DISCLAIMER: this has been cross-posted on @amaeranthos, as they are my main alec and thus our portrayals align with each other.
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 ＆ 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐢 ＆ 𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐚.
In the year 782 CE, twin infants were born to a Slavic woman named Yelena. The two babes were named Yana and Alexei, and from the day they were born they were rumoured to bring ill luck wherever they went. Their father, a Viking man they’d never learned the name of, was killed when they were still mere children for his past crimes against the people of what would eventually become Kievan Rus’, as the Viking raids had claimed countless lives of the locals there. Due to her status as an unwed mother of two that had chosen to bed a Viking man, Yelena was ostracised from her community and forced to leave with her children.
The family of tree was forced to migrate for most of their lives, unable to settle down anywhere for any extended amount of time due to prejudice against their Slavic heritage and the heavy xenophobia that was present at the time. For over a decade they lived on the move, learning to hunt and scavenge for clothes, shelter, and food whenever a settlement refused them even the sanctuary of a bed for the night. Over the years, the twins learned to fend for themselves as Yelena’s health began to decline, and in early 800 CE they noticed their mother had become very ill.
They’d hoped that their luck had changed when they came to England. Yana had been optimistic despite the previous times they’d been turned away from settling anywhere, hoping that due to their mother’s illness, a healer might allow them to stay until she’d recovered, giving them a sense of stability they’d never experienced. Alexei had even dreamed that, perhaps, they’d show their skills learned on the road and be able to prove to the people of England that they were a boon to their community despite their heritage.
Unfortunately, Yelena was denied any treatment as they all but carried her into the town square, her brow covered with a sheen of sweat and her children begging for help. The language barrier between them served to only amplify the cold glares of the townspeople, and the people turned them away and scorned them, just as others had done before. Though they tried their best to try and appeal to them, it was just the twins ill luck that Yelena died in their arms in the middle of that very town square—her children holding her corpse with tears in their eyes while surrounded by nothing short of an enraged mob. Shouts and screams began as soon as Yelena’s head lolled to the side, unseeing eyes staring at the priest coming down from the church’s steps. Her immediate death and the fact that they were outsiders ignited a fear within the crowd, promptly casting public ire upon the two children.
The church swiftly labeled the twins as witches, fanning the flames of resentment and terror by citing the twins’ Pagan beliefs and their status as outsiders for proof. The priest gestured grandly at the cooling corpse of their mother, declaring she’d passed away from “the sickness they’ve brought upon us,” and the crowd roared their displeasure and distrust in the faces of the two children they’d made the subject of their hatred. It was a unanimous decision to burn them at the stake in order to protect the souls of their people, and the church officials ordered everyone to return to their homes as they did what needed to be done.
It was as they were bound to the pyre, flames carving wicked lines into the frail flesh of their legs, that Aro appeared as an avenging angel. The Volturi intervened on their behalf after stories of the twins spread from nomads, who had noticed the poor luck that followed those who’d scorned them and the good luck that blessed those that helped them. It was Aro’s decision to swiftly eliminate the church officials that had stood around the pyre, reveling in the torment of the twins, while leaving everyone who’d hidden inside untouched. He’d bitten the twins himself, carrying them away to endure the change in the safety of Volterra, and leaving behind the scene of carnage that would inspire the legend of the demon twins who had massacred the village upon attempting to purge their existence.
The legend of the twins would carry on for countless generations, firmly cementing them in place as figures of local folklore.
