Disclaimer: Stiiiiiiiil not Stephanie Meyer.
Wow guys! Thank you for reviewing! Note to self: when I want more reviews I need to kill off a main character. lol just kidding.
Edward POV:
I stared at the peaceful waters of the small lake while waiting for Carlisle and Esme to catch up with me. After hunting they had wanted a little - ahem - quiet time together, so I'd gotten as far away as possible.
I spun around as I heard a rustling sound on my left, instantly on alert. I had not forgotten what had happened to Alice the last time she had hunted.
Snarling, I crouched into a defensive position, tracking the movement in the bushes with my eyes.
A bunny hopped innocently out of the brush.
I relaxed, feeling silly at my foolishness. It was only a bunny. I was too paranoid. I glanced around, glad that nobody was around to see that.
Dude, you are way too tense.
"AAAAAHHHH!" I yelled, spinning around frantically at the unexpected thought. Glaring at the smug teenager leaning casually on a tree, I wondered how on earth he had managed to sneak up on me.
"Don't do that!"
You're way too easy to sneak up on. I probably could have killed you about six times before I finally made it obvious that I was here.
I rolled my eyes. "Good thing it only takes once to do the job."
You'd be suprised.
"What?" I was confused. Once someone was dead, they were dead, right?
Never mind. The point is, your lack of attention is a very dangerous thing to have when you have enemies.
"I don't have enemies."
You've met us. We are on friendly terms. About half the world would love to kill you just for that.
He must be joking. "Whatever."
He smiled angelically back at me. "Suit yourself. Can't say I didn't warn you."
Oh, and Carlisle and Esme are right behind you.
"Warn you about what?"
"GAAAAHHH!"
Esme blinked at me, confused at my reaction to her simple question.
"Nothing Mom," I replied, shooting yet another glare at Kristoff.
"Edward Masen Cullen, don't glare at your brother like that!" she gave me a look.
Honestly, Edward. We want him to feel welcome here, remember?
"It's fine, Esme," Kristoff spoke up. "I deserved it."
We all blinked at him in suprise. Well, at least the punk took responsibility for it when he was at fault, I'd give him that much.
Esme recovered first. "Well. Aren't you going to apologize?"
"For what?" questioned Kristoff.
"For...whatever you did to deserve it."
He thought about it for a second.
"No, probably not." He smiled charmingly at my adopted mother. "Shall we go home?" he asked innocently.
Carlisle and Esme exchanged a loaded glance before realizing that that was the best they were going to get; Kristoff was already halfway across the clearing, heading towards the house.
We hurried after him.
"So..." Carlisle started awkwardly when we had caught up and nothing else had been said. "Why are you out here?"
"I needed to hunt and I was sick of watching Powerpuff Girls," he replied easily, climbing easily on top of a log that crossed the river. After jumping on it a few times to make sure it was sturdy, he held out a hand to help Esme up before continuing on to the other side.
"The Whoosie-Ma-Whatchits?" asked Carlisle, confusion echoing throughout his thoughts.
"The Powerpuff Girls. It's a tv show that the girls like."
"Ah."
There was another long, awkward silence.
I stopped, suprised, as I realized something. "Wait a minute! How'd you know?!"
"Know what?"
"About my gift?" I demanded. I was certain I hadn't told him of my mind reading abilities; I'd been trying to keep it from all of them.
What, that you can read minds? He smirked at me again. "You're not exactly subtle, dude."
I opened my mouth to reply, but suddenly found myself overwhelmed with mental images.
Maria.
Ripping.
Jasper, kneeling on the ground.
Agony.
Fear of the newborns.
What the heck was going on with my family?!
EDWARD! Listen up dude, I need you to pay attention! Edward if you can hear me, I need you to say 'I like pumpkins' out loud. Right! Now!
Um... "I like pumpkins?"
I searched for the unfamiliar voice, ignoring my adoptive parents' confused thoughts.
Thank goodness. Pay attention, this is really important! Run home while you watch. "We need to go," I said absently, breaking into a dead sprint toward home. To my suprise, Kristoff kept up with me easily. I watched, cringing, as the person - who I had finally identified as Violet - showed me all that we had missed on our hunting trip.
"No!" I exclaimed, faltering as I watched my brother's death.
KEEP RUNNING! You and Kristoff need to get there as SOON AS POSSIBLE. Like, you should have been there five minutes ago. MOVE IT!
I doubled my pace, explaining frantically to Kristoff what was going on. I don't think I was very clear; his thoughts were confused as we leapt over the river and burst into our house.
They immediately turned to understanding as he took in the scene before him.
"How long?" he asked, sprinting to the kitchen. He was back with a strainer as Violet replied.
Five minutes, forty-three seconds.
"Five minutes, forty-three seconds," I dutifully repeated. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew better than to interfere.
"Cutting it kinda close, don't you think?" he muttered sarcastically.
Well, excuse me for not being able to contact you while I'm in a car with a hostile vampire intent on his demise. If she knew I was doing everything in my power to make sure that he doesn't die, then she'd come back there and make sure he was dead.
I relayed her message. Kristoff rolled his eyes, pulling two sealed glass beakers filled to the brim with a thick, red liquid from inside of his coat.
"I assume there's a chunk that wasn't burned." Tact was definitely not his strong point.
His ear. Alice has it. Oh, eventually, you'll need to fix Alice's arm.
Kristoff nodded absently as I told him this.
"Grab it. Hurry," he ordered.
I did as I was told, gently extracting it from Alice's hand and tossing it to him.
Edward, don't let Alice do anything stupid! Violet ordered. I'm about to go out of your range. When you can't hear me anymore, tell Kristoff. I'll be back in two weeks. If I can come back, anyway. Be safe. Don't be stupid...
Her internal voice faded out. "I can't hear her anymore," I told Kristoff.
"That's fine, I've got this done."
I looked over to see that he'd run the red liquid - which I could now smell was blood - through the strainer, saturating the entire pile of ashes with it. It was also smeared thickly over the ear.
"What did you do?" Alice asked shakily.
"Gave him a chance to live," he replied.
"So...he might...be okay?" she questioned tremulously. I couldn't blame her; the hope that Jasper might possibly still be alive was the only thing keeping her from going insane at the moment.
"Maybe."
"Why?"
"He's not all dead. He's only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead."
"What's the difference?" I asked curiously.
"Mostly dead means that he's slightly alive. When he's all dead, there's usually only one thing you can do."
"What?"
"Go through his pockets and look for loose change."
I blinked at him.
"What?" Now I was even more confused.
"Never mind. I'll try and make it simple. Vampires are very, very hard to kill. If even one part is left unburned and the ashes aren't spread out, then it's possible to revive said vampire if you reach him in time."
"How much time?" Alice asked fearfully.
"Seven minutes. I reached him before six minutes were up. It's cutting it close, but if he has reason enough to live and we're very careful and persistant, then he'll pull through."
"How do you do it?" I wondered. "What revives him?"
"Lots and lots of blood," he replied, throwing me five glass beakers.
"Get hunting, Orion. He needs more deer blood, this'll only last him for about..." He squinted at his watch. "...eight minutes and thirty-two seconds longer. Take someone with you and send them back with the flasks as you fill them."
I didn't question him, instead running out into the woods, grabbing Carlisle on the way.
Jasper POV:
Pain.
Lots of pain.
Agonizing, excrutiating, racking, torturous, fierce, violently extreme pain.
It was all I could comprehend for a timeless moment.
Then, the pain doubled. And I could think again.
What was going on? Where was I? Where was Alice?
I searched my memory for the last thing I could remember.
A blowtorch.
A violently beautiful face twisted into a malicious smile that I shuddered away from.
Words. Desperate words. I had needed to communicate something with someone.
What? Who?
I love you.
I remembered hearing the words falling desperately from my lips.
Alice.
Finally, my mind granted me with a beautiful picture of my angel; a memory. I studied it closely.
She stared at me worriedly from the grip of two newborns, one arm torn completely from her body.
What was wrong?
Why was she hurt?
Slowly, ever so slowly, the pieces began to come together and I remembered more and more of the hours before my...well, I'd thought it was my death...became clear.
Where was Alice? Was she alright? Had she escaped Maria's wrath?
As my mind began to clear, I began to hear voices around me.
"No! I'm not leaving him! You can't make me!"
"Alice..."
"NO!"
"Kristoff needs to check on him."
"I. DON'T. CARE! I'm NOT leaving his side!
"Let her stay."
The voices faded out as blackness blotted out all of my senses and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Well, it was better than the pain, I supposed.
A while later the blackness began to fade in increments and I slowly became aware of sounds again. I still couldn't see. I also noticed that I could feel nothing, only numb.
"I don't get it. Why did pouring blood over him save him?"
"Vampires have the same circulatory system as humans do - obviously, you all used to be human - and blood still flows through your body. Your body uses the blood to heal itself. It's like a natural cure to almost anything that could potentially harm you. That's why vampires don't get sick or injured very easily and why you heal so fast if you do."
"But wouldn't I have noticed if I still had blood flowing through me?"
"The blood is mixed in with the venom. The venom coats and transforms it, causing it to move through your body at a much slower pace than the average human's would. It almost looks like it's not moving. That's why you need to hunt every two weeks or so to get more blood; because the blood your body produces is not getting to all the parts of your body quick enough to maintain your health for long periods of time."
"So...by pouring blood onto his ashes..."
"...I just gave him a huge energy boost so that his cells would have enough strength to piece themselves back together. The ashes absorbed the blood since he wasn't completely dead yet; you still had his ear."
The blackness descended back over my senses, blotting out whatever he was going to say next.
I awoke to hysterical sobbing.
"Alice, calm down. He's going to be alright. He's going to be okay."
"But what if he isn't!? He's been lying there for six days straight!"
"Alice, calm down. His body needs time to recover."
"But...!"
"Calm!"
My Alice needed to be calm. I could help with that. Anything for her.
I worked to send out a wave of calm. I felt my strength dwindle as the emotion left me.
"Did you feel that?"
"Crap! His energy reserves have been depleted! Quick, I need more blood."
"You're going to be okay." Her incredulous whisper was the last thing I heard before I drifted off again.
It was black for a long time this time.
Too long.
It was starting to irritate me.
I wanted to hear my Alice's voice again.
Scratch that.
I wanted to actually see my Alice again, to make absolutely sure that she was alright.
I pushed back against the blackness, fighting it with all my strength. I slowly became more and more aware of my surroundings. Soft, even breathing was coming from my left. I could feel a warm pressure on my side. A dim light was in front of me.
Why was it dim?
Oh. Right. My eyes were closed.
I worked to open them and eventually succeeded.
I was laying on the bed in Alice and I's room. The shades were pulled over the window, the lights were off, and the door was closed. Soft music was playing in the backgroung; I recognized my favorite piece by Tchaikovsky.
I glanced down to see my wife snuggled into my side, her eyes closed, her emotions fighting for calm.
"Alice?"
Immedietly, her head snapped up and her eyes met mine.
"Jasper?" she asked tentitively.
I tried to nod, but found that my head was much to heavy to lift. I settled for staring back at her, rememorizing her gorgeous face.
"Alice," I replied.
A half laugh, half sob came out of her throat.
"Oh, Jasper. You're okay!"
A/N: Aw, come on guys. I couldn't really kill Jasper. He's the best character! I did find reading your reactions to be very entertaining, though. Your indignation on Alice's behalf was very sweet.
Thank you to all who reviewed/favorited/followed this story after the last chapter!
If you're bored waiting for my next update, you can always go check out my other stories! *winkwinknudgenudgeshovesyouindirectionofmyprofile page* And while you're there, you might as well review them ;)
As always, a sneak peek of the next chapter the day before I update to all who review!
P.S. By the way, did anyone spot the Princess Bride quote? Teehee, I couldn't resist, it's like the best movie ever. ;)