[BamaFan121s]

“The loss of Didyme was a great loss to everyone and the atmosphere within Volterra changed drastically. But as tough as it was for all who'd known her, it nearly destroyed Marcus. He begged for years for his brothers to end his life. It was then that he slowly became that Marcus that you know today…unfeeling, detached, almost as if he lives inside an empty shell…never able to cope with the pain of losing Didyme. The whole of the Volturi mourned her loss for many years. It was during that time that I decided to leave. Consequentially, it was also those events that made me realize how alone this existence can be without others to call a family.” He reached forward and clapped Edward on the back.




“How horrible.” was all I managed to say.




Carlisle glanced down at his watch. “My apologies, but I am due at the hospital very shortly. I really must be going.”




“Of course, Carlisle,” Edward acknowledged. As we followed him to the door, I glanced back over my shoulder at the picture on the wall. He grabbed his black medical bag from a chair on his way and strode through the doorway. I paused outside his office, overlooking the stairs as he descended and made his way towards the garage. I heard the engine of his shiny, black Mercedes as he started it, pulled out, and made his way down the gravel drive that led to the highway.



After a moment, Edward reached down to take my hand, pulling me from my thoughts. “Rosalie and Renesmee are still not quite finished yet, should we wait on them here?”


I merely nodded in response. My mind was replaying the conversation that had just taken place. I hardly noticed that he was pulling me towards his piano. I robotically took a seat beside him on the bench and let my thoughts wander as his hands began flying across the keys, filling the room full of a classical melody.



I thought about how empty Marcus must have felt after Didyme’s death. I tried to imagine my life with no Edward. I couldn’t imagine living in a world where he didn’t exist. I tired to picture a Jasper with no Alice, a Rosalie with no Emmett, an Esme with no Carlisle. Suddenly, I felt a strange emotion for Marcus that seemed almost foreign when applied to a member of the Volturi—pity?




Then my thoughts shifted infindecimally. I tried to imagine how it would feel to lose a sibling. Although I had been an only child, I’d grown every bit as close to Alice…to Emmett, even to Rosalie, to Jacob, as I would have thought possible for any children born of the same mother and father and raised together. I knew what a loss of any single family member would mean to the rest of us.




My mind wandered to Aro and what Carlisle had said about him feeling guilt over what happened to Didyme. Then I thought about Aro’s motivations for transforming his sister—because he wanted to test his theory. He wanted any talent she may possess in her immortal life. Did he ever even consider what might be best for her, or was all that washed away by his desire for power? It seemed selfish…cruel.




I hadn’t noticed that Edward had stopped playing, but the sound of his voice beside me pulled me from my trance. “Will you please tell me what you are thinking before I go mad?”




“I was thinking…” I paused, trying to figure out how to best put my words into thoughts. I turned to face him and saw a puzzled expression on his face. He leaned his head slightly to the side, staring at me intensely, his brow slightly furrowed. “I was thinking about Aro…and Didyme. I just don’t understand…how could he do that to his own sister? How he could make that decision for her and change her all to get what he wanted...” No matter how I looked at it, Aro’s selfishness, his obsession with the talents of vampires was to blame for what had happened—for his sister’s death, and for the torment Marcus, his brother in many ways, had endured as a result.