Weeks bled into a month, and Mame still hadn't returned from his "trip." With the new school semester starting, Charlie Swan found himself sitting in the principal's office, practically begging for leniency for his son. The school administration finally agreed to give Mame a little more time, holding his enrollment open, but the caveat was steep: whenever Mame returned, he would be subjected to a grueling gauntlet of advanced makeup tests to account for his prolonged absence.
Back at the Swan house, the atmosphere was suffocatingly quiet. Bella's 18th birthday arrived, heralded by a terrible nightmare where she saw herself as an old woman standing next to a forever-immortal Edward. That morning, Charlie gifted her a new camera, offering a tight, sad smile. "Take some pictures today, Bells," he murmured, his eyes drifting toward Mame's empty bedroom door. "I just... I really wish your brother was here for this." Bella swallowed hard, the shared sadness over Mame's disappearance casting a shadow over the day.
Later, Bella ran into Jacob Black. She was immediately taken aback by his sudden, massive muscle growth. When she commented on it, Jacob flashed a warm, slightly cocky grin. "Well, if you came around more, and Ma—" Jacob caught himself, abruptly biting his tongue before he could finish Mame's name, not wanting to ruin her birthday by bringing up her missing brother. Instead, he smoothly transitioned, handing her a beautifully hand-carved wooden dreamcatcher.
The day wasn't without conflict, though. When Edward and Jacob inevitably crossed paths, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Jacob, feeling bolder than usual, openly mocked the vampire. "What's the matter?" Jacob sneered. "Are you mad because you're psychic and you still couldn't see me coming?"
The Party and the Breaking Point
Despite her protests, Alice cheerfully invited Bella over to the Cullen house for a birthday party. While there, Edward grimly explained the existence of the Volturi—the vampire royalty that enforced the laws of their kind. The conversation shifted to Victoria, and Bella felt a cold spike of terror realizing the red-haired vampire was still a massive threat. Edward quickly reassured her, promising that Alice would see Victoria long before she ever got close to Forks.
But the real danger wasn't outside the house; it was inside.
Standing in the corner of the room, Jasper Hale was fighting a losing battle. When Mame was around, Jasper used the Anomaly's heavy, oppressive "Will" aura as an emotional anchor. Mame's cold, tactical rage had acted like a sensory shield, muting the overwhelming thirst and chaotic emotions of the room. But with Mame gone, Jasper was completely raw, exposed to the intoxicating scent of Bella's blood. He kept his distance, trembling slightly as he tried to maintain his composure.
Then, Bella reached for a present. Paper cut.
A single drop of deep red blood welled up on her finger. The scent hit the room like a bomb. Jasper lost his mind. With a grisly snarl, he lunged. Without Mame there to physically intercept the attack, Edward had to fling Bella backward to protect her. Bella crashed into a glass table, shattering plates and slicing her arm open. Chaos erupted. Edward and Jasper collided with the sound of crashing boulders until Emmett and Carlisle finally dragged a snarling Jasper out of the house.
The Departure and the Empty Months
After the house cleared, Carlisle carefully stitched Bella's arm, leading to a quiet, heartbreaking conversation about how Edward believed vampires had no souls—the real reason he refused to turn her.
The drive home was agonizingly silent. Edward was cold and distant, utterly disgusted with himself and his family. The next day, he took Bella into the woods and delivered the final, devastating blow. He told her she didn't belong in his world, that he didn't want her anymore, and promised he would leave and it would be as if he never existed. He asked her to stay safe for Charlie's sake, and then he vanished into the trees.
Bella tried to chase him but tripped, falling to the damp forest floor as night fell. She was entirely catatonic by the time a massive Quileute local named Sam Uley found her and carried her out of the woods to a frantic Charlie and Billy Black.
What followed was a dark, surreal montage of depression. October, November, December passed outside Bella's window while she sat in her rocking chair, dead to the world. The pain of losing Edward was the only thing proving he was ever real. Charlie, terrified of losing both his children—one physically missing, the other emotionally dead—finally snapped. He threatened to send Bella to live with her mother in Jacksonville.
The Adrenaline Junkie
Desperate to stay in Forks, Bella lied and claimed she was going shopping in Port Angeles with Jessica. But while there, Bella wandered near a dive bar where four rough-looking bikers were loitering. Suddenly, a crystal-clear apparition of Edward appeared next to her, warning her to turn around.
Realizing that putting herself in mortal danger triggered these vivid hallucinations of Edward, Bella became an adrenaline junkie. She approached the bikers, hopped on the back of a motorcycle, and demanded a thrill ride just to hear Edward's voice screaming in her head to stop.
Surviving the reckless encounter, Bella had a new plan. She salvaged two rusted, beat-up motorcycles from a neighbor's trash. Loading them into her truck, she drove straight to La Push to see the one person who could fix them: Jacob Black.
Jacob was thrilled to see her, completely unfazed by her reckless plan. In his garage, introduced to his laid-back friends Quil and Embry, Bella finally smiled for the first time in months. The nightmares of being abandoned in the woods still haunted her sleep—Charlie even noted that the dreamcatcher wasn't working—but working on the bikes with Jacob became her lifeline, the only thing keeping her afloat while she waited for her brother to come home.
Bella's recklessness reaches new heights. When she and Jacob see Sam Uley and his "cult" cliff-diving at La Push, Bella immediately wants to jump. Jacob refuses to let her do it from the top, warning her about the danger and expressing his deep bitterness toward Sam's group—especially now that his friend Embry has joined them.
Instead, they focus on the motorcycles. During a test ride, Bella hallucinates Edward warning her to stop. Pushing the bike too fast, she crashes into the trees. When Jacob rushes over to wipe the blood from her head, the intimacy of the moment shifts. Jacob is burning up with an unnatural fever.
Jacob: "I'm revoking your motorcycle privileges. Man, look at your head." Bella: "God, I'm sorry." Jacob: "You're apologizing for bleeding? It's just blood, Bella." Bella: "I know. It's just... Mame used to be the one to patch me up. He'd probably shoot the tires out of this bike if he saw me riding it." Jacob: (smiling faintly) "Yeah, well. Your brother isn't here to play tactical medic right now. You're stuck with me."
Jacob almost confesses his deeper feelings for her, promising he would never hurt her the way Edward did. But before he can fully explain the strange, feverish changes happening to his body, he abruptly leaves, realizing he is dangerously close to phasing.
The Meadow & The Missing Anomaly Days pass, and Jacob completely cuts contact, supposedly bedridden with "mono." Isolated and desperate for a connection to her past, Bella ventures deep into the woods to find the meadow where she and Edward used to go.
Instead of Edward, she finds Laurent. The nomadic vampire reveals that he is scouting for Victoria, who wants revenge for James's death. However, Laurent's dialogue shifts to account for the most dangerous variable in Forks: Mame.
Laurent: "Victoria feels it's only fair to kill Edward's mate, given he killed hers. Eye for an eye. But she's been patient, Bella. She's been watching the tree lines." Bella: (stepping back) "She's afraid of Mame." Laurent: (smirking) "We all are. Your brother is an impossibility. He burned James to ash and shattered the peace of our kind. But Victoria knows he is gone. The scent of his gunpowder and that suffocating pressure he carries... it vanished from Washington a month ago. With your bodyguard missing, and the Cullens gone... you are completely unprotected."
Just as Laurent is about to strike, five massive, horse-sized wolves emerge from the tree line and chase the vampire away, saving Bella's life.
The Confrontation & The Phasing Convinced that Sam's gang is responsible for whatever is happening to Jacob, Bella drives to La Push and angrily confronts them in the pouring rain. Jacob emerges from the house, his hair cropped short and his demeanor cold and bitter. He tells her to go away and blames her for hanging around "filthy, reeking bloodsuckers."
When Bella pushes back, the tension snaps. Paul loses his temper, mocking her.
Paul: "All you care about is her, and she doesn't give a crap about you! Go run back to your empty house, leech-lover! Where's your psycho, heavily-armed brother to point a gun at us now, huh?" Jacob: "Watch what you call her!"
Jacob shoves Paul hard. In an instant, Paul loses control. With a violent tearing sound, he explodes into a massive silver-gray wolf. Bella screams for Jacob to run, but instead, Jacob dives forward. Mid-air, he phases into a gigantic russet-brown wolf, crashing into Paul to protect Bella.
The Aftermath at Emily's As the two wolves tear into the forest to finish their fight, Sam orders Embry and Jared to take Bella to Emily's house. Still in shock from the revelation that Jacob and the La Push boys are shape-shifters, Bella arrives at a small, weathered house. Inside, she meets Emily, Sam's fiancée, whose face is horribly scarred—a grim reminder of the absolute danger these boys possess, and a stark realization for Bella that the supernatural world is far more chaotic and violent than she ever realized without her brother there to hold the line.
The Protectors of La Push
Following the chaotic wolf fight in the woods, Embry and Jared escort Bella to Emily's house. Bella is initially shocked by the horrific scars covering Emily's face—a grim reminder of the very real danger these shape-shifters pose when they lose control. The pack explains their telepathic link, joking about how annoying it is to share every thought, but the underlying tension is clear.
Sam Uley, the Alpha, steps forward to address Bella's lingering fear and distrust. He knows her heavily armed brother is the only reason the Cullens didn't slaughter the town.
"We know Mame is away right now," Sam tells her, his voice carrying a deep, absolute respect. "Your brother held the line against the bloodsuckers. He fought for our land. He is practically part of this tribe. So, with him gone, protecting you in his place isn't just a favor—it's our responsibility."
Later, Jacob finally explains the truth to Bella: his "mono" was actually his dormant wolf DNA activating in response to the vampire threat in the area. They killed Laurent to protect her, but Victoria is still out there, stalking the tree lines and playing a lethal game of hide-and-seek to exact her revenge for James.
The Cliff Dive and the Misunderstanding
Desperate to trigger another adrenaline-fueled hallucination of Edward, Bella flings herself off the La Push cliffs into a raging ocean storm. She nearly drowns before Jacob dives in and pulls her lifeless body to the shore.
The relief is short-lived. Jacob informs her that Harry Clearwater suffered a fatal heart attack while hunting in the woods (ambushed by Victoria, though he doesn't know the details).
Jacob drives a shivering Bella home. The two share an incredibly intimate moment in the truck, and Jacob almost kisses her, promising that he will never abandon her. Suddenly, the phone rings. Jacob answers it, his voice turning to ice when he realizes a Cullen is on the other end. Thinking it's Carlisle, Jacob bluntly states that Charlie is at a funeral and hangs up.
But it wasn't Carlisle. It was Edward. Believing Bella is dead, Edward shatters his phone in Rio de Janeiro, entirely consumed by grief.
Charlie arrives home shortly after, exhausted from the tragedy of Harry's death and the stress of Bella's near-drowning. When Bella admits the Cullens have been trying to contact her, Charlie rubs his face, letting out a long, heavy sigh.
"I know you're hurting, Bells," Charlie says, his voice thick with a father's exhaustion. "But honestly... it's a damn good thing Mame isn't here right now. Because if your brother saw Edward anywhere near you again, Edward would be dead in the dirt, and I'd have to arrest my own son."
The Volturi and the Italian Meat Grinder
Alice abruptly appears at the Swan house, panicked. She explains that Edward, believing Bella is dead, is going to Volterra, Italy, to provoke the Volturi—the royalty of the vampire world—into executing him.
Bella and Alice race across the globe, stealing a yellow Porsche to navigate the crowded San Marcos Day festival in Volterra. Bella sprints through the town square, tackling Edward backward into the shadows just seconds before he exposes his sparkling skin to the human crowd.
They are immediately intercepted by Jane, Felix, and Demetri, who escort them deep underground to the Volturi's marble headquarters. Aro, Marcus, and Caius are fascinated by Bella, especially when Aro realizes his telepathy—and Jane's agonizing pain illusion—cannot penetrate Bella's mind.
Caius demands Bella be killed since she knows their secret, but Alice saves her life by showing Aro a vision: Bella will eventually become a vampire.
Amused but cautious, Aro lets them leave, promising to check in on their "progress" soon.
The Vote and The Treaty
Back in Forks, Bella realizes Edward will do everything in his power to keep her human, delaying her transformation as long as possible. Taking matters into her own hands, she brings the Cullen family together for a vote. With the exception of Rosalie and Edward, the entire family votes yes to changing her. Carlisle promises to do it himself after her high school graduation.
The next morning, Edward and Bella are intercepted in the woods by a furious Jacob. Jacob reminds Edward of the absolute rule of the La Push treaty: if a Cullen bites a human, the truce is over, and the wolves will attack.
Bella steps between the two apex predators, declaring that it is her choice, not theirs. She tells Jacob she loves him, but it has always been Edward. Heartbroken and enraged, Jacob phases into a massive wolf and sprints away into the trees.
But before he leaves, Jacob leaves Edward with one final, venomous warning. "You think the treaty is your only problem?" Jacob snarls in his human form. "Wait until Mame gets back from his trip. If you bite her, I won't even have to kill you. He'll do it himself."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: EXTRACTION COMPLETE.] [DIMENSIONAL ANCHOR: FORKS, WASHINGTON SECURED.] [RECALIBRATING HOST BIOLOGY...]
High above the heavy rain clouds of the Olympic Peninsula, a localized tear in reality rippled with digitized, violently cracking blue light.
Mame's heavily armored form was violently ejected from the dimensional void. He plummeted through the freezing rain, entirely unaware that he had been gone for months, that his sister had just discovered the La Push wolves, or that Victoria was currently stalking the tree lines.
He hit the canopy of the forest like a meteor. Thick pine branches snapped and splintered against his tactical armor as he tore through the ancient trees, violently arresting his momentum before he finally crashed into the damp, muddy earth of the La Push border with a heavy, bone-rattling thud.
For a long, agonizing minute, the forest was completely silent, save for the pouring rain.
Then, Mame let out a harsh, wet cough.
He rolled onto his back, his muscles screaming in protest. He blinked up at the grey, overcast sky, the freezing rain washing the residual ash and dried Croatoan blood from his face.
"What... what now?" Mame groaned, his voice raspy. He stared at his trembling hands. "I thought I was gonna die. The white void... it swallowed everything."
He tried to push himself up, but a sharp, agonizing spike of pain shot through his chest. The dimensional extraction had taken a massive toll on his physical body. His cells felt like they were vibrating out of sync with reality.
"System," Mame gasped, leaning back against a splintered tree trunk. "Status report. I need a Restoration Draught. But... I don't have the Fate Points required to heal me now."
A familiar, glowing blue screen materialized in the air in front of him.
[NEGATIVE, HOST. YOUR BALANCE IS SUFFICIENT.]
Mame frowned, squinting through the rain. "What? How?"
[CALCULATING DIMENSIONAL CROSSOVER REWARDS...] [ASSESSING HIDDEN QUESTS IN UNIVERSE: SUPERNATURAL (TIMELINE: 2014-ALTERED)]
A rapid, blinding cascade of notifications began to scroll down the holographic interface.
[SURVIVING THE MEAT GRINDER: +15,000 FP]
[ALTERING THE FATE OF DEAN WINCHESTER (2009): +20,000 FP]
[WITHSTANDING ARCHANGEL PRESSURE (LUCIFER): +10,000 FP]
"Okay," Mame muttered, coughing again. "That's a decent haul. But—"
The screen flashed bright red, overriding the standard blue interface.
[SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: SHOOTING THE AUTHOR] Description: Even R.O.B. (Random Omnipotent Being) did not predict the Host would attempt to execute the Creator of the Multiverse with a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. R.O.B. was highly entertained by the sheer, unadulterated audacity. [BONUS AWARDED: +500,000 FATE POINTS]
Mame stared at the massive number, his eyes widening slightly. He let out a dry, painful chuckle. "Well. Glad I could put on a good show."
[WARNING: HOST BIOLOGY DESTABILIZING.] The emergency extraction from a collapsing timeline has fractured your physical baseline. To anchor your existence back into the Twilight dimension, you must undergo a System Recalibration. You have a choice on how to spend your accumulated Fate Points.
Three distinct, glowing options appeared before Mame's eyes.
OPTION 1: THE TACTICAL JUGGERNAUT
Cost: All Current Fate Points.
Healing & Stats: You will be fully healed. Your baseline stats (Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility) will be upgraded to a B+ rank.
Willpower Breakthrough: Your Will stat will completely shatter its human limitations, reaching S-Rank. You will be entirely immune to telepathy, psychic illusions, and emotional manipulation.
Inventory Expansion: Your dimensional inventory expands to 50 Slots.
Arsenal Lock-In: You retain your specialized gear: 2 Glock 17s (extended mags), 2 Desert Eagles (Devil's Trap etched), plus 50,000 rounds of ammunition for each weapon type, and a stockpile of healing items.
Drawback: You will receive absolutely NO new skills you will need to acquire them again.
OPTION 2: THE BLANK SLATE
Cost: None.
Healing & Stats: You will be healed to your original, weak baseline body from before the System upgrades.
Wealth: You keep your massive pool of Fate Points to manually purchase specific skills, magical abilities, or unique upgrades at your own pace.
Drawback: The System's dimensional storage code was damaged in the extraction. If you choose this path, you can NEVER expand your inventory slots again. You will be restricted to whatever you can physically carry.
OPTION 3: THE LIVING WEAPON
Cost: Dimensional Storage.
Healing & Stats: You will be fully healed and retain your current Peak-Human baseline. You keep your Fate Points to spend on future skills.
Drawback: The dimensional inventory system will be completely deleted to stabilize your soul. You lose access to all stored weapons, ammo, and items instantly.
Mame read the glowing text, the freezing rain soaking through his canvas duster. The sound of wolves howling echoed in the far distance—a stark reminder that while he was gone, the local wildlife had gotten significantly more dangerous. He reached a bruised hand up to his face, wiping the mud from his eyes, and looked at the glowing blue screens.
Mame didn't even hesitate. He read through the glowing text, a dry, incredulous scoff leaving his bleeding lips.
"This is not even a choice," Mame rasped, his voice cutting through the heavy downpour.
He looked at Option 2 and Option 3 with absolute disdain. Giving up his physical conditioning to become a weak baseline human again was a death sentence in a world populated by vampires and shape-shifters. And sacrificing his digitized inventory? That was his entire tactical advantage. He was a walking armory; without his guns and his space, he was just another target.
He raised a trembling, mud-caked hand and pressed his finger directly against the first glowing blue panel.
"Option One," Mame declared coldly. "I can always grind for more Fate Points and get more skills later. But I need my hardware, and I need my stats."
[SELECTION CONFIRMED: THE TACTICAL JUGGERNAUT] [DEDUCTING ALL CURRENT FATE POINTS...] [INITIATING HOST UPGRADE...]
The holographic screen shattered into a million particles of blue light that instantly swarmed Mame's broken body.
The transformation was violent and immediate. The agonizing, cellular friction caused by the dimensional extraction vanished in a heartbeat. Mame threw his head back, his jaw clenching as a surge of raw, unadulterated kinetic power flooded his muscles.
[STRENGTH: UPGRADED TO B+] [SPEED: UPGRADED TO B+] [ENDURANCE: UPGRADED TO B+] [AGILITY: UPGRADED TO B+]
His physical frame didn't bulk up into a grotesque mass of muscle, but the density of his muscle fibers multiplied exponentially. The heavy tactical body armor suddenly felt as light as a cotton t-shirt. He could feel the explosive, coiled-spring tension in his legs, capable of moving at speeds that would blur the human eye.
But the physical upgrade paled in comparison to the mental shift.
[WILL UPGRADED TO S-RANK] [PASSIVE ABILITY UNLOCKED: ABSOLUTE MENTAL FORTRESS]
A profound, terrifying stillness settled over Mame's mind. It was as if a massive vault of solid titanium had slammed shut around his consciousness. The chaotic noise of the rain, the lingering trauma of the apocalypse, and the sheer stress of the extraction faded into a cold, pristine tactical clarity. With an S-Rank Will, his mind was utterly untouchable. No telepath could read him. No illusionist could trick him. No empath could alter his mood.
He was a ghost in the psychic spectrum.
Mame let out a slow, controlled breath, the air pluming into white mist in the freezing rain. He pushed himself off the splintered tree trunk, standing up effortlessly. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the perfectly calibrated balance of his new B+ baseline.
"System, open inventory," Mame ordered, his voice no longer raspy, but smooth, dangerous, and completely steady.
A massive blue grid materialized in front of him.
[INVENTORY: 50 SLOTS AVAILABLE] [SLOT 1: GLOCK 17 (x2) - EXTENDED MAGS] [SLOT 2: DESERT EAGLE .50 AE (x2) - DEVIL'S TRAP ETCHED] [SLOT 3: 9MM AMMUNITION CRATES (50,000 ROUNDS)] [SLOT 4: .50 AE AMMUNITION CRATES (50,000 ROUNDS)] [SLOT 5: MEDICAL/RESTORATION SUPPLIES] Slots 6 through 50: EMPTY.
Mame's dark eyes scanned the massive stockpile. Fifty thousand rounds of heavy, armor-piercing ammunition. He could fight a sustained war for weeks without ever needing to scrounge for supplies.
He reached under his soaked canvas duster, his hands moving with B+ speed—a literal blur of motion—as he drew the twin Desert Eagles from his shoulder holsters. The heavy hand-cannons felt perfectly balanced in his grip. He checked the chambers with a sharp clack-clack, the sound cutting cleanly through the rain, before seamlessly holstering them again.
He stepped out of the muddy crater he had created upon impact, his heavy boots crunching against the wet pine needles.
He was back. The scent of pine, damp earth, and ocean salt told him he was standing somewhere near the La Push border.
Ahoooooooooooo!
Mame paused. Far off in the distance, cutting through the storm, the deep, resonant howl of a massive wolf echoed through the trees. It was followed almost immediately by a second, furious howl.
Mame tilted his head, his S-Rank Will keeping his pulse perfectly flat. He didn't know how long he had been gone in this timeline, but the local wildlife didn't usually sound like they were the size of minivans.
"Looks like the neighborhood went to hell while I was on vacation," Mame murmured into the dark forest.
He adjusted the collar of his duster, his dark eyes narrowing with absolute, uncompromising focus. It was time to find his sister.