I don't own Twilight. I just like messing around with the characters :P
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As always, thank you to my awesome beta taylorcullenforever, and my bffls Cynthia and Ellen. You guys rock my socks.
Fun with Jasper
JPOV
Brave little Alice went through her punishment without complaints.
When I saw her on that table in such pain, I had to do what I could. Even if it were something ridiculous, something so small and insignificant, like holding her hand, I would do it. And that's exactly what I did. It seemed to ease her pain some, so I was happy that I did it.
When James left the room, taking the tables with him, Alice relaxed a little. Her arms hung to her sides in a comical fashion, but there was nothing laughable about her current condition. The reason her arms hung in that fashion was because she couldn't move them. Her shoulders were thoroughly screwed up. Her legs were no better. She flopped to the floor because she wasn't able to stand on her legs.
"Jasper," she had said, "I need you to put my shoulders and ankles back in the right place. Please?"
I couldn't resist her begging even if I wanted to. I figured that it would hurt like hell at first but she couldn't go on with her life without having her bones back in the right places.
It only struck me then that that was how bad her punishment was. James went so far in his medieval torture that he had actually dislocated parts of her body. I didn't know if that was his original intention, but I had the feeling that he wanted more then just that. He wanted her to feel bad about herself for being short. He most likely wanted the punishment to last. Besides the obvious physical pain that she would have in her limbs, she would also have emotional pain. All because of some messed up bastard.
But I didn't think of her as short. She was the perfect size to me. She will always be perfect to me.
I went to her on the floor and fixed her shoulders as best as I could. She cried a little, which broke my heart, but I needed to keep going. She needed to be whole again.
When I was done with her shoulders, I went to her ankles and said, "Ready?"
"Just get it over with, Jasper," she breathed.
I worked her bones until they fit back into their original sockets. She sucked in a few sharp breaths with the pain along with her crying. I kept telling myself that I wasn't hurting her. I was making her better. Seeing her cry only made me feel like a monster.
Afterwards, she tested her newly fixed ankles and began walking. She needed my help at first because it still hurt, but her pain was bearable after an hour or so. When she was finally able to walk on her own, she looked into my eyes and said softly, "Thank you so much, Jasper. Thank you for getting me through this."
The only thing I could think of, as a reply was to give her a hug.
She wrapped her arms around my neck; wincing a little at the slight pain it caused her shoulders, and rested her head on my chest. I breathed in the smell of her hair and smiled. I rubbed small circles into her back soothingly.
After a few minutes of standing like that, she pulled her head away from my chest and looked up at me. She grinned at the sight of my smiling face. In that moment, I couldn't help but think of how beautiful and perfect she was. I couldn't help but think of how much I wanted her. I couldn't help but think of how much I hated James for hurting her.
I wanted to tell her these things, but couldn't bring myself to speak the words. Instead, I let my actions say them for me. I took her face in my hands and pulled it up to kiss her gently. Her lips didn't respond at first, probably from shock, but after a few seconds she got into it. She kissed me back with an intensity I had never felt before.
It felt natural to be kissing Alice. I felt like I had known her my whole life. I would do anything for this person who I had only met days ago.
"AHEM," James coughed through the intercom. "Alice…Jasper? You might want to stop doing that and pay attention to what I am about to say. Jasper, you are the last to experience the fun we have to offer. As you all know by now, we have a big finale planned. Laurent, Victoria and myself have been setting up for the finale for a few days now, to assure perfection. I think that you all will appreciate what we are going to do. But before we get to that, we must attend to our army man. Jasper, your punishment will be handled by Laurent. He'll be seeing you shortly."
Alice pulled her body reluctantly from mine and looked at me with sorrowful eyes. After a few seconds she whispered in a dumbfounded voice, "You were in the army?"
"Yes, I was. Briefly. It was too much to handle, so I left when I could. It wasn't worth the pain."
"I'm sorry they're going to hurt you," she said to me with silent tears rolling down her face.
"Well, it was going to happen at one point."
Laurent chose that moment to enter our room. His dark skin set off the white of his teeth which made his sneer that much more noticeable.
"Hello there, Jasper. You must be wondering what I will do to you. It must be eating you up inside," his sneer grew even more pronounced. "That's just all part of the fun! I can end your misery now. James will be coming in soon to set up the equipment we will need… You might have noticed that we mentioned your time in the army before. I plan to have some fun with that."
Minutes passed before James entered our room. I couldn't look at either one of them. I was disgusted by them for hurting an innocent person such as Alice. I needed to protect her so I made sure that my body covered her from their view, so they wouldn't decide to hurt her again.
James and Laurent were still busy setting up. It was a more sophisticated machine then the one they used for Alice. Unlike her torture device, mine was modern.
I could see that there was a chair with restraints on it. It also had a sort of hat attached to the top of it. I assumed that it would be me who would sit there, with my arms and legs in the restraints, and my head in the weird hat. In front of that there was a television, or a computer screen. They fixed up the wires, and the screen illuminated.
"Come and sit down, Jasper. Get comfortable. I won't be done with you for a while," Laurent said while gesturing to the chair. I panicked a little at the thought of being at his mercy for a long period of time.
I walked across the room in three long strides, leaving Alice by herself to go sit in the chair. The metal it was made from was cold on my skin.
As soon as I was seated, Laurent came over and strapped me into the chair properly. My arms and legs were secured tightly, and a little painfully I might add. He went behind me to adjust the hat on my head. There were wires coming out of that hat. I still had no idea what he was going to do to me. I had no idea what I was being punished for.
"Okay. Remember that we are prepared to hurt you or your sister if you are uncooperative… We're about ready to start. James is going to stay and watch the fun."
He started to mess around with the monitor in front of my face. It began playing a video. He paused it quickly.
"Just so you know, if you look away from this screen, if you so much as close your eyes, I will shock you. That's what the helmet is for. So you had better keep your eyes trained on the screen because I can tell you that I will not be hesitant when it comes to dealing out the shocks. Let's begin," he said as he moved away from the screen and produced a remote control from his pocket.
"Wait, wait. How is this a punishment?" I asked, a little curious as to why they were going to make me watch television.
"Oh you'll find out soon enough," was his reply. He started up the video again.
I sat there and watched what was playing across the screen. I briefly wondered who the director of this film was and how I could track him down to tell him he sucked, but then a wave of horror washed over me. I recognized the scene that was playing out before my eyes. It wasn't the first time that I had seen it. I had been there.
I saw a younger version of myself on the screen fully clad in army apparel holding a rifle. I was crouching next to one of my good friends. We were checking around the desert area for landmines. We were in charge of finding a path that was safe for our troops to follow, so they wouldn't get blown to bits.
I heard him say, "Hey man, I'm going to check and see if it's safe up over there. You got everything covered over here?"
I replied, "Yep. I found all the mines for the next 1000 meters. You can head up there."
I stayed crouched low while he stood up and started walking the mine-less path that was 1000 meters long. He walked a little slowly at first but started to speed up when he heard shots being fired in the background.
Only seconds later I saw on the screen what I had seen happen firsthand not that long ago.
I saw my friend explode into a million pieces.
I saw my best friend's body parts strewn about the desert.
I saw my brother's blood on my hands.
I saw my horror stricken face on the screen. I knew what had happened: I had not been thorough enough while searching for the landmines. My best friend had stepped on one that I had missed.
I was directly responsible for his untimely death. It was my fault. I had not been careful enough and he had suffered the consequences.
Tears escaped my eyes. I knew now what they were trying to do to me. I finally understood the torture. They were making me relive the past that I wanted so desperately to forget.
The scene changed, but I still looked the same on the screen. I was still in my uniform, with the rifle in my hands. This time I was trying to lead a group of civilian children away from danger. We were huddled together in a small shelter, trying to stay hidden until I saw that it was okay to bring them to a safer place.
I was alone. I had to take care of more than 20 people.
Then the scene turned chaotic, like it had not long ago.
There was screaming. Agonizing screams.
There were sounds of gunshots. Deafening shots.
There were at least 5 children dead, and 10 others injured. All on my watch.
It was my fault for taking on that mission alone. It was my fault that those kids lost their lives. It was my fault that some mothers had lost their children.
I cried harder while sitting in the chair. I couldn't watch this. I couldn't handle this for a second time. It was hard enough the first time around. I closed my eyes and tried to hide from the images in front of me.
I instantly felt a jolt in my entire being. It was the electricity. And by no means was it pleasant. My eyes flew open. It hurt… but not as bad as the memories. The only thing that kept my eyes open was the thought of Rosalie, and what they might do to her.
Another awful image went on the screen. I was still there, in my uniform. I was accompanied by a woman my age. I would never forget this woman. Her name was Maria and I had been assigned to her especially. She was my charge. I had to protect her and get her to safety in the midst of the war that was raging in her hometown.
She was my responsibility. I had to protect her and guard her with my life.
Maria was a beautiful woman. She had flowing dark brown hair, high cheekbones and dark eyes. She had freckles that were sprinkled evenly on her rosy cheeks. Her olive skin was flawless. I was half in love with her at the time.
I watched the screen, not wanting to get another shock. I knew what they were going to show me. And it would be the worst of all.
I had thought we were in the clear. I had thought we were alone and safe. I let her walk a little ahead of me at the time. She was tired of always having to follow my orders, so I let her be free. I let her take the lead. It turns out that that would be a huge mistake.
I was careless. I didn't even scan the area. I was being cocky and all smug because I had thought that I got her out of danger.
Minutes later I watched the screen and saw a confused expression cross the face of the younger me. I would always remember what I was thinking at that moment. Where had Maria gone?
She was no longer in front of me, in my line of sight. She was missing. I ran a little to see if she had gotten too far ahead of me. Minutes later, I still could not find her.
I made another grave mistake. I called out her name.
I saw the desperate look on my face. I could almost make out my thoughts from that time just by reading my expressions.
Then I saw men come onto the screen. A whole group of them. I had alerted them of my presence when I called out to Maria. They came out of nowhere and they grabbed me so quickly and quietly that I had no reaction time. They covered my head with a potato sack so that I could not see where they were taking me. They took my weapons from my belt.
The screen turned to black for a few moments, allowing me to stew in my thoughts. I remember exactly what happened at this point. My memories took me under.
"What the hell is going on?" I screamed.
"We have your friend," said a deep voice.
I was in the blackness for an hour, at the least. I walked the whole time, being guided by strong arms. I could tell that we were indoors now.
They tied me to a pole. My hands were tightly secured behind my back, and around the pole. When they finally took the bag off my head, I could tell that I was underground. In the room, I could see Maria huddled in the corner. She looked so helpless and scared.
A huge man entered the room and spoke to me.
"You thought you could keep her from us... You were wrong. Now you must both face the consequences," he growled.
He started to hurt her. He hit her and he kicked her. He even went as far as spitting in her face.
Then he started to rip her clothes away from her body.
She started to scream, "No! Please don't! I'll give you anything. I'll do anything. Anything but this. Please!"
Her crying was worse then the screaming.
I watched as the strong man raped her. I couldn't tear my eyes away from what he was doing to her. I watched her kick, scream, bite and punch, but to no avail.
I couldn't do anything to help her. It was my fault that this had happened to her.
My memory was interrupted by another image on the screen. It was Maria again. A photograph this time.
It was a picture of her mangled and broken corpse. There was blood everywhere. She had dark bruises and deep gashes everywhere on her body. Her clothes were ripped. She didn't look peaceful at all, not even in death.
I knew that she had died. The men from my unit told me so after they rescued me from the strong man. They had never showed me this picture.
"Stop! I can't take this. You have to stop. It's too much," I begged. I must have been watching the images for at least an hour.
I closed my eyes again. I received yet another shock as a consequence, but I didn't care. I could handle the electricity. I couldn't handle the dead bodies. Not again.
"That's right, Jasper. Beg me to make it stop."
"Please! It's too much. It's all my fault, I know it. I can't take it anymore. I've been through it once already. Isn't that enough for you?" I begged.
"I suppose I can stop. I think you've learned your lesson."
Laurent shut off the screen and undid my restraints. Alice came over and helped me out of the chair. As soon as I stood up, I crumbled to the floor on my knees under the weight of the emotions I was feeling. Alice bent down on the floor next to me and enveloped me in her arms.
She hugged me with such strength and comfort. She whispered in my ear so quietly that I knew James and Laurent couldn't hear, "I saw the whole thing on the screen, Jasper. It wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."
I looked at her in disbelief and I nearly yelled in her face. "I killed those people, Alice. They are dead because of me. I'm a murderer… I'm a monster."
James and Laurent both looked at me at that moment. I locked eyes with the dark skinned man and he grinned at me, clearly pleased with his work. They left with the equipment in their hands.
"Look at me Jasper," she said. I lifted my eyes to meet hers. "You are not responsible for the death of those people. It is in no way your fault. Do you understand me?"
"Sure," I replied, but I knew full well that I was to blame.
I loved her for trying, though.
