A/N: I'm back! I'm sorry for not updating TPL for so long, and I hope you forgive me. Please enjoy the update! :)

Complete and utter silence filled the throne room, the vampires inside of it inanimate in disbelief. Aro closed his eyes in dread for a second, taking in the full dimension of what had happened. Alice and Edward had escaped, having utilized the first opening that had presented itself. And Bella, in a moment of foolishness, had presented them with the opportunity.

Destroying a meticulously thought-out plan along the way.

In this particular moment in time, the notoriously unpredictable mahogany-haired king wanted to scream out aloud in frustration. He wanted to impulsively follow his rage and destroy whatever stood in his way. He wanted to punish Bella for being so foolish, although, as she was his mate, he wanted to calm down and show his care for her at the same time.

He did none of these things. Instead, he opened his eyes, revealing the pitch black irises of anger, and exclaimed, "This is a rather unfortunate situation, I believe."

Caius laughed out loud. "That would be the understatement of the millennium."

There was awkward silence for a second.

"Brothers," Aro continued, fury showing in his eyes, even though he was trying his hardest to hide it, "I suppose we would do well continuing with what we had started before the distractionoccurred."

He heard his mate shift her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably outside.

"Aro, please," Carlisle all but whispered.

"Enough." Marcus' voice was monotonous yet loud, and it rang with authority. "Spare yourself the humiliation, Carlisle."

"You'll never get Alice and Edward if you kill us," Esme spoke up. "Aren't they who you truly want? Aren't they-"

"He said enough," Caius interrupted. "Let us get on with this."

"I beg of you—"

"Silence."

Carlisle had witnessed enough executions during his visits to Volterra in earlier centuries to ignore the inevitability of his own now. He closed his eyes in realization, as he finally grasped that the Volturi brothers could not and would not be bargained with. They were certain in their decision; in their minds, the Cullens had to be killed, and that was that.

Carlisle sighed, bowing his head in defeat. There was no way out of this. Maybe if he gave up now, they wouldn't make it too painful.

Esme, tearlessly sobbing, looked over at her husband. She immediately understood and, trusting his decision, she followed his example. Their hands intertwined.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," he replied.

Aro stood from his throne, walking towards the couple.

"Carlisle...?" Emmett's voice was trembling.

"Emmett." While his son was desperate, Carlisle was determined. "I..."

The muscular vegetarian understood instantly. So did Jasper. They, too, bowed down before the Volturi kings, Emmett's fingers searching for Rosalie's hands. When he finally found them, he grabbed them without hesitation, wanting to be as close as possible to his half-dead, half-alive mate. In any other situation, he would have fought for her. But now, he knew, it was hopeless.

"At least have the decency to numb us," he croaked out.

"No," a quiet, female voice echoed from outside the throne room. "Not like this."

Aro took in a deep, ragged breath.

"B-Bella...?" There was hope in Esme's voice.

"Yes," the voice from outside repeated, sounding surer of itself this time. "Yes. Bella."

And, within the blink of an eye, there she was; Bella in all of her glory, standing at the very entrance of the throne room. There was fear and courage evident in her eyes.

"I do understand," she said, staring at Aro. "I really do. And I'm sorry. But even they don't deserve it to be like this."

Caius cursed under his breath. There were tiny cracks appearing on Marcus' throne due to the pressure with which he was gripping it.

"Be merciful," she pleaded.

Caius lost control then.

"Be merciful?" he hissed. "Be merciful?! Have you lost your mind, woman? These are the people that gladly sent your only child into what they believed to be certain death, only so that they could save themselves!"

Bella did not listen. She merely stared at Aro, watching all sorts of emotions fight for dominance behind his controlled, invincible façade. There was rage, but there was also understanding, there was hate, but there was also love. Contempt fought respect, and acquiescence battled pride. He seemed pained; torn apart.

"Please." There was urgency to her voice.

For a second, Aro's lips turned into a sadistic smile, and Bella thought that her mate's darker side had won. But then a caring softness entered his eyes, and the smile fled his lips. He nodded briefly at her, then put his façade back on.

"Cullens," he spoke up seriously, "I have one last, merciful offer for you."

The vegetarian vampires looked up, hope and dread filling their beings.

Aro smiled as he issued the question.

"Join or die."

Caius smirked.

The Cullens' eyes threatened to fall out of their sockets in horror, and a strange emptiness filled their eyes. It was, even though they had just been given a second chance, as if they were even more aware of their impending doom than before.

"Which will it be?"

Emmett sighed, then closed his eyes and returned to his previous, bowing position.

"If I know one thing," he snarled, "then it is that Rose would rather die than become a Volturi. I —and I say this for my mate, too — choose die."

The smile on the blond brother's lips brightened. "With pleasure."

And before any of the remaining Cullens could even cry out, Caius produced a strange golden device from underneath his cloak, and with an odd metallic sound turned it on. Immediately a flawless, glowing fireball shot towards the two Cullens, enveloping them in flames. A single sharp cry was audible; then everything went back to silence.

"Carlisle," Aro spoke up. "Your decision, please."

The vampire answered without a second of hesitation, staring intently at the fire to his right. "Join. Undoubtedly."

"Then," Esme croaked out, her voice still trembling, "so will I."

Aro laughed. "Wonderful! Jasper?"

The empathic vampire gulped, then too answered, "Join."

"Pity," Caius commented.

Esme looked towards the floor in obvious discomfort.

"Enough time wasted," Aro spoke up, obviously aggravated by the circumstances. "Santiago, Afton, take our new additions to their rooms and get them some appropriate clothing. Get the lightest gray you can find for the cloaks, if you will. And make sure they feed. I don't mind if you have to force the blood down their throats and how long it takes, just do it."

The vampires bowed and took off, the remaining members of the Olympic coven in tow.

"Demetri!" Aro ordered, sighing. "The last time I checked, you were the best tracker out there. Go and find Edward and Alice before I prove my own judgment wrong and find someone more suitablefor the position. Jane, Alec, Felix, accompany him. If you don't come back with them, you can all wave the Elite Guard goodbye for good!"

The guards hastily left, nodding their understanding. The doors to the throne room closed with a loud thump-like noise, leaving only Bella and the three leaders behind.

"Now," Aro hissed, "Isabella, would you mind explaining what on Earth you were thinking?!"

Aro might have been inexplicably angry at Isabella, constantly fighting the urge to destroy or set fire to something, and whenever he looked at her then, it was not love but pure, unfiltered rage he felt for her — the one person that had ever thwarted his plans without even thinking about it, impulsively — but she was still his mate, after all, and nothing, not even death, would ever be able to change that. And so, to spare her the humiliation of having his brothers watching their argument, he carried her to his room bridal style before starting to yell at her.

"We talked about this," he snarled. "I even went through the trouble of informing you about it and asking for your permission before I went through with it! Why would you possibly try to stop it?!"

Had Isabella been human, she would have surely cried. "I... I don't know what to say, Aro," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?!" Aro repeated incredulously. "You're sorry! Well, of course, that sets everything right. A mind reader and a psychic are probably on their way to Romania to team up with our enemies right this instant and if I may add, they are way too intelligent and talented to be found by Demetri, but of course, you're sorry, so everything's fine."

Isabella could almost visibly see the sarcasm dripping out of his mouth.

"You knew this would happen, Isabella," he said. "You knew from the very beginning it was either them or me. I didn't make you choose this. Quite the contrary. All I asked was for you to visit me.You decided to stay permanently. And I was a good host to you. I brought you your daughter, planned a war between covens only to be able to call you mine, risked my coven's reputation for you. And this is how you pay me back?"

"I'm sorry," Isabella replied. "I'm... I'm so, so sorry."

"Why did you do it, Isabella?" Aro demanded. "Did you have a change of heart? Do you prefer Edward over me after all? By all means, go. You might risk the downfall of vampire civilization if I should descend into a catatonic state like Marcus on your way, but please, follow your fool. I can't resurrect Rosalie and Emmett, but I can send the others with you. Carlisle can be reasoned with, they wouldn't tell."

"Don't say things like that," she answered. "Don't even dare think them."

"Why, Isabella, tell me why then! Please."

There was silence for a second.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!"

"When I heard Rose's scream," Bella said, "something just felt wrong. Very wrong. And the next thing I knew, I was running. I don't know why. Maybe it was because in some twisted way, she's family. Or maybe because in that moment I felt like without me, she'd never have had to die. The truth is hidden somewhere in between, I think."

"I understand that," Aro nodded, "but I told you! You knew it was going to happen!"

"Aro, I-"

"I just don't understand it!"

"I do," they were interrupted by a high-pitched voice and the sound of its owner's heartbeat.

"The one battle my Momma has always been fighting is the one between what she feels and what she knows," Renesmee smiled knowingly, standing in the doorway in a light pink velvet nightgown. "You can't blame her for it. It's just the way she is. It's how she got herself involved in this whole vampire mess in the first place. At some point, she's just going to have to realize that some people can stay in her heart, but not in her life."

Aro and Isabella stared at Renesmee as if she was an extraterrestrial.

"That being said, I'm not an evil person, but Aunty Alice and Edward kinda deserve what's comingto them. And please, please stop arguing! A, I'm trying to get some sleep, and B, you're a really cute couple. So good night, and please be quiet."

And with that, she was off.

"What an extraordinary child," Aro noted in awe.

"She's got a point," Bella pointed out. "Hell, she's seven and she's already got twice my wit."

Aro chuckled. "That's just the vampire in her genes, my love."

"'My love'?"

"I just can't be angry at you for too long. Renesmee has a point concerning your ratio - emotio conflict, but I am willing to wait it out until you've got it under control."

"I think that's the best of a compromise we're going to reach today."

"Definitely."

An excited shout was audible from the next room. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

And they did. And for a short, complete moment, there were no Cullens and no Edward, no Volturi, no Renesmee and no anxiety. Only Isabella and Aro, Yin and Yang, melting into each other.

A/N: Thanks a bunch to the incredible AnaBookWorm, my incredible co-author without who I would never ever have completed this chapter! You rock.

Please don't forget to leave a review, you'd make my day. :)