Loving The Major - Jasper Hale

As the Years go by

For the first few months Adeline had tried almost non-stop to free herself from the chains. She struggled to the point that her wrists were almost constantly bruised and bleeding. But Maria had been right; these cursed chains had indeed blocked almost all of her powers. Bound in them as she was, she was no better than a regular human in terms of power. The only thing they left her with was her healing abilities and immortality which would be no help in escaping. Upon realizing this, she had screamed herself horse, thrashing about and crying, sometimes even begging for someone to hear her and let her out. But once again Maria had been true to her word and no matter how loud she was or how sensitive a vampire's hearing was, they remained oblivious to her presence.

Eventually she had given up, resigning herself to her fate. If she could not escape then she would eventually fade away just like the rest of her kind that had been captured. In way she found the thought almost comforting. She didn't really know what happened to Elementals that returned to the elements, only that, according to her mother's stories, they all found peace there. If that was true than maybe she would get to see her parents again. That she could feel her father's strong arms wrap around her again as he swung her around. Or hear her mother's musical laugh echo in her ears as they danced across the world, no longer bound by any rules of society.

And maybe, just maybe, Jasper might be there too. Maybe this was fates way of allowing her to return to her fated. That once they had both shed their physical forms they would be able to be together. That they could see all the places that they wanted and live unburdened by the reality of responsibilities, expectations, and war. That they would be free to spend everyday simply enjoying the company of one another.

But fate is a funny thing. The more she accepted her fate the more his presence seemed to grow and keep her attached to the physical world.

When she had been struggling with the chains or calling out for help, she hadn't really been paying attention to anything that went on outside the barn. But now that she was quiet and no longer focused on escaping, voices began to make their way to her ears, carried on the wind that blew through the cracks in the barn walls. His voice in particular standing out among them.

At first, she was convinced that she was going crazy, hearing the voice of her dead love, but over the course of a few weeks, she began to question that. After all, if she was going to hear his voice then surely it would be something she would want to hear right? Such as the sound of his laugh or the way he spoke when he talked about their future together. Instead, what she heard was him barking out orders, giving commands, and even, though this was the worst by far, conversations between him and the vampire Maria.

She thought to ignore them, that they would only drive her further into insanity, but in the end she could not. This was the voice of the man she had loved, the one who had died and who she would never see again. So madness or not, she clung to that voice, just as she clung to his medal, and allowed it to wrap around her and comfort her as the days dragged on and on.

When Maria would arrive angry and lash out at her, breaking bones with her fists, cracking ribs with her kicks and leaving her a bruised and bloody mess, it was her hallucinations of Jasper's barked orders to keep fighting that kept her going. She allowed herself to imagine that he was directing it at her and encouraging her to keep going. To not let someone such as Maria break her.

Even when she imagined conversations between him and Maria, exchanging words of love they were a comfort. Yes, in some twisted way it was her worst nightmare come to life and each hallucination where they were together hurt like a knife to the chest, but if she closed her eyes she could imagine it was her he was speaking to. That they were seated under their willow tree, the sun shining down as he said those words to her.

Eventually though, the hallucination would end and she would once again be trapped in the barn. Unsure of whether she should surrender to the inevitable or keep fighting just as the disembodied voice of her love ordered.

It was at these times that she would spend possibly hours staring at his medal, until the light faded and it became too dark to see. It was the one thing she had left that she could physically cling to. She would use her skirt and fingers to keep it clean and when Maria was there she would keep it safely hidden in her shoe, terrified that the woman would find it and take it away from her.

A year into her captivity though, she discovered the terrible truth about her hallucinations. It was during one of Maria's sporadic visits where she ranted and vented her anger and frustrations on Adeline. The topic that day just so happened to be her favourite soldier. Apparently, he had begun to grow close to another newborn and now she had to figure out how to get rid of it before they began to make Jasper question her and her plans.

It was the name that caught Adeline's attention first. She tried to ignore the pang of familiarity at hearing it spoken, to tune out the horrible woman's words, but as Maria continued, Adeline couldn't help but piece together the awful reality of what had happened to her Jasper.

The voice she was hallucinating was indeed the voice of her Jasper. Turned by this woman and now forced to fight for her in endless battles for territory. The only comfort she had was that Jasper seemed to have done something to earn a special place in her ranks that would hopefully spare him whatever happened when newborns were approaching the end of their first year. She had heard enough from Maria to know that the only thing waiting for a newborn lucky enough to survive the battles that long was not the freedom they were promised.

It wasn't until after Maria left that Adeline was able to fully process what she had learned though. Jasper, HER Jasper was alive. A vampire now, but that made no difference to her. What worried her was the battles he was forced to fight. She knew practically nothing about them, but given the woman's irritation at having to replace her soldiers often, she had to assume that they were dangerous. That there was a good chance Jasper could die.

That fear weighed on her and she spent practically every waking moment silently listening for any information that the voices beyond the walls of the barn could provide. Carefully, she would use Jasper's medal to write all the information she could in the dirt, trying her best to memorize it all so she would understand what was going on.

She didn't learn much and she still had no idea how to get out of the chains or even how she would find Jasper and escape with him if she did. But for the first time since her capture, she had hope and reason to fight.

A hope which helped her greatly during Maria's visits. During them she would focus completely on what the woman was saying, using it to ground her and block out the pain in the hopes that she would learn more about Jasper and what her plans for him were.

It tore her heart apart to discover just what this monster in the form of a woman had been doing to her love. She had changed him against his will and was now forcing him to not only train her newborns, but to fight in battle after battle. Further she had done it in the cruellest way possible, convincing him that it was love they shared and that if he truly loved her, he should do it. She knew her Jasper, knew that he would do anything for those that he loved, and she found it beyond cruel that someone would use that to force him to harm and kill for them. But she never lost hope that one day they would eventually be reunited and be able to escape together.

~~~~~~~~~~

More years passed, Jasper slowly sinking into depression brought about by his gift, the actions he took, and thoughts about how his Adeline would despise and fear him if she ever knew what he had become. Never knowing that she was so close to him all this time.

Adeline, locked in the barn all alone.Maria's visits becoming more and more infrequent, leaving her with onlythe comfort of Jasper's voice carried to her by the wind as he went about hisday to let her know he was still alive. Each time he left the camp to fight she would curl up, clutching his medalto her chest and pray to whatever gods or powers that were listening that hewould come back safe and would not breath easily until the next time she heardhis voice.