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morelike-bi-light · 5 years

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Bingo Fic: Leah/Victoria Fluff

So, this took literally forever to write - which is weird since it's the fic that was by far the easiest to plan out. At least part of it is because the wifi in my new apartment and my computer have a vehement distaste for one another. So I typed it on my computer and copied it into my phone. Anyways! I promised 500 word fics to the first people to fill out my bingo sheet a long while ago, and @effervescent-emmett was one of them! I love you, dude, and thank you for being so patient. And thank you for requesting Leahtoria, which is my heart and soul. It was so much fun to write when I finally got the chance. And I'm pretty sure this is longer than 500 words if that makes up for the lost time. It also definitely fits into the larger Victoria and Bree Cullen AUverse. Hope you like it and again, ilysm.

🖤🐈🧡

She doesn't know how long she sits there, legs crossed and back against the couch, staring at the side of that open cardboard box in the center of the coffee table. The box is white, with thick swishes and stripes of sky blue against which 'We deliver!' is spelt out in chunky block letters.

"What is wrong with you?"

Rosalie's tone wavers between awe and disbelief, and if she didn't know any better, Victoria would mistake her for impressed. As it is, she's pretty sure she's just amazed at the new levels of stupidity reached by her own - well, not flesh and blood, but sister. It seems all eternity has provided her is unlimited opportunities to break her own records.

Victoria groans, slumping over on the table and hiding behind her hands. Normally, she'd have some quip prepared, something about her being what's wrong, or there being something wrong with Emmett for somebody cool like him to see something in her – it doesn't have to be believable, just rude – but she just doesn't have the faculties to be eloquent at the moment.

"I don't know," she says instead, shrugging helplessly. "I don't know."

"Because there must be something wrong with you–"

"I know."

"–if you think that..." Even as she points an accusatory finger at the box, Rosalie keeps her appendage close to her chest, as if she's worried getting too close will make her catch the crazy. "... is a good idea."

"I know."

She really does. Victoria tucks an orange curl slipping from her ponytail behind her ear, screwing up her mouth. Slowly, she straightens up, sitting on her haunches, and peers into the open box.

"But look at them," she scowls. "They're pathetic."

Four tiny eyes - one pair gold, the other green - peer back at her from fuzzy, feline faces. The black one squints and meows, like he knows he's been insulted.

"Jesus Christ," Rosalie mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It's true!" Victoria insists. Brows furrowed, she dips her hand in and scoops up the first fluffy tube to stumble into her hand, lifting it up on display with both hands. The little white calico blinks up at their visitor, paws extended and shoulders hiked up to her little triangle ears, not unlike a zombie. "How are they supposed to hunt for themselves like this? They can't."

"That's what the mother is for." Rosalie crosses her arms and raises a stern brow. "Find the mom. Give them back."

Grimacing, Victoria shakes her head, gently – if a bit awkwardly – placing the kitten back in its makeshift pen.

"Trust me, I'd love to," she mutters, eyes sliding away.

Rosalie's gaze narrows. "And yet?"

"Well," she starts, "Bree and Esme went out for a quick hunt this morning..." The look on her sister's face stops her.

"Oh, no."

"Yeah. Bree's pretty, uh, bummed out about it. So I told her I'd go back and grab the poor thing's kids."

"For God's sake," Rosalie mutters, but her expression is concerned. Then she sighs. "Still, you can't expect them to stay here of all places."

"I'm not that stupid," Victoria grumbled. "Alice helped me find homes for the other three. She took two for the hospital and one to visit Charlie at the station. But there were two left, and I don't have a lot of options, so–"

"Wait," Rosalie sniffs, whipping towards the woods, then snaps back to fix a surprised stare on her sister. "Is that your little werewolf girlfriend?"

"Like I was saying–"

"I thought dogs and cats don't mix."

Victoria rolls her eyes, but she sits back on the couch, shifting nervously. "Would you get out already? I've got this. I'll figure it out."

"I'll hold you to that," she mutters, as she turns on her heel. "Fine, I'm leaving. Keep your pets off the furniture."

"I'm not responding to that," Victoria mumbles, and her sister vanishes just in time for Leah to emerge from the treeline, jogging over to back porch as she makes a last ditch effort to smooth out any tangles in her hair. Her dark stare is soft in the sunlight, creasing gently as her lips stretch into a fond grin. Victoria starts smiling, starts running without even realizing it, suddenly painfully aware of the ache in her stony chest that always creeps in when they've been apart too long. Yanking open the door and leaping forward, she snatches her love into her arms and spins, burying her lips in the crook of her warm neck. Yelping and giggling, Leah wraps her legs around her waist and her arms around her neck, leaning away from her girlfriend's cold nose.

"Warn a girl, would you? I'm ticklish!" She snorts, and though she makes a show of pouting, the redhead obliges and sets her down, hands moving to rest on the small of her back. Her petulance only elicits a smirk in response. "So I take it you missed me?"

"Who would have thought four days could last so long?" Victoria groans, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "You know I'm so happy and proud of you – you deserve nothing less and way more – but I'd be just as proud if your publisher ran its business out of, I don't know, Canada."

"Aww," Leah hums. "If it helps, San Diego was nice, but it was pretty boring without you."

Victoria straightens and shrugs, trying to hide the way her mouth curls in satisfaction. "A little, maybe."

"A little," Leah nods, smothering her own smile.

Victoria's about to ask how the meeting went, if her editor was nice, when the shifter stiffens, blinking. She turns her head towards the house, mouth pursed, then slowly looks back at her girlfriend.

"Hey... is there a reason why your family's house smells like cats?" She asks, brows creased quizzically.

Going still, Victoria glances between her girlfriend and the door, mouth poised to answer but no sound coming out. After a moment, she reluctantly lets go of Leah's middle, gently removing the arms around her neck and sliding her right hand into Leah's left.

"There was an incident, this morning," she starts, then pauses, searching for the right words. "I have something strange to ask you."

"Okay... I'm listening."

"Do you... have room for a couple of cats?"

"In my apartment?"

"And your heart," Victoria teases, trying for a cheesy smile, but pulling off what feels more like a grimace.

"Are you serious?" For a second, Leah just looks at her, eyes roaming her features like she isn't totally sure she's real, but then she sighs. "Shit. Alright, lead the way."

From Leah, that's actually exactly the response she was hoping for. Hiding a smirk, Victoria pulls her girlfriend in the direction of the mewing box of furry babies, wisely declining to respond when she laments the irony of being born a 'cat person'. And it's true – the second the Clearwater lays eyes on them, you can physically see her fate being sealed. It's pretty adorable, really. She melts in their teeny presences, tucking them close to her chest and planting quick, sneaky kisses on their foreheads as she spouts off her supposedly limited wealth of cat knowledge.

"I'm such a sucker," she laments after fifteen minutes of fawning. She lifts the black kitty up to her face and he licks her nose. "I'm a fool. I deserve this."

Worried what kind of romantic goop will come out if she tried to respond verbally, Victoria just nods, love in her eyes and the fiestiest calico on the planet gnawing fruitlessly on her pinkie.

"And you don't mind this little guy?" Leah asks with a wry glance. The lapse in her attention frustrates the orphan occupying her lap, and soon she's given into the black kitten's insistent mewing and nudging with careful head scratches. "I mean, black cats were said to be bad omens in your day."

"Or witches." She takes a moment to reflect on this, before shrugging. "So were redhead girls who played near the woods."

For a second, she feels her age acutely. She avoids Leah's eyes, thoughtfully running her fingers through the calico's fur, observing quietly as she attempts to knead at her leg. The kitten grows increasingly frustrated as her claws pierce through denim only to scrabble against what may as well be marble. A warm weight settles on Victoria's shoulder, and she leans into it, burying her nose in Leah's dark hair.

"So were women who loved each other, right? And I love you," she murmurs. "So, okay, screw it. More fun to be 'wicked' together."

"A lot more fun," Victoria smirks, turning to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth, but Leah frowns, tapping her nose before it can go any further.

"Not in front of the children," she scolds. "Speaking of which, what are we gonna name these little gremlins?"

Victoria huffs, then looks over the gremlins in question, starting with the one furiously pushing her claws into her jeans in an increasingly erratic rhythm. "I don't know. Spot?"

The suggestion earns her a look of disbelief. "That's a dog name."

"Jake is also a dog name."

"Shut up."

"I like Spot," Victoria insists, "and she's on my lap. I think that gives me naming rights."

"Naming rights." Leah rolls her eyes, before gluing them back to the animal in her own lap. "Okay, fine. We have Spot. Now we just need to figure out this little guy."

"Well, he's on your lap. So the responsibility falls to you."

"Lucky for him," Leah mutters under her breath, then pauses. "What about... Lucky?"

"Huh." Victoria blinks. The corners of her mouth start to twitch. "For our little bad omen?"

Leah shrugs, stroking a finger along his cheek. The purr it drags out is loud enough to startle Spot into looking up from her work on distressing her name-giver's denim. "Yeah, what do you think?"

Victoria looks at the cat in question, who looks back with pleased, gold slits.

"Hey, Lucky," she says. "Meet your sister, Spot."

"And the weirdest parents you could have possible hoped for," Leah laughs, shaking her head.

"Happy-weird," Victoria corrects her.

"Right. Happy-weird."

🖤🐈🧡

And, so it turns out, to the eternal amusement of the entire Olympic Coven – but especially Emmett – that Leah and Victoria are both cat people. Fun fact, immediately after I wrote that bit about Leah teasing Victoria for picking a dog's name, I got excited about naming their black cat Pluto because I thought it was a cute and fitting name. Only to realize a couple lines later that Pluto, is in fact, a very famous dog's name. But lucky - ha! - for me, a cuter name came to me anyway. Oh, sorry for the long post, by the way - I can't figure out how to do Read More on mobile. Okay, two down, two to go! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed, guys!

#leah clearwater #twilight #twilight saga #twilight fic #rosalie hale #victoria sutherland #victoria #leahtoria #victoria bree au #victoria bree fic #bilight's bs #bilight's aus #bilight writes #bilight interacts #bree tanner #twilight fanfic #twilight fanfiction #twilight reneissance #twilight renaissance

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morelike-bi-light · 5 years

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AU Where Victoria and Bree Join the Olympic Coven

And Also Vampires Can Cry Now Because Fuck Smeyer

Starting with Twilight

So in this AU Laurent tells the Cullens that Victoria and James are mates while he's info-dumping, because James isn't a total moron on top of a dick and tries to utilize Victoria's power of self-preservation to aid in his hunt by having her guard the studio instead of... whatever he asked her to do in canon. Unfortunately those powers only work when her adversary's goal is to kill her, and in this version Bella asks Jasper to stay and guard her dad so he can use his powers to provide comfort to Charlie while Bella's away. So Esme takes his place at the studio and she proposes that instead of destroying her, they use Victoria as a bargaining chip to trade for Bella.

But when they confront him, he just laughs and tells them to kill her. That she was just a toy and a tool for him to get what he wants. Tells them how pathetic she was before he started hunting her down, too afraid to interact with even the weakest of vampires. He tells them how she was so grateful to be left alive when he hunted her down, how she’d do whatever he said, how useful her ability to evade was, how amusing it was to see her scramble to appease him. He tells them that if she's so weak that they could overpower her, then she's outlived her use to him anyways. Victoria’s humiliation grows as she listens, and eventually she restrains him herself, gleefully helping Edward and Emmett destroy him. However, Bella’s wounds distract them soon after, and they fail to make sure his body burns with the ballet studio.

When they return to Forks, Carlisle and Esme offer her a place to stay, seeing as Laurent has already left for Alaska. While she refuses at first, unwilling to take the vegetarian lifestyle, after a month or so of living alone, she makes her way back. She shows up at the school prom, confessing that she just doesn’t know what to do anymore. Victoria needs a purpose, and James may have been abusive and cruel and heartless but he had offered her that. Bella convinces Edward to take her back to the house and the Cullens take a vote on whether to accept her. Edward and Rosalie are the only ones who vote against, so in she’s brought. They spend the rest of the school year and then the whole summer teaching her how to control the bloodlust, and how to be a part of the family.

She stays very close to Esme whenever she can. Esme is the first one that Victoria really tells her story to: her sister and her getting beaten as servants, working as prostitutes to stay off the streets, finally finding happiness in her coven of sisters, only to have the Volturi steal Heidi and slaughter them all. Getting hunted and then recruited by James. Esme cries (fuck smeyer) when Victoria can’t, and she asks for permission to touch her until Victoria tells her she doesn’t need to. And even when Victoria is itching to scream or cry or tear the walls of their perfect house done, she’s patient and gentle. She sees Esme reading a book one day and mentions ofhandedly that she only barely knows how to read, despite being alive so long, and that’s when they start reading together, starting with Anne of Green Gables, who also had fiery hair, freckles, and a found family. Esme is home.

Of course, the whole coven comes to mean something to her. Carlisle fills her with a feeling of safety and hope. He doesn’t let anything happen to his family, and she’s part of it now. Emmett makes her feel a different kind of safe - the kind that comes with knowing that there’s someone who doesn’t care if she screws up, who will invite her out for a run through the woods regardless of what she’s done and who she’s been. Jasper, she feels a kinship to. He comes from bad blood too - no pun intended. They’ve both down awful things to innocent people to appease those who controlled them. And she can always count on him to bring her calm when everything else is driving her crazy. Alice’s optimism, while irritating at first, has often been her only source of hope for the future, and Bella, though she smells delicious, is even more valuable for how normal she can make Victoria feel. Edward is still cold, but Victoria trusts him, and he seems to have accepted that her intentions are genuine. Rosalie is distant, and when they’re alone together, they’re quiet, but she walks with her at school, and sits with her around the house.

Then Onto New Moon

At Bella’s party, it’s not just Jasper who can’t control himself when Bella bleeds - Victoria loses control, too. After all, Jasper can’t calm her when he can’t calm himself. She feels bad about the whole thing, but secretly she thinks that Edward pushing her into the glass made everything a lot worse than it had to be. Edward argues that this is exactly why they should never have taken her in in the first place, which hurts more than she wants to admit, but to her surprise, Rosalie comes to her defense, pointing out that Jasper lost control too, and they’d never use that as an excuse to throw him out.

When the clan decides to leave, she’s scared that they’ll figure out a way to leave her behind. That when they move, they’ll bring her, but something will change. That they’ll figure out that she’s a lost cause and just be rid of her. But nothing happens. They move, for Bella’s safety, and her absence is the only thing that changes. Esme still cuddles with her on the couch and reads with her. They’re working through Anne of Avonlea now. Emmett and she still go racing through the forest, and despite his talk, he still never wins. Rosalie and she still sit at the table. Alice still does her hair in the mornings. She catches Esme drafting letters, then throwing them out while shaking her head and trembling. They’re crumbled and scribbled on and addressed to Bella. Victoria wonders if they’ve all made a mistake but bites her tongue. She doesn’t have the right to question their decisions, not when she is still one of the most recent ones.

When Edward decides to commit suicide, and Bella and Alice go to bring him back, the Volturi mention concern over the adoption of Victoria into the Cullen clan. Edward sees the memories of Aro and the rest hunting down Victoria’s coven, and feels a pang of guilt over his dismissal of her as unfeeling, untrustworthy and a threat to Bella. Among their other complaints and suspicions, they demand that the Cullens ensure her control if they plan on keeping her in the same area for as long as they usually do, and warn that if they fail to turn Bella and control Victoria, the Volturi will be forced to take drastic measures to protect their kind.

When they return, Victoria refuses to talk to Edward for a while. Her head pulses with memories of her sister’s cries cutting off abruptly, with just the echoes left to listen to. Of the sound of her coven members’ footsteps fading, until hers are the only ones still crunching through the snow. Of screaming and collapsing and being utterly alone once more. She wants to yell at Edward, demand he tell her how he could do that to Carlisle and Esme, who love him more than should be possible. How could he do that to his siblings? I mean, maybe he doesn’t care about her, and she knows that, she’s accepted it, but to do it to Emmett? To Alice?

It’s weeks before they reconcile. He approaches softly as she sits alone, in the house, and he sits next to her. She glares at him, and he flinches. She tells him he was stupid. She tells him exactly what he knows she’s been thinking - that he is lucky to have found a family that loves him so much, and he has proved how unworthy he is of that love, to throw it in their face. She tells him that she is older and has been lonelier. That he must be a fool to not recognize the gift he’s been given in Carlisle and Esme. He stares at the floor as she hurls her abuse at him. When she’s done, he looks up, pausing, and tells her that he’s sorry that he left, and that she lost her sister. She freezes, scowls at him, and disappears.

A few days later, Esme talks with her about it. She thanks her for caring so much about her and Carlisle, and for valuing them so much. She asks her to consider what Edward must’ve been feeling, to consider what he did. to commit. She starts thinking about it more and more. In the end, she approaches him, and gives him a reluctant, awkward hug. She doesn’t say anything - he can read her mind. No point in being redundant.

And Some Major Changes to Eclipse

By the time that summer rolls around, Victoria is just starting to relax. She knows better than to expect it to last, but she takes a cue from Esme and Alice, and determines to take comfort where she can. At least, she does until she slips up and bites an injured human while running in the woods a few miles from Seattle. He’s a young man, wearing a U of O shirt that’s splattered with blood and mud from the wound on his shoulder. In the midst of drinking his blood, she thinks about the reactions of her new family, and wrenches herself away from the body. She’s so overwhelmed by her own self-loathing and fear, that she doesn’t process the padding of paws or the rustling of branches that linger in the brush.

Sprinting all the way back to the house, she admits her deed to Esme in the dead of night, and then Carlisle the next morning. After some debate, they decide to wait before they tell the others. Unfortunately, it’s only a week or so before they get wind of a string of murders and disappearances cropping up in Seattle. Edward immediately learns of Victoria’s guilt when they bring it up and is furious that she has put both the clan and Bella in danger. Rosalie, too, is frustrated, but the rest of the clan does their best to keep things from escalating. Edward and Victoria’s relationship worsens further when in a moment of discomfort and disgust, Victoria points out that James would also prevent her from seeing other men without his permission.

While Bella and Edward deal with drama concerning their relationship and her connections with the pack, Carlisle helps Victoria work on her control using first animal blood, and then whatever human blood is about to expire from the local bank. Eventually, Jasper and Alice join in on the sessions as well. While the sessions are a struggle, and increase in difficulty with each success, Victoria finally starts to feel like her future may remain in her control. But everything feels like it’s crumbling when Alice gets a vision of James surviving to seek revenge on the Cullens, but even more than them, Victoria. On top of the lessons on self control, Jasper starts giving her lessons in self defense, should James catch her unawares and the rest of them aren’t there to help.

After some time, Jacob, on behalf of the wolf pack, informs Bella that the injured man that Victoria fed on has been helping James to build an army of newborns, who are responsible for the corpses scattered all over Seattle. The coven begins to prepare for an attack, though the Denali Coven refuses to come to their aid. Apparently, Laurent thought that supporting James was wiser than defending her and the Cullens, a choice that had resulted in his death at the hands - or teeth - of Bella’s pack of shapeshifters. She doesn’t feel anything but a vague irritation at the news. The La Push pack offers to replace the Denalis in battle, although her presence in the coven certainly doesn’t make them more enthused about it. Edward, Bella, Jacob, and Seth go up the mountain to wait out the fight.

While Victoria had fervently hoped that James would be too angry at her to bother chasing after the squishiest member of her new family, he decides that going after Bella is the only way to get his revenge - as well as finally complete his hunt. However, his beating at the ballet studio has weakened him, and Edward manages to kill him before he can do any damage. Seth kills his right hand man Riley, who himself had sworn to kill her, as she was responsible for his transformation and had abandoned him in the woods. Meanwhile, the Olympic coven and the pack work together to destroy the newborn army, and during the battle, Victoria and Jake’s combined efforts protect Leah from a newborn. (It’s lucky she was there, too, or she suspects Jacob would’ve broken something.)

On the other side of the battlefield, Carlisle and Esme offer Bree a new home in exchange for her surrender, and she immediately agrees. Victoria and Jasper are initially suspicious, and have Carlisle and Esme leave her with them. When Edward and Bella arrive, Victoria asks him to read the girl’s mind and they discern that she has genuine intentions. Bree is obviously terrified, and Edward tells Victoria that the newborns were fed horrible stories of what would happen to them should they be captured - especially by the red-haired target herself. Victoria feels a pang of regret and empathy, knowing exactly what it’s like to have James slip inside your mind, draw out your greatest fears, and paint them onto the world around you, until everywhere you look, you see a threat. When Victoria looks at Bree, she sees her previous self - except wiser, clearly, as the Victoria of the past would never have been able to discern foe from friend under the influence of James.

That’s when she looks across the field and sees the Volturi have started to arrive. It’s been over half a millennium since she turned, but at the prospect of experiencing a repeat of the events that claimed her original coven, she’s never felt more damned. Things only get worse when Victoria recognizes her former coven member, Heidi, emerging from their ranks, and surveying the scene with disinterest, until their eyes meet, and her brow quirks. If Victoria was human, her stomach would be rolling. Jasper tries to ground her with a feeling of calm and peace as she starts to tremble, and Esme and Carlisle slowly drift over, placing supportive hands on her back as the two groups come to stand before one another.

When the Volturi demand that Bree be handed over, for interrogation, Victoria nearly collapses on the spot. “No,” she whispers, even as Bree slowly stands, resignation etched into her young features. “No, they can’t.” She grips Esme, leaning into her embrace, staring up into her kind, horrified eyes and pleading as she never has before. “Esme, please. Esme. Please.” She’ll offer herself in the girl’s place - she’s had aeons to become something worthy of existing, and this girl has surpassed her with hardly a childhood. Carlisle implores the Volturi to entrust the girl with the Olympic Coven, and Aro makes a show of pretending to consider it. Victoria remembers, looking through his curtains of dark hair and into his mercilessly red eyes, exactly why she spent so many centuries hiding from her own kind. Heidi whispers something in Caius’s ear, and a murmur breaks out among the coven’s core members.

When the whispers stop, Aro turns to the family with a hard glare, looking them over one by one before his eyes land on the fifteen-year-old on trial. He pins up a saccharine smile to tell them that the Volturi will bequeath her to the Cullens, but only after a short and painful interrogation, the screams from which are muffled by Jasper’s kind smothering, and a vow to to uphold the laws of the Volturi. Bree doesn’t really feel alive until Carlisle steps forward and grasps her by the elbow, leading her back until she’s pressed between him and his wife, with Victoria and Rosalie maneuvering forward to flank their sides, crouching defensively in case they should change their minds. Esme curls one hand into Bree’s hair, and places her other in Victoria’s hand, chin lifted defiantly in the direction of the Volturi.

Aro isn’t done, however. He asks the Cullen how the newborn army’s leader was turned. He says, looking at Victoria, that whoever is responsible for the spawning of the first newborn must face the consequences of their failure to clean up after themselves. Even as Esme’s grip tightens, the redhead doesn’t blink, meeting his eyes. She knows what her lack of control has cost her family - and isn’t it funny, that it’s the first time she doesn’t hesitate to think of them as that - and she won’t cost them anything else. Carlisle, to his credit, doesn’t bat an eye as he tells the Volturi that they don’t know who is responsible, that he imagines it must be James. That Alice has only ever seen him in her visions. Aro smiles and points out that wrongdoing is not always a matter of choice, but before he can continue, Edward interrupts, claiming that one of the shapeshifters has something to add. One of the wolves begins to change form, and when the process is done, the wolf is now one of the most beautiful women that Victoria has ever seen, with cropped black hair, and merciless eyes that simmer with disgust.

Leah steps forward from the pack and testifies that she was present during the initial changing of Riley. Aro beckons her forward, and she complies, though her pack rumbles with discontent. Carlisle joins her side as she walks forward, explaining softly how Aro’s powers work, and hesitating before informing her that she does have the option to refuse to comply. Leah nods, glancing away, before silently presenting her arm to the red-eyed coven leader. Aro ghosts his fingers along her forearm before wrapping his icy fingers around her warm wrist. Edward whispers to Bella and his clan about what he’s seeing in the shapeshifter’s mind. She was taking a familiar run that summer night a ways outside of Seattle, when Riley was first bit. She’d caught a whiff of blood in the distance as well as a hint of something nauseatingly sweet, and decided to investigate. Riley’s initial injury had been inflicted by a weakened James from behind, who upon recognizing Victoria’s scent, had abandoned his victim in her path. The temptation to drink was too much for the new vegetarian, but when she realized what she was doing, she’d wrenched herself away and sprinted back to her home as quickly as possible, leaving the injured boy behind. James then emerged from where he’d been watching and soon after dragged him away.

Leah had warned the pack of what she’d seen, and soon thereafter Jacob had informed Bella of the pack’s interactions with James. Victoria’s eyes are glued to the shapeshifter as Edward relays her memories. When the account has been given, Leah firmly removes her arm from Aro’s slackened clasp and takes a step back. The Volturi leader gives the shapeshifter an odd look, as though he’s both fascinated and disgusted, before reluctantly announcing that Victoria is not technically at fault for the newborns, but she will be watched carefully by the Volturi - and should she make even a minor mistake again, it will be her last. She doesn’t flinch under his gaze as he says this, but Esme loops her arm around the redhead’s shoulders, providing support without releasing her hand.

Finally, the Volturi leader inquires about Bella’s humanity, noting with distaste their failure to honor their word. The Cullens assure them that the date for transformation has been set, and that as soon as Bella graduates from high school, her disappearance will warrant much less panic. Carlisle notes that this is actually in better keeping with the Volturi’s philosophy than if they were to change her and disappear without a trace. At long last, the Volturi admit satisfaction, and reluctantly depart with only warnings and threats in their wake. Victoria watches Heidi’s back as she follows the clan leader away from the battlefield, and tries not to feel a pang of rejection. They haven’t seen one another in centuries - and even if that wasn’t the case, there would be none of Heidi’s former sentiment surviving under the influence of Chelsea.

After they depart, the battlefield slowly starts to clear, first with bodies piled and burning, then with the coven and the wolf pack’s diplomatic exchanges. Victoria hesitates to leave Esme’s side, but she glances down at Bree, still glued to the matriarch’s side, and determines to learn to stand on her own feet more often, so that she could support Esme - who would surely be doing the brunt of the work of acclimating the newest Cullen, just as she did with Victoria - as well as Bree in her own right. She glances across the field, at Leah, and thinks there is no better time to start than then.

She pulls away from Esme and slowly pads up to Leah, still in human form. She thanks her for testifying on her behalf, and Leah thanks her for her part in protecting her from the newborns. She makes her laugh at some point, and Victoria makes her smile and blush. The vampire pretends not to notice. After all, she imagines that if she were human, Leah would’ve turned her red more than once already. Eventually the two groups part ways, returning to their respective homes, and as Victoria returns to the coven, Esme and Alice are watching her with strange looks on their faces - strange, mischievous looks. She pretends not to notice that either.

That summer, Bree slowly begins to acclimate to the clan. Victoria feels a pang, watching her go through the motions. After all, she’s only barely gotten used to being in the family herself, and there are still so many days where she wakes up wondering when they are going to abandon her, or destroy her, or worse. Rosalie is almost as protective of and attentive to the teenager as Esme and Carlisle. In fact, the entire clan seems to have decided to involve themselves with her healing.

Victoria swallows the bitterness, trying to remind herself of the sensibility in the clan’s initial reaction to her, but it scares her how little reason soothes her anxiety. Emmett, Bella, and Carlisle seem to understand her worries, though, and with their help - distracting games with Emmett, indulgent hangouts with Bella, and long talks with Carlisle - she learns how to manage and erode any lingering envy or fear. (She never worries about Esme though. They finish Anne of Avonlea, and complete Matilda before the summer ends. She’s gotten better at reading on her own, but she has a feeling it will always be easier with Esme.)

Besides, she adores Bree. Bree is kind, and quiet, and goofy. She is a kid the likes of which Victoria never got to be, and, according to Edward and Carlisle, the likes of which Bree never really got to be before she was bitten either. Of course, Rosalie loves her too, to everyone except Emmett’s surprise. She pulls Victoria aside one day, with newspaper clippings and social services records, a month or so after Bree moves in. They disappear the following weekend, leaving just a note claiming the need to go hunting and a desire to bond. Carlisle frowns and furrows his brows, but Emmett is a good boy and stays tight-lipped about the whole thing. When anyone asks, he just shrugs. “They left a note, you know.”

Esme is the only one home when they return two weeks later in the dead of night, with black eyes, and human blood crusting under their nails. She’s wiping down the kitchen counter after one of Alice’s wedding planning sessions. “What’d they do?” she asks, without looking up. The blonde and the redhead glance at each other, before answering. “He killed her mom,” Victoria murmurs, thinking of her sister. “And tortured her,” Rosalie continues, remembering her death. Esme pauses, using her rag to wipe any glue or glitter stuck to her own hands. She pays special attention to her wedding ring. “I’m glad you’re home.”

While Alice is obviously involved with the wedding as soon as it’s announced, Bella asks Rosalie, Esme, Victoria, and Bree to be bridesmaids as well. Bree is shocked and starts to tear up immediately, but Victoria turns to stone at the proposal. She nods her acceptance, but she can’t find her voice. Later when she’s sitting alone on the balcony, pondering the situation she’s in, Bella approaches and asks her what’s wrong. Victoria asks why Bella asked her to be a bridesmaid, and Bella tells her she doesn’t have to be one if she doesn’t want to. Victoria asks her again why Bella asked her to be one. Bella thinks for a moment, then slowly comes over and sits next to her. She asks Victoria why she is asking.

Victoria lists everything she’s ever done to endanger Bella, every time her decisions made it harder for Edward and Bella to stay together. It seems liek she’ll never run out of reasons for Bella not to have asked her, until Bella interrupts and tells her that first of all, none of what she’s said was Victoria’s fault. She tells Victoria that she has never blamed Victoria - for James, for Laurent, for Edward, for Riley. She suggests that Victoria’s should consider therapy - obviously she couldn’t tell a therapist everything, but she could start to work on some of the trauma and self-doubt she has at the very least. “But that’s not the point,” she continues. “The point is that you guys, all of you, are my family. All of you. And I love all of you. You’re my sister, Victoria, just as much as Alice, and Bree, and even Rosalie. I love you, and how you came to be a part of this family doesn’t change that. We’re in this together, right?”

Bella still hangs out with members of the wolf pack from time to time, and during their trips to theaters, game stores, and bowling alleys, Victoria gets in the habit of asking after Leah. Apparently, Leah asks after her, too. Eventually, Bella gets sick of being the messenger and just sets them up to hang out without her. At Alice’s suggestion, they go to the movies and see an animated film about a garbage robot who falls in love with a space robot and accidentally-on-purpose helps humanity return to Earth. It’s nice, and afterwards they go to a cafe where they both order dinner so that Leah doesn’t have to deal with rude looks for ordering so much food. They talk about silly things, like music, and art, and eventually books get brought up and Victoria mutters that she likes Anne of Green Gables before clamming up. Leah gets the hint and changes the subject.

Spending time with Leah becomes a thing. It’s not habitual enough to be casual, but it’s just often enough to be a thing. Having plans with her feels like an event, and the first few times Victoria spends way too many hours fighting with herself over what to wear and how to do her hair and if she should use makeup - aren’t they already supposed to look perfect? What if she can’t do better and just messes things up? Not the point. The point is, Rosalie takes over her Leah-plan looks from then on, because enough is enough, and Alice is too busy planning a damn wedding to do the job for them. The third time they hang out, Victoria confesses that she’s still learning to read. The next time they meet up, Leah admits that she did some research on adult literacy and found a few articles and pamphlets about helping friends who learned how to read late adjust and continue their growth. Victoria tries to play it cool but her eyes are wet the whole time and she’s smiling like she’s psychotic for a week straight.

They’re walking back to the border of their territories after the sixth of such hangouts when she glances over at the shapeshifter and starts to notice an ache in her chest. They stop at a midpoint and stare at each other before awkwardly saying good night when the ache drips lower and turns to a burn. Victoria hasn’t wanted to attack somebody for a reason other than hunger in a while, so she blurts her goodbyes and gets out of dodge as quickly as possible. It’s only when she’s bursting through the front door and Emmett is asking how her date went that she realizes that she’s burning not with the urge to drink, but with the urge to touch. Bree gives her an odd look, asking if she’s okay, and Victoria chokes out a hoarse ‘yes’ before locking herself in her room and having a minor mental breakdown.

She avoids hanging out with Leah for the last few weeks of summer, all the while cursing herself. But she can’t help it. For the first time in centuries, she wants to be touched. She wants to be wanted. And the magnitude of what it would mean for Leah to reject her or to return her feelings, overwhelms her to the point of breaking. They have time, she tells herself. Time for her to overcome her fears. Time for her to become somebody worthy of Leah. She has time.

And We End Before Breaking Dawn Because I Guess I’m Writing a Fic Now And No Spoilers

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Thanks to everyone who showed interest in this post/fic! Also, sorry that this thing is so fucking long and monstrous, but I’ve honestly never felt so inspired by an AU before. Special thanks to: @the-bilight-saga @shittytwilightaus @snailcullen @trashanddrivel for messaging me and talking to me about stuff like this! My inbox is always open.

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