No Copyright Infringement Intended

Dedications: Like this story, the dedication is in two.

To Kamarile for understanding the power of Jasper. Without you this would likely remain unfinished.

To Sage for editing the preface and first chapter while I was sick.

Thank you two, especially for loving the ageless soldier as much as I do.

Part One

Preface

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me."

"I'm… tired of pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. I am not human."

"You're not good for me, Bella."

"I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me."

"It will be as if I'd never existed."

No... No... No...

"Where you are is the right place for me."

"You're the very best part of my life."

"I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you—it's yours already!"

"You… don't… want me?"

What happened when the one that loved you, protected you, saved you, no longer wanted you? What did a person do without their soul mate? How would they survive? Could they?

I was learning the hard way. Or was it really all that hard? What if the person you loved was only a path to someone else?

I was dreaming. That much I was confident in. I just had to let it play out. It was like watching a movie, only more real. The greenery of my home was real, bright and blinding, the sun playing off of it. There was fresh air in my lungs.

There was Edward. My boyfriend - the best part of myself. He stood there in the shallow of the forest. He broke up with me there only a week ago. He told me he had to go, that he didn't love me.

He was breaking my heart. I could feel it, it was breaking all over again, and I curled in a fetal position on the floor begging the pain to stop, begging him to stay, begging for someone to wake me up from the never-ending nightmare I was trapped in. I'd rather face James than to face the memory I tried so hard to forget.

It was always the same dream and I always begged for the same thing. I was trapped in this never ending circle. I would fight for sleep and I would fight to wake. It was vicious and I just couldn't escape, and sometimes, I didn't want to. It all seemed so vivid and he was right there and if I could get him to change his mind, to get him to stay, perhaps I'd wake up and he'd be there with me. It was insane to think I could change what happened in reality by changing my dreams, but I would try anything, no matter how it hurt to wake up and know that no matter what had happened he wasn't coming back.

He was never coming back…

Then in the dream when he usually fled he faded in front of my eyes, transformed, his bronze hair lightening, his stature becoming an inch taller. Someone else was there in Edward's place. It was his brother Jasper. He relaxed me, calmed me, he knelt by my head and brushed my hair from my face.

"Everything will be fine," he assured in his low velvet voice. "I'm here. I was always meant to be here."

I begged him to stay. I didn't want another person to leave me. It would kill me, I was convinced of that. When Victoria couldn't do the job, the Cullen family could. They would. They had the power none of the others had. They could kill my spirit.

"I'll never leave you. Do you hear me, Bella? I'll never leave you. You're safe with me."

What was the irony in that last statement? He was the one that tried to kill me. He thirsted for my blood more than any of his family. He was the one that posed the most danger, and yet he was the one I trusted the most then, because he was there, and Edward was not. He was there and I was alive.

"Trust me."

I parted my lips and hoped I could speak; my throat was horribly constricted. "I do."

And then Jasper lifted me in his arms and I knew I'd be okay. For the first time since Edward left me I didn't want to wake up from this so-called nightmare. I wanted to sleep forever if sleeping forever meant that I'd be with Jasper. My angel. My guardian angel. Mine.

Why? Because Jasper was the one I was meant to be with. Edward was only a path to him. The dream was the truth - the truth I'd fail to remember when I would wake.

A/N: A couple of things you need to be aware of:

1. This is the only part of the story that will be in first person.

2. The timeline (including Bella's knowledge) doesn't match New Moon, so please don't confuse it.