Jasper wasn't quite sure what had he done. All he knew is that Rosalie had appeared out of nowhere and had begun shouting at him.
All that screaming and hatred and rage in the air was doing great at crawling right beneath his skin. Hot and nauseating. It was giving him a headache and while he wished to shut her up with his gift Carlisle had banned him from using it.
He could never use his gift to manipulate others again.
But Rosalie wouldn't shut up and thus he decided to leave.
Or at least he tried to because one single sentence shattered him.
-You are an inconsiderate bastard who does nothing but bring us troubles!
•You're an inconsiderate bastard who does nothing but bring me troubles!•
Jasper's entire body shivered under that one single sentence.
All the screaming and hatred and rage in the air had pushed and pushed at him. But that single phrase shoved him right off the edge.
•You're an inconsiderate bastard who does nothing but bring me troubles!•
Maria was mad. Oh she was so mad. He could hear the crackling of fire outside. Her footsteps approaching.
She was mad. Her blazing gaze pierced his soul like a spike made out of ice. Her grip on his throat was like steel. The feeling of her fingers ripping his shirt. The ground was wet beneath him, both with water and venom.
She was so mad.
The glimmering reflection of a red hot rod in the water made his heart drop. No. She wouldn't go that far... right? She wouldn't risk a permanent damage. She wouldn't .
But he could feel the heat right between his shoulderblades and the weight of her wrath.
He had crossed the line of her patience. This was different. She had taken precautions with this batch of newborns and he fucked it all up. This batch was larger and meant to be better than the last. And he fucked up.
•You will learn to be more careful. More considerate. I won't stand for troublemakers. You will learn to not test me.•
He tried to beg but his voice wouldn't come out. She was mad. So mad. He felt her weight on his lower back. Felt her fingernails dragging down his back.
And then the world explode in flames as the rod pierced his back. Missing his heart for a few inches as it melted his insides. A scream tore his throat apart and he tried to break free.
But that did nothing but bring him more pain. It abandoned his insides leaving nothing but molten lava behind.
And then it came down again. And again. And again. He screamed and plead and begged but it never stopped. It didn't stop until he could no longer think about nothing but fire and fire and pain and more fire.
H e r a n.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosalie hated Jasper. Plain and simple.
He did nothing but hang around looking like he was waiting for the smallest sign for him to lash out and kill someone.
And when he wasn't outside he was locked upstairs. He had attacked Carlisle and while she could accept the fact that he hadn't done so in his right mind that didn't meant she liked the idea of him here. He was full of scars and it was clear he had avoided telling them about his past on purpose.
Hell look at that freaky mind control bullshit he could pull with his equally freaky power!
He was dangerous. Hiding things that could put them in danger.
And he had that weird obsession of clinging to Alice and leaning on her to speak for him.
He was strange and dangerous and he shouldn't be here. Hell he was from the South. The South . That place was Hell incarnated for vampires.
Wars over territories. Killing humans left and right. Fighting each other like dogs.
That was the most uncivilized place ever with feral vampires that held no concept whatsoever on how to be normal.
Still.
As much as she wanted him gone she had never meant to trigger him. She better than anyone understood the horrors of being dragged into a flashback. Back into a hell that was no longer real but felt very much real.
He hadn't even been doing anything, but she had still shouted at him, she wanted payback for his audacity from before. He had been unresponsive for the most part.
And then a wave of absolute terror had slammed into them with such force it had almost brought her to her knees. Panic. Pain.
And then Edward had dropped to the ground with a gasp and grabbed at his head.
She had thought him to be attacking them on purpose. Having finally shown his true colors.
But no.
He froze like a deer caught in the headlights mid-way leaving.
And then he crouched on the ground and hid behind his arms.
Alice had tried and failed to bring him out.
And then he had run off.
He left.
Then why wasn't she happy?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward had seen a lot of things in his life. Had read a lot of minds.
But never had he ever seen the kind of horrors he had seen in that small glimpse he managed to get from Jasper's mind.
He had wanted nothing more but to know what he hid so much from them when he first arrived. Wanted to read his mind and see what was he so adamant on hiding. To learn the reason behind his strange mannerisms.
Now?
Now he wished he could go back to when he knew nothing. Because those damn images won't stop flashing in his head. Those words. It was too much.
How the hell was he even alive? Edward could have lived his entire life without knowing if a vampire could take such damage and not die in the process.
All this time he had been waiting for him to snap and kill someone.
Now?
Now he could understand the weight of Alice's words. The reason why he would be so afraid of being around other vampires and feel threatened by Carlisle.
-Edward?- Carlisle's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he glanced towards him.
He was worried.
Edward could understand it for he had never reacted physically to someone's mind.
And while he hadn't planned on telling them what he had seen he couldn't stop the words from coming out.
-His creator is Maria.
There were no explanations needed for that.
Maria had a fame in the South.
After all, she was responsible for the creation of the worst vampire to ever walk the Earth, her armies could slaughter entire towns. She was known for her love of getting rid of her armies whenever their newborn stage ended. Keeping only those she deemed skillful enough.
And she was known as one of the cruelest vampires to ever walk the Earth. Her methods to tame newborns could tether over the edge of torture and she had had her Major with her.
He could be twice as worse than her when dealing with newborns and vampires in general.
Jasper was turned in 1863.
The Major appeared around 1864.
Jasper left in 1905.
That meant he had spent decades under the claws of a black blood who could very much be the devil incarnated. With Maria as his creator.
The fact that he was alive or even managed to escape at all was a miracle in itself.
It all made sense now. Reacting so aggressive to being grabbed. Not wanting others to touch him. The hatred. The anger. The fear. The avoidance. The silence. The scars. Refusing to give more information of his past.
Alice had said when she first arrived that his past had shaped some aspects of him. Things he couldn't help.
The amount of trauma he must have accumulated over the years could have very much destroyed any chances he could had ever have at a normal life.
-She tortured him. That's how she disciplined him. That's all the discipline he ever knew.
Esme gasped at that. Of course she had known that the sole fact Maria had been the one to create him he wouldn't have had a peaceful upbringing.
But hearing it was so much more worse.
It made her heart break and she wished she could have him here and hold him.
But she couldn't even hold him either. He was so skittish and God of course he would be when all he had ever known was pain and violence. Of course he would hide behind Alice and hope for her to speak for him. No one could ever get mad at her. And of course he would hide his scent if he feared someone could ever find him.
God that amount of fear wasn't healthy.
Carlisle for his side felt sick. He had known how bad it could be but he never expected it to be that bad. Maria was a cruel woman and her Major had been a nightmare even the Volturi didn't want to deal with after his near success at killing Aro.
To think Jasper had lived for so long with them...
Now the fear in his gaze acquired a worse meaning.
He had expected Carlisle to torture him. Because that's what was normal for him. That's-
God how was he even suppose to deal with this? The amount of trauma that boy must wield... that was a curse vampires had with them.
Live long enough in the wrong conditions and environment and the amount of trauma would accumulate to levels no human mind could ever fathom to understand.
Being subjected to torture for more than 40 years...
Was that something one could even fix?
How did he survive for so long? He was an empath that meant the damage had been heightened for him.
Carlisle liked to think that people could heal given time and Alice... if she had brought him with them despite his past... It meant there was hope for him to heal. No one was past saving.
No one.
-Rosalie, this is my last warning, you attack him again either physically or verbally and there will be consequences. Enough is enough, he belongs here now and I won't stand for any kind of attacks in this family.
For once Rosalie didn't felt like talking back.
In fact.
She felt nauseous.
All this time she had been wanting nothing but for him to leave before he killed one of them. Leave because he was hiding things and he looked like the picture of danger. He was a stranger invading what was meant to be a safe place. A menace who had killed God knows how many in the past. With those orange eyes and that soldier-like stance. He was so quiet and creepy. Hell he had killed those two nomads without a second thought.
She wanted him gone.
But it has been almost a month since he arrived and so far the worst he did against them was attack Carlisle and punch Emmett.
Not because he was overreacting but because of fear.
Justified fear.
But he had raked leaves with Esme and hadn't attacked Emmett when he tripped him into the pile of leaves after quite the childish display of fighting each other for a handful of leaves. Had even protected them from those nomads.
Rosalie could be a bitch as Edward so much loved to put it but she wasn't cruel.
And she could see it for what it was.
Plain and simple.
She was pouncing on someone who had been shattered to pieces long before she was even born.
Hell he had been feeling her hatred and rage since the second he arrived. He knew she hated him and wanted him gone and still... He hadn't even thought it twice to shield her from the nomad.
He had done nothing against her.
She was the one who glared at him and had wanted to hit him. The one who called him names and attacked him verbally.
She had seen him playing with Emmett, had seen the way he watched Esme, the way he treated Alice.
He was broken and fighting to keep himself together. Forcing himself to test boundaries that weren't even there in the first place.
And Rosalie had become her worst nightmare.
A horrible person who hurt those who were already broken.