I was several hours away from the house when Emmett found me. With nothing to occupy my thoughts with Alice gone and in danger, I had decided to go hunting. Hunting from a different lifetime.

Oh, I was still hunting animals. That much hadn't changed. I wouldn't give up on this plan until I knew for certain that Alice was dead. But hunting in mass quantities.

Deer. Mountain lion. Elk. Otter. Bear. I had gone on and on. I had no idea how many I'd killed. And I didn't care. I was pretty sure any sort of 'judicious hunting' had been thrown out the window.

I wondered idly how long it would take the ecosystem to recover.

I was sitting on a thin ridge of a mountain, near its peak. All I could see for miles and miles was dense forest and mountains. As boredom encroached, I would take handfuls of pebbles, and throw them down the mountain, seeing if I could trigger a landslide.

I was trying not to think.

"Hey." Emmett greeted me as he sat down.

"Hey." I responded gruffly.

He nodded towards my small, silver cell phone, placed on the ridge beside me. "Good reception up here?"

I looked at him for a moment, not knowing if he was being funny or not. Good cell phone coverage, in the midst of the Alaskan mountains? But the truth was, there was good coverage here, at the peak of the mountain. "Yeah." Not that the phone had rung. I'd had nothing. Nothing.

I had no idea if Alice was alive or dead.

Emmett and I sat for a while in silence. Emmett even joined in my landslide game. Finally, he spoke again.

"Carlisle told me about your plans if…" His voice trailed off.

If Alice dies, my thoughts continued his comment, "Yeah."

"Do you really think it will work? I mean, Aro can see every thought you've ever had."

"So?"

"So?" Emmett was getting angry, "He'll be able to see the thoughts that you've had about betraying and murdering them."

I smiled a grim smile. "Oh, yes, he'll see them. And he'll wonder if they're true. But Emmett," I threw a larger rock down the slope, and it started a small avalanche of other, smaller rocks, "You're forgetting my abilities. He may see that I've thought that, but I'll hit him with so much calmness and trust, that it won't matter to him. Well," I amended, "It won't matter to him until it's too late."

I smiled at Emmett, flashing my bright, white teeth.

Emmett scowled at me. "And if that brilliant plan doesn't work?"

"Then I die."

Emmett was very angry now—physically angry, "I am getting sick and tired of my brothers tossing their lives away…" His fists were opening and closing; he was very close to attacking me.

I hit him with a wave of calm and trust, just like I'd told him I would use on the Volturi. It worked, instantly. He calmed down and he trusted me—and my plan.

After a fraction of a second, though, his eyes darkened again, "Knock it off, Jasper."

I laughed mirthlessly at him. "Just for a second, Emmett, imagine. If you lost Rosalie, what would you do?"

There was such a long pause that I started to assume that he wasn't going to answer me. Finally, after several minutes, he said softly, "I'd want to die."

I didn't say anything, but just gave him a knowing look. As far as I was concerned, our conversation was over.

Hours later, Emmett broke the silence again. "I know what you're thinking."

"What am I thinking?" I ask him, sarcastically. I had been reviewing fallacies and reasoning from my philosophy classes at Cornell in my head. Needless to say, my whole life was littered with fallacies. If A equals B and B equals C, then A must also equal C…well, needless to say, all lines of reasoning were shot when you implemented vampires.

"It's not your fault."

Somehow, Emmett had discerned the thought that was in the outer most recesses of my mind, the thought that I was ignoring, even as it clouded all else that I was doing and had done for the past several months. I was surprised; Emmett wasn't usually this perceptive.

I spoke with difficultly, "I don't know what you mean."

"Edward made his own decisions. His choosing to leave Bella, choosing to go to South America, going to Italy…Those are his decisions, and not your fault because you took a snap at Bella. Edward could have chosen differently, but he didn't."

He was right. I felt immensely guilty for what I had done. "I did more than take a snap at Bella, Emmett. I was ready to kill her. Given what happened, Edward's decisions are very reasonable."

"Honestly, Jasper—not to hurt your feelings or anything—you didn't stand a chance of getting at her—not with Edward there. It was just a knee jerk reaction. If it hadn't been you, it would have been one of the rest of us."

I appreciated Emmett's encouragement, in its roundabout way. It did make me feel a little better. And I could sense Emmett's sincerity. His words rang with it.

After a moment, Emmett spoke again. "What do you think of Bella, Jasper?"

I laughed dryly, "I try not to." I tried not to think of her humanity, her pale skin that revealed the flush when she was embarrassed, her smell…

Emmett laughed as well. "I know what you mean. But…would you mind her as a sister?"

I looked at him in surprise. "A sister? If they could make it through this mess—sure, I wouldn't mind her as a sister." I threw a handful of rocks out as far as I could, "Good luck convincing Edward of that, though."

"Edward's not the only one that can do it." Emmett replied seriously.

I looked at him. "You're serious."

"Think about it, Jasper," Emmett said, "It makes sense. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Edward would be upset."

"So, if the deed's all ready done, why could he complain?"

"Well," I said, coming around to Emmett's reasoning, "It's what Bella wants, anyway."

"It's what Edward wants, too," Emmett said, chuckling, "He just doesn't know it yet."

"Are you volunteering for the job?" I asked him.

Emmett stopped laughing, and his face blanched, "No, that's not what I…Carlisle…"

I laughed at his sudden discomfort. "You'd have to convince Carlisle."

"After all of this?" Emmett heaved a rock down the slope, "I don't think it will take much."

I pondered Emmett's proposition for a moment. He was right: it was the only thing that made sense. It was the only way to salvage Edward's life—and Bella's too, from the sounds of it. Edward would be upset—all that nonsense about Bella's soul and such—but it would save him, her, and our family. It made perfect sense. "I'm sold." I stood up, "I'll even help you convince Carlisle if you need it."

Emmett's eyes lit up at the prospect of my help manipulating the situation, "Really? Sweet."

I laughed at him—as if I wouldn't help. "It's getting late. Race you back?"

Emmett's eyes lighted up at the prospect of a race. He stood enthusiastically. As I made ready to go, however, he threw his arm out to block me.

"Remember," he said with force as he looked into my eyes, "It's not your fault." And with that, he bounded off.