I was holding onto Alec the whole way to the throne room. The taut feeling in my chest grew to be damn near painful and it was really doing wonders for my sunny disposure. Alec and Jane seemed to know what was causing it, but they didn't tell me. Well, not directly. But the way they were talking about it made it seem like it had to do with some other people, and not me. I wasn't faulty, Jane made sure to make that abundantly clear when she realized that was what my words hinted at. For a moment, I though she would bite me, she was so annoyed with me. In any case, her intense reaction was enough to make me believe that what she was saying was in fact, the truth. I was not faulty. It was not my fault and I wasn't sick or defected. It was nothing I could have affected in any way.

That didn't really make it any better nor did it really do anything to help me understand it better, but it did make me feel a little bit better. Apparently, that feeling in my chest had something to do with the Cullens, and Alec said it was Marcus who noticed it first. Marcus saw bonds, so it had to do with bonds, right? Was I missing Alice already? Masters did say that bond was so strong we would have to visit each other from time to time. Or were my other bonds with Cullens as strong as the one with Alice was? I didn't remember being as close to any other of them as I was with Alice, except for that prick and I sure as hell wasn't missing him!

I snapped my teeth angrily at the thought of him and had to remind myself to keep on track. My mind was still so terribly spread, running every which direction it liked, but in the past couple of weeks I was getting better at noticing when I lost track and mostly managed to get back to it - sooner or later. The track I was following right now was possible bonds with other Cullens. Not that prick. Bonds with other Cullens.

But if there were some, why would they leave me then in the first place? They would know they were attached to me too much to keep clear forever, right? If it was only Alice, she might have been collateral damage, but if there were more of them... Well, masters have apparently called them here, thinking they could make it better. I didn't particularly want to see them after they left me, but I guess it wasn't up to me. And it did hurt. Anyway, they would likely never compare to my twins. They have been right there with me the whole time, and their affection and care always seemed to envelope me in this warm cocoon that took the edge off the tight feeling in my chest. But even they could not make it disappear. Could a simple look at the Cullens, if they were the cause, make it disappear? Maybe I didn't have to see them for long then. Maybe I didn't have to prolong my exposure to those who abandoned me, as if I was not worth the trouble.

I flinched at the thought and Alec actually whimpered next to me. My discomfort was making him anxious, too. Both of them, Jane and Alec, hated it when I was hurt or felt bad. They worried about me and my pain hurt them, too. I patted Alec's arm a little, and we walked faster.

It was one of the worse days now. I didn't have any energy or will left to be anything but miserable when Afton came to call us to the throne room. But we made our way there immediately either way. Jane was probably already there, she must have met Afton somewhere along the way. Did she stay there, waiting for us to join her?

I heard some noises when we approached the throne room. I thought I heard Jane's angry voice, shouting at someone. Was she scolding the Cullens? Were they already there?

Whatever I expected to see upon entering the throne room, it wasn't Jane falling to the floor with a pained cry, screaming like someone tortured her. My whole body tensed and locked up in sudden terror. My Jane!

"No!" I cried, my voice weak and high-pitched with the lack of oxygen in my lungs. I flew across the room to Jane in a fraction of second. She didn't scream anymore, and whatever it was that happened to her seemed to have already passed. She was slowly picking herself up from the floor, but that didn't make me any calmer. What happened to her? Why did she hurt? Was she hurt? I couldn't loose my little Jane, not now, not ever! Jane couldn't be hurt! Please, let her not be hurt!

The little vampire with young, angelic face didn't seem to be in pain anymore, but she looked disoriented and shocked, angry and scared. So very scared.

"Jane, my Jane, are you okay? Honey? Honey? Darling, are you hurt?" I mumbled frantically and my hands were patting her whole body, helping her up and making sure she was okay. I basically clutched her close to me when I burrowed my nose into her hair and took several deep breaths, trying to find out where she hurt.

But she wasn't injured. I could tell she wasn't alright, her little body shuddered in my arms from time to time, but she didn't feel hurt. She whimpered a little and I pulled her even closer to me. Poor little Jane, whatever happened, she didn't deserve it. She had had enough pain in her life, she shouldn't hurt anymore. I was sure it only brought her back to that day when they tried to burn her and Alec. Being in so much pain, and knowing your twin was right there with you, being hurt exactly the same at exactly the same time and you couldn't do a thing to help them...

"Alec is OK, little one, don't be afraid. You will be all right again, too. Angel, what happened to you?" I whispered comfortingly to her while she seemed to get her bearings about her again. She still looked shaken, but was back in the present again.

"I... used my gift on one of them. I..."

"He reflected her gift back at her," said Alec's quiet, tense voice next to me. I snapped my head around to look at him. Someone hurt my Jane!

Alec was looking at something behind me. I whirled around and the moment I saw a male vampire form standing several meters away, with tousled hair and clothes, looking as if he just picked himself up from the floor, too, I flung myself at him.

He made no move to defend himself, didn't move at all, actually. He let me crash into him and throw us both to the floor, and made no attempt to protect his face when I scratched at it and his throat.

"Don't. Hurt. My. Sister!" I screeched at him with every sweep of my hand, not even seeing him through the haze of red-hot anger. I'll tear his head off! Hurting my poor little Jane!

"I'm sorry, Bella."

Suddenly, I felt as if my muscles spasmed and tensed in one position. Somehow, I couldn't move anymore and found myself caught in a half-crouch, leaning over him, with one clawed hand on his chest and the other second away from tearing into his forehead again. I knew that voice. There was something about it... I remembered it, somehow. I frowned, trying to remember it more clearly. I knew it. I didn't hear it with the regretful and pained tone it had when it apologized, but I recognized it! Where from?Slowly, as I was still trying to remember when I heard the voice, the vampire's face under me came back into focus.

It was scratched and leaking venom in places where my nails broke through his hard skin, but I still recognized the blond haired face of the vampire from my memories. It was that tall one, the southern major, Jasper, whom I remembered before. Something inside me twisted tightly at the sight of him and I gasped, almost sobbed. Suddenly, I almost felt like crying, but that feeling disappeared when I noticed something else on his face. Something I definitely did not remember before. I gasped again and my eyes grew big, my insides twisting anew with sudden fright and panic.

Scars. There were scars on him, multiple scars, many and many scars that littered his face and all parts of his body that I could see! Half-circles of vampire teeth sinking into his skin and marking it, from many different vampires, at different times. They were all over him! That was not good! That was... that was...

I leapt off him and crouched before him defensively. All instincts inside me suddenly screamed 'danger' at the sight of that and I had trouble even standing still, much less wrapping my head around it enough to think of anything else. There was something else I should concentrating on, I knew I was being sidetracked again. I should be doing something else, I knew it, but... Scars! So many! So many vampires bit him, fought him, tried to kill him and here he was, alive and bearing the marks of so many that came so close and still failed to kill him. And I just scratched him! I made his face leak venom! What did I do? He'll kill me! I had to run!

No, I couldn't run! I wouldn't run! He hurt my sister! Jane. He threw my Janie to the ground, he hurt her. I was right to hurt him! Wait... Jasper hurt Jane? Jasper... the nice vampire who told me I was worth it hurt my little sister? Why?

I suddenly felt like crying again, but for different, no more clear, reason. He hurt Jane... and he's been hurt! Someone hurt Jasper, hurt him so many times for him to have so many scars... I whimpered, but right afterward I growled at him. He hurt Jane! He hurt my sister, who cared he had scars! Oh, the scars... might not want to growl at that one... I chanced him an uneasy look, but he just stood there and stared at me, not moving a single muscle. The grooves at his face already stopped seeping venom and were knitting themselves up.

They shouldn't be healing! They were for Jane! They should be hurting for a long time yet! I made a half step toward him, to correct it, but then I wavered again, looking at his face, and his intense yet tense and pained eyes, so close to me...

Somewhere in the back of my head I thought it was good he was there, I liked he was there. But I shouldn't like him there, he hurt Jane. And... he's been hurt. And I hurt him... and all this was tearing at me inside.

I whined miserably to myself, feeling torn in two and feeling way too many things at once. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to wring his neck, tear his face apart one scratch after the other, but I also wanted... I don't know what, and I felt like hugging him for being there and most of all I was completely useless because I couldn't even avenge my sister when she was hurt. And it was him that hurt her.

Suddenly I bent in half from the pain at the though that they hurt each other and clutched at my head. Two people that were important to me, felt important to me, had hurt each other and I didn't even know what to do about it, about anything, anymore, it hurt so much! I didn't know why that blond Jasper felt so important to me, but he was and my little Jane hurt him, she used her gift at him. It hurt. And he hurt my little sister in turn, which hurt even more! What do I do? They were not supposed to hurt each other, they couldn't hurt each other, it will kill me! But my Jane... and what will she think now, when her sister can't even avenge her? What kind of a sister am I then? I sniffed and my sight blurred when venom cloaked my eyes. Useless.

Two hesitant hands clasped my arms, and slowly drew me into a solid chest. It felt... nice. Comforting. I shivered and automatically burrowed myself further into the comforting body. Strong arms enveloped me and if I didn't hurt so much, I might have purred at the feeling. I felt different, smaller hands, on my back and arms, too.

"Bella?" a small, worried voice spoke next to me. My little angel? Was that Alec?

"Don't cry Bella, it is okay, we are all okay," the little voice, this time slightly different, insisted.

"I am sorry, Bella, please don't cry. I didn't want to hurt you, I'm sorry," this time it was the voice from my memories that spoke, in soft whisper. I sobbed once.

"Don't hurt Jane. Don't do that. Don't... I can't..." I mumbled to that voice brokenly.

"I'm sorry. I only mirrored it to defend myself. She attacked first. But I am sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you. Or her. Somehow, it hurt her more than I thought it would. I am sorry."

"Promise you won't do that any more?" I pulled away from him and looked straight into his face, my forehead wrinkled anxiously. Nice and comfortable his chest might be, this was important. I blinked at the sight of his scars again - were those new? They didn't look new - but now they didn't scare me as much as before. This was important. "Promise you won't hurt Jane anymore. Please. She had enough pain to last several lifetimes. And... it hurts to see her hurt. Promise me!"

He looked at me.

"I will not use my gift against her to hurt her, I promise. But if she uses hers against me again, I cannot promise I won't lash back instinctively, Bella. But I do promise I won't be the first out of the two of us to hurt the other."

I swallowed. That didn't seem good enough. They couldn't hurt each other.

"Bella?"

I looked down when I heard that high voice again. Jane! Jane was there, right next to me, her hand on my back and Alec, too! They were really there, I really did hear them.

"Janie... I'm sorry! I didn't defend you well enough, I... I couldn... it hurt to... I'm sorry! Please don't be angry with me!"

Alec clutched to my arm more tightly in support. "Sssh, Bella, it's okay..."

"Doesn't matter Bella, I don't want you hurting yourself, you're my sister!" Jane insisted, looking me straight in the face worriedly. She seemed a little confused, but resolute. "I am not angry with you. I don't know why it hurts you so much, but I will not use my gift on this prick, if it hurts you. I don't want to hurt you. But he cannot threaten or hurt me or people I like, because if he does, I... I... well, I promise to behave if he does."

§§§§§

Jane's face looked a little sour at saying those words, but any hard feelings cleared the second she saw the effect it had on her taller, hurting sister. Bella gave her such a bright smile it lightened the entire room. Jane grinned happily back at her and patted her back. That was right. No hurting. Her sister would not be hurting. She never again wanted to see that look that was on her face before, intermittently, ever since she attacked the veteran veg. She had no idea why the idea of hurting him, or them hurting each other, hurt her so, but for now it didn't matter. What mattered was that their sister was in pain and she wasn't supposed to be in pain! Even her and Alec's touch didn't clear it away and it was supposed to! She will never see her in such pain again if she can do anything about it! Unfortunately, that included not killing that veg. Oh, well.

"I promise to behave if you do, too, Jane," Jasper's voice answered Jane directly.

Jane met his eyes, now considerably calmer than before. Well, he still needed to work on being on time, she will definitely need to have some words with him about affecting her emotions when he was the one in the wrong, and his eyes really had weird color, but other than that... if Bella was happier with him there, and for some reason she seemed to be, then fine. If she has to. He must have been one of those stronger bonds to affect Bella this strongly. He better not he gone for so long next time!

She nodded at him, agreeing to cooperate without words. Jasper looked next to her, at her brother.

He still had his whole palm pressed flat against Bella's arm, but was a little calmer now that Bella seemed happier. He had been as distraught as Jane herself was when they saw what happened with Bella back then. She seemed so torn and upset after she recognized the Major; so full of conflicting instincts and emotions, she looked to be on the verge of breaking down. They never saw her like that, not even in her first days as a vampire. Both of them forgot that little trick the blond vampire pulled on Jane when they saw that.

Alec returned the solid, assessing look the Major was watching him with in the same stout, direct manner.

"Alec," the blond Major spoke at last, greeting, assuring and asking at the same time, all through the use of a single name. Alec had to admit the male vampire looked stronger and... more worthy, than he imagined he would. Being part of the Cullens didn't detract too much from the powerful persona of the southern major from tales, it seemed. And what tales they were!

He will not forget what he did to Jane, but Alec had to admit the Major did apologize and did promise, both of which seemed genuine. And he saw what that terrible mess did to Bella. He never wanted to see her like that again.

He decided he will walk the line. For Bella. Everything came down to their older sister these days. The sister they acquired without even trying, who simply saw something in them she liked and chose them because of it. Who gave Jane and him another family member when they thought they would only ever have each other. Master Aro came a close second, but he was not family. Bella was.

"Major," Alec answered, his level voice greeting, accepting and agreeing in return.

"Jasper," the blond vampire corrected him quietly, his lips tilting upwards slightly in the corners. Alec nodded.

"Jasper."

Slowly, all four of them extricated themselves from the improbable tight group they formed during that confrontation, concluding their personal business and taking a step back to get back to the matters at hand. Bella, nervously and a little hesitantly, stepped back from Jasper too. She was obviously unwilling to let go yet, but knew she needed to. And she was nervous, and embarrassed, with her reactions at the same time. She didn't even know what she felt anymore. Can a person... even a vampire... feel everything at once? Because that's what it felt like. She really didn't want to go back and analyze it all, but knew she would have to at some point.

Jasper gave her a small encouraging smile.

"Too much to deal with," he nodded to show he knew what she was going through. He could hardly not know - that was one drastic emotional rollercoaster he just went through with her. She phased through so many different causes and effects, and their combinations, all at the same time, that he would be hard pressed to remember another newborn coming close to that. And she was nowhere near done with them - those threads will take time for her to sort through. "Will take time to sort through, but it will get better."

Bella blinked, and smiled at him brightly in grateful response. Jasper's eyes widened and he felt his heart constrict. God, she was breath-taking. She's been like that since she came through the door, but now, standing face-to-face with her and being subject to a smile that felt like ray of sunlight coming through the darkest storm, Jasper knew he never met another vampire like her. Rosalie was beautiful, but she never shone this bright. Bella was... He couldn't even describe what he thought when he looked at her. He couldn't decide what it was that made her seem so different from others. What was so different about her?

Well, he would have to think on that some other time, because Aro chose that very moment to emit an ecstatic, high-pitched, girlish squeal.

His emotions had been on a roller coaster similar to Bella's during all that, except for the anger, as far as he could concentrate on them.

AN: Aro is being completely exasperating. I have been on a part writer's block, part quarrel-with-my-own-version-of-character for several months, trying to decide what the hell his reaction to all that mess is going to be. Whatever I decided, it never sat just right. The guy has too many layers for his own good. As you can see, in the end I simply posted what I could, because I apparently will have to take him by the hand and walk him through the whole thing to get his reaction.

I hope you have not forgotten this story yet, despite the ages it has been since the last update - I don't even know when I updated it last, it was so far back :(

Thanks for reading!