Not Without a Fight: Rematch
Annaleise Marie

Fourth Rematch

AN: So this Rematch was originally requested by Hans153 when this first began, but I wound up waiting until its subject matter ran a bit more parallel with NWAF. She requested Jasper's memories of the Royce issue. We touched on them a bit in the most recent chapter, Round Twenty-Five, but now we're going to delve into his actual recollections of the event. It's sort of dark subject matter, but I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it brings some depth to the main story.

For timeline purposes, this one starts off during the main story, but most of it takes place about six months before NWAF. Assuming you're caught up on the story, there are no spoilers.

Now, I own a really lovely, super soft pair of gloves that my friend knitted me for Christmas, but I do not own Twilight. That would be Stephanie Meyer. I do, however, own Not Without a Fight. So there's that, I guess.

X

JPOV

"Did you really break down her door?" Emmett asked. It took me a second to think of what he was talking about, and then I remembered what I said when I was yelling at my parents. I nodded, exhaling slowly, debating how to actually answer. I had never spoken about that night before. Anyone I would have talked to about it had been there.

"Yeah. Held a knife to Royce's throat and threatened to cut off his dick, too," I finally said, keeping my voice level. It still made me mad to think about it, but Emmett reacted pretty strongly to anything related to Royce. I hoped by keeping calm myself, he'd keep calm as well.

"Nice," he said approvingly. I nodded, drawing on my cigarette. Truth was, I couldn't remember large parts of that night. I had pieced together a pretty good memory of it from what I did recall and what Alice had told me.

Alice and I had been out for the night. Back then, we were still trying to get her used to sleeping at her house alone, that way it wouldn't be so rough on her when my parents were in town and she couldn't stay here. Usually in those circumstances she went to stay with Bella, but my parent's schedules could be pretty unpredictable and that didn't work for last-minute situations. Our plan was to start sleeping at her place, together, and then I'd start spending a few nights a week at my house without her.

It wasn't working out so well. She had some pretty vicious nightmares even when we were both at her house, and more often than not on the nights that she tried to stay there alone I would wake up to her crawling into my bed.

On this particular night, we had started out at her place, but after the third nightmare woke her, sobbing, we headed back to my place.

"Royce is still lhere?" Alice asked when we reached the driveway and saw the black Challenger. I checked my watch. It was pretty late, but she was dating the guy. I couldn't really judge. My girlfriend couldn't even sleep separate from me.

Not that I was complaining, for the record. If it weren't for the fact that my parents would completely and irreversibly lose their minds if they knew Alice regularly spent the night, I would have absolutely no problem with her just staying over indefinitely.

"I guess he's staying the night," I said. Alice bit her lip, staring up at the second floor of the house, at Rosalie's dark room. "What?"

"Doesn't he give you a creepy feeling?" she asked. I shrugged. I had no particularly strong feelings about Royce, other than that the guy seemed like a class-A regulation dick. But nothing that you didn't regularly encounter in high school.

"I don't know, Alice," I said wearily. She turned her eyes to me. They were rimmed with dark circles, the whites bloodshot. "Look, let's just get to bed. It's late, and you look exhausted."

She nodded, taking my hand as we headed for the door, but she still looked upset. I wrote it off as uneasiness from her nightmares. In retrospect, I should have known better than to second-guess Alice's odd sense of people.

"I'm going to get some water," I said once we were inside. "I'll meet you upstairs."

She nodded, starting up the stairs as I headed for the kitchen. I pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and sat down at the counter for a second, resting my head on my hands. I was really starting to worry. Alice's mom had been gone for six months, and although she said she had never slept especially well, things seemed to have reached a new and terrifying level of bad. I was beginning to wonder if this was even fixable.

I heard her feet on the stairs again and I stood up, not wanting her to think I was putting off coming to bed, but then I realized that she was running.

She rounded the corner from the stairs and shot into the kitchen, her socks slipping on the hardwood. She skidded to a stop in front of me, her fingers curling into my shirt for balance.

"Jazz," she gasped. Her eyes were wild, and when I moved my hand to her shoulder she was shaking. "There's something wrong. You have to go upstairs. Rose..."

That's the last thing I actually remember for awhile. Alice says that before she could finish her explanation, I was already leaving the kitchen. She says that I paused to grab the closest knife from the butcher block on the counter, and that then she practically had to chase me up the stairs.

She said that once we got to the top of the stairs, the sounds were pretty clear. Muffled screaming, cursing, and the sound of a sharp slap cracking through the hallway.

The next thing I remember is Rosalie's door flying open, and the sight that met me once my eyes adjusted to the dark. The sounds, unhindered by the door, assaulted my ears as I took it in. Royce had Rosalie pinned down, one hand in her hair planted against the bed, the other over her mouth. Rosalie's skirt was bunched up at her waist, her underwear twisted around her ankles.

Then I was across the room, my forearm pressed against Royce's neck as I pinned him to the wall. That was the first time I was aware of the knife in my hand, because now it was hovering against his throat.

"Put it away, or I swear to god I'll fucking cut it off," I hissed. I could barely see straight. Saliva pooled in my mouth. I would kill him.

Royce was pale as he fumbled with his zipper. Behind me Rose was sobbing and it sounded like Alice was about to hyperventilate.

"Jasper," Alice choked out. Goddammit. Now I was scaring Alice. I had tried damn long and hard to not let myself show anger around her, not wanting her to see me that way, and now this fucker had ruined it.

"Alice, take Rosalie downstairs," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. It still came out harsher than I meant to and I cursed inwardly. I would slit Royce's throat if she was scared of me now, on top of what he had already done.

I might slit his throat anyway.

I heard scuffling and then the sound of their footsteps retreating, Rose's sobs fading with them. I didn't take my eyes off of Royce. He was straining away from the knife. I tried to resist the urge to press it harder against his throat.

"You raped my sister," I snarled, my brain finally catching up to my body.

"Man, I-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I snapped. He swallowed hard. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't gut you like a fish right now."

"My father will fire yours," he gasped. My eyes narrowed.

"There are other jobs," I said.

"You do one thing to me, and I swear I will make sure your family is ruined. Your little bitch, too," he spat.

My blood ran cold at that. Alice. Royce was threatening to hurt Alice.

"If I ever see you around my sister again... Hell, if I catch you in Forks at all, I will make you pay. I don't give a fuck what your father does. And if you ever so much as look at Alice, I will kill you. I won't hesitate, and you will suffer," I swore. "Do you understand?"

He just glared at me. I dropped the knife to my side and released him.

"Get the fuck out, Royce. And remember, don't let me even think you may have had the opportunity to so much as look at either of them ever again."

The rest of my night was a blur. Rosalie didn't talk much. Alice didn't sleep, and so I didn't sleep.

And then the next day we all rose from our spots in the living room and went to school, on auto-pilot, unsure of how to do anything more than carry on as normal.

I didn't see Royce again for over six months. By that point Emmett, the great grinning goofball, had moved in next door, and he sort of took over guarding Rosalie. I let him, mainly because I was afraid of what I might do if I actually gave in to revenge on Royce.

I looked at Alice, who was smiling for all she was worth at the idea of something as simple as ice skating. The important thing that day was getting Rosalie help, but looking at Alice like this, I knew that I would keep my word to Royce in a heartbeat to keep her safe.

X

AN: So this chapter was interesting to write, as the only one that has run hand-in-hand with an update of NWAF. Thanks again to Hans153 for the request!

Have a request of your own? Don't forget to review and let me know! It's really awesome to see what sort of stories have piqued your interest as readers! It lets me write things I may never had considered, and we all - myself included - get to know the characters on a new level!

Don't have a request? I'd still love to hear from you! Drop a line if you have time! Reviews mean the world to me!