Chapter Warnings:

Mentions of fighting, death, emotional manipulation

Next Update: March 10th

12. Training

„Why is he doing that to himself?" Sascha's voice was low when she leaned a little closer to Rosalie, gaze fixed on Emmet's form as he scrambled to pick himself off the ground.

„If only I knew."

„I heard that!"

Sascha crossed her arms with a smirk. „You were meant to."

„Watch it, Sherlock, you're next", Emmett was so frustrated his voice came out pressed, then he faced Jasper once more. „Come on, Hale. Another round."

Jasper chuckled. „As you wish."

Sascha and the rest of the Cullen family, minus Edward and Bella, watched in different levels of amusement as the two adopted brothers went at each other again. Emmett still seemed to miss the part where he was supposed to utilise actual strategy, not just brute strength. It was an easy task for the ex-soldier to twist out of Emmett's way, grab him by the collar and toss him back over the field in a high curve.

Sascha snickered. „Jasper six, Emmett zerooo."

„Again!" Emmett picked himself up again, but before he or Jasper could get into proper position again, Edward and Bella pulled up to their training site in a jeep.

Jasper dropped his stance then and looked back at Emmett over his shoulder when he went to stand with the others. „You'll have another chance."

Emmett just grumbled unintelligibly and moved to stand next to Rosalie. She and Sascha exchanged a bemused glance.

„Aww, poor Rocky", Sascha cooed and playfully raised her fists at him.

„Shut it." Emmett tried to grab at her, with a ghost of a smile Sascha spotted, but she quickly dodged away from him.

Esme chuckled, an arm around Carlisle's waist. „Kids, behave."

Sascha gave a small wave to Bella when she and Edward joined them. The group was quickly distracted though as heavy footsteps sounded deep in the forest, Sascha's nose twitched as a wet dog smell wafted through the air. The wolves.

It took mere seconds until the pack emerged from between the trees.

„Wow", Sascha gasped and gently pushed past Jasper and Alice to take a step closer. The wolves were huge, magnificent creatures in her eyes. Despite what the legends seemed to dictate about their supposed hatred for each other, she wanted nothing more than to cuddle one of them. She quickly raised a finger in Edward's direction, having heard him inhaling to speak. „Don't."

Edward breathed a scoff through his nose in defeat. To his luck, he spoke of something else then.

„They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms."

Alice moved toward Bella, seeing as her partner's focus was needed elsewhere, keeping her company. Sascha could see how uncomfortable Bella was with the situation. She probably still thought it was all her fault.

„They came, that's what matters", Carlisle stepped forward and glanced at Edward briefly. „Will you translate?" When Edward nodded in confirmation, Carlisle continued. „Welcome. Jasper has experience with newborns. He can teach us how to defeat them."

A brief pause followed, Sascha carefully observed each of the wolves and noticed they stood in formation with the darkest of them standing point. He was probably their leader. Her assumption was further proven when the wolf in question growled softly, eyes fixed on Edward, waiting for the vampire to read his mind. Which he did.

Edward looked at Carlisle. „They want to know how the newborns differ from us."

„They're a great deal stronger than us. Because their own human blood still lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months in this life." Carlisle suddenly gestured over to Sascha, startling her. She hadn't expected to be addressed yet. „Sascha here is still of newborn status herself. It will be good for you to study her speed and strength. It will show you what to expect."

Sascha gave a timid, very unnecessary wave to the wolves, and immediately cringed at herself for it. Jasper snickered under his breath, but quickly cleared his throat when he stepped forward to take Carlisle's place.

„Carlisle's right. Newborns' power is why they're created. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army. And no human army could stand against them." He spoke slow and calculated, pacing between the two groups slowly, back stiff. Definitely in his soldier persona. „Now, the two most important things to remember are first: Never let them get their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly. Second: Never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that." He fixed his gaze on the wolves directly. „And you will lose. Emmett!"

Emmett, quite eagerly so, walked over to his spot, as did Jasper. The latter's grin could not be described as anything other than downright shit eating.

„Don't hold back."

„Not in my nature."

Sascha almost rolled her eyes when Emmett, yet again, just ran at Jasper straight ahead. Even a blind person could've seen that coming. It was a piece of cake for Jasper to move against him. The latter merely blocked Emmett's attack and when he was flipped through the air, Jasper used the momentum as they sped back at each other once more, ducked under Emmett's arm and easily tossed him to the ground.

„Never lose focus", Jasper noted and nodded toward Edward and Carlisle to go next.

Rosalie dusted Emmett off a little when he stepped back toward them and shot a playful glare toward Sascha and Alice when they snickered. „Hush you."

Sascha quickly raised her hands in peace. „I said nothing."

„I will make you eat dirt, Sherlock."

Before she could retort, her head snapped back to the action as she heard Edward and Carlisle colliding with each other. They lunged at each other several times, with Edward dodging all advances against him expertly. How could anyone even fight against him? He could read each and every thought. With bated breath, Sascha watched as Edward finally managed to grab Carlisle's collar and pushed him to the ground forcefully, a victorious smile on his face.

„One more thing." Jasper, who had been monitoring the sparring with calculating eyes, stepped a little closer, getting Edward's attention. A grave mistake as Carlisle quickly shot up again and dragged his adopted son to the ground in retaliation. Jasper stepped past the two, his eyes rolling a little. „Never turn your back on your enemy." Absolutely shit eating.

Jasper then called Rosalie to spar with him. He was scoping out all their fighting styles one after the other to check in detail what each needed to improve on. Sascha noted how very, truly sibling-like the two seemed as they stood in front of each other. It was the glint in their eyes. She'd always see the same in her father and aunt.

With his hand, Jasper motioned for Rosalie to have a go at him. And so she did. She reminded Sascha a lot of a wild feline. It was then that she realised she had never gone hunting with her before.

Sascha blinked quickly to focus back on the scene in front of them. Pay attention, for fucks sake.

Rosalie was quick and precise, elegant almost. But she wasn't a match for Jasper either. He had her down in mere moments.

„Sascha", Jasper called then, making her flinch, „You next, against Emmett."

Sascha rolled her eyes playfully at Emmett's cheer. This was going to be something.

They stood in front of each other, enough distance to actually charge. A wicked smirk spread all over Emmett's face.

„You won't know what hit you."

„A bulldozer, obviously."

Putting their goofiness aside, they nodded each other's way first before starting, making sure that they were ready. Then, Emmett ran at her at full speed immediately. Sascha's senses zeroed in on him as she started running as well.

Just as they were about to collide though, Sascha suddenly jumped, twisted around her own axis, having Emmett charging at her back, and then there was a loud crack. She switched places with Emmett. Now his back was facing Sascha and as she touched the ground again, she grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him down to the ground on his back.

„Always expect the unexpected", Jasper threw in.

Emmett flustered, and scrambled out of the dent he had left in the earthy forest floor. „What the hell?!"

„Don't know what hit you?" Sascha snickered a little.

„You used your gift. That's cheating!"

„How so? Edward uses his too!"

„Jazz!"

They snapped both their heads to their trainer for the day. Sascha noticed nervously how the entire Cullen clan was watching with bemused twinkles in their yellow eyes.

Jasper uncrossed his arms, a smirk on his face, and walked over to Emmett. „Let me have a go."

Sascha was screwed.

Even more screwed when Jasper's smile grew a little. He was clearly feeling her dread. Emmett walked back to Rosalie, grumbling like Sascha had mortally offended him, and let himself be babied a little by his wife. What they had was quite cute-

-FOCUS.

Sascha and Jasper got into position, not too far away from each other as neither were the running-attack types.

Sascha accepted her fate and tried to loosen up a little. „Don't hold back, Darlin'", she impersonated him jokingly and bent her knees the tiniest bit.

„Wouldn't dream of it, sugar."

Sascha scoffed with a smirk, but it was wiped off her face in an instant when Jasper lunged at her. Then it was just instincts relying on reflexes, and reflexes relying on instincts. And Sascha knew, when it came to instincts, Jasper was far more advanced than her. Far more.

Sascha kept dodging his advances, and focused to keep out of his reach, twisting around and out of his way. She knew this was about learning to attack properly, but she'd have to figure out a rhythm first.

„You won't have the time on the battlefield."

Sascha growled, getting worked up. „Shut your face, Edward!"

She narrowly dodged one of Jasper's outstretched arms, aiming to lock her in and let herself fall backwards to her shoulders, using the momentum to throw herself back up with her legs. Jasper gave her no break as he immediately went to strike again. Sascha dared to go a little more into offence, it was their task after all.

Suddenly Jasper used an opening in her cover and lunged forward, slamming Sascha against a tree with his lower arm pressed against her throat. At the same time, she had been able to grab a handful of hair at the back of his head, the other held his wrist in place so he couldn't lock her in more tightly.

Their eyes snapped to each other for a brief moment, Sascha saw an almost animalistic glint in his eyes. He really was in his element.

With a loud crack, Sascha switched places with Jasper to get free of his hold again. Being back to back she planned to get some distance between the two of them, but before she could do so, an arm wrapped around her neck in a choke hold and she was slammed to the ground, Jasper still holding on to her tightly.

„Damn it."

„Never", his voice was dangerously close to her ear before his grip loosened, „pull your punches."

Sascha sat up and brushed some dirt from her trousers, quickly accepting Jasper's hand to let him pull her up. „I wasn't even pulling my punches", she muttered sheepishly as she walked back to the others.

„Oh, you sure were, Darlin'", Jasper chuckled, „Alice, your turn."

Standing back to let her two friends spar with each other, Sascha turned to their resident mind reader, frowning deeply at him. „You seriously need to stay out of my head, Ed."

„You know I can't choose to turn it on and off."

„Then at least choose to not be a prick about it and keep it to yourself, thank you very much."

Paying her attention back to Alice and Jasper, she saw the former jump into a cartwheel to evade Jasper's move. Sascha pondered for a moment if Alice's gift also gave her an advantage during fights. Every move was a quick decision being made, right? Shouldn't that- no. Her thoughts were cut short when she observed Jasper finally getting a grip around Alice's arms, locking her in successfully as well.

Alice shrugged in defeat. However, when Jasper loosened his hold ever so slightly, she suddenly vanished from sight. Jasper looked around in confusion, startled when Alice dropped down from a tree, arms wrapped around his neck. She actually got the better of him.

Sascha clapped excitedly. „Yes!"

„Never let down your guard", Alice giggled as she let go of Jasper again, then skipped over to Sascha. Jasper looked after her with a bemused smirk.

It kept going like this then. Carlisle went against Emmett one time, with Emmett finally coming out victorious. His strength was no match for the others. Sascha and Rosalie sparred against each other, too. But Sascha could still feel her own inhibitions holding her back. Still, she managed to use her speed against Rosalie quite successfully, and had turned the match in her favour by twisting and locking the blonde's arms behind her back.

The last spar was between Jasper and Edward. A rather interesting match, Sascha had to admit. With Edward's mind reading, and Jasper's experience, neither was quite able to overpower the other. It could've gone on for ages had Carlisle not intervened at some point and called a tie.

This entire time, the wolves had merely observed their fighting. Sascha had thought they might spar with each other too, but considering the more than poor relationship between the pack and the vampires, it probably was for the best for no sparring to occur between the two. One of the wolves had spent most of its time close to Bella. That must have been Jacob. Sascha found him actually more agreeable as a wolf. At least then she didn't have to see his stupid face.

Sascha leaned against Alice's car and waved after Rosalie and Emmett as they drove off, Esme and Carlisle had already left. Sascha wasn't quite sure why they had stopped already. Shouldn't they be getting as much training as possible? Maybe it was because of Bella and the pack, they did need sleep after all.

Alice slid up next to her and swung herself on the hood of her car. „What has you so deep in thought?"

„Ah, nothing important", Sascha shrugged it off. „Do you think any of the wolves would ever let me pet them?"

Alice merely snorted a laugh, not even giving a reply to that. She perked up as she saw Jasper going back to them, they were waiting for him so they could drive back as well. As he passed Bella on her jeep though, he stopped when she spoke to him. Asking whether there really wasn't anything she could do to help.

Jasper turned to Bella then. „Well, your presence alone, your scent, would distract the newborns. Their hunting instinct will take over and", a smirk played around his lips, „drive them crazy."

Sascha did not want to eavesdrop, but she couldn't exactly stop her hearing from being so advanced either.

„Good, I'm glad. Hey-", Bella called, stopping Jasper from leaving just yet. „How do you know so much about this?"

„I didn't have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings." Jasper uncovered his lower arms and held them out for Bella to look at.

Bella got off the hood of the Jeep and took a closer look. „These bites are like mine."

Even from the small distance, Sascha could see the marks littering his skin. She had never quite paid attention to them, she noticed. She had also never seen any, except for the ones on his neck. And she had not wanted to pry either.

Jasper told Bella about his time after he had been turned by Maria. The newborns he had to train and kill. The distant pain in his voice made Sascha feel choked up again. She looked up at Alice with sorrow pulling at her brows. Alice nodded slowly, as if to say ‚I know, it's been a lot'.

„I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was her puppet, she pulled the strings. I didn't know there was another way", Jasper's voice was very low then, almost a whisper. Sascha could see the venom swimming in his eyes, tears he would never be able to shed again. Then, he breathed out a laugh and smiled. „Until I met Alice. Now, she'd seen me coming of course."

Alice immediately sped over and hugged him around his waist. „Kept me waiting long enough."

Jasper lowered his gaze with a watery laugh. „My apologies, ma'am." He looked back at her, such fondness in his eyes, it filled even Sascha with warmth to see the bond they shared. „I don't know what I'd become if she hadn't gotten me out of there."

Alice hushed him quickly, and pressed a peck to his cheek. „You never have to be that again."

Jasper hugged her back properly and put his chin on her head. Sascha had to stifle a laugh when she saw how awkward Bella was feeling again. Though, she had clung to each and every word of Jasper's story.

A moment later, Edward joined them, God knows where had been during that exchange. „We better get going, Bella. It's almost 4pm."

Bella nodded. „Thanks Jasper. See you, guys." She rounded the car and gave a small wave toward Sascha before she got in.

Sascha returned the gesture with a smile, as her two friends walked over to the car too. She slipped into the passengers' seat. Alice had insisted at some point she ride shot-gun. ‚Longer legs' had been her reasoning. Jasper got in the driver's seat as Alice jumped in behind Sascha.

When they drove off, Sascha could sense the heavy feeling still lingering around Jasper. Must be his gift. There was nothing really to say though, she had heard the story, he knew her thoughts. So instead of saying anything, she just gently put her hand on the back of his that was lying on the middle console and weaved her fingers through his.

Jasper didn't react much, kept his eyes on the road. Though after a few beats of silence, he turned his hand palm up in hers and gently re-connected their fingers, squeezing back. Sascha leaned into her seat a little more relaxed then.

The heavy air turned tender.

End Notes:

Hello, I'm back - for now. I think I have to reduce the posting quantity to once a week instead of twice, I hope you can understand. Thinking that a week would be enough to get settled... foolish, if I do say so myself. And I do say so, as I am still fluttering around like a headless chicken almost hahah The coming months will mainly consist of intensive language learning and trying to finish my god-forsaken BA paper. Let's see how that'll all go.

Updates will now continue each Friday of the week, starting from next week, March 10th. I know it's more time between updates, but at least that way I can maintain a little bit of consistency.

What did you think of this chapter? As always, I'm curious to know your thoughts and opinions. Thank you SO much to everyone who has decided to follow and favourite this piece. It honestly means the world to me. Thank you so much.

Okay - I think that's it for today. See you next week~
Have a good day, and take care.

Posted: 28.02.23

Last Edit: 28.02.23