Changing and Confrontations
You are woken from your dreaming by the feeling of being incinerated, going from no pain to intense pain worse than you could've imagined in an instant. Your brain is consumed with screaming. There are no words, no pictures, no coherency whatsoever, nothing more than one continuous deafening scream echoing in your mind from every brain cell in unison. There was no thought of death, of begging for death or even wishing for death. Your brain was too consumed with pain to process anything beyond the pain itself. Nothing else existed. There was no you, no world, no life, no meaning or understanding of anything but pain saturating every single nerve ending, every neuron, every aspect of your mind, body, and soul.
You have no idea how much time passes with your brain unable to function in the capacity for which it was designed. Time is a concept that is beyond you, like any other idea, knowledge, or understanding. Then something shifts and you begin to comprehend that you are in pain and that you wish for it to stop. After a period of time recognizing the concept of pain, you begin to understand the concept of self and realize you have a body, slowly grasping the knowledge that your body is the source of the unending pain assaulting your mind. Your mind begs to return to the darkness, to the time before the pain. Your thoughts finally begin to solidify into words, words which describe the pain, and you gradually begin to be able to think around the pain. The pain doesn't decrease, but you are able to acknowledge it and question it.
Slowly your memories begin to return, reminding you of what came before, what led up to the pain, what caused it. You cling to the idea that the pain will stop eventually, though you have no idea how much time has passed and how much more time needs to pass. The pain begins to recede from your extremities and intensify in your chest, and you recognize this with relief as the beginning of the end. You know you must be on the last day of the transformation, and you begin to concentrate on the sounds and smells in the room, recognizing the presence of your mate next to you.
You feel love surround you like a blanket and hear Jasper murmuring to you in a soothing voice. The pain continues to draw toward your chest, expanding in intensity around your heart, but you eagerly draw the love within yourself, filling in the empty spaces the pain has left behind. Slowly, as you concentrate your attention on your mate and his love, the words he's speaking begin to make sense. He's telling you about yourself and what's happening to you, reminding you of the people you love and the things you've all done together. He reminds you about the war and the reasons you and he had to hide your love for one another until now. He encourages you that the pain will soon be over, that the end result - eternity with him - is worth your current pain and suffering. He describes the changes he can see and exalts over how much stronger you'll be, able to defend yourself, while promising to protect you anyway.
The more love you draw into yourself, the more covers you, an endless supply saturating you and the air around you. It seems to help chase the pain, moving it toward your heart faster and faster as you stuff the love into every square inch vacated by the pain. You take the time to quickly remember your human life from the time before the accident, before you lost all your loved ones, before you became Bella Swan, not wanting to lose sight of who you really are inside. Then you go over the memories you've created as Bella, all the time spent with the Cullens, Charlie, and the wolves, etching the memories into your new, improved vampiric brain.
Soon the pain is only in your thundering heart, your mate's love filling every other space inside of you, soaking into every cell. You embrace the last of the pain, giving it its due, knowing the fight is nearly over - only seconds away from victory. Sure enough, your heart gives its last thud, releasing you from the pain at last, freeing you from your comatose state.
Your eyes open, and you blink, accepting the changes in your vision. Quickly, you turn your head, your eyes seeking your mate. He is kneeling beside your bed, and you recognize him immediately. There is no fear, only love and desire. "Jasper!" you breathe joyfully, reaching for him.
He grins with delight, accepting your hug and laughing when you accidentally tear off his shirt. You moan in appreciation, running your hands across his scarred flesh, loving the feel of him beneath your hands.
"Let's get you fed, and then I'll gladly finish our mating," he purrs, drawing you up out of the bed and over to the door.
Part of you wants to protest, but you do feel the burning in your throat and know Jasper will feel more comfortable once you've fed, so you follow him outside, running alongside him into the woods. Hunting and feeding come naturally to you, and as soon as you've both fed, you attack your mate with lustful hunger. Tearing off his pants, you straddle him, purring loudly. He quickly shreds your garments as well and lowers you gently onto his cock, giving you time to adjust to the sensation of him filling you. It only takes a few seconds, during which the intense pleasure boggles your mind, and then you seek even more pleasure by riding him. You test out different motions, movements, and paces, finding out what feels best, and he overloads your senses even more by playing with your breasts and nipples. As he tugs, twists, tastes, and teases, you quickly come to your first climax, instinctively bending down to bite the juncture of his shoulder and neck during your orgasm.
As the waves of pleasure begin to fade, you pull back, lovingly licking the wound closed. Jasper grins up at you and rolls you over so that he's on top. He then begins pounding into you at a ferocious pace that has you screaming in delight. Thus begins a fuckfest that lasts for over two days.
xxxxxxx
On the way back to Forks, Jasper fills you in on everything you missed while you were changing. He admits to paralyzing you from the neck down after you were unconscious. You had previously told him everything you knew about changing, including the description of 'someone' not feeling any of the burning in her legs until the venom healed the damage to her spine. He had hoped to save you from some portion of the burning by damaging your spine up high and only inserting the venom through your legs, giving it the most amount of time to work before it could repair the damage in your neck and spread into your brain.
You assume it must've worked to some extent, since you went from no pain to intense pain in the blink of an eye, instead of feeling the slow spread and buildup Bella had described. Unfortunately, you had no idea how much time had passed while in the pain haze before your mind could start to think again, so you didn't know how much it had helped. After describing the sensations to Jasper, he said he detected the flash from unconscious peace to mindless pain about halfway through the change, indicating his method had saved you about 36 hours of pain. You can't help but be grateful for both his thoughtfulness and the knowledge you would never have to go through it again.
Jasper also informs you that he had explained everything to Carlisle and Esme while you were changing, so they know exactly what to expect, at least as much as the rest of you do. They are thrilled that you, Jasper, and Edward are with your true mates now and don't have to pretend anymore.
Carlisle calls and updates the two of you on how things have been going at the house while you were gone, during both your change and your intimate time with Jasper. Apparently Edward and Victoria had also gone away some where to bond and had only returned the day before. James and Alice had not left for their intimacy, as James seemed to enjoy fucking Alice in front of an audience. He still hadn't allowed her to mark him yet, though he had marked her multiple times, giving her neck and shoulders nearly as many scars as Jasper had on his.
Carlisle's voice shakes with hatred as he talks about James. As angry as he is with Alice for her betrayal, he still hates for any woman to be treated that way. It seems James is not only domineering, but he enjoys causing his mate pain and humiliating her by having others witness it. James had brutally taken Alice multiple times, usually in front of others, seeming to delight in having an audience. He reports that Alice is confused by her mate's behavior toward her, at least according to Edward, as James seems to enjoy making split second decisions about it, so Alice never has visions of it beforehand.
Alice doesn't understand how her mate can enjoy hurting and humiliating her, but from the things Vicki has shared with Edward, James's behavior toward Alice is still much nicer than the treatment Vicki received at his hands. Edward explained to Carlisle that according to James's mind, he is punishing his mate for keeping them apart all this time, even though James willingly went along with and encouraged her plans, wanting to rule the vampire world and willing to do whatever it took to achieve that. James is also angry and resentful about Alice being intimate with Jasper while pretending to be his mate and is punishing her for that too, though he had no problem sleeping with other women and doesn't see anything wrong with that. Edward has chosen not to reveal James's motivations for his behavior to Alice herself, only confiding in Carlisle when Alice could not hear or see. Edward thinks it's only fitting for Alice to keep wondering if the brutality she is enduring from her mate will continue for eternity. He knows her pain will soon be over, since both of them will soon be executed for their crimes, but he feels she deserves to be contemplating a grim future rather than a bright one, considering the choices she made. After all, this is the same kind of future Victoria was forced to contemplate for decades while she believed she belonged to James.
Edward is horrified by all the suffering Vicki endured under James, as well as by many of the evil, disgusting things James made her do. He doesn't blame Victoria, because he can see from her memories that she really didn't have a choice. With James's tracking abilities, there was nowhere for Victoria to run or hide to escape from him. Edward's tender loving care has been working wonders on Vicki, going a long way in helping her heal from the eight decades of abuse. She now knows that James was lying to her and using her all this time and is eager for you and Jasper to return so everyone can confront the power hungry duo. She wants her pound of flesh and deserves the opportunity for revenge, having been betrayed worse than anybody else by the evil couple.
Peter and Charlotte are already on their way to Forks as well, and should arrive shortly after you do. Alice and James have been very busy calling each of the compounds and commanding the underground armies to meet them in the Olympic Peninsula. Carlisle has called all of his friends and allies, sending out the word amongst the covens, asking them for aid. You begin contemplating the best way to confront James and Alice, and pondering possible punishments for the perpetrators.
xxxxxxx
"Major!" a vampire calls out over the miasma of sound from the chattering crowd. You look up to see a well scarred, dangerous looking man barreling down upon you and your mate with an equally dangerous looking woman in tow.
"Peter! Char!" Jasper yells excitedly, moving forward to embrace the pair. They have a heartwarming reunion, complete with backslapping and mild insults between the two males. Jasper is much more gentlemanly when greeting the female, giving her a great big bear hug like he had Rose upon your return to the Cullen house. Knowing he loves her like a sister and that she's well and truly mated to Peter keeps you from attacking her in a fit of jealousy, though some portion of your brain considers doing it anyway, just so you can re-stake your claim on him.
"This lovely lady must be your better half," Peter charms, grinning widely and bowing before you, but politely keeping his distance. "Pleased to meet ya."
Jasper chuckles, stepping back to put his arm around you and proudly introduces you. "Yes, indeed, this is my Bella."
"Ain't ya only a couple days old, sugar?" Char asks, gaping at you in wonder. "How the hell are ya just standing there so calmly?"
You smirk as Jasper smugly replies, "Yep, my baby is somethin' special, aint she?"
"You can say that again," Peter agrees, his grin matching Jasper's as they exchange a sly look.
I wonder if Peter knows about my shield, you think. You'd told Jasper about it, but the two of you had agreed to keep it a secret for the time being. Since you had the description from Bella of what it felt like and how to use it, you had already started practicing with it.
Peter winks at you, and you realize he does know, but of course won't say anything about it.
"Time for the fireworks to begin," Peter murmurs cryptically, grinning smugly.
A dozen vampires approached the Cullen house, each carrying giant lumpy heavy duty trash bags slung over their shoulders like black Santa sacs. They nodded to Peter and Jasper in acknowledgement but didn't speak, coming to a stop side by side, forming a line across the lawn.
The small groups of vampires that had been standing around conversing and catching up with one another all freeze and turn to face the newcomers. James and Alice come out of the house, first triumphantly, then staring around with anger and confusion.
"What are you all doing together? Where are the others? Where's the troops?" James demands, stalking toward them, Alice on his heels, hands on her hips, teeth bared.
In unison the twelve newcomers grinned evilly and began dumping the contents of their bags out onto the grass. You get a good visual demonstration of the phrase 'heads will roll' as about a hundred vampire heads come pouring out of the bags, bouncing and rolling across the lawn, eyes rolling around wildly and teeth snapping uselessly.
"Maria," Jasper growls appreciatively, spitting on one of the heads that rolls close to him and giving it a kick, knocking it back into the pile.
"What the fuck have you done?!" James screams in horror, staring at the bodyless collection of all his allies, the troops he'd worked decades to create and train, the ones he'd counted on for his victory against the Volturi. Alice is frozen, desperately trying to search for the future, but the wolves are here now on the outskirts, hidden in the forest downwind, close enough to block her power from working at all.
"I'm blind!" she shrieks in terror, shaking and pulling at her hair.
"You've been betrayed by your superiors, left dangling unsupported to pay for their crimes," one of the twelve sneers. "They lost faith in your ability to bring them success and decided to start over again with someone else. Now the Volturi will slaughter you both for organizing a rebellion against them, and they will get away scot-free to try another better plan later."
"Fucking Romanians!" James roars ferociously, his beast on display. "I will tear them into a million pieces and burn them one tiny piece at a time, letting their ashes smolder for weeks . . ." The rest of his threats become unintelligible snarls and snaps.
Alice is still wailing about being blind, tugging on her hair and shaking her head, occasionally slapping the sides of her head as if that will knock things back into focus.
Jasper nods to Peter and the two of them quickly pounce, tearing off James's arms and legs before he even knows what happened, too distracted by the pile of severed heads and thoughts of revenge. Alice opens her eyes at the sound of ripping metal to get an eyeful of her mate's dismemberment. She crouches to spring to his defense, only to be stopped mid-air by Rose and Emmett detaching her own arms and legs. Both of them are reduced to torsos and heads, still able to talk and scream, but completely unable to defend themselves.
Jasper smirks down at a confused Alice and laughs. "It's been a long time coming. I always knew you were lying, bitch. I knew your plan before I even met you. I've been working against you as an undercover agent of the Volturi, protecting the Cullens from your malice, since shortly after you awoke to this existence. Aro has known what you were doing all along, watching you every step of the way."
Alice stares up at him in shock, her mouth opening and closing, but unable to come up with any words as she processes what he has to say.
"That's right," he sneers. "Your gift is worthless. We all know how to work around it and how to block it completely. You've been nothing more than a puppet, a pawn, thinking you were calling the shots, but really being controlled and led to your destruction by none other than the one man you thought you could deceive and tame into your personal servant." He laughs and spits in her face.
During his confrontation with her, the twelve who brought the heads have been circling amongst the groups bringing everyone else up to speed on the true nature of the situation. You look to Edward, who had been monitoring everyone's thoughts, looking for anyone who had prior knowledge of James's plan or the Romanians, once James had named them. He shook his head. All those currently in attendance, other than the twelve newcomers, were friends of Carlisle that he and his family had contacted and asked to come.
Coming over to you and Jasper he murmurs, "His only thoughts were of the Romanians, when his superiors were mentioned. His only other allies were those whose heads are now piled on the lawn."
Jasper nods and thanks him, then cheerfully adds the evil couple's heads to pile of traitors, laughing when the other heads try to bite theirs. Several gasps from the edge of the yard alert you and those around you, calling your attention to the sound of running feet. A wall of vampires moves to hide the carnage from the newcomers, not wanting to frighten them before explanations can be given if they are friends or alert them in time to flee if they are foes.
Two creepy looking vampires that can only be Stephen and Vladimir come gliding into the clearing. Carlisle's friends move out of their way, opening up a pathway to where Carlisle is standing, flanked by Jasper and Peter.
"Carlisle, we heard you are going up against the Volturi," Vladimir hisses.
"And we came to offer our assistance," Stephan continues.
"Welcome," Carlisle intones stoically, holding out his hand for them to shake. They move toward him eagerly, not noticing how the vampires around them slide into position behind them to cut off their escape route, leaving them surrounded.
xxxxxxx
AN: Well, what do you think? Anticlimactic? How many of you would want an outtake of this scene in Edward's POV to get a look into everyone's thoughts?