On a quiet asphalt road winding through an endless forest, a boy around sixteen walked like he had all the time in the world, slow strides, hands in his pockets, like he was on a casual midnight stroll and not fresh out of a near death encounter with a vampire.
Yes, this was Sebastian, our freshly reincarnated menace to physics and common sense, who had finally, finally found civilization… or at least a road.
"Damn, that forest was hell. Wet as a soap opera vampire in a garlic sauna."
His stomach let out a loud, traitorous gurgle.
"And I haven't found anything to eat… How tragic. Someone as devastatingly handsome as me starving to death in the woods. There should be a law against that."
Just then, a low rumble echoed behind him. Not hunger this time, rubber on the road. He turned to see a truck rolling up behind him, slowing as it approached.
It came to a stop beside him with a hiss of brakes. The driver, a scruffy guy in his thirties, rolled down the window.
"Hey kid. Need a ride?"
Sebastian glanced at the man, Then at the road stretching endlessly in both directions. With vector manipulation, he wasn't worried about vampires, or humans, or even gravity, if it came to that. Worst case scenario, he'd judo yeet the truck into orbit.
"Sure, why not;" he said, and climbed in without hesitation.
As they pulled away, Sebastian leaned back in the passenger seat like he owned it.
"Thanks for the ride, old man."
The truck driver twitched. Internally screaming.
'Old man? I'm thirty. THIRTY.'
Sebastian didn't notice. He was too busy fantasizing about food. He glanced over at the driver again.
"You wouldn't happen to have any snacks, would you? Sandwich? A tragic gas station burrito?"
The diver shook his head. "Nope."
Then, after a pause, he gave Sebastian a suspicious glance.
"You're traveling pretty light, kid. No bags. No phone. You run away or something?"
Sebastian blinked, then smirked.
"Nah. I travel light. A toothbrush and good vibes are all I need."
The driver raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Then why are you begging for food like a stray cat?"
Sebastian shrugged.
"Hey, toothbrushes don't come with nutritional value.Yet" Sebastian said.
About twenty minutes of highway and awkward small talk later, the truck pulls into the dusty lot of a roadside diner, the kind that smells like old coffee, fried regret, and neon nostalgia.
Sebastian's eyes light up like a vampire seeing an unguarded jugular.
"Is this… real food? Food I don't have to fight a squirrel for?"
The driver chuckles. "Welcome to Rosie's. Best pie on this side of the country."
Sebastians already halfway to the door. "If I don't eat in the next five minutes, I'm going to vector-punch a cow and eat it raw."
Inside, it's just as you'd expect, vinyl booths, faded menus, and a waitress who looks like she has seen one too many weirdos pass through. She eyes Sebastian's forest-dusted clothes and wild hair, but says nothing as he flops into a booth like he owns it.
The driver slides across from him. "You're weird, kid."
"You offered me a ride. You enabled this."
A waitress with tired eyes and a pencil behind her ear strolls over, pad ready.
"What can I get you boys?"
Sebastian doesn't even hesitate. "Yes,"
She stares.
"Sorry, I meant everything. Just, like… one of everything. And two chocolate shakes. Actually, make that four. One for each of my remaining brain cells."
The waitress raises an eyebrow. "You got cash for that?"
Sebastian gestures at the driver. " My esteemed patron here shall be covering the bill."
The driver chokes. "Hey now…!"
Sebastian leans in, voice smooth. "You let me starve, I might start eating furniture. Your call."
The waitress snorts. "Alright, coming right up."
As she walks away, the driver groans. "You better be useful for something, kid."
Sebastian, already imagining a milkshake-induced coma, tilts his head. "Speaking of which… where are you headed anyway?"
The driver shrugs. "A little town up north. Forks. Got a delivery run, couple days' work."
Sebastian freezes mid-daydream. "Forks?"
'Oh. Oh no. The plot thickens. The glitter thickens.' Sebastian thought.
He leans back, casual like he's not connecting a thousand year vampire-themed dots in his head. "Mind if I tag along?"
The driver eyes him. "You some kind of drifter?"
Sebastian smirks. "Something like that. Let's just say I have… an academic interest in Forks. Sparkling culture. Rain appreciation."
The driver groans. "You're weird."
Sebastian raises a finger, "You already said that. And repetition is the death of conversation."
The waitress didn't believe it at first.
Sebastian didn't eat. He obliterated. Plates became empty landscapes, milkshakes vanished like they owed him money, and anything that hit the table disappeared before the waitress could blink twice.
The truck driver watched in silent horror.
"I… didn't know a human could do that."
Sebastian licked the whipped cream off his thumb and exhaled like a warrior after battle.
"You think that was impressive? You should see me with dessert."
With a satisfied sigh and a stomach full enough to silence even his chaotic mind, he strolled back to the truck, leaned against the door, and said, "Alright, chauffeur-san. Let's roll."
The road ahead stretched ahead like fate dragging him toward plot relevance. And he didn't mind. Something felt… magnetized. Like gravity had picked a direction and told the world to learn.
…Somewhere in Forks…
Alice Cullen sat crossed-legged in her room, a sketchbook in her lap, her pencil dancing between timelines and wardrobe ideas. The world flickered at the edges of her sight, the usual stream of futures. Shopping. Rain. Edward brooding.
Then, everything stopped.
She gasped.
Eyes wide, the sketchbook fell from her lap, pages fluttering like frightened birds.
Her breath caught. Her entire body locked as if hit by something enormous and unseen.
The world tilted.
And then she saw him.
A blur of motion, a flash of a crooked smile, vectors rippling off his skin like reality itself was scared of him. A boy with messy hair, bad posture, and a smirk.
Then came the bond.
The mate bond.
It wasn't gentle. It was a cosmic sucker punch. Like fate had been waiting too long and slammed down the final puzzle piece with unnecessary force.
Alice screamed.
She collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest as a molten thread of power, ancient and wrong and perfect, lashed out from somewhere beyond space and connected. Her vision flickered, not just seeing the future now, but feeling it. Feeling him.
Carlisle and Emmet heard the commotion and rushed to Alice's room.
Emmet shot forward, panic in his eyes. "Alice!"
He reached out to touch her.
And got thrown across the room.
A burst of invisible force, Sebastian's vectors traveling through the nascent bond, lashed out like a reflex. Emmet slammed into the wall with a dull thud and a groan.
Carlisle rushed forward. "Emmet?! What…"
Alice gasped. The pain stopped.
Just like that, the burning was gone.
Her hands dropped to the floor. Her chest heaved as if she'd been drowning and just found air.
And then… she smiled.
Slow, wild, eyes wide with adrenaline and a kind of unhinged delight.
"He's coming ," she whispered. "My mate's coming."
END OF CHAPTER 2