Carlisle sighed as he watched from the window of his studio as Rosalie dragged Alice out of the house. A scowl plastered on her face.
It's been nothing but a week since their return from Canada and Jasper's absence felt more noticeable than he could have ever expected.
Alice refused to leave the house and would sulk all over the place. Not that it should surprise Carlisle for Alice and Jasper had always been really close, even for a couple.
Their relationship at times seemed out of this world. They could communicate with each other through nothing but looks and at times it was as if nothing but each other existed in the world. There was a connection between them that transcended a lot of things.
And now that he was missing it was as if a piece of Alice had been taken. She had lost her energetic attitude and would spend most of the time in the house. Rosalie of course would drag her out of the house regardless of Alice's protests.
She and Leah seemed to have taken it upon themselves to refuse to let Alice sulk.
Carlisle did understood her. Because while Jasper could be described as the clingy type, so was Alice.
Of course his absence would hit her hard.
To be honest, Carlisle never expected Jasper's absence to have such effect on the house. But considering the hell from these past weeks...
He hoped he never had to go through this again. The impotence and frustration of not being able to help his son. To have to watch him suffer and not be able to do a thing to stop it...
He didn't want to feel that ever again.
But Jasper was safe now and that's all that mattered.
He was safe and he would return to them.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but he would certainly return to them.
Carlisle wasn't sure what would the future bring to them with this new change but he didn't care. As long as they were all together they would always be able to get through it.
As a family.
~~~~~~~~
Esme missed her son a lot. It's been nothing but a week and his absence felt like a weight in her chest. She knew that he was safe and that this was being done in order to help him but...
She couldn't help but feel depressed at his absence. She missed not having him at her side whenever she went into town. Missed not having him at the porch whenever she went into the garden. Not hearing his and Emmett's squabbles over the most trivial of things. Hear him play the guitar.
She missed her sweet boy.
Aurora had assured them that he was fine but that hadn't settle her worries at all. She had craved to see him with her own eyes, make sure he was, indeed, fine .
But she also knew she couldn't for if he left that place his life would have been put in danger. They could have hurt him.
Aurora had seemed to care a lot about him for some odd reason so Esme trusted she would look after him.
She still worried over a lot of things. Like that rupture she had spoken about.
She had always known that his life must have been horrible in the South, those scars and how near feral he was when he first arrived were clear proof of it.
But she never expected that it had been traumatic enough that it had split his mind. It made her heart ache for him. He had always been so kind, so good natured... Her sweet boy.
He had survived that hell and had kept his heart of gold intact. Proof of how strong he was.
He was stronger than he realized and he would beat all the odds.
And he would return to them.
~~~~~~~~~~
Edward found Jasper's absence... uneasy.
He had gotten so used to hearing his jumbled thoughts that the lack of those felt almost a bit too unnerving for comfort.
There was also the fact that Alice had become quite... not like herself.
Still.
He never expected that Jasper's absence would feel so much in the house. It was an interesting thing considering how much had he hoped for him to give this life up and leave.
But after all that happened these past weeks...
After seeing those memories and having to stop him from doing something as stupid as attempting to confront the Volturi. Hearing about the rupture in his mind...
Edward's remaining dislike of him had disappeared before he even realized it. Jasper had been surviving since he was a child. Had gone through things no one should have. The last thing Edward wanted was to make him feel out of place.
And still...
Part of him couldn't help but feel uneasy, because regardless of it all everyone seemed to be forgetting the fact that he was now an hybrid of the worst mix.
Vampire and werewolf.
Werewolves could be at the edge of extinction but no one could forget how much more dangerous than a shapeshifter could those be. Their bites could be lethal to vampires and their temperament could be terrible when full moon was approaching.
Also.
Jasper wasn't even from a simple bloodline. No.
He was from the Labonair bloodline.
They were royalty among werewolves and the Volturi's most hated bloodline.
If Aro found out about this... Edward didn't even want to think about how that could end. Things were so much more problematic than what the others were giving it credit.
God he hoped Carlisle knew what he was doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosalie missed her brother. Yes.
But she had made a promise with herself to not let Alice sulk. She was wrong if she expected Rosalie to let her sulk the entire year Jasper would be gone.
She understood that she missed him but it wasn't as if he was dead nor gone forever. He would return. Right now he couldn't be with them for his own safety.
Knowing that he was alive was enough to fill Rosalie with relief. Even if part of her still didn't trust this "Aurora" woman, she had acted strangely concerned towards Jasper, had been quite adamant about keeping him.
Rosalie just hoped she didn't attempt to make a move on him. She trusted her brother's love for Alice. Yes.
What she didn't trust was that he wouldn't do something stupid against that woman were she to get too intense that could put his life in danger in that place.
It was no secret how regardless of his usual composed attitude if someone was to push the right buttons he would lash out.
And Jasper had never been a harmless person.
She also hoped no one saw the mark on his back. Even if he was among his own kind no one could tell what would happen if his bloodline was discovered.
She still had troubles processing the fact that he had never been human but a werewolf. One who was unlucky enough to cross paths with the wrong person.
He had told her about the memories. About the massacre the Volturi had brought upon them.
Rosalie would never not feel nauseous over the fact that the Volturi held no qualms whatsoever over murdering children. How could someone be so cruel?
She understood their reasons to kill immortal children and God did part of her saw it as a mercy for no child deserved to be cursed to this life, but werewolves? A werewolf's kid was practically human, they shouldn't have harmed them.
To think that Jasper survived because of the twisted humor of one of those bastards... That he had laughed and had left a kid surrounded by children's corpses...
Vampires were definitely cruel creatures.
~~~~~~~~
Emmett had to admit that the idea of having a brother who was originally a werewolf sounded rather...
Exhilarating.
If Jacob's words had been true then that meant Jasper would come back being so much more stronger than a newborn. Faster. Perfect to wrestle with.
Still.
While that was one of main interests it wasn't the one thing he thought most about.
What had him concerned was the kind of reaction the Volturi would have if it were to get out word of what he had become. Who he was.
Werewolves were most hated among the Volturi. Had been brought at the edge of extinction because of it.
But the Labonair bloodline...
That was a problematic bloodline. Emmett had read enough about it to know that the Volturi wouldn't hesitate to strike against Jasper if his identity was revealed.
Werewolves saw that bloodline along with the Kenner as royals, meant he could easily built himself an army of werewolves.
Meant the Volturi saw it as a threat that had to be eliminated.
To be honest? Emmett did caught sight of that mark once in the changing lockers at school, but he hadn't paid much mind to it. Some people had birthmarks, some weirder than others, no need to make a big deal out of it.
He never expected that that mark would come to mean so much more decades later.
He had never wished to be a fan of reading as much as when he first heard about the meaning of the mark. Because maybe if he had known what it was, maybe, just maybe, all of this could have been avoided.
No one could be certain of what had been the specific trigger but no one could tell Emmett that the shapeshifters didn't had something to do with it.
Jasper was in the South for decades, surrounded by hundreds of vampires and nothing ever happened.
Then the shapeshifters came into the picture and it all went down the drain. Leah even imprinted on him.
That was still an odd thought. Leah had never been a fan of vampires and then she went and imprinted on one. Her imprinting on Jasper was still something confusing.
But considering that those episodes had already been happening when she imprinted on him maybe, just maybe, he was already starting to change, he was no longer a vampire but a strange mix between a werewolf and a vampire.
Werewolves and wolf shapeshifters were related in an odd sort of way.
On the bright side?
Leah imprinting on him meant that the packs couldn't touch him. It had been the reason for them to not do anything against him, for them to allow searching for a way to fix him.
It had saved Jasper's life.
~~~~~~~~~
Bella found Jasper's absence quite odd if she was being honest with herself. Because while she had never managed to get closer to him she had grown used to seeing Renesmee chasing after him and seeing Alice stuck to his side 70% of the time.
So to see Alice alone and on top of that sulking felt like there was something missing in the universe.
She also had to admit she missed his silent standing in a corner. Sometimes it felt like he liked to judge people in silence which she found quite amusing.
These past weeks had been stressing and God had she felt more impotent than she had since Edward's initial rejection of her pregnancy.
To have to see him so... lifeless. It had been unnerving. And she had felt frustration and anger over not being able to find the pack.
Because he and Alice had gone and risked their lives to help save Renesmee and she couldn't do a damn thing to save their lives. All she could do was watch how he deteriorated and how Alice lost her smile.
And that shouldn't happen.
But the torture had ended.
He was fine now.
And Bella could do nothing but feel great relief at that.
She just hoped the Volturi never found out about this. The Cullens didn't deserve to have to fight for their lives, they should be left alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Renesmee could be a child but she was smarter than what people sometimes gave her credit for.
And she had known that something had been terribly wrong with uncle Jasper, when she had bid her goodbyes to him she had smelt it, such acidic scent had grown stronger.
Plus.
There had been the change in his hair color.
Mother had told her that uncle Jasper was sick and that they would see if they could find the people in Canada that could help him.
But after her family returned he hadn't been anywhere to be seen.
She had asked her parents about him. Wanting to know what had happened. If they had managed to find the help he needed.
Mother had told her that yes, that they had found them, but that uncle Jasper needed to stay with them for a year both because he would be safer there and because he needed to learn things no one but them could teach him.
But he would return.
That didn't meant Renesmee didn't miss him. Uncle Jasper was her favorite. He never treated her like a child and while he liked to avoid her he would still read to her if she asked him to. Would swing her around if she asked him to and when she had been smaller he had let her climb on top of his shoulders. He wasn't much of a talker nor as affectionated as the rest of her family but she still liked him.
And she knew that he liked her too. Even if he didn't said so she knew he didn't dislike her as. He just didn't seem to trust himself near her. Like he was scared of hurting her. Renesmee didn't understand that part that well but she knew he would never hurt her.
Yeah. He could look intimidating but she wasn't scared of him. Not even with all those scars nor with the red eyes. Because he was her uncle and she knew that she would always be safe with her family.
She hoped he returned well.
Because aunt Alice and grandmother looked sad most of the time.
She didn't want them to be sad nor did she want him to be gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Leah never expected that she would feel so much uneasiness and anxiousness over the absence of a bloodsucker. She tried to distract herself with watching over the little pixie and making sure she wouldn't sulk for too long. Dragging her outside if she had to and tagging along whenever Rosalie took her shopping.
She needed to watch over her and make sure she was safe. Jasper hadn't asked her to do this but she felt like she had to for if the pixie got hurt he would be devastated and the last thing she wanted was to have to deal with more unwanted feelings for him.
Yeah. She didn't hate him as much as she used to and part of her hoped for a friendship with him some day, but that didn't meant she liked feeling things because of the bond. It annoyed her to no end to have her feelings towards him dictated by that damn bond.
The elders were still not that on board with the idea of a werewolf-vampire/vaewolf being part of their mist. In a sense at least. Much less one that belonged to the Labonair bloodline.
Because as royals all Labonair were born to lead, it came natural for them, Alphas .
And Leah had seen his attitude when training them. How he held himself and how he spoke.
Taking charge and leading others seemed to come natural to him. Vampires didn't had hierarchies like wolves aside from the leader for every group would always need a leader but still...
The doctor could be their leader but the soldier one was the strongest and his skills were greater. He had planned that battle and their positions with such perfection that there had been no casualties at all aside from that last bloodsucker that broke Jacob's ribs...
Still.
There was no doubt. He had the qualities of an Alpha. Reason she knew it had ticked Sam off so much to be ordered around by him, Leah had to admit she found amusing how much Sam and Jasper seemed to butt heads, much like with Jacob.
Among Alphas there could never be peace. They would always find a way to butt heads.
She found interesting that of him letting the doctor be the leader when it was clear that the man didn't had the skills to protect them. But she guessed that considering how much the Cullens seemed to consider themselves a family rather than a coven it wouldn't matter much the capacity of the leader.
And while she had called bullshit on it in the past she had come to see it during their time in Canada. Had seen their frustration and their desperation to find the pack if that meant saving his life.
They did care about each other.
Not because they had to but because they did.
Like a family.
And maybe, just maybe, this made them different from the blood-sucking monsters.