DISCLAIMER: TWILIGHT IS NOT MINE, AND NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.
What would have happened if Edward left someone behind in New Moon to watch Bella? And what if that person was the catalyst for his departure? A realistic Jasper & Bella fic.
Edward's P.O.V..
I quite literally felt like I was dying, each breath was like a twist of a dagger in my long dormant heart. I had left Bella in the forest, after convincing her the love we had shared was fleeting, and that it had ceased to exist for me at all. It was a lie of course, but she completely and utterly believed it, my beloved began to think herself unlovable, and I just…walked away. I walked away because it was the best possible scenario for her, she could learn to be happy again, and be human, truly human. I left her behind so I could provide her with a beginning. A future filled with laughing children, and a grey haired man she loved by her side. I was giving her what I was incapable of giving her myself. Logically, I understood why I was doing this, but emotionally every ice-cold atom of my being was screaming and shouting for me to run back there, scoop her into my arms, and make her realize everything I had just told her was the blackest of lies. But, like always, my rationale won out and I turned my back on the shattered human that was still the center of my very existence, the only thing that could ever claim my heart as her own.
Jasper's P.O.V.
The world seemed upside down. My coven, no… my family had left me. Edward, my closest friend and brother, Esme, the mother I had always wanted, and Alice, my Alice....gone. I was sitting in the room Alice and I had once shared, recollecting the moment I destroyed my life forever.
It was Bella's eighteenth birthday, and we all were crowded around her, our faces expectant, and I could feel the anticipation and excitement in the air while we awaited Bella's reactions to our gifts. Then, my memory became tinged in red, and I was lusting after Bella's blood. A simple paper cut was all it took for me to lose control, I lunged at her, the perfume of her blood singing my senses, and propelling me forward. I was so close to her throat, and it was in that spilt second I collided into Edward. He was restraining me, desperately trying to keep Bella safe from the monster that was attacking her, which I realized was me. The sheer shock the realization ignited in me might have been enough to stop me, but at that moment her scent crashed over me again in a more concentrated form. She had gone soaring through the air when Edward pushed her way from me, and consequently landed in the pink china Alice had chosen for this occasion. The delicate glass shattered, and embedded itself in Bella's skin, causing copious amounts of blood to seep out from the newly inflicted wounds covering her arms. It was too much for me, my body was completely governed by my senses at this point, and I began to snap ravenously, dangerously close to Edward's face, which was contorted into a mask of rage and concentration. Then as quickly as it had started it was over. Suddenly I was outside, far away enough from the intoxicating scent of Bella's blood that it lost its vice like grip on me. The reality of the last few moments hit me like a brick wall, and without a backward glance, I ran, frantically trying to escape the shame that engulfed me………………..
Hours later, I heard a light cough behind me, and I saw Edward's outline, silhouetted by the setting sun. I tentatively tasted the atmosphere around him, and what I found there shocked me. He wasn't radiating anger or even disapproval, he was silently begging me for help; his aurora tasted pleading. I couldn't understand where this was coming form, and before I had enough time to open my mouth, he answered my thoughts. "Jasper." He whispered, "I need you to promise me something."
I managed to gasp "I'm so very sorry, anything you need."
He took a shaky breath before continuing, and I felt his atmosphere turn from pleading to agonized. He shut his eyes and murmured, "Jasper, we can't stay here. What we're doing to Bella…We're all poisoning her. She could have had a life before me, a normal albeit accident prone life." He chuckled darkly.
"We have to leave her, all of us. She needs to sever her ties with the Cullens, I know it will be difficult, but eventually she'll move on. Find a life of her own, a career. He paused. "A hu--husband, children, grandchildren!" He clutched his head, his eyes flying open.
"Don't you see, we must! She needs this opportunity, we've ruined her, no, I've ruined her. My selfishness got the best of me…and I need to make this right." A tearless sob wracked his frame. "I love her, Jasper. That's why I'm leaving. But I need you to promise me something, I need you to stay here in Forks."
I doubled over, the sheer agony he was feeling completely overpowering me. "Alone?" I coughed out.
His eyes were flat and cold, his atmosphere business like. "I need to be positive she is safe, even with the removal of one of her biggest problems, others are still out there."
His words picked up in speed, and even as a vampire, I needed to strain to hear them.
"How could I leave Bella when Victoria, the Volturi, and that pack of mongrels, hell, even herself still pose a threat to her. I wouldn't be able to Jasper. I need you to watch out for her for me…It wont be permanent obviously, just for the first year, or so."
My eyes widened, and I thought "Alice."
He answered me swiftly, "She is one hundred percent behind this. We all still trust you Jasper, we know that what happened to you here tonight was a one in a million chance, you're always so careful. She loves you, loves you enough to wait."
This seriously threw me for a loop, I had already made the decision to leave town for a while, clear my head, and get my priorities in order. But I always had envisioned doing this with Alice by side, coaxing me along, and just…loving me despite of my shortcomings. But this was different. I looked up at Edward, and as I thought of what happened, shame burned through my body like a white hot flame, and I nodded woodenly. I had to do whatever I could to make this up to him, to my family.
"Thank you." His voice with dripping with gratitude. And then he walked away, taking the rest of the Cullens with him, leaving me behind to watch after Bella, or whatever shadow remained of her after their abrupt departure.