Blood Moon [a Twilight Saga FanFiction]

The Great War

CARLISLE GOT BETTER WITH HIS MEMORIES. After Esme reawoke all of his compassion and love for his family, he got better again. Carlisle buried himself deeper into his work, deeper into his studies. I had to assure Igor that he wasn't doing into a depression, it was just what he did last time he lived through this to stop thinking of the sixteen-year-old girl who broke her leg.
     When we left Colorado, I was surprised Carlisle chose to stay with us.
     "There's something we need to discuss before we think about jobs, or lives here," I muttered as I hung up one of my paintings.
     It was a new century, a new decade. We were in the twentieth century, and as much as I looked forward to the twenties, there was a traumatic event ahead.
     "In the next town, Miss Elizabeth," Igor assured me.
     "There haven't even been any signs of The Great War," Carlisle stated. "Perhaps that is a future that has changed-"
     "The Great War?" Verity asked, looking at the three of us. "What's that?"
     "You two remember it better than I do," I muttered and moved to display another pictured.
     "The first time it was nineteen-fourteen, there was a horrible, horrible war," Igor stated. "Most countries that had an army were involved."
     "Even infant countries, like Australia," Carlisle added.
     "You think that what was happening through the Civil War was bad? The Great War..." Igor sighed. "I was in my asylum, I wasn't touched by it, but I heard."
     "I went," Carlisle confessed. "Stayed in medical tents, convinced my crew to move only at night, keep the windows closed so the sun wouldn't shine on any equipment and give away our location."
     "Smart."
     "June twenty-eighth, nineteen-fourteen, the archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated by a Serb nationalist. The same day, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Then between August first and twenty-eighth, hell breaks loose."
     "Germany declares war on Russia, France, and Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany. Austria declares war on Russia. France and Britain declared war on Austria. Montenegro and Japan declared war on Germany. Austra declared war on Belgium-" Igor listed.
      "Oh my goodness," Verity gasped.
     "And then the Battle of Marne began," I sighed. "September sixth, nineteen-fourteen."
     "That was only the beginning of four-years of death and destruction," Igor added. "And there never was an exact final count of the total casualties of the years."
     "How?" Verity asked. "How could they not get a number?"
     "People were destroyed beyond recognition, some disappeared and never found again. Then there were the children," Igor continued. "Young men who lied about their age and ID just so they could go to the Front and fight for their country. Die for their country. Willingly."
     "There were people who did that? Willingly left their families, to die?" Verity asked.
     "They didn't see it like that," Carlisle sighed. "Propaganda will be very powerful for young minds that do not fully understand. I always thought of it as brainwashing until I met a young man who wanted to go fight. He was well aware of the propaganda and was plainly aware of the death and battles, but he was too young, his father being sent home from the war alive, but injured. He genuinely wanted to bring honour and pride to his family and country, though later in his life admitted that it was naive of him. He grew of old mind and learnt there is no pride in war," Carlisle continued. "Even if he hadn't nearly died of the Spanish Influence when he was seventeen."
     Verity smirked.
     "You're talking of one of my future cousins, aren't you?" she asked.
     Carlisle grinned.
     "Edward was very determined to fight in The Great War," Carlisle finalised.
     "Then he died," Verity nodded.
     "Regardless," Igor sighed. "Miss Elizabeth, we will discuss what we will do during the war, if it is going to happen, closer to the date."
     "It's going to happen," Verity muttered. "It seems to be a fixed point of time. I've known about a coming great war since... forever," she sighed. "Now it makes sense."
     "What do you know us to be doing for the war?" Igor asked.
     "I don't know that. I'm sorry, Father," Verity muttered. "I just know it'll happen."
     Igor nodded and held me, pulling me closer to him.
     "It still stands," Igor stated. "We will discuss what we will do, once it gets closer. In this town, in this home, we need not worry about it."
     After that conversation, I pushed it out of mind. As much as was possible with so much headspace to think. Did we warn anyone? Did we try and stop the assassination that started it all and try and stop the war altogether?
     We kept in touch with Esme via letters and learnt when she had declined Charles as a suitor. Much to her parents' annoyance, they didn't believe her or thought her naive when she claimed she got 'a bad feeling' from the man. She also grew slowly worried about the date, she couldn't remember much about the Great War, as she was human, but she could remember enough.
     On the last letter Esme sent before we moved again, she begged Carlisle to not go to the Front, begged him to stay with us and stay safe.
     And when we moved and the war came around, we decided to watch and wait. We'd behave as we normally would, listening, waiting, and watching for something to happen.
     When America got involved, Igor and Carlisle didn't raise their hands to go fight. Though I knew Igor was itching, not to fight but because he knew Demetri would be there keeping an eye on the vampires of the area.
     It was nineteen-sixteen when the inevitable happened. Verity warned us that they needed medical personnel in war zones, for both in danger civilians and soldiers. I got home one day after studying medicine, Igor was working as a psychiatrist, and Carlisle was talking to a worried-looking Verity.
     The one line I heard was the one line I needed.
     "They're going to call you to the Front," Verity warned.
     I quickly got out of my car and ran to Verity and Carlisle, he was watching me with a worried expression.
     "We can still disappear," I stated to Carlisle. "The Front, brother? Esme won't like it at all."
     "Esme will never need to know-"
     "And what if something happens to you while you're there? Hm? What if you're too close to a bomb? Or the Volturi think you're too much of a risk of exposure and kill you? Carlisle, you're not going! When Igor gets home, we're disappearing. Understood? All of us."
     "It's treason to turn against a deportation notice," Carlisle reminded me.
     "Good thing you're not American," Verity reminded him.
     "That," I nodded. "And I know for a fact, and so do you, Carlisle, that Esme would rather you a fugitive than dead. And besides, they haven't delivered the notice yet. You won't be a fugitive until they do. It'll just be convenient timing."
     "Hiding?" Carlisle asked with a groan. "I do not like the idea of not doing what I can to help."
     "Don't have any input in the war, Carlisle. Keep your distance and stay safe. For me?... For Esme."
   He sighed and sat down.
     "Where will we go?"
     "We haven't met the sisters in this life yet," I suggested.
     "Tanya, Kate, and Irina," Carlisle nodded slowly. "I wonder if Carmen and Eleazar are with them yet."
     "Maybe, remember Eleazar was not with the Volturi when we went and got you from them."
     "A difference I didn't notice until now," Carlisle muttered. "Perhaps, though, it is just the year difference."
     "Let us hope we have not ruined their family in an attempt to save it."
     "Let us hope Igor gets home shortly so we can leave before I am made into a fugitive of war."
     "Will you stop thinking of it like that, brother? You're saving yourself, and you're not human nor are you American."
     "But I can help, should I not be putting my good hand forward to help whomever I can, no matter the sides?" Carlisle argued.
     "I understand, Carlisle," I sighed, my still chest aching. "I really do. I want to help them as well. Clean the wounds of the dead, hold their hands as they bleed out from losing a limb... I want to help in any way I can physically. But it's too dangerous, even for our kind. So when Igor gets home, we leave for Denali."
     "We should be helping."
     "We should be keeping ourselves alive, for those who have not yet turned to our life."
      I knew Igor, like Carlisle, would hate the idea of hiding. I could remember our argument last time World War II came around. Though that argument I also won, because it was only logical. We were not human, yes we had the capabilities to do more good than any medical practitioner in the Front could even wildly imagine, but it was not our war, not a war of our kind, unless we made it one.
     And the Volturi would not at all be happy about that.