Rosalie was pissed.
Even after a week and a half that's all she can feel.
Pissed and frustrated.
Pissed that this whole mess couldn't be solved and frustrated that the next full moon was so damn close and there was still nothing. Nothing.
Jasper had gotten worse and worse. He was too pale now, even for vampire standards, and there was a thin black co-web that spread across his neck and up to his cheek. His eyes had grown particularly dark for he refused to feed, anything that he tried to eat or drink he would end up throwing it up.
And there were a lot of bruises on him too. He spent half of the time sleeping and the other half looking like he would rather be sleeping. He would even have random nosebleeds for no apparent reason and his bones would break without warning.
He looked... not like her so composed and calm brother at all. He looked like death had warmed over and would snatch him at any given moment.
Alice had given up on the search and Rosalie couldn't blame her. This search had turned out useless. All they could do was just watch him deteriorate more and more with each passing day.
Rosalie found him sitting on the porch with a book at hand. The fact that the sun hit his skin and there was no diamond-like reflection unsettled her more than she was willing to admit.
He didn't even react to her presence but she knew he knew she was there. He still had his gift and his heightened senses. He could hear and smell her just as well as any other vampire would.
But he was so frail now. So much frail than a vampire should.
Weak. Vulnerable. A single hit in the right place could end his life in an instant.
She came to sit at his side. Alice had been dragged to hunt earlier so she wasn't clinging to him at the moment. Again. Rosalie could understand her.
He didn't even react to her presence as he flipped the page but the slight quiver of his mouth told her he was choosing to ignore her on purpose.
And Rosalie took it to stare at him from the corner of her eye.
Even the scars on his jawline, neck and hands looked twice as intense and twice as skin crawling than they ever did. It looked as if he had been mauled by a hoard of zombies.
And his scent...
It had grown so much more acidic. She could hear the blood coursing through his veins. Could hear his heart beating. Bumping blood.
-How are you feeling?- A shrug was her answer.
Jasper for his side... He wasn't feeling great. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he hadn't felt sick.
He felt exhausted and he was starving. But the sole idea of eating made him feel too nauseous for comfort.
The sudden arm around his shoulders got him almost jumping out of his skin, Rosalie wasn't looking at him but he could feel the distress in her emotions, frustration, impotence, anger.
And while he would had once lashed out at the contact right now he was too miserable to reject the contact, so all he did was lean into the hug. Their heads touching.
-You are reading that again?- Rosalie asked as she glanced at the book he was holding. She had seen him read that over a thousand times. A romantic novel.
-I like it.- Jasper defended as his gaze fell on the page. Rosalie's skin was cold and it helped with the constant heat under his skin.
Rosalie for her side couldn't help but scoff. Honestly, why were her brothers hopelessly romantic idiots?
She found it odd that he didn't reject her contact, usually, he was one to keep his distance. Now, he was practically melted against her.
But she didn't mind. Odd as it was she found that she didn't dislike it as much as she would have expected.
Jasper for his side felt rather relaxed. That until it started raining and Rosalie left his side.
-Up.- She ordered as a statement of fact and when he didn't got up right away she snatched the book from him. He scowled up at her.- Don't make me drag you inside.
Jasper rolled his eyes before getting up.
That's when the ache he had woken up with in his knees turned into such ripple of explosive fire his legs gave in. A grip of steel grabbing his arms to keep him from even stumbling down the stairs. Confusion and surprise staining the air.
-You alright?
-I'm-
His words died down as the explosion came back with twice the might. A whiplash of spikes that stitched his muscles with acid and made his knees throb with the force of a grenade going off. He dropped on the ground with a pained moan. Biting his bottom lip as the pain spread across his thighs and up to his lower back and across his spine.
He clutched his knees as his forehead pressed against the ground. The familiar feeling of bones twisting inside made a sound stick at the back of his throat.
And he cursed the whimper that left him as fire licked his spine. A pressure so uncomfortable and wrong he saw red. He curled in on himself and bit harder on his bottom lip until a bitter taste flooded his mouth and he coughed.
It felt like an eternal torture before the pain began fading. Leaving him feeling a bit too numb and a bit too sore.
He hated this.
~~~~~~~~
Jasper's episodes were no secret. Those had become even more frequent and worse. Bursts of pain that ended up with him either throwing up blood or with broken bones. Or both.
Rosalie was one of the few who still hadn't seen it happen. And she could have lived her whole life without having to learn that her brother could make such pained sounds.
Hearing his bones snap. Seeing him there at her feets all curled and in pain... It made her chest constrict and her throat burn. Fingers curling into fists for she knew she could do nothing but wait it out.
His shirt had lifted a bit when he dropped on the ground and she was able to see his spine move. Almost as if it wanted to break out of his fucking skin. It made her stomach twist and her throat close.
It felt like an eternal torment before he seemed to calm down and his bones stopped moving and breaking. His breathing ragged.
And it took her a moment to even be able to approach him. She knelt at his and a bit hesitant rested her hand on his back.
-Jasper?
-I'm fine.- Came the muffled answer. A moment later he was straightening back up, black blood trailing down his chin, he stumbled as he stood up.
-You shouldn't get up. You-
-I'm fine.- He cut off briskly as she grabbed his arm. But even if he said that he couldn't help but grab his left knee which felt particularly sore, maybe a bit more than sore, he could barely move the leg.
-You are fine? Alright.- Rosalie made sure Jasper wasn't close to the stairs before releasing him. As expected he lived up to his stubbornness and stood up straight.
But she could see how he curled his fingers into fists. How he was leaning most of his weight on his right leg.
-Walk.- She dared crossing her arms over her chest. Two could play stubborn.
He glared at her and did as told. Walking right past her with a limp no human would ever notice. But Rosalie did.
She stalked towards him and grabbed his arm. And before he could fight her she manevoured him onto her shoulder. Of course he froze. He could be the best fighter among them but Rosalie had watched him with Emmett enough times to know he never knew how to react when someone picked him up in such childish manner.
She threw him on the couch before he could think about struggling. And the way he was looking up at her was certainly priceless. Still.
-Stop acting so reckless, have you seen yourself lately? Do you think you have the luxury to keep on holding onto that stubbornness?- She questioned as she retrieved the book and threw it at him before sitting once again with him.
He scowled but didn't argue back. Instead choosing to wipe the droplets of water off the book's cover with his sleeve.
-When things go dire. Would you make sure Alice doesn't go anywhere near Italy?- His words caught Rosalie off guard, he wasn't looking at her.
And while she wanted to shout at him to stop talking shit she also knew that she had to be realistic. There was little time left and not a single clue had been found. They had tied ribbons with Jasper's blood at different places, had searched up and down the mountains, all Canada.
And nothing.
Not a single sign of their searches going somewhere.
At this rate it was a statement of fact that he would die.
She had even heard them talking. If it came to it Carlisle would be the one to do it.
And Emmett would make sure Alice didn't attempt to interfere.
It made Rosalie sick to think of how that would go. She wasn't looking forward to the aftermath of this entire mess. With the dark route this was taking there was no doubt that a lot of relationships would be torn apart.
And she knew that of them all Alice would suffer the most. Losing a soulmate... Rosalie didn't think she would be able to survive without Emmett. Not after having gotten to live in a world where he existed.
Alice and Jasper... their bond was stronger than anything she had ever seen, the way they looked at each other alone... Rosalie had never managed to figure out how could two people who were so different from each other be such perfect match.
And while most people thought Jasper to be the only overprotective one that's because they haven't seen how Alice could get, she could at times be even more overprotective than he was, and God had mercy on whoever was at the end of her wrath, she was small and could look like the personification of harmless but Rosalie had known Alice long enough to have learnt that her sister was a lot of things but harmless.
And that her wrath could be as devastating as it could be lethal to whoever awakened it.
-I promise.- She ended up conceding. She couldn't save her brother. Could do nothing at all to save his life.
But if she could keep alive the one thing he loved the most then she would at least be saving part of him.
That didn't make her feel better at all.
And for the first time in her life she couldn't care less about pulling into a hug someone that wasn't Emmett.
Jasper for his side stiffened under the unexpected gesture before relaxing. Rosalie didn't hug people. She just didn't do hugs. So the fact that she was hugging him...
There was anger in her emotions. So much anger. Frustration. Impotence. Pain. Sorrow.
It made his chest ache and his throat burn. He truly was gonna die wasn't he?
He never expected that he would feel so against that idea.
He didn't want to lose this life that he was just starting to understand. To feel like he fit. Like he belonged in this family.
He didn't want to lose it.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
It was so not fair.
For the first time since he became a vampire his life seemed like something worth keeping and now he couldn't. How ironic. When he had wished to die it had been impossible.
Now that he didn't want to die he would die.
He guessed that at the end it had been truth. People like him didn't deserve to have happy endings.