A Friendship brought « With The Wind »
a Twilight fanfiction imagined and humbly written by pingou
Author Note : Here is my first Twilight fanfiction. I've finally been brave enough to translate and publish it! Yipee! Thanks to Amandaforks for encouraging me! I hope you'll read it with pleasure. Please, take two tiny seconds to review it, it would mean the world to me!
I am a fan of the Hale twins, and of Jasper especially. I think their tortured ond complex personalities deepen this teen series. While watching the Gone With The Wind movie, I wondered what Jasper would have thought of the novel, and saw there a way to bring him closer to Bella who is known for loving literature.
Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer (sniff! Wanna have Jasper!) and Gone With The Wind belongs to Margaret Mitchell and its rightful owners (no possible to have Rhett Butler either... Life is unfair.)
Jasper Hale sighed and putted back the General Sherman's Biography he has just bought. What a brunch of nonsense! And to think that the man who was responsible for it was considered as one of the biggest specialists of this period! What decay for History! For the brave men who died defending their ideals, believing that their sacrifice would stay forever in memories! He, Jasper, was one of those... Or at least, Major Jasper Whitlock, at the time, had been one of those...
Jasper's honey-colored eyes settled in spite of him on the old half moth-eaten confederate flag of America, pinned in front of him. He had had so much evil to obtain it, and to keep it during his long years of wandering... It sometimes arrived he still has to defend it against the aesthetic requirements of his small tornado of a wife...
"Please, Jazz, I know that this piece of formless rag is very important for you, but, my love... It clashes horribly with the rest of the room... I know that you don't want to throw it away, but could you keep it with your uniform, in a corner of your closet?"
It doesn't matter; it is the only thing in the world for which he would never give in to her. As long as he would live, this flag would go on to decorate proudly the walls of his personal room. In memory of him, or rather of who he had been once upon a time, and of his entourage — his family of origin, and his brothers-in-arms. He had sworn to dedicate his life to the defense and the protection of this flag when he had joined, a very long time ago. And the blond vampire always was a man to hold its word, whatever the circumstances may be...
Being exceptionally alone at the Cullen Villa, Jasper has decided to do what pleased him most, being with his dear Alice excepted: Locking himself into his office-library to try to dive back into his far away youth. The Civil War… The Cause of the confederacy… His passionate, carefree, and human existence as the son of the Whitlock family…
Before Maria. Before the training of newborns. Before being a monster, that only his little pixie and Rose — and Esme of course — seemed to be still able to understand and to love unconditionally. Before...
A new sigh escaped him. Not from tiredness or bitterness this time. Just one of disappointment. The other Cullens had promised him that he would be alone until late in the evening, but apparently, they had had a change of plan... A diffuse feeling of apprehension reached to him, got closer.
Apprehension? From whom? Jasper went to the window with vampiric speed, to see Bella hesitating on the threshold of the villa. Now that he thought of it, he could hear the little precipitated beatings of her heart. What did she do there? She was probably to know that Edward and Alice had left to hunt...
"Jasper? Are you there? I..."
The young man did not give her the time to go further, because in a flash of lightning, he opened the door and made her a dazzling smile.
"Hello Bella. What owe me the pleasure of your visit?"
"Huh... Hello Jasper."
The chocolate-brown eyes of the teenager were a little unfocused and she winked several times, trying probably to regain her senses. He had certainly been too fast for her human vision to catch... He was not used to that. So he waited patiently for her to answer his question.
"Well, I… I was alone in my house... And I was bored, so I decided to read to pass the time until Edward returns..."
She was really unsure of her footing with him. And sincerely, he could not fault her for it, after the disastrous events of her eighteenth birthday — for which he would blame himself for the rest of his existence — and what happened a few days before with Victoria's army and The Volturi. He understood perfectly that she still was ill at ease in his presence.
As he saw her play nervously with her engagement ring, he suddenly realized that he was neglecting all his gentleman's duties — and brother-in-law-to-be. Fortunately, it had not passed more than a few seconds since her last words, so sparing him a more uncomfortable situation than it was already. Emmett was right; being an ultra-fast vampire sometimes does have its perks...
He cleared his throat and invited her to enter. She sent him a small grateful smile and settled down on the sofa in front of him. Jasper thus decided to relaunch her:
"So? You were bored?"
"Yes. Well, you know, before, when Edward had to hunt, I went to La Push... But since Jacob..."
A deep wave of sadness and regrets crashed down on him. Yes. Since Jacob heard about Bella's imminent wedding to his brother, the rejected werewolf had run away without showing any signs of life... All The Cullens knew that. Not knowing if putting a hand on the shoulder of his future sister-in-law in comfort was still a too forward gesture, Jasper opted for the solution of facility by sending her waves of serenity. She thanked him with a light nod, and went on with her explanation, for the great pleasure of the empath, who indeed wondered why the girl had come see him. Sure, their relationship has warmed up lately, but still...
"So, as I am not to go over the reservation anymore, I wanted to read... And, it's what brings me here in front of you. I... I have questions to ask you" Bella added with a blush, seeing that Jasper did not seem to understand.
"Oh... Well Bella, it flatters me that you thought of me before somebody else, and I shall be honored to answer your questions if I can do so, but I do not see the link with your desire to read...
"In fact" she answered with lowering eyes while her blush deepened remarkably, "I... I was reading Margaret Mitchell's novel..."
Once again, Jasper did not let her finish her sentence, by irrupting in a big roar of laughter which made the girl jump and increased her weariness a little more. So that was it! Gone With The Wind... The most read novel in the world after the Bible... One of the most famous love novels ever produced, making whole generations of girls dream about romanticism and passion... with as setting the old-fashioned atmosphere of the Confederate America of his past life... The situation was at least funny, considering it was exactly for what the vampire sought in the solitude of his sanctuary, upstairs.
"Pardon me Bella. I did not want to laugh at you, I assure you. It is just that, that was exactly what I was doing before you came, for I too was also plunged into the America of Scarlett O' Hara and Rhett Butler, except I was more focused on the real facts."
"Oh" she said relieved, smiling more openly this time. Fate does things well indeed. I was afraid you might find my initiative stupid."
"Far from it" he smiled. "On the contrary, I think, without showing off, that I am certainly the best placed to answer you."
"Yes", the girl agreed by relaxing completely. "I thought so too". After all, you were alive in this period and..."
"And to tell the truth, it is also my favorite book. I know it by heart and I can pretty quote it integrally to you. Margaret Mitchell descriptions are fabulously accurate. I find the South of my humanity again."
"It is true?" Bella exclaimed enthusiastically with curiosity and compassion. "That's what I wanted to know. I know the past, the human life, of almost everybody, but not really yours. I wanted to get to know better the man you really are. Not only the Jasper wedded to Alice. And I did not want Edward emitting ridiculous concerns again. I am curious to know what you remember of your human life, and if it is really faithful to the atmosphere of the book. But, if that bothers you, I will wait to be transformed and to gain your confidence. There is no need to hurry, we have all eternity to know each other after all."
Jasper was touched by the approach and the delicacy of her soon-to-be "sister". So, as he had first thought, she had not come see him by chance, or even to speak about literature... She wanted to learn directly about him, without Edward or her Alice's interventions, even if she was her best friend, none the less. No. She wanted to have her own idea of him, without rushing him for it. He was not used to be treated with such a consideration.
In this moment, Jasper finally understood why Bella had acquired such a big empire over Edward's heart as over rest of his family. Even Rose, who had been the most hostile to her, had learnt to open her heart to this pure and sincere soul...
... And it was time for Jasper Whitlock-Hale to follow the example of her sister.
It was already more than two hours since Jasper and Bella had begun to talk. Neither of them saw the time passing. At the beginning, it was a little bit laborious, but the trust was growing little by little between the two young people. Bella used elements of the Gone With The Wind novel to know about Jasper's human life, and the vampire, amused by this ingenious process, found himself tell her all that he remembered of his past life, and real anecdotes on the Civil War without really noticing.
The genuine curiosity, the patience and the understanding of the girl led Jasper to confide in her as openly as he had been able to with Rosalie. Seeing that some could give more importance to the remnants of his human life than in his dark vampiric past was a balm for the heart of the young man. Bella's kindness and her disconcerting reactions, in particular about hiss flag, amazed Jasper — not only she understood him perfectly, but she sometimes took openly his stand.
"And... Tell me, that disturb me to ask you a question so directly, but, you are a racist? The big families of the South... Herm…"
"No. At least, not in the way we understand it today. In my youth, it was normal to treat Negros like this; that was a part of our history and our culture... And this is what I wanted to fight for joining in the confederate army. But, as much as I remember, my father has never made a Negro beaten if he could avoid it, and my mother took great care of them. Even if at that time, I considered myself superior by them by nature, the cruelty of some of my relations revolted me. My parents taught to respect the life of others, white or black alike."
"And the K.K.K.? The segregation? Martin Luther King? What did you feel about that?"
"That's many questions Bella" Jasper smiled. "You know, by then, I was already a vampire, and I felt a little out of it. Besides, in more one hundred and fifty years, I had time to see mentality change and to do so too. I have no particular opinion on the matter. But if that can reassure you, I have never liked injustice, and as empath, I can feel everyone feelings and identify myself more than anyone. And I know by experience that rejection is difficult to bear so..."
The young human girl, a little moved, put her hand on Jasper's cold one to show him her support. They smiled briefly and then resumed their conversation.
"What character of the novel do you do you identify the most to?"
"Ashley Wilkes I think. He is tall, fair-haired, Major in the confederate army..."
Seeing a light of mockery shining in the eyes of Jasper's eyes, Bella raised rolled her eyes at his antic — a gesture typical of Edward. The vampire let escape a small laughter, and began to answer more seriously the question.
"Frankly my dear" the young man said by quoting directly one of the most famous lines of the book, "I don't give a damn. I believe that I am a typical Confederate, attached to his ground and to its values. I do not identify with a character in particular. I get the smell of my former life in each of them. On the other hand, Melly Hamilton Wilkes is really the illustration of the soft, affable and distinguished nature of my mother."
"You must have loved her a lot..."
"It's true. Even after so many years, she stays my feminine ideal. So much memories became blurred since my transformation, but she, will forever have an aura tenderness and glory in my spirit."
A little ashamed by this small poetic outburst, he expected her to laugh at her reaction, but a wave of sympathy coming from Bella covered him as a caress.
"This lady is really lucky to have a son as grateful and brave as you Jasper."
"In spite of one and a half century, I am not able to get rid of my Oedipal complex yet... Pathetic, no?"
"You're wrong, I find that rather wonderful. I hope that in a millennium, I will still be able to hold such a love for my parents."
"I am sure of it. You are a very loving person Bella, like Esme. The fact that you even try to converse with the most unstable vampire of the Cullen Coven – a.k.a I - is a proof of that.
"Jasper, exclaimed the girl, eyes flashing in anger, stop it right now! One might hear Edward's nonsense! You are not unstable; you just have more difficulty with your blood thirst, because of your past and your gift, which makes you feel the thirst of the others! It is not a shame! You are a good man. You struggle every day to live peacefully with Alice, you face your devils, and you make it assets. Look with Victoria... If not for you, the Pack of La Push would have difficulty to end the newborns! What is that depreciating habit with you Cullens?! Edward, Rosalie... Even Carlisle considers himself as an aberration of nature! Carlisle Jasper! And..."
"Hey, stop Bella! Stop! I get it. No need to feel such a fury! All right, I am not unstable, I am beautiful, strong, brave, awesome..."
"... And modest Jasper" the small brunette added, hiccupping with laughter. Don't forget modesty!"
"Exactly, modesty is indeed one of my greatest qualities."
"Only Emmett is more modest than you. He, the strongest vampire that the earth carried..."
"The great, the sublime, Emmett Mc Carthy Cullen. Yes, obviously..."
Both laughed so hard at this that Bella actually had tears in her eyes. This situation was maybe a bit silly, but Bella and Jasper welcomed it with relief, as it represented the beginning of a friendship, which they knew to be long-lasting.
And when much later the rest of the Cullen family returned to the Villa, they could still hear both young people teasing each other in Jasper's room. Esme and Carlisle were delighted, Rosalie pleasantly surprised and Emmett even more amused than usual. None noticed the collusive glance between Edward and Alice, who had had a vision earlier in the afternoon — when Bella had made the decision to come to see her husband.
More than two years later, the whole Cullen family, Jacob's Pack along with Charlie and Sue, his new wife, were reunited in the living room to exchange their Christmas presents. Renesmee had received twice her size in presents, and she tore the wrapping with an obvious pleasure. The atmosphere was noisy and friendly, everyone had gathered around Esme Cullen, who was clearly a perfect hostess. She glowed with pleasure by seeing all her circle of acquaintances so bought together.
However, Jasper extricated himself from the sofa, leaving Rosalie and Alice decide of their next fashion marathon in Paris. He needed to lock himself in his room for a moment. Not that the feelings around him were unbearable, on the contrary, since their victory on the Volturi, Jasper was taken from morning till night in a whirlwind of enjoyment, serenity and affection. As if the feelings of his wife had suddenly extended to all her small world. But he needed to be a little bit alone.
Edward, who had heard his brother's thoughts, sent him his famous half-smile, and murmured to his wife to follow him discreetly. Bella cast him an intrigued glance, but obeyed nevertheless, and followed her brother-in-law silently.
Once arrived in front of his sanctuary, Jasper opened the door with a smile. Bella entered graciously, as usual honored to be invited in this room. He deftly fetched a package on his desk and stretched it out for her youngest 'sister' to take.
"Here Bella. That's for you. And no complaining. This present is important for me."
"All right... If you could not offer it to me in front of everybody, it must certainly be very special... Thank you Jasper."
Bella Swan-Cullen opened delicately the package, to discover with delight an first edition of Gone With The Wind, signed by Margaret Mitchell herself. If she was still capable of crying, she would have. This present was so rare, so symbolic for the profound for the friendship which bound them both... It was perfect. So Jasper-like...
On this last thought, she literally flew into his brother the arms of who welcomed her with openly, laughing. In coming down to the main room, they were still holding hands as a sign of complicity and Emmett used this pretext to decree a collective cuddle.
Resuming quietly his place, next to his sweet Alice, Jasper felt even happier than previously. And when little Nessie, asked him why, he answered her that the wind had brought him a friendship.