A/N: Usually I don't like making ongoing chapters for stories I already closed the book on. Yeah sometimes I might have a couple ideas for further chapters but this is one specifically is of those stories that I had absolutely no intention of ever continuing.
So don't ever get used to this.
Any way there are three parts including the first one which is Choices. If you haven't read that one then I guarantee complete confusion.
Apologies spelling, grammar and OOCness
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters
She couldn't do it.
Alice stood by one of the tables set up around the garden with a tray balanced against her hip in one hand while the other picked up one piece of glassware after the other before setting it down carefully into the tray. Esme and Carlisle were putting away the tables and chairs on the other side of the garden, while Jasper and Emmett helped take down some of the decorations and lights they had set up all around the garden. Rosalie was also reluctantly helping out, taking the already stacked boxes back into the house before she started folding some of the linen table cloths and put them away.
The wedding is over, the ceremony was beautiful and the reception went flawlessly. Edward and Bella left for their honeymoon just a few hours ago after bidding happy farewells to their friends and family that had come and the last few guests left little over an hour ago.
Everything went fine, perfectly in fact.
Edward and Bella were married, the wolves had been on their best behavior throughout the entire affair and Charlie seemed to finally be coming around as he wished the happy couple well just before they left.
Everything went great.
But that didn't stop Alice from feeling hollow inside.
The visions she had during the ceremony still left her shaken, especially now that she'd made her decision, a decision that ruined any chances that Edward could have had with Jacob. The pixie felt horrible about what she'd done the futures she changed through her act of silence but she just couldn't do it.
It was selfish of course she knows it is but she just couldn't bear the thought of losing Jasper to anyone, not even someone as sweet as Seth. He's the love of her life, they've been together for years Alice couldn't imagine going a single day without him and Alice was determined to make sure that she didn't. She stayed still forced a smile onto her face and made sure to block off all of her thoughts so Edward wouldn't be able to read them. During the ceremony Edward's attention was focused on Bella and only Bella so she didn't have much to worry about then. But at the reception Edward noticed that something was wrong.
It wasn't uncommon for his family members to try and keep him out of their thoughts, you know privacy and all that, but Alice had never put up walls so thick before in her entire life, at least not to keep her brother out and since he could see his family's thoughts on the ceremony and saw Alice's strange behavior through their eyes Edward was sure that something was up. But Alice denied it; she just told Edward not to worry about it and go spend some time with his new wife all with a smile on her face while her conscience tore her inside out.
But it's for their own good.
Edward will be happy with Bella, Alice is sure of it and as for the wolves they'll be better off without them anyway. Alice still can't imagine how Jacob, Paul and Seth would deal with being mated to vampires or how the pack and the council would take that news. Despite what she saw there's a real chance that things don't go well at all.
I mean what if Jacob's father ends up disowning him over it, what if they were forced to leave their home. Not to mention the Volturi and how they'd react to a wolf mating a vampire in the guard. None of those scenarios seemed like they had a snowballs chance in hell at working out. So Alice is sure that she made the right decision.
It'll all work out for the best.
So why won't that hollow feeling in her chest go away?
"Alice." The pixie looked up to find her husband standing right next to her with a deep frown marring his features as his eyes filled with concern, "Are you sure you're alright?"
Alice took a silent breath before giving another smile, "Yes, I'm sure. It's just been a long day that's all, so much has happened, it still feels a little overwhelming."
Jasper just frowned, he could feel Alice's emotions and they were anything but fine. Alice was feeling guilty about something, although Jasper couldn't imagine what on earth that could be. She's been this way since the vision she had during the wedding. Jasper is sure she had a vision since he's seen his mates eyes glaze over enough times to know the signs, but when he asked Alice just shrugged it off and said that it was nothing important all with that forced smile on her face and all while she clutched his hand tight within her own.
Something is very wrong but for some reason Alice won't talk about it. Jasper isn't sure what to do since he doesn't want to push Alice into talking about something she doesn't want to talk about, but at the same time his mate's emotions were distressing. He could influence them, take the guilt away and make Alice feel better but that would only be a temporary fix. Guilt is an emotion that really shouldn't be messed with and since the pixie won't tell him what she feels so guilty about it could be all the more dangerous if he just starts fiddling with her emotions.
So he'll wait, Alice will tell him eventually all he has to do is be patient.
"Alright." The empath gave her a smile as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead but almost frowned when that feeling of guilt spiked and grew along with shame and sadness. He opened his mouth to ask when Alice just looked away and turned back towards the house.
"I should put these away."
Jasper let her go still staring at her back in concern while Alice just walked back to the house and started the slow process of loading up the dishwasher.
It's all for the best. It's all for the best. It's all for the-
Alice froze mid movement as her eyes glazed over. The pixie wanted to scream when she realized that she was having yet another vision, like they haven't caused her enough pain for one day already.
The vision was off, all muddled and distorted. Not even her visions of the wolves looked like this, it was like looking through a dirty lens, all foggy and blurred. But eventually it cleared if only a little and she gasped at what she saw. Dropping the tray and all of the glasses on it so they shattered on the floor in millions of shards.
"Alice?!" someone called but Alice wasn't paying attention to them she was watching him.
It was one of the wolves. Big just like all the others only he had grey fur with dark spots. The wolf howled in pain writhing in agony against the snow covered ground. There was something else going on around them something just out of her field of vision but Alice couldn't tell what it was. She saw herself kneeling down beside the wolf just as it phased back but didn't stop making pain filled sounds. Alice let out another sharp gasp at all the blood on the shifter's skin, seeping out through the wound on his neck as he lay naked in the snow.
"NO!"
Alice could feel her own panic through the vision, gut retching fear as she quickly moved forward to pull the shifter into her lap and tried to stop the bleeding.
"Embry, stay with me."
"Al-…" Embry chocked on his own blood, with some of it streaming down his jaw and neck when he coughed and it sprayed out over both of them, but Alive barely reacted as she just kept trying to stop the bleeding. The psychic started to sob when Embry spoke again, "Alice run."
"No, no we can still save you Carlisle-"
"Too late." Embry gagged and Alice shook her head, clenching her eyes shut when the shifter spoke again, "With Jake gone, you don't-ugh ugh-stand a chance, go."
Alice looked up at something, she couldn't see what before letting out another sob, "Embry-"
"I guess… I guess I should've told you earlier… huh?" The wolf started as he gave a snort that just turned into a pained cough as he finished, "But I'm happy-happy to die for my imprint."
Alice's eyes went wide, "What?"
Embry's body convulsed and he threw up a mouthful of blood before his eyes slid shut and he went completely still. Alice just sat frozen in place as she stared as the dead shifter in her arms when she felt something or someone grab her and try to pull her away but she resisted and tried to hold onto Embry's body.
"Alice we have to go." It sounded like Rosalie but Alice didn't look up, she just started sobbing and held on even tighter than before.
"We can't leave him, we can't we can't-"
"Alice it's too late. They took down Seth and Edward we have to go." This time it was Emmett appearing in full view and looking as frazzled and messy as ever as he forcibly pulled the shifter from her arms and Alice screamed.
"NO!"
"Alice I'm so sorry."
Rosalie started moving the moment the wolf's body hit the ground and Alice watched helplessly as she was dragged away, "Embry-"
Darkness suddenly fell all around her, a heavy dark void that made it hard to breathe, hard to see and Alice was sure that she was dying. Just like Embry. He's dead and it's all her fault. So now her sight is leaving her too, alone in the darkness. She won't ever see again.
"NO!"
That one was real. When the Cullens heard the pixies first scream they all immediately darted into the house to find Alice on the floor, curled up into a ball right over the glass shards as she sobbed and screamed. Jasper pulled Alice up into his arms and tried to get her calm, sending out as many calm waves as he could all to no avail. Carlisle kneeled down beside them to try and see if he couldn't get through to her but she didn't respond to him either.
"Alice, darlin' calm down." Jasper urged as Alice continued to sob against his chest and Carlisle brushed her hair out of her face to try and get her attention as well while Esme, Emmett and Rosalie watched on in concern.
The girls eyes cleared but she didn't stop sobbing as her body trembled like she felt ice cold.
"Alice what's wrong, what did you see?"
"He's gone." Alice whispered quietly as if the words might harm her if she spoke them out loud while she stared out with wide terrified eyes when another sob rocked through her, "He's dead they're gone and it's all my fault."
Rosalie frowned, "Whose dead?"
"It's all my fault. It's all my fault. Jasper I'm sorry, I'm so sorry about Seth. I didn't mean for any of this-"
"Seth?" Esme frowned as well when Emmett suddenly spoke, "The Clearwater kid?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-" Alice wasn't listening she just kept ranting out muddled apologies while her family continued to frown in concern and Jasper started feeling a little frantic since he couldn't get her calm.
Carlisle saw the empath's rising panic and quickly spoke, "Let's get her up stairs and in a bed."
Jasper nodded as he stood up and carried the pixie bridal style out of the kitchen but Alice didn't react to any of it.
"Embry come back, please come back…"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Have you ever just felt… wrong?
Like you're somewhere with someone doing something that just makes you feel incredibly uncomfortable. But isn't the same feeling you get if you commit a crime or are breaking a rule of some sort, no this feeling goes much deeper than that. It's a feeling of self-betrayal, like you sold out. And you just don't feel right.
That's how Edward felt.
He felt wrong.
Which honestly made no sense whatsoever.
Edward stood near the large open window in the bedroom, staring out over the ocean as he watched the waves come up and crash against the beach as he wondered what on earth was wrong with him. Bella fell asleep two hours ago, after having decided to take a break for the night and just try again tomorrow and yet again Edward wondered what in the hell was wrong with him.
They arrived on isle Esme the day before, spent the entire day together and isolated in their own little world and everything had been going fine. It wasn't until they made it to the bedroom the next night that Edward suddenly started feeling off, which-again-made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever.
He loves Bella doesn't he? He was supposed to spend the rest of his life with her, so why couldn't he make love to her?
At first both he and Bella just thought that he was nervous, that he was scared of hurting her and if he just managed to relax a little then things would go better.
But Edward couldn't relax, he didn't feel any better even as Bella's soft warm lips pressed against his own and she shivered in pleasure underneath his touch he just couldn't.
It felt… wrong and somehow Edward just knew his reasons for feeling wrong had very little to do with him being scared of hurting her and more with himself. He loves Bella, he's attracted to not just her scent but to her body as well. Bella has a simple kind of beauty that Edward has come to absolutely adore but for some reason he still just couldn't.
The telepath let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his eyes in frustration before looking over towards his new wife as she slept peacefully under the pale light of the moon. Bella was disappointed that they didn't actually get to do anything that night but she was willing to give Edward some time until he felt that he was ready. But then Bella suggested that maybe it would be best if he just turned her first.
Maybe if Edward had a guarantee that he wouldn't be hurting her if they had sex then it would be easier but somehow even as he smiled at Bella and pressed another kiss against her lips he knew that that wouldn't change a thing.
God, what's wrong with him?
Just then Edward's phone rang and he walked over towards the dresser on the other side of the room to grab it. The telepath let out a sigh of relief when he saw Emmett's name flash across the screen, glad to have a little reprieve from his confusing thoughts only to frown when Emmett suddenly blurted out the moment he answered.
"Edward you have to come home."
"What? Why, what happened?'"
"Something's wrong with Alice. You need to get back home right now."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Alice was an empty shell.
Jasper stared down at his mate in deep concern as she stared out into nothing. The pixies eyes were cold and dead to the world and she was completely unresponsive, like she couldn't see or hear anything around. It's been this way for the past two days.
Eventually Alice stopped sobbing, but it actually seemed much worse once she did.
The girl was an empty shell, both mentally and emotionally, Jasper shivered since he's never felt so completely cold and withdrawn from his mate before.
Usually Alice's emotions were bright and warm, of course the pixie had her moments of darkness, just like every other being on the face of this earth but she's never ever just shut down so completely.
It was like she wasn't even there.
Of course Jasper tried to make Alice feel better, to influence her emotions enough so she could at least tell them what was wrong but nothing worked. In all of his years, even when he was working under Maria and her sadistic rule, he's never felt this powerless.
This vulnerable and afraid.
Alice is Jasper's whole world, he couldn't imagine living a single day without her and he's sure that she felt the same way about him.
So what on earth happened?
Just then the sound of heavy paws pounding against the dirt came towards them and Carlisle stepped forward towards the treaty line.
Carlisle finally decided to call Sam and ask for a meeting a few hours ago. He couldn't figure out what had gone wrong or why Alice suddenly went into a vegetative state the way she did, all he was sure of is the fact that it had something to do with the wolves.
During her episode, they were all that Alice spoke of as she rambled on in incoherent sentences. Crying about how sorry she was and how it was all her fault, what it was that she was sorry for however was completely beyond them.
She kept mentioning Edward and Jacob, so the day before Emmett called the telepath and asked him to cut his honeymoon with Bella short since there seemed to be something very very wrong. Seth's name came up quite often as well, in rambled apologies towards Jasper who had no idea what on earth the Clearwater wolf had to do with him and then of course there was Embry.
The one name that came up the most.
Jasper couldn't help but feel anger course through his veins since he knew that Embry was probably the main cause of Alice's condition although he couldn't imagine why. From what he remembers neither he nor Alice had any kind of contact with that shifter before Victoria's attack, although he remembers the wolf jumping in and helping Alice escape one of the new borns before it could attack her, but there was so much chaos and confusion going on at the time, Jasper didn't pay too much attention to that. Alice was safe so why should he have?
As the pack got closer, Rosalie and Emmett growled while Esme hissed, Carlisle cast one more look over to Jasper and his jaw locked tight, "Remember to stay calm, we need their help."
At that Jasper realized that he must have been projecting without even really realizing it so he tried to pull his emotions in and keep them in check. Despite the anger he projected Alice didn't so much as blink.
Suddenly the wolves slowed and started appearing in the brush before stopping behind the treaty line. Sam emerged from the line of trees a few moments later in his human form and walked over barefoot to stop at the line before folding his arms across his chest.
"Afternoon, Sam." The sire frowned for a brief moment, "I don't see Jacob here with you, will he be here soon?"
Sam didn't answer the question, "What do you want Cullen?"
Well it was at least just a little more civil than things used to be between them in the beginning so Carlisle took that as a good sign.
"We need your help."
Sam arched a brow at that, "You need help? Help with what, another vampire attack?"
"No, no, it's nothing like that." Carlisle tried as he took a deep breath and tried to think of a way to explain their situation, "It seems that we have a problem with Alice."
The shifter's all looked over towards the psychic in unison and even though their expressions weren't very telling they made enough noises to make it clear that they were confused. They could tell that something was wrong with her; it would take a complete moron to not realize that there was something wrong with her. Her skin looked so much paler than normal and her eyes were glassy and vacant while she stood there completely still, like a sculpture of some sort. They know that vampires don't need to move or breathe, but the Cullens always either blinked their eyes or breathed whenever they saw them so seeing Alice stand so absolutely still was a little unnerving.
Paul growled.
Sam gave the wolf a sharp look causing him to immediately quiet down before he spoke, "What's wrong with her?"
"Actually we're not sure."
"You're not sure?"
"Alice had a vision, two days ago after the wedding. We don't know what the vision was about since it seemed to upset her so much that she became hysterical and we couldn't make out a word of what she was saying. All we do know is that it had something to do with you, or rather the pack." Carlisle explained and Sam frowned, "I thought you said she couldn't see us?"
"She can't, or rather she shouldn't be able to see you."
"Then how can you be sure this vision had anything to do with the pack?"
"Well for one thing, she kept saying your names, some of them at least; Seth, Jacob and Embry." The doctor explained and Seth was visibly shocked as the sandy wolf stepped back while Embry seemed to blink in surprise. "Over and over again for hours until she just stopped."
The alpha looked over at Alice and his eyes filled with confusion, "And exactly how were you expecting us to help you?"
Carlisle took a deep breath, "From what I could gather from Alice's episode, the vision she had was of Embry dying-"
Embry tensed visibly while the rest of the wolves growled, Sam stepped forward with a dark glare, "He-… dies from what exactly?"
"I don't know, but we were hoping that Embry could help us." Carlisle said as he looked over towards the silver spotted wolf and Emmett suddenly spoke as well unable to contain himself as the standoff continued, "She thinks you're dead. All you need to do is show her you're alive, if you do that she might snap out of whatever trance she's in."
Embry's head snapped over towards his alpha just as Sam growled, "So what you think one of my wolves had something to do with your daughter's freak out?"
"We don't know." Carlisle said clearly, "We don't know what is going on, but we're desperate and we're willing to do whatever's necessary to bring Alice back."
Sam stayed silent for a moment and a rumble of noise rose among the shifters, Jasper's arm tightened around Alice's shoulder before he spoke looking Embry dead in the eye, "Please, all we're asking for is for you to try."
Embry held that gaze for a moment more before turning back and walking into the line of trees.
The wolves growled at him as he went before he returned a few moments later, pulling up his cut offs and Sam growled in warning, "Embry."
The Quileute froze for the briefest of moments, "They need help, something's wrong with her Sam we can all see that. Can't I just try?"
The alpha let out a heavy sigh, "Be careful."
Embry stepped forward and his nose seemed to wrinkle in distaste as he neared the vampires, Jasper tensed up for the briefest of moments as the boy approached but forced himself to release her and step back when Embry stopped in front of them. The shifter paused for the moment completely unsure of exactly what he was meant to do.
"So how do I do this exactly? I mean, I'm already standing right here. Can't she see me?"
Carlisle moved closer with a frown and Embry's head gave a tilt as he stared down at the smaller pixie like girl, "Uhm Hello? A-… Alice?"
Rosalie gave an exasperated sigh, as if she it took everything she had just to get the words out, "Try touching her."
"Oh, right." Embry said and a light blush spread over his cheeks in embarrassment before he lifted his hand to touch the vampire's arm, only to hesitate just before he made contact. One more deep breath and he gently lay his hand on her cold skin.
Suddenly Alice gasped and her eyes instantly cleared.
The vampires all let out sighs of relief and Embry's head tilted a little more as he spoke, "Alice?"
Alice looked up at the shifter in confusion until her eyes went wide and she immediately threw her arms around Embry's neck and the shifter went completely tense. Sam growled and the rest of the shifters started growling as well, exposing their teeth and raising their hackles when Alice spoke and all they could do is stare in confusion.
"Embry! I'm so sorry. You died and it was all my fault! It's all my fault. Please forgive me."
The pixie sobbed and Embry raised his arms up to awkwardly pat her back, "Alice calm down. What's wron-"
Before Embry could finish his sentence the vampire suddenly turned her head and pressed her lips firmly against his.
The entire clearing just froze and everything dropped into silence. Embry's eyes suddenly glazed over and he dropped down to his knees with Alice still holding onto him and Jasper's heart shattered.
The End
A/N: Yup
The next one is called Redemption and it will be the last one-shot in this story.
Please review.