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As always, huge thanks go to my pre-reader/cheerleader team. Gredelina1, IamTheAlleyCat and Mary-Alice-Brandon-Cullen. Also to Snarkymuch for beta'ing this chapter and listening to all my bitching when the words wouldn't flow. I love you all.

~ Chapter Fifteen — Choices ~

Jasper POV

"What did you see?" I demanded.

"Our deaths."

It felt like all the air had been sucked away. I couldn't draw a breath. Her words brought the others to us. I closed my eyes and tried to centre myself. It wasn't easy; I was in the centre of a maelstrom of emotion that was not only my own, even though I was panicking just as much as everyone else.

Alice's eyes were unfocused as she sought out a vision. Her hands were fisted at her sides. I took them into my own and uncurled her fingers. "Just calm down and tell us what you saw."

"It's the Volturi," she said. "Jane, Alec, and Felix. We were here, at Bella's cave, and they were destroying us."

I pressed a kiss to her furrowed brow and spoke against her skin. "Look again. See if you can find the time."

She searched, and then she shook her head. "I can't see it." She was almost desperate with panic. I eased her down with a steady stream of calming influence. She relaxed slightly, but not completely. Understandable given the situation.

I made a fixed decision to take Alice and flee from this place. "Can we avert it?"

"Who changed that?" she asked. "Why aren't we there?"

I was about to answer, but Peter beat me to it.

"Me. I'm sorry, but I will not risk Charlotte. If the Volturi are coming for you, we're getting out of here." He was poised on the balls of his feet, ready to snatch Charlotte up and run at the slightest provocation.

Garrett shrugged. "I'm sorry, too, but I am not willing to die at the hands of the Volturi for a crime I did not commit."

"None of us have committed any crimes," Carlisle said.

He was wrong; we had allowed Bella to know of the existence of vampires while she was a human. She was a vampire now, but to the Volturi's mind, a law had still been broken. They would not accept the defense that Bella was now changed, especially if I was correct, and they had been the ones to change her. This was not the time to get into these discussions, though; we had to plan.

"Alice and I are not staying." My tone brooked no argument, though, of course, Alice tried.

"Jasper, I—"

I cut her off with a searing kiss. "I can't lose you, Alice."

Unexpectedly, it was Esme that was able to remain calm and ask the question that needed answering. "Can we all get away?"

Alice shook her head. "Not all of us. If we take Bella, she will be too scared, and it will slow us down."

"And if Bella stays here?" I asked. It was not that I didn't care for her, but I cared for Alice a lot more. If saving Alice meant leaving Bella behind, I would do it without hesitation.

She sighed heavily. "Then we can all get to Novo Progresso before they arrive."

Carlisle nodded. "Then that is what we will do. Bella will be safe if she stays hidden, and we will be far away."

"But we can't just leave her!" Esme said plaintively.

"They won't kill her," Alice said. "I can see myself talking to her later, so we know she makes it through this alive. As little as I like it, I don't think we have a choice."

"Then we have to leave now," I said. "The further away we are when we they get here, the better."

Alice gave Bella's cave a look of longing, and then we set out north on our journey.

Looking back later, I would have seen the flaw in our plan. Alice was right, Bella would make it out alive, but we didn't dare consider how much she would suffer.

xXx

We reached Novo Progresso late morning. The heavy rainclouds that had plagued us throughout the run were providential when we reached the city, as they sufficiently blocked the sun.

We found a small hotel and booked in. The receptionist looked a little baffled when we booked a double room for seven people, but she didn't question us. We changed our wet clothes for some Alice had helpfully bagged in plastic in our duffels and then settled on the beds and couches to wait it out.

I wondered if it was the right time to broach the subject of the Volturi's visit, but Carlisle saved me the need. He was sitting beside Esme on the edge of the bed and running his hands through his hair in an agitated way.

"Do you think that they were there for us?"

"No," I said with certainty. "They were there for Bella."

All eyes turned to me. I felt uncomfortable as the centre of attention, and I looked to Peter to divert their scrutiny. "What we are about to get into is dangerous knowledge. Maybe you, Char, and Garrett should take the opportunity to hunt." I tried to impress upon him the need for privacy with my gaze, and it worked to a fashion.

"Do you need me, Jasper?"

I shook my head. "Not at the moment. If that changes, you will be the first to know."

To him, Charlotte's safety was as important as Alice's was for me. I already owed him more than I could ever repay; unless it was necessary, I wanted to keep him protected from this as much as possible.

He and Charlotte filed out of the room, closely followed by Garrett. Once they were gone, I began the long-overdue conversation with my family.

"None of you have been ready to talk about this before; we've all been caught up in the happiness of finding Bella alive, but this new interference has forced my hand. We need to talk about how and why Bella came to be where she is now."

"Surely that is Victoria's doing," Esme said.

I felt a wave of affection for my surrogate mother. She was so innocent to the ways of our world, most of my family was, Edward being the possible exception. What happened to Bella was not the result of a protracted change, as I had believed, but the result of some serious pain—torture Victoria's stunted imagination was not capable of. I knew it the moment I realized she had been speaking to us before. To some version of us, anyway.

"You think it was the Volturi." Alice wasn't asking me; she was confirming it to herself. I felt no need to answer her; instead, I encased her in my arms and whispered my love.

"How could they have done this, though?" Carlisle asked. "Aro told you… Aro!" The exclamation was as close to a curse as I had ever heard Carlisle utter.

"Alec was there that day," I said. "We know that he influenced Esme and Edward, stopping them from following Victoria. I imagine at some point they came across Victoria and Bella and took their lead from there."

"But that's so…" Esme faltered.

"Cruel? Monstrous?" I suggested. "I don't think there is a word great enough to describe what they have done to her. Bella has been made insane by what they did to her, and she was so strong before."

"Edward," Alice muttered. "They used Edward."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When Bella was talking to us before, she mentioned a he. I think that's what happened to her. She thinks he died."

"Oh!" Esme gasped and clapped a hand to her chest. "Poor Bella."

"You think that was what did this to her?" I knew the moment I said the words aloud that they were true. I had thought it was unbearable torment that had damaged Bella so thoroughly, and I was right. If, God forbid, I ever lost Alice… Well, living in a cave didn't seem all that bad after all.

"Of course it was," Alice said a little impatiently. "Think how she fell apart when left her; she was almost deranged with it all. I think this is a direct result of the pain of his believed death."

"Why would they do this to her?" Carlisle twisted his hands in his lap. "I always knew Aro's methods were unorthodox, but what could he hope to gain by destroying Bella like this?"

"Edward told me that Aro wanted him and Alice to join his guard. I imagine he hoped to tear our family apart by taking Bella from us. It even worked to a fashion; we have all been apart for the last two years. Two years is like a heartbeat of time to Aro. I imagine he just planned to be patient, until eventually we went to him."

"But what about the fact she thinks she is human?" Esme asked.

"That, I don't know." Alice sounded annoyed at herself for her lack of knowledge.

I didn't think it was only news of Edward's perceived death that had damaged Bella so completely. There was more to it than a broken heart. Bella had a broken mind.

"This is good news though." Esme beamed. "If she is like this because she thinks Edward is dead, we just need to show her that she's wrong. Edward can heal her."

Carlisle looked at her apologetically. "Esme, my love, I don't think it will be so simple."

"She might not be wrong." I wished Peter was still here; he could have told them about his plan to save the last insane vampire we met. I had to manage alone. "Peter and I met an insane newborn during the wars. She, too, believed she was still human and was in constant terror for the week she lived. Peter believed it was possible to heal her if we could provide her with absolute proof of her new nature."

"And you think if we do that to Bella, it will work?" Esme asked with a hopeful smile.

"I'm not making any guarantees, but I think it is worth a try," I said. "If we can at least break the human delusion, it will be a start."

xXx

We sat for hours, only speaking to check the time we had been waiting. Peter, Charlotte, and Garrett returned and joined our silent vigil.

Suddenly, after a full hour of silence, Alice spoke.

"Zafrina!"

"What about her?" I asked.

"She's with them. Felix just returned to Jane and Alec, and he brought Zafrina with him."

"Why on earth would Zafrina be with the Volturi?" Carlisle asked. "I didn't know they were even aware of the Amazon coven's existence."

"Of course!" I slapped my forehead. "The woman with the pictures. Bella mentioned her. It has to be Zafrina; didn't you say she had a gift to create illusions?"

"Yes, but she would never work with the Volturi." There was no trace of doubt in Carlisle's tone. "She is our friend."

"But maybe she doesn't know who Bella is," Alice said reasonably. "We never advertised the fact that Edward had a human mate. Why would we? It would have put her at risk."

"Even so, Zafrina would never associate with the Volturi by choice." Carlisle stood and began to pace. "There is more to this than we are seeing. We have to go to Zafrina and offer our assistance."

"Are you serious?" The question flew from me before I could stop it.

"Why wouldn't we go?" he asked.

"Alice saw us dying, Carlisle. They were going to kill us. For all we know, the Amazon coven is in deep with the Volturi." I was usually more respectful of Carlisle, but what he was saying was madness. We had to sit out this visit and then go get Bella and get as far from this place as possible.

"Be that as it may, we do not desert our friends when they may need us."

"What do you think, Alice?" I asked, looking to her for support. She wasn't listening, though; she was staring into space with unfocused eyes. "Alice?"

Whatever she was seeing, it was hurting her. She was feeling overwhelming shock and pain.

I squatted in front of her on the couch and cupped her face in my hands. "What are you seeing, Alice?"

She gasped as she came back to life. "Bella."

"What about her?" Esme demanded.

Alice fell into my arms, hiding her face against my neck. "Jane was hurting her. She was on the ground, and… oh god, her face." Her words cut off as sobs overwhelmed her.

"Jane was hurting her?" Carlisle asked. "But last time Jane's power didn't work on Bella. None of their powers did."

"It does now!" Alice moaned. "Her face, Carlisle, you didn't see her face."

I wrapped my arms around her and crooned softly in her ear, trying to soothe her. If I was honest, I wasn't overly surprised that Jane had unleashed her pain on Bella. I suspected that was the reason for her visit to Bella in the first place. I had not voiced my fears, as it would have made Alice even more reluctant to leave her, but foreknowledge did not make it any easier to hear. I had never experienced Jane's cruel talent, but Edward had, and he told us about it. He said it was akin to the burn of venom, excruciating pain that you would do anything to stop. I wondered if there was a reason Jane was torturing Bella, or if it was her version of a fun outing.

Alice's sobs slowed and stopped, but Esme's didn't. She was encased in Carlisle's arms, sobbing as though her heart was breaking. Which, I guess, it really was.

I felt Alice's desperation and knew she was searching for more visions of Bella. "Don't look," I advised, smoothing back her hair. "If it hurts you, don't look."

She looked at me incredulously. "What I am feeling is nothing compared to what that witch is putting Bella through."

"True, but you aren't helping Bella by watching it, either. Can you still see yourself with her later?" She nodded. "Then focus on that. Bella will make it through Jane's pain, and you will be back with her soon."

She settled against me, and I could tell she was trying to follow my advice.

xXx

Thirty-six hours. Thirty-six hours of waiting anxiously finally ended when Alice spoke.

"They're leaving."

"How is Bella?" Esme asked. Her hours of sobbing ended long ago, to be replaced with an almost disconnected numbness.

"She's in the cave again," Alice said. "She is lying curled up on the ground, but I think she's okay."

"It's nighttime," Carlisle said. "I imagine she is trying to sleep." Esme wrung her hands, and Carlisle took them into his own. "If Jasper is right, and we can help her, this may be one of the last nights she spends like this. Try to focus on that, my love."

"What do we do next?" Alice asked. "I can't see clearly as everything is so uncertain. All I know for sure is that I am going to Bella again."

"I think the most important thing is getting Bella somewhere safe where the Volturi can't find her." My mind was working on a strategy already, processing locations only to disregard them again. There was nowhere we could hide successfully, not if they had Demetri, so we needed somewhere defensible.

"My island," Esme said. "It is private there, and Bella would like it."

I nodded. This was exactly what we needed. "Getting Bella there may be a problem, though. We can't take her on a plane; she is too wild to be around humans."

"We can drive," Alice said. "It's only about a day's drive from Alto Floresta to Rio, and you can keep her calm through the journey."

It would be incredibly taxing to use my gift for a solid twenty-four hours, but Bella was worth the effort. Especially after all she had been through. Now that it was over and the Volturi were leaving, I felt guilty for the way I had fled and left her to the cruelties of Jane. But if given the same choice again, I knew I wouldn't change anything; Alice was just too important to risk.

"Do you think you will need us for the journey?" Carlisle asked.

"Of course we will." Alice was surprised that he even felt the need to ask. "Where else would you go?"

"I wish to visit Zafrina and her sisters."

"Why on earth are you worrying about them with Bella to think of?" Alice asked in an accusatory tone.

"Because I suspect they will be able to tell us what happened to Bella. The more we know, the better we will be able to help her. We also need to go to Edward; it is time he knew the truth."

That was one aspect of Carlisle's future plans that I did agree with. If my brother was still suffering as much as he had been when last I saw him — and I had no reason to believe his pain had eased with time — he should not be left to suffer any longer. In a way, I wished I could be the one to tell him. It would be good to see the tortured expression and black hole of emotion give way to something brighter.

"Where will we meet?" Alice asked. "And when?"

"Esme and I will go to Zafrina first, and then from there to Edward. It will be better for him if we could tell him exactly what has happened; he is going to have a lot to deal with as it is. When we have him, we will try to persuade him to go to the island to wait for you to arrive. It may be in vain, however, since I'm certain he would want to see Bella as soon as possible."

"We may get there before you," Alice said. "Before we left, she was building some trust with us. Hopefully, we will be able to persuade her to come with us."

I couldn't help but wonder if Alice was wrong. So far, things had been a little too easy. My instincts told me there was something we were missing, and it was something big.

So, the Cullens left to save themselves. What do you think – only choice to make or bloody cowards? As always if you would like a teaser of the next chapter, let me know in a review or a PM.

Simaril x