**** Chapter Twenty-Nine ****

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I just want to say a big thank you to all of you for reading this story through to its last instalment and I apologise for not updating it in so long.

This is the final chapter.

I had so many ideas of where I wanted this story to go as I am sure you're all aware because of all the visions that were happening… But I just wanted to finish this story off as I have lost motivation for it.

I hope this last chapter is okay, I tried adding in more Bellice moments because I became so in love with Lilly's mysterious persona that I felt like I was making this story about her instead (my bad).

I'll admit, I feel like everyone is going to hate me with this chapter (you'll understand why when you have finished it) but hey! I had been planning on *that* part happening since the very beginning. Oops.

Okay, that's enough of me talking.

NOW ON WITH THE STORY!

"Let's get this show on the road," Lilly says, keeping her smirk in place. She glances at each Cullen and when her eyes land on Carlisle's dismembered body on the floor, a wave of anger courses through her. Rising her hand to the sky, a flash of lightning makes its way down from the dark clouds above and strikes Carlisle's body, setting it aflame and erasing any chance there was for his survival.

Esme shrieks in pain from the heartbreak of seeing her husband of many years burn before her eyes. Everyone looks at Lilly in shock, the Volturi even more so because of their history with the girl, knowing that killing someone, anyone, isn't something she would have ever dreamed of doing. Lilly shows next to no emotion but the little emotion that can be seen in her eyes is remorse for the woman who became like a mother to her.

"You have got to be kidding me," Alice can't help but mutter. Bella looks at her with worry and confusion, wondering if Alice just had another vision. "The entire time you have been here, dearest Lilly, you could've advised us of your earth powers and we could've had a better plan to win this war!" She bellows out in disbelief. "But no! You keep your mouth shut and -"

"Alice -" Bella tries interrupting Alice, shifting on her feet uncomfortably.

"Here we are! The war has already started, Carlisle is dead -"

"Alice!" Bella yells, this time managing to stop her girlfriend from continuing on. "This is really not the best time to express your frustrations. Could you not wait until this is all over and done with?" Bella throws her hands up in exasperation.

"No, I couldn't wait!" Alice turns to face Bella, eyes wide with disbelief. "This whole event could've turned out so differently if we knew she had earth powers!"

Lilly raises her eyebrow at the two girls arguing as Rosalie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest in boredom. Everyone else looks at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Well she's here now and she's brought the Volturi back with her! We have the upper hand right now so what's the problem?" Bella fights back.

"The problem is -"

"Um hello, I am right here," Lilly states, raising her eyebrows with a wave of her right hand.

Alice and Bella turn their attention to Lilly with a huff.

"I would firstly like to state that I don't have earth powers," Lilly says slowly walking towards the pair. She rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and showing the similarity between her and Rosalie.

Alice throws her arms up in disbelief and is about to start arguing again when Lilly quickly cuts her off.

"And," Lilly draws out. "I think we should get back to it, don't you?" She cocks her head to the side and places her hand on Alice's shoulder, daring the girl to argue with her.

"Please," Jasper says. "I believe we would all like this to be over and done with as soon as possible."

Alice glares at Jasper right before a vision hits her. Lilly gets hit with the vision as well. Everyone stands still, both dreading and needing to know what the vision is but are kept on high alert in case the witches make a move. A few seconds pass when the other Cullens begin to notice how Lilly is affected just like Alice is. Jasper tilts his head to the side, studying the two girls closely.

Another second passes and the two girls snap out of it. They look at each other. Alice with weary eyes but with a bit of excitement and Lilly's with determination, not having the time to worry about what they are all thinking right now about her and her powers.

"Alice?" Bella asks cautiously.

"I just had a vision about this battle," she whispers in disbelief.

"But they put a cast on you to stop you from seeing anything to do with the witches?" She asks, confused.

"I know." Alice continues to stare at Lilly, needing to know what is going on.

Lilly genuinely smiles at Alice and offers her hand to shake as a peace offering. Alice accepts the offer and smiles back.

"Let's win this thing," she whispers to Alice with a glint of excitement in her eyes. A hint of recognition flashes in Alice's eyes and she smiles wider and nods her head in agreement.

All of the Cullens look at each other in confusion, hoping someone knew what just happened. Of course, the only people who knew were Rosalie who just looked relieved and ready to fight and Esme who is too torn to do anything but stand there not doing or looking at anybody, she's completely ignorant to the world around her.

Emmett wants to stay with Esme to ensure she is okay but he takes a step away from her and readies himself for whatever is to come. Lilly turns around to face the Volturi. Not needing any words, she simply nods her head to them, telling them it is game time. Even though she hasn't worked with them for a long time, they still knew how to read each other and how to work with each other from all the years that they had fought together.

Jane, a young looking blonde girl, smirks and nods her head in response. The excitement not lost in her eyes. She turns her focus on the witch closest to her.

"Pain," she simply says.

The witch screams in agony as she falls to the ground from the immense amount of pain she abruptly feels all throughout her body. The other witch beside her turns to flee but doesn't get two steps away when Rosalie and two guards of the Volturi are in front of her, stopping her path. As one guard moves to grab her, she quickly ducks down and punches the ground, causing a crack in the ground to open up about fifteen metres wide, the guard falling into the earth and dying before he even realises what's happened. It spreads out horizontally between her and the two remaining vampires. Its length ranges on for miles, no one knowing how long it is.

A few wolves move out from behind the trees, growling, knowing they can't jump the distance safely to help out the Cullens and the Volturi. Knowing that they are helpless being on the other side with Rosalie and a member of the guard. The witch just smiles wickedly and turns to run in the other direction when she stops short seeing Lilly now directly in front of her looking bored.

"Is that the best you can do?" Lilly raises her brow at her. She chances a quick glance at her sister on the other side and Rosalie notices a hint of fear in her sister's eyes before the girl turns her focus back to the witch. "Because I can do a lot better than that with your powers. Here, let me show you."

Lilly does what she was best at during her time with the Volturi: using someone's powers against them and torturing them with it.

Emmett and Jasper run to the witch who has been knocked down by the immense pain Jane is making her feel. They end her life without a second thought and nod their appreciation to Jane who does the same in response.

Everyone now has their focus on Lilly who is torturing the last remaining witch. The Cullens have no idea how to react, most of them don't understand what is going on and the ones who do, aren't sure whether to get involved or not.

Jane casually walks over to Lilly and her opponent, if you could even call the witch that at this stage. She looks at Lilly and asks a silent question.

"Not yet," Lilly says to Jane.

"You've done more than enough, Lillian," Jane replies smoothly.

"We can finish this now," Rosalie jumps into the conversation. "There is no reason to keep torturing her. This isn't you, Lilly."

"Not yet," Lilly replies with a bit of frustration. "Make an appearance you bastard," she whispers.

Suddenly, Alice is being shoved into a tree and held off the ground by her throat from an unseen force.

"Alice!" Bella cries out as she sprints towards her lover.

"Get off of me!" Alice struggles to yell out, fighting with the air.

Within a second, Bella is by Alice's side trying to get her back down on the ground to no use. She can't feel what is keeping her suspended in the air. Growling, she kicks the tree in anger, causing it to snap and fall. Whatever was holding Alice up has now let her go.

Bella catches Alice as she falls and holds her tightly, protectively, against her chest.

"What the hell was that?" Bella asks, desperate for an answer.

"My guess," Alice croaks out. "Edward."

There's a moment of silence with everyone soaking in their own dread at remembering that Edward is another problem they have to solve. They were so caught up in just defeating the witches that for a moment they forgot the one person who was the cause for all of this trouble.

Bella sighs in frustration and anger and closes her eyes. She lowers her head down to rest against Alice's and gives her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Why did you have to piss him off?" Bella mumbles in her ear.

Alice whips her head around to face Bella and argues, "What did I do?"

"You just had to steal my heart and make me fall in love with you," Bella shakes her head, hiding a smile. "So technically all of this is your fault."

"You're the one who just had to make me think about you and what we got up to that day in the forest when I shouldn't have been thinking about it knowing that Edward could read my mind! Don't you dare blame me!" Alice is moving to sit up but Bella laughs and pushes her back down into her.

"I love you, Alice," Bella tells her softly, looking deeply into her eyes so she can see how much love and care she has for her.

Alice immediately softens at the words. Smiling, she places her hand on Bella's cheek and whispers, "I love you too."

Bella grins widely and passionately kisses her. Pulling away she says, "I love you even though you made us go to war and risk our lives."

Alice playfully hits her. "Definitely worth it though."

"Definitely worth it," Bella repeats her girlfriend's words, smiling warmly at her.

Suddenly, Bella is shoved away from Alice and once again, Alice is being held in the air. This time, however, she's being held by her jaw.

She is kicking and trying to grasp anything she can to hold onto but to no avail. Choking noises resound in her throat as crack marks slowly start to appear on the edges of Alice's mouth and moving their way up her jawline. Her struggle to get out of this invisible grip that is holding her becomes more intense. She is moving around like crazy. Emmett and Jasper are by her side trying to help her but nothing is working. Rosalie cries out Alice's name as she runs as fast as she can around the crack keeping her away from her family.

"Somebody do something!" Jasper screams out.

Bella is on the ground, looking on in horror. Her lover's head half torn off. It's when Jasper yells that snaps her out of it. Her body is filled with pure anger as she rushes over to the witch and yanks her off the ground.

"Get rid of him!" She screams.

Lilly cuts back on her torturing to give the witch a chance to recover enough to respond.

Panting, the witch says, "Go to hell."

Bella throws her to the ground, fangs bearing she growls, "I will not tell you again."

"You're going to kill me anyway, so why would I want to help you?" She snarls.

"You're right. We are going to kill you whether or not you help us. It's how we are going to kill you that matters to you," Bella smiles wickedly.

"You haven't got it in you," the witch breathes out under Bella's pressure holding her down.

"No, she doesn't," Jane steps forward with a smirk. "But we do," she gestures to the other Volturi members. "You've already gotten a taste of what Lillian here can do with your own powers. Imagine what she can do if she actually put in a bit of effort." Jane predatorily walks circles around the witch on the ground. "You wouldn't be able to stand even if Bella wasn't holding you down. You are physically exhausted, weak. I've known Lillian for a long time and believe me, what she has been putting you through is nothing compared to what she can do. I can put you through a world of pain, Lillian can torture you as badly as she wants to and that alone can kill you. But where is the fun in that?" Jane kneels down beside the witch's head, "I'm not going to tell you exactly how I plan on torturing you and killing you but let's just say it's not going to be very pleasant on your end at all which makes it all the more better for us. But you see, we need this Edward ghost gone and we know you can do that. So if you send him away or whatever the hell you do, you'll have a less painful death, how does that sound?"

The witch can see the fire behind Jane's eyes, she knows how badly this woman wants to torture her.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" she asks.

"You don't," Lilly says. "But it's a risk you're going to have to take now, isn't it?"

The witch looks at each vampire's face, studying them to see if there's another way out of it. She quickly realises there is none.

"Hurry up!" Emmett cries out. By this time, Alice's head is almost completely torn off and she is no longer able to try and fight back.

"You have three seconds!" Bella yells, putting more pressure on the witch's chest.

"Okay! Okay, I'll get rid of him," she agrees.

Bella gets off of her immediately and yanks the witch to her feet.

She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths before uttering a spell in a foreign language. Soon enough, Alice's body has fallen into Jasper's arms, her head immediately beginning to heal itself.

"It's done," the witch states. "He's gone for good, there'll be no more trouble for you."

Bella lets go of the witch in her rush to be with Alice, causing the woman to fall back down on the ground unceremoniously. She glares at the back of Bella and is about to cast a spell when Jane shoots a paralysing pain through the witch's body, preventing any trick she thought she might've had up her sleeve.

"And the fun begins," Jane smirks.

"Alice!" Bella cries out.

Alice has just finished healing and able to move again when Bella comes charging at her full force.

The girl comes to her senses and jumps out of Jasper's arms just in time for Bella to run into her in a big embrace.

"Alice, oh my God," Bella repeatedly says against her lover's neck, eyes tightly shut. Not daring to pull away from her.

"It's okay, Bella," Alice soothes, running her hands up and down Bella's back. "I'm okay."

Bella finally pulls away enough to look into Alice's eyes to make sure that she is in fact alright. Seeing just that, she crushes her lips to Alice's, not caring about anyone around them right now.

"Alice!" a female voice calls out, interrupting their moment. "Oh thank God!"

The two girls pull away just as Rosalie comes running over and strangling Alice in a bear tight hug.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Rosalie tells her.

"Why is everyone blaming me for things today?" Alice says exasperatedly.

Emmett, Jasper and Bella chuckle at that. Everyone is relieved that everything has settled down now and will be okay.

A thud is heard and they all turn to face where the noise came from. The witch is dead. The Volturi are talking with Lilly about joining their guard again which immediately peaks the Cullens' interest. They didn't know that Lilly used to be part of the Volturi. Rosalie stays silent, hoping that her sister will refuse and stay with them.

"Thank you for the offer," Lilly says. "But I have found my sister. I've finally found my home."

"The offer will always be there," Jane tells her. She nods to the other guards and simply says, "We're done here." Taking one last look at the Cullens, Jane and the other Volturi members leave.

The wolves growl out their goodbyes knowing that there is no more threat.

Lilly stands by herself with her back towards everyone, deep in thought.

"Hey, Lilly!" Emmett calls out.

Lilly turns around to face him.

"So what exactly is your power?" he asks.

"Everything," she shrugs her shoulders.

Emmett stares at her dumbfounded and Rosalie just smiles and rolls her eyes.

"She can mimic a gift when she's close to the gifted person," Rosalie says. "So when she is near Alice, she gets visions."

"But it's way cooler than that," Lilly says, making her way over to the Cullens. "I have a stronger and more controllable version of their gifts. So I see more when Alice has a vision and I can have the visions whenever I want if I practised it enough which wouldn't be hard or take long to learn."

"Huh," Emmett grunts, crossing his arms over his chest. "And how did you not know this about her, Alice? Aren't you supposed to be the psychic one in this family?"

Alice punches him in the stomach before he has time to react and he crumbles over in pain.

"I suppose that answers a lot of my questions then," Jasper smiles at Lilly. "I couldn't read your emotions when you were close to me because you could block them out from mimicking my gift."

Lilly smirks at him in amusement, "You haven't got me all figured out yet, cowboy."

"And you!" Bella turns to point her finger at Jasper's chest, faking her anger. "Keep your hands off Alice. She's mine now, you had your chance, mister!"

Knowing that Bella is joking he laughs and says, "Yes ma'am."

She laughs with him and pulls him into a hug. Soon enough, a group hug has started with Rosalie grumbling when Emmett shoves her into the hug as well.

"Today turned out better than I thought," Emmett says.

"Yeah," Alice says. "But Lilly and I knew it'd end up okay," the two girls look at each other and smile.

The moment is ruined when they hear an ear-piercing scream. Everyone jumps away from each other to see what is going on.

"Esme, no!" Alice screams out.

Emmett, Jasper and Lilly start running towards Esme but it's too late. She ran into the fire that is still set alight from her husband's burning body, her own now aflame as she lies down with her husband's remains. Her screams having brought back the werewolves.

The werewolves realise what has happened and sit down, their way of showing respect. The Cullens cry out seeing their motherly figure having taken her own life because she couldn't bear the thought of living without her husband. She didn't know what he had done but even if she did, the outcome would have been the same. She loved him and that was all that mattered to her.

The screams stop. Everything around them becomes silent.

No one predicted the tragedy that has taken place. Their day of victory has turned into a day of grief. They are heartbroken. Emmett feels it the most, blaming himself for not having stayed with Esme. Lilly also feels a lot of guilt having set Carlisle aflame, making sure he wasn't to return to the living.

Jasper sorrowfully shakes his head and says, "Stop blaming yourselves. This isn't your fault."

They quietly gather around the fire and each of them says their goodbyes.

Jasper is the first to leave, not wanting to be around so many strong emotions much longer. Lilly leaves with him. Next are Emmett and Rosalie, walking away slowly, heartbrokenly. Alice and Bella are the last ones to leave. Bella is holding Alice tightly as Alice breaks down. She doesn't want to leave Esme but after they have been there for a while, Bella gently begins to guide Alice away and back to the house.

The building is depressing for everyone to walk into. There's no life in it. It's become a miserable place. They left this house ready for war, everyone determined to stick together and win. They did win. At the cost of Carlisle and Esme. Everyone is hurting over their loss of Carlisle as well but they only saw him as a traitor. It's Esme that all the Cullens are grieving over.

A few months go by and light has been brought back into their lives. It's not the same as it used to be, there are days when they feel low and days where they feel fine, still affected by the death of Esme, who they all saw as their mother. But they've come a long way.

Lilly and Jasper are in a happy relationship, Lilly always messing around with her emotions to confuse Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie are as good as they've always been and Bella and Alice have never been more in love than they are right now.

"You know," Alice says. "All of those visions I had about the battle and what happened after it never ending up coming true."

"Maybe I was your good luck charm after all," Lilly winks, snuggling in closer to Jasper.

"Lilly," Bella warns. "We have talked about this. You have Jasper now so back off."

The four of them laugh. Life isn't perfect but for now, it's as perfect as can be.

Author's Note:

I would really like to thank one reviewer in particular for making me aware that I kept changing between past and present tense. MY BAD AND THANK YOU.

If you get any notifications after this about this story, it'll just be me correcting all those mistakes I made if I ever get around to it.

Thank you all once again!

I hope I didn't disappoint you all too much with this final chapter :)

~Over and out.