Chapter 28
Training
Bella POV
Alice came running down the stairs, a slight wince on her face from her injured leg. "Alice, you should be resting." She shook her head, "You have to get used to the pain. Which reminds me, we have to train you." I smiled, knowing it would be somewhat difficult. Someone came up behind me and put a knife to my throat. I reacted quickly and pushed my back into his chest. He took a step back to balance himself and I slid down his body quickly enough to catch him by surprise when I rolled on the floor and kicked my foot out. I caught him in the leg and he fell back. I rolled away and stood across from him and instantly felt guilty. I straightened, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Don't sneak up on me." I held my hand out and Emmett looked livid. "I let you do that." I hid my smile and nodded, "Of course you did." Alice laughed her tinkling laugh and clapped, "Well done. This training shouldn't be too overwhelming then." I turned and Edward was leaning against the doorway watching me with an unreadable expression on his face.
He shook his head and walked away. I went to follow him, but Alice grabbed my arm and said, "Come on, get dressed and meet me outside." I nodded and went upstairs to change. I put the outfit on that Alice had left for me. It was a simple work out outfit that showed too much skin in my opinion. There were black running shorts that looked more like underwear and a sports bra that had black and gray swirls. I put it on and put my hair in a messy high pony tail. I looked out the window and Alice motioned for me to come, so I lifted the window and jumped through it. I was on the third floor and there was a clear jump. I positioned myself to land in a crouch and I landed easily as well as gracefully, silently thanking God that I was no longer a klutz. I straightened up and Jasper smiled at me, "Bella." I nodded back, "Jasper."
He cleared his throat, "I am in charge of recruits, so I am a very skilled trainer. For the next month, I will show you how to take weapons away, how to use simple things as a weapon, how to escape, how to run away, how to kill." I smiled and said, "I have some experience. Not a lot, but enough for you to consider me basic." He clasped his hands, "Perfect. Now, you have 5 minutes to give me a perimeter run around the house." I got in a running position and he blew the whistle, which I used as a signal to start my timer. I took off running and felt the calmness take over my body as my lungs took in short and quick breaths. I decided I would have to sprint because it was about a mile and I had no problem with that. I know how to channel my energy and adrenaline to make me run for a while without burning myself out. I glanced around and my eyes fell on Renesmee, who was staring out at the window, a few tears in her eyes. She looked miserable and that made me angry. I remembered why I was doing this and pushed myself, wanting to reach my limit. I felt my legs go a little numb and my thighs felt a little warm as if a low flame was slowly growing in my legs.
About 2 minutes later, I was halfway around the perimeter and I felt my legs go completely numb, but I didn't care, I kept pushing myself. I somehow found the energy to go even faster and my breaths came in gasps that made me calmer. My timer buzzed, letting me now I had 15 seconds to make it to Jasper, who was about a good 30 feet away from me. I felt the burning in my muscles return and I pushed myself faster even though I couldn't feel my legs. I reached him just as his timer went off and he smiled approvingly at me. He patted my head, "Good job, now follow me. It's time for some upper strength tests." He led me further into the woods and pointed to a branch about 7 feet taller than me. "Get to that branch. I don't care how you do it, just get up there. You have 3 minutes. Go." I looked around myself and decided I'd climb to it. I went up to a tree and quickly climbed it. I got halfway before I got stuck and had to change my plans. "2 minutes." I turned around so I was holding the tree behind me and stared at the branch.
Pretend Renesmee's up there and she needs you. If you don't get up there in 2 minutes, she dies. The left tree could be used as leverage, but you have to act quickly. "1 minute." I didn't really think about what I was doing when I jumped at the tree. I kicked off it and twisted my body, so I could reach it. I gripped it with one hand and then the other. I hung limply there, not sure how to pull myself up. I struggled and panicked when Jasper said, "30 seconds." I pulled and tried to swing, but I lost my grip and fell down. Luckily, I twisted myself, so I'd land awkwardly on my feet. I touched the ground and then threw myself to the side, rolling away. I failed. I sat up looked at Jasper with my head hung low. "You were doing well, except for getting yourself up there." I nodded and he helped me up. "That's alright. That's why we're training you. What are your strengths in?"
My mood lightened a bit because I was strong at really important things, "I can out run a lot of people, I can get rid of followers, I can take weapons, I can use weapons, I can break into places, and I work best under pressure." He crossed his arms over his chest, "I see. You're the best at running aren't you?" I nodded and he said, "We'll help you improve on that and everything else. You were right, you do know the basics, but do you know how to analyze your surroundings?" I thought about what he had said and bit my lip. "I'm not the best at that, but I can do it enough when I need to." He turned away and walked to the house, while I followed. He went into the living room, where 20 people from our gang were looking at blueprints and discussing exit strategies. They stopped talking and greeted me kindly, making me feel welcome. Jasper took Renesmee in his arms and lifted her up and down. "45 pounds more or less. I'll round to 50." He left the room and I stood there, feeling self conscience as everyone was watching me. Jasper came back and held out a backpack out to me. I put it on and buckled it up. "In case you have to run with her." I nodded and he ordered me to stretch out because today would be our running day.
I stretched out for 20 minutes until Jasper motioned me to follow him outside. I blew Renesmee a kiss and gave a little wave before I followed instructions. "We are going for a run around Forks." I tensed and he looked at me curiously. "I haven't spoken to Charles since Edward went to jail." "Your dad? Well, I'm sure you have no difficulty running from a cop." I sighed and started jogging, instantly feeling the weight slow me down a bit. I ran for a good 4 miles until my legs couldn't go anymore. I stopped and took in big gulps of air to help me calm down. Jasper stopped beside me and looked up for some reason. I felt my adrenaline spike when I saw Jacob Black looking at me intently. We were at a park and there was some type of festival going on. He was talking to someone and started walking toward me, which made several people turn to look at me as well.
I felt a breeze before I realized I was running as fast as I could back the way I came. I heard a car start and follow me, so I picked up my speed, pushing through crowds of people, hoping I could lose him. I heard the car brake and someone get out. I made a sharp right and went through all the crowds, forcing him to turn around. I had no where left to go, so I looked up at a tree. I ran and kicked off it, throwing myself at the branch that was a lot taller than me. I saw a dart hit the tree next to me and I swung myself up, balancing on the branch. I ran and jumped, pulling myself up a nearby roof. More tranquilizer darts flew at me and I dodged each one, increasing my speed, forgetting about the 50 pound pack that was secured on my back.
I ran and thought about the window of the Cullen house. I jumped out and now I had no other choice but to jump off the roof. I ran faster and pushed off the edge. I landed on my feet and fell forward, but I quickly got up and pushed myself through all the people again. Someone grabbed me and I threw my elbow out, catching him in the chest. Then I twisted his arm and flipped him over me, so he landed on his back. I lifted him up and twirled around him so the next dart hit him in the arm. I dropped him and ran through the woods. I lost Jasper, but knew he could handle himself. I felt a buzzing behind my ear, so I pushed the button, allowing the headset to come out. I kept running and silently thanked Alice for giving me the headset. Jasper spoke into my ear, "Why did you run? I could have helped." I panted and ran faster, hearing him behind me, "I don't know. It just happened. My first instinct was to run, so that's what I did." I didn't have to turn around to know Jacob was right behind me.
I side stepped and stopped running abruptly, catching him by surprise. I reached for the knife that I had hidden in my shorts, but decided to come off defenseless. He raised the dart gun and aimed at me. I saw his finger put pressure on the trigger before he pulled it, releasing the dart in my direction.
James POV
"Now, all you recruits pay attention because I will not repeat myself. We need to improve your speed, endurance and strength." They nodded and I called up Ted for a demonstration. "Come at me." He ran to me and I dodged his hits, while getting in a few of my own. I hit him in the jaw and let my anger take over. He tried to cut me, but I socked him in the eye, twisted his arm, and socked him in the face again. I pulled out my gun and put it under his chin, daring him to do something. I pushed it further into his skin and imagined it was Edward. "Give me one reason not to kill you now." I growled at him and he gripped the gun, trying to move it. I pulled the trigger, but I was tackled from the side and the gun moved. It got him in the arm and I dropped the gun. I got up and kicked Jacob in the stomach. He grunted and said, "We need to talk." I took in deep breaths and nodded, physically relaxing my tense muscles.
I helped him up, clapped his back and ordered Ted to continue the training. I led Jacob to my room and sat down, waiting for him to tell me why he had a black eye and why he was limping. "I ran into Isabella at the park. She was training with the blond haired one." I nodded, not really caring what his name was, "She any good?" He let out a shaky breath, "Yeah. Better than I thought. She saw me and booked it out of there. I tried to go after her, hoping the weight she was carrying would slow her down." He shook his head and his hand lashed out, to make a huge hole in the wall. He pulled out his now bloody knuckles and cursed.
"I had a dart gun and shot at her, hoping I could take her, so we'd have an advantage over Cullen. She ditched me." She jumped off a roof and was able to get Fred hit with a dart. I ran after her and she stopped. She just stared at me and I shot at her, thinking she was scared. She did a back flip and threw a dagger at me. A DAGGER! Where was she even keeping it!" He lifted his leg and showed me the blood and deep slice she had left him with. I let out a loud laugh and he hit me in the throat, making me choke. I cleared it and said, "At least I didn't get beat up by a girl." I laughed again and he huffed, clearly mad that she had wounded his ego. I stopped and said, "What do you want me to do about it?" He smiled evilly at me, "We need to snatch her during the war. And we need to make sure no one knows. Edward can't get to her and neither can that snitch, Seth." I gritted my teeth, remembering Seth.
"Anyone else we need to worry about?" He shook his head, "Naw, no one else will notice if she is in danger as long as their other half is there." I sat with my hands on my knees, thinking about what we could do. "Seth will most likely be the one called on to protect the kid. And we can keep Edward busy for a few minutes, so we can get to Bella." "Yeah, that sounds good." Jacob rubbed his calf and I let out a low chuckle again, ignoring the glare he shot at me. "Honestly man, who can't take a weak little girl like Bella?" He mumbled, "She isn't as weak as I remember her." I chuckled again, not believing his whining. "Stop whining, you big baby." He grumbled under his breath and I rolled my eyes, smiling to myself. Ahhh, Isabella, you have no idea what I have in mind for you.
Jasper POV
I ran back to the house and opened the door quickly. I looked around the room. "Where's Bella?" Edward jumped up, "What do you mean? She's with you." My fists clenched and I panicked, thinking of all the different scenarios that she could have been placed in. "She ran when she saw Black and his friends tried to go after her, but I held them off. Only thing is, she was gone when I turned around." "JASPER! I left her with you! How could you let her go alone? Didn't you check for any threats?" His voice was getting louder and I could tell he tried to cover the panic with anger and irritation. I knew I looked panicked, but I kept my voice calm, "I didn't know she'd run. And I did check. They weren't supposed to be there." "But they were." The door opened and shut. We all looked and found Bella sitting with her back to the door, panting heavily and a bloody dagger in her right hand. "Bella!" I was at her side in a second and knelt in front of her. I took the dagger from her hand and apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry, Bella. Are you okay? Did he hurt you? I'll kill him." I felt my protectiveness of her heighten and I wanted to go out and rip Black's head off. I wanted to rip him limb from limb, listen to him scream for me to stop. I wanted to slice his neck open and feel the warm blood trickle down my arm for scaring my 'little sister'.
She panted and stared at me. "Can I take off this pack now?" I backed up a bit to take in her appearance and smiled when I saw she still had the pack on. "You fought with it on?" She nodded and I pulled her into a hug, "You do work well under pressure. I even saw you pull yourself up the building and the tree." She nodded and I helped her up. She took off the pack and Edward swept her up in his arms. She was still panting and I could see some sweat on her neck, but he didn't seem to care. He seemed more relieved than I was, if that was even possible.
I trained Bella for the next month. She improved and learned quickly. She was able to do everything I had told her I'd teach her. The recruits were trained as well, but my main focus was on Bella. I would rather one of the recruits die than Bella. I've come to love her like a little sister, just as Emmett had. That's why I let her give me a huge hug and a kiss in front of Edward when she was able to tackle Emmett on the final day of training. Trust me, I didn't mean to let her kiss me and it was still the scariest moment I had ever experienced. It was scary, not because I thought Edward was going to kill me, or Emmett, but because I thought I'd lose Alice.
Final Training Day
"Ready, Bella?" She was sweating and getting extremely frustrated that Emmett kept 'killing' her. She growled and glared at him, a determined expression taking over her features. I smiled as I realized all of the gangs were outside watching this. We had called in for back up. We had 200 + people trained when Renesmee had told us that James doesn't like to play fair. Everyone was spread out with popcorn, watching the match, clearly amused. "Ready, set GO!" Bella sprinted at the same time Emmett did and he spread his arms, ready to take her in a bear hug like the last time. She spun around and slid underneath the gap that was in between his spread legs. She pushed her foot out and kicked him in the butt, making everyone laugh. He fell forward and rolled, landing on his back. She got up and crouched, before pouncing.
She looked scary, which reminded me of Alice. I chuckled at the thought of my beautiful little pixie that held my heart in her tiny manicured hands. I looked down at her and couldn't help my smile at how the sun danced across her hair and the way her cute little mouth pulled into the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. Her ice blue eyes had a little twinkle in each one whenever she was happy and I loved to watch her when she was looking at Bella. You could tell they were closer than sisters could ever be. She was jumping up and down and cheering for Bella and she was so into it, she didn't notice I was staring at her. I leaned down and kissed her cheek, loving the warmth and smoothness I felt there. Her pulse picked up and I could see a faint tinge of pink spread across her face. I was the only one who knew she blushed. I was the only one that could make her blush and that little fact alone made me feel like our bond was stronger than her bond with anyone else.
My attention turned back to the fight and I laughed when Bella distracted Emmett by pulling herself up a tree. He looked around for her and got a little frustrated because he didn't know where she was. I saw Bella poke her head out and smile mischievously at the back of Emmett's head. We all stared at Emmett, holding back our laughter. She jumped out of the tree and landed on his back. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her hands over his eyes. He freaked out and started walking forward, waving his hands in front of him, "Killer monkey!" He has a huge fear of killer monkeys and Bella used that to her advantage, which made me proud. Emmet tripped and fell forward, so Bella got off him and rolled away. He sat up and she jumped at him, making him fall down and then she put her foot to his neck, standing over him. I counted the seconds that he struggled and when I got to 10, she released him.
She squealed at the same time Alice did and they jumped around enthusiastically, which made me smile, mesmerized by Alice's hair lightly bouncing up and down and her wide smile, that familiar twinkle in her eyes. Time slowed down for me and Alice clouded my thoughts. I could feel the expression I had, but I couldn't care less at the moment. Alice let go and I stared at her, even when I felt a small body jump at me and wrap her legs around me. "Jazz! Jazz! Did you see me? Did you see me? I did it! I did it!" I laughed and tore my eyes away from Alice to tell Bella how proud I was of her and she leaned in right when I turned my head. Her lips kissed mine, and I froze, dropping my arms from her. She pulled away, shocked, and dropped her hold on me. She blushed and so did I, both of our eyes wide. I looked to Alice, who had a hurt expression on her face and I felt my heart break.
I saw her eyes water, so I took a step forward and she pushed past me and ran at Bella, who blurted out, "I can't believe I just did that. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. He moved his head so I missed his cheek and-." Alice slapped her and Bella looked torn. I walked towards Bella to help her up, but I was tackled by Edward. He pinned me down and he looked like he wanted to kill me, so I let my fighting instincts take over. I pushed him off and ran to Alice, who was repeatedly hitting Bella in the face. I sighed in relief when Bella got on top of Alice and desperately pleaded, "Don't make me, Alice." Alice went still and Bella looked up, her eyes watering. "Edward, stop. Please." Edward stared at me with hatred and I could sense he felt betrayed. I put my hands up and said, "I swear I didn't kiss her back. You saw me, I let go." Bella got up, pulling Alice with her and apologized, saying, "I went to kiss his cheek because he didn't give up on me. I didn't think he'd look away from Alice; He was staring at her with so much emotion. I thought he'd keep staring at her, but he looked at me and I was already leaning. I kissed him, but I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry." Her voice was thick and somewhat watery, with a hint of extreme anger. I knew she hated to cry in front of people. She hated it and wouldn't ever willingly show weakness unless she couldn't help it.
Edward looked at me, "Is that what happened?" "I guess. I was looking at Alice and I felt Bella hugging me and I didn't want to be rude, so I went to look at her. I'm sorry, man. You know I'd never want her like that. She's like my little sister and I wouldn't kiss her. She loves you, not me. You know you are all she ever talks about when we train? Did you know that? Did you know she asks me how you look at her? Or if you ever talk about her? I swear to you, I would never risk our relationship like that. I wouldn't even risk losing Alice like that." He seemed calmer now and nodded, walking to Bella. She looked like she wanted to cry, but she kept everything in. She had told me she doesn't like to look weak and she doesn't like to see Edward hurt because of how sad she looks, so she keeps it all in.
She mumbled more apologies and Edward pulled her to him and desperately crashed his lips to hers, not caring that there were tons of people watching. Alice looked at me and she pulled my hand, and I let her. We got upstairs and she told me to take off my shirt, which I did because I couldn't refuse her for anything in the world. She told me to go to the mirror and I did. She told me to turn to the side and look at my shoulder, which I did. She pulled her shirt off, revealing her in her sports bra and she pointed to the side of her body. I looked at her tattoo as she told me to and then I looked at mine, "This means you're mine. Mine, Jasper. No one else's. You're MY love. MINE. And I'll do whatever it takes to show everyone that you belong to me." I looked at her and stared deeply into her eyes. I bent down, while she got on her tippy toes.
I grasped her around her waist and lifted her as she pulled herself up by clinging to the back of my neck. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I put my forehead on hers, sliding down her bedroom wall. I got lost in her deep blue eyes that made me feel like I was drowning in the ocean, but I would happily give up oxygen if it meant I could be with her. "I love you." She murmured and I felt my heart beat irregularly. I had so many things run through my head that I could say as a response to that. You're the love of my life. I would die for you. You have my heart. I'd do whatever I could just to see you smile. I'd let you go if you found someone else, just so you could be happy. You're the only girl I would ever want to be with. I want you to be my girl forever. You mean the world to me. You're my angel. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. You make me forget everything else in the world just by the way you look at me. You make my head spin when you smile. You make me forget what I'm thinking about as soon as you walk in the room. I'm yours for as long as you'll have me. With every breath I take, I love you more and more. Yesterday I loved you the most I could ever love anyone and yet, today I love you even more. You changed my world with just one smile; you took my heart with just one kiss. Would you marry me? And just like every other time she tells me this, the only thing that every leaves my mouth is, "I love you, too."
I put my hand behind her neck, with my thumb on her cheek, stroking small circles on the soft skin that was turning a slight pinkish color. I leaned forward and kissed her lips as carefully and slowly as I could, not wanting to break her petite form. And as soon as her sweet lips touched mine, I felt like I couldn't breathe, but my body instantly relaxed as that familiar warmth spread throughout my body. Everything went hazy and I forgot everything. I forgot about Edward and Bella. I forgot about the war we were going to have tomorrow. I forgot about how to fight. I forgot about losing Alice because she kisses me like I'm the only one. I forgot how to think. All I focused on was the beautiful girl in my arms and how I never wanted this kiss to end.
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The next chapter is the big fight, just so you know(:
