Edward has never been able to read Jasper's thoughts. So it had taken him more than what he was willing to admit to recognize whose thoughts was he hearing when that avalanche of emotions had been threatening to crush him down.
Jasper.
He had been able to piece together enough of what he had heard and seen to figure out the reason behind the why had two witches had a werewolf with them.
The Volturi had been the ones to kill his pack. Even the children. He wasn't even surprised with that fact. And still. He doubted he would ever be able to take that scene out of his head. That of a cabin filled with mutilated children and bloodied walls. Why the need to be so cruel?
Jasper had been there. And if Edward was right... The Volturi had been the ones to also kill his family.
How all of it had gone down... The trauma must have been such that he must have repressed those memories. If that vampire had left him alive and the entire pack had been killed... The witches could have found him among those bodies. Or he could have wandered around in shock.
He never expected that his brother had lived such horrors at such young age. And while it didn't surprise him that of the Volturi killing children he still couldn't for the life of him get over the fact that those poor kids had been killed so gruesome. There had been no need to make them suffer more than they had already been.
God, those children hadn't even been werewolves yet, they had been practically humans.
And on top of it all? He knew what Jasper wanted.
He had heard him.
He wanted to kill the Volturi. Those thoughts had been loud and clear and almost a bit too obsessive for comfort.
Edward couldn't allow him to let himself be blinded by revenge, much less now, thus, he managed to be the one to stay with him next time.
And when the others were gone he hunted him down. He found him in his room sitting on the bed as straight as ever and staring at the wall with an intense gaze. He didn't even spare him a glance as Edward came to sit at the edge of the bed.
-It must be fun to get to meddle into other people's lives based on their thoughts. You can't help readin' thoughts but you can certainly help not havin' to stick yer nose into other people's businesses. I can read emotions, doesn't mean I meddle with people's lives based on it.
He glared at Edward as he said that before getting off the bed.
-Going after the Volturi will do nothing but get you killed. It doesn't matter how strong you think yourself to be, you can't take on them on your own.- Edward told as a statement of fact. Jasper scoffed.
-I am The Major, if I want to kill someone I'll very much do so, y'all love so much to paint 'em as invincible. They're nothin' but a coven of extremely arrogant vampires who think themselves above the rest. Why? Because they're old? Powerful? The Egyptian coven could very much surpass 'em on that with Benjamin alone.
-Aren't you the one being extremely arrogant right now? You can't fight them regardless of who you are, and what will you even gain from revenge?- Edward asked. Jasper turned to look at him.
-I'm perfectly aware that revenge won't give me any kind of catharsis. Killin' 'em for what they did will be nothin' but a pleasant bonus. I can do nothin' for the dead but I won't sit back and wait for 'em to come up with some deranged plan to take Alice from me. She's mine.- He sentenced, his eyes flashing yellow for the slightest of seconds, his voice alone sending shivers down Edward's spine.
Sometimes it was too easy for comfort to forget that Jasper was by far, the most possessive and overprotective person he had ever met when it came to Alice.
Still.
-I get that, but don't you think that that won't matter at all if you get killed? How do you think that will make her feel? To know that you died because of her? Have you forgotten what happened after the fight with Victoria's army?
Jasper tensed at that and Edward knew he had him. Jasper and Alice had their arguments at times as all couples did but theirs had never been loud nor even public.
Thus.
It had been quite the surprising thing to hear Alice shouting at Jasper after the fight with the newborns. He had killed most of the newborns that had even attempted to engage her and on top of it all he had gotten bitten because he had been too focused on keeping the newborns away from her.
Alice was far from helpless for Jasper had been the one to make sure she could even beat him on a fight.
That didn't meant he was a fan of letting her fight.
Alice had been furious. Edward had never seen her like that. But as furious as she had been at the end she had ended up breaking down. Because in what world did Jasper expect her to be grateful for her safety when he was the one getting hurt to ensure it? In what world did he thought that she would like him to die for her?
Jasper for his side bit back the urge to snap. Because Edward was right and he hated him for it. But what else was he suppose to do? Let them live? Someone had to step up and end the Volturi. They thought themselves to be the law, royals, with what right? How many covens have died under their hand for the sole fact that they wanted someone from there? How many werewolves have they slaughtered for nothing but being who they were?
His family could have died because of their stupid laws.
̶h̶̶I̶̶S̶ ̶F̶̶A̶̶m̶̶I̶̶L̶̶Y̶ ̶D̶̶I̶̶e̶̶d̶ ̶B̶̶E̶̶c̶̶a̶̶u̶̶S̶̶e̶ ̶O̶̶f̶ ̶T̶̶h̶̶e̶̶M̶̶.̶
But as he told Edward. What would revenge do for him? Most of the time revenge didn't gave a single ounce of catharsis nor would it bring back those that died. Revenge was nothing but people's way of fighting the right person way too late for it to do any good anymore. It was useless.
And what about Alice?
She was still alive and if he died because of her... He didn't want her to suffer like that. Also.
If he died then that would mean that there would be no one to keep the Volturi from taking her. As skilled as he was he wasn't The Major nor was he willing to trigger The Major into waking up. He couldn't wake him up for if he did so he would lose it all.
He could do nothing against Alec's nor Jane's gift. Her illusions of pain were just that. Illusions. His gift couldn't retaliate against something that didn't exist.
His fingers curled into fists as he realized how true Edward's words were. He couldn't take on the Volturi. Not without hurting Alice, and he was causing her way too much pain these days.
Even so. What good did it do to fight for people he could no longer remember even the faces of? Alice was alive and he needed to protect her. He shouldn't be so reckless. Much less at these times. He couldn't even overpower Emmett. How would he fight the Volturi?
He was pathetic.
He dropped at the edge of the bed and dragged a hand down his face. Even if he were to refuse to go against the Volturi. Even if he knew Edward was right. Even if he didn't remember their faces.
Why did it still left a bitter taste in his mouth?
He couldn't take those screams out of his head. Had this been what his father had meant when he told him that it was a good thing that he didn't remember when he met him? That that night hadn't been a good one for a lot of people?
Had he known about the Volturi having killed the werewolves? What had he hidden from him? How was he found? When? Where? It made no sense.
And it would never make it because his parents had died long ago. These questions would remain unanswered and he hated it. He hated all about this.
-You have all the right to be upset.- Edward's sudden voice made him narrow his eyes, why was he still here?- They were your family regardless of if you remember them or not. But do please avoid acting harsh. I know that something like that can't be easily forgotten, but you are in no condition to go around fighting people. Revenge will bring you nothing, you still have Alice.
Jasper didn't answer. And for a long while silence was what reigned between them.
-I won't go after 'em.- Jasper conceded at the end.
Edward felt relief wash over him at that. Good.
Because as much as he could understand Jasper's anger. As much as he knew it was unfair to hold his brother back and as much as he could understand how much the Volturi deserved to be ended he wasn't stupid either.
No one could take the Volturi. Their coven was filled with way too many gifted vampires.
He had seen Alice's vision.
Had seen the casualties that would happen were the fight between the Volturi and them break out.
Carlisle would have died.
And so would have Jasper.
The Volturi couldn't be ended without terrible casualties and the last thing Edward wanted was to lose anyone from his family, it was better to just stay out of the Volturi's way and hope for them to just also stay away from them.
Though if he was being honest? Edward wasn't naive either.
He knew that Aro would never rest until he got Alice, Bella and him.
And he also knew that Jasper wasn't in Aro's list because the man wasn't aware of the extent of his skills nor gift. Much like he wouldn't have known about Alice if Edward hadn't led her to expose herself to him. Carlisle had tried so hard to not expose Alice and Jasper to the Volturi since their arrival.
All so as to avoid the man from finding out about their gifts and pasts for even if Jasper hadn't been The Major the fact alone that he was from the South and had trained newborns would be enough to catch Aro's attention.
Not many could survive in the South for as long as Jasper did.
And certainly not many could train, let alone fight newborns so easily.
If Aro were to find out about Jasper it would add four to his list. Too many for the man to keep up ignoring them, at his eyes a coven of nine having four unusually skilled vampires would be too much of a "threat" for him to keep up letting them as they please.
He would find a way to get what he wanted.
Edward just hoped that day never came.
~~~~~~~~~~
-I'm sorry.- That's all Alice can come up with right now. She had know that something was wrong. Ever since the attack Jasper had had in the bathroom he had been too quiet. Too withdrawn. Edward's face had let her know that he knew something but refused to tell.
And while she could have forced him to tell her she didn't. If Jasper didn't told her himself then she wouldn't go around getting the information from others.
But she never expected that it would be something so... God. She knew that the Volturi were cruel. She knew that the Volturi were also responsible for the fact that werewolves were practically extinct at this point.
But never could have she ever expected them to have slaughtered children that could as well have been humans. That Jane had been so close to killing Jasper. That Jasper was exposed to the Volturi way before he even became a vampire.
Or that he had seen those children get slaughtered right infront of him. That he only survived because a vampire found it amusing. Such horrors... No child deserved to live through such horrors. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.
It broke her heart to think about the pain he must be in. To see his entire family be slaughtered. The fear he must have felt at the time. Such fear his mind had repressed those memories in an attempt to protect him from such horrors.
And she could do nothing but hug him and hope for that to be enough to comfort him.
Because she understood more than anyone the pain of losing someone you couldn't even remember but that you knew deep down that that person had been important to you.
She still remembers the pain of having found out about her sister's death. She held no memories whatsoever of her and it still had felt as if someone had torn a piece of her heart.
Because even if the mind didn't remember the heart did.
The heart did remember.