Hello, all my lovely readers. Before I say anything else, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. As writers yourselves, I'm sure you know just how encouraging receiving reviews for something you've put a bunch of effort into is. It's incredibly gratifying. Which is why I'm uploading this now. I was going to wait a few more day, but your reviews got me excited. ^^

So, in this chapter, you get to see Jasper as I imagined he was. This is not, strictly speaking, Meyer's Jasper. By the time of Twilight, he's had some practice at being civilized. During the time period this story takes place, Jasper is still rough around the edges. He's still a little uncontrolled. And you get to see that this chapter. You also get a taste of just how devastating his gift can be. I hope you enjoy it. And just to reassure you : No Alice's or Edward's were physically harmed during the creation of this story.

I hope you all enjoy. And please review. They mean so much to me. ^^

~Allora

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It was hours later when the vision brushed through my thoughts. Edward had long since given up on playing the piano and I had long since gone up to my room, leaving Jasper with his book on the couch. I was curled up in the center of my bed, thinking about Jasper, about my feelings for him, about the way Edward had understood so easily my predicament, about the way this place already felt like home, how I'd never known what I home had felt like before. About a thousand different things.

Then, suddenly all my worries slipped away and the image of Jasper slid into focus behind my eyes. He sat up straight rather suddenly and closed the book he'd been reading. Then he stood up, glanced around, and headed for the door without so much as a look back. Without a sound, without an explanation for where he was going. Without anything. But I knew where he was going. Because at the same time I saw him walk out the door, in the back of my mind, where my own future had been playing itself out simultaneously, everything went blank. He was leaving. Disappearing into the night like a ghost.

No.

I scrambled off the bed, snatching up my purse as I went and fled for the stairs. I launched myself off the loft just as he was reaching the door. "Wait for me." I pleaded.

"Go back to your room, Alice." He said in a deadened voice as he opened the door.

I sprinted to his side. "Not a chance." I breathed. "I told you, I'll go wherever you go, Jasper."

"Alice," He said more firmly. "I don't want you following me."

I bit my lip to keep the pain of his words at bay. "Too bad." I said stubbornly as I grabbed his wrist. "I told you, if you tried to sneak off that I would latch myself onto you."

He broke my grip easily. "I brought you here safely. You get the future with the Cullen's you always saw, isn't that enough?"

"No." I argued. "I want you more."

"You don't want me." He hissed. " I could never deserve you. You have opportunities here that I could never give you. People here can relate to you in a way I can't. They can love you in a way I can't."

I blinked. "What are you saying? Wait, are you talking about Edward?" I demanded suddenly. The very thought that I could find Edward more appealing than Jasper was laughable. Yes, the boy was attractive, but I had spent the last forty years thinking of him as my brother. There was no way that relationship could morph into anything else. And aside from that, Jasper was perfect for me in so many ways.

"He, at least, could make you happy." Jasper disputed.

"Ha. No, he couldn't. No one could make me happy but you." I said and my tone raised hysterically against my will. Why was he saying this?

"You don't want me." Jasper all but snarled.

"Do I get a say in all this?" Edward called from the second floor railing. He shook his head playfully. "I mean, it is my future too, isn't it, Jasper? Or are you supposed to decide that for me as well as Alice?"

A low growl issued from Jasper's throat. "Have your say, it wont change anything."

"Well," Edward said, leaning casually against the rail with his arms crossed. "I don't want her either." He said disdainfully.

His tone, his dismissal, should have outraged me. It should have shook me to the very core. It should have made me wonder if I was somehow repulsive. But I really couldn't care less. The only person I wanted to want me was Jasper. Edward's opinion didn't matter in the slightest.

An angry snarl ripped from Jasper's chest. "I didn't say I didn't want her." He seethed and anger rolled off him in waves. Fury, even.

I was angry, despite my own rational thoughts. My body felt angry, my breath came heavily and I was gritting my teeth and tensing my muscles, my lips curled into a snarl. But I had no reason to be angry, my rational mind told me. There was absolutely no reason for it in the world. I should be singing. I should be jumping up and down ecstatic and kissing every inch of Jasper that I could reach. Sure, it wasn't as good as an admission that he wanted me, but he didn't not want me. At the moment the two seemed synonymous.

"Jasper, calm down." I said through gritted teeth.

Edward was crouched again, ready to lunge. He laughed a little haughtily. I saw the ghost image a split second before it happened; saw that they were about to launch themselves at each other, tearing at each other's flesh. And for what? Over nothing. I started moving before either of them had even budged, arriving in my preferred destination the same moment they both lunged.

I held out my hands in either direction and tried to make them as immovable as possible, despite my small size. Edward bounced off my outstretched palm, crashing loudly to the ground. But Jasper was far more experienced when it came to dealing with assailants. He brushed my arm out of the way, and forcefully shoved me backwards, a gash opening in my arm as he passed. He'd bitten me. I gasped involuntarily.

The pain . . .

I was at a loss to describe it. I had never felt anything like it before in my existence. It was as if as though my entire arm had been plunged into a wood stove; a furnace; a crematorium. As if as though a thousand bears had suddenly discovered the way to penetrate my skin and were all gnawing on my arm at once. But, of course, I didn't know how that felt. I could only imagine. And even my imaginings fell woefully short. My life had been relatively pain free up to this point. There was nothing for me to compare this to.

The blinding rage blanketing the room slipped away abruptly as Jasper froze less than a foot from where Edward had landed. He looked over his shoulder at me, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Then he abandoned his quarry and rushed to me.

"Alice," He breathed tortuously as he grabbed my arm to examine it. His gentle touch did nothing to sooth the acidic burning in my skin. Directly in the middle of my forearm was a double crescent-shaped lesion. "Oh God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Alice. Do you see now? I can't be around people."

"I'll call it a love bite." I said with a measly attempt at humor through clenched teeth.

"Alice." He snapped in frustration, closing his hand over the wound. "I'm not fit to be around people."

"And I'm not fit to be around anyone but you." I argued. "And if you think I wont follow you if you leave, you haven't learned anything about me."

"I didn't know you could do that, Jasper." Edward said from where he'd landed, watching Jasper's every movement cautiously.

Jasper ignored him and instead a new emotion tinged the air around them. The worst, most horrid, extreme of guilt I could imagine. It saturated every pore of the room, drowned every living molecule in it's too potent agony. It was crushing.

"Jasper." I gasped. "Jasper, I'm okay. I'm fine. I'll be fine." I said. Already the pain was beginning to fade a little. It would go away eventually. I would have a scar, it wasn't really that big of a deal. Obviously, I would survive, Jasper's ravaged body was a shining testament to this fact. His head was bowed, forehead to mine, completely lost in his own personal hell that he was sharing with the rest of us.

Edward's hands clutched to his temples. "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop." He chanted. The guilt was worse than the anger, worse than the pain in my arm. I wondered how much more potent this was for Edward, who not only had to feel Jasper's emotions, but listen to his thoughts as well.

Then Carlisle was there, a comforting hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Son, it's alright." He said soothingly through the pained expression on his face. Carlisle grabbed my arm and gave it little more than a cursory glance. "She'll be fine. She'll be alright."

Esme arrived, pulling Jasper into a hug before leading him to the couch. He moved with them like a zombie, eyes shut, blinded by his own emotions. I doubted he was even aware of where he was. He crumpled onto the couch, burying his head in his hands as Esme and Carlisle sat on either side of him trying to comfort him.

Somehow, despite the guilt that felt like it was crushing me into the ground, I was able to feel pity for him. That he should have to deal with this epic magnitude of emotion was almost unbearable. That he should have such a haunted past when he felt emotions so much more clearly was criminal.

A savage snarl erupted from his chest as the blinding, enraging fury returned. It hit me like a physical force, staggering me back a step. "Don't you dare feel pity for me." He spat, a maddened look in his eyes.

He was completely out of control.

Steeling myself for anything, for the worst, for the distinct possibility that he might bite me again, that he might manage to decapitate me as I had done to the newborn, I dove into his lap. His hands clamped onto my shoulders like vice grips. I ignored the pain as best as I could and took his face in my hands.

"Jasper. Jazz. Please," I pleaded as I kissed his face. "Get a hold of yourself. Please. Control yourself. This is hurting us too."

The mood vacillated back to the suffocating guilt.

"Jasper, calm down." I ordered.

He took a deep breath, eyes squeezed shut, but the guilt, somehow, seemed to intensify. Then he was panting, deep breath after deep breath cutting out of him like sobs and the feeling lessened ever so slowly. It eventually became bearable. Still torturous, but infinitely more bearable than the weight it had been.

He opened his eyes, stared hard at my face for a full second before suddenly pushing me off his lap. I was so startled by his expression, the dead, emptiness in his eyes, that I didn't react. I fell unceremoniously to the floor as he rose and stormed out of the house. Another full second passed as no one moved, then I was scrambling onto my feet.

"Let him go." Carlisle said softly as he pulled me back.

Wild panic rose up inside me. Let him go? Let him go? Impossible. Beyond impossible. It was simply not doable. I couldn't let him go. No physical way on Earth could I let him go. Especially not now that he was hurting so badly. No. No no no no no no no. They didn't understand. Carlisle didn't understand that if I lost Jasper, I lost myself. There was no me without Jasper. He was the core of my existence.

"I can't." I choked out, pulling out of Carlisle's grip and stumbling to the door.

Edward was restraining me next. "Alice, he's going to come back. I promise, he's going to come back. He needs to sort himself out first. He's going to come back." He promised as he pulled me back to the couch to occupy Jasper's recently vacated seat.

"You promise?" I begged through numb lips.

"I promise."

I sank into the cushions and took a deep, shuddering breath. Silence fell as we all tried to reconcile ourselves with our own emotions, rather than the clanging remnants of Jasper's rage and agony.

"Did you know . . . that he could do that?" Carlisle asked eventually. He sounded a little weakened.

I shook my head. "I knew. But I didn't know. He'd only ever used calm moods on me before. I had no idea the degree, how potent, it could be." I muttered. I hadn't really believe him when he'd told me he could turn me into a raging force of nature.

"You didn't tell us. Last night, while we were getting to know each other, you didn't tell us." Esme panted.

"He doesn't like people knowing about other people's gifts." I had noticed this when we'd met up with Peter and Charlotte. He'd been annoyed that I had revealed my ability to them. And I knew why. He didn't like giving up the tactical advantage of surprise. From a military point of view - from Jasper's point of view - where anyone could be an enemy, it was best to have a little something extra tucked up your sleeve that your opponent didn't know about.

"So he's empathic." Carlisle began again. "And he can -"

Edward cut him off. "He can feel each of our emotions and he can override them with his own if he so wishes. I got a good look at . . . his head, his mind there." He said, then flicked his gaze toward me cautiously. "I don't think he should stay. He's dangerous."

I opened my mouth to protest but Carlisle beat me to the punch. "No, he needs our help, not for us to cringe away from him."

"You didn't see what I saw." Edward said firmly, pressingly.

Outrage rose up in me. How could Edward say these things? How could my brother, the first of my siblings to really make me love them, do this to me? Didn't he know, of course he knew, that by banishing Jasper, he was banishing me. Didn't he know that by banishing me, he was condemning me to an eternity of misery? Didn't he know these things? Of course he knew. Of course he did. He was listening right now, the eavesdropping bastard.

"Alice, how many vampires do you think he's killed?" Edward demanded angrily. "Or innocent humans for that matter? Do you have any idea? Gah, I can't get the images out of my head. I can't stop seeing all the children. And he tried to kill me, or did you forget that part?"

I shook my head in denial. There had never been any danger. I had been there to stop it from happening. I was able to circumvent events that might happen. I was able to change them, to change the future. Edward had never been in any danger. My only thoughts now bent to my tortured true love who was out dealing with his excessive emotions right now. Alone.

Edward snarled and shook his head angrily. "You're not omniscient, Alice! You wont be able to stop him every time he snaps. He's a danger to you and to the rest of us. Especially to you. Look at your arm. Do you have any idea how much worse it could have been?"

My eyes traveled slowly, unwilling, to my arms, where they sat limply in my lap. Dead center on my right forearm there were two crystal white, jagged semi-circles etched into my granite skin. It seemed so impossible that, after forty years, nothing had been able to mark me, until now. Until Jasper.

But I couldn't fear him. Edward's threats and warnings fell on deaf ears because death was ultimately preferable to a life where I wasn't with Jasper. I had been scarcely able, barely managing to hold on, to persevere, for the forty some years that it had taken me to find him only because I had hope of finding him. Only because I dreamed of his face so often. Only because I knew he was the one for me and that he was out there, just waiting for me to find him. I couldn't leave him now or let him go. I didn't have the strength to do so even if I'd wanted to. Leave Jasper. Ha. Really, the thought was laughable.

Edward turned away with a frustrated, "Bah!" And stormed into the basement.

We sat. I was numb. Esme pulled me into a tight, comforting embrace. A motherly embrace. I didn't remember my mother. I didn't remember anything of being human, but somehow I knew this was what it would have felt like if I could remember my mother. She would have tenderly held me and let me cry on her shoulder while she assured me it was going to be alright, just like Esme was doing now. But I couldn't remember her. There was no face, no voice in my memory, to associate with this interaction. I knew I was misjudging, I was being irrational, but Esme, suddenly, was my mother. She wasn't acting as a replacement mother, there was no one to replace. It wasn't just Esme and her too large heart taking in another surrogate child. She was my mother. Is my mother.

I collapsed into her embrace, allowed myself to be comforted. It was so strange. So many years alone with only my thoughts and memories to draw comfort from had not prepared me for this. Even Jasper's subtle sympathies had paled in comparison to this. It was as though Esme physically took my pain, my fears, and my worries into herself so I could examine them, poke them, prod them a little, but not have to bear them. She rocked me softly, dry sobs wracking through me. I wished again, had never wished more so in my life, that I was really able to cry. Because these sobs, the most extreme physical manifestation of distress my lifeless body was able to produce, did nothing to convey the magnitude of my fears and pain.

Would Jasper come back? Edward had said so, but Edward didn't want him to come back. Would Edward have lied to me? Would he have deceived me to keep me from going after my one, my only, true love? Would he have? Should I be waiting here, crying in Esme's arms if, even now, Jasper could be fleeing further and further away from me? I should leave now, while his trail was still fresh, and try to catch up to him. But Edward had promised. He'd promised explicitly that Jasper would come back and Edward was a good and honest person. Every vision I'd ever had of him, every word he'd spoken to me had exuded goodness and truth. I had to trust him. And I could still see my future, however faintly, through my distressed emotions. I put my faith in Edward, that he wouldn't destroy me this way, as my sobs began to lessen.

Sobbing, this utter release of emotion, was something I'd never tried before. It was oddly tiring. I was drained. It made my head hurt a little and my breath come in unsteady, almost painful gasps as I began to calm down. Edward had promised that Jasper would come back. He would come back.

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A/N: Sorry if this seems to cut off abrubtly, but despite my efforts to upload this story how it was written, I had to cut this chapter in half, otherwise it would have been like 20 pages long and go right to the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to review. ^^