Alethiology in Volterra (Volturi Kings/OC)

11

Chapter XI: The Right Thing to Do

FORKS, WASHINGTON, USA...

For months since her return from Italy, Alice Cullen willed herself to live as quietly as possible. What happened back in Italy, after all, was a complete mess that prompted from her unwelcome obtrusion into the timeline of life. Her decision meant restricting herself from seeing and interfering with future events, or relaying her visions to any of her family members, no matter what any of them said to try and convince her otherwise.

At first it was difficult to turn the visions away, but gradually she learned to accept the soft lull of unexpectance. She found that when she avoided thinking of the future and decided on a whim, she didn't have to experience the onslaught of a hundred visions that bombarded her mind, endless visions of consequences that she used to skim through, one by one, to live her life.

Edward had been particularly irate with her decision and continued to pester her with calls, but what could he do when she kept turning him away? She refused to resolve his uncertainties like before. She'd put her foot down and it resulted into a full-blown sibling squabble, and Jasper comforted her the way he always did.

"Do what you think is right, Alice." Her husband said, patting the top of her head when he found her hunched over a fallen tree log, chin resting in her hands and pouting like a child. She'd just drained a mountain elk moments before, and a blurred smear of blood rested around her thin lips. "Edward may not understand your decision, but I do."

Of course Jasper understood. He'd been with her for so long. He'd seen both good times and the bad. Making one decision, changing another, seeing life, living in multiples. And despite the capriciousness of her life, he remained her one constant. What would she do without him?

"Sorry, Jazz," she mutters. "I've been such a downer lately."

He shakes his head softly and sits next to her, pulling her small frame to him with one arm. He places a kiss on the side of her head. "It's fine."

"I just..." she shrugs weakly. "I just don't want to feel guilty for anything that happens."

Jasper nods and sends a teasing smile over. "It's not like you won't tell us anything anymore. Think of it this way—you'll be our glorified weatherman. We'll only ask you questions like: will it be sunny, cloudy, or rainy today, Miss Alice?"

She laughs, swatting his chest playfully and they trek back through the wilderness hand in hand.

Months pass, and oddly enough, life happened even without her predicting it. Life was less inevitable, and she learned to indulge her instincts more. She'd forgotten what it was like to not know what happened next. For months she was successful — until one moment, in the middle of a sunny, quiet Sunday, everything came to a screeching halt in her mind again.

Alice braced herself to impede the vision, but for the first time in a long time, she is unable to stop the strong onslaught of her gift. She cripples on the first landing of the stairs of the house with a sharp cry.

A redheaded vampire emerged from the dark path of the trees and into a snowy clearing. Her red gaze looks ahead to where Alice stands alone.

"Little fortuneteller," Victoria hisses. "Have you come to die?"

Alice laughs. "Only I know how this ends, Victoria."

The nomad snarls at her. "James should have killed you instead!"

"No!" Alice cries, struggling against the vision fiercely. "No! I don't— I don't want to see!"

"Alice!" Jasper's familiar presence molds against her form. His hands pull her fists away from pounding the sides of her head. He turns Alice's face to him and flinches when he meets grey, wide, and unseeing eyes.