Alice and Jasper sat peacefully on the ground, listening to her favorite radio program. They had been leaning against the couch, Alice tucked into Jasper, when she jumped up, and danced over to where the desk was and picked up their chessboard. "Play?" She said hopefully.
Jasper eyed her suspiciously. "Are you going to cheat?"
"No." She said solemnly. "Scouts' honor." Here she dissolved into giggles, and Jasper, watching her warily, took the board out of her hands.
"You'd better not." He muttered under his breath but started to set up the chess pieces anyway. She sat down opposite of Jasper, and watched as he placed the last pawn on it's square.
"You can be white." Alice told him, a peace offering that said she wouldn't cheat. Five minutes into the game, as Jasper stared intently at the board to decide where to move his knight, Alice had a vision. Jasper automatically knew whenever she did, because for that brief millisecond when she wasn't seeing the present or the future to come, she was absent of all emotions. It was a disturbing feeling to know someone was just a blank slate. The first time she had had a vision, Jasper freaked at first when he realized their were no emotions besides his own.
Jasper was pulled back to the game when he felt her start to radiate smugness, and he knew he had lost. Jasper scowled, "You won, didn't you?" He asked, fingering his King. Alice snickered and Jasper sighed before knocking the King over—a surrender.
"You said you wouldn't cheat!" He accused.
Alice blinked innocently. "I never said I was a scout. Besides, all I saw was you surrendering. Nothing else."
"So you...made me lose?! You made me think that I was going to lose, when all you saw was me giving up. I could've won!"
Alice shrugged. "Yes, you could have." Jasper's scowl deepened, while Alice got another vision. As soon as it was over, Alice giggled lightly.
"What? What'd you see?"
"Just you and Rosalie playing a lot of chess together in the future. Something about banning me and Edward from ever playing the two of you again." She smiled brightly, and Jasper chuckled, effectively getting rid of any bad mood toward whether or not Alice cheated. There was a knock on the door then, and Alice and Jasper simultaneously looked toward the from door. They both stood up and went to answer it.
Clara and Marilyn were standing outside, Marilyn dressed up for the night. "Hi Marilyn, what are you going as tonight?" Alice asked the little girl to please her.
"Guess!" She giggled from under the sheet.
"Hm..." Alice pretended to ponder it. "I don't know Marilyn, it's awfully hard to figure out."
Marilyn giggled and waved her arms wildly. "Silly, I'm a ghost!" She cried, and Alice faked shock.
"Really? I never would've guessed! But I guess I can see it. You do look a little paler." Marilyn giggled, and the three adults smiled.
"I'm taking her out to trick-or-treat. With the sugar rationing these past few years, it's been stalled. Everyone around here gives out candy, we even have the building owner giving out candy in the lobby here."
"Sounds popular." Jasper remarked, and Clara nodded in agreement.
"Yes, definitely."
"Well then, I hope you have fun, Marilyn." Jasper told her, giving Marilyn a small smile.
"Thank you." She told him politely, but quickly turned on her mother. "Momma, can we please go now? Free candy!" They all laughed, but Clara lightly took her daughters hand and started down the hall.
"We'll see you two later, all right?" Clara said.
"All right, we'll see you soon." Alice smiled and waved along with Jasper. "I hope you get a lot of candy Marilyn!" The little girl's 'ghostly' arm waved back at them before turning and hurrying down the stairs after her mother.
As Alice closed the door softly, the song suddenly changed on the radio to a slow song, and she found herself being pulled into a dance with Jasper. She giggled and smiled, as he looked lovingly down at her, a smile tugging at his lips. They spun around slowly as the music played in the background. Alice leaned her head against his stomach (since she reached no higher than that) and let her eyes slip shut as they moved with the music. He breathed in deeply, taking in Alice's scent, and she leaned in even closer, and if it was even possible to be so close together, they somehow managed it. "I know we don't say it often, we don't need to, but," here Jasper paused before murmuring so low that it seemed like Alice would never here it, though she did, "I love you."
She buried her face into him and smiled before replying, "I love you so much." Jasper kissed the top of her head softly. The music had stopped earlier, and now they were just dancing slowly in silence. "I never thought I could be this..."
"Happy?" Jasper said, finishing her thought.
Alice nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I finally feel...whole, complete, I don't know, but I always felt like I was missing something. But now you're here."
"I feel the same. In the back of my mind, even as a human when I had no idea such a life as this could exist, there was always something tugging at my heart."
They pulled apart, only holding hands, and he twirled Alice slowly before bringing her back to himself. Alice and Jasper were swaying back and forth by then, not even really dancing anymore. Eventually they started to slow until the were simply holding each other, frozen in time. They were oblivious to the rest of the world, and smiled softly at each other. "This is an emotional climate I enjoy." Jasper whispered to Alice.
Alice stepped back and smiled at the soft look in his eyes again. "I'm so happy to be with you now, Jasper."
"And I, you, Alice"
The moment was shattered when Alice was suddenly immersed in a vision, she rocked forward to clutch Jasper, her eyes still staring into space. "No," She whispered to herself.
"What? Alice what did you see?" Jasper was ready for anything, did they have to leave? Was something bad going to happen? Or was it something to do with the strange and mysterious Cullens?
"Jasper," She moaned before the vision ended. "Oh no Jasper!" She cried, "You have to hold your breath, now!"
Jasper quickly stopped breathing, and Alice breathed a sigh of relief. Short seconds later, on the floor below them, a woman cut herself with a knife as she made dinner for her family. "Oh, shoot." She hissed as Alice caught the scent of the drop of blood that fell from her finger.
Alice moaned again and buried her face in Jasper's shirt, holding tightly to him. Partly to keep herself from going down there, partly to keep him from going down there. Jasper had ceased breathing before it had happened, and he had yet to catch the scent, but he knew what had happened, and had stiffened in panic. Alice ran to their window in the back. It looked out upon an alley way, and she called to Jasper. "If you stay, you'll kill her." She told Jasper urgently.
Jasper nodded (still not breathing) and slid the window open. The one in the front was larger, but people would see them, and if they went out the door, then the scent of blood would be even stronger. Instead, the two quickly went down the fire escape, and Alice hurried Jasper to the forest across from them at a quick human's speed.
Once they were well away from the building, Jasper finally let out the breath he had been holding. "We're very lucky that you're physic, Alice." She nodded in agreement. "What did you see?" He asked.
"I saw you attacking her. If you hadn't stopped breathing, that's what would have happened. We can't go back for a couple hours, to let it air out. It's times like these I wish our sense of smell wasn't quite as good as it is."
Jasper sighed and sat down on the ground. "I'm sorry." He told her quietly.
"Why?"
"If I was stronger...if I wasn't so susceptible to blood...Alice, you were breathing in there, even after that woman cut her finger."
"But do you know how much it burned my throat? I wanted so badly to run down there and kill that woman myself, I would have if we didn't leave. But I did it to show you that it is possible. Now come on, we'll go and hunt, okay?"
Jasper sighed but nodded and stood up. Alice broke off into a run, and Jasper followed after her. They ran deeper into the forest, trying to catch the scent of an animal. Jasper caught the scent of elk, a herd of them east a ways, and he turned in that direction before he was off. Alice kept to the path she was on.
Jasper spotted the elk about a mile away, and sped up a fraction. He ran quietly through the forest, his feet padding against the dirt and moss on the forest floor. The elk had yet to hear him, and he paused for less than a second before pouncing on the clueless animal.
He bit the animal on the neck, where a vein ran. He drank the warm blood quickly, sucking it dry. Finishing off the animal, he grimaced at the taste, but dropped the carcass and ran again to catch another one. He would bury the animals' bodies later. Jasper caught a second elk, and after finishing it too, he frowned but proceeded to bury the now dead animal.
They tasted nowhere near as wonderful as thick, hot human blood, but he almost found it worth it. He no longer had to feel the horror and pain of his victims, and the most important reason, he could stay with Alice, who had come to mean more to Jasper than anything ever before, even in the few short months they had been together.
Running back to where the first elk was, he quickly dug a grave in the forest and through the body in before filling the gaping hole back up with the moist dirt. When it was filled, h pressed down against the dirt to pack it in until it looked like nothing had been disturbed in the quiet place. Alice came toward him, finished hunting as well. "Are you okay?" She asked softly
Jasper just shrugged. "It's so hard, Alice. Resisting human blood after so long."
"It gets easier Jasper, really it does, you just have to trust me."
Jasper nodded, and the couple left the clearing they had been standing in, holding hands. "Are you done hunting?"
"Yes, you?"
"Yes."
They walked in silence and a human speed. The moon shone brightly, but it was occasionally covered up by the clouds that shifted around in the sky. The path they were on was suddenly lit up by the moon, and every surface seemed to shine brighter. Jasper stopped Alice then, and bent down to pick something up off the ground. He stood up and held it between himself and Alice. "Bluebell." He stated.
"I thought those only flowered in April and May." Alice said. "Why would there be one in October?"
"I don't know." Jasper hesitated before continuing. "In the spring when I was human, I would take my little sister out into the forest by our land, and the ground would be covered with these petals. How strange that I should remember this now." He murmured to himself.
Alice took the flower out of his hand, and continued walking, carrying it gently. "That's good. It's good to remember your human life." She sighed, and Jasper felt the longing she normally kept away.
"It's okay to want to remember." He told her.
"I know, but what's the point when I won't?"
Jasper didn't answer for a minute. "Hope." He said finally. "That's the point, hope that we will remember a life of joy and happiness."
The forest was thinning out, and up ahead the streets were finally empty after a long night of fun for all the kids in Elkins. Street lights were off, and all was dark except for where the moon shone. A couple minutes passed, and then they were out of the forest and back with civilization. "I can't smell the blood anymore." Alice declared.
"Neither can I." He held up Alice's hand and led her back to their apartment. "Let's go home."
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Way to short for my liking, but that seemed like as a good a place as ever to stop it. The whole chapter in general seemed kind of chopping, like I just stung ideas I liked together and declared it a chapter. Feedback would be much appreciated, to let me know how I'm doing. I'm going to start posting about once a week from now on.
So we all know that eventually Alice and Jasper get married. I was thinking about having them get married before the Cullens, but I would like to put it to a vote. Leave your choice in a review. Marriage—before or after the Cullens? If there is a large margin for after, then I'll probably make an epilogue (when this is finally finished) with them getting married. If not, it will be somewhere in the story.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, all publicly recognized characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.
~Tally ()