My Boy Builds Coffins, a twilight fanfic

I own nothing Twilight related. I also hold no claim to the song 'My Boy Builds Coffins' by the fabulous Florence and the Machine nor to the song "Airplanes" the Paramore remix featuring Hayley Williams.

Hope you enjoy.

I nervously jumped from foot to foot unsure of why on earth I was doing this. Standing beside the make shift stage Alice and Rosalie had built earlier in the day- before the start of this whole mess.

Flashback

"Please Bella!" Alice practically begged as she used her supernatural speed to stay in front of me.

"Alice I can't. I'll make an utter fool of myself!" I proclaimed, glaring at my best friend out of sheer annoyance.

"Bella I've seen it if you get up on stage and perform he will be utterly astounded. A hundred bucks says we have to have Emmett restrain him from taking you right then and there on the floor!" She giggled playfully.

The sparkle in her topaz eyes showed me just how truly excited she was about convincing me to step out of my comfort zone and do something insanely crazy.

I shook my head at that thought. Right so performing in front of a group of my friends and family was insanely crazy but being head over heels in love with a vampire and best of friends with a pack of wolves was normal.

"Fine but only one song Alice," I bartered as she swept me into a tight hug and squealed excitedly.

Present

So again here I stand staring nervously at the stairs leading to the stage.

"Up next is Rosalie singing an Airplanes remix featuring Paramore," Alice exclaimed excitedly to the crowd of classmates gathered in their backyard for what Alice had deemed a just because party. She loved to entertain and through our senior year she had gotten rid of the illusive veil that separated the Cullen family from the rest of Forks.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars; I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now. Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars; I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now." My sister's crystal clear voice rang out through the karaoke mike.

I couldn't help but agree with the song- I really could use a wish right now. If I had my wish I would be curled in my love's strong cold arms as he sang quietly for me and only me to hear.

"I'm in the business of misery, let's take it from the top, she's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock, it's a matter of time before we all run out when I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth, I waited eight long months she finally set him free I told him I couldn't lie he was the only one for me, two weeks and we caught on fire, she's got it out for me but I wear the biggest smile."

I just about cracked up laughing when I noticed her line of vision. She was singing directly to the – pardon my language- whore who had recently transferred to our school and had set her eyes on poor Emmett.

Poor guy didn't even know what had hit him, all he did was acknowledge when this girl said hello and suddenly his Rosie was furious with him

"Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change; Once a whore you're nothing more I'm sorry that'll never change; and about forgiveness we're both supposed to have exchanged; I'm sorry honey but I'm passin' up now look this way; Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you; looking as innocent as possible to get to who they want and what they like it's easy if you do it right. Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse."

My smile dropped when Alice came up to me "You're up next. Are you sure about the song?" She glanced at me warily.

I nodded and turned back to focusing on Rose. It was less likely that I would keel over if I wasn't hyperventilating and listening to Rose's lilting voice was as good a distraction as any.

I only hoped I looked half as graceful and sounded half as good as she did. Maybe I should have gone up first and not have allowed everyone else who had gone before me to set the bar so high.

"She lives in a fairy tale; somewhere too far for us to find; forgotten the taste and smell; of a world she's left behind;It's all about the exposure the lens I told her The angles were all wrong now She's ripping wings off of butterflies; So one day he found her crying Coiled up on the dirty ground Her prince finally came to save her And the rest you can figure out But it was a trick And the clock struck twelve Well make sure to build your home brick by boring brick or the wolf's gonna blow it down"

My heart clenched slightly at realizing how true the last refrain was. Once upon a time I was that girl waiting for her prince to come and for awhile I thought he had. I was wrong but I had my knight in shining armor instead.

I sighed getting lost in the gentle music and happily watched the crowd be mesmerized by the girl who had recently became my closest friend aside from Alice and had only hours ago told me she thought of me as her sister.

"All I wanted was you; All I wanted was you; All I wanted was you; All I wanted was you." Rosalie took a short bow allowing her golden waves to tumble over her shoulders before racing at a human pace down the stairs on the other side of the stage and jumping into Emmett's strong embrace.

I was starting to panic when Alice bounced up to the stage and announced "Now Bella is going to perform next and I want you all to be nice and give her lots of applause!" She teased giving me a playful wink.

I made my way to stand beside her without falling flat on my face thank goodness.

"She wants to tell you what song she has planned to entertain you with so I'll just leave it to her!" Damn stupid pixie. Of course she would make me say everything.

I sent a playful glare in her direction and stuttered only slightly when I started to speak "I-I'm going to sing 'My Boy Builds Coffins' by Florence and the Machine." I kept my intro as short as possible before I started.

"My boy builds coffins with hammers and nails
He doesn't build ships, he has no use for sails
He doesn't make tables, dressers or chairs
He can't carve a whistle cause he just doesn't care"

I caught my loves golden eyes and I could read the surprise in them just as easily as he could read me. He knew immediately why I picked this song. It reminded me of him and his past.

"My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poor
Kings and queens they've all knocked on his door
Beggars and liars, gypsies and thieves
They all come to him cause he's so eager to please"

I became more passionate as I sang and it became as though it was only Jasper and I in the yard.

"My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it's not just for work and it isn't for play
He's made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he'll make one for you"

Edward was gone. He left me after Jasper almost attacked me at my birthday. He had wanted his whole family to disappear with him but Jasper refused to leave me without saying goodbye, without apologizing, with no one to protect me.

It was the instant he made the decision to stay no matter what Edward said that Alice saw the whole family's future change.

His decision impacted everything from Edward's relationship with the family, his and Alice's marriage and our tentative friendship.

Alice saw that Jasper and I were meant for each other. Two pieces of a puzzle that had never been complete before, he saved me from my inner demons and then he saved me again when Laurent attacked me.

He became my world and I became his. Alice was hurt of course but she admitted to me when I told her that Jasper and I were becoming close and I was having less than friendly feelings toward him that she had known before meeting him that there were two ways his future could go; One where he would end up with her and the other where he would be with some mystery girl who turned out to be me.

"My boy builds coffins for better or worse
Some say it's a blessing, some say it's a curse
He fits them together in sunshine or rain
Each one is unique, no two are the same"

After Alice told me this and also told me that she was thrilled that he was going to be happy, that I was going to be happy, Jasper and I fell fast and hard and unconditionally in love.

I had thought that I knew what love was with Edward but it was nothing like what I feel between Jasper and I.

When he finally was courageous enough to tell me his history I surprised him. He explained to me that he was once a soldier in our Civil War- more specifically a major, the youngest Major in that time. Maria, another vampire, had changed him with the intention of having him help her fight in the Southern Vampire wars.

He did so for many years- changing people, killing the newborns when they were no longer of any use to Maria- until Peter and Charlotte, two newborns who had escaped Maria's wrath, returned for him.

They convinced him to leave her behind and he did. I have only thanks for the couple I had only met once because they allowed Jasper to find a path that led him to me.

"My boy builds coffins and I think it's a shame
That when each ones been made, he can't see it again
He crafts every one with love and care
Then its thrown in the ground and it just isn't fair"

He was deeply scarred by his experiences, both physically and emotionally. Being an empath only enhanced his feelings of guilt towards his immortal beginnings.

Alice hadn't accepted his past as easily as I had apparently but I was proud of what he fought through, of what he overcame.

This song was one that he had introduced me to and I hadn't stopped listening to it for days, where Edward would have stolen the CD to stop the torture of having it on repeat, Jazz just laughed and helped me theorize what the lyrics meant.

"My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it's not just for work and it isn't for play
He's made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he'll make one for you"

As I finished I realized that Jasper had left his perch on the bench behind the crowd and was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You did amazingly my darlin'" He lilted into my ear. His cool breath sending pleasant shivers down my spine. "Have you decided what it means yet?"

"It's about death," I said cautiously. I wasn't really sure if he would appreciate my interpretation of the lyrics "Taking out the dangers in the world and laying them to rest. Not having anything to show after all the hard work. It reminds me of you." I murmured the last bit so quietly if he didn't have vampire hearing I doubt he'd have heard it.

"What do you mean?" He asked a little perplexed.

"You rid the world of evil" I blushed at my over generalization.

"I am evil darlin'" he laughed playfully.

"No you aren't" I stated vehemently. I almost, almost, stamped my foot to the ground like a petulant child "You saved me many times over, from James, Victoria, Laurent." I took a breath before continuing "You aren't evil Jasper because if you were you wouldn't have left Maria and I wouldn't be in your arms right now. You've fought since your birth into this life against evil and knowing you you'll continue to do it for the rest of eternity."

"Thank you darlin'" He said, emotion overwhelming his eyes, he held me just a little bit tighter "For always believing in me."

This was the man I loved, the man who didn't believe he could be good because of his past and that only made him try harder even when he didn't need to. He was mine and I was proud to say that.

I was in love with Jasper Whitlock. War hero, Vampire, knight in shining armor but most of all mine.