Chapter Text
Life #15 continued
Bella’s heart thunders in her chest as the phone is answered. The string of words that she doesn’t recognise is said to her, and she awkwardly greets the lady on the line, asking if she speaks English and that she is looking for a person called Aro.
“You have the wrong number, goodbye,” the receptionist says before promptly hanging up, leaving Bella staring at the phone in utter bemusement. What was she meant to do now? It was, indeed, an Italian number clearly, and something told her that she was in the right place.
“Well shit…” she mutters to herself, “that was my only plan.”
Bella decides that since she isn’t going to get anywhere with contacting Aro this time around, that she may as well get started on dinner. She knows that Charlie isn’t going to be swayed entirely from his anger at her skipping school by a nice dinner, but it will help, and besides, she’s hungry herself.
Charlie does arrive and their dinner is held in silence which Bella counts as a win. It is grim for the both of them whenever Charlie decides to attempt to take on the role of the patriarch. It doesn’t suit him at all.
Bella spends all day waiting by the phone, and it is nearly midnight when the phone rings, and Bella runs to it, not acknowledging Charlie’s shouted questions from upstairs as she does so.
“Hello?” She says breathlessly.
“I believe that you have been trying to get in touch with me,” a sonorous voice replied, not even the crackling of the line diminished its effect. It was the voice of a leader and someone to be feared. Bella knows this without having to decide as much consciously.
“You’re Aro,” she says, though she hardly needs to. She feels as though she has begun to walk into a pool of water that is quickly turning out to be much more profound and murkier than anticipated.
“Indeed. Although you find me at quite the disadvantage as I do not know who you are,” he replies evenly.
She decides to tell the truth, “My name is Bella Swan.”
“And you are a human,” he finishes.
Her heart thumps in her chest. How is he able to tell? “I am, yes.”
“That does leave me with rather a lot of questions, Isabella,” he takes his time saying her full name, and the syllables seem to trickle down the back of her neck, raising goosebumps along her arms. She desperately wants to hang up, to throw the phone at the wall. “The most important of which being, how did you manage to get in contact with me? Very few people are privy to this number, and none would be fool enough to share it with humans. At least, those that value their continued existence would not dare to do so.”
“It doesn’t matter who I got the number from,” Bella says, sounding far braver than she feels.
“Oh?” Aro replies, sounding amused, and Bella imagines a cat batting a mouse between its paws leisurely before deciding that it is bored of playing with its food. “Surely I am the best judge of that.”
“Perhaps, but none of this will matter in about,” she looks at the clock hanging up on the wall, “three minutes.”
“You sound most confident for a human,” he purrs and Bella shifts in her seat uneasily. “I know where you are calling from. Forks. A small town, really. Nothing much to recommend it other than the anonymity of its absolute uniformity. Except…” he trails off dramatically as if waiting for the silence to settle between them as if for effect, “for an old friend of mine and his coven. He lives there also, and...he happens to be one of the few to have this number. My my! What a coincidence!”
Bella closes her eyes for a moment, seeking solace in the fact that none of this will matter soon.
“Carlisle did give me your contact information. I can be rather...persuasive when I need to be,” Bella explains, surprised to find that Aro isn’t interrupting her. “I said that none of this will matter soon because when it hits midnight this day will reset, and you won’t remember any of this. Another version of Carlisle asked you about time loops, repeating days. You said that it was to do with finding a soulmate.”
“Well, the only occurrence I know of was to do with that. But why should I believe that this is what is happening to you?” He sounds amused again, and Bella wonders if that is a good thing or not.
“Why else would I be doing this?” She offers, not knowing what else to say. “I know enough to know that you are going to kill me. But you won’t because, in less than a minute, none of this will have happened.”
Aro laughs, and the sound makes the hairs on her arms stand on end, “I shall choose to believe you. And I shall do you one more favour...when you call next time, mention the word Icarus. Goodnight, Bella Swan. I would say that I look forward to our next meeting but of course, that could not possibly be the case.”
With that, he hung up, and the familiar tugging blackness took her that always did whenever she tried to stay awake until the next day—that elusive 26th of January.
Life #16
Bella wakes up suddenly. Her mind racked with her conversation with the vampire king. It had been surreal, utterly surreal, and it was going to happen again. For a brief moment, Bella considers whether she should call them in the morning as she wasn’t sure what the time would be in Italy before she remembers that she is reasonably confident that vampires don’t sleep. It doesn’t matter what time that she calls; he won’t be happy to speak to her regardless.
Bella gets into her truck and drives around the block, and waits for Charlie to leave for work before returning to the house. Now that she knows roughly what to expect from this Aro person, she finds herself marginally less nervous about speaking to him. It’s not as if he can actually hurt her, Bella tells herself.
The phone rings for a long time again, and a different feminine voice replies that before, clearly, they work in shifts which...makes sense, she supposes, though it hadn’t occurred to her before.
“I need to speak to king Aro,” Bella says quickly. “I know you will say that I have the wrong number, but I know that I don't.”
There is a long silence before the receptionist finally replies uncertainly, “I will let him know that you have called. Could I get your name?”
“Bella Swan.”
With that, Bella is hung up on yet again.
He does phone her back as he had done before, and now that she knows what to expect from him, she finds it a lot easier to keep her cool.
“I need your help,” she says, fiddling with a stray piece of thread on the sleeve of her hoodie.
Aro chuckles, “I have heard that sentiment many times before, though never from a human and never in such an impertinent manner.”
Bella doesn’t reply. Instead, she waits with bated breath for him to continue.
“And what,” he drawls, “may I ask, do you wish for my help with?”
“I need some information, and I think that you have it. I need to know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to you. I know enough to know that this isn’t a smart idea,” she says.
“And yet here you are...do tell me what you want me to tell you. I must admit, this is the most amusing thing to happen to me for a long while.”
How long? Bella wants to ask for a moment, but luckily she stops herself before the words can spill from her mouth. It doesn’t matter, of course, but still.
“I want to know more about people reliving the same day, I have been told you might know something, and well, it’s not like it matters either way,” she says, feeling foolish.
“Have you spoken to me before?” Surprisingly he doesn’t sound entirely disbelieving.
“I have,” she admits.
“Prove it then,” comes the swift reply.
Bella hesitates before speaking, quickly swallowing to lessen the chance that her voice will break.
“Icarus.”
It comes out in a whoosh of air, and the silence in the air is heavy, surrounding her as she waits for the reply from the vampire king. Aro chuckles, long and loud, and Bella finds herself waiting for the sound to end. The unnatural fear that he sparks in her beginning to plateau.
“That is rather good. Of course, I would tell you that. I assume that you did something to impress me,” he says.
“I don’t know,” Bella stutters out in reply, utterly unsure of where this conversation is going.
“I can see it now. You really have given up on every other option of salvation to come to me, haven’t you?”
“I have,” she admits. “I was told...by someone that you would be able to help me. Or, that you might know something that could help me, at least.”
“There’s no point in shielding Carlisle. I can deduce where you got the information from as he is the only one to have this number in North America,” he replies, sounding annoyed.
“I hope you can forgive me for wanting to protect him,” Bella says placatingly.
Aro chuckles then, “You hope this will be your last day in this cycle, then? That I will be able to help you.”
“I...I did hope as much, yes,” she admits gingerly.
“Well, if the accounts that I have seen and heard are to be believed, then it is nothing as simple as that,” he says, and Bella’s hopes plummet. What is she meant to do now? “Do not fret,” he continues as if sensing her thoughts. “What I mean to say is that there is nothing concrete that I could advise you to do that would free you from this curse. However, what has worked for others was doing whatever it was that was needed to progress then back into the regular time stream.”
Having a vampire king give her advice that made him sound like a physics professor was not something that Bella had actively put on her bucket list, and yet, she can most certainly check it off now.
“So I just have to...try some shit until I find the right thing?” She clarifies, disbelieving.
Aro chuckles, “Nothing in this life is easy, young one. Do you have any more questions for me? You amuse me, and so I will allow you one more.”
“I do have one, actually,” she answers quickly.
“Do go on,” he says amusedly.
“Before you said that, to say Icarus would be the thing to prove that I have spoken to you before. So it isn’t generally known information, but how can a name be that, unless it’s to do with the myth or something.”
“Well, you have managed to hit upon a question that I very much would like not to answer. And yet a promise is a promise,” he lets out a sigh before continuing. “A long time ago, longer than it would be useful for you to know, I was a human. That much, I’m sure you could intuit. When I was a human, I had a different name than I do now, and that name was Icarus.”
“Why do you have a different name now?” Bella asks before she can help herself.
Aro tuts playfully, “Ah, ah, ah! I said, you have one more question, not two.”
“Oh,” she replied, crestfallen.
“Ciao, Bella,” the vampire king said, chuckling at something before abruptly hanging up.
Bella puts down the phone slowly and stares at it for a long moment. Sighing, she gets up to go to bed and hopefully avoid Charlie’s questions.
Life #20
It takes four more days, or iterations of the same one, to finally get the information about Aro’s name. Bella doesn’t need to know, of course, but if her experiences had given her anything, it was an unhealthy curiosity into the lives of others. For a figure who was so obviously powerful and almost of mythical status to have given her that sort of piece of information was something that she wasn’t prepared to let go of. And besides, Bella isn’t ready to start trying random things until something sticks; she had a feeling that she would have to go to more extraordinary lengths than she would like to. Taking a few days to pursue what was essentially the most protracted Google search was just what she needed.
“Hello, I need to speak to Aro. Yes, I know this is the right number. Please tell him to call me back,” Bella says quickly, the spiel familiar by now, before the receptionist can cut in or hang up.
“One moment,” the clipped voice replies, and Bella smirks to herself, that was a new one.
This time the receptionist didn’t hang up the phone, and the well-known voice of one-third of the Volturi Kings greeted her.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“My name is Bella Swan. We’ve met.”
“Have we indeed? I do not remember such an event. I do not generally meet humans so much as eat them,” he replied as casually as if he was making water-cooler conversation.
“Icarus,” she replies quickly. “I have relived this day a few times, and I know you.”
There was a pause on the line for a moment before Aro laughed, long and hard.
“Well, you certainly know how to brighten up an old vampire’s day. How charming. I take it you want information from me? Why don’t you tell me what you know, and I will see if I want to fill you in any further.”
So Bella tells him all that she knows, recounting what he had already told her essentially. He hums thoughtfully at various places, and when she has finished, Bella can hear the district sound of him clapping his hands together in a staccato mimicry of applause.
“You seem to have all of the facts; you have done well to get them from me.”
“I’ve had practice,” she admits.
“How much practice?” He questions, the amusement from his voice gone in an instant.
“Why did you change your name?” Bella shoots back, ignoring his question.
“You first,” he trills.
“No,” Bella says, forcing herself to sound confident.
Aro sighs like a put upon child and answers, “Fine, it is not as though you will do anything with the information.”
“I promise that I won’t,” she confirms.
“You’re too intelligent to sentence yourself to death by sharing the information with anyone,” he continues as if she had not spoken.
Bella gulps, his words working better than any threat could have.
“The name Icarus means follower which is not a meaning that I wish to be associated with; I do not follow, I lead. For another thing, the allegory of Icarus flying too close to the sun does not sit well with me. The reach for power can never be misguided in and of itself; it is merely our methods that betray us. So,” he drawls, “I chose a new name. Merely a shortened version of the original, but no one has guessed at my secret. My brothers have original names, too, but you would have to speak to them yourself to find out.”
Bella laughs, “That’s alright. I’m curious, but I’m not that curious,” she jokes.
Aro laughs along with her for a moment before the sound of his mirth dies. The line crackles in its silence. Bella’s heart stutters in her chest, and she has the urge to run away for all that they had been having a perfectly congenial conversation not moments ago.
“Oh, Isabella? You had better hope that today is not the day that releases you from your curse because I will track you down and I will kill you,” his words are casual, not like what Bella had seen on TV, but they are far more effective.
This time Bella hangs up the phone herself. She never calls Aro again.