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Emptiness. Consuming. It pulled you in. There was nothing there. Just eyes, and if you look in them all you see is that there is nothing to see. She is so very empty. Nothing, nothing. Just the nothingness.

The face is vaguely familiar. The only feature unchanged, however, is her chocolate brown hair. Everything else has been devoured. Her skin was always pale, but it is now white. Not fair, not just light-colored, but actually white. It is paler than yours, and the tone of your flesh comes from the fact that no blood runs through your veins. In a human, it is disturbing.

Mirroring again your face, only still more jarring, more unnatural, are the shadows under her eyes. You don't look at the eyes themselves. They're too horrible. However, there is plenty of terror in the purple shading beneath them. She looks as though she's been punched hard in both eyes. You would actually think she'd been beaten if it weren't for the perfect pale tone of the rest of her skin.

Her features are sunken. Her nose is much longer, to your eye. It's because of the hollowness in her cheeks, the thin shape that's replaced her familiar beauty.

Her whole body, in fact, is unrecognizably slender. She was never large, but now she looks malnourished. You can count her ribs through her clothing.

And then you do look at her eyes. You regret it. There is nothing. Nothing. No light. No shine. It hurts to look at.

I know I shouldn't be seeing this. He'll be furious. But I can't get rid of the vision. I want to. It is painful. But it's so strong. As strong as the first time I saw Jasper, as strong as the seeing that made me give up human blood forever. It is too much for me.

You look around and see something horrible. You know where they're taking her. It resounds, though you do not really remember. It is familiar in an intrinsic way, like a half-remembered nightmare you wake up from.

A similar-looking older woman takes her hands. She doesn't react at all. "Now, honey. These people are going to help you get better. You're going to have to stay with them for a little while. Just until you aren't sick anymore. All right? I love you, Bella."

She doesn't react or respond. The woman sighs. She watches as the girl is picked up on a stretcher by men in white jackets. They carry her out the door of her home. The woman clings to her husband and weeps.

The girl still doesn't move.

She just sits on the stretcher, staring straight ahead with those awful eyes, clinging to her stomach like she's afraid her heart will fall out if she doesn't keep the hands there. You can see the tendons, the bones, poking beneath the colorless skin. It looks sharp enough to break it. She looks so very fragile.

You watch the men load her onto a van. They are regretful. You realize the mother, in the usual way of things, would have taken the girl to the place she's going… but she can't move.

Finally, as the door closes, you see her move. Her drained lips move a tiny bit, just enough to let out a tiny moan. It is no word, just a sound. It is full of such unimaginable pain.

The girl is alone in a darkness you remember. You suffered it in another life. It will not happen to her, not to her.

"Edward!" I scream. "I am going to kill you!"

Of course, he didn't hear me. He was…

Curled up in a little puddle of agony. Delusional. Trying to convince himself not to go back as he tried to stop from dying of heartbreak. Maybe that could break his granite body. Maybe this pain could shatter something more productive than his heart…

No. I will not be induced to pity him! He did that to Bella. They're taking my best friend to an asylum. My own sister. I've seen the inside of those walls, and I will not allow the same to happen to her. It isn't permissible, and I will fight Edward with my bare hands if that's what it takes. He is going to stop this.

"No, Alice. Absolutely not. She's better off without me."

"She's catatonic. She'd commit suicide, except she can't move. Edward! She can't be worse off than she is without you."

He doesn't listen to you.

I'll drag him there. He'll see it himself. And he will be sorry when I kick his behind to Volterra and back. Oh, he will be.

Jazz tumbles down the stairs. "Alice, what's wrong?"

"Edward… I am going to destroy him. Want to help?"

"Of course, my love. May I ask why?" Ah, my Jasper. Always the gentleman. Sometimes I love him so much… okay, I always love him so much.

"I just had a vision. Renee's sent Bella to an asylum."

Before I got the painful word out, his hands were rubbing circles on my back, comforting me. "Oh, Alice. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry for me. Be sorry for Bella. I've gone through my time in hell. I've gotten over it. Bella…"

"I'm sorry I tried to kill your best friend." The words are full of biting sarcasm. The fury isn't directed at me, of course. He's never angry at me, only at himself. The air pops with his loathing.

"Good-bye, Alice."

"No! Where are you going! Jazz! Come back." This can't be happening. Doesn't he love you?

"I'm a monster."

"You're my monster, damn you! Come back here! I can't live without you!"

His eyes are full of regret and pain as he looks at you. "You can't live at all."

I turn away. "Well, they'll probably have to lock me up too."

"What?"

"Because you're doing the same damn thing Edward does. He hates himself. That's why he left Bella. And now you're trying to shoulder all the blame, and when you leave, I'm going to go nuts. And here I was thinking I'd left my mental institution days behind."

"I'll never leave you." A promise he won't keep. I shudder with the pain.

"You just did," I whisper.

"No. No, Alice, angel…"

"If you're a monster, so am I."

"You don't kill people."

"Neither do you."

He didn't engage in the argument. He could probably see how desperate I was to be reassured, so all he did was kiss me. "Do we need to kill Edward?"

"No. Just beat some sense into his thick head."

"Okay." Jasper was always up for a little head-bashing. Boys. It's a wonder he and Emmett are both still alive, what with their constant fighting.

"I can't let this happen."

"Don't worry. We'll make it better."

"I don't know if we can."

His eyes bore into mine. If I have a soul, he's searching it. "Alice, I swear I'm not going to leave you. I love you. I'm not as dumb as my stupid brother."

I search for the vision of him.

You kiss him, feverishly. His hands grip furiously at your clothing and…

I grin. "All right, you're not. Now, let's go put the regret into said stupid brother."

"I am engaged, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat…"

I roll my eyes. "Be serious, Jazz. She's really hurting."

"They both are. Ah, methinks there's no such fool as a lover…"

"Then label me stupid."

We both laugh at that. And then I sigh.

It is a short flight. Jasper's forgeries of tickets are flawless. We find Edward easily. Jazz can feel the agony from miles away. The location of my brother is dark and dingy. I wonder how long he's been here. I'll have to ask…

"I don't know. Time doesn't mean anything to me."

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" you ask.

He sighs before he answers. His eyes are as dark as his room- or den, to be more accurate. "I deserve it."

Seeing the future is mightily convenient sometimes. It saves one so many awkward questions. I walk to the door. It is thick and black, the only stable part of this shanty. It looks like a boulder has been wedged to prevent anyone from thinking of entering, let alone actually attempting it. Fortunately, being a vampire is handy sometimes too.

It takes little time to remove the thing. I can't see at all in the little dark hut. It's barely big enough for the huddled form in the center. As soon as Edward is in the same space as us, Jasper moans. I turn to him in worry.

"It hurts," he whispers. "I've never felt such torment."

I will not feel sorry for Edward. It is his own fault, and if he wants to not be in pain, he can go right back to Bella, who is currently languishing in the nuthouse because of his abandonment. That worked nicely. My internal rant has served its purpose. Guilt all gone.

"You can't angst yourself to death, brother."

"Watch me."

This is going to be hard. "Edward, get your butt out here!" I scream.

Or not. Actually, it's very satisfying.

He crawls out from the darkness on hands and knees, not looking at me. He extends his head and arms from the room, arching his back inward like a cat.

His eyes are just as empty, but they glitter with fury instead of painful blankness.

"Would you like to know what I just saw? Would you? Hmm? Because, let me…"

"I told you not to look for her future, Alice."

He has the nerve to be mad at me! Jasper growls at his tone. However, I can solve my own problems. "And who died and named you king of the universe! You're not in charge of my power. Anyway, I didn't look. Sometimes it comes all by itself."

"Go away."

"No. I'm not going anywhere until you look at me and tell me… Edward, do you know where Bella is?"

He sighs. "Don't make me think about it."

"Do you?"

"Alice, please." He is weak. Pained. And I don't care.

"Do you?"

"I presume she's safe and happy in Forks."

"You presume wrong."

"No. I refuse to believe it."

I am furious. "This isn't about you anymore. Do you know where Isabella Marie Swan is?" I ask again, using the full name, for little reason other than that I see it hurts him. I don't feel at all guilty. "She's in an asylum."

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