Chapter SEVEN (dan dan daaaaa) Mmkay. R&R please. (I don't see the point of putting R&R at the end of the chapter. It should be just &R cuz you've already done the R so you only need to do I'm gonna shut up and let you guys read)

Song for this chapter: Wild Horses-Natasha Bedingfield

To say that Aro was unhappy with the compromise was an understatement. Carlisle said that Alec and Jane were past reason. Aro's thin lips pressed in a tight line until they almost disappeared altogether.

Alec was smug, and decided to go through with his plan after all.

Jane didn't care. At first, she had hated having no privacy. But over the many many many years she'd been a loyal servant to the Volturi, she'd grown used to it and even found Aro's interjections comforting (only sometimes - mostly it was annoying, like he thought she couldn't solve her own problems.) Jane wondered if this would be peaceful, not trying to edit each thought she had, knowing that someone else would hear them.

She tried to relax, curling up on her windowsill with an old book. But somehow she just couldn't stop the restless feeling creeping up and making her fidget. The book was good, but she couldn't settle down long enough to even take in the main character's name.

Spontaneously, Jane tossed the book to the floor and ran to Alec's room. She stormed straight in, not bothering to knock. He wasn't there anyway. She shoved the window open. She sprang out and landed nimbly on her feet. Barely pausing, she sprinted through the grand Volturi gardens. She hopped over the water features, danced over the benches, and ran straight through the roses.

Jane took a deep breath, and unnecessary as it was, it felt good to fill her lungs with fresh air. She realised that she had come to the huge wall that encased the castle. Ivy and other creeping plants twirled and clung to the stones. Laughing quietly to herself, she ran along the massive wall. She closed her eyes and let her other senses guide her. It felt oddly energising, but then her sense of smell let her down. She'd been so busy sniffing the smell of honeysuckle and flowers and grass that she hadn't been concentrating. She ran straight into her brother, sending them both flying into the pool.

When she was underwater, Jane kept her eyes firmly shut. She blocked out the sound of Alec pulling himself out of the water. She saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing as she locked her body into one ridged position. She briefly wondered if this was how her brother's victims felt.

Suddenly she felt the water shift around her and something seized her wrist. She gasped as she was pulled to the surface. Her eyes snapped open and she saw everything. She heard every sound, even yelling from inside the castle. She scowled, but she felt like crying instead.

Alec shook his head like a wet dog, sitting on the side of the pool. He watched as Jane kicked back and floated on top of the water's surface. She stared blankly at the sky, her wide red eyes intense and a thousand years away.

"Jane?"

Jane didn't move at the sound of her name. She felt the water swirl around her small body as she floated and counted the stars.

"What are you doing Jane?" Alec asked. He didn't seem angry at being knocked into the water. He seemed confused. And concerned. His voice was soft, like he was trying not to scare her.

"Counting the stars," she replied in a murmur.

"Uh...huh," Alec said. He glanced up at the night sky. It looked the same as it had the night before, and the night before that, and the night before that. So why was Jane staring at it in such an out-of-synch way?

"Jane?" He said again. "Jane, we're both soaked. Let's go inside, ok?"

Jane's glance flicked from the stars to Alec. She swam to the edge and hauled herself up, combed her dripping hair back from her face with her hands, and cranked her neck to look at the stars again.

Alec watched her curiously for several minutes. He couldn't feel the cold, but the icy wind whipping against him made him feel uncomfortable. "Jane?" He pulled on her arm. "Jane! Come on, we're going inside."

Jane didn't move. Suddenly the bushes rustled loudly and both twins jumped, but a cat yowled loudly and they relaxed. Alec hopped up and lifted Jane up with him. "Come on. Let's go."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, shielding her from the wind.

Just as they reached the wide back steps, Jane froze.

"No," she said, still in her trance-like state. "No, I want to walk."

Alec looked at her, his brows furrowing. Why was she acting like this? Had Carlisle given her drugs or something? Alec blew upwards, rustling his wet hair. It stuck to his forehead awkwardly, and he swept it back the way Jane had.

"Fine," he said calmly. "Let's...go for a walk." He took a step back into the garden, and it was like a switch had been flicked on in Jane's brain.

"No!" She said, putting a restraining hand on his chest. "No...Look, you're saturated. Go inside and get dry. I'll go by myself." She gave a little smile and darted away into the garden before Alec could point out that she was just as wet as he was.

Alec watched after his sister as she disappeared into the dark. He shook his head, and vowed to search Carlisle's room for drugs that could be administered to vampires.

Deciding against going back through the castle and being seen, he scaled the wall and hopped in through his window. Alec looked down on himself - he really was soaked through. He sighed, and peeled off his shirt. He dropped it to the floor and kicked of his Doc Martens. He walked through to his special private bathroom and grabbed up a fluffy towel. After toweling himself dry, he put on his comfiest sweats and lay on his bed. He sighed. It was times like this he wished he could sleep. To close his eyes and drift away...

Jane walked at human pace through the town. It wasn't as congested as it would have been during the day, but there was more that enough people to stop and stare at the dripping girl with faraway black eyes.

The stares made Jane uncomfortable. All those multi coloured eyes (so different from the red-to-black eyes she met every day at home) appraised her critically. She couldn't bear to imagine what was running through their fragile human minds. Fragile, as hers had been, as it still was sometimes...

Jane ducked into a store, shaking her head to rid it of thoughts. Her hair stuck to her face, and she scooped it back uselessly. It flopped back into her face again, droopy and frustrating. How she despised it! It was so lank and so short! She could remember when it was long and thick, flowing down her back, swaying comfortingly about her face. She could nearly feel it's warm weight on her shoulders.

She ran her hands through her mousy locks again, tweaking the ends that hung just above her shoulders. She hated it short. Hell, Alec's hair was nearly as long as hers! It wasn't fair! It wasn't even her who had cut it!

The drop of pool water sliding down her face did a pretty good impression of a tear.

*FLASHBACK*

Jane walked in quietly from the market, wiping the vegetable stains and tears away. Alec was out, at school. He detested school, the only reason he was made stay there. Jane had been taken out a few years ago - the first time the twins had been separated.

Jane emptied the vegetables into a basin and ran the water over them. She had to do all the housework now since Lucinda abandoned them. Jane thought the name with a surge of hatred. How could she? How could she just leave them?

Jane washed the vegetables roughly, her sore hands twinging and aching. Suddenly Domenic stumbled in the door, a bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand. He stumbled towards her, smiling stupidly.

"Ah, Janie my dear. You're home from shopping," his voice was slurred and his breath stank of alcohol.

"Yes father," Jane replied quietly.

"Good girl, ah yes. You are a good girl Jane. Aren't you?"

"Yes father," Jane repeated in a whisper.

"Pretty little girl, you are. Look more like your mother every day."

Domenic's voice thickened. For this, Jane had no reply. What was she meant to say? 'I'm sorry'? 'I'm lucky'? There was nothing.

"Yeah, 'cept your mother always wanted to cut her hair. Was waiting 'till you were born. Never got a chance," his voice dropped to a growl. "Never got a chance."

Jane's heart thumped and fear shot down her spine like an electric shock. It lodged in her stomach to keep the nausea company.

"That brother of yours," he snarled. Jane swallowed back the bile as she realised what Alec had unknowingly earned for himself at home. "Thick! That's what he is! Fucking thick! Needs school, that boy. Don't care what he says. Don't care. Don't."

Domenic rummaged in a kitchen drawer. He came up with something silver and shining. The gleam reflected in his cold eyes.

"Damned vermin! Son of Satan! No son of mine, not mine. No. Murderer!" He waved the scissors around wildly, and Jane gave a frightened squeak.

"Thirteen years living under my roof and not one word of fucking thanks! Not one!" He covered his mouth sloppily, grinning like an idiot. "Whoops! Not supposed to swear in front of ladies. You're a lady Jane. Aren't you? Or are you a whore? Like those streetwalkers that fuck for money. Burn in hell, they will. Don't even get payed well, most of 'em."

Jane knew what the streetwalkers were. She'd seen plenty of them, leaving her own house while she swallowed breakfast past the lump in her throat.

"Wonder what you'll be? I don't know. Not one of them cursed psychics. Burn them! Burn them all! Sent from Hell, they are. Like that brother of yours. Anyway, to hell with him! We were talking about you, Janie dear."

Jane felt faint. She said nothing.

"No, we were talking about hair, weren't we? Your hair. No, your mother's hair! Yes, that's right. Wanted to cut her hair, said she'd like it just to her shoulders. Shall we cut it for her Jane?"

Suddenly Domenic lunged forward, surprisingly quick and agile despite his drunken state. He grabbed a hank of Jane's hair.

"No! No stop!" Jane screamed.

"She wanted it cut!" He growled, and the scissors came together. Jane's stomach rolled.

Domenic stared at the long lock of hair in his fist. He dropped it to the floor and lunged again. Jane screamed and managed to jump out of the way. Domenic crashed into the basin and sent the water and the vegetables flying.

"Look what you did!" He roared. He grabbed Jane's arm. She tried to jerk away, and her arm got twisted. She shrieked.

"Stop! Stop it! No! You can't! Stop!" Jane howled.

"Stay still!" He snapped. He reached out with the scissors and more of Jane's lovely long hair tumbled to the ground.

It took an hour of torturous snipping before he was satisfied. He stumbled out the door, dropping the hateful scissors on his way out. Jane was left sobbing in the kitchen.

When she finally plucked up the courage to look in a mirror, she burst into frenzied sobs again.

Her hair was cut - hacked - in uneven clumps that just reached past her ears. Jane ran her fingers through it in anguish and was almost glad when the tears blurred her vision. She sank to the floor, then cried and cried and cried.

Alec came home much later. The house was quiet. He decided to go upstairs to his room and rest. It had been a very trying day.

He sighed as he trudged through his door. The room was dark, the curtains drawn. He went to the window and pulled them open, baffled.

A whimper made him jump. He whirled around to see his sister, curled in a ball by the foot of her bed. He took in her sodden state, flushed, yet somehow deathly pale. But...why was her hair not veiling her face? Alec saw, he saw something that made him sick.

"Jane," Alec croaked. "What did he do?"

A sob escaped her trembling lip, and he rushed to her. He wrapped his arms around his twin sister and let her cry again.

"Shh, shh Jane. It's ok, it's over now. Jane I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

They stayed curled up together until the sun dropped and moonlight illuminated the small room.

"Well," Alec said, swallowing back his own tears. "Look at the bright side: at least you have the rest of your life to grow it back."

*END FLASHBACK*

Jane ran her long, pale fingers over the many beauty products that would be useless on her immortal face. She rounded a corner and her wandering fingers glided over hairbrushes and combs and clips. Jane froze.

She saw straighteners and curling irons and hairdryers and god knows what else. Hair dye and fake extensions. Accessories. It looked like Heidi's room.

Jane's own wet, ragged hair hung limp and lifeless. Jane picked up a deep violet hairbrush with a gold butterfly design on the back. She tugged it through her tangles until they smoothed out again. She sighed.

She traced her finger over the swirly design. It was pretty. She would have bought it, but she had no money with her. It would have taken less than a minute to run back to the castle and get some. But she didn't want to.

Instead, she slipped it into her pocket...

Wow, DARK! I felt really droopy writing the flashback. I added Alec's last line to cheer myself up. What a sardonic line.

Anywho, review for cookies!