Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

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

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had good holidays. I did and now I am back with a new chapter. Enjoy.

~ Chapter Twenty-Four — Healing ~

Edward POV

"What's he going to do?"

I had just finished explaining to Bella that Jasper's therapy sessions started today. Her thoughts were a tangle of concern. She was trying desperately to be brave, but her innate fear of the bad Jasper was making it difficult. In her mind, she'd had the perfect day with us all yesterday and now she must face the consequences.

"He's just going to talk to you, Bella. I swear no one is going to hurt you."

"But what are we going to talk about?"

I paused, unsure how to explain the basis of Jasper's plan. "About the things that have happened to you."

"What if I get it wrong?" she asked tremulously.

"There is no right or wrong, love. Just tell us what you believe happened, and we will tell you the truth."

I don't want to, she thought desperately. I was tempted for a moment to forget the whole plan and to stay cosseted away in our cave forever. It was only my overwhelming love for her that forced me to keep putting one foot in front of the other, leading her to the house.

Alice and Jasper were waiting for us on the beach. The sun was bright in the sky already, throwing prisms of light off of their skin. It made Bella's thoughts turn to the moment she had stepped out of the cover of the jungle and saw her skin shine in the light of the sun for the first time. She had fallen apart at the proof of what she had become. I wished I had been there for her.

"Hey, Bella," Alice said in her usual bright tone.

Jasper smiled at Bella, and she returned the gesture with a shaky smile of her own. Her thoughts told me that she wasn't sure which Jasper she was facing here, the good or the bad. The fact he hadn't made her hurt yet gave credence to the idea of the good Jasper, but his obvious tension worried her. Though he was trying to hide it, he was nervous about what was going to happen today and about her reaction. Bella's perceptiveness was as good as ever.

"Do you want to come into the house?" Alice asked.

Bella literally stopped in her tracks. The thought of going into the house scared her, though neither she nor I could determine the actual cause for concern.

"It's okay, Bella., Wwe can stay out here." Alice moved to the sand and sank gracefully to a sitting position. Jasper mimicked her movement, and they intertwined their hands.

Bella looked to me for guidance, and I nodded. She sat down a few feet away from Jasper and twisted her hands in her lap. I sat beside her, and we all turned our attention to Jasper, waiting for him to start.

"Okay, Bella, has Edward told you what we are going to be doing today?" Jasper asked.

She nodded jerkily. "You're going to help me."

He smiled, appreciating her choice of words. It gave him hope that she would cooperate. "That's right. I am going to ask you some questions, and we can see if we can clear up some of your confusion."

Jasper locked eyes with me. Edward, some of this is going to be hard on her, but you have to let me work.

I nodded. I would do all I could to aid him, even if it meant I had to deny Bella my comfort.

"Okay. Let's start with some basics." He was hoping to start with something easy to make her comfortable before moving onto the tough subjects "Can you remember your mother's name?"

She opened her mouth to answer immediately, but faltered. A haunted expression crossed her face. "I… I don't remember."

He'll be angry. She ducked her head, expecting the onslaught of Jasper's rage. When no onslaught came, she looked up at him with a quizzical expression.

"That's okay, Bella. Not all of us remember our human lives. I don't remember the name of my parents. either," he said. "Can you remember your father's name?"

I stiffened. I hadn't had a chance to tell Jasper about Charlie Swan's passing, and I didn't think anyone else in the family had mentioned it. What was I to say if she asked about her father?

Thankfully for me, regretfully for her, she shook her head. "I don't remember."

Jasper nodded thoughtfully. What would she remember if not them? he pondered.

"Do you remember the first time you saw Edward?" Alice asked.

Unexpectedly, she smiled. "It was in the cafeteria at school. You were all there."

I saw the scene pass through her mind. It was fascinating to see my family though her eyes. She had felt sympathy for us, but she also noticed too much. Watching through her eyes, I had to wonder at the fact we had never been revealed for the truth sooner. We were terrible at acting human. Then the scene changed, and I was looking into my own black eyes in a biology classroom. Bella's mind shied away from the memory at once. I was grateful for it.

"Okay, Bella, I want to try something different now," he said in a serene tone. "I want you to tell me something you remember about what happened to you, and I will tell you if it is real or not."

She nodded, eager to please. "I can do that."

Jasper smiled. "That's good. Let's start with the last thing you remember when you were with Esme at the camp. What happened to you?"

"Victoria hurt Esme." Her voice was a kind of moan.

"That's right," Jasper said. "That happened. That is real. What happened next?"

"I had to save her. I cut my arm." She traced the length of her arm along the line of what would have been a scar had she not been changed.

"Good. That is real, too. You saved Esme's life when you bled."

She shook her head vehemently. "No. I was too late., Esme died."

"No, Bella." Jasper spoke in a firm tone now. "That isn't real. That is a lie."

"No, no, no! It's real. I remember."

"It's not real, Bella," Alice said in a soothing voice. "Remember when we got to the island. Esme was here."

"She wasn't real!" Bella shouted. "It's all a pretend."

Jasper eased her down from her panic with a steady stream of calming influence.

"It's okay, Bella." I spoke softly in her ear. "We don't have to talk about that now. Let's take a break."

Bella looked relieved by my suggestion, but Jasper shook his head curtly. "This isn't helping, Edward. We need her to face these memories if we are going to break the delusion."

"I can do more," Bella said eagerly. "I'm sorry I got angry. I'll do better."

Jasper's face fell. Bella was so accommodating to him because of 'bad Jasper'. He hated that she thought he would hurt her. He was not above using it to help her, though. He was convinced that making her face the truth of her memories was what would ultimately heal her.

"Okay, a little more, and then we can take a break. Tell me about the castle."

A flash of a room with stone walls flashed through her mind. I recognized it from Carlisle's memories; it was the throne room in the Volturi's castle. The image was only there for a second before Bella banished it.

"I don't remember a castle," she lied.

"That's not true, Bella," Jasper said sternly. "I know you can remember."

Bella curled her arms around her middle as if she was holding herself together. She began to rock back and forth almost imperceptively. I hated to see her like this, but when I reached out to comfort her, Jasper shook his head.

You promised you would let me work, he reminded me. It's the only way to help her.

Hating myself for doing it, I clasped my hands in my lap, refusing Bella my comfort.

"Tell me about the castle," Jasper said. "What did they do to you there?"

Bella whimpered. Her fear of Jasper was battling the part of her mind that tried to protect her. She was literally being torn in two. Evidently, her fear of Jasper was greater, seeing as she spoke again, though everyone word seemed to be torn from her against her will.

"I burn there."

"How do you burn, Bella?"

"I don't know. When I was there, I was burning, and then the voices came. They told me horrible things that made me hurt."

"Who were the voices, Bella?" Alice whispered. She knew the question needed to be asked, but she wanted to save Jasper the pain of asking it, as he knew it was his voice that tortured her.

"Jasper and Carlisle."

Jasper took a deep breath and concentrated on keeping his voice level and calm. "That's not true, Bella. The voices are a lie. Carlisle and I never came to you there."

She shook her head. "I heard you."

"I don't doubt that you did, but it wasn't us speaking. Alice, show her what I mean."

Alice looked horrified at the prospect. She marshaled herself and spoke in perfect imitation of Emmett. "Hey, Bells, d'ya miss me?"

Bella stared at her with wide horrorstruck eyes. "Emmett?"

"No, not Emmett, Alice. It was a pretend. Like the voices that spoke to you."

"The voices were a pretend." Her brow creased and a distant look came into her eyes. "The voices were pretend."

"That's good, Bella. That's true." Jasper smiled his first genuine smile since he began. I was smiling, too. Bella was doubting herself. As fast as our happiness came, it was swept away.

"But what about the faces?" she asked. "I have seen the faces, too."

"Dammit!" Jasper hissed a curse, which Bella naturally heard. It made her recoil into herself a little more.

"That wasn't real, Bella," Alice said gently. "Do you remember talking about the lady with the pictures?"

Bella nodded, but she kept her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. "She takes me to the castle."

"That's Zafrina. She's a vampire, too. She has a gift. She can make you see things that aren't real. Like the pictures she shows you. None of it is real. She just shows you Jasper and Carlisle. They aren't really there. It's all a pretend."

"I…" She faltered on the verge of speech. "I don't understand."

This is good! Jasper's thoughts were jubilant. She is fighting the delusion. Help her, Edward. Talk to her.

"It's true, my love." I kept my voice gentle and soothing. "They lied to you. It wasn't Jasper and Carlisle. They would never hurt you. It was the Volturi."

"No!" Hher voice was a scream and she leapt to her feet. "It's not them. It can't be!"

I jumped up beside her and tried to embrace her. She fought off my arms and ran for the trees.

I moved to follow but Jasper gripped my arm. "Not yet," he cautioned. "She needs some time alone."

"Dammit, Jasper., Llet me go to her!" I tried to pull from his grip.

"No. She needs to be alone for now. And it's not like she is going anywhere. The island is only so big."

"She's going back to your cave," Alice showed me a vision of Bella cowering on the floor of our cave.

I moaned. "I should be there."

"You really shouldn't," he said. "Her emotions are chaotic at the moment, a lot like they were the day she attacked Carlisle. It's not safe for you to be there."

"Bella would never attack me!" I was astounded that he even considered it.

"A week ago we would have said that of Carlisle, too. Trust me, Edward. She just needs a little time to decompress."

I shook off his restraining arm and kicked the sand in my frustration. "You shouldn't have pushed her so hard."

"I had to. No one else was going to do it. You have to stop thinking of her as fragile and delicate."

I rounded on him. "She has been through hell!"

"Exactly, and it's made her strong. She can handle a little pressure."

I groaned and raked my hands through my hair. I wanted to be with Bella, to support her. But I feared what Jasper said was true. I wasn't afraid of her physically hurting me., I could handle that; I was afraid of losing her to her rage.

"What are we going to do next?" Alice asked.

"We give her time to calm herself down, and then we try again," Jasper said in a cold voice. "There are things we need to know."

"Such as?"

"Such as what happened to her in the castle, why she burns there, and above all, what place the Volturi hold in her delusion."

Alice frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She reacted strongly when we mentioned the Volturi being the ones that hurt her. I want to know how they are perceived in her mind because I think that is the root of the problem."

"How so?"

"If they have cast themselves as her protectors in her mind, we have a big problem. If and when this comes to a fight, she will have to pick a side."

With that ominous statement, Jasper swept away into the house and left me to my tangled thoughts and the dawning realization that throughout his questioning of her, Bella's thoughts had remained clouded.

When Jasper and Alice finally deemed it safe for me, I ran back to our cave.

Bella was sitting at the edge of the falls with her feet dangling in the water. She looked up at the sound of my approach and smiled ruefully.

"Are you angry?" she asked as I sat down beside her.

"Never. I am confused though. Can I ask you a question?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

"Why did you get angry when Jasper asked about the Volturi?"

She stiffened. "I remember the Volturi. I went to them to save you."

"That's right; you and Alice came to stop me killing myself."

"They were kind to me."

I considered her words. They hadn't been particularly kind to her the day she came to save me. For all of Aro's charms, he had instructed Jane to hurt her. We had barely made it out with our lives.

"When were they kind to you?"

Aro's face flashed through her mind and half remembered words. "We will take care of you, Isabella."

"I don't remember," she said. "Not really. I have so many memories, but they confuse me. As soon as I reach for one, they disappear again. I don't know if I want to remember."

"Don't you want to know the truth?"

"I do, but what if the truth is worse than what I already remember. What if it makes you all go away?"

"Nothing can make me go away, Bella. I know you're confused, but I didn't die. I am real and here with you. As is Alice. "

She reached out and cupped my cheek. "That's what I want to believe."

"Then believe it!"

"I can't! If I let my mind go there,. I will lose myself again. They are going to be angry when they see what I have done."

"Who will be angry?"

"Jasper and Carlisle of course."

I could read her thoughts again clearly now, though they made no sense to me. She believed Carlisle and Jasper would be angry with her, and she was preparing herself for their imminent arrival and the punishment that would follow.

I hated that she thought she was going to be hurt, but more than that, I hated her easy acceptance of it. She expected it to happen, and felt she deserved it. My poor Bella.

As much as the idea scared me, I knew we were going to have to try regression therapy. We needed to know exactly what had happened to her so we could start to heal her.