AN: so sorry that i havent updated in over two weeks! everything was hectic with the end of the school year and then my computer got like nine viruses and freaked out. so sorry. but, i hope you like the chapter. there are only two more after this. this chapter contains two moves, eight and nine, so there are only two moves left (if you don't know what i'm talking about, find a copy of Through the Looking-Glass). enjoy!!
What Alice Found There
""But how can it have got there without my knowing it?" she said to herself, as she lifted it off, and set it on her lap to make out what it could possibly be.
It was a golden crown."
-Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there
Chapter Eight: What It Means to Love
The concept of eternal life and damnation had become much brighter since I met Jasper. I could tell he felt the same, glad to have a companion in the everlasting curse of darkness.
With each passing day, I saw the feeling in Jasper's eyes grow less cautious and more hopeful. And soon, another emotion was accompanying the hope. It was one I did not recognize, one I had never seen in someone's eyes before. One I was sure was reflected in my own eyes, but I didn't know, for there were not many mirrors in the middle of nowhere.
The feeling was love.
Yes, love. I had found someone to love, someone who shared my feelings. Someone who I could spend the rest of forever with.
I never brought my contemplations of our feelings up to him. I only laughed with him, grieved with him, and communed with him as I had never done with anyone else before. Soon enough, we knew each other so well that we were finishing each other's sentences, reading each other's emotions, and guessing each other's thoughts.
One day, at sunrise, I noticed a difference in his...aura. Every last bit of caution, fear, and distrust had left his atmosphere, leaving behind a happy man. It was this same day that I remember so very clearly and vividly, as it is burned into my mind with the strongest of fires, the most passionate of them.
It was sunset, all the colors of the sky merging together to hide their dear friend, the sun. We were laying down resting next to each other, though we could not sleep, watching the sun sink lower and lower.
Jasper had been smiling all day, his pure white teeth glinting, almost like the fading light dancing off his skin. I had not been able to determine the reason for his gleefulness when he voiced it himself.
"Alice..." he hesitated, "...I have the feeling that you've realized that I've never felt as...happy as I have in the time I've spent with you. More so. I don't know what it is I'm feeling anymore, nor what you are feeling. It confuses me... I was actually hoping you could enlighten me a bit." He chuckled lightly.
I didn't reply immediately, mulling his words over in my head.
"I'm not so sure either, Jasper. But I know that I have never enjoyed the companionship of another as much as yours. And I never want to leave your side." I spoke with the confidence of my entire being, not a single seed of doubt planted in my soul. It was truly what I felt.
"I...I feel that way, too, Alice. I just don't know what it is," he whispered.
"I remember hearing about a feeling like this, one that had the rarity of pure gold, one that was shared by many. Love, Jasper. I think that's what we have."
Jasper was silent for a moment, registering my words.
Then I sensed him move and I felt something press against my cheek with the gentlest pressure. His lips.
"I love you, Alice."
That moment was the happiest of my existence by far. I felt my happiness soar, shooting through the sky like a comet. My being felt as though it was bursting at the seams in pure joy.
"I love you, too, Jasper. So much."
That was the best night of my life.
--
Jasper and I were soon quite inseparable. We had journeyed together for quite some time. I had told what I had seen, so long ago, of the others, and their peculiar diet. He tried very hard to live like that, just as I did.
One major difference in our relationship was...our relationship. Jasper and I had been wed, and bound to each other in every way possible. It was quite wonderful, the euphoria of it all.
Upon our marriage, I received a gift, a symbol of Jasper's perpetual, undying love for me. The golden band still remained on my finger, almost as if it was locked into place.
It was quite some time before I saw anything else pertaining to the beings with the golden eyes. But they did not stay away forever.
Jasper and I had been talking, nothing more, when I could sense that I was no longer with him. I automatically panicked, hysteria overwhelming me. But the chaos slowly faded as my vision was purified, sluggishly focusing into perspective.
I memorized every detail of the setting in this vision: the gloomy horizon, the powdery white on every flat surface, the grand house. And of course, the five.
They were speaking quietly amongst themselves, below whispering. I had trouble catching the words they exchanged.
"We can't stay here forever..."
"Where should we go next, then...?"
"I think we should just stay put with Tanya for a while..."
"I agree. Denali has fine weather for us..."
Denali. Where was that?
The vision faded away into the depths of the mist.
"Jasper, we have to go to a place called Denali. Soon."
AN: so, Cullens next chapter!! REVIEW!!
