A/N: Content warning for graphic descriptions of torture and sexual assault, body horror, and suicidal ideation.

↓(For a more in-depth chapter summary, check the end notes.)↓

THE HANGED MAN

"We see in the Hanged Man the idea of the utter dependency of the human personality on the tree of Cosmic Life. […] This card has profound significance, even though much of it is veiled. Man must now accomplish his regeneration for himself consciously and voluntarily."

—Eden Gray, The Complete Guide to the Tarot

Divinatory Meaning: In spiritual matters, wisdom, prophetic power. A pause in one's life, suspended decisions. Self-surrender leads to the transformation of the personality. Material temptation is conquered.

Reversed: Arrogance, preoccupation with the ego, resistance to spiritual influences. Absorption in physical matters. Wasted effort. False prophecy.

—Joan Bunning, Learning the Tarot

—

DECEMBER 2039

DON'TCAN'TPLEASE

HELP

Alice could not stop it.

Not her visions, not their abuse, and not the tremors that gripped her so fiercely, refusing to let her body fall still.

When the man, Xavier, had finally released her arms—not before trying to press a filthy, horrible kiss to her mouth (his tongue had left a thick layer of venom against her bottom lip that she felt now drying against her chin)—she'd curled in on herself so tightly and bit back every other scream she wanted to release. She wanted to shout and scream and rage and tear all of their faces off. She wanted to rip and burn and kill every last one of them. She wanted to weep and wail and die where she lay.

After he'd gotten off and readjusted himself, he'd backed away and stood up. Then, Alice had moved as fast as she physically could through her excruciating pain, pressing broken, injured, dirty limbs into the dirt and crawling, digging her remaining fingernails into the ground like a pitiful, dying insect. She was relieved they allowed her to scurry off like that, no faster than a human, and when she pressed her palm against the wall, knowing that Emmett lay on the other side of it, she tried to temper her breathing and force her cries to quiet as she pushed her forehead against the old, moldy wood.

Emmett didn't need to hear any more of her suffering than he'd already been forced to.

Esteban had departed soon after he'd gifted Alice her 'absolution' and then, despite her cries of protest as she gasped, pleaded, and begged him not to hurt Emmett any further, Esteban had turned toward her and smiled his horrible, gruesome smile.

"Do not worry, little witch," and the affection in his voice had made her stomach churn, "I won't kill him until you are gone."

As if he were performing a kindness.

Emmett's voice groaned heavily throughout the room, and Alice hated that she was forced to watch each and every blow of Esteban's creation, one after the other after the other, before they even struck.

She had not needed to wonder what Esteban had stuck her with, since she'd watched it. She had not wondered about Emmett's words as he screamed and pleaded and cried, listening to her torture and molestation, because she'd heard it. She had not thought about the look on the man's face as he came in his pants, grinding against her and gasping into her closed off face, because she'd seen it.

Her gift was a curse and it was a blessing and it was a mistake and it was a joke and it was their only goddamn hope of survival.

The sound of bone tearing through skin sounded so differently up close than it did from farther away. The abominable creation that Esteban was using to beat against Emmett's back, just as he had hers, sounded so much worse now.

The man who still watched her was contemplating further action, and Alice didn't need to look across the room into his eyes to see the hunger there. She saw in her visions all the different ways he wanted to assault her, and all the creative ways he would snap her limbs to make her easier to rape.

Alice waits for him to approach, not needing to feign her fear for once, and when he reaches down to grasp her by her neck she uses the wall to push off, tearing out an arm before she can grip his neck properly and twist.

The occupants of the next room underestimate her. They think this is the man who has attacked her, instead of the other way around. Someone yells before anyone moves, but it's only one of them that enters the room. The second man remains beside Emmett in the—

Nope, again.

Alice does not resist and spreads her legs willingly when he lunges—she knows it's the only way to keep him from breaking her hip joints. Alice remains silent as he grunts rhythmically in her ear; a nauseating sound that leaves her counting each of his heavy breaths, knowing that they're numbered. The bite he inflicts on her neck stings each time his breath hits it, but it's nothing compared to the press of his body against her mangled back.

It only takes him seventy-five seconds to climax, and when he does his grip on her loosens. He's still pressed against her when she tears both of his thumbs off simultaneously. His gasp of pain is hidden amongst the ones of pleasure so when she turns and tears his head off—all teeth and fury—the two men in the other room hesitate before moving. Alice can't steady her legs fast enough; the pain is too fresh and blinding. When one of the men enter the room, she doesn't stand a chance against—

No, no, no. Again.

Alice waits for the man to approach, watching with fear as he reaches down to grip her neck. He drags her across the ground to the opposite end of the room, and when he loosens his grip to flip her over, Alice uses her last bit of air to yell out a squeaked, mangled, "help." When she strikes, twisting his arm in a way that forces him to his knees and makes him easier to behead, the men in the other room think she's been killed.

They both enter this time, and Alice is able to kill the first quickly, the second falling at her hands after two seconds of grappling. Unfortunately, Esteban is not far enough away and hears the sound of tearing flesh. He is already racing back toward the shack before she can grab Emmett and—

No. NO!

Emmett's wordless groan was low and terrifying as it pulled her back into the present. Alice had never heard him, nor any vampire for that matter, make such a noise, and couldn't help but wonder if their healing capabilities had a limit. If there was a point where regeneration was impossible, and they couldn't be put back together again no matter how many of the king's horses and men tried to reassemble their battered, broken, mutilated bodies. She wondered if they'd reached that threshold yet. She wondered if she'd reached that threshold yet. She pushed the thought away abruptly.

Alice couldn't stop it, even though she could.

Their agony was part of the plan.

Curled on her side with her mangled back facing the wall that split the rooms, Alice pushed the back of her feet against the rotting wood; her injured knees still needed time to correct themselves but her ankles needed the extra help quicker before fresh, taut skin stretched itself over the uncorrected injury. She was grateful when she was able to press hard enough to make the back ends of her ankle reunite but not hard enough that the wall crumbled under the pressure. Her flesh stung terribly as it knitted itself back together.

Her back burned unlike anything she'd ever experienced. She'd never known the agony of change and found herself wondering, as the ruined skin tried to patch itself together overtop of the remnants of her shredded shirt, if this was comparable.

Maybe, if her plan worked, and if they made it out of this, she could ask Emmett.

As if on cue, he screamed, and Alice threw herself back into the sea of visions, desperate to escape having to watch what he was enduring. This time, she was gifted with something new. Something vital.

Alec moves with an energy Alice does not recognize, as he slowly paces the room, staring at the radio in the center and ignoring the gaze of the three men who stare back at him. Alec eventually turns toward them and after the first step the three men are reduced to crumbled, motionless bodies. He picks up the radio receiver swiftly and speaks loud and clear.

"Alice Cullen has been retrieved."

But for some reason, the vision shifted.

The boy stalks back and forth in the room, unsettling the three men that guard the radio. He hesitates for several seconds before turning around and leaving the room. He is heading back to place them all back under his influence, and secure her capture.

The future reversed. The future readjusted.

Alice watches as Alec enters the room, glancing toward the three men who guard the radio. "Orders from your priest."

"Orders only come directly from him."

Alec straightens himself in a way that Alice doesn't anticipate, and the eerie feeling is not lost on the three men as a Volturi guard member centers their anger on them.

"I will go ensure…" A second man does not finish the thought but does excuse himself from the room, giving Alec a wide berth as he passes.

There is uneasy silence for a few seconds before the remaining two men nod to one another, still uneasy over the fact that they should not be denying this weapon of the Kings anything. They eventually step aside.

Alec picks up the radio. "Alice Cullen has been retrieved." He speaks, and Alice can hear the response on the other side, knows that voice—

Alice returned back into her body with an ice cold chill freezing her aching, burning muscles in place.

It was all true. The Volturi were here, Esteban had been gifted members of the guard, this had been contracted by them from the start, and Demetri would be on the way soon, if he wasn't heading their way already.

It all made perfect sense. The Volturi couldn't act on their own, so they commissioned someone else. Someone who would make it their mission to take out the most important person in Alice's life with minimal encouragement. They'd used Jasper's past to get to Esteban, Esteban's rage to ensure his cooperation, and his supplemented army to capture her.

A fresh rage blossomed in her chest; hot and protective. If they thought they could secure her loyalty with Jasper's murder, they had another fucking thing coming.

For years Alice watched them, closely and carefully and with as much attention as she was willing to sacrifice. But no matter what, it hadn't been enough. She was minutes away from being gift wrapped and delivered to the Volturi guard, and Emmett would be left behind to die.

It was too much. It was too much to think about but if she wanted to find a way out she had to think about it. If only she could get her body to stop trembling, she'd be able to focus a little better.

Alice closed her eyes and tried to will herself calm. She wiggled her toes and focused on them, trying to ignore the pain in her second toe on each foot, and the pain where Esteban had driven her own bones into her cartilage. She hadn't been able to accomplish this subtle movement five minutes ago. It seemed that whatever blows he'd struck had damaged nerves, rendering her feet numb in a way she hadn't noticed until the pain had started to crawl back to the surface of her awareness.

Then, she wiggled each finger, minus the index, which still wept and leaked venom, the skin not yet figuring out how to begin the slow crawl across her open wound to seal itself up. Esteban had nicked the nerve in her left wrist, leaving it hard to make a fist for a few minutes, but her right hand was still fully under her control.

She counted to ten, and then back, and then up to ten again, and then backward. It was as she was cycling back for her third countdown, her breathing even and her fear still causing her to shake, that she heard it.

For a moment Alice thought she was in a vision, but quickly opened her eyes to glance around the room and confirm that, no, it was not in her head, and yes, she was hearing that from another part of the house.

How long had it been there? How long had she missed this? Alice inhaled deeply and could not smell anything, but the sound was so unmistakable. The fluttering, inhuman heartbeat was something that only belonged to one type of person.

No, no, no.

Alice closed her eyes tightly and felt something shatter inside of her chest. How? Just… how had Esteban gotten her? She was supposed to be far away and safe and not… not here.

Alice thought back to the assault she'd received and thought forward the one the man was currently planning and felt sick to her stomach in an entirely new way. No. No. Alice could get taken. Alice could get battered and abused and carved into. That was fine. But she refused to let Emmett die, and she refused to leave… to leave…

Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe Alice was beginning to hallucinate or the effects of what Esteban had done to her was causing glimpses of her dear niece to shimmer through her visions, morphing what was real with what wasn't in this terrible mockery before her.

Emmett screamed again and Alice started counting, her lips moving as the numbers rattled through her brain. Alice couldn't stop it.

Unless Alice could get Esteban out of earshot of the house, they were doomed. Emmett to death, Renesmee to some undefined, horrific future, and Alice to a life of slavery.

In that moment, Alice made a decision. In that moment, it all seemed so, so clear to her.

If it worked, she could get Emmett out of here, and come back for Renesmee. Alice would likely end up dead, but that was okay. It was fine. If it didn't work, then at least Alice would die alongside two people she loved.

Suddenly, and because of her decision, Alice knew how to stop it.

"It's me," she called out weakly. Then, even knowing that everyone had heard her, she cleared her throat and repeated herself. "I am the mate of Jasper Whitlock."

"No—" Emmett's shout was punctuated by a grinding sound, and Alice knew that Esteban had dislocated his jaw. The right side of his face had torn all the way to the ear.

Emmett's low moan was the only noise in the tiny house for a few seconds. Then, soft footsteps padded out of Emmett's room, around the bend in the hall, and then into hers. Alice watched Esteban enter and lifted her chin, not caring that her lip was quivering or that she was mostly naked on the floor before him.

Alice never wanted to be a martyr. But suddenly what happened to her next did not matter.

"I am Jasper Whitlock's—"

"I heard you the first time."

Esteban's voice was hard and even, and Alice could sense the suspicion in his expression. Before he spoke, Alice cut him off, doing what she did best and replying to his questions before they could form on his rotten tongue.

"You don't have to believe me, it's true. He told me all about you and your tentative hold on Coahuila, Padre Esteban," Alice growled the lie out, forcing a dead fury to grip her tone. She was dropping the pitiful supplicant act. She was still terrified and in excruciating agony and wanted him dead just as much as he wanted her dead, but she was no longer going to play his sick games. If it got him to stalk away, then perfect, but if he wanted her dead, then so fucking be it.

It would be better than letting Demetri drag her to her doom.

He tried to speak and she cut him off again. "Yes! You have had the Major's mate under your thumb the whole time," she found herself laughing then, but quickly forced herself to stop. If she wasn't careful, those laughs would turn to hysterical crying. "How does it feel?" she taunted, the shaking of her voice finally making herself sound more angry than scared. "Knowing you absolved me of my sins? Me? The demon woman who loves the man you despise. Who has loved him for over a century now. The man who has lived in peace while you've rotted under the sun in Torreón.

"My name is Alice Whitlock and if you don't want me stolen from your doorstep you better act fast." She grinned, feeling wild as the words fell forth. She watched him walk further into the room, and when he kneeled before her, she told him, "Alec already has plans to disobey. Demetri will be here any minute now."

Alice knew she was going to be hit, so she made sure to tilt her head up toward him and grin at his awful mug. Then, he struck her. His fist came down against her temple, her head connected hard to the floorboards, and the wood cracked beneath her.

It barely hurt in comparison to everything else that had happened to her tonight.

Esteban wrapped a mangled hand around her throat and picked her up by her neck, holding her high as he dug his fingers into her skin. She could feel the few fingernails he had left cutting her with his blunt grip, but she did not care. He bared his teeth up at her and despite his violent posturing, Alice knew that he was not going to kill her now.

There was a terrible relief that swamped her when she realized she had him.

Alice searched for the perfect words to make him drop her and was not left disappointed. Voice just a whisper, Alice bared her teeth back at him. "You were never worth finishing off."

When he slammed her back down into the ground, Alice swore she blacked out from the pain momentarily. Of course, she was still aware of everything that happened as she blinked the spots out of her vision and stared up at the half-collapsed ceiling above her.

Oh, she realized with a distant sense of fondness, as she stared into the overcast night sky. At some point in the past few minutes it had started to snow.

Alice turned her head, fighting hard against the pain, and found that she could not see the vile man who was still keeping watch over her. The portion of floor on her side of the room had caved in, and a few ragged two-by-fours obstructed her view of him. For a couple of moments Alice found herself flooded with genuine fear: she would not be able to move properly for the next forty seconds.

She hoped he would not prey on her for forty-one.

Esteban flew into a rage in a multitude of languages—English, Latin, Spanish—as he swept out of the room. He commanded the man in the room with her to remain at her side, keep watch on her, and "do whatever you have to do to keep her here." The implication as to what Esteban would allow was obvious. Alice wished she could spit on him, and regretted that she hadn't.

He called toward one of the men in Emmett's room and beckoned him to come along, leaving Emmett with only one guard and igniting a burning hope in Alice's veins. That development was almost too good to be true. It was handing her their escape on a silver platter, and pointing them in the right direction.

Then, Esteban called toward people she could not see. With a terrified moment, Alice remembered who was there and listened as the group left the house and ran east. Alice could hear four pairs of footsteps, and tried hard to pick Ness' out of the lineup, but before she could decipher anything they were too far away. Esteban was not wasting time now, and he would be at their base within the next minute. He would meet Alec on his way out of the building but he would be too late, Alec will have already called Demetri by then.

In the next fifty seconds, they had to leave.

The man in the room with her was also not wasting time.

He stalked over to her with a confidence he did not deserve to possess. Especially for a man she was about to kill with her bare hands. Alice had fourteen seconds left before she would be able to move adequately.

In the first four, he stood before her, glancing down at her curiously as he undid the button on his pants. Then, over the next ten seconds, he kneeled down to toss a couple of broken floorboards to the side, and ripped a few more up that obstructed Alice's face from his sights. Then, with Alice's battered face and broken body in full view, he pulled himself out of his trousers and started stroking himself.

At the fifteenth second, Alice allowed him to reach down toward her before she struck.

She yanked on his outstretched arm to pull him downward but swapped places with him before he could land on top of her. She swung herself into the air with a cry—the agony of her back was worse than she anticipated it would be—as he crashed into the hole in the ground.

With a death that was far too fucking swift for her liking, his head rolled away, and Alice put her plan in action.

A/N:

Summary: Alice goes through vision after vision of nightmarish scenarios as Esteban resumes torturing Emmett in the adjoining room. She sees visions of Alec summoning Demetri, giving her the final confirmation that this *has* been the Volturi's doing all along. She also hears the distinctive, nearby sound of a hybrid heartbeat and is sickened by the possibility that Esteban might have Renesmee. She starts doubting her sanity the same way she's been doubting her visions and resigns herself to her fate; as long as she can get Emmett out, and attempt to rescue Renesmee, she's okay with dying.. Fueled by fear and fury, Alice eventually calls out to Esteban and admits to being the mate of Jasper Whitlock. She taunts and mocks him, laughing in his face; he retaliates, delivering more violence; but ultimately he storms away with one of his men, off to seek out Demetri with the rest of his entourage. Alice knows that Esteban can't kill her yet; she's successfully played the riskiest, most terrifying card in her hand and it has earned her and Emmett a few precious minutes. After Esteban leaves, and before Alice is hurt any further by the man guarding her, she kills him, and puts her plan into action.