I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR THESE CHARACTERS!

Editing and deleting the newest chapter of LICTD has made me crave a published Reneslec story, no matter how different it may be to LICTD! Hope no one dislikes it TOOOO much!

Foolish was how my sister described the Cullen's acceptance to Aro's extravagant new years ball. We hadn't had one for a few short years, after the incident with the Cullen's and probably half of the vampire world but we did celebrate the new years together as a coven. It has been seven years since the 'gathering' (it brings anger to many including myself that we could not use the word 'battle' to describe the situation) and despite my solid thoughts that it would be a minimum of half a century before Aro decided to throw another ball, I was wrong. It wasn't as if it was a popular event, no one went to the Volturi that had a sense of fear. A few did go though, ones who believed it would be better to be on power's side.

This year, there was more acceptance than denying with the invites. It completely caught me off guard – which is hard to do. Even the Cullen's accepted. Not even Aro understood why at first. Caius was furious, he had been the minute Aro sent Demetri out to track them down with an invite. Why would they go to a Volturi ball?

To destroy us, of course.

Few were surprised. Many optimistic. Our guard had gotten stronger, for emergency defense. With Isabella walking around with the shield of her's, our strongest powers were impossible. Aro tried to gain and gain, especially with physical powers. He didn't want to destroy such fascinating powers on the Cullen's side but he had better. Jane enjoyed that comment.

The outcome on our side now looked good. We had more physical powers than mental which could be argued as even more powerful. And even with the Cullen's attempts to gather up their 'army' again to destroy us once and for all, we were smarter and more powerful.

Obviously, Edward would be alert and ready. And when they made the first move, we would slowly defeat them. The thought excited both myself and my sister greatly.

"Do you think they will take the mixed breed?" My sister asked as we went down the stairs to the grand-ball room. She didn't bother to dress up. The sight of her in formal attire (maybe even a girl associated color) would be rather strange, uncomfortable even.

"Yes, I think so. They did not mention her appearance but wouldn't they want to prove how harmless she is? I doubt she will be involved in the fight, I wouldn't be surprised if the shape-shifter Marcus was telling us about will take her off somewhere before it."

"I won't let it. I will kill her. In-front of her whole family." Jane said, confident.

"So, I mustn't blind them before?"

"No. Or deafen. I want them to hear their beloved daughter, niece and grandchild cry out in pain as I rip each finger off and..." Jane stopped quickly and smiled sweetly at Aro who was surrounded by guards as we were about to enter the thrown room.

"You know the plan, my dear. We do not kill a single Cullen, unless they are powerless. Unless they surrender, every other who tries to attack must die."

Jane nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. "Yes master."

"Good girl." Aro cooed before walking into the main ball-room.

Jane and I followed, our thoughts strict despite the fact we had a very focused guard member on alert. Aro's most shiniest jewel for this occasion. She could make other's believe the untrue. It would only take one, focused second for her to carefully change what was inside Edward's head and what he was hearing.

The ball-room was decorated with the usual, new year's winter theme. Large artificial ice flakes hung from the ceiling, white tables with diamond encrusted decorations as the centre-pieces and drinks table of a similar design all made the room stand out.

As my sister walked away to do her own personal study of the opponents, I scanned the room carefully for Vladimir of the Romanian coven, who was desperate for revenge on me. I saw the faces of those who were at the gathering seven years ago, all clearly anxious despite their efforts to cover it up.

My gaze stopped at a single, well known figure. She stood alone by a vegetarian drink-counter that I figured Caius failed to stop. She seemed to be the most nervous figure in the room, more than every human and vampire. Her bronze hair was curled and styled neatly which looked strange compared to her clear, make-up free skin. The anxious girl wore a dusty-pink silk evening dress which was cut out around her chest (yet still appeared innocent) with detailed silver gems. Much to my surprise, she was alone. Unprotected.

Renesmee Cullen was the most famous person at this party. My sister and I were too famous in a sense, for the fear we brought. Renesmee was part of a rare breed, once thought impossible. I wondered if that boy that appeared during the end of the gathering was here too but he wasn't as well known.

Renesmee looked as if she was about to be sick. Unsure of what to do, she started to fidget with her hands awkwardly. I watched with a smirk as she tried to study some of the disgusting vegetarian blood, trying to be pathetic (and hilarious) trying to work out which animal the blood came from.

There was a force pulling me over to her out of curiosity. I bet she didn't even know how famous she was.

"Hello." I said, amused.

Renesmee looked up, her face turning even more pale. I watched as she forced a polite smile, trying to keep her mouth shut so vomit would not come out. "Oh, hi."

I let out a snigger, the awkward dialog entertaining.

"I'm Alec. I believe we met before. I wanted to kill you, remember?"

The look on her face was the icing on the cake. No wait, if she fainted, that would be the icing on the delicious cake. "How could I forget?" She said with light humor, despite the situation. "I'm Renesmee."

"I'm sure everyone here knows that already, Renesmee." She smiled and nodded shyly. "Not enjoying yourself, I take it?"

"Oh no.. the ball is lovely but I ju-" I interrupted her, the distress coming from her voice worrying even me, more.

"Just don't want to be around people who wanted you dead?" And who still want you dead?

Renesmee laughed lightly again. Her laugh was sweet as if she could do no wrong. Probably to her family she couldn't. "Yes, that's just about right. Plus, I swear, these heels are killing me!" She pointed towards feet and lifted up her dress to expose a pair of silver heels. "I don't like controlling people much yet how could I ever hate my family? God, I was practically forced into this hair, and the ugly hair was tortured a-" She stopped when I couldn't hide the grin on my face any longer. "And... I have no idea why I am telling you this. And embarrassing myself. Please don't kill me."

I laughed. I had to. It was impossible not to laugh at such a completely dazed character. I hope it was just the anxiety or else I really did wonder how she had been raised. "My sister would really want to kill you. It's the silly attitude."

Her eyes widened, knowing she had did something terribly wrong. "Oh god, I'm sorry. We should start over, I swear I am not normally like this."

I was curious to see what she was actually like. Right now, she was a confusing character. Funny in a strange way but she made my mind race at the possibilities. "How about we remove ourselves from this ball-room before you faint?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

We walked silently outside. Everyone was staring, not because we were together but because of who she was. This didn't comfort her at all, which I expected. She grabbed onto my black suit jacket for support, not caring who saw. Clearly the icy-panicked glare from one of her uncles wasn't of importance when she was at risk of collapsing in the middle of the ball-room.

"I am really, really sorry about before." She said as we walked out onto the large, vacant balcony. As we began to walk around, she spoke again when I ignored her. "I don't like this, not one bit."

"Aro won't be offended, trust me."

Renesmee laughed again. It surprised me that despite the situation that I secretly knew she was aware of, she still could find little things humorous. "He scares me. It did not help at all when I entered and he was the first to greet me. I thought he was going to bear-hug me or something."

"He doesn't want you dead." I said, knowing it would confuse her. Renesmee stopped and looked at me, both panicked and curious. "If he 'bear-hugged' you, which he most definitely wouldn't, my sister Jane was kill you on the spot, no matter who was watching."

"Ah... is your sister married to Aro?" I ignored her, more disgusted than humored. She seemed to understand my silent answer though. "Volterra is beautiful at night." She said, trying to change the awkward conversation.

"Indeed it is. You must wonder why such killers live in such a beautiful place?" I knew for a fact that she would be just like her family, disgusted at the right way of life. If she even bothered to argue, I would snap on her.

"I kill, too." I raised an eye-brow at her attempt at a lie. "Animals though." She added, "But once, I killed a human." Her voice was a whisper, blank but not ashamed. "It was an accident, I swear. I couldn't...I was never taught to control myself."

I wasn't sure if I was to believe her or not. I didn't comment, interested in another subject. "But surely your family must have taught you the worst about us?"

"Yes, they have. Not much by grandfather, maybe it was because I listened to him. I guess everyone is just the way they are. I mean, look at my family, friends with other regular vampires yet my mother is still disgusted towards your coven? Maybe for other reasons too, but it's not villainous in my opinion. Your life is your life, right?"

"You're a strange girl, Renesmee."

"And you're not? Who just randomly walks up to someone they wanted to kill and is all, 'oh, hello, I'm Alec! Yes, nice babbling there! Let's go outside!'"

I placed a cold finger on her lip, amused for the hundredth time tonight. "You are very foolish and young. How old are you? Seven?"

"I'm innocent." She stated boldly, smirking.

I smirked back. We stared at each other for a few moments, our smirk's growing. "Is your night still as bad?"

"No. I made a friend." Ah, how she gets better!

"I wouldn't use that term for now." I said, trying not to crush her friendship too badly.

Renesmee pouted, clearly exaggerating to annoy me. "Please?"

"No."

"Oh, c'mon! I swear, after tonight, we probably won't see each other again."

Depends who wins.

"True... but if we do see each other again... you have to spend every moment of the day with me, then see if you still want to be my friend." This was such a stupid thing to say. Foolish. I hoped that deep inside of me, it was to annoy her so much that our friendship would be over.

"Deal." She said, eager and convinced we would never see each other again. "Well, tonight has went from awful to completely strange and will soon..." Her voice stopped, her face going blank.

The screaming and growling began then, coming from inside the ball-room. The battle had officially started and our 'friendship' was officially over.

Yet, I wasn't done with Renesmee Cullen yet. She interested me in ways that I couldn't describe. My heart was flowing with feelings that made me want to see her again. And I would, because in the battle, I would not let a single person touch her or take her away from my sight. Not even the werewolf that was approaching us right now.

"I cannot wait to spend every moment of the day with you, Renesmee."

The characterization of Renesmee to me, will either be a fail or pretty OK. Very different from 'Love Is Colder Than Death', maybe what Renesmee was like w/ her family. But then optimistic nature is still there, proved by her laughter. As for Alec, the same smirky/smug attitude is hopefully still there.

I wanted to experiment... If it just crashed and burned then oh well, I enjoyed writing it!

Love, Cristina xxx

- Song inspirations this time are from Your Love by Nicki Minaj to the Language of Love by Cee Lo Green -

.com/cgi/profile?id=1524847 ← I couldn't help myself as a fashion lover!