E.
Caius scoffs. 'Are we supposed to believe you won't cause us trouble?'.
My eyes flash to his face. They can't possibly think we're that stupid. Aro would be mad. Marcus's mind is milder. He doesn't believe a fight is beneficial. Out of all three, he has always been the most gentle, the most likely to listen to reason. It's unfortunate that he is constantly overruled by Caius's greed for violence. They're like the good and evil angels sitting on Aro's shoulders, whispering sweet and not-so-sweet nothings into his ears. If this situation hadn't been so desperate, the mental picture would have made me smile.
'They are a danger to us, brother. As long as they live, we cannot guarantee that they won't come for them'.
'And face certain death?', Marcus wonders.
'You underestimate their relationship', Caius answers angrily.
An almost undetectable smile spreads across Marcus's lips. Not me, brother.
Aro's mind moves fast. I see him looking at Jasper's arm, stretched out protectively across Alice's body, and I see my face reflected in his mind. I look aggressive. Slowly, I relax my jaw. I can't… can I? But what if…
'Their proposal is ludicrous!', Caius interjects, his voiced raised with indignation.
'Brother! Silence'.
In his mind, I can see Aro pondering the question. He is picturing Bella and Alice by his side, dressed in his black cloaks, their eyes scarlet. It takes every ounce of self-control in me not to attack him right then. Thankfully, the picture fades. He is now wondering whether they would be of better service to him if he allowed their family to live, and though he doesn't know the answer, he's assuming not. A picture of our house aflame flashes through his mind. I know the smaller heaps of fire on the ground around it represent our burning bodies. This idea excites him. Instinctively, my jaw clenches.
'Now – my dear Carlisle -, you must understand that this would be an unfavourable situation… for us', Aro whispers. His eyes briefly meet mine. 'Perhaps, if you offered us more guarantee…'.
'No!'. Bella's shout echoes through the forest. She steps forward defensively.
I have already heard that Carlisle won't agree to the offer, but Bella doesn't know that.
Carlisle ignores the outburst and steps forward slowly, a regretful look on his face. 'We can't do that, Aro. You must understand'. I see Renesmee flashing through his mind and I realize it must be what Bella's thinking of, too. She wants me here for our daughter.
'Well…', Aro sighs, his hands rubbing together slowly.
I already know what is about to happen before I hear Alice call my name. Her body doesn't change, her posture betrays nothing, but she's concentrating hard to get her information across to me. He's not going to agree. I know it too, of course, but it seems as if my heart drops all the same. You have to run, Edward. I will distract them, but you need to do the rest. I try not to let anyone see that we're conspiring. My eyes remain focused on Aro's face. He's still talking, a cold smile on his face as he pretends to be sorry, but right now it's not him I'm listening to. Run as far as you can.
My eyes flash to Alice, who remains completely still, and then to Bella. Pain and anger burn through my chest when I consider that this is the last time I'll see her, perhaps forever. It doesn't make sense that we've fought so hard to be together, despite everything that kept us apart, only for us to lose each other now. I'd rather die right here than go along with this ridiculous plan, but she would never forgive me. Renesmee needs a parent. I slowly reach out for Bella's hand and brush my fingertips across her skin. Her body tenses and her eyes dart towards me. I smile regretfully. 'I love you', I whisper, as quietly as I can. Her lips part, her brows come together in a frown, and then her eyes flash towards Alice.
She understands me.
Edward.
Alice's face turns, ever so slightly, just enough for the corners of her eyes to meet mine. Now.
What happens then seems to send a shockwave through the air. Alice flies forward so quickly that not even Jasper is able to catch her. Before she reaches Jane, I grab Jasper's arm and drag him backwards. 'RUN!'. For just a second, everyone besides me and Alice seem frozen. Their minds are racing, processing the development, but it doesn't take long for them to realize what's going on. Emmett grabs Rosalie, Carlisle grabs Esme, and then they're gone. Bella launches herself into Alec, her fist striking the centre of his face. Aro's eyes flash from left to right in shock, but he recovers quickly.
'GO!', he roars. 'After them, NOW!'.
Felix and Demetri exchange a quick glance and as they begin moving, I tighten my grip on Jasper. His mind is torn between fighting and running, his eyes only seeing Alice as she struggles to constrain Jane, but I yell his name and finally - it seems to move him. In just a millisecond, he chooses to go along with the plan, and we vanish into the forest. Demetri and Felix are right on our tail.
'Jasper', I demand, ducking under a low-hanging branch. 'Go to Emmett and Carlisle. Go!'.
Reluctantly, but like a soldier is ought to do, he follows orders. He disappears to my left as I dart after Rosalie and Esme.
While I run, my mind races to find Alice's. She's calling out my name, all the while landing punches and throwing herself out of Jane's sight. Bella is doing an excellent job of keeping Alec busy and despite the pain and anger, I can't help but also feel pride. She's strong, I realize, just before I'm interrupted.
You need her.
I frown and jump over a log, picking up my pace when I hear Demetri's steps closing in. The woman. She's not with them. You need her help. My mind flashes to the woman, who is now running in the opposite direction at amazingly high speed. She's so far away that I can only hear fragments of her thoughts.
Eduardo… free. Maybe if I… Guadalajara-
Then she's gone, and my mind flashes back to Alice. In the few seconds it took me to check on Laeticia, she and Bella have been overpowered. Aro's standing before them, his hand raised, his eyes full of anger. Alec and Jane are standing by his side. Their hair is out of place and their cloaks are dirty. I can tell by the look on their faces that they want to attack more than anything, but Aro won't let them. For once, I find myself being grateful for his authority.
Take care of him, Edward. Watch him for me.
My mind flashes to Jasper's, and I immediately regret it. The thoughts swirling around in his head make me nauseous, the sight of him jumping into a clearing makes me nervous. When I spot Emmett, I quickly switch to his calmer, more collected mind. He, Jasper and Carlisle have managed to lure and surround Felix. Emmett is already on top of him, tearing at his head as Jasper and Carlisle constrain his arms.
I'm brought out of focus when I hear grunting behind me. Demetri's close. Cursing under my breath, I set on another course. I go up, jumping from one treetop to another, surrounding the area that he's in with my scent. When I hear his confusion, I double back and disappear again. He's off my trail for just a second, but it's enough. His attention is drawn to Felix.
As he runs to defend his companion – who, as far as I can see from Carlisle's eyes, is already burning – I catch up to Rosalie and Esme. They're running towards the ocean.
'We have to go North', I say, taking my place between them. Rosalie dodges a sloping tree.
'Where to?!'.
I don't answer her. Truthfully, I don't know yet. I don't know where we can go that's safe enough as long as Demetri's alive. Should I go back to kill him? I play with the idea for just a minute, finding immense gratification in the sound of his neck breaking, but I realize I can't. I have to get Rosalie and Esme out of here, and besides… I don't know that I wouldn't go back if I got that close to the house again.
'The ocean', I say. I shoot to the right. Esme follows immediately. Rosalie slows just a little, but decides not to argue. We run farther into the woods and farther still, until the greenery spreads thinner and thinner, and then disappears altogether.
I don't hesitate before I jump. My body hits the water less than a second before Esme's. Rosalie has stopped on the edge, undoubtedly listening for Emmett. About 300 feet from our position in the water, I hear three more bodies plunging beneath the waves. A fourth quickly follows.
When I try to find Alice again, I hear nothing.
It takes two days before we resurface on Kupreanof Island, and another day before we've got our affairs in order. Carlisle and Esme rent a house near the beach, far away from any form of civilization. It's a small and primitive home, suited for a family of four. It's been built mainly from wood and rests on a set of thick wooden poles, meant to protect it from floods and wild animals. The living room consists of a hideously patterned couch, an old, torn-up lounger, a small wooden table with four chairs, a twenty-year old TV set and a fireplace. Emmett's poking the logs and watching the sparks fly. There's no point in starting a fire, but I lack the energy to remind him.
Carlisle's seated on the couch, a deep frown between his brows. Esme, as always, is by his side, her hand resting reassuringly on his knee. I've taken my place at the dinner table, Rosalie's standing in the corner of the room with her arms crossed and her lips pursed, and Jasper's on the landing outside, his elbows resting on the wooden railing, his eyes focused on the snow below.
It's quiet. Inside, there's only the crackling of the fire, but outside too, there's just dead silence. It's too cold for most animals to be out, especially at night, and those that are capable of braving the cold must feel, instinctively, that they shouldn't go near the house.
I glance out the window. It's a good thing Jasper can't catch hypothermia.
He'd want to, though. I don't need to read his mind to know how he feels about himself.
I understand the way he misses Alice, and the doubt he feels about running when he could have fought. I feel the same way. I miss Bella the same way, but what I'm not feeling is the indescribable guilt of knowing that I've set this in motion. Though I try not to blame him – I know it's not fair -, I've found it difficult to, and I realize perfectly well that he must be feeling that.
I drop my head in my hands and rub my forehead as I suppress a sigh. Esme hears, anyway, and her eyes dart to mine. What is it?
I slowly shake my head, but almost instinctively she glances at Jasper. He hasn't moved in about an hour. He hasn't said a word since we came ashore. You have to watch him, Edward.
I nod.
How is he?
I feel reluctant to creep into Jasper's mind. I don't want to know the horrors he's imagining and I don't want to hear about the guilt, but I've promised Alice to watch him. I close my eyes, tuning out the complaints in Rosalie's mind and the worries in Carlisle's - Jasper's mind will be more than enough for me to deal with. I expect to find gore, horror, anger, guilt, or fantasies of tearing the Volturi to shreds, but there's nothing of the sort.
In his mind, there are big, bright red letters spelling 'Rosary's Diner'. The 'i''s flickering and the capital 'R' is about to fall off, but the scene looks inviting all the same. Jasper's eyes flash to the left, wary of a laughing couple that's rushing out of the diner and into the rain. He watches how the gentleman's hands wipe wet strands of hair from the girl's face, and then looks at his own. For a second, he lingers on the scars, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he imagines, just for a moment, the amount of lives he's ended with those hands. When he looks back up, the parking lot is nearly abandoned. There's only a bike and a blue '46 chevy truck, parked near the entrance and dangerously close to the hanging 'R'. Jasper imagines that the rain and the cold have scared most people into their homes, but he's out here, anyway, not quite knowing what he's doing. He's unsure and scared, not used to feeling like he's not in control, but the warm lights from within seem inviting, and the bright blue door is swaying in the wind – calling his name.
He starts moving. Slowly, one foot in front of the other.
When he steps across the threshold, he's greeted by a set of red leather booths and a black and white checkered floor. To the left is a bar. A man's sitting there, twirling a bottle of Coke around in his hands, not bothered enough by the sound of the door to look up. There's a young woman, too, dressed in a yellow uniform with a pink ribbon in her hair, attentively cleaning the two plates that the young couple outside just finished. From the kitchen comes the clashing of pans in the sink and the sound of running water. Jasper's eyes flash to a clock on the wall. It's twenty to twelve. Near closing time. Almost instinctively, Jasper takes a step back. He doesn't know what he's doing there, or what on earth possessed him to come so close to humans, but before he's capable of making his escape, the young woman looks up from her cleaning. 'Hi! How may I help y-'. Jasper makes eye contact with her in that moment, and the woman falls silent. She's startled by the colour of his eyes. Freaked out, even, and Jasper swallows hard. He opens his mouth to speak, to apologize and say his goodbyes – but then there's her.
'There you are!'.
I can't help but smile. She sounds exactly the same.
Jasper's eyes flash to Alice's face. He's taken aback immediately. She's porcelain… perfectly crafted and inhumanly beautiful. The girl is short and slender, her features sharp but feminine. Her lips are painted a subtle shade of red, her black hair cropped close to her face in waves very much appropriate for that time. He can tell right away that she's like him, but she's not the same. Her eyes aren't red, they're a shade of amber. The girl smiles widely, her purple skirt dancing cheerfully as she comes to a halt in front of him.
'You kept me waiting long enough'. She laughs.
Jasper swallows again. 'My apologies, ma'am'. He has nothing to apologize for, but it's instinctive. He's a trained gentleman.
'Come!', the girl says. She reaches out her hand.
And Jasper, he doesn't know what to do with himself. He's wondering who this girl is, and who she thinks he is. He realizes it's strange for her to behave so friendly towards someone she doesn't know, but he also realizes how long he hasn't felt these emotions. Excitement, trust, happiness, they're radiating from the girl and overwhelming him. For the first time in a long, long time… he feels hope.
Jasper takes her hand, and I force myself back into the now. It feels strange to be intruding like this. This was the start of his life with Alice. The start of his life with us.
The fact that he's thinking of this, as opposed to the sound of Aro's breaking neck, makes me feel even more concerned. He's not set on revenge like I would expect him to be. He seems to think it's no use. Instead, he's reliving his best memories… the way people do when they feel their life is ending.
My eyes meet Esme's, and I see sadness work its way into her face. Oh, no.