CRIMSON.
It is the vivid shade of her mother's favorite lipstick. The five year old smears the tube of gold and red across her lips and struts out into the living room, ready for her first day of school in the small Pennsylvanian town their family had moved to for the next few years at least for her father's business. Her mother scolds her while her father hands her a damp tissue—
—It is the rush of red that fills her chubby twelve year old cheeks as she wins the school talent show. She managed to speed paint a portrait of Princess Leia in under three minutes. Everyone is cheering for her. Her little sister holds up a giant poster, her gleeful shouts carrying over the crowd—
—It is the color of her shoes at the homecoming dance at San Antonio high school's gymnasium. She dances with her crush, a boy with a charming smile and sparkling eyes. In their innocence, she had no idea he was the evilest boy in the world—
—It is the flashing lights of the police cars and ambulance truck that surrounded the flipped over vehicle. She was pulled out, lying on a stretcher, barely breathing. She was nearly dead, her sister already gone from the world on impact. Her heart beat, but her life was gone—
—It is when she is falling, falling in love with Jasper Hale, that she is happy again. He is kind, and sweet, and he understands her more than anyone. He is her soulmate, she is sure of it—
—It is the feeling of Jasper's lips on hers as he showed her how much he loved her.
"I'll love you forever," he murmurs as she feels alive again—
—She is in the bathroom of their villa on the beaches of California. She is alone for once as Jasper hunts, but she is more than happy, as she holds up the white stick with a little pink plus sign. She strokes the skin of her abdomen softly—
—She is falling, this time down the stairs, her heart dropping as she realizes she can't save anyone—
—It is the blinking red line of the hospital machines steadily fluctuating up and down. For some reason, she's survived again. She's always been a fighter, but the fire within her was nearly extinguished. She is broken. Utterly. Completely. Her mother sleeps in the armchair next to her bed—
—It is the bouquet of roses she paints on canvas amongst a handful of international students. No one knows her really, but it was better that way. Her art is all she needed to recover, to heal, to distract herself from the numbness within. She smiles again—
—Her heart pounding above the city of Florence as Alec presses his cool, smooth lips to hers like an innocent child—
—Her blood pooling around her, as she lays alone and dying in the Florence University dormitory as a fire raged around her. It painted her skin in vivid hues. And then as a sharp force bites into her throat, she is burning beyond the flames—
—Her newborn eyes. Blinking in confusion at the world around her. She is changed.
Crimson.
Her eyes snap open again and this time, they're as golden as the sun.
And crimson is the fury that surges through her as Rory remembers everything.
➖
Just as soon as the newborn collapsed in the middle of the Black family living room, she was up on her feet again in a rush of movements nearly too fast for the humans surrounding her to track. She steadied herself, laying one hand on the counter and the other on her forehead head.
Her mind felt heavy with all the images and conversations and human experiences flooding her thoughts. Her regained human memories should be murky like for most other vampires, but perhaps considering the fact she had just regained them all, everything was available to her mind as clear as day. Every innocent, beautiful memory she had lost and every single bitter, sour experience she wished had stayed away flooded her mind.
She felt herself tremble in anger as she recalled every misfortune that brought her to her current state—the ire she had forgotten in her amnesiac state had returned in full, but she couldn't erupt just yet. She was still surrounded by humans, the people she loved and the people she could hurt if she couldn't regain control over herself for just a little longer. She inhaled, calming herself down, before facing her very confused family.
"What just happened?" Bella asked worriedly.
She and Jacob had entered the house seconds before witnessing the newborn fall suddenly to the ground the moment Stella kissed her forehead.
"I've never heard of someone like you being able to faint," Jacob said, squinting at her slightly, trying to determine whether it was a trick or not. He was careful in his wording, not wanting to expose the truth to his stepmother who was silently trying to wrap her mind around what she had just witnessed.
"I didn't faint," Rory said quietly, her eyes flickering up to reveal a light that wasn't previously present before. "I remember."
Bella was shellshocked. Her idea, a ridiculous, far fetched fairytale trope of an idea, had actually worked. "Everything?"
Rory gave her a sharp jerk of her head. She was grateful for Bella bringing her to her mother, but she was brimming with unresolved fury that was threatening to erupt.
A vampire had a capacity for emotion tenfold that of a human's. Sadness was despair, loneliness was isolation, and anger was fury. All the things she put up with the past few months as a newborn who didn't know any better, the betrayal and the manipulation from every vampire around her—it was all coming back to her.
And Rory knew when she erupted, it was not going to be pretty.
Stella, who had been trying to comprehend what just happened, interrupted. "Mija, ¿de qué estás hablando? ¿Estás bien?" She held her daughter's hand worriedly.
A smile spread across Rory's face as she looked upon her mother with renewed vigor and happiness, now able to recall the woman who stood beside her. "Mama, estoy bien ahora. Mejor que nunca."
"No truer love," Bella murmured under her breath as she looked between the mother and daughter with tear filled eyes of euphoria.
Rory felt an odd rush of energy strumming through her body, like she was alive again, with the return of her memories. She felt like herself for once.
A sense of purpose filled her.
However, there was a major problem she found herself in. She was bound to the Volturi with Alec being her creator and now she was expected to report back to them to sentence the Cullens to death—through both the newborn army and the "illegal" activities she was meant to uncover during her stay. She was entangled in a unwaged war between covens and she didn't truly belong to either side.
With her mind racing to find a solution, she needed a cover story and most importantly, time, which was running out by the second. Technically, she only had less than two days left before she would be expected to leave and even then, she wasn't sure what she would decide. She looked at the people surrounding her with hard eyes. "Bella, Jacob—you can't tell anyone what just happened."
Bella's brows furrowed together, a small crease forming between them. "Why? Everyone will be so happy..."
"More secrets?" Stella's voice was full of confusion and the tiniest bit of parental disapproval.
"There's too many questions that I still don't have the answers to," Rory explained fastidiously, "I need time to get my head together. And I can't distract the others. Not now." She shook her head vehemently, wondering how the hell she was going to escape the mess she found herself in.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Gonna force us to keep our mouths shut?"
She regarded him cooly. "If I have too." The rigidness of her tone surprised Jacob.
Bella stepped forward, her brown eyes filled with resolve. "You can trust me," she stated firmly, giving Rory a sharp nod. Bella raised her brow at her other best friend pointedly, "Jake?"
He stared at his bloodsucking stepsister for a long moment, before shrugging. "As far as I'm concerned, it's none of my business," he added in a sing-song tone.
At the face of recognition Rory made at Jacob's vine reference—her eyes lighting up in a familiar way with unabridged mischief and humor—Jacob raised his brows up high. "Oh, you're back back," he said, not fighting back his grin.
She nodded tersely, her eyes darkening in unbridled contempt. "I never should have left."
➖
RING RING RING
She should have been expecting this.
From her back pocket, Rory retrieved the burner phone Jane had given her on the jet ride to America with the passing detail she would call once, only to give her the meet up destination. It is just luck that she was on her way back to the Cullen house, after leaving Bella under the care of the wolf pack and her mother with the promise of returning soon, although she was not entirely sure when. The long way home promised Rory time to wrap her renewed mind around everything in only her own company.
Her thumb hovered over the green button, hesitating at the significance of her next actions. Rory quickly made sure no one else was in the vicinity—not too concerned of the possibility considering she was in the middle of the woods—before clicking the button with finality and holding it up to her ear.
"It's time, Aurora." Jane's cold voice greeted her shortly and straight to the point. "We will rendezvous at Seattle International Airport at eight in the evening two nights from now," she prattled on emotionlessly.
Hearing the news felt like ice water being poured down her back.
"I will leave for Seattle on Saturday morning then," Rory said, trying to extend her deadline by mere hours as if it would make the difference in the betrayal the Cullens had in store from her.
Jane caught onto Aurora's subtle desire to prolong her stay with the Cullen coven. The blonde sneered at how soft the newborn had grown in only a few weeks. Pathetic.
"Actually, it will be best if you leave the Cullens tonight instead of tomorrow," Jane smiled sadistically. "That way you will have ample time to treat yourself to a proper meal or two," she added mockingly yet wordlessly making it clear Aurora was expected to follow her orders. Although their last conversation was nothing short of pleasant, Jane was still Aurora's superior. Disobedience was unacceptable.
Rory stiffened. "But—"
"Is there a problem?" Jane retorted like a hawk about to swipe up it's helpless meal.
"No."
This was bad. This was horrendous, in fact.
Rory noted how convenient it was that they were scheduled to leave the very night the newborn army would arrive. She imagined the plan was for her to head to Seattle as the newborn army headed to Forks to take down the Cullens, granting enough time for the Volturi to make some sort of appearance and then return in time for the flight, completely unscathed. They wanted her out of the way. That was the point of everything—her farce of a mission and their lack of action on the newborn army. She wondered if they thought she was truly clueless.
"—Don't be late."
Rory imagined Jane moving to press her thumb on the hang up button, but a rustle of heavy fabric—the telltale swish of the Volturi guard cloaks—was heard instead.
"Is that Aurora?" A deep voice questioned in familiar Italian, as smooth and dark as molasses.
All night long conversations in her Florence dorm, dancing in the streets, and painting on top of the city.
"Yes, brother," Jane answered quickly in the same foreign tongue, accompanied with a huff of frustration. "I was just—"
There was a brief pause as she heard the whoosh of wind—someone had stolen the phone from Jane's hand. Only one person in the world was bold enough to do so.
"Hello, Aurora," the angelic voice greeted her. She could hear the smirk in his tone.
She inhaled sharply. "Alec."
More memories flooded her thoughts as she recalled every second and word and moment they had shared since he found her that night in Florence. All conflicted feelings were overshadowed by a dark bitterness that took over as she remembered what he had done to her.
"It's been too long, luce mia."
For far too long she was a naive and confused newborn vampire, who viewed Alec as her savior, her creator. He was her teacher and closest confidant. But the fog had lifted as she remembered how he selfishly disregarded her wish to not be turned into a vampire, into the monster she now was. He had lied to her, and she foolishly accepted every word from his silver tongue.
"Yes. Too long, indeed."
She felt betrayed. A sense of retroactive resentment towards her fate, her realized self loathing lashing out to blame someone else whether they deserved it or not.
"You sound irritated," Alec easily noted her frankness, mistaking it for her feelings towards the lifestyle she had to endure for an entire month. "Don't fret, soon you'll never have to see the Cullens and their human pet ever again."
Pet. He once saw her that way, another worthless human he could manipulate and play with her emotions. He claimed to have turned her to save her, but she wondered if he really did it because he was scared of being alone.
Rory could feel her emotions grow out of control again. She gritted her teeth, reminding herself to get ahold of herself. She was not a child anymore, she wasn't even human. She couldn't let herself throw a temper tantrum just because she finally realized all the injustices made against her. She was better than that, stronger.
Rory's head snapped towards the nearby trail as a familiar scent hit her. She was just getting a handle on her emotions, but this was too much. The scent jostled her, shocking her senses.
She inhaled sharply.
This was going to turn out very badly indeed.
"I have to go," she abruptly interrupted him. "Someone is coming."
"Oh yes, it'll be absolutely terrible if you get found out now," Alec snickered sarcastically. She could imagine the devilish smirk painted across his angelic face. "I will see you soon, luce mia."
"Goodbye, Alec."
She crushed the phone like she was crumpling a piece of paper. Bits of metal fell through the cracks of her fingers and onto the forest floor. Rory tensed, her hands curled into fists. She was furious, at Jane, at Alec, the Cullens, and mostly, herself.
However it was too late to run away now. The redhead had already spotted Rory, even in the dim lighting of twilight. The redhead narrowed her eyes.
"Hey!"
Rory slowly turned to face the person with bared teeth.
The redhead's high pitched voice shrieked in surprise, taking several shocked steps back like she had seen a ghost. In a way, she had, but the young woman didn't know any better. "What the fuck...Rory? Rory Aden? Is that really you?"
Rory froze in place as the human stumbled closer.
"Woah," The redhead gasped, taking in Rory's refined, symmetrical features, luminescent skin, and obsidian eyes. "You look...different."
An argument in Forks High school's hallway.
Rory's head tilted. "Lauren."
"Ah, the bitch finally remembers my name," the redhead sneered, her shock wearing off as she remembered her hatred the the spanish beauty.
Lauren looked around, unsettled by the fact they were the only two people in the area. They were only two miles away from the empty park that Lauren had began her daily hike from. The redhead frowned, "What are you doing out here in the woods anyways? Everyone thinks you're dead."
Rory's black eyes were trained on the increasingly uncomfortable human. "Evidently, I'm not." Her throat burned as she inhaled deeply, an agony that threatened to consume her.
Rory took a step forward.
Her eyes, absent of any color, darted to the human's jeans, where a damp, dark red spot on the knee blossomed like a fresh rose. Rory swallowed the venom that pooled in her mouth as she stared at the girl's frightened face. "You're bleeding, Lauren."
"Yeah, these dumbass rocks—What the fuck is wrong with you?" Lauren screeched as Rory was suddenly standing in front of her, with only a few feet between them.
The ghost of a girl stared back at Lauren emotionlessly. Inhumanly. Like some sort of monster from her worst nightmares with the looks of an ethereal being.
"Is this about that dumb argument? Get over it! You're trying to scare me?" she tried to sound tough, but she was trembling. Lauren glanced around the dark woods nervously. "You got your little friends blending in the shadows, ready to jump me?"
The insult didn't go unnoticed, especially to the primal beast within her that roared in offense.
"Wrong place, wrong time, Lauren," Rory whispered darkly, shutting her eyes as the last thread of self control within her snapped like a cable wire, and now uncontrollable, dangerous electricity surged through her. She crouched forward.
The redhead stumbled back, "Stay back, slut!"
"Don't fight back." Rory opened her eyes. "Let me help you."
The human gasped in horror as she found herself physically incapable of backing away from the decidedly insane, long lost girl. She was stuck in place, unable to wrench her feet away and run, like her instincts were screaming at her to do.
"What are you doing—" Her terror-filled question trailed into a scream as Rory rushed at her, becoming a virtual blur.
Rory found the girl's jugular easily, her sharp teeth piercing the skin like butter and ending the shrill, annoying sound. Rory held the dying redhead in an inescapable grip—to an outsider it may have looked like the two girls were hugging, if not for the blood spilling from her neck and Rory's mouth as she fed ravenously.
The girl's blood painted the monster in crimson.
She didn't care.
➖
It might have been minutes or hours, but the moon was high above Rory when she was finally found. Alice sighed sadly at the gory sight before her; Rory, covered in blood and sitting with her arms on her knees, next to Lauren Mallory's dead body. The psychic had already foreseen the possibility of this instance, but she had hoped Rory would have changed her mind. Evidently, she did not.
"Did you see this happen?" Rory didn't look up from staring at the ground.
Alice crouched next to the dark haired newborn, extending a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Rory...I've seen everything."
She wrenched her stare from the blood soaked ground to the tinier vampire looking at her sorrily. "Why didn't you stop me?"
Neither of the vampires were talking about killing Lauren anymore.
Her tone—it was obvious what she had truly meant. She had been purposely hinting she had known all along of Rory's initial purpose for coming to Forks. Rory wasn't sure how she had missed it or wondering if she had ignored it in favor of wanting to play pretend for as long as possible.
"It's easier for me to watch for someone's decisions the longer I've known them," Alice said, staring right at Aurora, one day as they shopped for clothing.
Out of curiosity and a needing to figure out what exactly Alice knew, Aurora had asked how the vampire's visions worked.
"But how can you see the future of people you barely know, or know to watch for them?"
"Well, I saw you coming into our life long before you were even born," Alice chuckled, setting another Gucci dress aside. "It was only a brief flash of you and Jazz—of course I can't foresee everything that was to occur—but it was enough."
"Enough for what?"
Alice smiled at her knowingly. "To trust in you no matter what."
"I had hope," Alice said simply. "I knew sooner or later you'd remember who you truly are."
Rory gaped at the pixie like vampire. "You knew that I would regain my memories?"
Alice nodded apologetically, unsurprised by the confirmation Rory had finally remembered her past. "There was a strong likelihood from what the different visions I've seen of you," she shrugged. "You had a lot of decisions to make."
"Alice, you need to seriously spill the truth more often," Rory sighed. "Would've saved me from a whole lot of headaches."
"You had to get there on your own," Alice said placatingly, standing up and offering Rory a hand. "I would've stepped in if you weren't already on the path you were meant to take."
Even as Rory stood, she kept her gaze trained on the ground regretfully,"I'm so sorry, Alice. I should've accepted your help all those months ago when you came to Florence instead of playing the tragic hero again. If I had just told you Alec had found me, maybe this wouldn't be happening right now."
She had never been the sort to regret things, rather accepting the lessons to be learned, but then again, she was a different person now. Literally. She had lost part of herself and had committed egregious deeds—not that she was faultless—but she didn't understand the full ramifications of it all until it was staring at her. She didn't expect the guilt she had already felt to twist and dive into the realm of shame and regret. But still. She couldn't turn back time.
"There's nothing to apologize for Rory," Alice said assuringly, doing her best to comfort the turmoiled newborn. "What has happened was meant to be, trust me."
"Alice, if you've truly seen everything," Rory searched the vampire's face for any indication of a convincing front, "then you know what I have to do. Where I have to go. Why I can't stay."
"I know," Alice repeated with a nod. She wrapped her arm around the conflicted girl soothingly, careful to avoid the blood. "It's going to be okay, Rory. Have hope."
The newborn was quiet as she took in her thoughts, gathering herself and her emotions in preparation to face the consequences of her actions. Her eyes dropped to the limp body on the ground, closer resembling a failed guillotined victim than the red haired girl she once was. "And I'm sorry for..." She was too ashamed to say the words.
Alice shook her head. "Hey, don't worry about...this." She unwrapped her arm from Rory's shoulder and took a closer step to examine the dead girl's body. "I will take care of everything—it looks like just another bear attack," she tried to say optimistically.
They both stared at the body for a moment, Lauren's vivid hair stained a darker crimson, haloed around her like a dying fire.
—like the flames of fire, the fire that burned and was moments from consuming her completely. Filling her lungs with black smoke and death. The vampire's skin, cold and hard as diamond, and eyes burning in fury, in revenge, in hate. Victoria's red hair sparked around her triumphant face as she left Rory to die—
"It's her!" Rory exclaimed in a mixture of disbelief and shock as the memory hit her.
Alice met her bewildered gaze with one of confusion.
Rory backtracked, her mouth moving slower than her mind. "Alice—it's Victoria"
It didn't connect in Alice's mind as she had been concentrated on figuring out the best solution to deal with the dead girl, visions shifting to explain the "missing" girl through another animal attack or disappearing in some exotic country.
Her eyes flickered from the body back to Rory in misunderstanding. "What? Her name is Lauren—"
"No! It's the newborns! The army—it's Victoria!" she repeated again, emphasizing her epiphany. "The reason I died wasn't just from the fire—it was her. She found me in Florence and set the dorms on fire, but before leaving me to burn, she said she was planning on taking care of Bella too. That she would destroy you all."
Alice's mouth dropped in shock. "Of course, everything makes sense now." Bella's blouse, her inability to predict the newborns actions, even why Riley Biers was leading the army.
"This was all about revenge," Rory continued, her vivid eyes bright with realization. "She wanted to kill me and Bella because Jasper and Edward helped kill James."
"A mate for a mate," Alice whispered. "I can't believe I didn't realize it before!"
"I can't believe I didn't remember!" Her exhilarated expression faded as the moon rose higher in the sky, reminding Rory of the reason behind her lost of control. She had to go. She had to leave. She had to save them. Rory bit her lip worriedly, "Alice, I'm not sure how much this will help when they come, but don't underestimate Victoria. She's heartbroken, which makes her more dangerous than she was last spring. Be careful. All of you."
Her tone of finality struck with Alice. The short haired vampire's forehead creased in concern. "Rory, you can't leave without saying goodbye," Alice frowned, eyeing the way the other girl was fiddled with her hands, a sure sign of her conflicted mind.
Rory knew she owed them a proper goodbye and explanation, to thank the Cullens for all their help. But she was also terrified at the likely prospect of being hated by them for the true reason she had come. She had spun a believable pretense—she nearly forgot herself. She bit her lip and shook her head, "It'll be easier if I go quietly. Less mess for all of us."
"Not to us," Alice clarified, meeting her gaze steely.
Rory stiffened, her mouth flattening in a terse line. "I can't face him—"
"Why not?"
Like a flood, the words that had been churning at the back of her mind ever since she remembered everything that happened, poured out from her. "It's easy to forgive someone when you don't remember what they did to hurt you. I know he's apologized. But, he hurt me, badly, and now I don't know if I can face him again, I don't know if I can forgive him. Some part of me wants to, but I just don't know what to do anymore. Everything has changed."
"If there is one thing I know about you, Aurora Elena Reyes Aden, is that you do what is necessary, not what is expected," Alice stated sternly. "You have the biggest heart in the world even though it doesn't beat. I'm not saying he deserves your forgiveness, but at least give Jasper a chance to say his peace now that you remember everything. After everything you've been through, just please hear him out one last time, without any false pretenses. You deserve proper closure if anything."
Silence stretched between them as Rory absorbed Alice's words. Alice wasn't sure what she would decide, especially when Rory simply stared at her unblinkingly.
"Tell him to meet me," she broke the silence abruptly.
Alice breathed a sigh of relief. If there was anything worth more than her best friend and his soulmate having one last chance, the clairvoyant couldn't care less. "Where?"
"He knows where."
➖
The moment Alice hung up the phone, Jasper was speeding out of the house, not bothering to explain himself to any of the others in the house, his book of battle strategies laid forgotten on his leather couch, as Jasper's only thought was finding Rory before she left. He was somewhat shocked by the sudden news—with the newborn army's expected arrival the morning after the next day, Jasper had hoped Rory would lesson the damage they were expecting by waiting until the battle was over to leave—yet he couldn't be angry at her for her decision.
He found her standing on the edge of their ridge that overlooked the tops of the tall pines, her silhouette glowing silver. She didn't make any indication of acknowledging his arrival as she stared at the full moon above, her dark wavy hair flowed down her back like a river, masking her face from him.
"When I was a child," she finally spoke, her voice gentle and soft as clouds, "I used to think if I stretched my hands high enough, I would be able to touch it, grasp it in my hands like greeting an old friend. I was always jealous that my sister was named Luna and not I." She missed her sister, and in a way, was jealous of Luna for finding peace in death, something Rory expected wouldn't happen to her for a long time if any.
Jasper willed himself to remain quiet, to relish in most likely the last words he would hear from his soulmate before she was gone for good.
"Of course," her lips curved in a nostalgic grin, as the memory of little Rory and Luna Aden ran around their house in San Antonio. "She wanted to be a Disney princess and so for a little while, we insisted on calling each other by our own names. We were stubborn. Mama called us her hijas celestiales. Aurora of the sun and Luna of the moon, sisters who needed the sun to shine."
His brows furrowed together as the amnesiac newborn spoke of her family, yet he remained silent, knowing Rory well enough to know she had a point to her story. He was intelligent enough to realize she had somehow remembered things about her past, but it was not the time to question it. He needed to listen to her.
"I lost Luna just a year and a half ago, but I know she's still up there, reminding me that once in a while, it all aligns in an eclipse. But," Rory stretched her hand out as if to touch the sky and then dropped it back to her side, "eclipses were never meant to last forever."
He understood that she wasn't talking about her sister anymore. Jasper swallowed roughly, blinking away the the glass that enraptured his eyesight. "So this is it?"
She still didn't face him.
"I can't stay."
He stepped forward, more of a stumble, as a sense of reverse deja-vu was occurring, their positions reversed like karma enacting her cruelest revenge yet. "Rory, please don't go. We—I need you."
"You never needed me Jasper," Rory chuckled softly like she was appeasing a small child making absurd statements. "I'll ruin you if I stay. More so than I already have. It's better for everyone if I disappear again like the coward I am," she whispered regretfully.
Her head tilted towards the sky, yet Jasper still couldn't discern her expression, only her emotions of guilt and shame.
"You're not a coward," Jasper shook her head, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening. He didn't know how it felt until it happened to him. They were always destined to leave each other.
"You're right," Rory acquiesced easily, her tone turning bitter and sour. "I'm not a coward—I'm a monster." Her laugh was empty and painful to hear, her pain and true belief of her statement evident in it's echo.
Jasper closed the distance between them, placing his hand on her shoulder, "You're the farthest thing from a monster—"
"LOOK AT ME!" Rory turned around, her bright crimson eyes glowed amidst the dark woods around them.
Jasper was shocked into silence at the sight—he had smelt fresh human blood earlier, but the clean scent of the river emitting from Rory had washed away all evidence of the deed except for the guilt radiating from her soul.
He was far from disappointed, how could he be? Controlling his thirst had never been his forte, he couldn't judge her. No, he only felt pity for her, for he didn't need to be an Empath to know she was despaired at what she had done.
"I'm a monster," she repeated softly, her voice just barely trembling out of fury and guilt and shame at herself and what she did and what she was.
"No, you aren't," Jasper reprimanded her, "If you're a monster, then I am one too. Whatever happened...No one will think you any differently or judge you because we know who you really are—you are a part of our family," My family, his mind added, "Just come home. Please."
She raked her hands down her beautiful face, as if she could wipe away her regret, "Jasper, I am not who you think I am. I will never be worthy of you. I don't think I ever was," her voice broke, and it broke his heart even more.
He brazenly wrapped his arms around the shorter girl, they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. "Rory, you're wrong. I've waited my whole life for you," he murmured pleadingly into her hair, "I can't lose you, please, just stay."
Rory allowed herself to savor the familiar feeling of his arms around her, the safety and trust and love shared in a hug.
Then, she wrenched herself from his tempting embrace, pushing him away from her until he slammed backwards into the wall of the mountain, a few rocks descended from the force. He was confused of her sudden rejection. He had thought he had succeeded in convincing her to stay.
A dry sob escaped from her as she stared at him incredulously. "Where was this fight when I asked you the same?"
—the lonely hospital room, crying for nights on end, the numbness that had stolen her for months—
The reminder of his actions flamed an agony both of them had tried to extinguish. "If you can't bare to lose me, why did you leave me in the first place?" Her question was edged with unabridged fury and pain and hurt, emotions she had attempted to bury, now more alive than ever.
"What I did to you was unforgivable—I can't ask you to forgive me. I swore to always protect you, and yet I did the opposite of that," Jasper cursed himself, shaking his head, "I nearly attacked you and Bella, all because of a little blood. Because I had no control, I caused you to lose our baby."
Hearing those words from his mouth absolutely wrecked her. For so long, for her last moments in her human life, she was tormented by the knowledge that Jasper didn't believe their child was his. Rory looked away from the blond and at the marble tombstone just a few feet away newly inscribed with Evangeline Hale. They had so much history between them, and Rory wasn't even sure what she was fighting for anymore.
"You had lost so much already and for me to be the cause of—It killed me, leaving you. But would have been selfish of me to deny you a chance to live," Jasper continued, his plea never wavering in his voice. "There wasn't a day that passed without you that I didn't miss your sweet smile or warm hands. I thought I lost you forever until you came back to us. Rory, you are my reason to live, you are my heart and soul. I-I can't lose you again. Please don't go." He repeated himself softly, meeting her eyes. "Please."
She shook her head. "You have to," Rory announced in a whisper of goodbye.
"Tell me one last thing," he neared closer to her again, his golden eyes filled with remorse and sorrow.
Rory smiled at him sadly. "Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" She didn't need to be an empath to know the matter of what he wanted to know, what he was still unsure of.
"Why are you saying goodbye when you don't have to?" Jasper countered harshly, his emotions escaped from his control, leaking out so much that she could feel it herself.
In the next second, her hand was caressing his jawline softly, their gaze meeting one final time, "Because it is the most painful way to say I love you, sweetheart."
And she disappeared into the night, a promise to her soulmate running through her mind, for she would find her prince again.
After she saved him of course.
You'll love me once more, the way you did once upon a dream.
➖
ajsjskaja what a chapter! i cried like three times writing the goodbye scene.
i preemptively planned out the rest of the story which means there's about eleven chapters left :,) also peep jasper's final plea for her to stay is inspired by the speech maleficent said to aurora in Maleficent(2014)
shoutout again to oddtae for the amazing trailer!!! link down below!!
https://youtu.be/fKq6bQLlJPY