In Which I Beg for Sweet Release From Breaking Dawn: Chapter 34 -- Declared · 10:44am Jul 25th, 2018
When Bella gets home, she says to Edward that she went Christmas shopping for Nessie and got her a little something: a rully purty necklace. Edward approves of it. She wants to practice fighting with Emmett some more, but Edward says that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Why, I don’t know. He doesn’t give a single reason. Bella accepts it because I don’t know. Girl, can’t you have any initiative? Bella recognizes that, in order for Nessie to have a chance to run away at all, the Cullens and their allies will at least have to put up one hell of a fight.
It was not going to be the end of the world. Just the end of the Cullens. The end of Edward. The end of me. (Hooray!)
I preferred it that way — the last part anyway. I would not live without Edward again; if he was leaving this world, then I would be right behind him.
I wondered idly now and then if there would be anything for us on the other side. (Since when? You’ve never mentioned it.) I knew Edward didn’t really believe so, but Carlisle did. I couldn’t imagine it myself. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine Edward not existing somehow, somewhere. If we could be together in any place, then that was a happy ending.
CM + 2
A Christmas party at Charlie’s passes uneventfully, but upon the return to the Cullens’, it turns out that Alistair has left. Who? I literally don’t remember a single vampire with that name. (looks back) Misanthropic and a loner, never said a word, mentioned only five times total. Why should I care about him? Sobek Amun also wants to leave, but since he’s in a coven, he tries to persuade them to come with him.
“This won’t end well,” Amun growled. “Alistair was the only sane one here. We should all be running.”
“Think of who you’re calling sane,” Tia murmured in a quiet aside.
“We’re all going to be slaughtered!”
You know, why did the vampires agree to stand with the Cullens? Because Nessie was… purty? Fascinating? What? I can see them being witnesses, but not willing to die for her. And now I want to see a vampire who goes, “Fascinating. But not that fascinating. You expect me to die for her? Yeah, no. She’s a sweet kid, but I like living more. Later, haters.” And then they fly away on rocket boots or something.
Amun agrees to stay and witness, but nothing else. He suspects the Volturi are looking for an excuse to destroy the Cullens, and if they see that Nessie isn’t an immortal child, they’ll invent some other excuse. Couldn’t the Volturi just kill the Cullens and all their allies and say, “Yeah. She was totally an immortal child. Had enthralled everybody. Too bad. So sad. Anyway, time to eat some people! Woo!”? Everyone’s upset about the Volturi manipulating the law for their own ends, particularly the Romanian pair:
“I do so hope Alistair was right about this,” Stefan murmured to Vladimir. “No matter the outcome, word will spread. It’s time our world saw the Volturi for what they’ve become. They’ll never fall if everyone believes this nonsense about them protecting our way of life.”
“At least when we ruled, we were honest about what we were,” Vladimir replied.
Stefan nodded. “We never put on white hats and called ourselves saints.”
Uh-huh. Sure. They were honest about what they were, so that makes it okay. In my opinion, that makes it worse. As is said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Assuming the Volturi really are corrupt, then it’s entirely possible that they truly think they’re doing the right thing, even if they can’t see it. You can do a lot of horrendous things in the name of the right thing. The Romanians claim they were honest about doing bad things… and did them anyway. Why should I sympathize with them in the slightest? They’ve all but admitted to cheerfully doing terrible things while they were ruling, but I’m supposed to be on their side because… they’re not the Volturi?
And again: what are the Volturi doing that’s so bad? The Cullens believed they were alright back in New Moon. They’re keeping vampires from running out of control and destroying cities. They’re keeping vampires from attracting the attention of the prey species that vastly outnumbers them and has lots of stuff like guns and explosives. They’re supposed to be manipulating the law, but nothing has been confirmed yet; it’s all suspicions from the Cullens. The “hide from humans to stay safe” thing being a sham for the Volturi to control vampires would make more sense in a medieval setting, where weapons weren’t as powerful and were harder to come by, or even — especially — a place like Equestria, where an entire species of love-eaters can be accepted after a literally-overnight change of heart.
…*scribbles furtively*
The Romanians decide that, if it comes to a fight, they’ll side with the Cullens. Most of the other vampires also say they’ll fight, for unfounded reasons:
“We will fight, too,” Tia said, her usually grave voice more solemn than ever. “We believe the Volturi will overstep their authority. We have no wish to belong to them.”
“This won’t be the first time I’ve fought to keep myself from a king’s rule,” Garrett said in a teasing tone. He walked over and clapped Benjamin on the back. “Here’s to freedom from oppression.”
The only laws the Volturi are giving are don’ts, and they’re all devoted to preventing the prey from finding out about the predators. “Don’t make immortal children. They kill villages.” “Don’t make newborn armies. They destroy the food supply.” Other than that, they let you do as you please. How is that oppressive? Whatever. A bunch of flat characters side with the Cullens, yay, noisemakers, confetti.
One day, while out hunting with Edward and Nessie, Bella comes to a realization: her talent is supposed to keep everyone out of her head, but Nessie can project her thoughts into Bella’s mind just fine. She immediately begins panicking and brings this up with Edward, but he has another theory: Carlisle had said Nessie was doing the opposite of what Bella did, so maybe her talent is the opposite of Bella’s.
“You keep everyone out,” he began.
“And no one keeps her out?” I finished hesitantly.
“That’s my theory,” he said. “And if she can get into your head, I doubt there’s a shield on the planet who could keep her at bay. That will help. From what we’ve seen, no one can doubt the truth of her thoughts once they’ve allowed her to show them. And I think no one can keep her from showing them, if she gets close enough. If Aro allows her to explain…”
Nessie manages to grow creepier with each revelation about her. “No one can doubt the truth of her thoughts”? That sounds like she’s forcing people to accept her reality. Like she can brainwash them at will the moment she touches them. And she’s explicitly stated to be unstoppable. Nessie isn’t an immortal child. She’s worse. She has control. She’s intelligent. She can learn. She can selectively force people to love her. She would make a great villain.
In spite of Nessie supposedly being able to show Aro the truth, Bella wonders if the truth will be enough to stop Aro. From what I’ve seen of him, totally.
Clinginess Meter: 60 x 6
Chapters Left: 5
:D