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Dream's Shadow

Summary:
This is my take on the over- and usually poorly- done plot. Edward leaves Bella again. She is changed and they meet again in the future. There will be a big twist! Requested by Iris. Banner by Iris!

Notes:
Try it! I know stories like this usually stink, but I thought I'd give it a try. I own nothing. Stephenie Meyer owns all.

62. Chapter 62

Rating 5/5   Word Count 559   Review this Chapter

“You see, I have something you want. And you have something I want.”

“Anything,” Jasper swore. “I don’t care. Anything, as long as she’s safe… and mine again.” He doesn’t say this in a possessive or territorial way… just protective.

Mine and safe from harm. That’s all I want… Alice… I read clearly in his thoughts.

Aro’s mind is a hazy one, but I am able to decipher it. “Well, you see…” I want one thing. You want one thing. How hard can this be. Spit it out, Aro. “I am… inclined to have you in my guard. Most inclined… however, the others in the Volturi are, shall we say, not. They would rather… em…” Jane and Alec were never very close to us… but vengeance calls, and so does war. “Seek retribution for the deaths of two of our own…”

“Jane and Alec,” I whisper. “They want to kill Alice because I killed Jane and Alec.”

I am horrified at the very thought, that my own desire to protect Edward, to prove myself to the family, resulted in not just two killings but the potential death of my own dear sister.

At the words ‘kill Alice,’ Jasper winces and covers his face with his hands, shaking his head quite vigorously. “No…”

“You’re quite right. That’s exactly what they intend. However, Mr. Hale, I can assure you your wife is quite unharmed, if a bit… shaken. Understandably, the situation she’s in… she’s being kept just above the main room, the turret… and Caius hasn’t seen fit to provide the manner of food you prefer.”

“They’re starving her…” An improbable image, left over from human days, passes through Jasper’s mind. Alice, even frailer than she is now, literally wasting into nothing…

“They wish to… break her spirit. Our usual method of… of…”

Torture, his mind supplies. Edward’s eyes meet mine. I am certain Jasper could infer it, but we both feel it’s best to leave that word on the far side of a divide.

“Jane is… unavailable. Thus, my brothers have decided that deprivation will weaken her enough to make her feed… like us.”

“Never. She never will!”

Aro turns to Jasper. “Fascinating! You truly believe your mate will withstand starvation to save one puny human life.”

“Yes, and so much more. My Alice is brave!”

“As I am not?”

Jasper turns away, unwilling to answer. Aro chuckles.

“Ah, you are a complex and intriguing member of our kind, Jasper Hale. So… where was I? A bargain… a bargain…”

He appears to be searching for the words, but I read his mind. Tactical strategies aren’t very effective when your opponent is a psychic. His brain is positively whirring with thoughts, but I can’t detect his intent. Finally, he smiles at us. “I am going to make you an offer, Bella, Edward, Jasper. An offer I truly don’t believe you can refuse.”

“Anything,” Jasper reiterates. “Anything. Just say the words.”

“Very well. I want Jasper and Bella to join the guard… for fifty years. At the end of that time all three of you- Alice, Jasper, and Bella- may go home to your family. If you refuse, the three of you may go, but Alice… I’m afraid she will never return.”