And we're back kids!
I decided a while ago I was going to take a break from this fic and try to rebuild some love for it, which I am happy to say has worked. I'm planning on going back and editing some of it for quality and continuity's sake.
The plan was to build up some chapters and then start posting again on my birthday, so many happy returns everyone. Luckily for you cool cats and kittens, my gaming pc broke this week so I have literally written constantly. You shall have regular uploads for a while! Huzzah!
I'm not sure I've ever said it, but it is so overwhelming how amazing the response to this fic has been. You guys are amazing and I'm so lucky you put up with my flakeyness and bother to read this pile of crap 3
In the March of 1886, we fought with the Martin Coven to the west. I remember being so pissed off, Anton just threw it out there and I had to coordinate an attack with literally no preparation. But it was an easy fight. I took Peter and the newborns and we destroyed the coven with very few losses on our side. Don't worry. You'll be Maria's ace up her sleeve, so she's not going to put you in danger or tip her hand should someone notice you and your powers. I am confident that you won't have to fight.
"What do you mean I have to fight?!"
Jasper frowned at her. "I'm sorry. When you voluntarily joined an army, were you expecting a peaceful experience?"
"No. But mercilessly ripping newborns apart isn't really my thing."
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it yesterday."
Ouch.
"That was a one off! Look…" Bella had to bluff and she had to bluff quick. "I'm here to fight Johan. That's all I care about. The man disrespected me. If I go fight some other coven and someone realises that I have a shield, then Johan could find out and our entire strategy will go out the window!"
"Are you not listening?" Jasper raised his voice, exasperated. "The only reason why anyone would know you have a shield, or know that you're even there, is if something goes very wrong an' you need to step in.
"I haven't been able to do much reconnaissance. Peter could only tell so much from what he saw. All we know is that they got beaten up north. They could have a gifted vampire on their side and we just don't know about it! If you go and don't have to use your shield, then no harm done! If you don't go and it turns out we needed you, then half the army is dead!"
"But what if I die?" She asked. "Then you'll never kill Johan." This was a bluff of course. Bella was totally aware of the fact that in the original timeline, Jasper did kill Johan in the July of 1886. With his own hands, in fact.
"You won't die unless the rest of us die." Jasper rolled his eyes and gestured to his tactical drawings. "Look, I put you at the back, right next to Maria. If the rest of us are all slaughtered, I give you full permission to run like hell."
"Newborns are faster than me, but I appreciate the sentiment."
"They may be fast, but they're also dumb." Jasper said. "Quit worryin'. This should be easy. I'm just being cautious."
Bella did worry. She worried about fighting and killing other people. She worried about giving over to a darker side of herself. She worried about changing the future. She worried that she might give Maria too much power and cause the deaths of thousands of people. She worried that she might mess up and get Jasper killed somehow. Then poof, he's gone forever.
But when she stood with him side by side, she could almost pretend that she was someplace happier. That they were just a few miles from the house and this was all a game of pretend. Even though they were in hell, and they were far from leaving it; when he spoke to her like an equal, she felt hope.
"Fine." She said in an effort to get him to stop looking at her funny. "I'll stay at the back."
He nodded. "Be ready in an hour."
She was dismissed.
The Martin coven bordered Maria's to the west, with about a mile of no man's land between them. The area was quiet, with only dusty roads and the occasional settlement to show that the land was actually worth taking.
It wasn't about the use of the land though, as Peter told her when they set off.
"It's about status. There's no logic in power."
Bella rolled her eyes. "It just seems so ridiculous for people to die for a useless strip of land."
"Well that's war for ya. Maria wants that land, so we get it for her."
They settled back into silence, walking behind Jasper, Maria and the crew of 12 newborns. Jasper had referred to their position as 'holding up the rear', but she just enjoyed eyes being off her. She clutched at her satchel strap, unsure of her decision to bring it with her. She was concerned that leaving it in the camp could mean wandering eyes and hands could find it, but wearing it in a fight just felt so risky.
"Hey," Peter whispered. "Them newborns are gonna be rabid. I'll try my best to keep you safe out there, but they'll be stronger than you and you'll be distracted with shieldin' everyone."
"Thanks Pete," She replied. "I appreciate the pep talk."
"I'm just sayin'. If one gets past me and goes for ya, do you have a plan?"
"Run like hell?"
"They're faster than you."
"Jasper said they're dumb too so it's fine."
He snorted. "'Course he did. Look, y'know why we tend to do well in the wars?"
"Because you actually train your soldiers?"
"There's that." He nodded. "But mainly it's because the Major isn't afraid of a tactical retreat. No point in the whole army dyin', y'know?"
"Sure."
"My point is that it's very unlikely that everyone's gonna die out there. You're with Maria, so you'll be pretty damn safe. There's no way the Major will let anythin' happen to her, and she's no wallflower herself. You'll be okay."
"I'm not that worried about dying." She said. "It's more other people dying that bothers me."
"This your first fight?" He asked.
"Kinda."
His silence said more than enough. There was nothing that could make this better.
"Right," He held up a clunky silver lighter and tucked it into her right pocket. "If the bastards get past me and you're cornered, set the fuckers on fire. Okay?"
She smiled and bumped his shoulder, "Okay."
Their company came to a halt just out of earshot of the rival camp, downwind. Bella had the uncomfortable realisation that she could smell the fact that she was in someone else's territory. It seemed so tribal and animalistic.
The group seemed to naturally huddle and Bella let Peter pull her in. She found herself next to this weedy looking newborn who seemed to be continuously growling and violently twitched every few minutes. She began to nickname him Steve, but then kicked herself for potentially getting attached.
Jasper barked, ever the military man. "We will storm the camp from here. You and you," He pointed to two terrified looking newborns that had done particularly poorly in training. "Will run around and attack from the other side. Go now and be ready in ten minutes. Your attack will be our signal to charge."
The newborns didn't look particularly sure about this plan, it was fairly obvious that they were the distraction. But one well placed growl from the Major sent them on their way.
"Right," Maria beamed, the charm factor turned way up to 11. "So Belle and I shall wait just over there in case you need any backup."
Bella frowned, the place Maria was pointing to would have barely any view of the camp.
"I need to be high up." She interrupted. "So I can shield everyone."
Maria pouted. "You can't just put the shield on us now?"
"That's not how it works." Jasper murmured. "She has to have a line of sight on the people she shields."
"Well… not quite." Bella corrected him. "I have to concentrate on stretching it out. One or two people I'm great at, it doesn't take too much concentration and I don't have to be able to see them - but fifteen of you? I need to be able to see everyone and if I get hit and my concentration breaks, the shield will go down. I need to be up and out of the way if you want this to work."
Maria sighed. "Fine. Belle and I will stay in the trees for a bird's eye view. Now; the rest of your plan, Darling?"
Jasper nodded and dove into explaining a very complicated plan that could be summarised into; run in and murder them, don't get caught on your own. She was happy to see that overthinking things was a trait he was clearly born with.
She assumed that Jasper's strategy for the fight was working, but with her brain so occupied it was honestly hard to tell.
Bella had never had to stretch her shield like this before, covering fifteen individual people all moving at different speeds in different directions, while also avoiding the people they were attacking. She was grateful for her position high up in the tree. Every time someone slipped from her vision, she had to scramble to work out where they probably were in order to keep them covered.
It took so much concentration that it was almost like she couldn't see anymore. All she could focus on were the eighteen beings her shield had to stretch over. It was times like these when Bella felt almost human. As a vampire, she got so used to finding things easy that once were impossible, of never getting tired by anything. It was equally as invigorating as it was exhausting to do something genuinely difficult that physically wore her out.
But as pleasant as vulnerability felt, it wasn't necessarily the right time. She didn't notice the straggler from the Martin coven leaping for her throat until he was directly in her line of sight. His eyes were crazed, huge chunks of his flesh had been ripped out and were leaking venom. Bella froze, she was not in a defensive position, she needed to keep her shield up; she had no idea what to do.
"Bella!"
A blonde blur lept from the right and tackled the straggler in midair. Bella's shield flickered with surprise, but reformed itself as she listened to the man being dismantled below her.
"You okay Bells?" Peter's voice called from the ground.
"Yeah," Bella breathed, back to her full concentration. "Thank you!"
Peter ran back into the fray, giving Bella a quick salute as he returned into her field of vision.
The fight took about an hour overall, Maria's army lost those two soldiers, but the others were completely annihilated. The warlord grinned with sickening glee as she ripped apart the rival leader and threw his remains into the fire. Bella would try to expunge that memory from her mind for decades to come.
Their soldiers scrounged as many resources as they could from the camp and set the whole thing ablaze. Peter and a few others were sent to scent and secure the territory while the rest of them trudged back home.
Anton met them halfway, sniffling and simpering and bouncing like a puppy. He latched onto Maria's side and they excitedly discussed how many new soldiers they would turn and what village would be destroyed next.
Bella took the opportunity to tune out all the noise around her. She was a horrible combination of disgusted at what she had seen, sad for the waste of lives, relieved that no one she cared about was hurt, and tired from overusing her shield. She wasn't ready for it when tense hands grabbed her around the upper arms, leapt up holding her, and then threw her miles into the distance.
She should have recovered from the surprise more quickly, but her mind was still sluggish and it really had come out of nowhere. Too low in her trajectory to aim her landing, she reached out and clung to branches of trees to slow herself down; eventually flying low enough to land against a particularly tall trunk and stumbling back down to the ground.
Before she had time to get her bearings, Jasper was seething in front of her. His honey blonde hair was a mess and his shirt ripped up from the fight. His sleeves and chin still held the residue of being soaked in venom - although gladly none of his own.
"What the hell?" Bella said. "Did you see who threw me?"
He didn't answer, just ran directly at her in a move clearly intended to tackle her to the ground. At the last second Bella leapt out of the way. She just barely escaped his clutching grip on her skirt, which tore at the hem with a rip.
"The hell?" Bella repeated. "Why are you attacking me?"
Still beyond answering, he took a swipe at her head which she ducked to avoid. However, she was disoriented and low enough to the ground that the harsh kick he followed it with sent her flying back into the trees. He sprinted there as her back hit bark, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the floor.
She rolled away the second his hand left her neck and jumped, grabbing his shoulders and she sailed over his head and threw him down as he had done her. He jumped back up and snarled, a sound she hadn't heard since he ripped Fred's finger off and had hoped to never hear again.
They traded blows, aiming for head and chests. Trying to swipe each other's legs out from under them and jumping to avoid. They ducked and weaved in an intimate and dangerous dance, until finally he got the upper hand. He grabbed one of her shoulders and spun her around, then tackled her from behind.
He pinned her to the ground, his legs tucked in and clamped her's down. He twisted one arm behind her back and pinned the other to the ground beside her face. He pressed his whole body against her, leaving her completely incapable of movement even if she tried.
She couldn't help the bubble of amusement that triggered in her chest. This was just so ridiculous. That Jasper was right; that she had come down here and risked her life to save him, only for him to be the one to kill her. She laughed into the dirt.
"Are you going to kill me, Jaz?"
His breath tickled her neck as he spoke. "I really don't know where you learned my first name, or why you feel so able to freely use it."
Bella struggled to shrug, immobilised as she was. "I must have just heard it around somewhere. Probably from Maria."
Jasper was silent. For a moment Bella thought he might actually let her go, but his grip on her never wavered.
"Who taught you how to fight?"
"What?"
The hand braced beside her grabbed her hair and yanked her head to the side, his elbow still pushing down on her arm. His lips brushed her ear. "Who. Taught. You. How. To. Fight?"
Bella shivered at the contact, mixed in with a little fear. "A friend…"
"Well he's awfully good."
"The best."
Somehow, Jasper sunk even lower into her. Every inch of his body pressed against hers. "How long were you spying on us?"
Bella jerked, surprised. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I have taught enough people to fight to know what one of my students looks like." He growled, the vibrations ran through her neck. "You watched me train Peter, didn't you?"
"No." She replied. "I was taught by a member of my coven. You didn't invent jumping, y'know."
He sounded oddly breathless for a minute. The hand in her hair loosened its grip, but she could still feel his nails on her scalp. "Why are you here?"
"I want revenge on Johan."
"No you don't. I can feel what you feel. You have no anger about Johan, you don't give a shit about him."
Bella really didn't know anything to say that wasn't an outright lie.
"Why are you really here?" Jasper reiterated.
"Like I told Peter. I'm looking for someone."
"I don't see how you're finding anyone by joining this army."
"I don't have to tell you my methods."
Using some impressive dexterity that Bella couldn't see, Jasper flipped her over. He pinned both her arms up beside her head and kept his legs pressed down on hers so she couldn't move. His face hovered above hers, his eyes pitch black.
"You need to stay away from Peter." He whispered.
Bella frowned. "Why?"
He growled. "I don't understand you. You are constantly deceptive, I am not sure you have ever told me the truth. Yet there's no malice or anger in any of it. I have warned Peter and yet he insists on developing this... attachment to you. He claims it is not romantic, I feel no lust on his part or yours. But if you plan to seduce him, let me make it very clear. Romantic relationships are not permitted here. Maria does not allow it. I will not let you put Peter in danger."
Maybe it was because she was mentally exhausted, maybe because she was feeling strangely giddy from having her life threatened by someone she cared so much about, or maybe it was because the suggestion was so ridiculous. Whichever way; she laughed in his face.
"You think I'm trying to seduce Peter?!" She snorted.
Jasper looked taken aback. "Is that so insane?"
"Yes!" She giggled. "I'm married! Peter is like a brother to me!"
His eyebrows scrunched together. "You're married? Then what the fuck are you doing down here on your own?"
"He doesn't have to come with me for everything I do."
Jasper paused and finally jumped off her. She followed, rubbing her wrists until the cracks faded away.
"You mean to tell me, that your husband doesn't care at all that you are down here risking your life?"
"He cares." She shrugged. "He trusts me."
"That's a lot of trust." He stood a few feet away, glaring softly down at her. "Just… be careful with Peter. He is better than both of us and doesn't deserve what Maria would do to him."
"Finally. Something we agree on."
He stared at her for a moment more, then abruptly turned and ran back in the direction of the camp.
Bella sighed and collected her thoughts for a moment. Even though Jasper had violently attacked her, she almost couldn't help thinking this was a good thing. He hadn't killed her, he understood what she was saying and let her go. This wasn't the Jasper she had been warned about anymore, the one who would have mutilated first and questioned later. This Jasper might just care.
She bent to pick up her satchel from where it had fallen on the ground. While she was away from the camp, she might as well hunt and send Carlisle a note. He knew that the fight would have been today, so she needed to let him know she was alright to stop him freaking out.
She scribbled out a quick letter and made for the post office, taking down a rabbit on the way - the only thing she could find.
She let out a sigh of relief when her tree finally loomed in the distance. She could only hope that no one would question her further absence after Jasper had come back. She realised late that being away for a further half hour was kind of suspicious.
Bella hoped that she had got lucky, that no one had noticed. But luck was not in her favour.
When she hopped up into her tree, she found it inhabited by possibly the last person she wanted there.
Anton. And he was grinning like it was Christmas morning.