Chapter Warnings:
Injury during training, panic attack (it is only brief, but described in a bit more detail - take care in reading this, if you have a sensitive or bad day 💕)
Next Update: March 24th 2023
13. Change of Plans
The following day, Edward approached Jasper with a weird request. Apparently he needed his nose to check if Bella's scent could be masked through a werewolf.
Yet again a moment where Sascha had found asking herself what kind of fairy tale she had ended up in, exactly.
And because nothing was ever weird enough already, she had been pulled along as well since her senses were still heightened. She was yearning for the day her newborn status would finally run out and she wouldn't have to tag along like a special task force.
So, before that day's training, she found herself trotting along with others, chatting with Bella about their change of plans. Bella had not agreed to spending the remainder of the battle sidelined. At the very least, not without Edward by her side. Sascha could understand that, especially considering whatever had conspired the year before. She didn't know the details but enough to know it must've been traumatic. Even if you ignored the blatant stupidity that led to the events in the first place.
At a certain point during Bella's explanation Sascha had to stifle her laugh. „Oh, Jacob's going to love being the scent blocker. Not at all offensive."
Edward scoffed darkly, walking ahead with Jasper. „His stench is offensive."
„You never had a dog, did you?"
„I died before I had the opportunity."
„You seem pretty alive to me."
Jasper turned to look at her over his shoulder, an amused glint in his eyes. „Oh, you don't want to go down that road, Darlin'."
Sascha quickly raised her hands. „Didn't say anything."
They reached the clearing then. Jasper had already told them about that area as a strategic advantage point for the battle. Looking at it Sascha found herself agreeing immediately. Far away enough from the town, an open plain with options for high ground and a lot of trees, since it was in the middle of the forest higher up the mountains.
Jacob approached them from the other side of the field. Shirtless. Why this decision?
„Why indeed."
„Edward, I swear-"
Jacob cut her off as he got closer. „You're not fighting? What, did you pull a muscle or something?"
„He's doing it for me, okay?", Bella cut in quickly.
„Whatever. Just tell me the plan."
Could anyone be any more grumpy? Sascha and Jasper exchanged subtle glances. This was all so awkward.
„This field will give us an advantage in battle", Jasper explained. „We're gonna lure the newborns with Bella's scent. But it needs to end here."
„Edward and I are going on a campsite. Even if he carries me, they'll still pick up on our scents."
„Your stench, however, is revolting." There was so much disgust in Edward's voice, it was radiating off of him in waves.
„Dude, you really don't wanna start comparing stinks."
Sascha rolled her eyes with a scoff. „Children, pissing contest, later. Battle planning, now."
Bella took a step forward. „What he means is that your scent will mask mine if you carry me."
Maybe it wasn't a fairy tale Sascha had ended up in. Maybe it was just a badly written rom-com.
Jacob was quick to agree then. „Done."
Edward turned to Jasper with a sour expression. „This is not a good idea."
„Edward, they won't want to go anywhere near his…", Jasper considered his words well then, couldn't stop the smirk though when he looked at Jacob, „odour."
Bella, clearly fed up with all the testosterone and petty species-fights, huffed and walked over to Jacob. „Okay, let's just try it."
Jacob picked her up easily. „Eau de Wolf, coming up." He was way too happy about this turn of events.
„Run!", Edward snarled.
And off the two went, Jacob quickly jogging towards the tree line.
Sascha stuffed her hands into her pockets. „Edward, I would really advise you to not insult the people you need favours from."
„There's actually a favour I've been wanting to ask you, too."
„Oh?" Sascha blinked a surprise, sharing a confused look with Jasper. „What is it?"
„With your gift, you could be… a great help in protecting Bella if someone were to follow us."
„You want me to camp out in the mountains with you?"
Edward's jaw hardened. „Yes."
Sascha shifted from one foot to the other. „So you want me to get gnawed instead then?"
„Strategically speaking it would be better to switch places with whoever is doing the attacking, really", Jasper said, his voice a smidge tighter than before.
„I have to be honest here, Edward. I don't know if I have enough control over my gift to be of help that way."
„Would you be willing to try during training?" Edward's eyes were pleading.
Sascha hummed in agreement. „We'll see how that goes. And I think the others should be present when we decide on what to do, too."
Edward nodded stiffly. „I just didn't want to ask you this in front of the others. I didn't want you to feel pressured into agreeing."
And yet again, Sascha found herself deeply surprised. „That is… oddly considerate of you."
That was the first time she saw the ghost of a smile flash over his features. „I'm not always an arse."
Sascha snorted at him mimicking her way of talking, then leaned toward Jasper with her eyes narrowed playfully. „Can you attest to that?"
Jasper loosened a little again. „'Not always' is accurate."
Sascha shook her head at the two, then nudged Jasper's shoulder. „Come on, let's see if we can pick up on the human."
„I'll wait for you here."
Jasper and Sascha sped off in the direction Jacob and Bella had gone, both trying to sniff out any of Bella's scent. They had to got a little further away from the field, though, as Bella's scent was still lingering around the area there. Once it dissipated, they slowed, not wanting to miss on anything. They needed to be sure. After all, this was about Bella's safety.
While sniffing like a mad dog, Sascha pondered on Edward's request. Did she really want to be separated from the others? And truthfully, even if it was quite selfish, she did want to have her chance on getting back at Riley, too.
„What do you think of Edward's idea?"
„It sounds reasonable."
This tone again. And Sascha could see his shoulders tensing more than usual. „What's wrong?"
Jasper glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, before he focused on 'scent-checking' again. He huffed after a brief moment. „I don't like the idea of us all being split into groups even more."
„Naw, are you worried about me?", Sascha teased a little.
Jasper halted in his tracks suddenly. „This is not a joke, Sascha."
She flinched a little and stopped walking too. „I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
„I know. Just…", Jasper sighed heavily, „Just take this seriously, okay?"
She nodded sheepishly. She felt stupid. „Okay."
They kept searching for Bella's scent then, for about one or two more kilometres. But they weren't able to find her anywhere. Their plan had actually worked out. Jacob had completely masked Bella with his smell.
On their way back, Sascha wanted nothing more than the tension to leave. At the same time it was bothering her that she hadn't gotten a proper answer to her question. But she didn't want to push the topic even more-
„To be honest, I'm not even completely comfortable with you taking part in the battle at all."
Sascha turned her head to look at him in shock. „What? I thought you said I'd be a good asset."
„I did. You are."
„Then what's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm gonna fight with you. No matter where I am."
„I know you are. I'm not saying I'll try to keep you from the fight. And yet, I wish for as few of us to be involved in this as possible." Jasper looked her in the eyes then. „Imagine what I think of the idea of you not fighting alongside us. Instead fighting alone."
Sascha pondered on that for a moment. „Where did that change of heart come from so suddenly?"
„It wasn't sudden at all. I care about you now."
That rendered her speechless. And then she felt even more stupid than before. Of course… „I hadn't considered that."
Jasper breathed out a laugh. The tension seemed to slowly dissipate. „What? That when you make friends they might actually want to keep an eye on you?"
„Now, who's making jokes, huh?"
„It's called sarcasm, Darlin'."
„Same thing", Sascha rubbed her hands over her face briefly. „So, asking you what to do is not an option since you're completely biassed?"
Jasper shook his head with a weak smile. „Let's just wait, like you said, until after the training and what the others have to say about it."
„Fair."
They were almost back to the clearing. Before they got into earshot for Edward, Sascha nudged Jasper's shoulder with hers and gave him a side hug. „I care about you too."
He gave her a light squeeze. „I know."
The two made their way back up through the tree line and bushes to the clearing, Jasper stepping swiftly ahead.
„All we picked up was wolf stench. No Bella." Jasper felt that Edward was far from convinced. „This will work."
„Great." Edward still looked as unsatisfied as ever.
„Come on. Let's go meet the others." Sascha smacked his shoulder, a little too rough as it made Edward stumble a little. She wasn't sorry at all.
The trio raced through the woods to their designated training area. The others were already going at it, though much more leisurely than before. Jasper's scrutinising eyes seemed to be a missing factor. The rest of the family stopped their sparring as the other three approached, greeting them all. Alice and Esme dusted themselves off a little, they had been the last ones to spar with each other.
Sascha made sure to give at least a greeting to the wolves too as she inclined her head their way. None seemed to react much, just observing with tense postures. The only exception was a smaller looking wolf with sand-coloured fur. His ears perked up a little as he looked at Sascha with curious eyes.
„We- I've been thinking about another change of plans", Edward explained to his family and they all gathered in a circle. „I asked Sascha if she would stay with us in the mountains."
Rosalie scoffed in disbelief. „So we're another one less against the army?"
„So that I'm not the only one protecting Bella."
„Of course." Rosalie's nose twitched in distaste.
„Her gift could help us up there."
„We don't know that yet", Sascha quickly cut in.
Edward nodded. „Which is why we can try it out now."
Sascha noticed that it wasn't just Jasper who seemed not too convinced about the idea. Nonetheless, they agreed to at least try it out.
„At the very least, it can't be bad for Sascha to get some specific training for her gift." Carlisle's reasoning seemed to even calm Rosalie for the time being.
They agreed to have Esme stand in as Bella, Sascha and Edward standing guard and then Emmett, Carlisle and Alice were supposed to attack. Jasper stood aside to observe, with Rosalie. They agreed to not attack with all five against two for the first few runs. It would be too much.
They all got in position and when all were ready, Jasper called for them to begin. As the other three charged, Sascha tried to come up with a strategy on a whim. If she was to protect someone with her gift, it would be best to use distance to her advantage. So, in the split second she had to consider, while the others were still charging at them, Sascha sped a solid distance away. Just as the others reached Edward and Esme, Sascha switched places with Emmett with a loud crack.
Get the strongest opponent away first.
Appearing right next to Alice gave her the opportunity to grab her by her shoulder and hurl her back a couple of metres, while Edward was busy with Carlisle. By that time, Emmett was drawing closer again. Sascha had to think fast. She had to come up with a way to keep all of them from regrouping to coordinate an attack around her and Edward.
She had an idea then, a brief glance at Edward told her he had read her mind. He gave her a quick nod.
Sascha ran back to Alice, but before she made contact with her, a crack snapped through the air again as she switched places with Edward, startling Alice in her stance. Sascha then immediately switched with Emmett, to make him and Carlisle distracted with each other. Then she repeated her move which she had pulled in the beginning, ran a few hundred metres away, and switched places with Carlisle. Sascha was doing this during mere seconds. She ducked away from Emmett's fists before pushing him away with a strong shove of her shoulder.
Should she just keep going like this? It seemed to be a good strategy. The atmosphere was getting weird though. Like the air was getting tight. She shook it off and twisted out of Emmett's way just in time. She switched places with Carlisle again and had Emmett ram into him instead of her, and-
„Sascha, stop!" Jasper's voice cut through the air like a knife, filled with dread.
-with a crack louder than the others had been, she switched places with Alice to get her away from the centre.
Suddenly, white hot pain shot through her left side. Sascha screamed out in shock and stumbled over her own feet. Her momentum caused her to crash into a tree, making it to crumble and tip over to the direction of the pack. They quickly scattered to run away, but one was looking around in shock, frozen, a light grey one. More out of instinct than anything else, Sascha switched places with the wolf, causing the pain to intensify. Her scream tore through the trees as she heard a bone shuddering crunch. The sound was hauntingly familiar to her. Like stone breaking apart. The tree slammed down on her side before she could look for the source, the yells of the others seemingly far away. Muted.
The Cullens were all over immediately. Emmett flung the tree off her body, making sure to throw it away from either of their groups.
Alice dropped to her knees next to her, hushing her as she helped Sascha sit up. „Be careful."
Sascha grunted in pain and raised her hand to clutch her left arm… and grabbed air instead.
Esme gasped when she saw too. „Oh god, Sascha."
Sascha ripped her hoodie off of her. Literally. The left holder of her top hung weirdly as there was nothing to keep it in place. When she saw her torn shoulder, then her limp arm laying next to the wolf she had switched with, she was suddenly back in that abandoned factory. Back within the fights, the snarls, the pain. Panic clawed its way up her chest like a vicious creature, squeezing her rib cage, trapping her in her own body.
The voices around her were a mere buzz at the far end of her senses. As though she was dunked under water. The hands trying to stabilise her felt like choking ropes. Her vision became dark around the edges, zeroing in on what was directly in front of her.
„Get off of me." Her voice came out gargled, jaw locked so tightly her teeth wouldn't come apart while trying to talk. A sob tore through her throat as another wave of pain hit her as something came in contact with her shoulder.
Suddenly it felt like someone was trying to dig into her head. Or maybe not sudden at all. Now that she was aware of it, she noticed it had been gradually building up. A small hand grabbed her chin and her sight was crowded by one face. Alice.
Her lips were moving but no sound reached Sascha's ears. Sascha looked at her desperately. She wasn't breathing, and even though she didn't need oxygen anymore, she still felt like she was suffocating. Like her lungs were about to collapse in on themselves. Sascha squeezed her eyes shut, another strangled sob escaped her.
Alice's hand on her chin vanished and a brief moment after, her hands were grabbed by another. Sascha faintly registered that her arm must have been re-attached to her. The next thing she felt was her hands being squeezed in a rhythmic pattern. Almost like a heartbeat. It gave her something to focus on.
Calm. Steady. Grounding.
Slowly but surely, Sascha felt her eyebrows loosening. She opened her eyes and looked up at Rosalie kneeling in front of her with a concentrated, yet worried expression. Holding her hands. Sascha's gaze found hers and Rosalie gave her one small, slow nod. Sascha started squeezing her hands back in the same rhythm.
Whatever force was still trying to dig into her head shifted and started feeling like a soft blanket instead and with a start, Sascha gasped out her caught breath as the sounds around her came back and her chest opened up again.
„You're fine, we got you." Rosalie didn't let go, kept her anchored. „You're fine."
Sascha stared out of the backseat window of Alice's car, Alice to her right, stroking her hand softly, as Rosalie drove them back to the Cullen house. The others continued with their training. Jasper had wanted to come along first, but after a quick discussion with the others he had been convinced to stay. The training was imperative after all.
But Sascha needed out. She needed to get away from the looks of worry and… pity. Sascha didn't know how long she had been stuck, but she could tell from their looks that Edward had spilled more than one of her thoughts he had been private to.
She was going to kill him some day.
Sascha glanced down her left arm. The cracks had vanished already. Much more smooth than the other times she had lost a limb.
„How come there are no cracks left?" Her voice was so low, if the others weren't vampires, they surely wouldn't have caught her voice at all.
Alice's hand stilled for a moment before she continued. „It's the venom. It seals more quickly than normal healing."
Sascha hummed in recognition. If only she had known that before. Could've saved her some scars.
After they arrived at the house, Rosalie and Alice stayed close to Sascha as they entered the living room area. Alice hesitated for a moment, eyes flitting back and forth between the stairs and the couch.
„Do you want to be alone for a moment?"
Sascha shook her head quickly. She was sure if she were to be left alone now her thoughts would just come back to consume her. Uncontrollably so.
Alice gave a small smile, full of empathy. „Okay, come here." She ushered Sascha over to the couch and guided her to lay her head down in her lap.
Sascha let her. She was grateful for the comfort.
Rosalie followed them, but before sitting down herself, she approached the stereo. She shuffled through the CDs quickly until she eventually chose one to her liking and put it on. Soft, calming acoustic music filled the room, volume low. Satisfied, she sat down in her usual spot.
Sascha turned her head a little to look at the blonde. „Rosalie? What was it that you did back there?" She had been wondering in the car already. She knew the classic techniques to break someone out of a panic attack. But that had been new.
Rosalie seemed to ponder for a moment before she spoke. „After I had turned, I experienced similar… panic attacks. Breathing techniques don't work for vampires, as you can imagine. So, I had to get a little creative."
„That makes sense", Sascha nodded. „You're so smart."
Rosalie smiled a little. „I appreciate the lack of surprise in your voice."
Sascha breathed out a laugh. „I wouldn't dare." She pressed her lips together for a moment, not sure whether to ask her next question or not. She decided to try at least. „Is having panic attacks normal after turning?"
Rosalie averted her eyes quickly. It seemed like a coldness was washing over her features. „I don't know. But let's just say that the circumstances of my turning weren't pleasant either."
Sascha knew to not keep asking and merely nodded. Maybe she'd tell her some day, maybe not. Both would be okay. For this moment anyway.
She felt fingers stroking through her hair then and looked up at Alice with a smile, which she returned tenderly. Then, a small frown tugged at Alice's brow.
„Do you want to talk about what happened during training?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Sascha saw that Rosalie also turned back to them, her posture showing that whatever thoughts had caught up with her were gone again. Sascha looked at her briefly, then to Alice.
„No, not at the moment. But I promise, I will, at some point."
The other two nodded understandingly and silence settled in the room for a moment. Only the music tinkling silently in the background. After a few moments though, Sascha scoffed at herself and pinched the bridge of her nose, a grimace of a smile on her face.
Alice tilted her head. „What?"
„Guess you could say Edward's plan was spectacular rubbish, huh?"
Rosalie snorted, quite unlike herself. „That brick. If he weren't my chosen brother, I would punch him with how dense he is sometimes.
„Luckily I don't have such inhibitions", Sascha laughed. „Trust me, he'll catch it sooner or later."
„Are you sure you even want to still fight?" Alice looked more than worried. „What if you have another flashback during the battle?"
Sascha sat up then and crossed her legs under herself. „You have a point, but I need this. I need some kind of closure."
Alice nodded, but she didn't look convinced. Sascha nudged her softly. „Hey, it'll be fine. I'll just imagine they all have Edward's ugly mug. That'll power me through."
Alice's face broke into an unbelieving laugh then and lifted her hands to cover her face, shaking her head quickly. „Sascha, no."
„I'm only kidding, of course."
„Mhm", Rosalie was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, a smirk ghosting around her features. „Of course."
The three fell into a somewhat easy chatter then. 'Somewhat' easy because it was still connected to the upcoming 24-48 hours. They still had some plans before then. They had agreed to all go hunting together the coming night. To power up. Alice had had the sweet idea to let Edward and Bella have the house for themselves, without heightened hearing lingering around the walls. When Sascha had called it their „frisky time" she had gotten whacked over the head by Emmett for it.
Suddenly, a thought crossed Sascha's mind out of nowhere and she gasped. Alice had told her it was venom that had helped her healing back there. „Ew."
Rosalie and Alice turned their heads to her in unison. „What?"
„Please tell me no one salivated on my arm."
Alice blinked once. „Well, that's just an oversimplification of things."
Sascha shuddered dramatically and hid her face in a pillow with a whine. This was mortifying.
End Notes:
So, I had to sprinkle some darkness into this one. I hope it was okay - I didn't want to take away from the moment by lightening it up a little toward the end, but I did want to make it feel like an organic moment, how you'd try to get a friend out of such a state.
And I just love Rosalie so much. I know I haven't included her that much yet, but I do plan to after the Eclipse arc comes to a conclusion.
I am grateful for your patience! Especially, thank you to Stargazer1364 for your lovely comment 💕 It made me feel really warm. It meant a lot to me.
I hope you guys liked this chapter. Feel free, like always, to leave some of your thoughts, speculations, opinions, or anything that comes to mind in a comment. It really means the world and it's motivating and validating to keep going.
I wish you guys a nice weekend. Take care~
Posted: 10.03.23
Last Edit: 10.03.23