Supernova c12: Polaris

So this wasn't originally planned in the collection but i added it to get more of a view on what's happened with the war over the ten years. Plus a chance to see what Ignacio is like. This is 3/4 years after the events of Diamond Legacies 2.

Ignacio Navarino

Chicago, 2230

 

My whole world revolved around her. Like she was my north star and the planet, my life, seemingly moved around her in the centre. I knew this was the imprint. Mia had explained it to me many times over the years, but it still knocked me off me feet thinking how incredibly powerful that force was. And as she loved to remind me, as the imprintee it was nothing compared to what she felt to me as the imprinter.

I had known since my earliest memories my life was tied with the tribrid. In fact, my earliest memory as a small child was the image of Mia in my dreams. She didn’t have a face back then; she was a barefooted girl in a long black dress that danced through tall trees. Those trees I learnt later were in the forest that surrounded her home in the United States, but I didn’t know that then, when I was so small and my world consisted of a small village and the sea.

I realised pretty quickly I was different from others. My skin and my uncontrolled power set me apart quickly from the children I grew to call my brothers. Although they let me play with them and I grew up with what I called friends, being different meant I was never really part of their world. My mother told me the same story every night of the two heroes that would save the world and when I realised, she was talking about me it began to seep into my personality as a toxic trait of arrogance. My teachers often put me in my place, constantly trying to quell the anger within in case the demon inside awoke.

I developed a basic control of my demon side over the forty years I lived away from here, but I still counted down the day I would meet the girl in my dreams.

As a child it was a faceless silhouette in the forest or on an unfamiliar beach but as my power grew it became a connection so strong, I often wished for sleep to claim me just so I could see her again. She became my anchor, when the anger struck, and I struggled to contain the demon I would force myself to think of her. To think of our destiny and the demon side would settle as if in answer to its alpha. To Mia.

I had stopped myself many times over the years from getting on a plane to North America. When I was at my loneliest or id had a bad day, I would think about her and how much I craved to solidify our connection. To finally not be alone anymore but I knew if I did that, I would ruin everything the prophecy had taught us. It had been prophesied for a reason, everything had been planned and laid out by the universe. Like the sun and the moon were gods playing at war.

It had been the tribe’s idea to send Vicente and two other bears to the USA when everything had changed. The seer saw Mia becoming alpha and we all knew the moment had finally come. I had waited fifty-four years to meet her, and it had finally become that moment.

Everything was planned out by my tribe, by the elders and the pack. It was complicated with her being so closely related to the Volturi, the all-powerful governing force of the supernatural world. Their involvement was expected and planned around, even the complication of Esther Josephson.

We didn’t know then what we learnt very quickly about Esther. There was no mention of her power or bloodline in the prophecies or visions and it wasn’t until meeting her that first day we realised why she would have no part in the battles to come.

Understanding the western world was the hardest adjustment to moving to the United States. My American mother taught me and my brothers English growing up and told us stories of her culture, but it didn’t really prepare me for actually living here.

Mia found it quite amusing, especially when I would do something stupid, or I misused an American phrase. I loved hearing her laugh, we had spent every day of the last ten years together, talking and training and learning. About each other, our cultures, the pack, our powers. Time seemed to be on our side in that aspect.

We knew the fate of Esther had bought us time and protected the world from an actual invasion, but it didn’t mean we could stay as we were. Esther was to be brought back and the demons had to be gone before that happened. Over the decade of trying to find answers to that problem there had been pockets of demons passing over, normally during eclipses or major celestial events. Mia and I managed to wipe them out with ease, our powers only growing between encounters. It gave us a chance to test our methods on a small scale before the real battle began, but it did mean travelling a lot.

When we weren’t in Chicago training with the wolves, we were in random cities in the world where a spike of demon possessions had been reported. We always went together and normally a handful of the pack would come too just in case. We had stopped countless possessions, ripped demons from the bodies of humans and sent them back to the hell they came from more times than I could count now. And it was only getting more and more frequent.

It was now or never, and we had all the answers, all the training and power we needed. We just needed to make the leap and enter the shadow realm to do it.

The date had been set for the 10-year anniversary of Esther’s sacrifice. It was poetic really and the new religion forming in her name loved the irony of it.

The Luna Disciples had helped a lot in the few years of their arrival to the cause. Mia often told me how uncomfortable she was around them, but she had started to come around the last year or so. Their devotion was unparalleled, and I think that’s what scared Mia. She hadn’t been around religious people before, or people that believed that heavily in something and she didn’t understand it. Coming from a supernatural family there was little that was left to the imagination or a matter of belief. I had been surrounded by people that worshipped the sun, and me, my entire life, these people were just a different side of the same coin. They bothered me far less than they did Mia.

I knew this was a form of arrogance, as Mia loved to remind me, but I reminded her it also helped me understand the lengths these people would go to for Esther and to keep her safe. Something that would only help us in the long run. When Esther woke, it would become her problem but for now, we just had to get to the point where Esther was able to return.

“Ignacio where is your imprinter?” Nova Cullen’s voice ran through the house I shared with Mia on Volturi grounds. It had taken a few years, lots of meetings, hours of training, and several trust exercises later, but the leaders of the Volturi finally gave me free reign on the Volturi Estate and let me move from the apartment I had been placed in the day I arrived here. After the unification with Mia, the control I had was unmatched. There was no more lashing out, no more anger, no more of the demon unless I let it out. It took years for them to trust me enough in their prized home but with much persuasion I was finally seen as a part of them as Mia was. Although at the end of the day, no one saw Mia and I as equals to them. We were just ‘the tribrid and the demon’, beings set apart from everyone else because of our exclusivity. But at least this place started feeling like a home once Mia and I were free to call it that.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know. I know you know” Nova said again as she walked up to me. I turned to face the small woman. Nova had never been scared of me or ever failed to call me out on any bullshit when it came to her friend and my imprint. I wasn’t sure if it was because of how much she trusted Mia, or a trait passed down from her feisty mother Mia had told me so much about, but Nova was one of the few that just saw me for who I was. She was part of an imprint herself and understood that pull and need more than anyone. I think that’s why Mia enjoyed her company so much; they were both so alike. 

“She’s upstairs taking a bath” I answered her as I continued to load laundry.

“Who’d have thought you two so domestic?” she chuckled seeing what I was doing and turned towards the stairs.

I was glad Mia had Nova, and Ophelia too. Ophelia had already said her goodbye to Mia that morning. She and her girlfriend Alena were spending the day and night away from the estate, to be together before the battle that Alena faced at our sides. Mia had latched onto their friendship like a lifeline. They gave her so much more than I could.

It wasn’t lost on me the fact that my presence changed her entire world all those years ago. She lost not only a lover but two best friends and her normal mundane life too.

She often said all she needed was me in her life, but I knew that was a lie. I didn’t belong here. Even after ten years I felt foreign and things like settings on toasters and hairdryers confused me and I still forgot to plug technology in to charge it. She needed a part of her old life, she needed familiarity if she was to process mentally what it might take for us to succeed in this mission. So, I was glad she had them and I was happy with any time she gave me in between.

Nova left after an hour. The two girls spent that whole hour in the bathroom and Mia’s bedroom until Mia finally came down as Nova left. The pair hugged far longer than normal at the threshold of our home.

“I’ll see you soon” Mia said pulling away from her friend. There were tears in Nova’s eyes.

“You better” she warned her, and the pair smiled before Nova looked over to me and gave me a small nod. “Take care of her” she warned me. Nova had been instrumental in leading the pack. Her ability had been invaluable. It was months of slow progress but the pack was stronger and braver and more powerful than ever before. Their confidence had skyrocketed, they possessed every trait needed for this war. Nova had given them their best chance to succeed.

“I will” I assured her, and Nova turned and left Mia standing at the doorstep watching her friend walk away.

It was no secret that we entered the portal tomorrow. The spell had been found years ago but there had been so many preparations to be taken before we could use it. It was to be done with angelic blood so that no full-blooded demon creature could pass back through it as we entered their realm. Because of my half human nature and my link to Mia the immortal twins were confident I would be able to pass with Mia and the pack when the time was right. And Alena and Axton too of course.

I wasn’t sure how Mia felt about having her old flame and ex-best friends come with us. We had to enter at a distance, Mia and I first, then the pack and the twins bring up the flank so the portal would close with their blood passing through, but they had to come with us, after all their power worked just as well on demons as ours.

I wanted to hug her. I wanted to comfort her and hold her, but I stayed back, unsure how my presence, the ongoing reminder of why we were here would comfort her at all.

It took her a moment before she closed the door and turned to look at me watching her.

Its funny. I knew she was beautiful. Hell, I had been seeing visions of her for fifty years. I was no stranger to her beauty and yet I knew we were destined for more than just being each other’s spouse. It had been ten years, and nothing had ever shifted romantically between us. We shared a house and nearly every waking second together, but we had separate rooms and we had done nothing more than hug or sleep beside each other or cuddle as we watched a movie she insisted I needed to watch to ‘teach me about America’. I had enjoyed our movie nights over the years, making her laugh with my dumb questions were some of my favourite memories. Sometimes I think she got tired of me asking but sometimes I think she secretly loved it. Everything we did had stayed strictly platonic, even if our souls were matched and destiny literally made us for each other. There never seemed to be any shift between us, as if fate knew we had bigger things to face before a domestic future was offered.

Mia had explained to me that the imprint would be whatever we needed it to be. That romantic feelings would never arise if I as the imprintee didn’t want them. Until this point in time all I had needed was a partner in war, that girl in my dreams that would stand by my side and be my equal. The prophecies never told of us mating or bonding in marriage, it was always as partners, as trusted confidants in the war to come. I didn’t find a need for her physically or romantically and she was just as happy with it as long as I was.

Our friendship had become impenetrable, a foundation of trust and companionship for a decade. We told each other everything, all that mattered was each other, and the impending cloud of war of course. We tried to do normal things amongst the war planning and training and magic lessons. In fact, it was safe to say she was my only true friend in this world. Whilst she had Nova and Ophelia, all I needed was her. Ophelia and Nova were like Mia, they had things in common, struggles and power to bond over but there was no one like that for me. Only Mia. My brothers and pack loved me, and I loved them, but they had always just been there, always looking at me in that way I had been sent to them from the gods above. Mia didn’t look at me like that. I was just Ignacio to her, just her friend.

But as I stared at her then, my best friend, my equal in every way possible, my soul mate, my destiny, I started thinking just for a moment what would we be after all this was over?

After tomorrow, when we came back through that portal back to this world, what purpose would we have? I knew we would succeed; my gut and my heart sang it. I believed in fate; it had brought me to her, and I knew it wasn’t for nothing.

But what would we be after? Still best friends? Or would I want something more with her? Could I already see it? already feel it? What could we be exactly? All of it was foreign to me, the thought of it, but it set alight in me like a match.

For the first time in sixty years, I began to imagine, just for a second her as my wife, as my partner in every aspect and not just platonically. Wasn’t that what an imprint was? Every single imprinted couple she had shown to me ended that way. We were bound for it.

I let myself imagine just for a second. In another ten years, living somewhere peaceful. Away from cities and the mass of people or responsibility. Somewhere she could run barefooted or in her wolf form, somewhere she could hunt and we could grow our own food and I could fish again. Somewhere we didn't have people to lead or anyone to answer to. Somewhere it was just us. With visitors of course and maybe... maybe... the pitter patter of small feet one day too. If that was even possible with what we were. But even if it wasn't. I'd be happy. With just her for the rest of my life in our own corner of the world. Free.

“What just happened?” she asked as her eyes locked with mine.

“Sorry what?” I asked instinctively responding in my mother tongue. She knew my language and even though she rarely spoke it she understood every word.

“What were you thinking about just then?” she asked as she slowly walked over to me.

“The future. What happens after tomorrow” I said timidly.

“You’ve never imagined our future before. You said you don’t think past the war. That it defocuses you” she spoke and stopped a few feet from in front of me.

“That’s true. But it's here now.” I said in fear she was going to reprimand me for losing sight of the mission.

“You cant do this” she said and her voice broke as her hand rose to rest on my chest.

“Do what?” I asked and I felt my heart speed under her touch.

“One more day. One more day of us. It has to stay like this” she said and shook her head. I was so confused.

“I don’t understand. What’s wrong?” I asked her and stepped into her touch. She softened her arm, so we were closer. Her eyes were focused on her hand on my chest, and she didn’t look up when she spoke.

“I told you many times about how the imprint works. You think I don’t feel it? you think it doesn’t change in me when it changes in you?” she asked and finally looked up at me through her eyelashes.

“I’m not asking anything of you Mia” I said trying to voice my reasoning. “It was just a moment, a thought of the future, that’s all.” I tried to explain. She had really felt it? felt the shift that quickly?

“It was enough” she said, and her eyes dropped back to my chest as her hand dropped.

“Tomorrow” I said to her. “Not tonight. But after its all over. We acknowledge it tomorrow” I said even though part of my body ached to reach for her. To start that future.

“You never needed me like that. Not for ten years. Why now?” she asked as she took a deep breath.

“Because you’re my best friend. My only friend. Everyone else… I feel like they tolerate me because they know I’m necessary. Then others just fear me or worship. I’m not sure what’s worse.” I explained and she gave a knowing nod.

“I know what you mean”

“I’ve seen it countless times, you’ve told me countless times, I knew one day when we owed nothing more to the world or to the Volturi or to humanity that we’d finally be able to see who we both are. We’d finally see that our friendship was all that mattered. That you are all that matters to me.” I explained and my voice cracked as I stared down at the woman before me and continued my thoughts.

“You are everything to me. Everything. You have been by my side without complaint. You have taken to this destiny… this fate, without so much as a second guess. You have been my friend, my confidant, my equal and you’re the only person I think of when I wake up and the only person I think of when I go to sleep. You understand me better than anyone has my entire life. You don’t fear me, you don’t worship me. You’re just there. You’re the only person in the world I feel complete with. That I feel safe and recognised as a person with. I’ve had a purpose my entire life. I thought that purpose was to destroy evil, but I think it was you all along. You are my purpose. You are my life. Getting to know you, the girl in my dreams, properly the past ten years have been the best of my life. I would gladly destroy a dozen demon hell dimensions to protect you, I would scour the earth to find you, I would spend another fifty years without you, dreaming of you, if it meant one day, I would have the possibility of a future with you.”

She stepped forward and her forehead rested on my chest. Her palms came up to rest on my stomach as she leant into me. I knew she was taking the moment in, processing my words and my honesty and I knew they must have been causing a shift in her heart, a shift in the imprint she was trying to adjust to. I didn’t need her to reply, I didn’t need any clarification that I was her world too.

I already knew I was.

I hesitantly raised my hands to rest on her face and pull her away, so she’d look at me.

I wasn’t going to kiss her lips; despite the fact for the first time in ten years of us being in each other’s lives, my body was suddenly screaming at me to do so. I wouldn’t break my promise to her. Not yet. But I leant down, kissing her forehead and then her temple as I whispered the word.

“Tomorrow”

She finally looked at me and gave me the smile my whole world revolved around.

“Tomorrow.” She echoed and I grinned down at her.

We spent the eve of the battle not able to sleep, curled up together on the couch, watching old movies. And as I asked dumb questions even I knew the answers to now, she laughed, and we smiled, and we talked and even with the impending danger, I felt content.

Everything would be okay because I’d have her. And we’d get to explore a new life after tomorrow.

We’d fulfil our destiny, and the world would be at our feet.

Tomorrow.