Sign Of The Times || Jasper Hale

chapter 87

Everyone takes turns sparring with Jasper, or pairing off against eachother. They're blurs to Bella, but Alex had taken an involuntary seat beside her and told her what was going on. Though she did not feel any kindness towards the human anymore, she knew that the rest was to busy to train to explain it all to her. Everything to safe Bella. Alex wasn't even sure why the human was there.. Bella couldn't help.

"Why aren't you joining them?" Alex sees Jasper's pace changing, listening to them.

"I'm not really in control at the moment." Bella narrows her eyes and looks towards the hybrid.

"But you're like.. stronger right? So shouldn't you be the one to train?" Alex' head snaps towards Bella.

"What about not in control do you not understand."

Alice and Jasper spar, spiralling, twisting. Jasper launches at her but with her eyes glazed over, not looking at him, she sees his moves before he makes them. Out of nowhere, Alice is perched on his back; she taps his head with a smile.

"Gotchya." Alex smiles at the two siblings. They had been through a lot together and were closer than Jasper was with any of his other siblings.

Edward and Carlisle attack one another, but Edward can read Carlisle's mind which gives him the advantage. He delivers a vicious body blow.

"Focus on speed, agility, keep your opponent off guard." The wolves rise or pace, watching intently itching to get into the fray but holding back. "Use their momentum against them -- yes, good.."

Bella watches anxiously to the fierce, life and death wargames. A portent of the violence to come.

A furry muzzle brushes her face. Jacob is beside her, his eyes conveying concern. She pensively looks back out at the field.

"It will be a hundred times worse than this, won't it?" Bella looks across the faces of the Cullens and the wolves. Not daring to look towards Alex who had taken her seat somewhere else after Bella kept on whining about how people would die for her. "Some of you might not be here. Afterward. Because of me." Jacob nuzzles her face again. She pats him before leaning against him.

"We're done for the day." Edward suddenly appears next to her. His expression is calm, but firm. Jacob eyes them before rejoining his pack as they retreat into the woods.

The jeep pulls away carrying Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett. Bella sits on the hood of the Volvo and murmers over the scenes that had just taken place before her.

Jasper approaches the vehicle with Alex in tow, kicking the mud from his shoes, brushing dirt off. Bella looks at him as if for the first time.

"Jasper... Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Your presence alone, your scent will distract the newborns; their hunting instincts will take over, drive them crazy."

"Good. I'm glad." Bella narrows her eyes before asking the question that had been bothering her for a while. "How do you know so much about all this?"

Jasper's looks at her reluctantly. "I didn't have quite the same.... fine upbringing as my adopted siblings." Hoping to end the conversation, he starts to move away but she jumps off the jeep, following him. Alex rolls her eyes but Jasper pauses and sees the inquiring look. He slowly rolls up a sleeve to show her. It takes her a moment but then it becomes clear. His arm is feathered with hundreds of white, half-moon shaped scars. Bella's hand involuntarily moves towards her own.

"Those are bites. Like mine."

"Battle scars." Alex smiles at Jasper's tone. He was kind of proud of them, how he survived them all.

The sun shines softly on them through the clouds and gives Jasper a shiny glow. A beautiful glow. The garden was completely still. A storm would soon come, otherwise you'd hear the birds or any other woodland creature.

"How did these come to be." She had grabbed Jasper's arm that was wrapped around her and had lifted his sleeve. She saw hundreds of scars, similar to hers. She places her arm next to his' and he suddenly sits upright.

"How about these?" He frowns as he grabs her arm and sees the scars. It wasn't that he did not pay attention to her, but he didn't want to ask her.

"All the training the Confederate army gave me was useless against newborns. Still, I never lost a fight."

"This was during the civil war?" He nods as he starts to walk. She walks  with him, Alex following suit. Knowing how Jasper could get if he was to long to close to Bella.

"I was the youngest major in the Texas cavalry. All without having seen any real combat, until..."

"Until....." Bella prompts and Alex has to refrain herself. Jasper would tell her if he wanted, no need to be greedy about it.

"I crossed paths with a certain immortal." Jasper's face darkens with the past. "I was riding back to Galveston after evacuating a column of women and children.... When I saw her."

"Maria was creating an army?"

"I became her second in command. Back then, armies were common in the South. There were constant... brutal battles for territory.." Jasper looks ahead, as if in thought and Alex places her hand on his arm, bringing him back. He smiles at her before turning back to Bella. "Maria won every battle. She was smart and careful. And she had me. My ability to control emotions served her well. I trained her newborns - an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year. It was my job to dispose of them. I could feel. everything they felt." His despair as evident as if was yesterday. Alice has appeared next to them.

"I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was just her puppet. She pulled the strings. I didn't know there was another way...Until I found Alice. She'd seen me coming, of course."

"Kept me waiting long enough."

Jasper tips his head as if he was wearing a hat. "My apologies, Ma'am." He turns back to Bella. "I don't know what I'd have become without her." Alex wraps her arms around Jasper from behind him.

"Ssh. You'll never have to be that again." Alex squeezes him tight - trying to take in his scent instead of Bella's - and he places his hands over her arms, pulling her closer to him while Bella is deep in thought.