. O N L Y.
You're my Only
Only what?
Only sun
Only light
Only colour in my black plight
So come back to me
My Only
"Alice?"
His voice wasn't flat. He didn't try to keep one ounce of his worry out of it. He was trying to guilt me into getting back to him. I was ashamed to say that it was almost working. But right now, my own needs needed to be put aside. I tried to remind myself of this, convince myself, by continuously looking at Bella's face. Her face... the same expression I would wear if it were Jasper, not Edward, standing in Italy, so terribly vulnerable to the Volturi's attack.
How could he do this to her?
How could he do this to us?
"Alice." Jasper voice begged once more.
"I can't, Jasper." I whispered. "Please don't." I flashed another look at Bella. She wasn't looking at me - probably trying to give me whatever privacy she could in the cramped space. "We just need to get Edward out. Please stay with the others, okay? Don't come after us, and don't let any of the others come. Please." Lying had never been so... hard. So excruciatingly hard. Denying myself the only thing that I wanted at that moment. I needed someone to tell me this would all turn out right too.
I could see Bella's head turning, to show those dead, yet still slightly curious eyes to me as I came apart, just a little bit.
Edward, throwing a car into the wall. The Volturi, en masse, smother him. Brought away, underground.
Ripped apart.
"Let me come. Let us come." His tone was coaxing, cautious, and desperate. Like I was standing on the edge of a cliff and he was trying to convince me not to jump. "Emmett can't be restrained, and Rosalie is even more desperate. Can you stop her when she thinks that she might've killed her own brother?" Jasper was not listening to me. I closed my eyes, but he kept speaking. "You can't expect us to keep out of this. You can't expect me to let you just stroll to Italy and stay here. Alice."
"No, you can't. Tell Emmett no, and you can't come either." Bella was listening. Bella. Edward's Bella. Edward. "If he sees any of us, what do you think he will do?"
A snarl trickled through the phone connection. But there was no aggression in it. I could see him, curling up with frustration. "Will you die then? Will you die? Have you even considered that?" He spat. More frustration.
I laughed weakly, knowing, and thanking the fact he could not see my face. Or my emotions. "I've thought of that..."
The snarl died down to silence. "Come back to me. Alive. Promise." This time, when he spoke, his voice was dead. Not emotionless. Just... incapable of expressing anything. It hurt me so much to hear it. It hurt me more to think that I was about to lie to this voice. But relief was there too - relief of knowing that he was folding.
"Yes, I promise. Don't follow me." I begged. My own voice was cracking. "I promise, Jasper."
Edward, red eyed and bloody mouthed. Licking a line down the woman's throat, his tongue strong enough to tear the skin. The black cloaked guards approached. He disappeared from view.
"How?" He was so stubborn, aggravating... worried. "How will you get out?" He needed to fool-proof my plans. He needed to double check and triple check them, to cancel out any risk for me, and Edward, and Bella. But especially for me.
But I had no plan for him to check. "One way or another, I'll get out."
Another silence. Long, but short to anyone listening. Would he suspect? Would it make the crucial difference between him joining the others to race after me and him forcing them to stay?
"I love you." he finally breathed. His tone was devastated… but resigned.
I didn't need to hesitate to answer. "And I love you." The relief was barely concealed.
And so was my own heartbreak. I didn't wait for him to hang up. I could feel Bella's eyes on me and I knew she would be curious. I tried not breathing, so she wouldn't hear the hitching that my jerking breaths made. As a vampire, I could picture Jasper's face in my mind clearer than any human memory. His face, that I might never see again. But I would not leave Bella to look for Edward herself. She needed me here. There was still hope, and we were going to grab it by both hands.
The thought did not make neither the task ahead of us, nor the pain any easier. I leaned backwards, and closed my eyes, trying to shut out my thoughts.
"I hate lying to him."
Edward, standing in the middle of the plaza, the clock tower tolling out the death for us all under a blazing sun.
AN: More of Jasper and Alice, like I said :) These two provide me with such endless muse... I love them to bits ^^ They're so gorgeous together.
Hope you guys enjoyed. One more chapter to come.
I have disclaimed.
xx Caeleus
