Author's Note: -laughs- I totally lied! Now it's 'the next chapter will be Bella's reaction'. Promise. There can't be anything else that goes before it.

This one's itty bitty. Just a little blurb so you know what's happening in the house of Cullen.

I'm so, so, so sorry if I didn't review reply to you last chapter. It's not like I had an abundance of them -rolls eyes- but I've been crazy busy and hardly got to stop to read them. Promise, I'll go back and reply to them and the one's from this chapter -fingers crossed- in a couple of minutes. I think you want this first, though.

Chapter Music: Free, Valencia

Chapter Five: Freed

"Oh." Alice gasped, the power of her vision forcing her upright. Jasper ghosted her movements so they sat side-by-side on their bed. Eyes squeezed shut, she watched the southern vampire Bella as she reacted to a new twist. She couldn't believe what she saw.

Jasper had never felt his wife feel so shocked and so happy and so…right. Like the world had finally fallen into place for her. "What's going to happen?"

"Maria's gone." Alice breathed, opening her eyes and watching Jasper's open wide as saucers.

"…Gone? As in…?"

"As in, will be terminated by the Volturi within the day." She watched as Jasper took in the news of the destruction of his creator.

"Gone…" He tested the word in his mouth, as though it was a trap. "She's gone." He said slowly.

His hesitant words stabbed at Alice. He seemed almost upset that she was gone.

But then he was up, fast for a vampire, and the smile on his face was euphoric.

"She's gone, Alice! I'm free. No more will she haunt me." He declared, almost giddy with his relief. He had been freed. "What will happen to her army?"

Alice's face screwed up for a moment before clearing. "Aro will take the one's he likes best and then dispose of the rest." Jasper nodded. This was textbook. Every vampire in the south was taught what would happen if they were foolish and careless.

"What of Bella? Will they take her as well?"

"No, Maria sent her away to talk to Peter and Charlotte. She'll be missed by the Volturi." Alice said, watching as Charlotte and Peter had a lovers spat and Bella leaving, unnoticed, to find her whole world destroyed.

"What will happen to her then? Where will she go?"

"She won't know where to go. She'll almost be destroyed by Nicolette's army as she waits around, looking for purpose. But she'll escape and..." No, Alice thought. "She'll come looking for you. Peter told her about you. She wants to talk to you, but even she doesn't know why."

Jasper's brow furrowed, but suddenly, almost as if he were Alice, he could see the future pan out. He would find Bella, and he would help her adjust to the vegetarian diet. He could help her like he had wanted to all those years ago when Maria was dragging her south.

"No, Jasper. She's dangerous." Alice breathed, seeing Jasper's plan unfurl.

"But don't you see, Alice? She's just like me. We can help her!"

"But she's not like you! You left Maria because you knew what she was doing was wrong! Bella had no choice. She was left homeless by the Volturi." Alice spat at him, but he wasn't going to listen. He was already planning to convene with Carlisle about it, and knowing her father figure, he would agree to Jasper's ludicrous plan. "Jasper," Alice moaned, "you can't! She could hurt you."

Jasper looked at his wife intently. "No more than I could hurt you, love. I'll know what she's feeling. If I feel her becoming unreasonable and hostile, I'll leave. Promise. I'll bring Emmett with me, for backup." He could feel her emotions swaying like a palm tree in an ocean's breeze, but he knew she would agree. She was Alice. Like him to her, she would deny him nothing.

"Emmett and Edward." She said stubbornly.

"Wonderful." He kissed her once on the nose and then again on the mouth. "I need to go talk to them and Carlisle."

Alice sighed as Jasper left the room. She wasn't sure about this at all, but he was determined that it would work out, and she was determined to follow him to the ends of the earth and back.

Author's Note: A couple people asked me when Bella would meet the Cullen's - at least, I'm pretty sure somebody did. I might have hallucinated it, but I really hope not - and here's their answer! A delegation from the Cullen clan! Yay!

Is it hot anywhere else? It's like, mid-thirties in south-west Canada, which is super rare. If I disappear off the face of the planet, it's not because I forgot to post, but because I've melted.

Thanks so much for reading! Stay tuned for Bella's reaction. And it is next, promise!

-Maggie