A/N: For everybody who's been commenting and asking: Yes, I will get back to Margaret. I have plans for Margaret and Jasper. And I've had a few people say that it was good to see the development of the guards as individuals instead of a collective.

Truth be told, I have a thing for secondary (like the other Cullens) and tertiary (like the guards or the Denalis) characters. You will probably never see me write an Edward-Bella because they've already got the equivalent of, like, six books written on them. I've always been curious about the stories of the guards and the Denalis in particular – this is giving me a chance to feel out the market for a Volturi story.

Seems like a demand is there – anybody want a more in-depth look at life in Volterra, and how everybody ended up there?

Chapter 5: A Family Visit

It was still just another quiet, uneventful day in Volterra. Most of the guards were off in the world pursuing the leisure of their choice: Felix and Demetri, they'd heard, had opted to travel back to Greece, visiting old companions from their days prior to joining the guard; Chelsea and Afton had gone off on a serious hunt for the Titanic and any old relics of Afton's that might've still remained at the bottom of the ocean. Various other guards had simply gone away to travel for a while.

The only people left behind, really, were the Volturi brothers, their wives, the three young guards who couldn't bear to be separated from Aro for any reason other than duty – Alec, Jane and Renata – and Jasper and Alice.

They were still confined to Volterra, as they would probably be for the rest of their existence, Jasper thought wryly as he leaned back against the headboard of their bed, watching Alice stare blankly at the wall.

"Did Emmett and Rosalie mention where the family was living now?" Alice asked wistfully, eyes drifting off into another vision. "In Sudan, when you were talking to them?"

"Colorado, I think," Jasper replied. "Sweetheart, you know he's not going to let us go." He reached out to brush back a lock of her hair. "There's no point getting yourself all worked up over it."

Sighing, Alice settled down in his arms, closing her eyes. Slowly, she began drift back into her now-familiar meditative trance.

"You have a headache?" Jasper questioned.

Alice shook her head slightly. "Just taking advantage of the peace and quiet," she murmured.

Smiling, he settled in for the long term. He loved watching her like this – it reminded him so much of the crystal-clear human memories of holding his little sister in his arms, rocking her to sleep. Of the way he would wake up in the mornings and usually find her nestled in beside him, careless curls thrown around the pillow and her thumb in her mouth. The sight of her drowsy caramel eyes opening as she whispered innocently, "Bad dream'd, Japper."

Wincing as the good memories brought with them their constant companions, Jasper tried to stop the train of thought to no avail.

Jasper ignored the whispers when he passed through Houston. Doubtlessly, some of the women in the area had recognized him. Nudging his mount on just a little faster, he headed for the family estate, just outside the city. He only had a week of leave, and he wanted to be home in time for Celia's birthday. He doubted that Mother even remembered the general season her daughter had been born in – she certainly didn't remember his – and Celia deserved at least one small recognition for turning four.

He fingered the small parcel in his jacket pocket, thinking of the way her face would light up at receiving it. Trying not to think of how he'd come by the material, he smiled slightly. He would owe Emmaline, the cavalry's laundress, for a long time for her help. The young widow, touched by his 'kind heart', had spent many nights stitching together the pretty little doll's cape, keeping it safe from the dust and grime of the camp and creating a beautiful piece of clothing for Celia's precious Baby.

But as he came up the road, he realized something was wrong. There was the faint, acrid smell of burnt wood in the air. Silence. Dead silence. Like the expansive plantation just north of San Antonio that the Union had burnt to the ground last month.

Oh, God, no.

Forcing his horse into a full-out run, Jasper prayed as hard as he dared that it wasn't true. How could it be true? There had been brigades patrolling the major roads to Houston for months! There was no way enough Yankees passed through to do that sort of damage.

And Celia – were they cruel enough to slaughter such an innocent little girl? It took some sort of cold-hearted devil to kill a child.

His heart let out the scream he couldn't yet vocalize as he reached where the estate should've stood, and saw the charred wreckage. Slowly, he dismounted, still not believing his eyes. There was nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Then he saw the smallest, tiny hand lying just inside where the front door ought to have been. Advancing, Jasper carefully took the hand and tugged out the brutalized, smoky, incinerated remains of Celia's most prized possession – Baby.

He let the pain overtake him.

"Jasper." An anxious voice interrupted his memory. "Jasper, what's wrong? Jasper…" Frantically, fingers traced the outlines of his frozen face, lips desperately trying to solicit some sort of response as they pressed against his skin.

He realized with a start that he was so tense he might've been a statue. Centuries of learning to internalize the pain had stopped him from screaming as he had that terrible day, but he could feel the scream still roaring inside of him like a monstrous beast, waiting to consume him again.

Jane had absolutely nothing on this.

"Jasper, please…" the voice broke, frightened butterscotch, red-tinted eyes trying to dig into his.

Alice. He was scaring Alice. She'd never seen him lose control like this before.

Trying to force the enormous grief back down into its tightly-contained box, Jasper took a deep, shuddering breath as he pulled Alice tight against his chest, inhaling the comfort in her scent as he tried to turn all of his attention back to her.

Alice. AliceAliceAliceAlice… the world was Alice and Alice was the world. Alice was fine, Alice was perfectly okay, she wasn't hurt, she wasn't lying burnt to ashes in the ground, she was there, in his arms and she was perfect…

Slowly, ever so slowly, the tidal wave of pain began to subside, retreating to its tiny prison where it had lain dormant. But still, it snarled at him threateningly, promising to resurface someday soon, when Alice was gone, as it usually attempted when he was alone. Never this bad. Never since Alice. It hadn't overtaken him like this since he'd left Peter and Charlotte in 1948.

"Shh, Jasper, it's okay…" she soothed with barely-restrained fear, stroking his face gently as her hand trembled slightly. "It's okay, I'm here… Calm down, baby, calm down… Shh, Jazz… I'm here…"

He flinched at the imagined, tortured screams of his perfect little Celia, burying his face into Alice's neck as he tried to stop the shivers from wracking his body. The pain came back with a furious roar, triumphant.

"Jasper, you're scaring me," she whispered. "What's wrong? Just tell me what's wrong."

He was standing at the edge of the steep canyon, watching the pebbles crumble away and fall into the Pecos. He watched it fall until he couldn't see it anymore, even though he knew they must've reached the water eventually.

He wondered if it would hurt, falling all those feet – it must be hundreds of feet to the river below. Would he crash against the walls of the canyon? Would he feel the sting of the water as he sank? Would it be painful to die like that? It would take time, that was for sure. Because that was what he deserved. He deserved to die an even worse death than the way they slowly burned his precious Celia alive. She had probably died clawing at the door, clinging to Baby, screaming, crying for him…

"Jasper, please," Alice repeated in terror.

There was no escaping that beast now, he conceded with a final tremor as he let it drown him as it had in 1861.

But just as he was disappearing into the dark abyss, he registered a sudden, metallic-like screech and enormous physical pain, jolting him from the emotional and psychological pain.

Alice had let out a startled scream. Instinctively whirling around to see who had scared her, Jasper felt off-balance, somehow, and he realized with a sickening drop of his stomach that he was missing an arm.

"You back in this reality now?" Edward asked frankly, his eyes soft with sympathy as he held out Jasper's detached arm.

Jasper took the arm without a word and held it in place, feeling Alice's quivering hands close around fistfuls of his shirt, her forehead resting between his shoulder blades. Thank you, he thought simply, releasing his arm when it had fused back into its socket. Then, he turned and pulled Alice into his lap, rocking her comfortingly as he whispered over and over again, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

"Don't scare me like that," she whispered shakily. "I can't handle that."

No, of course she couldn't handle his pain. Nobody could handle this pain. Nobody capable of loving again would've survived that pain. Anybody worth loving in the first place would've thrown themselves off that canyon cliff that day, instead of allowing themselves to be talked down from the ledge…

"Whitlock, come back down," First Lieutenant Thomas called bracingly. "Throwing yourself off the cliff is not going to bring back that baby girl. Come back down and we will make sure the goddamn Yankees pay. She needs to be avenged, Whitlock. Come back down."

Revenge. Yes. That sounded good. As the rage coursed through his veins, Jasper stepped away from the edge. Revenge. He would kill as many goddamn Yankees as he could fire a rifle at, as many as he could strangle with his bare hands…

They'd killed Celia.

"Jasper," Edward warned softly as he felt the monster he'd once been growl from deep inside. "Don't go there."

"What the hell was that, Jasper?" Emmett's voice came from behind him, his tone incredulous.

Jasper kept his mouth firmly shut, not trusting himself to speak beyond nonstop whispers of apology to Alice.

"Bad memories," Edward replied for him.

"Must've been something horrible in those memories," Rosalie commented softly; with a start, Jasper realized that the entire family was there.

Everybody in the family had seen him lose it like that.

"The worst I have," Jasper muttered, as Alice took a deep breath and looked at him again, the strain of fear still showing. She traced her fingers along the contours of his face, promising softly,

"Later. You and I are going to talk."

"When did you guys get here?" Jasper asked the rest of the family, settling Alice comfortably in his arms. He was calming the longer she was tucked safely there, her head resting against his arm and her hands closing around his forearms.

"About the time Alice started screaming in terror," Emmett said dryly.

"We were starting to worry when it was more than two years, and you hadn't come to visit," Esme added, sitting down on the edge of the bed to touch his cheek. "Rosalie and Emmett said that they'd run into you in Africa, but…"

"We've been… occupied," Jasper replied vaguely, seeing the concern in her eyes.

Alec and Jane appeared in the doorway just as Carlisle was commenting, "Yes, I suppose Aro's been keeping you pretty busy."

"Yes?" Alice asked of the twins curtly. Even Edward looked taken aback with the rest of the family at the tone in her voice.

"Master requests your presence in the pavilion," Alec relayed, a dark edge of sullenness in his voice. Jane cast a seething glare in their direction, a perfect pout on her face.

"Very well," Alice replied shortly, sitting up. Alec and Jane didn't leave, however – obviously, Jasper noted, they'd been instructed to wait for her. Twisting around, Alice laid a light kiss on his cheek, her hand still shaking the slightest bit on his other cheek. "I'll be back soon," she promised as she got to her feet. Then she swept out ahead of Alec and Jane, the preteen twins following in dark silence.

"I've never seen Alec and Jane look so murderous," Carlisle commented quietly.

"They're not happy about being ordered not to touch Jasper," Edward replied, eyes fixing on his silent brother. "Why have they been ordered not to?" he asked Jasper. "Why was that necessary?"

Jasper sighed. "Aro had me in the catacombs for the first year. Alice threw a fit to get me out of there. Afton and Chelsea tell me she threatened to burn down Volterra, to the point of having a lit torch in her hand, if Aro didn't release me." Pausing, he frowned darkly as he thought back to the events of that day, the memories blurred by his extreme thirst. "He tried deceiving her first, and she freaked out."

"How do you deceive Alice?" Bella asked.

"One of the newer guards at the time had the ability to disguise himself," Jasper replied. "Aro had him try and pass himself off as me. It really wasn't a very good job, Alice saw right through him. Poor kid had to leave the guard after that, he couldn't be in the same country as Alice without hyperventilating." Despite the severity of the conversation topic, Jasper couldn't stop the smug grin from crossing his face. "Marcus and Caius overrode Aro's authority. Apparently they were somewhat concerned for Volterra's continued physical stability."

"Alice can be extremely terrifying," Emmett admitted with an affectionate grin.

"But Alec and Jane aren't very happy with the new arrangements," Jasper continued. "I think they were getting a little bored with Margaret when I arrived there."

"Margaret being…" Edward prompted.

"She's the other prisoner," Jasper explained. "Been down there long enough that their torture methods just don't mean anything anymore."

"What do you mean?" Rosalie asked warily.

"Well," Jasper sighed. "If you go long enough in that sort of pain and thirst, you stop reacting. It's not that you don't feel the pain, it's that you can't work up the energy to scream or twitch or do anything except lie there and take it."

Bella shuddered.

*~*~*

When Alice came back, she was accompanied by Santiago, Felix and Demetri – evidently, the guard had all started to return to Volterra.

Edward's eyes narrowed in the three guards' directions in conjunction with Jasper's slight protective snarl. Alice seemed unharmed and unshaken, however, as she retreated back into Jasper's arms and nestled her forehead against the curve of his neck.

"Has Aro become so paranoid, then?" Edward asked quietly, the question directed towards the three men at the doorway. "That it takes three of you to make sure that Alice gets back? It seems a little excessive to me."

"That's not what he's worried about," Jasper muttered.

"What, then?" Carlisle asked.

"Master says it is time for you to take your leave," Santiago cut in swiftly. "The sun is setting." His bright crimson eyes passed over each of the Cullens in turn. "He asks that you refrain from coming unannounced in the future."

"It would have been terrible for you to have come all this way, if Jasper," Felix's voice twisted very slightly in disgust on his name, "and Alice had been away from the city."

"Yes, I suppose it would've been," Carlisle agreed, a tone of growing concern in his voice.

"Oh, Carlisle, do we really have to leave so soon?" Esme begged, her hand caressing Alice's cheek for a moment. "We've only just gotten here. We've hardly even seen Alice…" As she twisted around to look at her husband pleadingly, her expression became anguished as she saw the resignation in his eyes. "Please, Carlisle," she repeated. "Just a few more days…"

"You'd best leave now, Esme," Jasper told her quietly. Looking over at the other guards, he said firmly, "Alice and I will accompany them to the city limits." His tone left no room for argument, though Demetri did.

"Chelsea and Afton are waiting at the exit to show them outside the city," he answered bluntly. "We will take them there."

*~*~*

There was an apologetic shrug and sigh from both Chelsea and Afton as the Cullens exited the Volturi compound. "Sorry that you couldn't get longer," Chelsea murmured, closing the doors in the other guards' faces. "You're lucky you got that long."

"Aro seemed very keen on getting us out of there, and fast," Emmett muttered.

"You came to find Volterra about as unguarded as it's ever going to be," Afton explained.

"He was worried that you had come to take Jasper and Alice," Chelsea added quietly. "He didn't even realize you were there at all until Jane and Alec came to find Alice." She paused. "Master isn't about to pick a fight with you, especially with the odds weighted so heavily in your favour." Her eyes flickered over to Bella for a moment, clear admiration in her eyes. "That display of power fifty years was unlike anything I've seen before," she admitted.

"But Aro wants Alice too much to risk her leaving," Edward said softly.

"Alice won't leave on her own," Afton disagreed. "She knows the terms of her agreement with Master Aro."

"Her services for Jasper's life," Chelsea explained softly. "If she leaves the guard of her own choice, Master has every right to kill him."

"Master Aro keeps her pretty exhausted mentally. She doesn't have much time to contemplate the loopholes, he's made sure of that," Afton murmured. "She probably would've fought you if you had tried to take them."

"And Jasper?" Carlisle asked quietly.

"Jasper is more or less a prisoner," Afton replied. "He stays out of the catacombs now because Alice isn't as difficult for Master Aro when she has him with her. She's more useful to him when she isn't constantly distracted by visions of Alec and Jane torturing Jasper."

"He doesn't want to drive her to extremes like he did last year," Chelsea continued. "She really would've burnt down Volterra. As long as Jasper keeps to himself and out of trouble, Master will tolerate him."

They reached the city gates at that moment, and Chelsea and Afton paused. "I wouldn't try to come back without notice again," Afton advised. "How did you escape Alice's visions, anyway?"

"Renesmee and Jacob were with us right until we reached the doors of the compound," Rosalie explained with a grim smile. "They're waiting outside the city for us now. Alice can't see them, so as long as they're with us…"

"Hmm. That's interesting," Chelsea mused.

*~*~*

Jasper thought she'd fallen back into her trance, so he relaxed somewhat. Alice nestled deep into his arms, eyes still closed, her breaths soft and regulated as her hands wound their way up beneath his shirt. Smiling gently, Jasper pulled off his shirt and let her curl up against his skin, relishing the unique sensation of her face lying against his chest, her breath spreading across his skin.

"You'd tell me, right?" she asked softly. "If you were unhappy? You'd tell me?"

"I could never be unhappy where you are," Jasper whispered to her.

"Tell me what you were seeing, this afternoon," she requested, coming back to full consciousness as she pulled herself up to look him in the eyes. "What were you remembering, that was hurting you so much?"

Jasper sighed, wincing slightly as the grief rumbled threateningly from inside its tight little box. He wasn't sure he was ready to subject Alice to that sort of pain yet. "Just… memories," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her.

"Tell me, Jazz," she ordered quietly, in a tone of voice that left no room for argument.