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A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

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~.O.~

Ever since she could remember, Bella could do a thing. A little thing that she'd never seen anyone else be able to do. Such a thing that she hadn't ever felt comfortable sharing with anyone because what if they called her crazy, or they believed her and tried to blackmail her, or they wanted to experiment on her for it?! Or even the tried-and-true method proven by history… burning at the stake by religious freaks.

It was really hard to be able to do… this and not be able to share it with anyone. Being the only person you know who is capable of supernatural skills, sorta kinda really sucked. Like, maybe someone else would look at it as some kind of 'I'm so special' thing, but Bella was more worried about where it came from for example.

Like, were witches and wizards actually real and Bella wasn't abnormal? Could other people do magic stuff too?

Bella lived a life of awareness. She wouldn't go so far as to call herself a pessimist because she was just being realistic. Life was not a comic book after all. It wasn't her fault that reality tended to lean toward the darker side on most occasions. She wasn't exactly in a position where she couldn't be real about her lot in life.

She'd been keeping this bit locked down ever since she first discovered it, only using it when she was absolutely sure she was truly alone and safe from prying eyes. There had never been a cause for her to have to use it in public before, and she'd never wanted to try it anyway. And all of that careful attention and waiting had to be flushed down the damn drain because Tyler Crowley just came flying around the corner into the school parking lot and ended up skidding on some black ice.

The shrieking of the tires and the screams of the students had her turning and flinging her hands out on instinct, completely freezing everything in place like it was no big effort.

So here she was, the only thing capable of movement as all time in her immediate vicinity, froze according to her whims. No, she didn't know the full details of how it was all possible, since there wasn't exactly anyone she could ask about it, but she knew that it didn't last for very long, and sometimes, if it was an object in motion, she could change its trajectory by hand if it was small enough for her to be capable of lifting it.

A whole van couldn't be turned around unfortunately, but Bella could at least just walk a good distance away and avoid being flattened like a pancake. It wasn't much but it would save her life at the very least.

For once this thing she could do was actually useful. Like it had a purpose for once.

With a deep sigh, she readjusted the strap of her bag and took several steps toward the left, to make it seem as if she was walking toward the school already and was therefore not near enough to even be in the danger radius of a crash. She had full faith that the truck could handle the van. It was practically a tank and was built to withstand damage. They didn't make vehicles like that anymore after all.

Once Bella was a significant distance away, and definitely out of immediate range of any potential flying van parts, she waved her hand, releasing the hold she had on her small space of reality. The entire parking lot returned to life in the blink of an eye, as if nothing had changed. The screaming that had cut off, returned, the screeching tires and the speeding dark blue cube of the van went barreling into the orange behemoth that was Bella's truck seconds later.

The crash was deafening, and she hissed as her right ear throbbed in response. "Fucking hell," she grumbled to herself, rubbing at the area. "And as expected, the truck sticks it out to the end." Only a single dent on the side for its suffering. As for the van… a whole portion of the front bumper cover came off, and the passenger side mirror was wrecked. Also, one of the windows had been busted entirely, leaving glass to sprinkle the ground in glittering sparkles of white.

A whole mess.

Students were rushing in to get Tyler out of the van. Coach Clapp had appeared at some point to help out. Someone had called an ambulance and there was still varying levels of screaming happening all around her.

Bella found herself standing by Jessica, Angela, and a very nervous Lauren as they watched a collection of teen boys and a single teacher try to push the van away from the truck so they could get to the driver's side door. Tyler was unresponsive which was terrible news, and it was obvious that none of these teens had ever witnessed a tragedy happen in person.

Bella felt kind of numb as she watched the proceedings. And somehow, there was a foreboding chill trailing down her spine, though for the life of her, she couldn't think of what could cause it.

Not once did it occur to her to check how the Cullens were taking this situation, because Bella had a life outside them after all.

[5 Minutes Ago]
[The Cullens]
[JPOV]

"Edward there's no need to be so high strung," I murmured as Edward pulled into the lot. "Just mind your own business like I do and you'll make it through the day." I never said it would be easy, but it could still be done.

Emmett tsked. "Poor kid. Having to deal with the big boy's appetite slapping him in the face so much."

"Truly unfortunate," I agreed.

"I hate the both of you," Edward told us as he parked.

Alice patted his arm affectionately. "You won't hurt Bella, it'll be fine."

That of course, got Rosalie in another bad mood. Having to deal with Edward's angst and guilt, Rosalie's bitchy attitude and jealousy, Alice's bubbly joy, and Emmett's playful needling, hitting me from all angles, made me want to jump in the ocean and stay below the surface for several hours just to mute everything.

Animal emotions couldn't be perceived after all, and the frequency of emotional trauma was much harder to perceive while underwater. Perhaps there was a scientific reason for that. I'm not sure and don't care enough to look into it any time soon.

The school day didn't begin for another ten minutes or so. It was either standing around in the parking lot or going to class and waiting to be let inside because the teachers didn't want students inside until they arrived themselves.

Edward had chosen to linger near the Volvo, giving the rest of us pause. He was waiting for the Swan girl and there she was.

Bella Swan's arrival was broadcasted by her loud truck, and she took her usual place on the other side of the lot. Edward's anxiety regarding her seemed to triple instantly, and his bloodlust skyrocketed as well as he watched obsessively. I tried to aim every ounce of calm I could at him, imagining injecting him with a high-dosage narcotic just to try and soothe both him and me in the process.

The Swan girl being Edward's Singer had to be the worst thing to happen to us as a family, in the past three decades. We are never going to get away from this.

Alice stiffened up, which in turn caused Edward to do the same. Whatever Vision they were sharing put the rest of us on high alert.

"Jazz, Edward, hold your breath," she warned us.

Seconds later, a dark blue van came speeding into the parking lot and lost its pathing on a patch of black ice. And Bella Swan was the poor soul about to meet her maker courtesy of the van's uncontrollable movements.

And then… just as Edward seemed about ready to blow our cover for the sake of a human girl he didn't even know… time stopped.

As in it literally stopped.

The van, which had just been hurtling through the parking lot, was frozen in place. But still trapped in a motion blur, if that made sense. The students all over had gone silent, their mouths open but no sound emerged. Some of them were frozen in the middle of running. There was a boy who had dove to the side to better avoid the chance of being hit, and he ended up suspended in midair because he never landed.

"What the fuck?" Emmett murmured, expressing all of our thoughts, no doubt. "How is this possible?"

And then it happened.

Isabella Swan, Edward's current obsession, was moving unlike the other humans. Sighing in obvious relief and lowering her outstretched hands. Hands which were spread apart and open, palms facing outward toward the van that had stopped in its path to crush her weak, mortal body.

The girl placed a hand over her heart and took a deep breath. "Shit. That was so close." She then laughed a little, sounding nervous and a bit crazed in the process.

With another deep breath, she fixed her backpack over her shoulder and proceeded to walk away from her truck and the oncoming van. She made it several paces away, body turned halfway toward the school, before waving her hand limply at the frozen scene before her.

And then time was no longer still. It came rushing back into place instantly, the van continuing as if it had never been stopped at all, screams that had been cut off, returning once again, and that boy who had been suspended in the air, managed a steady tuck and roll with no difficulty. All seamless and not at all like things had been trapped in a moment in time.

And it was all because Isabella Swan had somehow frozen time in place to save her own life. Enough to even make an automobile that was going at least 80 mph, stop in its tracks. And she'd obviously done so knowingly since she was also capable of making time continue moving again.

If that's even what this strange power was doing, of course.

"Fucking hell," Isabella Swan said to herself as she observed the results of the crash. "And as expected, the truck sticks it out to the end."

A human, a mortal to be specific, could stop time.

But it didn't work on her… and it didn't work on us either.

What did this mean? How was it possible to stop time in the first place?

Did time itself actually stop? That was, perhaps, a minute and three seconds at most. Would the loss of so little time actually mean anything to anyone?

Alice was staring down at her watch, eyes wide. "Bella is gifted… as a human. Time was still moving, because the watch is still correct and the hands were still going the entire time, so she can't exactly affect the passage of time itself, but she can, for objects within a certain bubble of space that she has control over, cease movement of everything within it for an undetermined amount of time."

"Almost everything," Emmett corrected. "We weren't affected at all."

Is it because we're vampires? Do human powers not work on vampires? If she was also a vampire, would such a power then work on us?

How could such a thing be possible in the first place? I know Carlisle has his theories, but he's never been able to try and prove them true because the chances of finding a human meant to become a vampire are pretty much impossible.

And Edward's angst has returned to once again make itself known.

"She will not become a vampire!" Edward practically hissed at me, daring to get in my face over it.

And for a moment, I envisioned handling him the same way I did those newborns back in the Southern Wars, and Edward's affront and challenging behavior vanished upon seeing my memories of just how I'd handle unruly children back then. I'm not proud of my past, but I'm still very much capable of it and he needs to remember that.

"It's called a natural curiosity," I told him firmly, making sure to drive the minor fear he was feeling home a little further to prove a point and teach him a lesson. "If she was a vampire, would her powers actually work on us? A simple observation I made. As for Isabella Swan and her continued mortality, you are not her owner and do not have a say in her life or her choices. If something ever happens to bring her further into our world, you still wouldn't have a right to make decisions for her. She is not a doll for you to push your little fantasy of a perfect human life onto. She is her own person."

And I am not the only person sick and tired of Edward's Woe is Me the Evil Monster shit.

"You are fifty years too young to be challenging me so brazenly, little brother," I went to add to the benefit of not only him but everyone else. "Mind the attitude or Esme's disappointment won't be the only thing hurting your precious pride."

The drama was halted there for the time being, and we all scattered to attend our own classes.

However, my mind was still trapped on the fact that Bella Swan was a gifted human, and she had the potential to become a very powerful vampire in the future.

And I could physically perceive some kind of feeling latching itself into my chest and thrumming with interest and curiosity. All about the newest human to come to Forks.

Hm… Edward was going to be very disappointed to learn that he was not the only Cullen interested in Isabella Swan.

~.O.~

A/N: First chapter is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

She'd been in Forks Washington for maybe a grand total of four weeks and the entire time, Bella kept wondering if there was something up. Like, every time she went anywhere on the school's campus, Jasper Hale of the Cullen family seemed to just be there. They'd never exchanged even two words, but the fact that he was just there was odd. There was no reason for him to be in her direct line of sight at all times.

At lunch in the line, and he was always right behind her somehow. In the library when she wanted to check out some books. In the halls whenever she was on her way to the lavatory. Outside in the parking lot, standing by the gym, somehow managing to pass each other as she headed for her truck.

It was beginning to feel very deliberate. She had a class with Edward Cullen, and none with any of the other Cullens, but for some reason she was seeing Edward's brother more often?

And to make things even weirder - if it was really all that possible and she wasn't imagining it - was the fact that Edward had been making attempts at conversation, but incredibly stilted and moody conversation! After whatever his problem was that made him leave for a week and then come back, he'd sort of calmed down. Or at least looked less like he was going to spazz at any moment. And Bella no longer felt unsafe around him, so that was a definite plus to it all.

But he definitely seemed to have anger issues of some sort.

She'd join him in Biology and then he'd ask how her day had been so far through gritted teeth. He still looked a bit annoyed, but not in the murderous way. More like in the pissy, super hungry kind of way.

It was two weeks of this where she just sucked it up and dealt with it. And then they entered the third week, and she could no longer do so.

She was once again in line for lunch. Jasper Hale was also right behind her as expected. Today, like all the others, he would grab the exact same lunch - crappy salad, milk carton, meal of the day, and whatever fruit cup that was available - and then return to his siblings and never touch any of it. After that, they'd all get up when the bell rang, and throw all that wasted food out.

And it wasn't like Bella was paying that much attention to the Cullens, but it wasn't as if she could help it! The others at her regular table had noticed Jasper's presence even! Angela was concerned. Lauren seemed jealous despite having a thing for Tyler, and Jessica wanted Bella to talk to him and get all the details of the Cullen family's personal business. None of the boys were happy about it either, though they seemed less likely to cause a scene over it.

There was also some minor assumption that Jasper Hale was a secret murderer because he looked constipated at all times?

So finally, after two weeks of sucking it up and dealing with it, Bella decided to get herself out of the situation. The girl in front of her was also a brunette and was also wearing a dark brown coat and dark jeans. From the back they could be twins. Bella raised her hands, and the entire cafeteria froze in place, allowing her to step out of line without anyone being aware of it.

Bella turned and grabbed the edges of Jasper Hale's fancy coat and began to bodily drag him forward just a bit, and not without struggle, that was for sure! The soles of his boots were thick and squeaked as he was pulled into the space Bella just vacated, but boy did it take some effort!

"God, why the hell is he so damn heavy?" she grunted to herself. "He's like a brick wall."

The next guy was pulled much easier into place, followed by the remaining three people in the line. Once they were all situated, Bella took her new place at the back of the line, and sighed. "My arms are killing me; this is some bullshit."

With a wave of the hand, the entire cafeteria came back to life with no one even aware that such a change had occurred among them.

Hopefully, she wouldn't have to do that too often. After all, she'd taken almost five minutes of time to do that and there was always a chance that someone from outside the radius of the Thing would enter and witness the abnormality of reality freezing in place.

Though if something like that were to ever happen, she could simply restart things and leave them to question their own sanity. So long as she wasn't making it obvious that she was the only person not frozen in place, then it didn't matter if someone walked in on such a scene, right? And honestly, Bella valued her own safety over a complete stranger's mental health.

Cruel perhaps, but it was just human behavior to look inwards at the self first when danger was present.

Bella folded her arms and tapped her foot in a disjointed rhythm. Hopefully she didn't need to repeat this entire interaction.

She jinxed herself!

This time it was in the library. Bella had been extra vigilant in regard to her personal space. And she considered that to be any room she was currently in.

Every time the annoying noise of the door sounded, her head would whip around to see who was coming in, heart practically in her throat. It would settle once she realized it wasn't Jasper Hale, but then the next person would cause the same reaction.

Was she not allowed to have any peace? And she wasn't imagining him being everywhere!

Jessica said that the Cullens didn't interact with anyone and were never spotted anywhere else in the school. No club memberships. No party invitations. No friends as far as Jessica's gossip was concerned. So why was it that suddenly one of them had to be all over the place?

It made no sense!

The moment she saw his curly hair through the bookshelves, she froze the entire room and left as quickly as she could. Perhaps it'd just be better for her to not linger at school afterward. Charlie wanted her to get out there and do teenage things. And there was very little chance for the Cullens, or just Jasper Hale specifically, to pop up if she went out shopping with Jessica.

And the Cullens lived nowhere near Charlie so there was no reason for any of them to be spotted near the house at any time of day.

Of course, there was a chance that Bella was just being paranoid, but she didn't manage to exist this long without being just a little bit on edge at all times. Those who lived a vigilant lifestyle managed to avoid disaster and suffering, and Bella was someone who seemed to attract both, so she needed to pay attention and be wary at all times, just to be on the safe side of her personal history.

Now, if she somehow ran into Jasper Hale somewhere outside of school, then she might bring her concerns to Charlie.

Small town maybe, but for a family who never interacted with the locals and never stepped out of their home except when they wanted to do little family outings in the sun, Bella severely doubted that Charlie would think it was normal behavior for the kids of that family.

And yeah, they had no bad reputation, but making Charlie aware would be smart.

However, doing so would also make him pay more attention to all of Bella's movements. Maybe even enough to have people scout out the house just to be safe.

Bella liked that even less than potentially being stalked by a pretty man. She needed privacy and needed to be sure that it was safe to do her little Thing if the time ever called for it.

Frustrated, she kicked her truck's front tire and wished Jasper Hale could just get whatever it was off his chest so he could go back to ignoring every student at the school like he had before she arrived.

[At Lunchtime]
[With the Cullens]
[Jasper's POV]

"You're making her nervous," Alice remarked.

"I can tell that, funnily enough."

"Then why can't you find a way to talk to her that doesn't involve stalking?"

Jasper cut her a look of deep distaste. "Unlike some people, I'm not posted outside her bedroom window every single night. She only sees me at school and that's it." It wasn't as if Jasper was the one keeping incredibly close tabs on whether or not she got home and how she slept at night.

Edward glared at him from across the lunch table, his entire body stiff with displeasure and offense over Jasper's thought process. However, it was easily noted that he didn't speak up to defend himself, because he knew that Jasper was right and that there was no coming back from such behavior.

However, it was Rosalie who surprisingly had something to say.

"Both things can be wrong at the same time," she said firmly, sending a pointed look to Edward and then Jasper. "It's weird for Edward to be hovering outside her bedroom window every night, and he knows what will happen to him if he goes inside without consent." Meaning: She threatened to castrate him if he so much as stepped foot inside the Swan residence without Bella or Chief Swan's permission. Also, one invitation did not extend to all future visits.

"Likewise, you should not be following her around so closely that she thinks she has to stop time in order to avoid you, Jazz. For young women, stalking is a real fear and a real concern they have to deal with, and I'm not happy with how you've approached this situation either."

Between them, Emmett was shaking his head, as if to say that they were all acting like children. Funny, since he was still younger than Jasper, both physically and technically.

Still, Rosalie did in fact have a point. If Bella remained as stressed as she had been in the past couple of weeks, it might begin to affect her health, and Jasper did want to harm her or anything... He just wasn't good at speaking to humans.

Not everyone could cheat their way through conversations by hearing everything people were thinking.

Edward tsked. "It's not like I can even shut it off. It's not as great as you make it sound."

"Yet it still gives you a one-up over the rest of us sans Alice."

"Just say something!" Emmett finally said. "Or get transferred into one of her classes so she can get a break and you can stop being weird. My man, she physically pulled you into her old place just so she can avoid you. That has to be proof enough that you've gone a step too far."

Fine.

"I guess I'm taking Spanish again."

"You'll be fine. You speak it already anyway."

That wasn't the point of his frustration. It was the whole conversation part!

The day Bella Swan noticed Jasper Hale sitting beside her during Spanish, was the day that he felt the most overall panic from her since she'd transferred to Forks High. The pure force of her emotions practically bowled him over and he felt a sudden urge to apologize for making her that paranoid.

Rosalie's simmering anger made a lot more sense now. Thankfully, Jasper wasn't the only person she was angry at.

Still, this was the moment he'd been waiting for. In her presence over a dozen times since she'd moved to this small town, but never once had he breathed in her presence.

Unfortunately, you needed air to get words out and that was where the challenge was.

"Hello," Jasper murmured as she sat. "I apologize for not being able to introduce myself until now. I'm often not required to speak with people and usually let my sister Alice lead conversations because she is so... outgoing." She smelled... so very good.

Bella Swan's instant reaction was a common one, and not all too unexpected.

After all, Jasper's accent tended to have that kind of effect on most people regardless of gender.

She flushed quite deeply. Enough to finally bring some color into her incredibly pale cheeks. It was the accent, no doubt about it. While vampires were attractive, she wasn't blushing upon looking at him, only upon hearing him speak.

Typically, Jasper gave off a sort of air that made people wary of him. They didn't linger on his good looks for very long as a result.

"Have you been doing all of this just because you wanted to speak to me?"

...He hadn't expected her to just blatantly ask about it, but considering how he knew next to nothing about her other than the fact that she could freeze time in a fixed location, perhaps he should have considered that as an option. "I kept panicking and saying nothing in the end," he chose to say, trying to smooth over the rough edges of his recent behavior.

"I don't know why you'd want to go to such lengths to speak to me in the first place, but can I take this as confirmation of you no longer appearing everywhere all the damn time?"

"I apologize for worrying you so much, Ms. Swan. I promise that unless you ask for me to join you personally, I won't be popping up directly behind you anymore."

She sighed and looked away for a moment, and then looked back. "At least you're more friendly than your brother. Edward's got me to the point where I desperately want to kick him in the shin."

"...Did he do something untoward?" It didn't sound like Edward to behave in such a manner, but at the same time, Bella Swan was his Singer, and he was in a constant personal battle against his own thirst for her blood. Him not being able to maintain a perfect temperament wasn't completely his fault. This was his first time experiencing such a phenomenon after all.

"He's all twitchy and dramatic. Like, crabby doesn't even begin to describe him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's just perpetually hangry."

"'Hangry'?"

"Yeah, you know, hungry plus angry. Hangry. Men get that way when they want food and can't articulate themselves properly for some damn reason."

Jasper's desire to delve deeper into that very correct assumption was ruined when Senora Goff entered the room and began speaking to them all in rapid Spanish. All he could think about was how despite not knowing the truth at all, Bella Swan had managed to actually break down Edward's behavior into the correct reasoning.

What else had she noticed about him? Or the Cullens in general? Was this a result of her being so hyper-aware at all times? And was she so hyper-aware because of the strange power of hers that it made her more considerate about what was happening around her?

Senora Goff gave them an assignment to work on in-class. Speak to your partner in Spanish. Only Spanish. Easy enough for him, though a look in Bella's direction didn't tell him if she was happy about it.

Bella sighed, and shifted so she could face him more easily. "Lo siento. Mi Espanol es... terrible. Ayudame por favor." Her pronunciation was passable but just barely, and she looked to be suffering.

Thankfully, this was indeed something that Jasper could actually help her with, and it would give him a good excuse to be closer to her and ferret out all of her secrets without having to be creepy about it. Or at least, not as creepy as he'd been before.

And it seemed like she wasn't going to hold a grudge against him for his recent behavior, so long as he managed to not be as annoying as Edward was.

He gave her his most charming smile and a wink. This was going to be fun. Also, Edward's mounting frustration over Jasper managing to make more progress than he did already, make it even more amusing.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

So, things had improved, if one would call having one of the Cullens constantly at your side in the middle of class any kind of improvement. Now she had Biology with Edward, who still looked across between constipated and angry, and she had Spanish with Jasper, who looked across between constipated and scared. And she didn't really know what it was about the Cullen men, but they all looked like they needed to take a good shit.

So, to consider everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks, she had been lightly stalked by Jasper Hale - and she said 'lightly' because she only saw him at school, so it wasn't that bad - and now she had full guarantee that he was not going to be popping up everywhere. That made things feel a lot less awkward with Jasper, but with Edward, nothing seemed to have improved at all.

To make things worse, the boys in Jessica's friend group has taken notice of this situation, because people in Forks High decided that they absolutely just had to gossip about anything and everything all the damn time. Before that first Spanish class with Jasper was even over, somehow, the knowledge of her new partner had been spread across the whole school. She had a feeling people were texting in the middle of class because it made no sense how information traveled that quickly.

That would mean that people had found out what was going on all before the end of the day, and Mike Newton just had to be weird about it on the way to Gym.

In the following days, Mike, Tyler, and Eric had all decided to express the opinions that they'd had about this new development, as if Bella had any kind of control over where Edward Cullen and Jasper Hale were situated for their classes. It wasn't as if she asked for them to be seated next to her, or specifically to be seated next to them when she arrived in Forks.

Jessica thought that it was a perfect opportunity to get some dirt on the Cullens. As one of the queen gossipmongers of the school, she wanted Bella to act as like a sleeper agent of sorts, to get in there and hopefully get some secrets about the Cullen family, so that she might enjoy some good drama. Bella was not the kind of person who liked drama or comedies or dramedies even, so she obviously didn't plan to do anything about that.

Even though things were a lot better, she had noticed that something had gotten a lot worse. The thing being a complete lack of privacy. With how both Edward and Jasper seemed to be behaving a lot better now, the entire school decided that they just absolutely had to watch everything that Bella did. It wasn't as if she was particularly interesting, so there was no reason for them to have to constantly watch everything she did or said.

Like, didn't the whole new student thing wear off by now? Was it not obvious that Bella was boring? She shared coloring with ninety percent of the student population for God's sake!

How someone could sit there expecting some random girl that they didn't know, to have some kind of new drama happening every single day, she had idea. It also meant that Bella could not be as frivolous with her Thing now. It wasn't as if she had a habit of being frivolous or forgetful or, you know, careless with it, but there had always been this kind of knowledge and safety about being able to do it whenever she needed to. As far as she knew, her ability Thing only worked within a certain radius, and she didn't know how far that radius extended. She didn't even know if it would be safe to do something now if anything else happened at school, because so many people are paying attention to her every move.

All Bella wanted was for things to calm down, for people to realize that she was boring and not worth paying all this much attention to, and for the Cullens to not be fucking weird all the time. Unfortunately, all of those things seems like they were going to be impossible.

She sighed to herself, because she had a book report coming up in English, and some kind of conversational thing in Spanish, and then a thing in Biology that she would have to do with Edward. And to make things worse, she was barely passing in Gym because she wasn't a sporty person, and there was something to do in Trigonometry that she didn't even want to imagine the difficulty of.

And in the midst of all this, she had to dodge gossip, ignore whiny teenage boys, and deal with the fact that for some reason, her life just could not be normal no matter how much she tried to be normal.

It was almost like a slap in the face. It was not normal, that fact that she could do a Thing and that Thing was very obvious. For a person who could literally stop time in a fixed location, did she really deserve to have a normal life with normal teenage experiences?

Of course, Charlie was unaware of everything that was going on because Bella would prefer him to be oblivious. She didn't even share the details of her Thing and her daily worries with Renee, so there was no reason for her to share any of this with Charlie. So long as people didn't get too nosy, she could at least handle the weirdness of it all.

Something was building though, and she couldn't exactly explain why she had the thought, but it was just something to do with how Alice Cullen had looked at her this morning when she pulled into the parking lot. It was almost as if she knew something that Bella did not, and considering how she was the one who lived in the same house with two of Bella's classmates, the chances were that it had to do with one of if not both of them. But Bella was really hoping that it had to do with Jasper and not Edward simply because of Edward's attitude in general.

At the same time, Bella just kind of wanted to be left alone. There was something absolutely beautiful about being alone. Sometimes it took very unique experiences for somebody to understand just what it meant to enjoy solitude. And Bella really enjoyed her solitude.

She had Spanish before she had Biology though, so if it had to do with Jasper, it was going to be very early in the day and honestly, she would just much rather be that instead of dreading having to deal with Edward after lunch.

Bella kept up a decently pleasant facade on the outside as she dealt with Jessica and her overly friendly and overly bubbly personality. Thankfully, Angela was there as well. She was more within Bella's realm of interest, because she was so calm and relaxing to be around. Unfortunately, she was also a severe introvert and wasn't very good at interacting with other people, so Bella was stuck having to listen to mostly Jessica's voice all day every day.

Jessica was chattering on about something-something 'you're so lucky you get to sit next to Edward Cullen', something-something 'I can't believe you haven't asked him about his family yet' something-something 'you think he's gonna ask you out on a date?' and even more.

Bella didn't even know where she got that last idea from. Did sitting next to somebody in a class somehow equate to romantic intentions? Maybe Bella was just out of the loop considering she wasn't very good at being a teenager most of the time, but it really seemed weird that that was one of the first things her mind trailed to. Like, not to be annoying, but couldn't a boy and a girl just sit next to each other at any point without people automatically thinking that they're dating or they're gonna get married someday?

And she knew that Jessica wasn't doing it to be malicious or anything, Jessica was just the kind of hopelessly romantic person who wanted to hope that it was possible to find everlasting, earth-shattering love in the middle of a small town in Nowhere USA. While the idea was kind of cute in theory, in practice it was really annoying to have to hear so often.

Bella walked into Spanish and found that Jasper Hale was indeed right there where she expected him to be. Despite how everybody pretty much entered the school building at the same time, he always managed to get to class faster than everybody else. It was the same with Edward during Biology. He was always already there despite how he was still sitting with his family by the time Bella would leave the cafeteria.

It was like they had jet packs on or some shit. There was no explanation for such speed. Just hauling ass for the sake of making it to class first?

Upon making eye contact, Bella noticed that the bags under Jasper's eyes looked less purple than usual. He had a smile on his face, and it was obvious that he was trying to look as friendly as possible. Bella also noticed that the bright amber of his irises was very bright compared to normal. They had to be contacts because there was no way that somebody's eyes could change their shade that much in so little time.

Like, it just didn't make any sense.

"Why do I have a feeling that you are about to say something that is going to unnerve me greatly?" she asked warily as she set her things down.

He smiled, and said, "It's nothing quite so serious, I simply wanted to ask if you would like to go to the library to do our Spanish Assignment after classes? As we don't know each other well enough yet, I don't think going over each other's houses would be a very smart idea, so instead, we can stay after school until the library is closed."

She was reluctant to admit that that was a good idea, but she could at least admit to herself that he was obviously fluent in Spanish, and Bella was not despite being from Arizona and being exposed to a lot of Spanish growing up. If she saw basic Spanish phrases on packaging or airport signs or even just signs in general, she could probably read them without a problem, but her pronunciation was terrible. If somebody sat her down with a fully Spanish book, she would probably cry.

So obviously, the proposed study session thing in the library would benefit her only. This would be a chance for them to spend time alone without the entire student population being nosy and annoying about it, but she was a bit wary of what his intentions could be. She was also aware that if it was just them and the librarian, then she could in theory do her Thing at any time if she felt unsafe, and then she could figure out how to get away with little threat to her own well-being.

And it wasn't as if she didn't have time on her side.

She also really didn't want him to be near Charlie's house and she wasn't really feeling it with a thought of going to the Cullen residence.

With an almost reluctant sigh, Bella decided to agree to his proposal because it would just make the most sense. Also, it was a fact that he could no doubt do their assignment solo, but Bella was not the kind of person to take credit for another person's work. It would really hurt her ego if she allowed him to do everything for her instead of her at least bothering to learn basic Spanish to contribute.

Besides, a lot of people spoke Spanish, so it wasn't as if it was a bad thing to learn a new language anyway.

"I do have some request though," she decided. "Don't stare at me like you tend to do when you think that I'm not looking. And do your best to not look like you want to punch people in the face. There's a small rumor going around that you might potentially be a serial killer simply because you don't really look very inviting toward others."

She wasn't even lying either; there were actually many rumors about Jasper Hale potentially being a murderer and people being scared of that entire vibe that put others off. And the others in question did not want to be near him if they could help it.

The oddest thing about this revelation, was the fact that he didn't seem to be offended by it, and that had to be the thing that set her on edge the most. Normal people would be concerned over such a thing, or maybe even laugh it off. But not Jasper Hale.

Still, Bella was aware that spending each day in abject terror of what could go wrong wasn't exactly the best way to survive. So, because she was such a nice person, and she was willing to deal with new experiences even if only once, she decided to agree to the offer.

What was the worst that could happen?

It had all been going so well.

He had thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to finally get some peace and quiet and alone time with Bella Swan without having to resort to additionally creepy methods that Rosalie would want to castrate him for. Everything had been going so very well, to the point where Bella had finally calmed down and even her emotions had settled. She even looked like she was enjoying his subtle instruction.

And then somewhere in the distance, his hearing allowed him to zero in on the fact that a fire had started somewhere in the school, and a bunch of students were in a panic over it and trying to hide it. It was moments like this where he absolutely hated the fact that he had to pretend to be a normal human, or that he had to pretend to be a student at all. If he was just allowed to stay home, he wouldn't even be in the situation to begin with.

So here came the struggle. So, did he go on pretending that he was unaware of the fact that a fire was spreading in one of the chemistry labs and that a bunch of students were trying to hide that fact, or did he make up some very weird excuse that he didn't have anything to back up with, in order to get Bella Swan to want to leave the library after they had only been there for ten minutes?

After all of the effort he had gone to just to convince her that it was okay to be alone with him. If they ignored the presence of the librarian, they were well and truly alone. And to think this would ruin it in just a few minutes in.

Bella Swan had her strange power and wasn't exactly a normal human as a result. She was a lot more aware of things than her peers were, so if he actually said something, that would alert her to potential danger that he should not know about. She would probably put things together too soon and he'd much rather that not happen yet.

The fact of the matter was, with the Cullen Coven being aware that she wasn't a normal human, they were able to be one or two steps ahead. So long as she remained oblivious to the fact that they weren't even humans, and they weren't normal either, then they had the upper hand no matter what happened.

It might sound callous to say, but it was better for the safety of the family that Bella Swan be kept in the dark for as long as Jasper made the executive decision to not say anything.

An additional issue was him wishing that for once he could actually hear what people were thinking so he could actually share thoughts with others. He was aware of the fact that Alice and Edward had this little back and forth thing they liked to to do where Edward would think of something and his future would change, and then Alice would See it and then she would think at him in response. It was such a unique way of conversation that nobody else could possibly be capable of it.

So presently, Jasper could hear Edward excusing himself to go to the bathroom, Emmett doing the same thing, and Rosalie cursing to herself about humans and foolishness while Alice and remained completely silent through all of this. No doubt she was sifting through all of the potential futures that could come from this unfortunate event, in order to better prepare the family.

The scared students who had caused the fire in the first place, had already fled their chemistry lab, and one of them was heading for the fire alarm. The others were not happy about that because they thought they were going to get in trouble. One would think that living would be much more important than potentially getting detention. At the same time, it wasn't as if they had deliberately started the fire, it was just an accident. He doubted they would have gotten detention for it anyway.

Still, it was a dangerous situation, and it was unfair to expect children to be able to think clearly in the middle of a type of danger that they had never faced before.

Steadily, as the minutes passed, the smell of flames and smoke easily reached him. It wouldn't be long before the fire started to spread further and further. The rushed shuffling and squeaking of a couple dozen sneakers filled his head.

The school building was a very old one, and there were only two fire alarms in total, both near each exit. There also weren't many fire extinguishers in the building, so the teenagers managing to make it to one of the exits just to trip a fire alarm took forever.

Finally, the annoying sound of the fire alarm rang throughout the entire school, and students and teachers alike began to panic.

It was in moments like these where he was glad that he wasn't a human, because it would be absolutely terrible to simply exist and not be aware of all of the dangerous things happening around oneself. He had been sitting there for five minutes or so, fully aware of the fact that the school was potentially burning down, and that only a few students were aware of it, and that they had originally intended to hide the fact from the rest of them. None of the other students knew that they could have potentially died in a fire.

He had never been put in a situation like this before. Jasper wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to handle it, but he really knew that he did not want to remain in the library.

Bella immediately scrambled to gather all of her books and shoved them into her backpack. She looked incredibly nervous, and her emotions weren't faring any better, but she hadn't said anything. Perhaps, in the face of danger, Bella Swan was able to shut down certain parts of herself in order to preserve her own well-being. He had never felt anybody do that before.

"It can't be that bad yet," he told her, knowing that it was a total lie. "We just need to make it to the stairwell, and it will be fine."

Of course, the fire had begun to spread outward by then, and it was all over the second floor by now. Forks High School wasn't exactly a large school. Despite the fact that it had multiple floors, there was only one stairwell in the entire building, and there was no such thing as funding for an elevator. That meant that every student had to use the same method to escape the building if they weren't on the first floor and could simply open windows in the classrooms.

The problem was that the fire had been started on the second floor, which was where the chemistry classrooms were presently. Jasper and Bella were on the third floor, in the library. The fire had spread a considerable amount. His advanced hearing allowed him to pick up on the coughing of some of the students, and the crackling of the flames. Fire could spread at an alarming rate in an old building such as this, and the smoke inhalation that humans could suffer from could end up doing more damage in the long run.

In order for them to escape in a human way, they would have to walk all the way to the other side of the school where the stairwell was, and then carefully descend the stairs amidst all the smoke coming out from the second floor. To make things worse, the student population was fighting to try and get out first and nobody was adhering to the standard rules of the average fire drill.

Everyone was in a panic, and Jasper found himself taking in all of those erratic emotions, and feeling like he too was beginning to panic. He tried to force the group to calm down in hope of influencing them to think more rationally, but the hysteria was almost too much, and for the first time, he felt as if his power wasn't working.

Maybe if he tried harder, it would have worked, but he needed them awake so they could escape, not comatose.

Bella shifted her backpack over her shoulders and headed out. The librarian has already fled, not even bothering to warn them or follow fire safety procedures either. There was nobody else to fight with to get out of the door.

Despite being a whole floor between them, the smoke had already reached the third floor of the building. There were students pushing against each other at the furthest end of the hallway, trying to get down the stairs.

The problem with Forks High School was that it was created in a time where there were less concerned about the safety of things, so the building had only two fire alarms and a single stairwell. The school also lacked any kind of heat in the winter. The teachers individually had to bring in heaters themselves to keep their classrooms warm.

In light of this event, Jasper wondered if suggesting a large donation to the school would be alright. It wasn't as if it would be a loss for them or anything. His family was incredibly wealthy, and they could handle giving up a few million dollars for the sake of the school potentially adding in a few extra safety precautions for the future. Esme would be incredibly touched by the suggestion and would no doubt aim her puppy dog dies at Carlisle in hopes of getting him to acquiesce to her desires.

Bella uttered a low curse. Specifically, it was something he had ever heard a young woman say absolutely refused to repeat, not even in his own mind.

They joined this throng of students all trying to escape the building. Each of them had either a hand or a piece of their shirt or sweatshirt pressed to their mouth to try and save themselves from breathing in the quickly spreading smoke. He quickly emulated them, almost forgetting the fact that he did not need to breathe and therefore did not need to worry about smoke. There was a single teacher, trying to direct everyone through a mask covering his face, and the students did not feel so inclined as to listen to his warnings.

The group moved at a snail's pace. To a vampire it already felt incredibly slow considering their need for speed, but to a human who was in danger and knew that this was the only way to escape, it had to be absolute hell.

He could feel all of them panicking, and some of them had their little Nokia phone out and were calling their parents.

In consideration for their fragile human constitutions, it was an incredibly tragic event, and these children probably thought that they weren't going to make it. As they all tried to escape the building, they were calling loved ones or texting them, hoping that maybe there was some way to get help or at least a way to say goodbye.

Bella did not have a cell phone, as far as Jasper was aware. He wondered if the police knew what had happened yet. None of his siblings had placed a call to the authorities, so he doubted anything from them was happening. Jasper at least had to make sure that Bella Swan survived this experience, because he didn't want to have a potential future where she died, or her father had to learn of her death when she only moved to Forks a few weeks ago.

Bella didn't seem quite as nervous as everybody else, though maybe with her strange ability, she thought would be able to protect herself and escape somehow if she had to.

Unfortunately, upon reaching the second-floor landing, they were faced with the grim reality of how quickly the fire had spread. There was something about the architecture that just made it more flammable than a modern building would be. Jasper knew a lot of things, but Esme was the one of their family who was interested in buildings. He had never sat back and learned how to properly create a house, let alone thought about decoration it. He wasn't exactly aware of all the safety precautions modern architects had to follow.

Ahead of them, further down the stairwell, a random student ended up tripping over one of his shoelaces. This was so sudden that it knocked several students down in front of him and caused several behind him to trip. A whole collection of children went stumbling down the stairs, tripping up many of the others in the process. Everyone was suddenly exposed to the fire and the smoke, and they had just fallen down a considerable portion of stairs which had to have hurt and knocked the air from their lungs.

The level of panic skyrocketed as they tried to scramble to their feet, while also trying to untangle themselves from each other. Each student prioritized themself over the others. It was madness.

He and Bella remained all the way at the back of the pack, watching on in horror as the fire grew closer, and the only way down the stairs was blocked by a mass of bodies all struggling to get back to their feet. The rest continued on their way down, ignoring the tragedy unfolding behind them. It was like Murphy's Law had decided that it was time to absolutely ruin everyone's day.

Somehow, everything that could go wrong was going wrong right in that very moment.

This was the second life threatening situation that Bella had been involved in since moving to Forks, and Jasper had to wonder if she somehow had some incredibly bad luck on her side.

What was clear at least, was the fact that they had to act, and fast.

He just didn't know what to do.

...And then time stopped.

~.O.~

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Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

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~.O.~

Bella stared at the wall.

It was a truly ugly wall. She could tell some time ago the wall had probably been a light shade of green, but after going no doubt decades where it was probably never cleaned it became this dirty lime green color. There were even smudges here in there, probably from people's hands as they tried to steady themselves.

At that moment it served as a suitable distraction.

Bella had found herself in the middle of a terrifying situation. A school fire in a school that was probably not up to regulation standards, and she was trapped on the very top floor and had no safe way to get outside. To make things worse, the other children were not different like Bella was, and were not as capable of keeping calm in a high-stress environment.

And she could understand that they were scared and that seeing the fire itself definitely made things worse. But there was no use in screaming and pushing and trying to rush ahead of others when it was just making things harder on all of them. So, they laid on the landing, all trying to push against each other to help themselves up off the floor. All of them focused on their own and survival. Fire from the second floor had spread all the way out to the stairwell, literally inches away from them.

It was so hot that the side of her face felt like it was burning, and it created so much smoke that it made it hard to breathe and harder to see. She had no idea where the fire had come from, but it came from somewhere on the second floor.

And here was the problem. Bella didn't know what to do. She didn't possess the ability to freeze certain things in place while letting other things keep going. She didn't know how to single out individual objects or people from each other when using her special thing.

So, while she had managed to do was stop the fire and its spread at least on this side of the building, she had also stopped all the students on their way to escape. She had no idea how to fix that so that they continue going down while the fire stayed in place.

See, Bella had never had reason to think of using her powers in such a way before, so she had never tried. She'd been too focused on keeping things a secret and just using it whenever she had an absolute need to.

This situation wasn't exactly the kind of place where one could be afforded the time and effort to learn how to use their abilities or attempt to practice to new levels of skill. While she had managed to stop the spread of the fire and the smoke on this side, she had no guarantee that it had stopped for the entire school. She didn't know the full radius of her thing after all.

It was a very old school, and it probably served as something else for a long time. The fact that Forks even had a high school building to begin with was truly shocking.

Bella knew that just because she could stop time in a fixed radius around her, that did not mean that she was suddenly Jesus. She wasn't capable of performing miracles, and everything that she could do was within her own ability. At most, she could get herself out of the way and maybe another person, but she didn't possess the strength necessary to transport an entire group of people by herself.

To make things worse, this was not the kind of thing you learn to combat. In Arizona, brush fires, camping fires, and fires caused by rising heat out in the suburbs tended to be the things people prepared for. They had to-go bags ready just in case of sudden fires. They didn't allow plants to grow too close to their houses, not were things like ivy considered smart to have with the risks they brought.

Common things still made sense. Don't open doors or windows because introducing more air flow would not help the flames die out. Don't let your lawn dry out because it would be susceptible to fire just by the hot sun cooking it. If you live in a very dry and hot area, don't allow plants to grow on your house because they could easily catch fire from either the sun or a stray ember from a fire happening elsewhere nearby.

In a place like Forks Washington, where it was wet pretty much year-round, it made sense that the big fire was coming from inside a building and not outside. Did the students of Forks High ever have to sit there for orientation on the first or second day of school and have to listen to all the fire safety protocols? did they even do fire drills?

Perhaps she was being unfair because her unique circumstances allowed her to keep a level head in the middle of dangerous situations. And it surely was in human nature to survive above all else.

Still, it wasn't as if Bella could just bodily pick people up in a fireman's carry and just bring him down the stairs. At most, she could shove someone across a linoleum floor, but she didn't exactly have the skill necessary to play firefighter. Especially not when seven people were all tangled together on the landing all trying to get away from each other so they could escape the fire.

To make things worse, she did not know where any of the water fountains were or if the school even had any water fountains. She did not know the location of any of the fire extinguishers. And she didn't really have all the time in the world to go searching. There might be one near the office and maybe by the cafeteria, specifically for where those locations were in the school, but they were not the first floor.

Bella physically climbing over other people in order to get to a means of aid didn't sound pleasant. And she wasn't ever the sporty kind who could jump over railings and land all cool without hurting her left ankle which was very weak. She had terrible balance and would probably just hurt herself if she attempted such a thing.

And time wasn't an infinite thing that she had on hand. She'd already wasted like two minutes just standing there panicking over having no options!

And that was when Bella noticed it finally… Jasper Hale's eyes had moved.

They'd been all the way at the back of the group of students, and when she'd stopped time, he'd been caught mid-step on the way down. He had taken the outer edge by the wall, seemingly not needing something to hold on to on the rush down. His head had been tilted toward the view of the fire, and his eyes had been staring right at it.

But now his eyes were facing forward, and the tilt of his head was wrong, showing only the left side of his face and the sharpness of his jawline now.

Her eyes narrowed, not from the smoke at this very moment, but from annoyance.

If his whole being had managed to move without her doing it for him… then it meant that his ass wasn't affected whatever her thing was capable of!

"Have you been sitting there watching me panic for the past two minutes, instead of getting off your ass and helping?!" she demanded, reaching out to shove him as hard as possible.

Instead of allowing himself to go tumbling down the stairs, Jasper Hale's entire body came to life, and he caught himself immediately on the next step. He turned, expression taking on a bashful edge. "I… apologize. I was simply curious about how you'd go about fixing the situation. After the van incident and the cafeteria incident, your reactions to stressful situations have been fascinating to witness."

The rage that bubbled further made her want to shove his head in the fire straight on. He'd been aware of her nearly dying by Tyler's van and was also aware of her physically moving him into place so she could avoid his stalking!

And then he sat there in the middle of a literal crisis, while children's lives were at stake! Just so he could see what she was going to do?!

"I can tell you're angry…"

"No fucking shit, Sherlock."

"No, I mean I can feel it. You freeze… objects rather than the passage of time itself, and I can feel and control emotions to an extent."

Bella could tell that he was trying to be his earnest as possible but all she was really hearing him say was the fact that he had been fully aware of just how uncomfortable she was the entire time he was pulling all that crap, and it still took him that long to decide to stop.

"I think that in return for being a creep these past few weeks you should be the man you seem to think you are and rescue these damn kids before they burn alive. Since you're just so capable surely this can't be something that you can't handle?"

She then stood there glaring fiercely, pushing every ounce of annoyance and anger that she had within her petite frame in his direction in hopes that maybe they would have the effect - since he claimed he could feel emotions and influence them - that she wanted them to.

Like, she couldn't imagine having the power to immediately aid in a crisis that was happening and then not doing anything about it because she was curious to see what someone else was planning to do in the event of said emergency.

"If I find out that you or any of your family members caused this fire just to test me and see what my abilities are capable of, I will dredge up the most terrible accusations against you and make certain that your family never knows any kind of peace," she threatened. "The news will be up your asses and will follow you no matter where you go. You will never escape the results."

He had all that time to do something or to come up with a plan of some sort in order to make sure that these stupid kids didn't die terribly, and instead he just sat there pretending to be frozen in place for several minutes just to see what Bella would do. It sounded like an incredibly messed up kind of experiment, and just served to remind her that it really wasn't safe for people to find out about the things she could do.

Furthermore, Jasper Hale and his family could completely forget about getting on her good side. This whole situation did nothing but make her very, very angry. If Jasper Hale felt that it was absolutely necessary to be up Bella Swan's ass all the time for whatever reason, then he was going to have to prove that he wasn't an utter dipshit.

Based upon the few interactions they had had thus far; she was not convinced that he was someone worse maintaining connections with. Bella had encountered people who treated others like research projects before. She'd met people who would spend all of their time judging others instead of being useful members of society. And she had formed a lot of opinions very early on based upon her own experiences.

She could tell by the sheer look of offense on Jasper Hale's face that he was actually hurt by her words. Perhaps he and his family did not cause the fire, not that she really cared in the end. What she cared about was feeling like a lab rat in an experiment.

There Bella was, questioning her own morality and the pros and cons of different types of action she could take and what would happen and the problems that would arise from those actions. There she was, trying to think of a way to save other people because she knew that she would feel terrible if she just saved herself and let them all burn. And there his ass stood, watching all of this happen and doing absolutely nothing to either try and get help personally if he couldn't do it himself, or actually step forward and help out with his own strength.

Bella was not a perfect person but at least she could say that she had been spending her time worrying about other people and not waiting for a random stranger to decide between selfishness or selflessness when she had the means to help on her own if only somewhat.

[JPOV]

Alright, so he may have made a mistake.

Honestly, he hadn't considered the situation the way Bella did, but it did make sense from her perspective. He did not appreciate his family being accused of starting a fire, but from her perspective it did seem possible. After he was foolish enough to admit that they were watching her to see what else she would do, it made sense that her mind went there first.

And the problem was that while Bella spent that entire time worrying over and over, Jasper simply stood there. Outside, his siblings had all gathered around Edward's Volvo, listening to Alice as she quietly rambled through Vision after Vision after Vision based on what Bella's plans were.

She'd considered water fountains and fire extinguishers and flour. There was even a moment where she had considered trying to carry students by herself but that would have resulted in her falling down the stairs and breaking her neck so that was obviously a problem, and Bella had realized that her terrible balance would actually be a problem there, so she decided against it very quickly.

But then Bella had considered running down the stairs which would have also resulted in her falling and breaking something, all because she wanted to get a fire extinguisher. Then she thought against doing that because she didn't know where it was. Then she considered going up back up to the third floor, to see if there was a fire extinguisher there, but that would have resulted in a small explosion because she did find a fire extinguisher, but it took her too long and everyone got caught int he blast range.

So now Jasper had to act as fast as possible, to not further anger her in the middle of a terrible tragedy. In doing so, he could potentially expose his entire life's secrets but somehow, he doubted that she would care about that because from her perspective it was entirely deserved.

With his mind made up, Jasper uttered a low apology and lifted Bella into a quick princess carry. She swore at the top of her lungs and said some of the filthiest words he had ever heard pass through a woman's lips, and he would not repeat them, not even in his own mind. Her knowledge of four-letter invectives was truly awe-inspiring though. Emmett would be impressed.

Jasper placed Bella down on the landing to the first floor and proceeded to speed back up the stairs grabbing two students at a time and bringing them back. He made this trip three more times in the span of a few seconds, depositing the still frozen students at Bella's feet.

His incredible feats of speed and strength did not seem to impress her; in fact, she looked even more annoyed than she had before, but her emotions were less of annoyance and more of just pure, unfiltered rage.

"So, you could have moved that fast this entire time and could have saved us all the trouble of me being indecisive and panicking?"

Before he could try to defend himself, Bella waived her hand and the students who were all frozen in odd positions collapsed to the floor and kept scrambling as if they had never been frozen to begin with, pushing against each other in an attempt to get down without getting hurt.

Not one of them noticed that they had not been on the first floor to begin with.

On their way out of the building, Bella refused to look in his direction. She had her bag still over her shoulder, and a tight frown on her face. And it felt as if she was throwing every negative emotion she could possibly muster up in his direction.

In the distance, on the other side of the parking lot, stood his family. Edward looked especially angry, and Rosalie did in no way look like she was going to let him off the hook for this. To make things worse, Emmett had a wide grin on his face.

"You're in the doghouse!" his brother laughed, only to get elbowed by his wife.

Something he didn't even want to acknowledge. After all of that effort, and in following Rosalie's orders in order to get Bella to stop being so nervous, he then got out her bad side once again in a completely new and different way. Never before had Jasper felt like everything he was doing was being so severely judged.

And the fact that Bella's first assumption was to accuse them of experimentation, made him feel especially terrible. It was obvious that she was trying to keep this special ability of hers secret and hadn't told anybody about it. The chances of her ever telling anyone about it were incredibly low, and for Jasper to reveal that they had been watching her in anticipation, ended up doing the very opposite of what he'd hoped it would do. Because instead of Bella feeling like, oh, there's people around who could understand her, who aren't normal as well, she took it in a very negative way.

As the last group of students to make it out of the school, and the last students overall, they were immediately taken aside. Jasper had to pull out all of his southern charm in order to get the teachers to not touch him and to stop fussing over him. He then redirected their concerns to the students who had fallen and gotten hurt on their way down the stairs.

At most, there would be a few sprains, but nothing permanent.

Through it all, Bella frowned and fussed as people crowded around her to see if she was okay. She was then embraced by her father, Chief Swan, who had arrived mere moments before.

Eventually, Jasper was allowed to join his family once more. He could feel their bewilderment and mixed emotions almost like a heavy blanket being pulled over the head.

Before any of them could say anything, he turned to Rosalie and said, "That librarian needs to be fired. She did not follow proper protocols and didn't even bother to check if the library was empty of students before fleeing herself."

This would district her for a few moments as she placed a few calls and left a few anonymous tips, but he had no doubt that she would be on his ass when it was over and done with.

He sighed and ignored Edward's piercing stare. This was not how things were supposed to go.

He wasn't sure how he was supposed to fix things from here.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

It has been several days since the fire. School had been closed down that entire time because the fire had spread throughout the entire second floor, and that consisted of many of the most important classrooms in the entire building. Basically, anything related to science and math was on that floor specifically, for a reason. Almost all of them were ruined beyond hope of repair.

Forks Washington didn't exactly implement any just-in-case measures for situations such as this. This meant that Government, Spanish, English, Gym, and Music were pretty much the only classes left available. There was also a few club rooms on the first floor, and even the gymnasium and cafeteria were fine, but the school had lost a lot because of the fire.

Forks wasn't a very large town and had less than four thousand residents. The chances of getting enough state funding to even afford replacing everything that was lost, were incredibly low. Fortunately, the students had managed to grab all of their own possessions before running for their lives in the chaos, so it was only the school that ended up losing things.

In the meantime, Forks did not have another location that was capable of serving as a school. Again, it wasn't a very large town, and it didn't have that many students to begin with. The additional problems were the fact that so many people could not be displaced. Forks did not have school buses that could go around picking students up. They had two single buses that were used for excursions once or twice a year apparently, but there was no route to pick students up and deliver them to school. Everything was typically within walking distance, bike riding distance, and obviously driving distance.

Students and their families themselves could not afford to ship them off several hours away to a different school and Forks High School could not afford to send them over either. This resulted in some kind of homeschooling plan. Bella had been homeschooled now and then during her childhood due to Renee's flights of fancy and inability to stay put. She knew what was expected of such behavior, but Charlie would not be able to handle it. He was literally the Chief of Police; he did have the time to sit at home making sure that Bella did homework and observing her classes.

A few days after the fire, all of the Forks High School students had to appear at the school in order to collect their designated packets of work for the following week. They were expected to do homework and do their assignments themselves, and then they would have to come to the school cafeteria and gymnasium to take any exams that would be scheduled. And the entire process for which groups would have to sit in for exams was ridiculous.

They were going to go by year and then by alphabetical order of the classes. And they were going to have to set up individual cubicles in the cafeteria so that multiple classes could sit and take their exams at the same time so that they had more time to dedicate to everybody. The students were not used to that kind of environment, and they weren't going to be able to pay very close attention knowing that other students were in the room taking different tests. It was going to be hell on earth. How would they make it so people couldn't easily cheat?

However, there was a bright side to everything. Bella did not have to lay eyes on any of the Cullens for however long this would last. She didn't have to deal with Jasper Hale being annoying, or Edward Cullen being obnoxiously weird and acting like there was a stick up his ass every day. And she didn't have to spend too much time thinking about the fact that they had been watching her like a lab rat.

Instead, Bella only dedicated a small bit of time to thinking very deeply about what it meant for Jasper Hale and potentially his entire family to not be affected by this weird thing she could do. She could stop and restart time, but the fact was she wasn't really influencing time itself. The problem was time did continue moving along. If she used her thing on an entire grocery store for an hour, those sixty minutes would still pass and everybody and everything in that store would simply be trapped in place. And the thing was, people didn't realize that they had essentially been on Pause that entire time.

Yet, judging by Jasper Hale's reaction and then his following words, her ability did not work on him and his family. She had to consider what she knew about the Cullens as a whole unit.

They had supposedly only moved down to Forks from Alaska. They were all incredibly pale with strange eye colors and dark purple bruising under their eyes. They were all obnoxiously attractive, even Dr. Cullen. Jasper Hale and Rosalie Hale were siblings and that left Alice, Emmett, and Edward Cullen as a different set of siblings. The brown-haired kids were related to Esme Cullen, while the blond-haired ones were related to Carlisle Cullen. They had chosen to take in the offspring of their distant relatives because something horrible happened and they had the means to provide for them.

The Cullens went on camping trips whenever the temperature got too warm. They like to spend time together as a family, and even Dr. Cullen would go with them on his rare days off. According to some of the students like Jessica Stanley, they kept to themselves and didn't really spend a lot of time interacting with other students. From the perspective of people like Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley, they thought that the Cullens were weird; they felt a weird sense of discomfort when looking in their general direction.

Lauren has been able to collect enough information to determine that all of them had perfect GPAs, and that they never seemed to try and class but also all seemed to be perfect at everything they did. There had never been anything below a perfect grade for any of the classes they were in. It was even noted by some seniors that it was very obvious that the Cullens were much better than they showed themselves to be during gym class. And many of the students personally found it insulting but the Cullens would try less in certain classes when it was obvious to everyone that they were just better.

Apparently, it felt more like pity and less like they weren't trying to draw a tension to themselves.

Then, Bella added on her own observations. Such as the fact that Jasper Hale was ridiculously heavy. Yes, he was the size of a grown man at over six feet tall, and he was definitely well built, but a man of that size and stature would not weigh as much as he did. Bella was able to move to students of a similar build to him across the cafeteria floor with little to no struggle, but she struggled and struggled just to move him a few inches up in line.

If she added on the fact that he had not been affected by her thing, and his following words, this suggested the rest of his family was not affected by it either. This meant that despite how none of them were blood related, they had all come on share the same exact same immunity to being frozen in time. The same eyes, dark bruises, and the same abnormal level of beauty. No blood relation but all these similarities existed anyway?

Was it possible that they were all wearing contacts?

But if so, surely, they wouldn't all come out to be the same exact color for all of them?

Bella never really sat back and thought of herself as some kind of supernatural being or magical creature. Yet, when finally faced with somebody else who could supposedly manipulate people's emotions and Jasper Hale's own words of course, she felt suspicious. Now she was aware that there were other people out there who could do other things that regular humans could not do, and now she had to wonder if she herself was just a human who was supernaturally talented, or if she was something supernatural herself.

The Cullens looked human, but then again so did Bella. And they did human things, but then again so could Bella. But she had a feeling they couldn't be human, and her feelings were typically very strong and rarely wrong. But if the Cullens weren't human... then was Bella not a human either?

Further problems would eventually arise because she could not pinpoint what exactly they could be, nor could she dream up a supernatural being as the equivalent for herself.

Jasper sighed. The fire at school had basically upended their entire lives. Well, nobody minded staying home all the time and not having to surround themselves with teenage humans and they're emotions and their dramas every single day, but they still had to do classwork in their own home. That just made things so much more annoying. School was for school and home was for home, and now school had followed them home and had gotten in the way of everything that home stood for.

Esme had been completely beside herself with worry when she learned of what happened at the school. Thankfully, because of Bella's quick thinking, nobody ended up dying or getting severely injured. I had to come up instantly because everything basically hinged on what Bella had chosen to do in that moment.

Before, when Bella had to save her own life from being completely squashed by that van, they had witnessed her freezing the entire parking lot in place just so that she could move out of the way. They had all accepted that this was a thing that she could do and had even seen her do it again in the cafeteria. None of them had told Carlisle or Esme about it, so it had been a long time coming.

Jasper desperately regretted not saying something sooner, and his guilt was shared by the rest of his siblings.

Carlisle was the leader of their coven, and his decisions were what helped to keep them safe. Carlisle needed to know important things that were going on so he could make informed decisions. It was a unique situation, the act of telling him about a human girl capable of stopping a two-ton vehicle in time so that she can move out of the way, then allowing it to restart as if nothing had ever interfered with her plans.

It wasn't like Edward shared the thoughts of every single teenager he encountered at school with his entire family. He only ever brought up those with suspicions in regard to their family. This was something that could potentially be a problem in the future when they had so little information. And no, Alice couldn't really predict anything bad coming of it, but it was still better for Carlisle to be in the know.

And since they failed to tell him, they'd failed their leader and father figure.

He didn't seem angry with them, nor would he hold it against them, but they were all feeling the guilt very strongly. Jasper was too affected to put a stop to it.

"It's good that she wanted to help," Esme said about Bella and her conviction. "She saved those children by giving you both more time to do so. Now, we can do our part as members of this community and donate to the school's efforts."

"It'll have to be taken down," Alice commented, no doubt checking the future. "There's too much damage to the inner structures, and the rooms on the second floor are beyond saving. The third floor suffered from smoke and soot damage. The first floor was relatively safe the entire time, but the lack of suitable escape routes has made it a pressing concern for the council. And state funding will be impossible to procure because Forks does not have active sports teams or clubs that win competitions."

Which meant that the students would have to be displaced. They'd have to pay for buses to transport students to other school districts, but that would be a lot of money they didn't have. It would be safer, and cheaper, if they could simply handle things at home.

It was a few days later that Esme came up with the perfect idea. "I'm going to the administration to discuss funding the demolition and the reconstruction of the school. I will offer my skills and show them my portfolio, and I will then bring up the option of teaching students through homeschooling via Chromebooks. They are quite popular these days and many modern schools are giving their students such things to better facilitate learning on their own time."

None of them had even thought of such a thing, but the idea made sense.

It would indeed be much easier for the teachers and students to interact, and it could be done from the safety of their homes. And less printing would have to be done. No more driving to the school for paperwork every week.

Esme looked especially excited at the prospect of creating something new again and was already starting on her blueprints. This left the rest of them to sit back and wait as the time passed them by. This also meant that Jasper had more time to think about how to get back into Bella Swan's good graces.

Or at least get off her bad side. He probably had never gotten that friendly with her in the first place, but he could at least beg forgiveness and try his best to remedy the situation.

And unlike Edward who stalked her from the woods, Jasper would just act natural and approach her like a normal person would. By driving over to her house to beg forgiveness and to explain the family's response to her… talent.

Before he could even voice the idea that came to mind, Alice popped up at his side. "I'm ready to go see Bella."

Right. Seer. Of course, she'd Seen his decision before he even brought it up to her.

Okay so, with all this free time that she suddenly had on hand, because nobody could actually go to school every day, Bella had to work out how to spend her time by herself. Charlie had a job that required his attention basically every single day, and Bella was suddenly very much aware of the fact that there was nothing to do. It wasn't as if she had ever been a particularly outgoing person who went out to places and did things with other teenagers back in Arizona, but at least the options were there.

In a place like Forks, with such a small population, there really wasn't anything to do besides a trip to the local bowling alley and the small museum. Bella wasn't into the small local library they had because there was absolutely nothing of interest in the library. They had a few fast-food restaurants, but Bella wasn't really into buying pizza from fast food chains since it never came out well, and she didn't like Subway. She knew they had a couple of local diners if she wanted to go out to eat, a few grocery stores to shop at, and the local farmer's market.

But that was primarily it.

Jessica Stanley had mentioned going clothes shopping but that was all the way out in Port Angeles which had a department store and a few other bigger stores to choose from. Bella wasn't all too interested in wasting money on gas just to drive a couple hours one way and then a couple hours back, all for window shopping.

This meant that Bella would have to find a way to entertain herself, and this led her to YouTube. In the past, she'd barely had much of an interest in it unless it was to look up recipes on how to make something new. With all this free time on hand, she found herself browsing and actively looking for other things to while away her time with.

And that was when she came upon a video of a training montage that had been on her Recommended Page, and she had clicked on it because it had a lot of views so why not? And the training montage was for a bunch of unfit guys to prepare for some kind of obstacle course bet they had going on. The main takeaway seemed to be how none of the guys possessed the equilibrium necessary to do something like parkour, but that wasn't really what she personally got from the video.

There was a lot of interesting parts about the video that made her feel like doing her own training, even if not having Eye of the Tiger playing in the background would make it seem a bit lamer.

But again, Bella was not a sporty individual and she did not possess the balance necessary to participate in sports. The only thing she could potentially train was that special thing of hers.

The thing was, until the fire, Bella had never really considered training it before because she hadn't had to use it that much until now. But now she was aware of the fact that not being able to single out individual items or people was a problem that she would have to learn how to improve upon.

Of course, the whole idea of training this thing did not come with cool montages to old 80s music. Instead, it was more like Bella was collecting various rounded objects from around the house and then throwing them into the air out in the backyard and hoping to try and freeze one of them. It wasn't exactly cool, and you couldn't exactly make a stunning montage out of it.

Also, she chose outside because her poor luck would see Charlie's TV screen being ruined by an old apple. She doubted she was strong enough to actually do damage to the glass of the old television, but weirder things had happened, so why risk breaking anything important?

Also, it wasn't exactly easy to train by the way. She couldn't seem to single out one item over the others despite making sure they were all different and easy to separate from each other.

A bruised apple that no one was going to eat, an old golf ball that had been scuffed up and was no longer white, a small container of Chef Boyardee Lasagna, a paper ball she had wadded up herself from old newspaper, and an old, black mitten she'd found under the sofa while sweeping. It was a nice variety of objects that would be easy to single out to start with, but the more and more she threw them up in the air, the harder and harder it seemed to get things to go as she wanted.

She had first set her sights on the Chef Boyardee container because it was the heaviest item, so while it went up more than anything else, it also came back down a lot faster. She had thought that by singling that out personally and how uniquely shaped it was, that she'd be able to stop it much more easily.

Instead, her inability to catch things, as well as the inability to single things out, resulted in everything being frozen, and then when they were released, she ended up getting hit in the head with the Chef Boyardee container.

A danger to society, she was.

Those things were a lot harder than they appeared, and they hurt like hell.

Bella tried mixing it up, tossing the apple and the container up at the same time almost as if she was juggling(she had no skill in juggling by the way), and then tried to just stop the apple. Both items froze in the air, and then fell back to the ground just as quickly.

She practiced tossing the glove up and down and freezing it without looking. Eyes closed; she froze it. Tossed behind her and then a hand wave, she froze it. Throwing it upward as she spun in a circle, she froze it.

So, she could do it while not seeing what she was freezing. And she could manage it while not even facing the same direction as the item she was freezing.

But why could she not freeze some things over others?

It made no sense!

Bella had to stand out there for almost an hour, having to constantly pick up everything she was throwing, just so she could throw them all over and over. She watched as the laws of gravity did their job, and how her thing didn't do its job. Like, she could freeze things with just a small flick of the finger now, but she could not freeze a single item in the air while the others fell to the ground!

The apple, which was already hideous to begin with, was now basically covered in bruises on every single side. It felt like a damning piece of evidence to her failure that after an hour of trying very hard, she still had gotten nowhere. It kind of felt like that stupid apple was mocking her for not being able to do this simple thing.

In her frustration, Bella reared her arm back and whipped the apple upward as hard as she could manage, then waved her hand again upon its descent.

And that was when things finally seemed to change, just not in the way she had expected them to.

Instead of the apple's descent being frozen in midair… it blew up.

The best way to describe it would be to say that it exploded from the inside out. Almost like there had been a bomb inside the apple this entire time and it had gone off suddenly!

As Bella's heart practically leapt into her throat over the sudden noise and shower of apple bits, an unfamiliar gasp of, "WOW!" caused her to spin around in terror, hands whipping out instantly and a loud, grating sound followed by a similar explosion sounded across the backyard.

And she got to watch in gaping horror, alongside Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen, as Jasper's arm exploded from the elbow down and landed on the grass in a shower of porcelain-like shards and sparkling… fluids.

To make things even more disgusting… The detached limb had turned itself over and the fingers where clawing their way across the grass, back toward Jasper's seemingly paralyzed body.

Welp… this wasn't how she'd expected things to go at all today.

She was so blindsided that she didn't even realize that neither Cullen child should be on Charlie's property.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

“Wait! Wait- wait- wait! Why are the two of you even on Chief Swan's property in the first place?” Bella demanded once her head was on straight again. There was no reason for them to be all the way over here.

While Jasper reattached his arm, as in, it literally reconnected itself with ease as if it had never been blown off in the first place, Alice decided to speak up. “Personally, I think we should take a moment to consider what exactly this means and how we are going to handle it,” she murmured while staring at Jasper’s perfectly reattached arm.

“Okay, first of all, there is no We in this situation. There is Me, and then there is You. And both sides stay in Their separate lanes, and do not interact. Because there is no reason for either side to have to interact at all,” Bella pointed out.

“I think you'll find that we have many reasons to interact. One of them being the fact that neither of us seem to be human, and therefore are capable of things that the rest of our peers would never understand.” Alice Cullen looked especially proud of herself for pointing out such a thing. “What we happened upon just now is perfect purpose of the fact that you would probably struggle to keep your abilities hidden while here.”

“If I managed to spend years keeping the whole freezing time thing a secret in the middle of Phoenix, Arizona do you really think that Forks Washington, of all places, is going to prove to be an incredibly difficult thing for me?” Bella asked, because she had experience in keeping secrets and it wasn’t her fault that for once there were other people around who could do freaky things too.

Alice nodded along, but with a more pitiful look rather than an understanding one. “It is true that you have a lot more experience in hiding your abilities in a much bigger city with a much larger population that you would have to watch out for. The problem, however, is that at that time you could, as far as you were aware, only freeze things in place. As you have just demonstrated for us, you are fully capable of blowing things up when you get too frustrated. And it is very clear that you do not know how to control it.”

And that was the kicker. But it would not be the end of Bella’s defense!

“The whole reason I was out here was because I wanted to get in some practice while I had spare time. Of course, I'm not going to be able to do things perfectly immediately. That's why we need to go on and do things over and over until we build up a skill for them. I wasn’t perfect at freezing things when this all started.”

In fact, Bella had spent a great many years working on this little thing she was capable of. And it wasn't as if it was sunshine and roses the entire time as well.

“And our family is uniquely talented in many ways and could definitely help you a lot more than anyone else here can. You can hang out with us and get to know us, and we can help train you and give you targets that you have never been exposed to before.”

“...Because my thing doesn’t work on you guys,” Bella realized.

“Exactly.”

“Do you… know why?” she asked suddenly, trying to make it all make sense in her head. Was it possible that they had better access to information because they were super rich?

Alice hummed, brow furrowing in consideration. “There is certainly much to consider when we think about what your ability can do to all the humans around you versus us, and we have had a bit of time to put some thought into it ourselves, but when it comes to this kind of thing, that would probably be more up Carlisle's alley. Carlisle is far older than all of us and has a lot more experience in most things compared to us. And we technically only just told him today, so he hasn't had much time to ponder the potential scope of your abilities.”

That would make sense in a way. The leader of the family being the one who called the shots and had the most knowle-

Wait!

“How old are you guys? You look like any young adult with a beauty filter on.” Carlisle was supposed to be the oldest out of all of them?!

Alice frowned. “My coming into this life is hazier compared to everyone else. I came to awareness somewhere in Mississippi, all alone. If I wasn’t capable of Seeing Visions of the Future, I probably would have stayed a mad hermit who never left the woods. By the time I was sane enough to enter human society and not pose a threat to anyone, it was probably somewhere in the 1930s?

“As for Edward, he is from Chicago, and he was dying of the Spanish Flu in 1918. Carlisle was the doctor that oversaw him at the time, and he was able to gather together a bunch of information about Edward’s human life so that he would have something to remember.”

Jeez! Did becoming like them mean you had to suffer first or something?!

Jasper hummed. “I was the youngest Major of the Texas Calvary during the Civil War.”

“And Carlisle is older than that?!” Bella had never even seen him before; she had heard rumors, and he was considered the hottest man in Forks. The old ladies at the store had things to say about Dr. Cullen and none of them were tame.

Supermodel kind of hot apparently. But also, very youthful. Enough for people to wonder how he could look so young while being old enough to be a practicing surgeon, among other qualifications he apparently held.

It was Jasper who decided to answer. “As far as Carlisle's awareness goes, he became a vampire sometime in the very early 1600s in England. He spent a considerable amount of time working with his father, who was a man of religion, who made it his duty to hunt down supernatural creatures and burn them at the stake. When Carlisle ended up becoming a vampire during a hunt where they actually found a real vampire, he realized that his father would not accept him, and would definitely burn him alive too. He also had the unfortunate realization that all of the people that they captured and burned alive were, in fact, not supernatural. They were just mentally or physically ill or a little different than the common person of the time.”

...That had to be one of the most tragic things that Belle had ever heard.

“You mean, like, people with red hair, or women who could read, or people with developmental disabilities that didn't have names yet but definitely existed?” She was perfectly aware of the kind of people that would be targeted by religious zealots in a time where scientific advancements were not far long enough for them to understand how the world worked.

Women, children, and those with disabilities always ended up being the ones to suffer the most in history.

“Exactly,” Alice and Jasper nodded.

Well, that was fucked up. Bella had to wonder what it would be like to be a person heavily steeped in religion, and then to become something that your religion looks down upon. She had never been a religious person, so she had never had to stop and think or worry about whether or not the Divine being that she had put her faith in would accept her if she was forcefully turned into something other than human.

“Wait did you say vampire? Do you mean to tell me that you guys are vampires? And for some reason, you just choose to go to school with a bunch of teenage humans?” She couldn't believe that it had taken her this long to realize that they had been talking about vampires of all things.

“It's the only way we can be normal,” Alice said softly. “Besides, we all died while we were still teenagers anyway.”

...That was sad.

Okay, the first thing that absolutely needed to be considered was the fact that vampires were apparently real, other supernatural things were apparently also very real, and that Bella had somehow moved out of one of the biggest cities in the US. to a tiny, little city in the middle of Nowhere US., and found herself among a small population of supernatural beings. And the most interesting thing about all of this was the fact that they all decided to live together as a family, despite being from completely different places and time periods. How did any of these people even meet?

How does a vampire hunter turned vampire from the 1600s find his way into the Pacific Northwest of the United States, with a host of equally vampiric children who are from all over the states?

“Does Carlisle like to collect people or something? And what are the chances that he would somehow happen upon all of you at some point, and that you would all just decide to, hey, let's be a family together?” It sounded absolutely crazy, when it was put like that.

Alice held up a stalling hand. “To be fair, Jasper and I actually came upon the Cullens much later than everybody else did. I spent a long time wandering by myself, seeing Visions of my Future and knowing that I would have to wait a long time for those Visions to come to fruition. The day that I was meant to meet Jasper, I had gone all the way to meet him personally, and it took very little effort for him to believe me, despite his own past of issues. From there, we went to the exact place that I had seen in my Visions and introduced ourselves as the newest members of the Cullen Coven.”

So basically, Alice Saw the Future and knew exactly what to do, where to go, and what to say in order to get her way. And for some, reason, her entire family just went along with everything because she apparently was never wrong?

Wait a minute...

“If you could see the future, did you know about the fire?” Another thing that Bella needed confirmation on before she continued this association.

Alice shook her head regretfully. “Sorry about that. While I can See Visions of the future, my ability is actually limited to people's decisions. When I get a Vision, I have to focus on every single person involved in that Vision, because any one of them can make a different choice at any point in time leading up to that Vision and completely change the outcome of it or make it so that the Vision doesn't happen at all. Thankfully, in this way of life, our brains are capable of handling such quick changes in topic and decisions. So, I can flicker through multiple versions of the same Vision before somebody makes up their mind about what they're going to do.”

Selective future sight. Alice could only see something when the people involved had made up their minds about it and could, at any time, see the future begin to shift around and change if the people involved changed their minds.

“So, like, if you were at home and I was in my house, and I made the random decision that I was going to go and drive over to you guys, you would see a Vision of me making that decision?” Bella asked, trying to wrap her head around it.

“Yeah.”

“And say I was halfway to your house when I decided that, oh man, I'm really craving some Subway. You know what, I'll stop and get myself a sandwich first and then I'll continue on my way. Would you see that too?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “The reason being is that a deviation like that would change the expected time of your arrival. Despite how we act as a cohesive unit and as a family, we all have different things that interest us and will all be in different places at different times, depending on when you would appear at our house.”

Alice then looked at Jasper. “Take my dear brother here for example. Jasper is technically the newest to the Cullen specific way of life. Carlisle has a deep respect and care for humanity and has developed an immunity to the draws of human blood over the past several centuries. He always wanted to be a healer who took care of people, and he is now the best doctor in the world with all the advanced senses than a normal doctor could never hope to have, while also not having an obsession for human blood haunting his every move.

“Our coven is unique in the fact that we do not drink human blood, and there are even those among our number who have never had any human blood at all. Jasper is the newest person to the vegetarian diet, as we like to call it. So, on a normal day, a human randomly popping up at our home without him having time to prepare for it would not be an ideal thing. That is why timing is important and why the tracking of my Visions is absolutely necessary and considered more important than anything else I can do for the family.”

There was a resigned a look of regret on Jasper's face. as if the revelations that Alice had shared had come with no small amount of shame for him. Bella could not ignore the fact that she was actually very curious to find out what exactly his personal deal was. And maybe a bit curious over Edward’s issues too.

“And you have decided that you guys want to take this strange human with an odd power under your wing or something? Do you even know what it is that I can do? Or are you just spit-balling?”

Like, was there even a point in continuing this association with the Cullen family, or would Bella be better off on her own?

“Well, we can tell you is that you are not stopping time. We were very much able to track the three different times that you've done it in front of us. Time still moved forward, but everyone in your immediate vicinity simply stopped in place. Everyone but us that is,” Jasper said softly. “It’s truly fascinating.”

“Exactly. We are technically already stopped in time. Once becoming like this we don’t grow anymore. Our bodies are frozen at the age we are in when we turn. The hair, ears, feet, noses, etc… They all stop. That’s why children should not be turned, otherwise they cannot learn, cannot be taught, and they cannot improve themselves. They’d just be weapons of mass destruction that cannot be reasoned with by anyone.”

Well, fuck.

“So, you guys somehow decided that you very much want to get to know me and more about my thing?”

“Yeah!” Alice nodded happily. “Though to be fair, Jasper just wants to get to know you in general.”

Bella sent him a bland look. “Let me guess, Edward too, right?”

“It is as you have surmised,” the Texan agreed. No wonder his Spanish was so much better than hers.

“And I'm just supposed to believe that this is something that the rest of your family is perfectly okay with?”

And that was when Alice grimaced. “Well, Rosalie isn't exactly thrilled about it, but that comes more from a place of her watching out for the safety of the family and not wanting anything to jeopardize our chances of being normal and making us have to move again so soon.”

“There's quite a bit more to her personal reasons than that, but they aren't my business to share, so I'm not going to share those,” Jasper added with a small frown of regret.

“But Carlisle and Esme wouldn’t mind getting to know you!” Alice added with a beaming grin.

Isn't that just an unnerving concept? The vampire parents of a coven of vampires want to get to know the random human girl that moved into their small town recently. All because she could stop time in a fixed location or whatever.

Bella was suddenly very worried because she couldn’t just stop things in time now. She could blow things up!

And now she was especially susceptible to blowing things up whenever too surprised. Case in point, she had literally just blown off Jasper's arm because he and Alice had startled her! If she went about her personal business and got startled when she was out somewhere in public at some point, would she be able to stop herself from potentially blowing a random old lady up?

“Bella, I can feel that you are getting very nervous all of a sudden. I promise that we will do whatever we can to help you learn how to control these powers,” Jasper said calmly as a wave of warmth washed over her from head to toe. “What better test subjects could you hope to have than a group of people who feel no pain and cannot die?”

While the offer was appreciated and probably came from a very well-meaning place, it was still very odd for Bella to think of other people as test subjects. Even if they were the ones who are offering to help her out, it just felt weird.

At the same time, could Bella really afford to ignore this offer of assistance, even if Edward and Jasper unnerved her a bit? Jasper had at least improved his public relations skills since she’d gotten to know him.

“So long as you both can ensure that Edward doesn't start acting weird again, then I suppose I can accept your help.” Not to be mean, but being around him was still more annoying than being around Jasper.

God, being around people who knew about her thing was going to take some getting used to.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

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Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

"I thought you promised to make him stop being so damn weird," was the first thing out of Bella's mouth the moment she stepped inside the Cullen residence and found herself face to face with Edward Cullen.

And like, yeah, it was his house that he lived in, but there was no need to practically be pressed against the door awaiting his sibling's return. Especially since she doubted that he did that at any other time.

It had been a week since Jasper and Alice had appeared on Charlie's property, offering to help Bella work out the details of her Thing. She had been through a lengthy discussion, and no small amount of reluctance, to accept the fact that the Cullens would probably be her only way of truly finding out what she was exactly and what she was capable of.

That was why she finally had accepted their offer, because what else could she hope to get done on her own? However, the requirement had been for Edward to stop being so damn creepy all the time.

Not even ten seconds on the property, and he was already living up to his unfortunate reputation in her eyes.

It seemed that Rosalie ended up being the person with common sense in the house, because she appeared faster than Bella could ever hope to comprehend and proceeded to grab him by the ear and drag him off into the depths of the house. She didn't spare Bella a glance or a greeting, but that was perfectly fine because she seemed to be more focused on drilling some lessons into Edward and that was good enough.

Once his weird hovering was taken care of, Bella was able to fully take in the interior design of the Cullen residence. And she hadn't really thought that their wealth could be proven any more than it already was with the fancy clothes and the car, but it literally got worse.

The entire back wall of the house was just windows. There was a grand piano and a massive flatscreen mounted on one of the walls, which was on and showing the results of a rugby match. Off to the side was a triple monitor gaming setup that Emmett Cullen was seated at, playing something that looked like Elden Ring.

Carlisle and Esme Cullen stood a good distance away, and yes, Carlisle was as hot as the old ladies of the town had declared him to be. Holy hell. It was hard to comprehend the fact that men in the 1600s could apparently look like that. He looked like he would be an Instagram model. The whole air-brushed look that came naturally with being a predator like a vampire was insanely in his favor.

All the other Cullens she had met up until that moment had been startlingly attractive, but there was just something about Carlisle. How was it even possible? He was even more beautiful than Rosalie and that was saying something.

"Hello, Bella," Esme Cullen said in greeting, reaching out to shake her hand in an incredibly frigid grip. "We've been looking forward to meeting you ever since you moved to Forks."

She seemed genuine enough. And certainly, looked like she could pass for being a blood relation to Edward, Emmett, and Alice, who just happened to adopt them when their parents passed. Kind of ironic in a sense. The whole story the family went with for the sake of the town's interest was amusing.

Clearly, somebody had already informed her of how Bella preferred to be addressed, which was swell of them. Some people got really offended that she chose not to use Isabella, which made no sense since it wasn't even their name to begin with. At least in this moment she didn't have to explain herself.

"Hi, Mrs. Cullen. Sorry about this being sprung on you at the last minute."

The woman waved off her concern and smiled. "Not to worry. It's finally given us a reason to use the kitchen for the first time. I watched several episodes of The Kitchen to try and make a filling and flavorful meal. Unfortunately, in our state of existence, we cannot digest food and we cannot properly tell how it tastes because everything tastes either flavorless or rancid. The chicken looked like it did on the show though, so I hope it came out well."

That was far more than Bella had been expecting. But yeah, coming over after school for a few hours would suggest she'd been there for dinner. And they couldn't eat dinner because they couldn't eat in general. Good Lord.

"Thanks, Mrs. Cullen."

"Call me, Esme, dear. This is my husband Carlisle," she said, gesturing to the beautiful man himself. "He took off early from work so he could be here to meet you properly."

And then Vampire Adonis himself spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Jasper has been quite excited about your visit."

When Bella glanced over her shoulder to check on Jasper's reaction, it was to find him staring at Carlisle like he'd been betrayed! Just more and more things piled on to prove that Jasper's interest in her was very different than his family's overall interest. For the time being, Bella was going to choose to ignore that fact, because she wanted to be in a better mental space and a better life space before considering things of that nature.

"The weird time shenanigans is a very complex ability and probably not something any of you have encountered before, so it makes sense," she chose to say, pretending that she didn't catch on to the doctor's true meaning. "Thanks for being willing to help me out, Dr. Cullen."

"Just Carlisle is fine, Bella. Alice told us that you're willing to test out your skills in a more controlled environment, and Emmett has volunteered to be your test subject today."

And that was when Emmett Cullen appeared, looking very eager. Like a dog, one might say. "Jazz told us about how you blew his arm off, and I am so excited because by technicality, I am physically the strongest person in this house. I don't necessarily have any extra fancy abilities like some of the other people, but I am far stronger than them and I'm curious to see what your ability can do to me."

This made Carlisle nod. "Our brains are capable of processing information much faster than a human brain can. So many of us can watch the experiment from various angles and actually see in almost slow motion what happens when you use your ability to cause explosions. We should be able to determine how it works that way."

Jasper and Alice took up posts on either of Bella's sides, and Alice looked especially bouncy. "I think it's a form of spontaneous combustion!"

"But she can stop things in place," Jasper countered. "So perhaps it's an ability with multiple tiers of use. Like Edward's. Yes, he can hear the thoughts of others, but when focusing on an individual, he can also see what they are seeing in the present moment or see what they are imagining. And anyone in his vicinity with an ability that takes root in their mind, like Alice Seeing the Future, becomes his skill as well."

"So, perhaps Bella's ability starts at the same base level and then evolves from there," Esme said with realization. "Then we have to find what the base ability actually is."

In exactly one second, Carlisle disappeared, and in the next he was back as if he'd never left. In his hands was a full table and it was covered in lab equipment. "Upon entering this life, I spent a lot of time investigating how vampires were scientifically possible. Every currently known piece of information about our biology was found by me because for some reason, nobody else was interested enough in science to find out the ins and outs of vampirism."

Emmett nodded. "We have twenty-five pairs of chromosomes, for example."

...What?

"How does dying give you an extra two pairs?" Bella demanded.

All of the vampires in the room shrugged. Despite his efforts, it appeared that Carlisle still hadn't managed to crack the code on that bit.

In theory, this would suggest that the very first vampire was actually not based on a human. And in Bella's opinion, it should be impossible for something that was once human to suddenly increase its pairs of chromosomes after its heart and lungs ceased to function and its form stopped growing. After all, humans losing or gaining chromosomes was usually linked to terrible health conditions. It wasn't exactly that common of a thing.

Of course, with the existence of evolution, it was entirely possible that perhaps a human evolved slightly in some way due to external forces thousands of years ago and from them came the race of vampires. If vampires could be considered a race.

But still… the adding two more pairs of chromosomes just didn't make sense to her.

Aside from that conundrum, she also had to consider what it'd be like to use her powers on a vampire and not a human. Since they couldn't be frozen in place...

At least they were excited to help.

The most interesting thing about living with a man who was not only a doctor for humans, but also a scientist at heart, was the fact that anytime Carlisle learned any sort of new medical information, he would always devote himself to learning more about it.

In just a few hours, they had already managed to graduate from freezing things in place to exploding things. Emmett had gone to the trouble of creating a little ring for experimentation out in the backyard area and they all took turns tossing things in Bella's direction to try and encourage her natural reflexes with her power to act up.

She'd managed to freeze three items at once, all coming from different angles, for example. From there, she managed to begin blowing up fruits and sticks, and as the objects increased in size, so too did the explosions.

Carlisle gleefully collected every exploded apple and log, shaving off pieces of each to try and break down the chemical changes Bella's power had caused in them for them to explode.

When actively watching and looking for something, seeing Bella's ability actually blow Emmett's hand off, had been astonishing. As if in slow motion, a small red glow formed alongside Emmett's inner wrist, and it flashed through various shades becoming darker and darker until Emmett's hand was parted from his body and sent flying into the distance. Luckily, Carlisle managed to catch it before it could go too far, and then was able to extract a few samples of the venom and the chunks of skin before they perfectly healed up.

Emmett winced, rubbing at the glistening stump left behind. "That got unpleasantly hot. I imagine if you can make a large enough explosion, you might actually burn a vampire alive. Fire's the only real thing that can destroy as far as we're aware, and that would require a lot of it and our venom to be exposed as well to make it easier."

Carlisle flitted about, a syringe in one hand and a pair of tweezers in another as Esme followed him with the slides he intended to use for his studies. They worked efficiently, as this was not an abnormal thing for them to be doing. Already, the bits of venom samples in the slides were moving around, looking to return to the main body.

Because vampires were delightfully eldritch like that. It was bad enough that their limbs would start crawling back to their bodies if they ever got separated, but even their venom would be fighting to get back. More than once had Jasper considered that vampire venom was a type of symbiote that feasted on blood in order to thrive. And since it sucked away all the blood inside them upon turning, it would force them to seek out more.

But this was a more fantastical viewing of vampirism. Sure, vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters existed, and certain beings could read minds or see the future or manipulate emotions, but things like superheroes and magic systems were a bit of a stretch. Even for them. It sounded like a knock-off Marvel plot if anything.

Though it would be an interesting take if vampires ever got into making art of their own and not repurposing human creations while slandering human existence. Maybe one day they'd have things like vampire operas and vampire libraries with fictional content by and for vampires.

What a nice day that could be.

"Do you need a break?" Esme asked Bella suddenly. "Are you feeling tired or experiencing any disorientation?"

Bella shook her head, her hair swaying back and forth like a shining chestnut curtain until the sunlight. "I don't get tired from using It. I get frustrated, but I could technically keep something frozen in place for days and not feel a thing on my end."

And there Alice went, taking notes for Carlisle's official records based on Bella's explanation. "What's the longest span of time you went using your ability and what was the item you tested it on?"

"It was on a small pet goldfish I'd once had. I hadn't realized I'd frozen it at the time, so it sat there for a little over six days… it died when I released it from its imprisonment, and I ended up flushing it down the toilet soon after."

Alice and Carlisle shared a look as Esme hummed. "So, in theory, it either starved to death or suffocated despite you managing to trap it in place so it could not move. So, despite being frozen in time, its bodily functions still required something to continue living, and going almost a full week without said needs being met resulted in a premature death."

So, if Bella had kept the entire school parking lot frozen in time for days, their bodies would still starve somehow? How would that be possible?

"What I think we need to address," Rosalie said, appearing at Emmett's side and staring at the stump where his hand used to be, "is how it began to glow from the inside and got very hot, before anything happened. That's an internal ability, and if it's derived from the same source that the freezing ability is derived from, then it's safe to say that both are happening from a potentially cellular level."

The thought of any living, sentient being, having the ability to control the cells in other's bodies was almost horrifying. And to think that this potential ability was housed inside of a young human girl's body. If she ended up becoming a vampire somehow, he could only imagine what this sort of ability would mutate into in a new existence.

Would she be able to puppet people around? Or perhaps turn them into 'living' statues for all time?

Being who he was and with his unique experiences in life, Jasper's mind immediately pulled up all sorts of incredibly violent and cruel ways that such ability could be used. He felt very bad for his mind going in those directions. But that was just simply the natural evolution of such a thought process in finding out something new, and then expounding on all the potential that new piece of information brought.

He doubted Bella would ever be the type of person to use such powers for ill intent. She even risked her own life to save her fellow students that she didn't even know. Bella was a good person at heart.

"We should also come up with a name for it. So that Bella doesn't have to keep calling her ability It and Thing," Alice said with a grin. "My vote is on-"

"Don't name it unless you know what it is!" Rosalie hissed, popping the proverbial balloon without hesitation.

"We could always re-name it later," Bella offered awkwardly, looking back and forth between them like she didn't want to cause any offense. And considering how her anxiety had spiked in the meantime, she was truly becoming stressed.

Jasper made a concentrated effort to ply her with as much calm as he could without knocking her unconscious or making her tired.

"What would you call it if it had a name?" Alice asked, her eager tone giving the entire situation an odd tinge.

"Uh… I never really thought to name It before." Bella shrugged and murmured, "Bea…?"

Emmett burst into raucous laughter that boomed through the forest, startling many of the wildlife somewhat nearby and making Bella's face flush bright red. "OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD CHOOSE AND YOU ACTUALLY GAVE IT A HUMAN KIND OF NAME!"

"Yeah. B.E.A. for Basic… Epithet… Alternative… My two brain cells are rubbing together so hard right now."

The humor landed spectacularly as Emmett doubled over despite Rosalie's disapproving stare as she tried to reattach his hand to his wrist.

Edward finally chose to reveal himself after the scolding Rosalie had given him, along with a couple threats to his person, and he was looking especially lost. And he did not appreciate Jasper's view of the situation considering the intensity of the glare he was aiming at the former soldier.

"I have a suggestion that may have been overlooked, but still along the same lines as Rosalie's suggestion," Edward said clearly, bringing all attention to himself for the time being. "Rose's idea makes a lot of sense and is definitely on the right track, but cells are not the smallest things in the body. The cellular level is still above the molecular level. If this ability reached only to the cellular level, then not everything would be trapped in place and that could suggest a 'frozen' item might actually still be moving but far too slow for the human brain to keep up with.

"And since Bella has not tested this kind of thing on a large group of objects/people before for longer than a few minutes, who is to say what the limits truly are? The best thing would be to have her freeze something moving at top speed again and trace its location on its plane of trajectory. If it has moved in any way after twenty-four hours, then it's possible this ability runs even deeper to the very core of her existence."

Jasper considered what happened when his arm got blown off, versus what he'd witnessed from Emmett's hand being separated from his body. And then compared those to Bella quite literally stopping an item or person in time… Such as a van moving well over the speed limit and spinning straight toward her in the school parking lot.

Molecules could be heated up by introducing energy, while conversely, they could be cooled down by removing energy. When heated, they'd begin to vibrate which would increase the temperature via created thermal energy. When cooled, the energy depletes and the temperature falls, causing motion to slow significantly.

If Bella's ability truly went down to the molecular level, then the actual potential for it was terrifying. If she could introduce or remove energy from molecules, or possibly control how much energy molecules could be given, that had the potential for very dangerous situations if she didn't learn to control it. Especially if it was tied to her emotions and acted out when she was frustrated.

And if that was the case, then he had to wonder if she could potentially move people's molecules around, or perhaps even extract them entirely and inject them elsewhere. What would happen to a living body if a portion of its molecules were removed suddenly? If they just vanished without a trace?

So, because of this idea of molecular control being suggested, Jasper had to consider how Bella caused an explosion inside a vampire's body. As their bodies were naturally frigid to the touch, and incredibly sturdy against most anything, she would have had to force the molecules to move at a speed strong enough to cause a fire. The one thing truly dangerous to vampires.

That was why Emmett's hand still wasn't fully attached yet. The explosion had done a significant bit of damage, and his venom was attempting to repair said damage, but the flames caused by the sudden explosion had burned the edges of his limb significantly. Not enough to render him handless or anything, but enough to make his 'healing factor' slow down.

Fascinating.

He could only imagine what would happen if the Volturi became aware of a human with such powers. Aro would certainly want to add her to their collection. He clearly had an obsession with owning things others didn't.

"May I have a blood sample from you?" Carlisle asked Bella suddenly. "I'd like to verify a few assumptions."

Instantly, her face paled far more than could be considered healthy. "Can you do it without me having to see it?" she asked, voice cracking in concern as her anxiety skyrocketed. "I cannot handle blood at all in any way. A thing happened a long time ago in- it was in middle school, and I- I really can't… I don't want to," she stammered.

"I can do it so quickly you won't even notice what happened."

And then he proceeded to do just that. Bella had held out her hand and turned her body almost completely around to avoid watching, but Carlisle was already finished, securing the smallest samples possible. Esme was right behind him with a Band-Aid and a jar full of lollipops in hand.

Just in case, he'd said once upon a time. He would bring them to work every day because yes, even adults liked getting lollipops after a harrowing visit.

"Huh, Hello Kitty," Bella murmured, looking her Band-Aid over. "I haven't thought of her in ages. That was really fast, thanks."

Alice held up a piece of paper. "Can you fill this out? It's basic stuff about when you first noticed your power and what happened and how you reacted." Bella took it in hand and looked it over, nodding as she did so.

Emmett's hand finally reconnected itself and the venom in Carlisle's slides stopped moving, probably sensing that it couldn't return to the host's body anymore. Esme and Carlisle had already set up the table with all the equipment and were looking things over. Carlisle was handling Emmett's venom and Esme was handling Bella's blood.

And for the first time in a while, despite human blood just filling the air, Jasper's body had no reaction. In fact, no one in their family had a reaction. Bella certainly smelled appetizing on her own, but the moment her blood was actually exposed to the open air, none of them reacted. Not even Edward, who had the most severe reaction to her presence in the beginning.

Perhaps there was some mystery behind that as well.

"Bella! It's time for dinner!" Alice called, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her toward the house. "We even went out and bought Tupperware for you to take the leftovers home!"

"Holy crap, that's some fancy stuff!" Bella said from the kitchen. "I'm too scared to ask the obvious question, so instead I'll ask if it's okay to place them in a dishwasher?"

"Totally."

Esme set aside her Latex gloves and patted Carlisle on the back. "Have fun, dear." She proceeded to join the girls so she could properly show hospitality.

The rest of them stood around awkwardly, and Jasper decided that he'd rather hang out inside now that the experiments were over for the day. Besides, he had much to consider now.

And he liked being around Bella when she wasn't uncomfortable with his presence. If Esme and Alice needed to be there as a buffer, then oh well.

"So... we're going to be doing school online by next week?" Bella asked as he entered the kitchen. Esme had been regaling her with the plans for rebuilding the school and providing every student with a school laptop so they could continue to work without having to upend their entire lives to go elsewhere.

Esme was especially excited and had already finished her designs for the new school building. "A friendly contribution to the town was in order."

It was obvious Bella had a lot more to say about that but chose to keep her thoughts to herself. In the meantime, Alice filled the silence of her eating with rambling about shopping and fashion and even stories of Jasper that he did not appreciate being shared.

"Since Jazz is so scared, I'll tell you some more stories later, when he's not around to be embarrassed," Alice promised.

His sister was the devil incarnate.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

~.O.~

"I have a question," Bella murmured.

"Yeah?" several people asked at once.

"Since you claimed that your brains work faster than human brain and your process information far more quickly, does that mean that you struggle interactions? Like, does the fact the video games being incapable of keeping up with how fast your brain processes information annoy you? Because I was thinking of the fact that you no doubt would be able to react in a timely manner to things happening in video games, but no matter how fast your brain reacts, the game can only react in the way it's been programmed to.

"So, I guess I just wanted to know what it's like for you to be the way you are in the world you have to currently exist in."

It was Emmett who decided to answer, probably because he was technically the gamer who was obsessed with online culture and things like that among his family. "For me, the most annoying part is when I get frustrated at anything that's happening. I have to always remember to not tighten my grip on the controller I'm using because I don't want to ruin it. It's very easy for us to just get new ones, but the time it would take to either have one delivered or drive out and buy a new one, is just pointless."

Bella could imagine that everything was like that. Can't close the car door too fast or too hard. Can't run too fast among humans, otherwise they might leave some kind of indentation in the ground. Can't react outwardly to things they hear because normal people would not be able to hear from those distances.

While in some instances, it sounded like being a vampire would be really cool and possibly some kind of power trip superhero fantasy for certain individuals, it also felt kind of limiting. Or perhaps the way the Cullens chose to go about it was what was limiting. Maybe normal vampires who didn't only drink blood from animals and didn't give a damn about the well-being of humanity acted differently.

Though, now that Bella was faced with an ability that she had not been aware that she'd had prior, she also had to be careful. A slight bit of anger and perhaps a motion too jerky to be normal and she could end up blowing somebody to pieces. They were working on her learning how to control it, of course. But that would probably be a long way down the line. It was no longer just freezing a few people in place. It was now turning people into explosives pre-explosion.

The worst part was that Carlisle had never encountered anybody with this kind of ability before. So, they had to go the scientific route, having her explode things and then him taking samples of those things to try and see what was doing to them.

There was discussion of cellular and molecular levels of control. She'd been instructed to freeze a bird in place and every day, Carlisle would go back and check to see if it moved at all. If the bird did indeed move even just the slightest by the end of the first week, then apparently that suggested one kind of scientific explanation. Bella liked to think that she was smart, but sometimes some phrases did not compute.

And on top of that, it got even more serious because apparently, humans who had supernatural abilities in their human lives were predisposed to vampire life… As in, they were probably born with the ability to become a vampire more easily? And Carlisle still wasn't sure if he could call such a thing fate or predetermined. He had once been a man of religion, and perhaps he was still religious in a sense. But Fate? That's a bit tricky.

What proof did he have besides his own suppositions and observations that a human who was born with a supernatural power was meant to become a vampire at some point? He happened to encounter many very talented humans that went on to become very talented vampires, but that wasn't enough. He had also apparently been a regular guest among the vampire royalty and met a lot of the vampires that were employed by the elites, and even met some of them while they were still human before they had been turned.

He certainly had a lot more experience in researching this area than anybody else since, apparently, it wasn't something that vampires really thought they should bother with. But gut feelings can only get you so far in life. Carlisle had to do the right thing as a scientist at heart, and experiment and research and learn. If he had a theory, then he had to go out and try and prove that theory correct.

It had been a few weeks since she'd started her training with the Cullens, and so far, nothing had moved. She's frozen a bird, a deer, and even a knife thrown midair. Everything was as still as they'd been when she'd initially frozen them.

As it had been several weeks, and nothing had moved, everyone was leaning more towards molecular control for such an ability. However, Carlisle still wanted to see how long it would take for either her ability to wear off entirely, or perhaps for her to 'get tired' and 'lose juice' as Emmett put it. So, they wanted to see if she could, in theory, keep things frozen for an unlimited span of time.

"I'm mostly interested in seeing if decomposition will ever set in since everything is stuck in time. That means there is no blood circulation or oxygen being passed through their bodies," Carlisle said as he reviewed the footage they'd taken of the frozen animals. "They're technically still living, but as they are incapable of moving at all and cannot protect themselves either from enemies or diseases or the elements, I am curious about whether or not they'll begin to decay. Either from being exposed nonstop to bacteria, or the elements, or some other thing."

Bella hadn't ever thought of that before. But her pet goldfish had died after she managed to unfreeze it. It went without its body's needs that entire time and that was what ended up killing it.

So, Carlisle had an interesting idea. Prey animals were constantly in motion. They were either eating, hiding, hunting, bathing, or mating. They tended to not stay in one place for too long. Always on the move.

And because of this line of thinking on his end, it influenced Bella's mind into other directions, such as, if a person was frozen in time and unable to move for weeks, would they begin to decompose?

Bella wasn't an idiot. She was perfectly aware of the fact that many scientific advancements that were available in the modern day were only because people were experimented on in the past. Scientists committed horrendous atrocities against other human beings, either innocents or people considered unworthy by society itself. Either way, in order to find answers, you have to get them. Human history was full of people doing whatever they could to get their answers.

Personally, she wasn't interested in experimenting on living people. She was already uncomfortable with experimenting on vampires, even though they were technically dead and couldn't really feel pain in the physical sense. Experimenting on the animals also made her feel a bit bad, but if it was between people and animals, she would certainly choose the animals. Her abilities were dangerous, and she needed to learn how to control them somehow.

So, apologies to Bunny Foo-Foo, but it was him or some stranger.

The craziest thing about all of this was the fact that apparently Alice was not getting any Visions whatsoever. They could not actually ask her about the outcomes of these experiments, because she was getting absolutely nothing, even when she actively was trying to look into it. So, she couldn't even tell them if the knife would begin to rust after some time. After all, the three ongoing experiments were outside the house and therefore exposed to the elements in full at all times.

Esme had also come up with something new when Bella had arrived for her daily training that afternoon. "We were hoping to test out your ability to make explosions. Specifically, in whether or not you can control the scale of the explosion, either by making it large or small at will, and whether or not you would be able to use your other power to stall the explosion in place either as it's about to explode, or during the explosion."

Edward looked depressed while Emmett was grinning from ear to ear, which meant that Emmett was the one who was going to be a part of this particular experiment. "We came up with an idea. You're going to blow my arm off again. But specifically, we want you to do it at the wrist. Just as it's about to explode, we want you to freeze the explosion before anything penetrates the skin. What we're going to do is break my arm off at the elbow and see if anything changes when the part where the explosion is, gets disconnected from that which is keeping the wrist it in its current orientation."

"To see if that'll force the explosion to continue?" I asked, trying to make it make sense. "Like, perhaps external forces could have an influence on my ability after all."

"Yeah!"

It was an interesting idea.

Alice and Jasper sent her supportive smiles. Jasper looked especially interested.

He always did. Science was clearly not his area of expertise or his general interest, which explained why he was never directly involved in any of the experiments. But he was always there as a supportive voice. And he tended to have interesting ideas of his own and would voice them out of nowhere to see if they could help at all. After all, he was approaching this from a completely different perspective.

According to him, his empathy was just something that he could do. And he hadn't realized it for like the first several years of his new life. He just thought that he was very good at talking and making people agree with what he wanted. It wasn't until the woman who turned him noticed something off in his interactions with her compared to others, that she began testing him in her own ways.

Eventually, they found out together what exactly he was capable of, and that was what cemented his worth in her eyes. It was why he was always the one that stayed. Everyone else in her army was expendable save for him and her sisters. And it was how she learned to manipulate his emotions by keeping him away from other emotionally mature people, so that he wouldn't realize that what they had was not love and that she really didn't care about him.

Conversely, someone like Edward ended up having it very easy when he started answering Carlisle's inner thoughts, despite the fact that they hadn't been speaking out loud. It took very little time for Carlisle to determine what exactly Edward was capable of, and how far his ability stretched.

Alice awoke alone and without memories, but she did recall perfectly understanding the first Vision she got after waking, which implied that she'd probably had Visions as a human.

In the end, there was a certain level of excitement in being able to do this in a controlled environment, with modern technology, and no worry about being discovered. Compared to what it had been like when Edward was turned into a vampire, these days it had to be far easier to perform these kinds of experiments.

"There has been serious consideration made over what you might be like if you were turned into a vampire," Jasper confessed as he watched her eat the pasta Esme had prepared ahead of time. "A natural level of curiosity is to be expected when facing the unknown from our kind of perspective. No one is planning to force you to become a vampire, however, so you don't need to worry about that. It's all theory on how your ability would mutate to fit into a vampire way of life or if it would stay the way it is now."

Her skill was so pronounced already and had so many nuanced abilities within it. The idea that it could become even stronger or change if she was turned into a vampire like them, hadn't even crossed her mind yet.

Edward let out a disappointed noise and Jasper rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. He likes forcing his religious and personal issues onto other people. And that's taken a ridiculous stance on not turning you into a human based on his idea that we have no souls and you'll be damned by it."

Bella sent him an annoyed look. "I don't actually believe in souls or hell or heaven, so why should I care? If I wanted to become a vampire, it's not his business or right to comment."

Jasper and Alice snorted, and Edward sank only deeper into his woe-is-me nonsense.

Jasper tried incredibly hard not to be obnoxious with his amusement, but he really couldn't help himself. And honestly, it wasn't his fault that Edward was capable of hearing other people's thoughts and seeing through their own eyes. Personally, he didn't think he should curb his feelings and opinions simply to cater to another person. He was already doing everything he could to make certain that his emotions were not influencing everyone around him all the time. He should be allowed to be himself in the privacy of his own mind.

Still, he couldn't help but be amused by the facts that every single time Edward acted out in some way, Bella would do or say something that would completely take the wind from his sails. And while maybe Edward wasn't religious in the church-going Bible-reading sense, he still was very clearly influenced by Catholicism. And he used those beliefs in his day-to-day life.

Sometimes it felt like living with one of those religious zealots who would go door to door and try to tell people about the Word of God. Whichever version of God they believed in, of course.

There was always some iteration of the soul being damned and their way of life making them monsters. And it really got tiresome to hear over and over and over and over.

He could feel Edward's mounting frustration and simply tsked to himself. Bella was her own person and had her own thoughts and beliefs. And it wasn't Edward's business whether or not she felt a certain way about something. And if she decided that she did want to become a vampire at some point in the future, that wasn't his decision either.

Personally, Jasper was cheering on the potential vampirism, but he wasn't going to actually say it out loud.

When it came to being vampires, nobody in their family actually got the chance to make the choice. And he could honestly say that he would definitely not have chosen to become a vampire. He would have much preferred to die a hero on the battlefield.

All of them had experienced something incredibly traumatic before being turned. And while there were many upsides to this way of living, there were also many downsides. He would like to hope that if Bella wanted to become a vampire, it was because she made the choice of her free will and not because something bad happened.

Jasper never wanted her to end up in a situation where becoming a vampire was necessary in order to save her life. It was a big step to take, and Bella deserved to be able to make that step with a clear conscience. So no, Jasper wasn't going to say anything about how he would very much like for Bella to join the Cullen family as a vampire.

He should not have that kind of influence on such a life changing decision.

Of course, a lot of this desire inside stemmed from the fact that he was very interested in Bella, and he was not the only person in the family who was interested in her. He was just the only one willing to admit it to himself and others.

Edward flinched and stood as rigidly as a vampire could manage. He cast a dour look Jasper's way and then disappeared up to his bedroom so he could wallow in relative peace.

The others barely spared his departure a glance and Bella didn't even notice he'd gone.

Bella was too busy trying to control the scale of her explosions. After all, when she was asked to explode things of various sizes, the explosion was not always the same size. It was always relative to whatever the object in question was. So technically, she should be able to augment the size personally before actually doing the exploding.

Exploding an apple did not have the same blast radius as exploding a chair, for example. They'd tested it out already.

Clearly, she was able to subconsciously control how big the explosion needed to be, so they wanted her to be able to actively do it with intent.

This was training after all. This was to help Bella better keep her secret, so that in turn, she did not garner any unfortunate attention. The last thing they needed were humans who were too invested for their own good, getting ideas and acting on them.

No matter what they said, this wasn't entirely done out of the goodness of their hearts. Yes, they did want to help Bella better understand herself, but they also wanted to better understand her and what she actually was, and how she came to be the way she was. And they wanted to preserve the safety and sanctity of the family and their precarious position in human society at the same time.

Basically, they were able to hit three birds with one stone by doing all of this.

And it was fun. He felt bad about part of the school burning down, but it was nice to not actually have to go out and be surrounded by humans all the time. And instead, the person of interest came over to his house and spent time there almost every single day. And all of them got to exist as they actually were, and not have to pretend to be something they weren't.

He might not have a word for what Bella actually was, but he believed wholeheartedly that she was not a 'mortal'. At least not by the Volturi's standards. If they saw her, they'd immediately change her and force her to join their ranks because there was no way Aro wouldn't see the value in such a power never seen among their kind before.

All things actually pointed toward molecular control. If she slowed them down to a stop, then the item stayed in place. Indefinitely apparently. If she sped them up, then the excessive energy would cause an explosion. To reach inside another being and control them in such a way was unheard of.

Perhaps in a way Bella was the most Eldritch of them all.

"Bells?"

Bella paused on the bottom stair; eyes wide when she noticed her father waiting at the top. "Uh… hey?"

"I know it's a lot to deal with from your end, but could you make sure to unfreeze the water before you go hang out with your friends? I haven't been able to shower since I got home."

"Huh?!" she said in a strangled tone.

He gestured to the bathroom, where the door was wide open, and the yellow-tinted light was on. "Yeah. I think you might not have realized that you froze the water instead of turning it off, so it's just stuck coming halfway out the shower head and even when I tried to displace it, it wouldn't move at all."

He knew?

He saw water frozen in time and just knew it was Bella's doing?!

Charlie sighed. "Bells. You are better than any other teenager at keeping secrets, but you're still not perfect at it. Your mother noticed eventually and of course she didn't keep quiet about it. She was hoping you'd feel safe enough to tell us but since you'd gotten so good at hiding it, she wasn't sure whether or not we should say something."

"And you just accepted this?!" she asked, voice cracking under the sudden stress.

He shrugged. "Your grandma Helen was from La Push, and I pretty much grew up there. Most of my friends are there. They've got all kinds of legends that they fully believe in and while I don't share those beliefs, it wasn't really hard to accept. Your mother is scatterbrained, not a liar. She called in a panic and started trying to figure out how it worked from a scientific perspective, but science wasn't her strong suit in school, so she settled on magic. And then suggested it might be from your grandma Helen's side of the family because of Native beliefs and such."

She just learned more about her family history than she'd ever known before.

And her parents knew about her Thing for some time already!

And the water in the bathroom was stuck for fuck's sake!

"We don't have a problem with it or anything, so you don't have to worry. I'm also aware that you used your powers to save all those kids when the school caught fire. There'd be no natural way for them to have all escaped unscathed otherwise."

Right.

So, this was happening…

"I'll just… unfreeze the water."

"Thanks for that."

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

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Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

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~.O.~

"'There is no better way to get to know a person, than by revealing your deepest regrets'," Bella quoted. "I heard that in elementary school for the first time. A teacher used it on us and tried to do a kind of trust exercise with us every Tuesday. She was every stereotype of a hippie and then some, and everyone thought she was crazy."

She stretched out on the sofa of the Cullens' living room but avoided putting her feet on the coffee table because that would be rude when it wasn't hers. "However, that's not to say that the idea was off. The application was definitely not good at the time considering the age group she was appealing to, but I find myself thinking back on her words more and more as of late. So, why don't we play the game to get to know each other better?" she suggested, looking between the gathered Cullens.

Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Edward to be specific. Esme and Carlisle were still hard at work doing science stuff with Bella's DNA. Rosalie was fixing one of the many cars in the garage. She didn't really hang around when Bella visited, not that Bella minded at all.

Bella had come to understand that she hadn't been acting as a particularly inviting individual, but she would like to defend herself by saying that Jasper and Edward weren't exactly the greatest at being inviting either, and Edward continued to prove that point. Still, the Cullens were definitely helping her for more than just their own gain, so it wasn't like she couldn't extend an olive branch and behave normally.

So, what better way to get to know people than to know their deepest regrets first? Find out what it is, why they regret it, and then form an opinion on them based on that fact. It was a lot easier to understand a person by the things they hated than the things they liked. At least in Bella's experience.

A person could love Hello Kitty with every fiber of their being, and somehow be a raging racist and xenophobe at the same time.

"Personally, the greatest thing I regret now is not telling my parents about this special ability of mine, because apparently they both knew the entire time. And apparently, I'm not as good at hiding things as I thought it was. I could've saved myself a lot of stress and panic if I had just trusted them and their intentions."

Charlie's revelation had been relatively, looking back on it, kind of funny too, but at the same time, Bella had spent so much of her youth worrying about what people would do or say about this Thing that she could do, and it had made her very distrustful of other people and their intentions as a result. Maybe it was a kind of weakness. Her need to not share her problems and to always shoulder her burdens by herself, ended up stifling her familial relationships and her own mental health.

Alice immediately looked interested in her words. "How did you find out they knew?"

"I stopped the water in the bathroom and Charlie wasn't able to shower, so he asked me to fix it when I got home," Bella grumbled. "Apparently, they've known all along, and Renee thinks it's something to do with Charlie's mom being from the Quileute Reservation."

Instantly, both Carlisle and Esme were standing beside the couch she was seated on. Both looked incredibly interested in this news. "This is a very fascinating topic of discussion," Carlisle decided, eyes wide. "I'm sure you have heard many of the stories that the tribe has passed down over the years, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"All of them are true, which would make your relation to the tribe, however distant it is, a potential factor in how you have this ability."

'All of them are true.'

Bella had to take a moment and think back on all of the stories she remembered hearing from her father as a child. She used to go fishing with him down on the reservation, and he would tell her stories that his mother had told him when they went fishing when he was a child. Of course, being the way she was, Bella hadn't really believed a single word of any of those stories, because they just sounded like folk tales. And she was more interested in the pretty rocks and the fish.

Oh! And the not-drowning part of the trips. That was the best part.

And unfortunate fact of life was that Bella Swan really just didn't have good equilibrium. And it didn't matter if her feet were flat on the ground or not. For some reason, she just fell over the edge of the boat during those first few fishing trips and would be more worried about dying than some half-naked man turning into an eagle and swooping down on her from afar.

There had been many tales of heroism. Stories about performing your duty to the very end. Life and death and the cycle that never ends. Creatures that couldn't possibly exist… before she realized she had strange powers that is.

One thing she did recall was the idea of people turning into animals based on a close spiritual connection to one.

"Do they really turn into animals?" she ended up asking out loud.

"In the last century, they seem to have favored the shape of the wolf. Although as shapeshifters, it is entirely possible that they could potentially turn into other animals, and the wolf is just the favored icon in present times. Also, it only seems to happen when something considered a predator to them, in which case that refers to us, settles in the area."

Edward nodded. "We did settle down around here a long time ago, but that was before Jasper and Alice had joined us. We ended up striking up a treaty with them because we were different than what their tales had depicted of our kind, and we had proven that we did not hunt down humans. They don't trust us and tell all their young to avoid us, if at all possible, but they leave us alone. We simply cannot cross the boundary of their land without the Chief or Alpha's consent, and they will know if we do. Also, the moment any of us bites a human - bite- not drink from - the treaty is void and they will try to kill us."

Well then… She wasn't expecting to start a discussion on ancestral drama between races. "Do they actually possess the capacity to kill beings like you?"

"Yeah," Emmett said, looking very excited by this fact. "They get bigger than me! You think a normal wolf is huge compared to a regular dog? The shoulders of those fuckers are above my head!"

Bella spent her entire life being abnormal and surrounded by completely average people, day in and day out, but the moment she moved to what was probably considered the wettest and loneliest place in the continental United States, suddenly, she was surrounded on all sides by the supernatural. She's got vampires on one side and shapeshifters on the other side. And then there was her with her weird ability caught between them as she had a distant relation to the shapeshifters, but the vampires were the ones helping her learn how to control her powers...

"I can't help but think that my life currently would make a really good fantasy-drama series."

And the fact that Billy Black's son Jacob also seemed to fancy her… Vampires, Humans, and Shapeshifters all interested in one teenage girl. And the crazy thing about it was that, outside of having a supernatural ability, and apparently Edward's mind reading not working on her at all, Bella really didn't feel like she was interesting.

Put her in a lineup with the millions of other girls who share the same features, and she will very easily fall into the background. Nobody was sitting there thinking that she was an extraordinary beauty who stuck out from the crowd. It was just that Forks had the same amount of people at all times and never got new faces.

The truth of the matter was that people would eventually move on from the fact that Bella was new. And since they didn't have a school to really go to now and had to do everything online, the novelty of her presence had probably worn off already. Also, teenagers could be incredibly fickle, and when not faced with the same thing every single day, they could even become forgetful.

The only human to remain in touch with her since the fire at school was Angela Weber. Not really a shocker there. She'd seemed to be the nicest and the only one who didn't have some secret goal she was aiming toward when speaking to Bella.

Being the new girl wasn't really fun. Especially when having to deal with teenage boys who were suddenly interested in you for no obvious reason.

That included Edward's weird ass and then Jasper's different version of weird.

"Okay, so mild mind-blowing revelations aside for the moment, anyone else want to share something they massively regret?"

And of course, because she could, she immediately looked to Jasper for an answer. Since he felt so strongly about getting to know her, this was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

There was a moment of silence, as he looked between his siblings, before he took a deep and unnecessary breath and said gravely, "I regret… joining the Confederate Army."

What the fuck?

That was what he meant by being the youngest Major in the Texas Calvary?!

There was a moment there where Bella had to seriously wonder if she had even heard correctly. Of all the deep secrets that she was expecting the Cullens to possess, she hadn't really thought about how some of them might have very suspicious pasts.

Since they were vampires who drank animal blood, she had thought so long the lines of like, regretting accidentally eating a human or eating from a human. However, the wording of what they did went. Or maybe like regretting a one-night stand with a vampire but then ending up with a different vampire because all future interactions would be weird as hell since they can't die and can't forget anything.

"Not to be mean," she began, knowing that she was about to get very blunt and not really intending to hurt feelings but also knowing it would probably happen anyway, "but why did you want to join the army that had the main goal of keeping black people enslaved and wanted to keep them as property? Like, I'm not saying the other side was perfect, because they really weren't, but only one of them goes down in history as the racist side for a reason."

The whole, throwing a tantrum when Lincoln was elected and deciding to secede as a big group of slave states in hopes of keeping their slaves and what they believed was a 'right to own people' was a big thing that happened. An undeniable thing in fact.

There were many potential reasons for why Jasper was claiming that he regretted joining the Confederate Army. And honestly, most of them were probably not even good reasons either.

Now, maybe she was just being unfair and was holding him to a higher standard than what she probably should, but typically, the average person should be able to say, without a doubt, that slavery is wrong. That racism is bad. That standing for such things or being silent when those around you are engaging in such things, is just as bad.

"I'm not trying to put words in your mouth or anything, but considering your physical age, there is no way that you weren't old enough to know what the Confederate Army's whole stance was before you chose to join."

Jasper winced, and Emmett let out a low whistle, looking equally uncomfortable.

And then everyone but Jasper proceeded to get up and leave the room, so that he and Bella were as alone as they could be for this conversation. It did not inspire a good feeling; she wasn't going to lie.

"To be honest with you, I actually lied about my age just so I could join the army early. I'm just lucky enough to be incredibly tall and to have matured a lot faster than my contemporaries. So, it was very easy to forge the paperwork. I'm also very convincing, as you have seen, and I was able to get my way pretty easily back then, or so the records stated."

Well shit. How did he come back from this?

"I was born as Jasper Whitlock in 1844. At least... that's what I'm going to assume because I do recall being nineteen when I was changed and seventeen when I conned my way into the army."

That seemed like a good neutral place to start, because technically, that's where everything started.

"It was many decades as a vampire before I actually cared enough to look into what happened in my human life. I knew my name, I knew the current date, and I knew the relative date of when I had been changed. So, all I had to do was a bit of research around Texas to finally find out some of the truth."

In a way he felt incredibly guilty about what he had learned, because at the time, he could not muster any care in his heart. Those were human concerns after all, and he was no longer part of that world. Why should the fates of his human family matter to him when he was a vampire and living a new life?

It wasn't until World War 2 that he got a real taste of true despair, and it sent him on a bit of a spiral and made him especially reflective. The emotional pain that the war had caused, was felt in every town. Every major and minor city. It was all over the newspapers and the radio. The only way he could avoid people's emotions entirely was to be out in the wilderness all by himself with no one around for dozens of miles, just to get some peace.

He had dwelt in a cave for nine months at one point just to avoid having to face the desperation and terror the war had caused. It had been even worse than World War 1, which was an insane thought. Both wars had been so close together even. They'd greatly affected Maria's efforts despite how late the US had joined the party.

"I had a mother, a father, and a younger sister, according to the records in the papers I'd found. My father served in the military before being too injured to continue and expected me to follow in his footsteps when I was of age, but I ran away from home without even a warning and joined on my own. According to the epitaph on the grave they'd set up for me, I'd always wanted to be a soldier and a hero. They called me a hero of the people and said I saved one hundred and seventy-three women and children during my time in the army, and that I obtained the rank of Major within two years."

All of that training had been useful to him in Maria's Army. She made certain to put him to work with ease. He was her favorite and for a time, he'd thought they'd been in love. Of course, that was before he'd witnessed Peter's affection for Charlotte.

Maria had never loved him, she had loved how useful he was to her and had eventually come to resent him and planned to kill him.

"I don't doubt the saving women part because that was how I actually met the woman who changed me and made me join her coven, but I feel like the wanting to be a hero part is overdramatized because that just doesn't feel like me. We do change significantly after we become vampires, because the limitations of humanity no longer constrict us, but I don't think entire personality shifts are possible. I am not that selfless. In fact, I am very selfish instead.

"I doubt my original reasons for joining the army were that generous, but from what I could find, my father did not own any slaves and both of my parents, as well as my sister and the family she married into, all died without ever having owned slaves. That's the best I can give you on that front. Everyone would rather die a hero than a villain no matter where it is, but I am aware that I'm not exactly hero material."

And the problem was that he felt guilty because he just didn't care about his human family. He didn't feel guilty about running away or joining the army without permission. He didn't feel guilty about lying so he could join the army. And he didn't feel any guilt about deceiving his parents. But Jasper had enough understanding of people to know that he should.

He should have cared back then, and he should care now. But the problem with that was that he just couldn't find it in himself to give a damn. Perhaps he had been in Maria's coven for too long. Perhaps his introduction to the life of a vampire had changed him so much that by the time he actually thought to look into what happened to his human family, he was desensitized.

Normal people could muster up some form of emotional reaction to learning about the deaths of their family. And to this day, Jasper just couldn't bring himself to care.

He just felt nothing.

For somebody who had such strong connections to the emotions of others, and could even control how people felt, and could manipulate situations to his own advantage, just to persuade people to do what he wanted… For some reason, he personally struggled with emoting and having normal responses to situations.

It was like, in exchange for the power to control the emotions of everyone else, he was fated to be emotionally constipated.

And the biggest problem was that, as a vampire, he was stuck this way. So, if there was a legitimate reason for why he was like this, and it was something that could potentially be solved with medication, he couldn't actually fix it. Kind of like how Edward would seriously benefit from anti-depressants if he was capable of taking them.

"Oh, fuck you," Edward hissed from where he sat in his room, listening in.

The entire time he had spoken, Bella had stared at him with a completely blank face, a neutral expression that did not give away anything she was thinking or feeling. Unfortunately for her, he was the person who could manipulate emotions and could therefore feel what she was feeling. She was very clearly doubtful of him.

"I don't wanna ever be the kind of person who thinks that people can't change, or they can't make up for the bad things they have done/may have done, but it's pretty vital for me to understand your stances on a few things. I am not blind to the fact that you and Edward have crushes on me, but to different degrees that you act on very differently, and to feel comfortable around either of you will require a lot more in-depth revelations than just hanging out for a couple hours every day."

He hadn't expected her to say it quite so bluntly, but he was expecting something somewhat like this for some time.

"Damn," Emmett mumbled to Rosalie, who simply scoffed in response as she continued to work on her car.

Edward had snapped something between his hands upstairs. It sounded like a CD case, though Jasper couldn't hope to know what it was for.

"Like, I wouldn't say that I'm politically minded, and I am very much aware of the fact that I'm privileged enough to know that many things will never affect me at all, so I don't really think about them all that often, but it still should be expected in basic common-sense society to say that Nazis are bad, racism is bad, slavery is bad, etcetera… These should not be points where opinions and beliefs should differ. Everyone should be aware that they're bad and shouldn't ever be supported, and I'm not comfortable being around someone who may not be capable of agreeing with these basic ass points."

Her stare was incredibly pointed now, as if daring him to say he disagreed with her in any way.

He did not disagree, in fact, and was probably a lot more interested in politics and sociology than she was.

"I'm with you on every point you've made," he assured her. "And if you're ever interested, we can get into long discussions about the socioeconomic trends in our current society compared to those of times past, as well as those not home to western thinking. I like to study world history and how it impacts culture."

"Hm…"

She sighed. "Okay, so you're not racist. You don't seem sexist either, so I guess we're off to a better start than before. Other than the weird stalking and the Confederate Army stuff, you don't have any obvious faults. Are there any other serious things in your past I should be aware of?"

"My slate is filthy, and I've killed a lot of innocent humans and vampires," he confessed, feeling like he might as well just get it out there. "Most of them were during my time serving in the Southern Vampire Wars under my creator. My job was to train the newborns to make use of their enhanced strength in the early years of their new life, and once their strength was gone and their use was up, I was to dispose of them. That is my second greatest regret."

He most regretted having the knowledge that he joined the Confederacy on his conscience. He could not personally remember his reasons for joining, but considering how the situation was back then, it was clear he wasn't forced into it. But thanks to his vampirism making many of his human memories muddled and fuzzy, he will never truly know his own reasons for joining the army.

But it's still pretty bad being connected to that side of history. In any way. To this day, humans having ancestors connected to the Confederacy is a point of embarrassment and shame in normal society.

He'd even worn his Confederate Army uniform until it was threadbare. It took about three decades before he actually changed clothes. He had never thought he should change them during that time because he didn't go out into human-populated areas for any reason, and he had nothing to be ashamed of as far as looks. Maria was the one who nabbed her newborns off the streets and brought them back for him to train.

Some of the newborns had been uncomfortable around him, though at the time he thought it was because of his numerous scars that he'd accumulated from all the battles for territory and while training newborns. Normal vampires looked at him like he was a monster, because being covered in so many bite marks and still being alive, meant that he'd seen some shit and survived.

Thousands of scars from the venom of other vampires overlapped all over his body. He'd even been bitten in places one might think impossible to reach during a fight.

Jasper was a walking warning sign.

He'd thought that was what scared so many, but no…

Maria did not care about where her soldiers came from, just that she changed them herself and that Jasper made them be obedient. Many were Mexican as she was, but there were plenty of Texans thanks to her territory falling on the line between both lands. As a result, she had many slaves changed as well, as they often weren't included in evacuation plans that white families made use of to save themselves.

In fact, slaves were some of the easiest prey to get to without risking revealing the existence of vampires.

A sad truth, but a truth, nonetheless.

Jasper, in the later years of his service to Maria, began to distance himself from her wants and desires, so he could think more clearly on what she demanded of him. On how killing so many innocents made him feel terrible. How he realized he was bitter and resentful of what she'd done to him and all the others. How he hated the feeling of taking a life when he could feel everything they did in their final moments.

But it wasn't until the option to leave actually presented itself through Peter, that he realized that she had no power over him. That he could just go, and she could do nothing about it.

He was the one training her fighters, and he was the one making them be obedient to her. And with him gone, she would have to do all of that herself. She had never participated in any of the raids they'd done, and simply stood back to watch her newborns destroy everything they encountered.

Leaving was easier than he thought it would be.

Of course, he couldn't say that he became instantly aware of everything the moment he left her coven. There was a lot of listless meandering where he felt purposeless and without direction.

It took him having to witness the effects of WW2 and trying to avoid it altogether, that really made him wake up to life in general.

"Is your history the most fucked up one here?" Bella eventually asked, drawing him back to the present. "Or is there an even worse origin story hiding around the corner?"

Jasper drew in a sharp breath between his clenched teeth as he considered it. "I think, in all honesty, Carlisle and I are probably sharing first place in that regard."

And he didn't mean it as a dig against Carlisle or an attempt to shame it. It was just pure fact. The Anglican institution wasn't exactly a well-meaning one, and the things they did to innocent people in the name of the Christian God in the 1600s, were abhorrent.

Carlisle lived every day with guilt over his part in it. It influenced his care for humanity and his stance on their existence as vampires. But in the end, one cannot run from the facts of their past.

Jasper joined a racist organization who sought to murder those who did not agree with their stances and enslave others they believed below them, and Carlisle used his religion to torture and murder people who did not fall within the Anglican belief of normalcy and Godliness, which just results in the deaths of innocents.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that bit," she hummed, feeling uneasy. "You guys just couldn't be boring, right? You had to have drama and history on your side, huh?"

"Of course we have history," he snorted. "We're old enough to be considered antiques."

She looked minutely disturbed by that thought. "Yeah."

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

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Chapter Text

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

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~.O.~

"You know, we can hang out at my house next time," Bella said as she opened the door to find Alice and Jasper waiting on the front stoop. "We don't always have to be training and experimenting. We can just be teenagers now and then. Even if you both are old as dirt and aren't hip with the young people these days."

"Not that old," Jasper grumbled as Alice beamed.

"And since Charlie knows about my time/freezing powers, we can practice in the backyard here and not have to worry about anything."

"It's so cool that your parents managed to figure it out on their own and weren't weird about it."

"With the way Charlie is as a person, I'm guessing that he probably didn't believe Renee at first, because she does tend to be very dramatic. But then he probably noticed something that I did during one of my many visits. If anything, he probably panicked for a few seconds and then just decided, well, this is how it is and went on with his day."

Bella was a lot more like Charlie than she was like Renee, so the dramatics weren't exactly something that she would fall back on. Even when she discovered her strange ability to completely freeze everything around her but herself, she'd been in denial, and even then, it was more about how others would react and less about her own feelings.

Common sense would dictate that a lot of people in the modern day would probably think it was really cool. And that was, in fact, very true, especially for a generation like hers and the one that came after that were really into comics and anime and what was currently very popular, such as superhero films. People with powers could actually be a really positively accepted thing. However, there was always the negative side.

Most religions would not take such a thing very well, and most governments would want to monopolize such things for themselves.

So, having powers wasn't exactly something to panic over. And in Bella's opinion, what was worth panicking over was how others would react to that knowledge.

"Chief Swan is funny," Alice decided.

"You know, I was going to say something about how that's funny because the youth of today don't really appreciate the older generation and what they bring to the table, but then I remembered that you're old enough to be his great grandmother, so…"

Alice lightly swatted at the back of Bella's head and said, "Respect your elders, young whippersnapper!"

"Sure thing, granny. Wanna get going or do your knees need a minute?"

Meanwhile, Jasper just stood back and let them tease each other back and forth, obviously not willing to join in because he was the oldest among them presently and he'd definitely get caught in the crossfire.

Bella was all ready to call him pappy too if he did. Perhaps she'd save that little gem for later, when he least expected it.

"I left Charlie some lasagna, so he'll be set for the next two days. Besides, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I want to ask Carlisle some questions."

Of course, Bella couldn't just be normal during her visit, right? Not when an idea suddenly sprang to mind over the last evening. And she couldn't exactly say what it was that made her think of it, but she just had to get an answer.

"I know that this is such a weird thing to ask, especially out of the blue, but I was just relaxing at home and watching a romantic comedy of all things, that I don't remember the details of if I'm being honest, and the contents on the screen made me think a lot about unrelated things. I had this sudden thought, and I wanted to ask if it was at all possible because this is going to bother me until I know the answer."

Everyone in the room seemed to freeze. As if her words were truly so out of left field when they were in the middle of doing experiments on her blood and things her powers could affect to find out how her powers worked.

Carlisle looked very interested in what she had to say though, because if Bella was going to him specifically, then it had to be something within his area of expertise.

"I already know about how vampire limbs can actually reattach themself if they're close enough to each other and that the venom will make everything seem as if there was no injury at all, but have you ever tried placing someone else's body part in place of your missing body part to see if the venom would still attach them?"

She could tell by the looks of utter disgust, and everyone's faces that no one had been expecting this kind of question to come out of her. Of course, with how Bella had been in recent days, it probably shouldn't have been that shocking.

Thankfully, it seemed as if Bella was not the only person thinking about weird body horror things involving vampire anatomy. Carlisle actually nodded and proceeded to say, "A fascinating situation actually. So, what happens is that each vampire has different venom in their bodies, however, in covens like ours, where most of the members were turned by the same person, ergo myself, that means that the venom in their bodies is a mutation of my own, and that makes them similar enough. It is entirely possible for Edward to swap limbs with Emmet, Rosalie, and Esme, however, because there is just enough of a difference in the venom in their bodies compared to the venom in mine, there would be a noticeable scar in the area. And that's not even factoring in the differences in the foreign limbs being attached to foreign bodies."

The fact that Carlisle was even aware of something like this had to mean that he had personally tested it out himself or had asked somebody who had managed to test it out before he'd asked.

"After I finally accepted my status as a vampire and all of the ways in which vampires are completely incapable of dying, I did spend a lot of time journeying and eventually met the Volturi. They're like our form of royalty and keep the laws of our kind stable. Being within their company allowed me many advantages, and being in the favor of vampire royalty is in fact quite a boon. Despite my respect for human life, my inquisitive nature and my desire to learn, and the way I thought differently from other vampires, earned me the highest regard and respect life of the Ancients. I was allowed to test many of my theories, and this was one such thing I had wanted to see for myself."

The fact that Carlisle had all the makings to be an evil scientist and just chose not to be…

They were all incredibly lucky he was a decent guy. Things could have gone sour many times over the past few centuries, was what she'd come to realize.

Carlisle had a conscience and that was important.

"So, I had some of the guards swap their limbs around because, depending on who turned them, their bodies might or might not accept the sudden change. I was able to do a lot with my friend Aro's permission, and I appreciate that he humored me so often."

Imagine being able to tell people that the leader of vampires allowed you to experiment on his personal guards. Though, in a way, it sounded as if the results didn't really matter to the royals in the end.

"Say you acquire the limb of a vampire who has been otherwise destroyed save for what's left of their leg or arm or whatever, can that be attached to anyone still turned from the same venom type or is it essentially a dead thing with the main body and main source of its venom gone?" she went on to ask, because that was the natural extension of the thought process she'd been working with after all.

Carlisle beamed, as if he was excited to have someone who could think the same way he did. "Actually, there have been a few moments of disloyalty among the Volturi's guard over the millennia, and there have been times where guards have lost whole limbs as punishment for their crimes. Once it has been determined that they've sufficiently paid for their offenses, they'll receive the limb back. It doesn't matter how long they were separated; the body and limb will put themselves back together without an issue.

"However, for limbs where the owner has been burned to ashes, they essentially lose value because the venom has become inactive. In a way, our venom is much like a symbiotic creature and needs blood in order to continue thriving, and without a stable source of blood of any sort, it loses its potency and eventually becomes useless."

"Have you ever tried to see what would happen if a human was to ingest or otherwise be injected with impotent vampire venom?"

His expression became guilty. "I've had the thought before," he confessed, "but I would never want to actually experiment on a human in such a way if I do not know what will happen to them as a result. There's a very fine line in the world of scientific observation and understanding and I try my best not to cross it."

Because he cared about people so much and didn't want to be a monster.

"It's fine to be curious about how the world works," Bella told him seriously. "You're not a monster just because you dare to have questions about things. To learn is to grow and it's not like you actually did any experiments on humans before now. Also, you've gotten permission for any experiments you've done on vampires, so you've really got nothing to apologize for or to be guilty for in that case."

Though she would like to reiterate that the world was very lucky that Carlisle Cullen was not basted in any sort of evil scientist kind of mindset.

"So, what if I volunteered to test out what happens when a human ingests inactive venom?"

"You are underage so your parents would have to consent first," he said immediately. "And even then… I'm not certain what would happen or how we could solve a problem the mortal way if one was to crop up as a result."

He had a point.

She just couldn't help but be curious though.

If it was inactive, there technically shouldn't be any danger. But being inactive in vampire terms didn't necessarily mean that it was the same case for humans.

"Where do vampires even come from?" Carlisle's description of a symbiotic organism existing within the venom to make it the way it was made them sound almost alien. And she was pretty certain there was like a superhero character that had something to do with an alien symbiote named Venom.

No one could answer her question though.

Apparently, even though the vampire royalty had been around for several millennia, they didn't even have the answer.

So, technically, there was nothing to prove or disprove the existence of aliens or the fact that the aliens that may or may not exist could have been the cause of the existence of vampires on Earth.

So, the scheduled day at Bella's had to be postponed, because they desperately needed to hunt.

Also, Alice had Seen a few Visions of some visitors that had been causing a bit of a ruckus with their feeding habits, getting closer and closer to their territory. It was always best, in Jasper's opinion, to be prepared for any kind of situation. Just because there were only three potential adversaries didn't mean the Cullens could afford to be careless.

As usual, whenever they received new nomadic visitors, Alice would sketch them from memory and Carlisle would review their faces to see if he knew them. These three were completely unfamiliar to everyone in the coven, so it was best to be on high alert.

Even Edward was putting in more effort to pay attention to any thoughts within a certain radius of Forks. If only to better offset Alice's own ability at pinpointing the time and place.

"Esme and I will be here," Carlisle promised. "We'll take turns watching Bella's house until you return, worry not."

The problem was that Bella Swan was capable of invoking such strong emotions that reminded him of how he felt for his fellow family members, but Bella was technically not part of their family or their coven so the fact that he was already feeling this at all made him nervous. It was too soon after all. They hadn't gotten to know each other all that well yet. It was, at most, almost three months since Bella arrived in Forks and changed everything in their lives as a result.

Why feel like this so early on in their friendship? It made no sense.

The bigger problem was that Bella was not an immortal who could avoid being destroyed by things like car crashes or diseases, so that meant that Bella, regardless of her extraordinary abilities, was pretty much always in danger from anything. Be it herself or the elements, she was at risk of coming to harm. Even when hanging around his family she was in danger. Both the most dangerous and safest place she could be, in fact.

It was bad enough to understand that she was constantly at risk and did not have the natural protections that they did as vampires in order to keep herself safe, but to know that a bunch of foreign vampires were going to be entering their territory relatively soon and could at any moment come directly into Forks and possibly come across Bella made him feel sick in ways he hadn't been able to feel in decades.

But they needed to hunt because they needed to be at the absolute top of their game that their diet would allow them to be. Bella hadn't even minded when he was asked if they could postpone their meet up for a few days simply because she knew it was necessary for their continued well-being and sanity of mind.

"The other teens are going down to La Push and invited me. So, perhaps I'll just join them and try to not fall into a tidepool," she'd said with a shrug.

Of course, that would mean that Bella would technically be within the shapeshifter tribe's territory, where the vampires were not allowed to wander, and that made him nervous in a completely different way. As far as he was aware, there was only one active shifter in the tribe at present and one was not enough to take down a trio of vampires who willingly imbibed human blood as their only source of sustenance.

He would simply have to trust that Bella could handle herself for a few days while he and his siblings were away. After all, her ability to explode things was actually very powerful and very dangerous for vampires, so if she managed to get her sights on one, she could probably do some serious damage that could give her time to get into a more public space.

He just had to be patient. He was used to living out every single second of every day anyway and it shouldn't be that different now that he had another person to care about. What was the worst that could happen in La Push?

"Don't jinx it," Edward mumbled as they ran. "She keeps getting involved in dangerous situations and you're just daring the universe to prove you wrong."

Damn it.

It'd be lovely if he could use his own powers on himself to create a narcotic-like-bomb that could make it impossible for him to get too hyper. The worst part about being a vampire wasn't even the not being able to die part. It was the whole not being able to take medicine thing.

Personally, Jasper would benefit from Vicodin and Edward could stand to take a few antidepressants.

"Fuck off," his younger brother grumbled bitterly.

Just thinking to myself here. It's not my fault if you don't like how my mind works.

Though really, he could really use some narcotics more than anything. Or perhaps the opportunity to experience what being high was like. At least once to draw upon it for future use when influencing the emotions of others.

Vampires couldn't be drugged though. Can't bleed. Can't cry. Can't breathe.

Before Bella came along, he hadn't really sat down to think about what his existence meant. He'd just accepted the fact that he wasn't human anymore and that he didn't really need to concern himself with the affairs of mortals. But now he was thinking more and more on the biology involved and reading Carlisle's notes on the subject.

How was it possible for a human to be born with a supernatural talent? And how did becoming a vampire suddenly enhance that talent to become something more than what it was?

How did the venom even do what it did? Carlisle had yet to confirm if it was a substance native to Earth because there were so many details. It was like looking at blood under a microscope, if the blood contained every single element in the universe, plus those that had yet to be discovered and all of them were regularly mixing into new forms and then separating again every single millisecond.

It was something a human would take decades to sift through even with advanced technology on their side, and while vampires could handle such lengths of times and such speeds just fine, their bodies would begin to change. As if turning to stone from not moving for so long. Their venom would become quite stale in a sense, and movement would become a bit difficult.

Being a vampire was both completely natural and also unnatural at the same time.

And to think he wouldn't have ever had a reason to think of these things prior to Bella's entrance into their lives.

~.O.~

A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know!

Check out my many other fics!

See ya! :D

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.