I watched as Bella pulled into the drive. She left early this morning, to run a few errands, I knew Edward was worried, but I had to know if she had another plan. A plan that Edward couldn't see.

With a quick glance I realized I was alone, only Kate and Garrett were in the front room. Calmly I went to the garage and cornered Bella, putting a hand on her mouth to prevent her from talking. I found a pen and asked her.

Bella's eyes widened, but she quickly nodded. She opened her purse to show me a hoard of papers and cash. There was five passports, one for Renesmee, Demetri, Seth, Leah, and Nestor.

'it's safer this way.' She wrote.

And I knew she was right. Bella nodded taking the note from me, stuffing it into her pocket before walking with me inside.

Only Kate and Garrett were in the front room, arguing playfully about the nutritional value of animal blood. I inferred that Garrett had attempted a hunting trip vegetarian-style and found it difficult. I left them alone to find Rose.

She was upstairs, she just recently got Demetri to sleep, he wasn't a trouble child but with all the newcomers he wanted to learn everything. She was flipping through the picture book, her a smile on her face as she looked at our boy.

"hey" she looked at me with a smile on her lips. "how about we take a bath?"

Rose nodded and allowed me to pulled her into the bathroom for some much-needed alone time. The water was luke-warm the perfect temperature for both of us.

"everything is going to be okay" I whispered to her as she rested her back against my chest. She didn't ask any questions, only wrapped my hands around her chest and planting a kiss on my jaw.

I peppered her shoulder with kisses as my hands massaged her skin, trying to sooth her. This was hard for everyone, and it was only going to get harder the moment the Volturi show up.

There was nothing left now but waiting.

For two days, Edward and Carlisle stayed in the clearing where Alice had seen the Volturi arrive. It was the same killing field where Victoria's newborns had attacked last summer. I wondered if it felt repetitive to Carlisle, like deja vu. It sure felt like that to me, but this time I was standing up front with them and not lying-in wait.

We could only imagine that the Volturi would be tracking either Edward or Carlisle. I wondered if it would surprise them that their prey didn't run. Would that make them wary? I couldn't imagine the Volturi ever feeling a need for caution.

I stayed with Rose and Demetri. We had not had a last grand scene of farewell, nor did I plan one. To speak the word was to make it final. It would be the same as typing the words The End on the last page of a manuscript. So, we did not say our goodbyes, and we stayed very close to each other, always touching. Whatever end found us, it would not find us separated.

We set up a tent for Renesmee and Demetri a few yards back into the protective forest, and then there was more deja vu as i found myself camping in the cold again, with Edward and Bella and Seth. It was almost impossible to believe how much things had changed since last June. Now everything was in perfect balance. It seemed hideously ironic that the puzzle pieces would fit together just in time for all of them to be destroyed.

It started to snow again the night before New Year's Eve. This time, the tiny flakes did not dissolve into the stony ground of the clearing. I fell asleep inside the tent with the 'pups', my pack guarded the tent and prepared for battle. Korinna would be waiting at my home, where Nestor would take them to pick her up on the way to freedom.

The snow made first a thin icing over the earth, then built into thicker drifts. By the time the sun rose, the scene from Alice's vision was complete. I looked at Bella and she nodded understanding everything. I placed a kiss on Demetri's head.

"I love you" I whispered "more than anything"

I moved to Rose kissing her like my life depended on it "I love you"

"I love you too" she whispered. I looked in her eyes.

"whatever happens, just trust Bella, okay?" she looked like she was going to protest but decided against it. My face must have told her everything she needed to know. I looked at my family, a small smile before turning to phase, not bothering to even disrobe. I knew Rose was confused, and I could feel her anguish as my pack left to meet Sam.

I paused looking at Seth and Leah 'do you trust me?'

They nodded 'of course'

'then I need you to trust Bella, and listen to her'

The confusion rang through my head but all I said was 'trust me, Nestor will go with you.'

Through the early morning, the others gathered, their eyes bearing mute evidence of their preparations - some light gold, some rich crimson. I was in the woods with them, with Sam and Jacob. 21 wolves waiting for the right moment to make our presence known.

Edward and Carlisle were arraying the others into a loose formation, our witnesses to the sides like galleries. I stood next to Sam, looking at him.

'I do not wish to die today, but if it comes to it I want to thank you, for everything you've done for me'

'We will fight and die to protect our family, Alex. If that is the outcome then you should know, I am proud of the woman you've become'

Our shoulders bumped and I looked at Jacob, he was prepared. 'I was a terrible friend and now it's time to repay that. TO protect our family and friends'

We looked out in the field at the witnesses.

Bella stood a few feet behind the front line made up by Carlisle, Edward, Emmett, Lucia, Rosalie, Tanya, Kate, and Eleazar. Close beside me were Benjamin and Zafrina; They were our best offensive weapons.

Zafrina was rigid and fierce, with Senna almost a mirror image at her side. Benjamin sat on the ground, his palms pressed to the dirt, and muttered quietly about fault lines. Last night, he'd strewn piles of boulders in natural-looking, now snow-covered heaps all along the back of the meadow. They weren't enough to injure a vampire, but hopefully enough to distract one.

The witnesses clustered to our left and right, some nearer than others - those who had declared themselves were the closest. I noticed Siobhan rubbing her temples, her eyes closed in concentration; was she humoring Carlisle? Trying to visualize a diplomatic resolution?

Demetri was standing on the ground next to Rose, trying to look fierce and calm like Emmett, who was standing guard of Rose and the young boy. Lucia was on her other side, in between Bella and Rose. Two fighters close to the pups. The clouds rolled in, diffusing the light so that it could have been morning or afternoon.

It would look just the same when the Volturi arrived. We only had minutes or seconds left now. All our family and allies braced themselves.

They came with pageantry, with a kind of beauty.

In a rigid, formal formation. They moved together, but it was not a march; they flowed in perfect synchronicity from the trees - a dark, unbroken shape that seemed to hover a few inches above the white snow, so smooth was the advance.

The outer perimeter was gray; the color darkened with each line of bodies until the heart of the formation was deepest black. Every face was cowled, shadowed. The faint brushing sound of their feet was so regular it was like music, a complicated beat that never faltered.

The motion was too stiff, too square to resemble the opening of a flower, though the color suggested that; it was the opening of a fan, graceful but very angular. The gray-cloaked figures spread to the flanks while the darker forms surged precisely forward in the center, each movement closely controlled.

Their progress was slow but deliberate, with no hurry, no tension, no anxiety. It was the pace of the invincible.

Thus far, the Volturi were too disciplined to show any emotion at all. They also showed no surprise or dismay at the collection of vampires that waited for them here - a collection that looked suddenly disorganized and unprepared in comparison.

There were thirty-two of them. Even if you did not count the two drifting, waifish black-cloaked figures in the very back, who I took to be the wives - their protected position suggesting that they would not be involved in the attack. They were outnumbered, we had 21 wolves alone, and nineteen who would fight. The Romanians were right, we could take them. Hopefully that would cause them to pause.

"The redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming," Garrett muttered mysteriously to himself and then chuckled once. He slid one step closer to Kate.

"They did come," Vladimir whispered to Stefan.

"The wives," Stefan hissed back. "The entire guard. All of them together. It's well we didn't try Volterra."

And then, as if their numbers were not enough, while the Volturi slowly and majestically advanced, more vampires began entering the clearing behind them.

The faces in this seemingly endless influx of vampires were the antithesis to the Volturi's expressionless discipline - they wore a kaleidoscope of emotions. At first there was the shock and even some anxiety as they saw the unexpected force awaiting them. But that concern passed quickly; they were secure in their overwhelming numbers, secure in their position behind the unstoppable Volturi force. Their features returned to the expression they'd worn before we'd surprised them.

It was easy enough to understand their mindset - the faces were that explicit. This was an angry mob, whipped to a frenzy and slavering for justice. I did not fully realize the vampire world's feeling toward the immortal children before I read these faces.

It was clear that this motley, disorganized horde - more than forty vampires altogether - was the Volturi's own kind of witness. When we were dead, they would spread the word that the criminals had been eradicated, that the Volturi had acted with nothing but impartiality. Most looked like they hoped for more than just an opportunity to witness - they wanted to help tear and burn.

One vampire in the opposing force did not seem to belong to either party; I recognized Irina as she hesitated in between the two companies, her expression unique among the others. Irina's horrified gaze was locked on Tanya's position in the front line. Edward snarled, a very low but fervent sound.

"Alistair was right?" Tanya whispered.

"They - Caius and Aro - come to destroy and acquire," Edward breathed almost silently back; only our side could hear. "They have many layers of strategy already in place. If Irina's accusation had somehow proven to be false, they were committed to find another reason to take offense. But they can see Renesmee and Demetri now, so they are perfectly sanguine about their course. We could still attempt to defend against their other contrived charges, but first they have to stop, to hear the truth about them." Then, even lower. "Which they have no intention of doing."

Sam, Jacob and I began our flank. 21 wolves filtered out in between the vampires, we outnumbered them all. Leah and I flanked Rosalie, while Seth and Nestor flanked Bella. Sam and Jacob joined us up front while the others spread out, our massive forms towering over many of the vampires.

We had gambled our entire species on this stand.

'we trust you' I heard rumble out from Aegeus.

'we're in this pack for life'

And then, unexpectedly, two seconds later, the procession did halt. The low music of perfectly synchronized movements turned to silence. The flawless discipline remained unbroken; the Volturi froze into absolute stillness as one.

The shadowed Volturi faces were still expressionless for the most part. Only two sets of eyes betrayed any emotion at all. In the very center, touching hands, Aro and Caius had paused to evaluate, and the entire guard had paused with them, waiting for the order to kill. The two did not look at each other, but it was obvious that they were communicating. Marcus, though touching Aro's other hand, did not seem part of the conversation. His expression was not as mindless as the guards', but it was nearly as blank.

The bodies of the Volturi's witnesses leaned toward us, their eyes fixed furiously on Renesmee and Demetri, but they stayed near the fringe of the forest, leaving a wide berth between themselves and the Volturi soldiers. Only Irina hovered close behind the Volturi, just a few paces away from the ancient females - both fair-haired with powdery skin and filmed eyes - and their two massive bodyguards.

Aro's and Caius's clouded red eyes flickered across our line. I read disappointment in Aro's face as his gaze roved over our faces again and again, looking for one that was missing. Chagrin tightened his lips.

As the pause lengthened, I heard Edward's breath speed.

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, low and anxious.

"They're not sure how to proceed. They're weighing options, choosing key targets - me, of course, you, Eleazar, Tanya. Marcus is reading the strength of our ties to each other, looking for weak points. The Romanians' presence irritates them. But Alex's and the Amaroks intrigue them. They're worried about the faces they don't recognize - Zafrina and Senna in particular - and the wolves, naturally. They've never been outnumbered before and we do"

"Outnumbered?" Tanya whispered incredulously.

"They don't count their witnesses," Edward breathed. "They are nonentities, meaningless to the guard. Aro just enjoys an audience."

"Should I speak?" Carlisle asked.

Edward hesitated, then nodded. "This is the only chance you'll get."