I'm not sure I've read any stories that people write about Maria that go this direction. The idea that the only reason Maria comes back for Jasper is because she needs him. Not because she is all cruel and wants to punish him. If I were Maria, trying to take over large territories and keep newborns in line, I'm not sure I would have time for any of that.

Jasper discribes her as smart, careful, and a companion of his for years. The bond was broken easily, but they're had been a bond none the less. Edward in Midnight Sun said Maria considers herself on good terms with Jasper, and I would kill to find out what Stephanie Meyer meant by that. Either way, this is what I have come up with. c:

Alice cried out, feeling the cracks strech and spread across her skin. I couldn't comprehend it, not fully. The idea that she could die in that second was all that mattered to me. I couldn't focus on any actual thoughts, but in less than a second my eyes took the sight in. Her white skin, black hair, golden eyes and face contorted in pain.

"No!" I screamed, unable to think about what to do next. I just need for this to stop. I needed Alice's body next to mine. Safe with me.

My past didn't effect just me, here Alice was, being suffocated by it. The worst part of me, what every scar represented, was staring right at me in the face. It wasn't just Maria, it was everything, the memories and feelings and loss of them. Watching how easily she killed anyone who stood in her way made me know this wasn't some bluff.

"Alice. Don't move." I whispered. I looked up at Maria whose eyes were blazing with real, painful fury.

"Stop trying to protect her!" She roared, making Alice wince even more.

"You're desperate. I get it." I breathed, my hands in the air. "I don't need my ability to feel that. Remember how it felt when your mate was killed?"

"Don't you dare bring him up!" Maria was loosing it. She came here because she didn't have another option. Her anger at her own desperation was being taken out on Alice. Her body shook, her hand locked on Alice's chin and her arm coiled around her neck. The crack's spread slowly, painfully down Alice's body.

"That's the reason you haven't killed her. That's why you started an army in the first place. Your mate's death! You can't get over it, and I don't blame you because I wouldn't either. "

"Whitlock!" She spat. "Just help me and nothing bad has to happen to your precious Alice!"

"Remember how much it hurt when they killed him, right in front of you..."

Maria's hand shook against Alice's neck, fighting with her own instinct.

"Don't do that to me. Please. You owe me that."

"You left me when I needed you!"

"You were going to get rid of me. You were restless!"

"Shut up!" Her voice cracked, the raw emotion rising to the surface. Her eyes moved beside me and a shadow in my peripheral vision appeared.

I felt someone's hand in mine, I turned to see Mack, staring at Maria blankly. I knew that look, orders were being followed.

The massive headache that happened hours ago flooded back. I fell to my knees, the throbbing in my head pounding other people's emotion's into me. My power's were back, the brute force of my ability hitting me in waves.

"Alice." I whispered, looking up to see no light in her eyes, everything was killing me. It was like getting the ability of touch back. Everything felt normal, but too vivid. I couldn't feel Alice. I couldn't feel her presence.

"Let her go." I winced. "If you kill her, you know I won't help you."

She stopped, her eyes never moving away from mine. She knew what I was really saying.

"You'll kill me?" She asked in a small voice, her true feelings flashing across her face. "You would do that?"

"Wouldn't you?"

At this, she knew I was right. This wasn't about Alice and it wasn't about me leaving. Maria had finally hit a point where she couldn't control her surroundings, and that was something she couldn't bare. Maria always had control, of the newborns and me; Now, she had no one to manipulate because it didn't matter anymore. Nothing was left for her. She hated her existance. I could see that emotional brink flashing across her face, her eyes looking at a place far away. I knew she felt useless.

"I will loose everything I have ever worked for, everything we've worked for."

I didn't say anything, the tone in her voice made me know she had finally let go of her resentment. She slowly and deliberately loosened her grip around Alice's neck, finally letting her out of her grasp.

As soon as she let go, I was at Alice's side in a instance, not letting her fall. Her body was limp, and so scarily dead in my arms I was in a haze. In one movement I picked her up, carried her to the other side of the room and set her down against the wall.

She didn't say anything. It was odd, the way she looked at me. Her eyes glazed over, her skin still cracked. I heard a gasp behind me. Esme.

"Alice!"

Focus, Jasper. She's still living, Alice is going to be okay. I put one hand behind her shoulder and another on her chest, pressing the splits of her skin closed. Behind me and turned to face Maria.

Maria was on the ground. She had slid down the wall and was now sitting idely on the floor, her eyes still focusing on that same place far, far away.

"Esme, where's Carlisle?" I asked, sounding like my old self, the me who needed things to be done.

She talked, but didn't stop looking at Alice. "There was a newborn problem outside. After Alice left to go find you, they started fighting. I heard Alice's screaming and came to find her."

"Go to Carlisle. I'll protect her."

She didn't move.

"Its okay Esme, really. I'm sure Carlisle's more than worried."

She left, but I felt the hesitation, the panic.

I felt another presence. A brooding one, a man who if he were human you could walk passed without looking because he didn't want the attention.

"I'm afraid to move her." I whispered to him.

"Give it a little time." Edward's voice said, "She'll come around. Look at her, she's already healing."

The game was finished, but I still wasn't sure who won. I said down beside Alice so that her face was next to mine. I kept looking at her in the eyes, waiting for that glassy look to stop and her to blink and see me sitting there, waiting on her for once.

"Come on darlin'. Don't let go." I whispered, letting my hand spread across her small, doll-like face.

I felt her coming back to me, like a little stream of emotions were pouring out of her. I wasn't relieved, not yet. I needed her to look back at me. I needed to know she wasn't broken. I touched her hand, and I felt it twitch under my fingers.

"You've always been so loyal to the people you want to protect." Maria's accent coating her words. And something else, bitterness.

She stood up, a mask of pride and fierceness on her face. It was like as she stood up she slipped back into the façade, a fake world that she lived in constantly, the one where she could control anything. And because she pretended she could, it became her gift, her power to manipulate. It served her well, just like I had.

"I can't do it, I'll brake. Do you understand that? You hurt Alice, and she's all that matters to me. You can't expect me too-"

"I get it, Jasper Whitlock. It seems you've changed into something other than what you were with me. I wonder if you like it as much as you pretend too."

"I like her." I said. "I like what she makes me."

"But not what I made you." She finished, her voice quiet.

Maria walked out the door, looking as powerful as she did when she entered. Her shadow trailed behind her like a black robe gliding across the floor. And for a moment, she wasn't the Maria who I worshiped so long ago. She was a women who stood as tall as a queen, that had been my friend.

Alice's hand squeezed mine, and we looked at each other for a long time. We talked in small whispers. Her voice filled my heart with peace, the one thing I never expected to get. And her eyes filled me with hope, the one thing I had been searching for my whole life. Yet it was Alice was the one thing I would never deserve, but needed so much that everything paled in comparison.

I gave her a very soft kiss on the lips, and could feel her smile in return.

One thing I would like to clear up is that the only reason Maria wanted to have an army in the first place is because she wanted to avenge her mate, which to me is really interesting. In fact, Maria's story is practically untold, which is sad because she's such a complicated, cool villain.

I think I'm going to make an epilogue and this story will be done. (: So happy so many of you enjoyed it!