Chapter Text
When Bella first heard about the "creepy" Cullen she had expected a lot of things. For what she had been told he was the one Cullen who didn't come to school but was homeschooled instead.
He never stepped out of the house and no one had ever seen him, some people said he got in trouble in his last school and that because of that he was homeschooled, some others said he was disfigured and that because of that he didn't come out.
Jessica did claim she had seen him once with Mrs. Cullen, he was tall and blond, looked like he was in pain and like quite the creep.
But Charlie had told her to not mind the rumors. That people liked to speak ill of people that had been nothing but nice since their arrival.
When she figured out the Cullen's secret she had dared to ask Edward about the "creepy" Cullen everyone talked about.
Turns out the "creepy" Cullen's name was Jasper, much like Edward could read minds Jasper could feel people's emotions, Carlisle and Esme had tried to send him to school a few times in the past but none of them had been successful.
Jasper couldn't particularly handle being around so many people, much less when these were humans. He was new to the vegetarian diet and his control wasn't that good. Plus. His gift didn't made things easier.
When she officially met the Cullens he had been missing. Esme had asked her to forgive him, that he wasn't a fan of new people.
That had done nothing but make her even more curious about him, but she never managed to catch a glimpse of him. He avoided her like the plague, even avoided going to the baseball game same as she didn't hear a thing from him when all the mess with Victoria happened. It was as if he didn't exist at all.
She even wondered at some point if much like Rosalie he hated her to avoid her to such extent. Emmett did told her once that Jasper posed as Rosalie's twin, twins had the habit to share mannerisms, and it would explain his avoidance of her.
Still.
She never expected that their first encounter would go as it did.
Upon their arrival back to Forks the Cullens had been waiting for them at the airport. She had caught sight of the unfamiliar blond standing with Rosalie. He was easily an inch shorter than Emmett, his hair gold and he wielded the same stunning beauty as Rosalie.
Same iced glared. But something about his gaze had been more intense, more dangerous, it sent shivers down her spine and made her hairs stand on end.
Then he pounced.
One moment Edward was at her side and the next thing she knows he's on the ground with the blond on top of him. His fist connecting with such force against Edward's cheek she sees the skin crack in a familiar fashion.
-Jasper!- Carlisle's shout drowns Bella's horrified gasp as the people around them scatter back, both in shock and surprise. Esme is pulling her back before Bella can even react.
Jasper's fist connect back on Edward's jaw. Edward who seems way too drowsy for comfort, not even attempting to defend himself as Jasper's fists keep coming at him with an almost rabid obsession. Her skin prickled as if she were wearing an awfully scratchy and uncomfortable sweater. An odd heat swirling around her stomach. Anger .
She watched Emmett and Carlisle struggle to get him off Edward. But his attack was unrelenting and his pitch black eyes are blazing with such overwhelming rage Bella's blood runs cold, because now she could understand what Emmett had meant by Jasper being the most vampire of them all.
Right now he looked like the most intimidating vampire she had ever seen. More so than James and the Volturi.
-It's alright, we got it, it's just a fight between brothers. Our brother almost got himself killed and he's pissed.- Rosalie interjected easily as security appeared. She wasn't sure what had gotten into Jasper all things considered but the last thing they needed were humans grabbing him.
At that same time Emmett and Carlisle managed to pry Jasper off Edward, not that it worked for long for he easily broke out of their hold and pounced back at Edward, Rosalie had never seen him so out of it. He hit Edward with such unyielding rage, the fact that Edward wasn't even defending himself let her know he was also using his gift.
But at the end Emmett still managed to separate them. Holding his arms against his chest as he did so.
-Dude, no one's happy about what happened but beating the crap out of him won't change what happened.- Emmett called as he forced Jasper to start walking to the exit doors.
-God.- Esme let Bella go the moment she was sure Emmett had taken Jasper away. She still couldn't quite process what had happened.
-I apologize for the scene gentlemen, my son's just really upset with his brother right now, we will leave now.- Carlisle said as he went to Edward's side and helped him up along Bella. Using his scarf to hide Edward's face from the audience around so no one would catch sight of the cracks on his face.
He couldn't for the life of him understand what had possessed Jasper for him to attack Edward like that. Such rage... God. Jasper had never been violent so for him to pull this stunt... Carlisle was too confused right.
But the main concern now was to leave the airport before they attracted any more attention.
He would speak with Jasper later. He had tolerated his avoidance of Bella to the point where he straight up refused altogether to be under the same roof as her but he refused to tolerate violence among his children.
~
Jasper had refused to speak or even acknowledge Emmett's words during the car drive, much like he had ignored Rosalie's comments altogether.
And while he knew Carlisle would confront him he took advantage of the fact that Emmett arrived first than the man and he left through the window of his room. Because right now the last thing he needed was for Carlisle to come at him.
He was pissed, more than he had felt in decades.
When he first heard about the incident with Edward he hadn't cared much. It was to be expected when the idiot thought it was a bright idea to court a human. He had been more than eager to get rid of her the moment he heard how Edward had chose to save her. How she figured out their secret.
But Carlisle had been nothing if not stern on his warning against harming that girl.
And then he heard how the idiot had decided to go to Volterra to end his life. All because he thought Bella had died. It had filled him with such righteous fury it almost felt all consuming, because Edward had dared to attempt to kill himself.
And that made the venom in his veins boil, boil over the fact that the asshole had tried to end his life over a human that had done nothing but bring troubles to their doorstep since the moment she appeared. He was furious that he had failed at stopping him from going to Italy, furious that he was too weak to trust himself into an airplane. Furious that a human had almost led Alice's favorite brother to kill himself.
He had done so great these past decades. He had protected the Cullens and made sure no harm came to them, killed all nomads that dared to set foot into their territory and made sure everyone's identity was safe, all by terrorising the human in charge of their fake documents.
He had kept them all safe, but ever since that human appeared all of his efforts seemed to be crushed between her fingers. Edward stopped a damn car infront of the entire school, she figured out their secret, she attracted a damn tracker, almost sent Edward to death. She was ruining everything he had worked so hard to achieve.
Their safety.
It infuriated him to no end and still, for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he couldn't kill her.
He.
Couldn't.
Kill her.
One human. One single human was putting their lives at risk. Upside down. Destroying it all.
And he couldn't bring himself to kill her.
He hated it. Hated even more that he couldn't touch her.
It made him see red and he wished to rip something apart. Preferably her.
Instead, at some point he didn't care to ponder about he started making flower crowns. That never failed to cease the fire inside him when it grew too big for him to trust his control over it. He liked to put flowers in the river, part of him hoped for the river to take the flowers to Alice.
A familiar scent reached him. Carlisle . He doesn't bother to glance at him as he hears the nearing footsteps nor when these halt at his side. He places the flower crown in the river and watches it go as Carlisle sits at his side, he ignores him, his emotions were all over the place despite the man's calm demeanor.
Confusion. Disappointment. Disapproval. More confusion.
-Jas-
-I know that what I did was wrong but I won't apologize for it either.- He cut off not bothering to look at Carlisle.
Carlisle for his side frowned. He still couldn't decipher what had led Jasper to do what he did. He had never acted so impulsive and violent without reason and his relationship with Edward wasn't even that great, in fact, both of them had the tendency to butt heads as much as Rosalie and Edward did.
So for him to go and attack him... Carlisle couldn't understand it.
-Jasper, why did you attack Edward? I understand that we are all upset because of what happened but hurting him is not the solution either. He's-
-I hit him 'cause he deserved it.- Jasper cut off once again. He knew that he was being rude but he didn't care. Carlisle was awfully wrong if he expected him to apologize to Edward.
And since he couldn't tell the true reason behind his anger he used the other reason that fueled his rage during that time.
Esme .
-He knows about Esme and he still went behind her back to end his life not givin' a crap 'bout what that would do to her. You couldn't feel it. None of 'em could. But I did feel it. Her pain... He deserved what I gave him.- He sentenced with an iced glare.
Edward had deserved that pain and so much more for having caused pain to a woman that had done nothing but love them as her children. A woman who had treated them all with kindness and held them when they most needed it.
-What I did doesn't compare to what she was feelin' but it'll teach him to not be such a selfish prick next time. His life doesn't belong to him, he has a family and he doesn't get to decide if his life should end or not 'cause of some stupid human who has done nothin' but bring troubles with her since day one.
Carlisle winced as he heard Jasper's words. He had never heard Jasper use such filthy words, he was always so polite, the idea that he had attacked Edward as a sort of revenge for Esme... He wasn't sure what to think of that. He knew Jasper was awfully close with Esme, that he favored her over everyone else, but he never expected him to go as far as to attack others for her.
Still .
He needed Jasper to understand something.
-He was in pain and he was blaming himself over what happened. He thought that she had died because of him. That kind of pain of losing one's soulmate and on top of it to believe that one was the one at fault... None of us can understand it but he wasn't in his right mind. He was in too much pain to think clearly, you can't blame him for what happened.
Jasper felt red swim in his vision as heat obliterated his chest. None of them understood?
None of them understood?
Wrong!
He understood that more than Carlisle was aware of but he hadn't gone and killed himself. He had chose to live for her. Protect those she had loved until his last breath. He hadn't gone to Volterra and asked Aro to kill him on the first notice that she had died. He hadn't-
He hadn't been that weak and selfish. He killed her and the least he could do was make sure those she had loved were safe.
He understood! He understood that all consuming pain all too damn well and Edward had no damn right to act as if it had been impossible to ignore!
He crushed a flower crown between his fingers before springing up to his feets.
-Jas-
-'m gonna go for a walk. Dun't follow me.- He snapped glaring at Carlisle. His voice coming out colder and harsher than he intended but right now the heat was threatening to drive him mad. The pain. He needed to be alone before he did something he would regret later.
Carlisle for his side is smart enough to not follow. He had come to learn through the years that while Jasper may be the most composed and peaceful of them all he also had a dangerous temper.
His anger could become too explosive for comfort. There had been a time where he had destroyed his entire room, no one ever figured out the why of it though, he also would destroy trees and lash out if anyone dared to even dare to interact with him when he was in one of those moods.
Also.
There was the issue with his self-harm. Emmett had once ripped his sleeve while wrestling him and those scars on his arms... Carlisle had tried to talk to him about it but Jasper had shut him down immediately, refusing to have any kind of conversation about the issue altogether.
Carlisle knew he still hurt himself. The stench of venom on him at times was more than proof of it. And while he didn't knew the reason Rosalie seemed to do so. She had been the one to tell him that it would be better if he didn't approach the subject with Jasper anymore. That if he kept doing so something bad could happen.
And something had told him that she had meant something bad could happen to him.
To Jasper.
Vampires couldn't die because of bites so despite how much he didn't felt comfortable doing so he dropped the issue. Even now he still didn't like the idea of turning a blind eye to his son's suffering.
But he couldn't stick his nose into his matters either. These were his children. Yes. But none of them were kids for him to go around treating them as such. Jasper would speak to him when he felt ready.
Hopefully.