Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight. I'm not sure she'd approve of my manipulation of her characters in this story, but I simply find them irresistible.

AN March 2018: This story will be in three parts. Part 1 is the short story I wrote for a contest called The Canon Tour in 2012. I have recently started updating again and have made good progress on Part 2. The original warnings and information that follow were written for Part 1. Some of it still applies but lots will be different too, including that it is now highly likely that Edward will make an appearance at some point.

AN for Slips Away - Part One

Warning! This story is heavy on angst, contains bullying and some descriptive physical violence, very quickly becomes very AU and also contains non-canon pairing sexual content.

Each section will start in Bella's POV and end in Jasper's. These will be the only two POVs in the story.

This was my entry in the New Moon round of The Canon Tour. At the moment it consists of six chapters. Thank you to everyone who wrote, read and reviewed in the contest. As always, all of the entries were of a very high standard and I highly recommend reading them.

Thank you to my sister and to TheaJ1, who beta'd this story for me. They are both a source of great support and inspiration. Not sure I would've been brave enough to enter this story without them.

The title and the chapter titles are taken from the lyrics of Can't Repeat by The Offspring.

Hope you enjoy...

Slips Away - Part One

1: Fear and Dread

Bella

As I crashed through the churning surface of the grey water and drove into the silence of the darkening pressure, I felt elated. Adrenaline burned through my veins, giving me a much needed rush of life and purpose. I had heard his voice and even seen concern etched on the face of my self-induced hallucination. And I had survived. But when my lungs began to protest the deprivation of air and there was still no inkling of daylight, a fresh shot of a contrastingly ice cold adrenaline surged though me. I swam with every ounce of energy I possessed and even managed to summon up a little more, but the current was unrelenting and imprisoned me entirely. Panic consumed me and my urge to survive grew, even as my energy was sapped away.

Absolute relief flooded me when I felt myself being pulled into the reassuring and powerful grip of an arm towing me though the water. I was so grateful that Jake had not been as far away as I had feared. I knew it had to be him, or possibly another member of the pack because it would require supernatural strength to overcome the power of the water.

I could see the daylight above me and the promise of oxygen was irresistible to my screaming lungs. In anticipation, I drew in a deep breath a fraction too soon, choking as the salty water filled my mouth and airway. I grabbed hold of my rescuer's arm, for support, to convey my gratitude and also to try and loosen their hold a little, as the force of their grip on me was becoming more and more crushing. Panic and dread swelled up in me again. The arm was too cold. Jake's pack all ran hot, no matter what environment they were in and the arm around me should feel scorching to my hypothermic body.

For a brief second, I felt a beacon of hope that maybe one of the Cullens was here to help me. Maybe Alice had seen my ill-advised leap off a cliff and the resultant peril I was in. I tried to turn my head, but my vision was impaired by the water smacking against my face and I couldn't see much at all, until a frond of blazing red hair whipped against my face. I panicked instantly at the implication of that and fought against her with everything I had. I felt a several ribs crack as she tightened her grip around me further still.

Though my vision was blurred and my eyes stung, I could see the cliffs diminish in size as we sped away from them. I found that I had to change my focus from fighting Victoria to simply staying alive. She was making no effort to ensure my mouth stayed above the surface and my lungs were taking on as much sea water as they were air. I had no concept of how long we were in the water for. All I could focus on was timing each excruciating breath in with when my face was not submerged.

When Victoria eventually headed back inland, I was completely exhausted and the pain from my chest was almost unbearable, every breath was agony. As soon as we were onshore, she rounded on me.

"Get up," she commanded shrilly, pulling me up by hair when I didn't instantly comply. I tried to take my weight through my legs, but it was impossible. I had no strength in them at all, and collapsed back onto the sand, the clump of my hair in Victoria's fist was painfully ripped from my scalp.

"Move…now!" Victoria snarled, but I made no effort to comply. I knew from my close encounter with Laurent that her plans for me were already horrific. I highly doubted there was anything I could do to escape my fate at this point. The pack would be unable to track me through the water and I was sure Victoria was aware of their capabilities and wouldn't have brought me anywhere they were likely to find me. As this realization blossomed in my mind, I internally berated myself for not succumbing to my prolonged near drowning. My determination to survive seemed ludicrous to me now.

Without asking me again, Victoria grabbed me by my ankle and it snapped under the pressure of her fingers. I think it would have hurt more if the pain from my chest and my lungs were not so searing. She yanked hard, dragging me across the short stretch of beach and into the nearby woodland. The ground was bumpy now and every jolt sent a fresh wave of pain from both my ankle and my ribs. The jostling of my head was disorienting and I could taste vomit in my mouth. I was both unable and unwilling to cling to consciousness at this point and I wondered if I would ever wake again. My last thought was that it would probably be better if I didn't.

xXx

Jasper

I was seated comfortably on the luxurious sofa in our most recent home with Alice resting in my arms. I relaxed into the first episode of emotional peace that I had been able to find since we left Forks. I had been battling against the barrage of the emotional torment of myself and the family for such a long time. I had almost reveled in it, knowing that my actions had been the cause and so I deserved to burden the load.

Today I was home alone with Alice. I knew that she was intentionally giving her full attention to happy memories, trying to give me a respite from the negativity. I was completely focused on her when a violent burst of fear and dread erupted, blasting me with the full impact of it as well. I leapt up, ready to defend her with my life, even though I instinctively knew there was no threat here in the room.

Alice's eyes were wide and unseeing and her expression was horror-struck. Although I tried to buffer her emotional torrent, I couldn't seem to alleviate her suffering.

"What do you need me to do, Alice?" I demanded, knowing that often simply making a decision to act could shift the path of a vision and improve the potential outcomes.

"We're too late…" her whisper was barely audible, "it's happening now."

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