Diamond Legacies: Part 11

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The Volturi Throne Room
Chicago, 2227 

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Eden Balev

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I stood in the room I knew so well. The room I played in as a child, learnt to dance in, learnt the basics of court and politics. The room that I felt safe in. The room where the walls would be lined with people there to protect me. The room I did my first double pirouette at eight years old.

Staring at me was my cousin. I didn’t necessarily call him my cousin, after all, he was two hundred years my elder. But by marriage he was. He was my uncle’s child, my grandfather’s grandson. He was Pancrazio Cullen. Leader and protector of the supernatural world and he was staring me down like I was no one more than a subject.

Or I suppose, technically at this moment, I was just that.

“Eden Balev, you have been called to the Volturi court to answer your crime of coercive disclosure of our kind to a human of influence without attending to the proper channels for such an admission. Do you accept this accusation?” He asked standing in front of his throne. I looked around the stage, his wife, Chantelle, my other cousin, looked nervous. Normally she wore a poker face, but I could see as she scanned her eyes over those behind me that she was actually petrified at her husbands’ words. On the other side of him was Matthew and Asta. Matthew, my uncle through marriage, looked as nervous as his mother. His daughter Asta, my cousin by blood, was stoic. She was always a good match for this job. I think secretly enjoyed a lot of it, a lot more than the other leaders of the Volturi. I honestly thought she was a little bit crazy myself. Something in her mind wasn’t right. I mean she was a nice enough girl, don’t get me wrong but she had no filter and didn’t care for any consequences.

I guess I should really start at the beginning of this story and why it ends with me in front of the most powerful people in existence threatening to take my world away.

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New York City, May 2226

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I had a relatively normal childhood. I mean, I was loved, fed and given any opportunity I wanted. So, I can’t really complain. But I had always been different, even amongst a family as complex as mine. Normal was all relative when it came to my family. Our little family were the odd ones out in the wider family tree of my relatives. My parents loved each other, something that was clear from the moment I was old enough to understand what love was, but they were definitely not a normal couple by Cullen standards. In the 22^nd century marriage was quite an archaic concept, but it wasn’t rare. Especially in a family like mine. There was no one younger than a hundred in my close circle of family except for my parents, my twin and my cousin Ophelia. The three of us grew up together. Ophelia was older than me and Nova by quite a few years, but she treated us like her sisters, and we were raised very similar, so we naturally became close. Every couple in our family were married, except for my parents, which is why they were the odd ones out. Marriage to most people in our society was about money. It was a contract of who got what if things didn’t work out, it was a very different concept to the reasons my family were married.

Nova and I were raised as normally as our parents could manage. As children we were cloaked and protected with spells to keep our identity and blood connections hidden from anyone not living in the Volturi Estate. This was both a blessing and a curse for me and my sister. Because of the nature of who we were, our parents were worried at the sheer mention of regular things like school or the mall. But most of that was the ptsd from when we were constantly being hunted as the grandchildren of Esther and Carlisle.

I don’t remember the events of my early childhood. Certain parts were blank and as I aged, I realised it was quite possibly my grandmother Esther had altered my memory of the traumatic events of my early childhood. I tried not to think about it too much. I knew if there was one person in the entire world I needed to trust, it was Esther. There was nothing in the world she wouldn’t have done for me or my sister, and my memories of my grandmother pained me more than I cared to admit. I had only been 15 years old, officially, when she left us and yet she had forged a part of me I could never understand or hope of expressing gratitude for. She had helped me become strong, helped me grow and learn my power. She’d kept me sane and believed in me when everyone else feared me. Even my own parents. In the early days when I had just began understanding what the colours meant and the types of auras I saw, I recognised fear first. It was so obvious in those around me. Even if that fear was born from concern and love. It was there.

Losing my grandmother wasn’t something I ever imagined would happen. After Esther put herself in an unending sleep, the supernatural quickly coined the term ‘The Dark Years’. Not only had the eclipse sent the world into disarray, but the absence of Esther was also strikingly obvious even after the eclipse ended. The light in the supernatural world, the balance and the peace would not truly return until Esther did. And so many were referring to the years without her as the darkest the supernatural world has experienced, especially those that knew her. The days after the Dark Years began were strange and confusing and I was so glad my parents had agreed to let me attend a ballet boarding school across the country at the time. It was my escape from the supernatural and my place to grieve for my grandmother. I saw how my mother crumbled in her pain and my father lost all sense of purpose. I saw how my sister took charge of our family to compensate and as a result my own pain was overlooked. But I didn’t blame them, not for one second. Seeing my mother change and break was the hardest for me and instead of playing nurse like my sister, I just knew I had to get out. I had to get away from it all. I didn’t belong in Chicago; I had felt that since I was a child. I loved my family, but I wasn’t a Cullen. I didn’t feel comfortable with that name, not like my sister did. I had never fit in to the idyllic view of a Cullen and so I changed my name to Balev, and I ran to New York and barely ever looked back since.

That was six years ago.

The only family I spoke to regularly were my grandparents. The three I had left at least. Esme was the most attentive in my life. She came to every ballet show I ever performed in, she got me anything I needed in a blink of an eye, she helped me with accommodation and the things I might need living in New York City. She visited me at least twice a month and we would spend my days off from the ballet company sightseeing or watching old 20^th century black and white movies in my apartment. Esme took care of me better than anyone had in my entire life, except Esther of course. But I didn’t like to compare my grandmothers. They had both given me so much and supported me in different ways and I was grateful more than anything for her presence as it filled the hole Esther had left behind in my heart.

Other than my grandparents, I still checked in with my cousin Ophelia and my parents as often as I could. But it often caused me guilt when I spoke to them. Ophelia, although we were close friends growing up, reminded me daily of my grandmother -and her aunt- and I struggled if i saw her too often. I knew she didnt blame me and just wanted to be updated occasionally to make sure i was doing okay. She had a busy life herself and was needed else where in the running of the Volturi. She had flourished in the life I had ran from and we weren't quite as well fitted as best friends as we used to be now. She and my sister had grown closer than we ever could with the conflicting ways we lived our lives. 

And then there was my parents. I knew they were proud of me and loved me and supported me in anything I did but I also knew how much my mother missed me. It was easier to forget when she wasn’t around. It was easier to ignore the guilt I felt for leaving her after her mother had done the same. I knew she had Nova and that helped me cope with the worry I had for her, but I was aware I had developed a crushing anxiety in my life that I was trying to outrun every day.

“what’s on your mind darling?” My grandmother asked me. She was sat on the other end of my couch as the original Wizard of Oz played on my tv. She had clearly noticed I wasn’t watching the movie anymore.

“Mama” I mumbled not looking to Esme next to me. We were both laid across the cushions, our legs tangled between us both.

“I wish you wouldn’t feel so guilty about her” she said reaching to stop the movie and resting her cold hand on my calf.

“I can’t help it, I know she misses me, but I also know that I’m saving her by being here. If she thinks I’m happy here, she might find some peace in her pain. She might have one less thing to worry about,” I said finally looking to her watching me. Her beautiful face frowned at my words.

“She’s your mother, she’ll always be worried about you no matter how happy you are.”

“How do you do it?” I asked her seeing her perfect wrinkle-free face smile at me.

“Do what?” she laughed.

“Be a mother to so many children? Worry about so many people and not go insane? I’m struggling and the only person I worry for is my mother,” I asked. Her laugh turned into a soft smile.

“I used to struggle with it, early on. Especially when it was just the five of them.” She began. She sat up and focused on something behind me on the wall as she began to talk. “Before Bella, I would worry about Edward a lot. Constantly actually. Rose had found Emmett, Alice and Jasper had joined us already matched but Edward had been alone for so long. Even when girls would look his way, it was like he was seeing through them. No one seemed to catch his eye and I wouldn’t have been concerned if he wasn’t the settling type except, he just seemed so lonely. I knew from the way he would watch the rest of his family that he wanted his other half in the way we had found ours. I didn’t want to push him, but I just wanted him happy. I knew, if Edward, the first son I got to raise was happy, I would finally feel complete as a mother. When he found Bella, I was more than happy, I was euphoric. My boy had finally found the person he wanted to be with the rest of his life, and although there were a few hiccups with their relationship early on, when I watched them get married and vow to be at each other’s sides, I felt complete at last. My worries had lessened, although not gone completely, and I had never felt happiness like it.” she said then finally her eyes dropped on me. “And then came Renesmee.”

I smiled at my cousin’s name. She was the one that had started it all. The starting point of life in the Cullen family. When the Cullen’s went from being immortal vampires to multiple species. From a coven to a true family.

“I had never felt worry like it before. She was so perfect and human, and bad people were after her because of who she was. Then came Chantelle and Eddie and the worry only grew again. It was this time that I learnt something I still use to this day.” She explained.

“What was that?” I asked curiously.

“Life was short” she responded, and I couldn’t help but laugh at my three-hundred-year-old grandmother telling me life was short. She smiled at my response. “When watching your descendants grow before you, time suddenly existed in ways it didn’t before. Time mattered and it was precious. So, I learnt that when its light and the sun is out to be happy, to enjoy and partake in life’s pleasures. Then when the sun sets each day, I set aside some time and I think about them all. My children, my grandchildren and even the descendants after that. I give myself that time to worry and to let the anxiety take over, just for a little while. And then I stop. I let the worry go and I do something else instead.” She explained.

“It’s that simple?” I asked in awe.

“For me it was.” She nodded. “If you catch yourself in the day worrying about something, this goes for anything not just your mother. Tell yourself that you don’t have time right now, but promise yourself you will face it later. Its not good to deny the worry but you also can’t let it control you either. Before you go to sleep, let it all come back to you. Think about your mother or your sister or your job, or what ever it was that day that had you anxious. Let it take over you so that you can let it go again. You’ll feel far more in control of your anxiety that way.” She explained.

“Do you have a degree in psychology or something?” I laughed realising how good she was at this.

“A few, yes” she nodded, and I smiled wider at her.

“Thank you, grandma,” I said sincerely. She gave me a small nod.

“And at the end of the day. Ill always be here if you want to talk. You know that.” She said and I moved across the couch to cuddle into her. She kissed the top of my head as we settled back into the couch to finish our movie.

I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, but I woke to the sound of the front door slamming open and Lara, my housemate, friend and fellow dancer, walked in.

Even though my family could obviously afford buying me my own apartment and everything I needed in New York myself, I had insisted I didn’t want to live alone. I had grown up sharing a room with my twin, even when our childhood home had a spare room. I had lived at the American School of Ballet in a dorm room with two other girls. I had never been alone a day in my life, and I didn’t want to start my adult life that way either. Lara and I had gone through the school together and both got a job at New York City Ballet the same year after we graduated and so it was only natural that we started looking for apartments we could both live in together. Lara was a happy reminder that I was human enough to pass as normal in the non-supernatural world. She was my escape and my distraction from who I was. We had been friends for five years and I had still managed to keep the secret of my true nature from her. She was as oblivious as the first day we met, and it was exactly how I liked it.

She was also oblivious to my true parentage and surname but that was simply because I didn’t want her to treat me differently for being the kid of rich parents.

At the end of the day, I had got myself here, I didn’t use the Cullen name to open any doors, nor did I let my grandparents throw any kind of money at the Ballet school I had rightfully earnt my place at. My skills in dance couldn’t be bought, I had trained and practiced just as any human would have. I was here because I had worked to be, not because of who I shared blood with.

“Sorry!” she tried to whisper only she wasn’t exactly quiet about it. I turned to see my grandmother had gone from the couch and next to me was a tablet with the note:

‘Your grandfather called me home urgently, I will make it up to you I promise. I love you.’

I quickly swiped away the note so Lara wouldn’t question who had written it when she thought Esme was my friend rather than grandmother.

Not that I was sure she would notice, she was clearly drunk.

“Did you have a good night?” I asked as she stumbled to sit next to me. She sighed; her dark cornrowed hair fell back over the back of the couch. I always envied the thickness and length of her hair. It was like she could grow it forever if she wanted.

“My brother got engaged” she said, and my face dropped.

“Like actually proposed to her?” I asked and she turned to look at me, her eyes were heavy as she mumbled a ‘mhmm’ to me.

“Oh god. Poor him.” I laughed and she let out a giggle. Lara’s brother had been in a relationship with Tessa Disney for years. Lara and her brother didn’t have much growing up and so there were a lot of questions surrounding the heiress and the kid from the Bronx. Lara had told me how Tessa’s family had reacted to her courtship with Lara’s brother Danny. They didn’t approve in the slightest, it had been a Romeo and Juliet situation and Tessa had been pressured for years to end it with Danny. She never did. The judgement and toxicity Lara saw her brother go through at the hands of the Disney family only solidified her views on capitalism. She had made her views on the Disney family pretty clear to me over the years, and it made me even more grateful she wasn’t aware of my own heirdom. She wasn’t a fan of rich people, in fact, I was fairly sure she wouldn’t have looked twice at me as a friend if she knew the people I was related to. But that didn’t change anything for me when it came to our friendship, in fact I liked that she felt this way because it meant that our friendship was real, something Eden Cullen never quite experienced as a child. I had far too many “friends” in the private school my parents sent me to, falling at my feet simply because of my surname. I never knew what was real and fake. I was Eden Cullen to them, not a person, but a status symbol. Here I was Eden Balev, not an heiress to a multibillion-dollar family legacy, just a ballerina in the New York City Ballet Company… a nobody, exactly how I liked it.

Except I didn’t know that Lara’s announcement about her brother and Tessa Disney that day would turn the quaint human life I had built for myself upside down. I didn’t know it would change my world forever and lead me to the man I would risk the wrath of the Volturi to protect.