Hi All,

I don't like putting up author notes but maybe this time should be an exception. So, some readers are confused about the answers and explanation Alice gave the family in the end. I'm going to try explain it here, and may give more information on the characters here and there.

Answers

Alice apologized to the family for all the secrecy for the months since she left. Remember she did not call to speak to anyone for weeks. Rosalie and Emmett also called only a few times following instruction from Alice, until she sent them back home with the half-breeds.

Anyway, she starts by telling the family she did not wake up to the vampire life alone, like we know from SM's story. Her visions were so strong while she was human, she could see into the vampire world and the event that would end it all. ((I'm implying this to be part of the reason she was institutionalized.)) A vampire working there took a liking to her. He believed Alice's visions and had plans to change her when she was a little older. His mate was Christina.

James (and his then gang of three) attacked them while he hunted Alice. James won the fight and killed the vampire but not before he bit Alice. Christina found Alice changing close to her mate's ashes and took her in. Soon as Alice woke up she had more visions of Jasper, the Cullens, James' death and the end of the world. Christina taught her how to survive and fight.

She made the decision to stay with Alice instead of going after James for killing her mate. Her decision was motivated by what she believed her mate would have wanted; knowing that James would eventually die. She also felt the need to help Alice change the disturbing vision of how the world would end more. (**I'm not sure whether you want to put this on Timothy's gift. Vampire females are driven crazy by revenge but she was able to put it off -hmm...That would mean Galileo was at work long before Alice and Christina found him.**)

They traveled together looking for something; anything that could give clues or help. That's how they found Galileo. He has a gift of knowing things. So he knew they were looking for him and the help he could provide. He also knew how to avoid Alice's gift. Strangely, he made them stay with him a few years first. (It's implied he liked Christina and she returned his feelings, that's why Alice couldn't ask Christina to use her gift on Galileo.)

All three kept tabs on Alice's visions. Whenever they could do something to change things they did; but sometimes it was out of their hands. When the time was right - according to Galileo's gift - he introduced them to Siobhan.

Galileo knew Siobhan was the next vampire leader of sorts after the Volturi.

Her gift is to influence the outcome of situations. The four of them used the details from Alice's visions to shape the future. They would make millions of decisions and Alice would see the future result. Much of it ended with the same result, the world would end horribly. The same day Rosalie found Emmett in 1935; Alice had a vision of the last member of her family. A human mate for Edward. That vision was their first break, fifteen years after Alice woke up to her vampire life. The more visions of Edward and his mate she had; the better she could see future events that brought on the end of the world as they surrounded her family.

First the gifted of the Cullens would be bound to Aro. He would use them to gather a formidable army. At the peak of his strength, all of Aro's army would be bound to Caius. This is what they were fighting against more.

Aro was a much lesser evil in comparison.

Whatever they decided to do to change events, Alice always saw them burnt for treason. That was when Galileo suggested they give up control of the situation to the human who would be Edward's mate.

What were the chances Aro would search for his nemesis among human teenage girls?

With the family at the center of events; Alice unwillingly agreed they could be used as a decoy. If anything else couldn't go according to their plan, that would right it again. They would be able to trump the Volturi the moment Aro decided her wanted the Cullen children.

(Remember, they had many contingency plans for every possible decision/outcome. PS. This means every 'what if' question you can think of.)

Moving on...As soon as they all decided to do exactly that, Alice's visions changed. She saw an alternative to the disaster - a continuation of life - both human and mythical. All four again created millions of scenarios; making different decisions to gather details and map out events to judgement day as they wanted them to happen - involving Bella.

That is how the book/manuscript was written. Siobhan used her gift to make sure they wrote it in a way that would motivate Bella to act favourably; making the story about her and Edward.

Their groupie session was broken up when Aro sent for Galileo and Siobhan after Dimitri sensed them near. Christina made them forget their time with her and Alice. The two returned to America.

As soon as they got there, Christina made the difficult choice. She sent Alice away to find Jasper and her family. Only she could carry the burden of making sure Bella got the book, because she could also protect its contents from being known. Because of Edward's gift, her love for Jasper and the need for Alice to give up control; Christina had to take her memories away before they parted.

This plays in with SM's story where Alice only remembered waking alone and wandering forever after Jasper so they could both find the Cullens. With her memory gone, Alice did not remember anything about Bella or the book, decades later in Forks.

Bella was shocked at all that went on way before she was born. She suspected that she must have been coerced to play into their plan and asked. Alice confirmed Timothy had something to do with it. His gift is to influence others, a different version of Jasper's.

Bella is reeling from confirmation that she was directed to make certain decisions.

Alice apologized after being defensive of their actions in the last chapter.

The beginning of their success depended on Bella. Even as she could have made a decision against reading the books; going to Forks or chosen Jacob over Edward; they were well prepared to place her back on the 'right' path.

Both she and Edward were feeling heavily manipulated from what Alice had told the family.

Alice paints a picture of Caius' rule for the family as an explanation of their actions; Why Bella had to be helped to stay on the path. She was the only ace they needed to secure a future they preferred.

She explains who the trigger was; Gertrude. Even though they had known about her years before, Galileo had advised against going after her. She was ruthless and known for keeping slaves; human, vampire and wolf. She could enslave the body, mind and will of a living being all at once or just one part. (For example: she would enslave the body while the mind was alert to it's deeds and unable to overrule her gift. It was her preferred method of torture - to break goodwill in others) She had tried to overthrow the Romanians in the past; weakening them to the point where it was easy for the Volturi to take over. He attempts to overthrow the Volturi had been thwarted in the past, thanks to Galileo. She joined with them in the end as a means to reach her goal from the inside, through Caius. She was a very powerful vampire! As Edward explained, she was even close to breaking through Bella's physical and mental shields at the clearing.

Alice explains to Bella that four events guided them, except they couldn't predict exactly how they would occur. This explains the twists in this story and SM's books.So when each event happened a certain way, they knew how to place things back on track and what to expect next.

Example: How James died led Victoria to team up with Maria instead of creating her own army. Bella was strong enough to fight for Edward and stop him from leaving her - but their separation couldn't be avoided- it happened differently. She was stronger after the experience, able to shield them when Aro visited the Cullen home. It was necessary for her to be her strongest faster for the Volturi confrontation involving Gertrude.

(**PS. You have to consider Christina and Timothy's interference with the characters in Forks, since our hero groupie was hard pressed to speed things up with Bella. Whenever things changed, the two years Bella and the Cullens had to prepare was shortened - bringing the final confrontation closer.**)

The lives the Cullens led after they read Bella's letters was tightly controlled and monitored. Not just Bella's decisions, all of theirs as well - including Alice.

Galileo knew how to offer them support when they needed it with involving Zafrina, Liam and Timothy. I'd like to think he is the one who sent the vampire who trumped Getrude and Chelsea's gifts to join Jasper and Alice's group. It makes sense. In the background and throughout the years - Galileo, Christina, Siobhan and Timothy had been hard at work to ready everything and everyone for the time they would be needed in the confrontation against the Volturi. This is outside events involving the Cullens.

After Christina returned Alice's memories, she could see clearly, knowing exactly what to look for. She knew where and how to find the ones who stood with them, vampires the Volturi hadn't heard of. Christina and Timothy also told her what they had been up to while she lived a happy life with her mate and family. Alice sympathize with them.

The Cullens are saddened to learn that their lives had been planned for, controlled and manipulated. They realize that there was a part of Alice they truly hadn't known. Bella is struggling to come to terms with the truth. Although she recognizes that she had been the Alice of the family since she arrived at Forks. She didn't share everything with them, yet they trusted her blindly and followed her plans. For that reason, she couldn't be angry with her sister.

Carlisle and Esme are afraid that their family could fall apart from learning the truth of Alice and Bella's actions. Carlisle decides to fight for them, by laying his actions open for judgement too – to show that his daughters did not act so different. Esme supports him, Alice and Bella with her own confession.

All the family is afraid of how Bella will react in the end, especially Edward.

Once Bella confirms that she wasn't planning to leave, Alice gets a vision of the family together; they will survive learning the truth.

#It would be cool if Timothy went after Tanya when the confrontation was over. (Just so she finds her happy ever after. And Alice wouldn't mention that because the family is not ready to hear it; she only mentioned Tanya back and happy with the Denalis. Both Tanya and Timothy are not in their good books at the moment.)

#Elizabeth will meet her mate in six years'time. Bella's gut tells her it's Jacob Black. She still struggles with sharing her and refuses to ask Alice anything about it. Alice has seen who it is. (insert evil laughter here!)