Burning Star: A Twilight FanFic

Ch 17- Everything We Are

"So in order to create the simulation for Alice, we need to dive deeply into the minds of different beings. Obviously we have witches covered, and I already know everything about Berit, so half vampires are covered too. As for the wolves, a combination of Mitch and Seth would probably be best." Gavrila explained. "An alpha who was one of the first wolves, and a younger wolf who has a more ordinary ranking in the pack."

"You've already searched my mind plenty over the years, so I suppose it doesn't matter if you do it again," Mitch sighed. Gavrila laughed and immediately began invading his mind.

I turned to Seth. "I'll be searching through your mind. It's going to be quite extensive, so I'm afraid you won't be able to have any secrets after this," I said, half warning and half apologizing.

He shrugged. "I have nothing to hide from you."

I smiled softly and took his hand. The contact wasn't necessary for the spell, but I thought it would help somehow.

Seth's mind was just as pure as I thought. I began in his earliest memories. Happy moments with his family. Fishing with his father, playing with his sister, cuddling with his mom. As he grew older, others joined his life. Friends, extended family, other tribe members. I saw a young Jacob Black, as well as Raven's mate Embry,  sprinkled in here and there. I could tell that he'd always looked up to Jacob.

Finally I arrived at the catalyst that changed him. Leah in a rage, shaking, on the verge of tears, screaming at a stoic Harry Clearwater, suddenly exploding into a huge grey wolf. I saw Harry gasp and collapse. Sue and Seth were in shock for a short moment. I saw him watch his mother moved towards his father. And I could sense the surge of emotions rush through him and force the awakening of his own wolf.

I watched him develop his bond to the pack and grieve his father's death. I took note of all his discoveries about what his new form was like. How much he could hear, smell, and see. I memorized the feeling of the wind moving through is fur as he ran, the way it felt to share his thoughts with his brothers and his sister. There were little things, too; things like the annoyance of shredding clothes by accident and awkward moments of having to sneak through his house to get new ones.

I watched him in his first fight against vampires. He was up on a snowy mountain with Edward and Bella. He watched his pack mates fighting the newborn army through their thoughts. I watched him accept vampires as people despite his pack's prejudice. I watched him leave behind his old pack to join Jacob in protecting the Cullens from his brothers. Then there was the confrontation with the Volturi in a large clearing. All events that shaped his understanding of what it was like to be a wolf.

There were many years of peace between the Volturi's interference and the present day. He mastered control of his wolf, and had actually been preparing to stop shifting before my arrival. Many of the others had been as well.

I nearly gasped when I felt the intensity of his emotions when he first saw me. The way his whole life, his reason for living, changed and centered around me. The instant, overwhelming love he felt, and the happiness I brought him. He knew every detail of my face, committed the sight of my smile, the sound of my voice and laugh, and the feel of my body against his to memory. A blush tried to creep onto my face as I caught some of his more heated thoughts came forward, and I quickly cast a cooling spell.

As I searched, my own budding love for Seth grew stronger. Somehow, I'd been blessed with a man who was so honest, so kind, so pure. He loved without thought, he saw the best in everybody. It was so easy now to see a never ending life with him. I knew that I would never be able love anyone the way I loved him. The small part of my mind that wanted to resist this bond crumbled away, and serenity flowed through me.

All of this happened in a single minute. Sixty seconds, and I was eternally tied to Seth. I pulled myself out of his mind with a small amount of reluctance and turned to Gavrila.

"Do you have everything you need?" I asked her, doing my best to keep my voice even. That moment of bonding felt to personal to make public.

"Yep, I'm good," she confirmed. She turned speculative eyes to Alice. "Is there somewhere you could lay down or sit down, somewhere out of the way? It would probably awkward to have you become a statue in the middle of the room for two days. You'd be an odd design choice."

Alice laughed. "We have bedrooms upstairs. We can use mine."

We wandered up to the well decorated bedroom she shared with her mate Jasper. There was no bed but there was a large sofa that she went and sat on. Everybody had followed us up, Standing just outside the doorway, trying to get a good view of the action. Jasper sat down next Alice, protectively hovering over her and shooting Gavrila and I nervous glances.

"Alright, Alice. Are you ready?" I asked.

She nodded eagerly. "I'm ready. I want to fill in all the gaps in my vision."

"Let me explain exactly what's going to happen," I said. "First, Gavrila and I will search your mind to learn everything about you. I assure you everything we discover will remain confidential, as members of the Council are not allowed to disclose what we discover in other's minds to anyone but other Council members. The vision will start with half vampires, as that'll be the easiest for you to understand. Then it'll shift to witches, and then the wolves. What you'll be seeing is what it would be like for you to be one of each being. Your vision seems to cover only beings that you've personally been, so simply showing you other's experiences wouldn't work. It'll all take a little over two days, and once it's finished you'll wake up on your own."

After confirming her understanding, I linked my mind to Gavrila's and began the search of Alice's mind. Gavrila focused on observing her awareness of and thoughts about being a vampire, and the dim, hidden memories of her humanity. With our minds synced, I heard her resolve to restore all of Alice's human memories. Things like that always nagged at Gavrila.

I focused more on Alice's personality. Her interests, her values, this quirks that made her who she was. I also took responsibility for observing her abilities as a seer. Since I shared that ability, albeit in a different form, my partner and I both agreed that I would do that best.

With two of us working, the search took only a half a minute.

I let Gavrila handle the construction of the spell. Her unique casting method was much better for this kind of thing. Building the simulation as individual parts, sequentially layered and linked, was neater than the lengthy and convoluted formula I'd have to use. My job was to refine Gavrila's formulas and add in any more complex details.

We were always a good team, so when we were done, we'd created one of the best illusions either of us had ever made. We turned to each other with satisfied smiles. A perfectly satisfactory day, and it wasn't even 3 in the afternoon yet.