Hey guys,
This is a little (well, a lot) different to my other Twilight fic, Sixteen Things. That one's a parody, this is serious. I had this random idea about the Jazzman reminiscing and this happened... Please tell me what you think, I'm not sure about it.. Rhi (Jazzy-and-Eddie-Rule), who beta-ed said it was weird. Thanks to her anyway! I also wanted to call this 'Time Passes, People Change, Years Go By, Does the World Stay the Same?' but FF wouldn't let me.... So instead it's called whatever I called it when I shoved this on the 'New Story' thing. Just bear in mind that's what I wanted it to be called.
Twilight isn't mine.
Time Passes, People Change, Years Go By, Does the World Stay the Same?
Jasper sat at one of the Cullen's many computers, and brought up the document type needed for his essay. It was part of his senior history work, and attributed to twenty percent of the grade. The teacher had told the class the paper had to be at least five pages, with the students' own view on 'history over the ages, with emphasis on the way the world has developed in its own time.' The teacher had also told Jasper and those of his family in his history class that they should have been writing that information down. But the Cullen's had long memories, and not just for essay titles. The majority of them had lived through two world wars, at least two civil wars, endless recessions and epidemics and also an industrial revolution.
As the machine booted up, Jasper smiled at how the world had indeed developed over time, and recalled through human memories how he and his brothers and sisters in Texas had not been to school, but their family had been rich enough to hire a governess. In the twenty-first century, hardly anyone was homeschooled, and there was a curriculum to be followed. There were also (although this was a factor that had not changed in the least), rules to be obeyed. Although, nowadays the rules tended to be more like, 'no smoking on school premises' than, 'always remember the Lord's Prayer'. Jasper could still recite the Lord's Prayer when asked, a result of it being drummed into him from the age of six to sixteen. He could also reel off the Ten Commandments and his times tables, a fact which could be attributed entirely to the governess, who had made him stutter them out every day except Sunday for a decade.
Yes, the world had changed since Jasper had first been a teenager. Where there had been mules, then horses, then horses and carriages, now it was cars, airplanes and the Bullet Train. It had gone from letters to telegrams to phone, then email and personal computers to mobile connections and Wi-Fi, MySpace, Twitter (which Jasper was certain would one day rule the world along with Apple). A crash from downstairs reminded Jasper that Bella was attempting to cook, and that the shiny Bosch stove sitting in the kitchen next to the dishwasher was once a wood fire and a stream.
Jasper also knew that he himself could be considered historical, that in the two thousands men didn't tip their hats (or wear hats for that matter, except for fashion) or take a lady's coat or call her 'ma'am'. Of course, Jasper was from the nineteenth century. But, in so many ways, he was from not only a different time, but a different planet. All the Cullen's were, with the exception of Bella, who was considered a Cullen to Jasper long before he had attempted to kill her. Carlisle had been born in a time of raging civil war and political turmoil, not to mention an era without the basic hygiene standards today's society required, and religious debate that changed at the reign of every monarch. Rosalie was from the upper-class New York of the Great Depression, even though she had never consciously felt its effects. One could also argue that Alice, simply regarding the fact she could not remember any of her human life because she had so rarely seen the light, proved that the nineteen tens and twenties hadn't been as jazzy or as roaring as the world remembered.
But hadn't Carlisle overcome his neighbours' prejudice's to save those he loved or believed deserved another chance? Hadn't Edward realised his life was more than a cursed existence due to the fact he felt love and had learnt to be loved in return? Hadn't Rosalie had risen above her hatred for those who had ended her human life so cruelly; even though she had gotten her revenge and felt justice had been served to those who needed it? Even the doctor at Alice's asylum had attested himself as much more than the average vampire, on basis of the fact he had saved Alice from dying in the darkened room of her hospital ward. And even Jasper had overpowered his bloodlust and his depression, all because he had Alice to guide him onto the road to recovery.
Yes, people changed, yes so did the way they acted due to technology… But at the end of Jasper's very, very long day he realised that if history had shown him one thing it was that you could guess what was coming next and you could be absolutely correct or completely wrong… However, the actions of those he loved and those who loved him could never be foreseen because as sure as the Earth was round, people would do what they felt and hoped like hell the decision they were making was the right one.
Jasper had typed the title for his paper and accomplished a paragraph when he realised that, in their own way, the Cullen's were not just a family, or a coven, or a group of vampires (and a human) brought together by fate. They were timepieces, relics of forgotten eras, battles and ties between people.
History has shown us that events can lead to love, hate, lifelong grudges and lifelong bonds. It is said that history does not repeat itself, but that people do. In many ways this is true; humans are amazingly predictable at times – we [and here Jasper knew he had to tread thin lines] fight battles and wars over the same things – our country, our pride, our people and our love. Desire has made men (and women) greedy, and compassion has stopped them in their tracks. The world will not cease to turn and people will not cease to live for many millennia, and patterns can and will be found. Greed leads to hate, hate leads to fighting, and fighting leads to death. History has shown us this much, proving that humans are simple-minded and often ruled by emotions. But history has also shown us that in times when people have needed it the most, there have always been those whose actions have demonstrated that if we are ruled by the worsted emotions for half our lives, we are ruled by the better ones for the other half. In sometimes the most surprising places, people show themselves to be considerate and gentle, and trustworthy and kind.
Through the ages the world has stayed set in its ways, and through the ages revelations in the form of humane love and gratitude have never finished dazzling and confusing the cleverest of people. I do not pretend to be one of the cleverest or most observant of all the beings that roam the Earth, but I have noticed that as long as the world goes round you can expect the unexpected, or in some cases, not expect the most obvious.
Jasper completed his essay with a smile on his face once again, because he knew that even if history had not shown him that the worst of circumstances bought out the best in people, he only had to look around him to discover that for himself. And of course, he was one of the cleverest and most observant beings on Earth.
So... Weird or very weird? Please review! Oh, and that bit in italics is an extract from Jasper's essay, written by moi.