http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5587296/1/Absolucion
http://twilighted.net/viewstory.php?sid=9577

Official Description: Edward and Bella realize the consequence of the friend’s sacrifice and ask for Carlisle’s help to prevent it. Can the family’s patron help when he is suffering his own crisis of faith? Soon, the Cullens find themselves embroiled in political intrigue that could unwittingly destroy the carefully concealed world of the vampires. Vampire, Canon, AU, OC

This story is the sequel to Anthesis.

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LolaShoes says: I’m sure all of us, at one time or another, have wondered what it is about Edward and Bella that suck us so deeply into the Saga.  How is it that we are still reading about them long after their Happily Ever After?

For some, it’s that we didn’t get enough Edward in Breaking Dawn.  For others (cough*me*cough) it’s that we wanted to see their relationship from a slightly more mature perspective.  But for all of us, in one form or another, a large factor in why we keep coming back is that their love feels so fated, so eternal, so necessary.

The concept of eternal, fated love is explored so carefully, so lavishly in gkkstitch’s stories Antithesis and its sequel Absolucion that you will probably find yourself surprised with the hidden truths she has pulled from between the lines of canon.  These truths, laid bare for us in her writing, include everything that didn’t happen to our protagonists, but are the constant soft underbelly of their happily ever after: love/loss, eternal life/death, completeness/splintering.  In reality, every instance of happiness is held up and buoyed by the tragedy that never happened.

In the saga, we were given the gift of knowing that Edward and Bella find each other and get their forever. We assume at the end of BD that this forever is open and loving, wild and passionate, deep and constantly growing. 

The love in Twilight feels otherworldly and for many of us, that is what drew us in.  But the darker side of their story, the one we never had to see, is the one where Edward finds Bella and loses her.  gkkstitch takes their devotional love and contrasts it sharply with its flip side: what would happen if you found that love and lost it? How would this affect a newly-changed vampire? 

In Antithesis, we meet Rolle (pronouced “raw-lee”, not “roll”), a friend of Edward’s who was changed when he was in the acute throes of mourning the death of his love, Gillian.  This loss has penetrated every corner of his shattered mind and, because of the unchanging nature of the vampire psyche, tortures him relentlessly.  His devotion to Gillian and his deep connection to Edward drive much of the motivation of his actions in Antithesis (which I won’t spoil for you here), and the consequences of these actions continue into Absolucion, which asks the question: what do you do with a shattered but powerfully dangerous being such as Rolle?  And who, in the world of the eternal, is responsible for making these decisions?  Tied into these questions are a whirlpool of undercurrents hindering easy resolution: In the middle of all of this, Carlisle is shattered by his own trauma.  How does he come back to be the center of the family that they need?  How can Edward and Bella, of all people, help Rolle find a way to come to terms with an eternity without Gillian? Toss in some political intrigue between the Romanians and the Volturi, and you have one of the most complex and carefully constructed plot lines that you will find in the fandom. 

On several occasions, I’ve told gkkstitch that I read Absolucion the same way that I eat dark chocolate: in small pieces.  I need to let it melt over me so I can process everything.  What has taken her months to craft is not something I can read in five minutes and feel I’ve given adequate attention: it needs to dissolve on my tongue, needs to take hold and root in.  Our chat window is open all day every day, and when we talk about Absolucion, we may start with a phrase or a question that she is toying over, but it will spiral into a philosophical discussion about how a person who has the love of her life by her side every minute is the best council for the love-shattered.  Or, we will spend an hour discussing how Aro’s view of humans has evolved over the centuries in ways different than Carlisle’s or Marcus’.  Then, I get overwhelmed if I read too much at a time because each word is selected to perfectly capture the scene, the mood, or the expression.  Take, for example, this exerpt from Chapter 7:

Edward drank slowly, glancing at Carlisle as he fed. He watched his father and mentor, admiring his precision and care with his prey. Carlisle’s approach to the kill was as different from the rest of them as it possibly could be. His humanity prevented him from toying with his prey as Emmett did. Unlike Jasper who leapt onto his prey alive and fed until the animal dropped, Carlisle found no joy in the kill, only the necessity of it. Even the women were more vicious in the manner of their hunts. Carlisle’s approach was simple and quick, and because of his skill it was disconcerting, even to another vampire’s eyes, how quickly the quarry fell when Carlisle was hunting, as if his presence alone caused the animal’s death.

Then later:

As Carlisle looked over the coyote pack, he was struck with the irony that he, a vampire, cared more about human life than the humans gifted with it. His thoughts turned to Edward and how he struggled against taking Bella’s life, even though he loved the idea of her life more than his own and couldn’t survive without her. Even Rolle, who was never taught different, carried over that respect for life into what he became. The assassin valued life and thought himself damned for his sins in his mortal life. These vampires had more regret about killing than humans did.

That scene hits me so powerfully because one can imagine how Carlisle – a physian, a man of God – struggles to value human life more than they value it themselves.  These kinds of ‘truths’ from canon are slipped in everywhere, rich and florid.  Everything is visual, visceral, and deliberate.  Every bit of dialogue and exposition is done under the careful gaze of canon.  If you love intrigue, if you love the exploration of love and how it is the foundation of everything, and if you love the Cullens, read this story.  And trust me, if you even get a glimpse of Rolle in Antithesis, you won’t be able to stay away.