Across fictive worlds

Chapter 2

General POV - Earth

More than half the Cullen family was assembled in the waiting room of the Forks General Hospital when Carlisle entered and motioned for Esme, Edward, Alice and Jasper to follow him into his office.

Alice was all but biting her nails nervously, her visions still clouded. Jasper was making plans to fake Bella's death to get her turned as quickly and as safely as possible. Carlisle was worrying about Bella's mental state. Esme burst out: "Well? How are they?" the moment they were alone, her worries equally on Bella and Edward.

But all of them kept thinking the same thing: What had Edward said to Bella to make her like that?

Everyone including Edward himself because he honestly had no idea.

"Charlie Swan has several fractures in both his legs where he was crushed underneath the debris", Carlisle stated somberly. "They will heal but it will take time, about three months at the very least I suspect. Bella only has a couple of scrapes and bruises but she's suffering from severe shock. She's largely unresponsive. When I mentioned her father's injuries though and asked if she wanted to see him, she started screaming and threw me against the wall with enough force to leave a crack in it."

"She threw you against a wall?" Jasper echoed incredulously.

"Without moving a muscle herself, yes", the doctor confirmed tired.

One week ago when Bella Swan stepped into their lives, everything had changed. Alice had seen her joining the family as Edward's mate immediately, before she even came to school. Edward's first reaction had been denial. He didn't want to curse any living human to a life like theirs. Then when her scent hit him he'd been convinced he'd never be able to spend any time around her at all to even get to know her. But aside from that first day where he'd almost ended her right then, Alice visions remained strong. So while Edward was gone the others got curious. Carlisle and Esme were so glad that there was one out there for their first son after all. Carlisle switched shifts with a colleague to be there when Bella came in for her checkup and Esme set up a cooking course when Alice predicted her looking for one. They only had brief chances to talk to her but knew her to be a headstrong, happy and kind person.

Alice was already living five years into the future, sure she would be best friends with Bella. When the girl had invited her to their first shopping trip, Alice was already busy planning the fifth one.

There was another thing she saw and that was that Bella, as a vampire, would be gifted. Extraordinarily so. So much in fact Jasper started pushing for turning her just for strategic reasons. She would give their coven a new offensive talent that could strengthen their position against the Volturi, who were already eyeing the three gifted Cullen siblings. Between Edward, Jasper and Alice they had a lot of supportive power but Jasper was the only one who could truly use his gift as a weapon. Bella's telekinesis, coupled with the support of her premonitions, would make her more effective than any of the Volturi's fighters. She had it all, range, speed and the ability to target several people at once. In Jasper's mind they needed to turn and secure her alliance while they still could. If her gift manifested this strongly already as a human, the danger grew that the Volturi or another powerful coven would learn about her and snatch her up first. If she was truly Edward's mate, that might mean loosing him too and if that happened, the Cullen clan might no longer be safe for Alice and Jasper to stay with.

Alice groaned. "Edward, what have you said to her? I see all kinds of bad things in her future now!"

Edward, who had a first row seat for the images of depression, destructive newborn rage and self-isolation winced.