and watching movies as the delightful smell of cooking bread wafted through the house. It lingered until it started to reach dusk, making the horror movie they were currently watching just a little bit more jarring. "Go ahead, ask I know you want to," she spoke softly, after having noticed his want to ask a question for a good few hours.

"Could you watch out for Jacob? I know you hate him right now and rightfully so but I... I just need to have some sort of reassurance..."

"I'll watch out for him but that's only for you, not for him in any way whatsoever," she responded after a moment of thought, knowing that she could separate doing kindness for her best friend from protecting someone like Jacob.

"Thank you," he sighed out of relief, visibly relaxing.

She smiled softly, looking back to the television screen. "It's no problem really, he's not supposed to fight anyway."

He raised a brow, clearly having not been informed of this information, "He's not fighting?"

"He's planning on staying near Bella on the hill with Edward, just in case something happens," she explained just as her phone, which had been buried in her pocket since she arrived in the morning, began to buzz with the sound of four simultaneous text messages.

"And he told you this?"

"No," she answered as she fished out her phone, quickly scanning the messages from Luna.  "Embry did. I've got to go," she continued and climbed out from her cocoon of blankets, running across the house so she could pull on her boots and jacket. "We're going hunting, fueling up before the battle," she explained as she got ready to leave.

"You better be careful," he warned as she hugged him goodbye - something that they had started to do more often now. Given the whole being on the brink of death constantly thing, mortality was a weird concept to her.

"I'll text you hourly," she promised, not intending to break that promise for anything in the world. Apart from the actual battle but that was understandable enough.

Weirdly, it was one of the best hunting sessions she had ever had with the Cullens. Everyone needed stress relief and it worked that way. They ran for miles, leaping over rivers and sometimes (in Emmett's case) landing headfirst in the lakes. She laughed a lot that evening and ended it with Jasper, cuddled around the fire as they all watched the stars above them through a gap in the trees.