Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter Nine


Between patrolling the three different districts of Traverse Town and spending some educational time with both Aerith and Merlin, Charlie had been kept busy. Leon was now just a civil individual to Charlie and the two remaining Cullens. He had graciously outfitted Charlie with weapons and all three of them clothes. To Charlie he had given a set of two short swords, of which Charlie was becoming quite adept with.

In fact, Charlie had dropped a short sword on his big toe (handle down) only once. Which was a feat, Charlie had crowed. He had informed both Jasper and Esme that Bella had not gotten her clumsiness from her mother, but in fact from himself.

When he had inquired about why Jasper and Esme were not given weapons, the two Cullens had decided to give Chief Swan a demonstration. Charlie watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth as both Jasper and Esme tore apart a pack of eight heartless. They left him one. As it approached him, intent on sucking his heart out, he took up his right sword calmly and decapitated it without even a glance, his eyes still wide at the two Cullens.

"Wow," was all Charlie was able to muster.

He shook his head now as he thought back to it. That had been a few days prior. Just a few hours after Bella and Rosalie had ran off. Charlie frowned as he thought about his daughter and the blond haired Cullen girl. He poked at his food with a frustrated sigh.

There hadn't been a minute gone by that he had not thought about his daughter. He wondered where she was. If she was safe. Was she eating? Was she taking good care of herself? He didn't know. But he was sure glad that the audacious vampire Rosalie Hale was by her side. She at least would make sure that Bella was fine, right?

Unfortunately, that little detail didn't make him any less angry at Bella.

Charlie slammed his fork down on the table in the kitchen. Both Yuffie and Aerith looked at him curiously, startled. Jasper was patrolling around and Esme was in the company of Merlin.

Why? Charlie thought to himself. He wanted all of his questions answered and he wished that Bella was around to answer them all. Why did she run off?

"When I get my hands on that girl," Charlie muttered under his breath. "She had better have a damn good reason."

"Thinking about Bella?" Yuffie asked with a tilted head.

Charlie grunted before nodding and the height challenged, self proclaimed great ninja smiled.

"Don't worry, Charlie," Aerith said in her serene, breathy voice. "You'll see Bella again. And then you can ground her for the rest of her life."

Yuffie chuckled with Aerith. Charlie was able to muster up a small smile and he nodded his thanks. He could always count on any of the individuals in the safe house to cheer him up. Especially Jasper with his unique gift. And okay, maybe not Leon.

"Alright," Charlie muttered to himself. "I think I should head out and lend a hand to Jasper."

He stood from his seat and took his plate to the sink. After setting it down gently into the sink, Charlie said his farewells to Aerith and Yuffie. They both waved at him as he moved out of the kitchen and to the living room of the safe house. Just as he set a hand on the door knob a gloved hand clapped onto his shoulder. Charlie turned quickly with raised eyebrows.

"You got a moment, Charlie?" Leon inquired with a blank face.

Charlie shrugged before nodding.

"A friend of mine is coming into town from off world," Leon explained with a sigh.

The mustachioed man blinked, his eyebrows raising in surprise. "I didn't even know you had other friends, Leon. Other than Yuffie, Aerith and Merlin."

Leon frowned. "He's more of an acquaintance, really. He's more of a friend to Aerith. I'm going to go meet him at the docks right now."

The young man shook his head. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, it's beside the point. What I'm trying to ask is for you to keep an extra eye out while your out with Hale. The old wizard and I both have confirmed sightings of cloaked men wandering around Traverse."

"Who are they?"

"That's the thing," Leon said dryly. "We don't know. Usually Merlin and I are well aware of who comes to port in order to protect this town from danger, but from what we've seen and confirmed from eyewitnesses…. These cloaked men or women did not come by Gummi Ship. They disappeared from sight into a black portal of sorts."

"Are they heartless?" Charlie asked. He stood straighter and allowed his training from the police force to take over. "Are they dangerous? Armed?"

Leon scratched his head and frowned. "No and yes. And shit, yes.. They most certainly are not heartless. Heartless don't retain their physical human bodies when their hearts are taken. But they are dangerous, that's for sure. And sure as hell armed."

Charlie leaned up against the wall and nodded. "So proceed with caution is what you're saying."

Nodded, Leon crossed his arms and his face suddenly turned angry. "Exactly. I tried to go talk to one of them and the next thing I know the guy is flinging a fire chakra at my ass."

Leon stalked out of the safe house abruptly, still angry. He hadn't waited for any response from Charlie. Charlie chuckled and followed him out. He watched as Leon walked away into the night and he chuckled some more. In Charlie's opinion, it was about time someone tried to knock Leon down on a peg or two. That young man was just too self-righteous for his own good.

There was nothing like a good cold can of whoop-ass to knock some sense into a person.


"You little bastard," Jasper growled as he reached for the flying heartless.

With the other hand, he grabbed a hold of the heatless' head and snapped it completely off in quick succession. The little monster gave no indication of pain or alarm, although it did give out a little squeak. He looked around the alley in satisfaction and he allowed a casual sideways smirk to adorn his pale face.

The alley, which was directly behind the 2nd District Inn, was finally devoid of heartless. There was no hide nor hair of a heartless anywhere in his immediate line of sight. For now anyways. Those little bastards always found a way to come back. Jasper actually didn't mind. All the time that it took to exterminate the heartless was helping him take his mind off of his missing family members.

And as of a couple of days ago his sister Rosalie was considered among the missing. But unlike his other family members it had been entirely her own decision to disappear off of the world known as Traverse Town. And Bella's, as well.

He still had the letter that Rosalie had written. It was in the back pocket of the dark wash jeans that Leon let him borrow. Apparently he and Charlie also shared the same size in clothes with the broody man.

The letter had been sent along with a moogle. A moogle, Jasper found out, was a little creature with the ability to float. They had the uncanny ability to concoct certain aids; such as battle aids, potions, ethers and so on. And on top of that, they looked just so darn cute and cuddly.

Esme's words, not his. But he sure couldn't help being completely submersed in Esme's lovey-dovey emotions when she had first caught sight of a moogle.

The next moment he knew, Jasper had thrown himself into Esme's motherly embrace. He had a satisfied smile on his face as he leaned his head on her shoulder, Esme then directing her coos on him. Of course, once the letter was delivered and read…. All the lovely fuzzy feelings just went down the drain.

And then he quickly extricated himself from his mother's embrace. As manly as he could, of course. And he was also relieved that Emmett was not there to witness any of it.

With a quick and gentle hand, Jasper withdrew the letter from his back pocket. It was crinkled and dirty in some place. Not to forget that the creases from the constant folding and unfolding of the paper were an indication that it was well read.

I'm going to tag along with Bella. She had some kind of thing to do off world. Supposedly.

Don't worry. I'll keep a sharp eye on the klutz. Take care of Esme and Charlie, Jasper. And keep an eye out for Emmet, Carlisle, Alice and that penny-haired son of a bitch. We'll see you guys when we see you.

Rose

Sighing, Jasper kicked a small pebble with his foot. Aided by his vampiric strength the little pebble shot off into the darkness with the speed of a bullet.

"Jesus!"

Jasper watched as a startled Charlie Swan stumbled out of the shadows. The man in his late thirties clutched a hand to his bleeding left forearm. Charlie was cursing loudly as he approached Jasper.

"Watch what your doing next time!" Charlie said loudly. "You nearly took my eye out! Look!"

Charlie took his hand off of the wound caused by the pebble that Jasper had kicked. It was a bleeding graze, though it looked like it was slowly down from the pressure that Charlie had applied.

Taking a step back and averting his eyes, Jasper swallowed a gulp of venom at the sight of Charlie's warm and glistening blood. He took a breath and thanked goodness that the scent was no longer tempting.

Even though his throat seemed to no longer burn that didn't mean that he still wasn't tempted. The sight of blood still made him uneasy.

Not to forget that he hadn't eaten in a while… Okay, so technically it had only been a few days. Jasper had certainly gone days, hell he had gone weeks without feeding before he began to feel twitchy with the need to attack the closest human for sustenance. But with the absence of more than half of his family, including his mate, Jasper's anxiety was recently tying in with his thirst. And it was taking a toll on him.

Jasper glanced at Charlie's wound briefly before he turned away and forced a chuckle. "It's no where near your eye, Charlie."

Whipping a handkerchief out of his pocket, Charlie wrapped it around his wound. He used his teeth to tie it tightly.

"I was scratching my head at the time, Jazz."

"My bad, man," Jasper drawled, his Texas accent peaking out for a second.

Charlie suddenly shrugged and took the moment to look around the alley. "Eh, it's okay, I guess. I've certainly had worse scrapes. Hey, have you seen anyone or thing suspicious around lately?"

"Apart from the heartless," said Jasper with a wave of his hand. "I haven't seen a single suspicious thing. Or any people either."

They both began walking toward the front of the Inn. There was a wall of boxes that blocked their way, but with a few lugging and pushing they made it through. They both made sure to push them back tot heir previous places.

As they walked toward the door that lead to the 3rd District, Charlie clapped a hand on Jasper's shoulder.

"Leon said something interesting a while ago."

Jasper smirked. "When does he not say something interesting?"

His mustache twitched, but Charlie held in his chuckle. "Actually, this was something much more important than a 'fuck off' from him. He told me that the locals had seen some suspicious looking men running around town."

"Really?" Jasper asked with raised eyebrows.

Charlie nodded. "They are armed and dangerous. Or so he tells me. Oh, and they supposedly travel through these black portal things."

The blond vampire sucked in an unnecessary breath and his eyes hardened. Jasper was remembering the black gooey portal that had sucked him and the rest of his family into it's depths.

"Black portals? Are they related to the heartless?"

"Supposedly no," Charlie answered as he gave the 2nd District square a quick look about. "But really, I don't know."

As they were walking down the brick steps that led to the two fountains, Jasper stiffened. Charlie continued to walk forward unknowingly. The human man stopped in surprise at the bottom of the steps with a sigh. He had finally noticed that his vampire companion was no longer beside him and he looked back up the steps.

"What?" Charlie asked as he witness the strange look on Jasper's face.

"Do you smell that?" Jasper asked quickly, breathing in deeply.

Eyes widening, Charlie shook his head. "Hey. It wasn't me. What's that teen saying? Whoever smelt it, dealt it."

Jasper rolled his eyes vehemently and resisted the urge to growl at Bella's father. He breathed in deeply again and closed his eyes.

There were six different scents in the air. All of them were familiar, except for one. He could most definitely pick out Leon. After spending so much time with the man patrolling the districts, Jasper was now much too familiar with the man's scent to be comfortable.

One of the scents, he was most certainly not familiar with. It was a man, most definitely. Jasper took another whiff to get himself reacquainted with the four other scents. And he gasped loudly.

"Oh, God!" Jasper cried out loudly.

Charlie, who was beginning to look startled, looked at him weirdly. "What?"

A huge grin spread out over Jasper's face and he laughed loudly.

"It's them!" he said joyfully. "They're here!"

"Who?" Charlie asked, looked utterly bewildered as he glanced left and right. "Who's here!"

Jasper's grin was joyous and filled with adoration.

"Alice," he said adoringly. "Alice, and my Father."

Charlie watched as Jasper took another deep breath. His vampire companion was enjoying the lovely scent that was Alice, his petite wife. A contagious grin appeared on Charlie's face and the mustachioed man clapped a hand onto Jasper's shoulder.

"That's great!" Charlie crowed.

"I think I can track them from this position," Jasper said with his everlasting grin. "It's a very fresh scent."

"That's fantastic!"

Jasper nodded, but then his grin suddenly disappeared with his next intake of unnecessary breath.

"Oh… They're here, too."

Once again, Charlie was completely confused. Though this time his confusion was stained with annoyance. Jasper flinched at the human man's strong emotions.

"What?" Charlie asked. "Who else is here, now?"

"Emmett," Jasper grimaced at the thought of his muscled brother. It was not exactly the thought of his brother, but the thought of explaining to Emmett where his wife's whereabouts were.

Charlie, who seemed to have caught on without any help from the blond vampire, mirrored his expression. Jasper's face suddenly fell into sadness. His brother Emmett was a spontaneous man-pire who was ruled by his emotions. There was no telling how the burly Emmett would react at the news.

"Well," Charlie muttered under his breath. "At least it's not your other… brother."

Having froze at Charlie's mutterings, Jasper blanched. If it was possible, and it seemed that it was, he was even much more pale than before. Unfortunately for Jasper, Bella had inherited her observational skills from her father and Charlie had been watching him closely.

"Please tell me he isn't here," the former Forks police chief begged, a dark look on his face.

Charlie rubbed his face with both of his hands. He looked haggard as he stared at Jasper at the top of the steps. Jasper walked down slowly, trying as hard as he could not to expose the truth via his gift.

"I'm going to kill him, Jasper," Charlie said quietly, his expression once again dark. "You realize that, don't you? I'm going to kill your brother."

Jasper sighed and he closed his eyes. He wrinkled his nose at Charlie's ridiculous notion of killing Edward. They were vampires after all, and Charlie was only a mere mortal. He held back a snort at the thought of Charlie trying to throttle a perfectly fine and barely fazed Edward.

"Is he here, Jasper?"

Jasper nodded curtly. "Eh, yeah. He's here, Charlie."

He finally opened his eyes at the sound of Charlie gnashing and gritting his teeth in anger. Jasper did his best to push some calmness onto the man without being found out.

"Find him!" Charlie suddenly barked out, the police chief appearing. "Do your vampire do-hickey shit and find him!"

Taking another gulp full of air, Jasper narrowed in on the wonderful scent that belonged to his Alice. At human pace he began to follow the trail. They seemed to be leading to the 3rd District entrance door and Jasper hoped that he had caught the scent soon enough that they had not gone through.

He just couldn't wait for the moment that he would be able to hold his wife again. And to kiss her and feel her soft skin on his. Jasper knew that it only been maybe half a week, but it certainly felt like a lifetime. The traumatic circumstances had made the separation all the worse.

As Jasper neared the dark alley way that lead to the door that was the entrance way to the 3rd District, he stopped in his tracks. A new smell was beginning to override his senses. It was the scent of smoke and oddly, it was also the smell of… nothing.

This smell of absolute nothingness baffled Jasper. Everything had a smell! Even water had a distinct smell! How could there ever be a smell of absolute nothing?

Jasper stopped before stepping into the dark alley way and peered into it's depths with narrowed eyes. He felt the soft stumbled of the human man behind him. Charlie, who had been caught off guard by Jasper's abrupt stop had bumped into him.

"Why did you stop?" snapped Charlie.

The vampire snapped his teeth at the human. Charlie was startled not only by the sound of the sharp teeth snapping together, but at the look of Jasper's face. It was an intimidating predator look. It was the look that a lion took when it was watching it's prey from it's hiding place in the overgrown grass.

Jasper's eyes, which had previously been a dark golden color, were now black and dilated to their maximum extent.

Charlie remembered back to when he had first found out about the Cullens being vampires. Jasper had been the one to explain all the interesting details to him. Everything from how strong they were to what kind of blood they drank. Animal blood, Charlie was relieved to find out.

What had presently surprised Charlie was when Jasper had decided to share his and Alice's history with him. Jasper had made sure that Charlie knew his history in the southern vampire wars. And it was from that long conversation that Charlie knew that the Jasper he knew was no longer in his presence.

Nope. The Major had come to the forefront.

"What do you see with your human eyes, Chief?" the Major asked him, his voice deep and gravely.

Charlie took a deep breath and looked into the alley that lead to the 3rd District door. All he saw was complete darkness.

"Nothing," Charlie answered. "I don't see a damn thing. It's dark."

"Yes," the Major growled. "That is what I also see. Which is peculiar, Chief, because with my superior eye sight I should be able to see the brick and wood of the walls clearly. But I don't. All I see is unnatural darkness."

Jasper made a jerking gesture with his hand that looked oddly military. Charlie took it as a signal to stay. And he wasn't about to protest… But then again, Charlie wasn't about to leave his friend's side either. If shit went down Charlie would feel better watching Jasper's back. He watched as Jasper slowly walked into the dark alley and he followed closely after him.

With a hand, Jasper felt for the walls. He was met with the reassuring wood of the right alleyway wall. His teeth were bared as he walked at human pace into the alley. Jasper was pretty sure that he was nearing the bend of the alley that would take him to the right and then right to the 3rd District door, but at the sound of hurried footsteps he stopped.

Charlie was directly behind him, annoyingly so, but it had not been his footsteps. No, these footsteps were further down the alley and nearer to the 3rd District door. He decided to utilize his superior hearing.

"What are you doing?" he heard a male's voice hiss out in exasperation.

It was a familiar voice, but with the hiss Jasper was unable to identify it. The next voice that spoke up was much more familiar. It was so familiar that Jasper grinned suddenly at the sound of it.

"We have to face our destiny sooner or later, Edward," he heard his Alice say loud and clear. Well, at least to his vampire hearing. "I know better than anyone that if you hold off destiny longer than necessary, then destiny comes to find you. And frankly, I would rather meet destiny on my own terms."

It was his love! His mate! And, it was also Edward. Jasper was also happy to know that his brother was also alright.

Before he could even bound forward and turn the corner that was just a little ways away from them, another voice spoke up. A voice that did not belong to his wife or brother.

"Those were some wise words."

Jasper froze and then shrunk down into a crouch. He bared his teeth as he watched two black cloaked individuals walk out of the unnatural shadows. Charlie sucked in a breath as he too watched.

"I might just memorize them."

When the man was shy of ten feet from Edward and Alice, he stopped. The other person, who was wearing a similar black robe and hood stayed behind, just barely visible in the shadows. This person struck a very bored pose. Jasper could here the bore individual muttering under his breath with a whine.

"Aw, man," the bored sounding man muttered. "I just want to go home already and fiddle with my sitar. I don't want to do this now."

Jasper sucked in a breath as he tried to get some kind of emotional signal on the two men. Alarmingly, he felt nothing. The blond haired vampire began to worry. Was he losing his power? No, he could feel Charlie, Edward and Alice. But then why couldn't he feel the emotions of these two?

"Lookie what we got here, Demyx," the one that was closer to Edward and Alice spoke up. "We have ourselves some vampires. You know, I've been itchin' for a fight lately and I've never taken out vampires before."

They all tensed at the man's words. Edward and Jasper growled simultaneously. The two unknown individuals, including Edward and Alice backed up as they turned at the sound of Jasper.

"Then why don't you fight me instead," Jasper growled even louder as he stepped out of the shadows to approach the two emotionless men.

Edward and Alice gasped in delight at the sight of Jasper and then Charlie, who walked out right behind him. Before she could spring forward to her husband, Edward's arms wrapped around Alice's waist.

"What are you doing?" Edward hissed in his sister's ear. "I'm happy to see them too, but I can't just let you walk between these two unprotected. You could get hurt!"

The one of the two who was looking for an alley brawl threw his head back and hooted loudly. He slapped a hand onto his thigh in what appeared to be excitement and amusement. Jasper gritted his teeth. He still couldn't feel any emotion from them. The seemingly unenthusiastic of the two, apparently named Demyx sucked in a breath at the new development.

"Aw man," Demyx groaned and began to talk to himself under his breath. "There's too many of them now… Erg, I'm going to have to fight now. I told them I'm not cut out for the fighting. This isn't my kind of thing."

The excited one laughed again before he stretched his two arms away from him. In a startling, and impressively unreal explosion of fire, two silver and bright red chakras appeared in his hands. It was like nothing any of them had ever seen before. Except maybe in video games or movies. He twirled them around and then another laugh erupted from his mouth.

Growling under his breath, Jasper furrowed his brow in frustration. Even though he couldn't feel their emotions, the way they both acted was so over dramatic and almost felt - fake.

"Are you ready for me then, Blondie?" the chakra wielding man asked with amusement and taunt dripping from his voice.

At the initial sight of the fire chakras, the four took a step back. Charlie, Jasper, Edward and Alice. Recognition came to Charlie as the conversation with Leon at the safe house replayed.

"It's him," Charlie hissed to Jasper. "This is the guy who Leon got in a fight with and apparently almost got one of those fire thingies shoved in his ass."

Jasper gave no signal that he had heard the human man behind him, but he had indeed. And he was more than worried. The demonstration that this weird man in a black clothing had most certainly intimidated him. Not only that but with the added strike of not being able to decipher their emotions was sinking his confidence.

This man apparently gave off no emotions.

He could also wield flying chakras of fire.

Fire.

The one substance that could obliterate a vampire into mere ashes. This had not failed to register in the minds of the three vampires. Alice especially, as she watched with wide eyes and a trembling lower lip.

"I said, are you ready for me?" the fire wielder asked Jasper once again. "I'm not going to ask anymore."

Jasper gave the man a fast and jerky nod, but then he froze as Demyx took an unexpected step backwards into the shadows, disappearing altogether.

"Sorry, Axel," Demyx said to the man, sounding over apologetic, though still not giving off the tell tale emotion. "But I'm going to have to bail. I'm going back to Oblivion, man."

Axel turned and made a whining noise. "Hey!"

Just as soon as Axel turned, Jasper heard a rustle of movement from behind him. Then he heard a 'whoosh' of air and watched as a half blade spun past his head. Charlie's blade, Jasper realized at the last moment.

Just as Axel turned back the blade sliced into the flesh of his upper arm. Jasper grinned viciously and he turned to give Charlie an approving and grateful glance.

Axel gave out an exclamation of shock and he covered his wound with a black gloved hand. The same way his chakras had appeared, they disappeared and his hood fell as he grumbled angrily.

His hair was red, spiky, but long. It fell just below his shoulders. His eyes were green and there were red tattoos under his angry eyes.

"Since my… associate decided to runoff on me and leave to an uneven fight," Axel said loudly. "I'm going to have reschedule this little pow-wow."

With a hand over his wound Axel began to walk backward into the shadows his eyes glancing to all four of them. When they met the topaz eyes of Jasper, the vampire growled and contained his surprise.

His green eyes, though bright and a lovely shade, were totally empty of any kind of emotion.

"You all better watch yourselves," Axel grinned. "You never know when my pretty face just might pop back up for a visit. Got that memorized?"

With another step back, he was gone and with him, the shadows. The unnatural darkness receded and the soft light of the coming from a lamp post finally illuminated the brick and cobble stone of the alley. They all stood as still as statues for a moment before Charlie took a much need breath. And just like that, the feeling of danger was gone.

Edward immediately let go of the grip he had on his sister. Alice streaked forward until she was a mere five feet away from her love. Jasper watched as her lower lip quivered and her eyes filled with venom tears that would never fall.

Jasper took a step forward and closed the gap, their chests just inches from one another as he brought a hand up to her chin. With his thumb, he caressed her quivering lower lip.

"These days apart have been torture, my love," he murmured, his voice deep with emotion as he soaked up hers with his power.

Alice suddenly threw herself into his arms with a sob. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs went around his waist as she buried her face into his chest, sobbing her little heart out.

"There now, darlin'," he murmured into her ears, kissing every part of her head and face he could reach. "I'm here now. We're together again. I love you, Alice."

Her sobs grew louder. "I-I love y-you, Jasp-per. So m-much."

Jasper looked up and sought out the gaze of his brother. Edward walked toward them at human pace with a smile, his eyes suspiciously bright. With one arm holding Alice as close as he could have her to him, Jasper used his arm to beckon his brother forward.

With little Alice between them, Jasper and Edward shared a manly 'bro hug'.

"It's good to see you, brother," Jasper grinned, setting his chin atop his wife's head.

Edward returned his brother's grin and he opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it grimly. His eyes locked with something over Jasper's shoulder and Jasper turned curiously before he swore under his breath.

Charlie stood behind him, his eyes blazing with anger. Jasper could feel in undulating from the man. It looked to Jasper like the human man couldn't decide what to do. Would Charlie outright attack Edward? Or would he try to talk to his brother beforehand?

The instant and instinctive urge to calm Charlie with his power came to his mind, but he beat it down. There was no doubt in his very being that whatever the Chief had in mind, his brother thoroughly deserved it.

Edward gave him a quick glare, before he turned back to Charlie.

He looked quickly between the chief of Forks and his mind reading brother, Edward. With his arms still wrapped around his wife, who was still clinging to him like a baby koala, Jasper began to walk to the 3rd District door.

"I'll just be leaving you two gents to talk amongst yourselves, then," Jasper spoke up.

In all honesty, Jasper was fighting the instinct to stay, support and possibly defend his younger brother. Even though that he knew realistically that Edward would be able to defend himself thoroughly against Bella's protective and furious father. But he also knew that it was going to be a private moment that he had no business in intruding on.

Alice lifted her pretty little head from his chest and tipped it back as they passed through the 3rd District Door. She kissed his chin tenderly, her eyes half-lidded.

"They'll be fine," she assured him with her tinkling voice. "They just need to have a long … err, loud talk."

Jasper nodded, his eyes darkening at the feel of her soft lips on his skin. He swooped down and attacked her soft mouth with his own. Alice purred in his mouth and sighed once they withdrew from each other, her bottom lip still between Jasper's.

"I'm going to take you to the safe house now," Jasper whispered against her lips, not wanting to ever part from her. "Esme is there, along with a few decent others. New friends."

Smiling Alice nodded, before her eyes glazed over. He frowned at her glassy eyed stare before it completely disappeared and was replaced with adoration for him.

"Carlisle and Emmett are there, also," grinned Alice, happily. "Our friend, his name is Cloud Strife, brought us to this world from another. He is friends with a man named Leon, and Leon has lead them to the safe house. We should hurry!"

Jasper grinned at the prospect of finally reuniting with the rest of his family. With a jerk of his chin he pointed out a large house just fifteen feet away from them.

"We're already there, my darlin'."

As soon as they were in the doorway of the safe house, Alice was grabbed out of his arms. Esme held Alice tightly in her grasp, stroking her spiky hair. Both of them sobbed, clutching tightly to each other.

"Oh, Alice," Esme sobbed tearlessly, "Oh, my girl, I'm so happy to have you all back."

Behind them, Carlisle watched them with a smile on his face. Jasper watched as the Cullen family patriarch approached him. He automatically stood up straighter and held his head up high, it was as if he were about to be evaluated by a commander in the armed forces.

"Jasper," Carlisle said softly, laying a hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm very proud of you, son. You did a wonderful job looking after your mother. Including Bella and your sister, even though they are unfortunately not among us at the moment."

He could feel the pride radiating off of his father figure, but Jasper couldn't help but let his own disappointment in himself over shadow it when he caught a glimpse of his burly younger brother. Emmett sat on the living room couch, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Jasper was suddenly brought back to attention when Carlisle took hold of his chin.

"I'll have none of your guilt or sadness, young man," Carlisle said sternly to him, looking his dead straight in the eye. "I will start off by saying to you, that it was not your fault -"

"I could have stopped them," Jasper butted in loudly, his face breaking from his normally calm façade to one of internal despair. "I could have gone after Bella first and brought her back, but the sun was out and I feared exposure, but Rosalie… She didn't care. She was thinking about Bella and she went off after her, while I waited for the sun to go down…"

Emmett was suddenly on his feet. In a flash he was nose to nose with Jasper, his teeth bared and his eyes dark from anger.

"So, in other words, you were being a pussy," Emmett growled, ignoring Esme gasp at his language. "You let my wife run off after Edward's mate, because you were too chicken shit to get sparkly in front of the natives?"

Jasper growled, unable to stave off the anger that was now consuming him from Emmett. "I was worried about our exposure, Emmett! Even if we are on another planet vampires are of the unknown to many of Traverse Town's inhabitants. If we had been exposed we probably would have been fed to the Heartless! Rosalie wasn't thinking it through when she went off after Bella like that."

Growling even louder, venom dripping down his chin, Emmet made to make a move. But before they could come to blows, the family patriarch was between them in an instant. Carlisle had one hand on Jasper's shoulder and the other on Emmett's, keeping them away with as much strength as he could muster up without hurting either one of them.

"That is enough," Carlisle said sternly to them. "I think we should all just calm down before we say things that we say or do things we will regret."

Esme nodded and looked approvingly toward her husband. "Your father is right, boys. We should all just sit down and talk this - Emmett wait!"

With a flash Emmett was out of the safe house. They all stared out the gaping door for a moment before Carlisle broke the silence with an unneeded sigh. He raked a hand through his blond hair before he spoke.

"I'm going to have to go find him…"

"No," Jasper objected immediately. "I'll do it."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow at his blond son. "I really don't believe that would be a bright idea, son."

"It's okay," Alice suddenly spoke up for the first time. She was still in her mother's arms as she smile. "It'll be alright if Jasper goes."

Jasper was out of the safe house in a flash. Alice smiled as both Carlisle and Esme both gave her inquisitive looks.

"Are you positive?" Carlisle asked, sounding just a tad bit worried. "I don't think I'll fancy walking outside of this house to find half the town in ruins because of their fighting, my dear."

Shaking her head, Alice smiled again. "No, nothing like that will happen, Dad. They just need a brother to brother talk."


"I'll just be leaving you two gents to talk amongst yourselves, then," Jasper said before he went through the door that had the large golden '3' beside it.

Edward still had his eyes trained on Charlie, Bella's father. He couldn't help the flinch as Charlie had made the sudden move. Surprisingly, Edward had not picked upped any of the man's thoughts, only images. And he flinched again as he realized that they were all of Bella.

He watched as Charlie walked over to where the strangers had been and picked up the blade he had thrown.

"Err, that was a nice throw," Edward spoke up with a hesitant and nervous smile. "You really saved our asses there."

Charlie looked at him again and Edward diverted his gaze. It was the wrong thing to do. The bronze haired vampire heard a familiar 'whoosh' and he looked up in time to see the exact same blade flying for his face. With a gasp he ducked just in time. He then turned in time to see the blade lodge itself in the wood of the door behind him.

"Are you crazy, Charlie?" Edward burst out, looking at the former police officer incredulously.

The older looked man suddenly began to chuckle, a strange glint in his eyes. Edward watched the man with wide eyes as he slowly began to walk toward him. All the while, he was also delving into the depths of the man's thoughts, trying to get some kind of semblance of rationality if Charlie was going to do what Edward thought he was about to do.

He had to try to talk him out of it. He raised his hands up in surrender.

"Charlie? Err, I think you should keep a safe distance from me… Just to be safe."

Charlie suddenly stopped and stared at him. "You really don't know what this is all about, do you? You're honestly unaware?"

Edward nodded slowly. "I really am confused as to what I did to provoke your anger, Charlie. To my knowledge I did nothing to you in the past."

"You really are dense for a vampire, aren't you?" Charlie blurted out in disgust.

Edward tensed. "You know what I am?"

"Yeah, kid. It was explained to me on the first day I came to this world," Charlie informed him loudly. "Now answer me this. Why did you do what you did?"

Looking puzzled once again, Edward was suddenly assaulted with the memory of his love once again. Bella was sitting on a couch beside Esme. She was talking to them all about what had transpired in forest between herself and him. Edward bit his lip and looked torn.

"Do you mean," Edward spoke quietly. "Why did I hurt Bella the way I did?"

Charlie nodded.

"You know what I am, Charlie. What my entire family is. We're monsters, Charlie. I couldn't let Bella continue to endanger herself in our midst. I had to let her go and I knew that she would never do so willingly… So I had to push her away in the harshest way I could to ensure that she would in fact let us go."

Bringing his topaz gaze up to Charlie's, Edward watched Bella's father watch him. Charlie snorted and looked at him bewildered.

"That's the best excuse that you could come up with?" Charlie angrily asked. "That you're a monster?"

"I'm a vampire, Charlie! We drink blood!"

"Animal blood! You drink animal blood!"

"That does not mean that we're not tempted by human blood on a daily basis, Charlie!" Edward argued. "Did Bella tell you nothing more than our break up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Her birthday, Charlie. Something happened on her birthday."

Charlie narrowed his eyes.

"While Bella was opening a present, she got a paper cut. Jasper, who has not been living our vegetarian lifestyle as long as the rest of the individuals in our family, lunged at her."

Charlie was looked speechless, but he somehow found his voice. "Jasper? No, I-I've been around him this whole time and he's never gave me any intention that he wanted to err… suck my blood."

"No," Edward shook his head. He felt guilty for ratting out his brother like so, but he also knew that Charlie had the right to know what had transpired on that day. "He doesn't want to feed from you. From any human. It's just our natural instinct, Charlie. I hope you don't think badly of Jasper or treat him any differently because of what I've told you."

"Of course not. I think the world of Jasper. Of all you kids."

"Then you do know that I am older than you, right Charlie?" Edward chuckled. "I'm not a kid, as you put it."

Charlie scoffed. "You and your brother and sisters will always be kids to me. As long as you keep on looking so young, which coincidently, will be forever."

Gulping at the piercing gaze of Charlie Swan, Edward nodded. He was not all bothered by that. After so many decades of posing as a teenager, moving to different towns and attending high school from sophomore year to senior year, he was actually used to being acknowledged as such.

"Are you going to give me a proper explanation, yet?" Charlie asked with a frown on his face.

Edward sighed vehemently and just as he was about to open his mouth and explain to Charlie, the door behind him opened. Emmett barged out of the door and ran straight into him with a thunderous bang. They both fell to the ground in a heap as the door opened once again. Jasper came from the door next. He tripped over their feet and fell on top of them with a yelp. Charlie fell to his knees and wheezed with laughter, clutching his side.

"AAHAAAHAAA!"

"Emmett, get the hell off me, you buffoon!"

"Dude, my balls!"

Jasper sprang to his feet and helped his brothers up one by one.

"What the hell were ya'll doing on the floor?"

"Edward was in the way of the damn door," Emmett grumbled, holding his balls tenderly. "What the hell were you doing in front of the door anyway, Ed?"

"I was having a conversation with Charlie," Edward growled. "And don't call me Ed."

Charlie, who finally caught his breath looked at both Jasper and Emmett. "Why the heck were you two flying out of that door like bats out of hell?"

Emmet looked away, while Jasper looked toward him.

"I'm sorry, Emmett," Jasper said quietly. "I'm apologizing for what I said."

Shaking his head, Emmett finally looked at him. "Naw man. I should apologize. I shouldn't have tried to stick the blame on you. It's not your fault that my Rosie and Bella are gone."

Edward looked sympathetically at Emmett and then looked toward his blond brother. "Emmett is right for once, Jasper. It's not your fault that both Rosalie and Bella are - Wait, WHAT? They're GONE!"

Jasper sighed and rolled his eyes at Charlie.

"Here we go again," he said.


A/N: Again, I am without internet. Please review! - JMMendiola