A/N: And Lynyrd is on a roll! It's amazing how much more writing I can get done when I don't have hockey practice to get to… I miss hockey- and I've only been done a day! Sits and stares ahead trying not to cry Okay, now that that's over, we can continue. There will only be one or two more chapters plus the epilogue after this. Once again, I'm hoping to get this story done before next Monday, so updates should be fairly constant. I'll probably be writing a third one, but it won't be up for two or three weeks because of my trip to the Dominican. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please enjoy:

Fourteen. Drowning On Dry Land

"The Volturi are planning on killing Jasper for treason- would you care to tell us why?"

I stared at Alice with horrified shock.

Jasper… Killed… Treason…

"No," I whispered, my voice hardly audible.

"Yes," snarled Alice. "And I would like to know why! Demetri told us that he had helped a convict escape from the dungeon. What is going on Bella?"

I didn't answer, instead I felt my legs give out and I stared at the floor in front of me, trying to understand what I had just been told.

"Bella?" I heard Edward's soft voice, and I felt his hand under my chin as he forced me to look at him. "What happened? Rose came back all worried because you had given her the slip, and now Jasper's been arrested. What happened?"

"I did something very stupid," I whispered. "And now Jasper's paying for it."

I heard Alice snarl, and she was next to Edward, glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

"What did you do?" she hissed. "You were blocking my powers- that's why I didn't see this. So what. Did. You. Do?"

"The convict that Jasper helped free… his name's Andrew. He's a werewolf- Tiaaza's werewolf lover to be exact. Jasper and I heard him getting tortured… and then I managed to get into the dungeons… and I couldn't leave him there!" I sobbed, but continued to speak. "I-I got away f-from R-Rosalie so that I could g-get him out. N-no one e-else was s-s-supposed to get i-involved, but J-Jasper found u-us. He was sneaking A-Andrew out and I-I was supposed to get T-Tiazza, but they m-must've been caught!"

I stared down at my hands, unable to meet Edward and Alice's eyes.

"Why did you have to get involved?" snarled Alice. "Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone? He was a werewolf- who cares about werewolves?"

My head snapped up and I glared at her.

"I can't believe you just said that!" I replied. "You didn't hear his screams. You didn't see Tiazza's face when she thought about him. I couldn't walk away- what was going on wasn't right!"

"So you had to play hero!" shrieked Alice. "And now my husband is about to be killed."

I turned my gaze away from her, unable to meet her gaze. My eyes landed on Edward, who looked away, his topaz eyes hurt.

"You promised Bella," he whispered. "What kind of a relationship do we have if we can't even trust one another?"

I felt as if he had slapped me. I gazed at him silently for a moment, then I realized what I had to do and looked away.

"Not much," I replied. I looked at Alice, not saying anything. I watched as she stiffened- obviously getting a vision.

"Bella," she whispered. "I'm mad at you- but you can't do that. It's suicide. They'll kill you."

"Probably," I agreed. "But better me than Jasper."

"Bella-" Edward began, having obviously read Alice's mind. His eyes were terrified.

"I love you Edward," I told him. "And I'm sorry I broke my promise- but I couldn't ignore it, either. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. If I could go back in time, I would still do what it… of course, I'd make sure Jasper wasn't involved- but I'd still do it."

His eyes were pained and terrified as he gazed at me. My eyes were sad as I looked back.

"Don't do this Bella," he begged. "Please."

"What exactly are you planning to do?" asked Emmett. "Because while you three are having this conversation, the rest of us are all kind of left out of the loop."

"She's planning to give herself up in Jasper's place," replied Alice.

"Bella!" gasped Esme. "You can't do that."

"I've made up my mind," I replied shortly, spinning around to leave.

Edward beat me to the door.

"Bella- do you really think Jasper would want you to do this?" he demanded. "Do you really think he'd want you to give up your life for his?"

"I don't know what Jasper would want," I replied. "Since he's about to be killed and isn't here- which is entirely my fault. I won't let him die Edward, not after every thing he's done for me."

"So you'll get yourself killed instead?"

I closed my eyes to try and get control of my raging emotions. When I felt I was once more in control, I looked up into Edward's eyes.

"I'm sorry Edward. I love you," I said, pulling him down to give him a kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to his body, kissing me back hard. I tried not to think about how this was going to be our last kiss, concentrating instead on the feeling of his hard body against mine. When we finally broke apart, I smiled up at him sadly. "Try to move on- for me."

"Bella-" he began.

But I was already gone.

The hall where the Volturi were convened was tall with only one small window and made entirely of dull gray brick. Aro, Marcus, and Caius sat on thrones at the head of the room, while the members of their court stood a few feet away from them. Everyone turned to stare at me when I burst through the room's doors, but I only had eyes for my brother who knelt before the three Lords, Jane keeping a close eye on him.

"What is it that you need, Ms. Swan?" Aro asked me coolly after he had recovered from his surprise.

"You can't kill Jasper," I replied, my words coming out in a quick flurry.

"We most certainly can," replied Caius coldly. "Jane- why don't you show the boy what we do to traitors?"

Jane smiled sweetly at her masters, then turned burgundy eyes to Jasper who began to writhe, hisses of pain escaping his tightly clasped lips.

"Stop!" I cried out. To my surprise, Jasper's writhing stopped, though Jane still stared at him. A look of fury crossed her face when he didn't begin to move again, and she turned her eyes to glare at me.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

"I didn't do anything," I replied, moving quickly to kneel beside my brother. Felix and Demetri both moved to stop me, but Aro stopped them with a wave of his hand. His expression as he gazed at me was enigmatic.

"Why is it that you feel we cannot kill Mr. Hale?" he asked me. "He released our prisoner; he is a traitor to our kind- why should we spare him?"

"Jasper wanted to leave Andrew in the cell," I replied desperately. "I was the one who released him. It was all me- Jasper would have never went near that dungeon if I hadn't been there first. If you're going to kill someone, kill me. I'm guilty- not Jasper."

"Bella," hissed Jasper. "What are you doing?"

"I can't let them kill you," I hissed back. "It wouldn't be right- it's not your fault I'm such an idiot. If I hadn't tried to play hero, you wouldn't be in this position."

"I don't want you to die because of me!"

"And I won't let you die because I was dumb."

"Tell me Isabella- why we should not kill both of you?" asked Aro. "Your admission of guilt does not change the fact that Jane and Alec caught Jasper sneaking… Andrew, out of the fortress."

"Because… I… made him do it?" I replied, knowing that the argument was weak at best.

"Not good enough," sneered Caius. "I say we kill them both."

Aro held up his hand to silence the white haired vampire.

"Now, now Caius- no need to be hasty," he replied. "Young Bella could be of use to us- did you not see that remarkable display of her abilities just a few minutes ago?"

Caius sounded as confused as I felt when he asked: "What display?"

"Protecting Jasper from Jane's abilities, of course. Jane wasn't wrong- it was Isabella's influence that protected her brother. I believe your powers are growing," he addressed this last bit to me. "Not only are you immune to other abilities, but you can protect those around you as well. I believe we can come to some sort of agreement to spare your lives."

"Aro wants you to join the Volturi. He ordered me to convince you to do it…"

I remembered Tia's words with a sinking feeling in my gut. Aro didn't even have to speak the words he did next- I already knew what was coming.

"Join us, Isabella, and both you and Jasper live."