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"You see, I have something you want. And you have something I want."

"Anything," Jasper swore. "I don't care. Anything, as long as she's safe… and mine again." He doesn't say this in a possessive or territorial way… just protective.

Mine and safe from harm. That's all I want… Alice… I read clearly in his thoughts.

Aro's mind is a hazy one, but I am able to decipher it. "Well, you see…" I want one thing. You want one thing. How hard can this be. Spit it out, Aro. "I am… inclined to have you in my guard. Most inclined… however, the others in the Volturi are, shall we say, not. They would rather… em…" Jane and Alec were never very close to us… but vengeance calls, and so does war. "Seek retribution for the deaths of two of our own…"

"Jane and Alec," I whisper. "They want to kill Alice because I killed Jane and Alec."

I am horrified at the very thought, that my own desire to protect Edward, to prove myself to the family, resulted in not just two killings but the potential death of my own dear sister.

At the words 'kill Alice,' Jasper winces and covers his face with his hands, shaking his head quite vigorously. "No…"

"You're quite right. That's exactly what they intend. However, Mr. Hale, I can assure you your wife is quite unharmed, if a bit… shaken. Understandably, the situation she's in… she's being kept just above the main room, the turret… and Caius hasn't seen fit to provide the manner of food you prefer."

"They're starving her…" An improbable image, left over from human days, passes through Jasper's mind. Alice, even frailer than she is now, literally wasting into nothing…

"They wish to… break her spirit. Our usual method of… of…"

Torture, his mind supplies. Edward's eyes meet mine. I am certain Jasper could infer it, but we both feel it's best to leave that word on the far side of a divide.

"Jane is… unavailable. Thus, my brothers have decided that deprivation will weaken her enough to make her feed… like us."

"Never. She never will!"

Aro turns to Jasper. "Fascinating! You truly believe your mate will withstand starvation to save one puny human life."

"Yes, and so much more. My Alice is brave!"

"As I am not?"

Jasper turns away, unwilling to answer. Aro chuckles.

"Ah, you are a complex and intriguing member of our kind, Jasper Hale. So… where was I? A bargain… a bargain…"

He appears to be searching for the words, but I read his mind. Tactical strategies aren't very effective when your opponent is a psychic. His brain is positively whirring with thoughts, but I can't detect his intent. Finally, he smiles at us. "I am going to make you an offer, Bella, Edward, Jasper. An offer I truly don't believe you can refuse."

"Anything," Jasper reiterates. "Anything. Just say the words."

"Very well. I want Jasper and Bella to join the guard… for fifty years. At the end of that time all three of you- Alice, Jasper, and Bella- may go home to your family. If you refuse, the three of you may go, but Alice… I'm afraid she will never return."

Jasper says instantly, "Of course. I'm here."

"Not me?" is Edward's response. Vain much? Really.

"Well," Aro begins, "I'm afraid we don't need you. Bella has your ability. And she can project thoughts as well… she's simply more powerful."

I like that idea. I've never been more than Edward in any subject. Really, it's a marvel to think of it that I've exceeded him in any way.

"Will you stay?" Edward asks.

"Of course," Jasper reiterates. "I'd stay fifty thousand years if that's what it took."

Aro laughs. "Perhaps I should set the bar higher! But, Jasper, I'm afraid only one of you won't do. It's all or nothing."

I look away, look down, look anywhere but at the four burning topaz eyes. "Will Edward be able to stay?" I ask.

"No. Well, I suppose I can't prevent him from staying near the city, but since he won't be accepted in the guard, he'd have to stay outside our walls- only Volturi live in Volterra."

"I would have to go fifty years without him?" I ask. My heart sinks. It is an impossible thing to ask. Far, far too long- it would kill me. I can't wait that time. It is agony even to consider. I won't make it.

"Yes. That's the deal. You live without him, or you never see your sister again."

She isn't really my sister, I want to protest. A minute ago I had considered our tie dearer than any in birth and blood- but for Edward, it was nothing. I couldn't be without him. I couldn't.

Jasper turns to me, sensing the conflict and regret I felt. "Bella, I can't… Please."

"What?" I say, though I know it already. I just don't want to hear it, want to forestall the entreaty I know is coming because I don't want to face what absolutely has to happen.

"Bella, don't do this to me. Fifty years, it seems a long time, but you have all eternity. Please, please, please don't do this. If I can't get these fifty tiny years from you I have to spend forever without her and I won't survive it. She's your friend, Bella. Please."

"All right," I begin, because I know it's right even if I don't like it. I suppose I simply have to do what I have to do, whether or not it's what I want. I have to. It would be the height of cruelty to abandon Alice for Edward, when she will die and the only penalty I would suffer is my heart turning to lead and splintering into agonizing pieces… and lingering there as I wondered hopelessly whether or not I had somehow managed to retain his love.

Edward turns to me. "Bella, please don't. Don't do this to me! I can't live without you. I know I left you… but don't leave me. I need you, love. I need you. I can't… Bella, don't do this to me. Stay with me. Don't you love me?"

More than everything else in the world.

But Jasper leans in closer. "Don't. Don't. Do you forget how Alice has always been there for you? Would you let your own sister… and your brother… die, so you could be with him? Are you that selfish? I never would have thought it of you."

I see the manipulation in the statement. Nonetheless, it's true, it's deserved. I have a hideous decision to make.

Aro laughs again. "Fascinating! So, Bella, what will you choose?"

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