24 | THE FINAL STRIKE |

trigger warning: mentions of death, miscarriage, self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. please do not read if you cant, im sorry if you are going through tough things, if you need to talk, my messages are always open

THERE WAS NOTHING worse than knowing you were the cause of another's pain. The guilt wrecked through your body like never ending electric shocks. Your heart was ripped to shreds and you felt like you were drowning in pain and shame.

It was even worse when it wasn't the first time causing the death of someone you loved.

"Rory?"

"Rory?"

It took a few times for Carlisle to repeat her name before she met his concerned gold eyes.

In the flurry of events that had folded unexpectedly and quickly, she had somehow blacked out, fully conscious but dazed and numb like she had been rescued from being drowned in a frozen lake. She blinked as Carlisle pulled out a tiny flashlight to check her eyes, frowning as clear signs of a concussion showed.

"I'm okay," she heard herself say to the blond vampire.

He felt her forehead to check for a fever and glanced at the pool of blood underneath her worriedly. At his side, Bella cradled her bleeding arm and Rosalie stared at Rory pityingly.

It seemed Bella was the only one who hadn't figured out what had happened by the confused look in her eyes.

"Let's clean you up," Rosalie said softly, kneeling beside Rory's body, still curled at the base of the stairs. Rosalie was too concerned for the human girl to lose control over the thirst. There were more important matters at hand. The blonde carefully lifted Rory up, the latter immediately reaching out to hold Rosalie's arm for support.

"I'm okay," she repeated once more. Rory's voice was fragile like glass as she spoke. Her eyes were wild and scared as she looked around the room devoid of vampires. "Where's Jasper? Is he okay?"

"The others are with him outside. He doesn't want to accidentally hurt anyone," Carlisle explained as he handed her an icepack that had appeared in his hands. He guided it to rest at the back of her head where it was most tender.

Rosalie looked her over again. "Carlisle, I think she needs to go to the hospital."

"I agree," The doctor said with a nod. "She's showing signs of a concussion as well as the...other situation," he said the last part lightly, "Will you be okay, Rose?"

Rosalie eyed Rory sadly. "Mind over matter. I'll take her there."

Carlisle nodded trustingly. "I'll stitch Bella up in my office and meet you there with the others."

Bella frowned as Carlisle led her up the staircase. Rosalie picked Rory up and ran to the garage in the next second. The seventeen year old was disoriented, trying to process what just happened as she was laid in the back seat of Rosalie's convertible. In no time the car was zooming off straight to the hospital. Rory attempted to see out the window to find the others, specifically Jasper, but it appeared they had gone to the opposite side of the house.

It was only Rose and her.

"Rose...I just—" she stammered, attempting to wrap her mind around everything. It just happened so fast. "The baby."

"I know, Rory," Rosalie looked at her sadly as she drove the car at an insane speed. "It's all going to be okay. Jasper will forgive you of course—"

"Forgive me?" Rory is shocked that the vampire would blatantly blame her for losing their baby. Normal people would do the exact opposite. What the hell?

Rosalie sighed. "Who was the father?"

"What do you mean?" Rory couldn't hold in the sharp laugh that bubbled up from Rosalie's insinuations. "It was Jasper. The baby was his."

"Don't be ridiculous, Rory, vampires can't have children. We're dead," Rosalie said firmly. She shrugged again as they approached the hospital. Driving like a maniac seemed to come in handy for once. "Humans make mistakes."

"I didn't cheat on Jasper," she growled out in semi-pain as another cramp racked through her body. "There was no one else."

Rosalie sensed the genuine truth coming from Rory. But it still should be impossible. She wanted to believe Rory, but how could a 175 year old vampire impregnate a 17 year old human girl?

She decided not to say another word instead. It wasn't very practical to argue with a girl going through a traumatizing event.

"You don't believe me," Rory let out a scoff as they parked hurriedly.

Rosalie sighed as she helped Rory out of the car and into a spare wheelchair that had been left on the sidewalk. In the public eye it would be unwise for her to carry Rory inside.

"We can talk later," Rosalie promised as she ran as fast as she could without reaching vampire speed into the hospital lobby. "Help! She needs immediate attention!"

Luckily, Forks was a small town which meant there was a whole gaggle of available nurses and doctors around. It didn't take long for Rory and Rosalie to be recognized as the daughters of the hospital's surgeons.

"Miss Aden, can you tell me what happened?" A nurse asked, not seeing the reason for her emergency visit.

Rory said nothing as she slowly unpressed her legs from sticking to each other, showing the nurses around her the devastation between her legs. Clearly it wasn't her menstrual cycle.

"Oh."

"Take her to be seen right now," Rosalie demanded, not liking the way the entire lobby was witnessing Rory's reveal.

"Right away, Miss Hale," Another nurse nodded, taking the back of the wheelchair, "We'll take care of you, Miss Aden."

They pushed her through the swinging doors. In no time, she is being placed on a hospital bed and being rushed to the maternity ward where she could be given an ultrasound. Thankfully, Rosalie stayed by her side through it all, ensuring she was receiving the best and immediate treatment, calling Rory's mother and the others, holding Rory's hand during the pointless ultrasound that showed her empty womb. Rory watched numbly as doctors spoke in whispers and various scans were taken and nurses handed her pills until she was lying in a private room.

Rosalie sat beside her again, looking at her with the same pitying gaze she had throughout the entire process. Rory stared at the television pointedly.

The door swung open. "Rory! Mija," her mother sobbed as she entered the room still in her surgical scrubs.

"Mama." It was difficult to hold back tears as Stella leaned over her to hug her. Rosalie silently exited the room to give the pair privacy.

"Baby, they told me what happened as soon as I got out of surgery," Stella sat on the edge of the hospital bed. "But how?"

"Well, I fell down a flight of stairs," Rory answered bluntly.

Stella sighed, cupping her daughter's face in her hands. "Why didn't you tell me? Is that why all the...?" she did a broad gesture that meant to include their several arguments and Rory's behavior.

Rory stared at her hands which were folded over her stomach. "I took a test on Wednesday. It's why I cut the trip short and came home."

"Did Jasper...?"

"—no." She bit her bottom lip. "I was going to tell everyone tonight."

"Oh honey," Stella sighed deeply, running her fingers through Rory's matted hair and whispering some things in Spanish.

"I'm sorry, mama," Rory whispered brokenly.

"Don't apologize, mija," Stella sniffed, "It happens, it's okay." She leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Get some rest. We'll talk in the morning." Then she left to finish the remaining hour of her shift.

She had a few more visitors before falling asleep. All special visits due to the well-loved Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Bella and Edward stopped by first, her arm was wrapped in bandaids and Edward looked more stern than usual, they were both confused by Rory's state. Emmett, Esme, and Carlisle were next; like the others, they were confused, but made no accusations like Rose had. Esme was as soft and motherly as ever, gently stroking Rory's hair and staring at her sadly. She, more than anyone, knew what Rory was going through. Alice stopped by to drop off her things with a quick apology.

Still, the one person Rory really wanted to see made no show. Each time she was visited, she asked, yet received only vague updates and promises that he was coming soon. He must think I cheated somehow, Rory realized bitterly. That was the only reason why he wouldn't have come.

She struggled to stay up, pretending to sleep each time a nurse or doctor came in to check on her, but it was long past midnight when she couldn't resist the lingering pain and succumbed to tear-soaked nightmares.

The next day she had more visitors. Charlie and Bella once more before school started. All her friends. Jess. Angela. Mike. Eric. Even Tyler Crowley stopped by to see her. Her hospital room was filled with balloons, cards, and various stuffed animals, but the only thing she wanted, the only person she wanted, was nowhere to be seen. Her anxiety worsened by the hour. Only her nightmares offered her refuge from the emptiness she felt of reality.

She awoke again sometime after noon, her heart pounding and her eyes burning in exhaustion and tears. It wasn't the nightmare that woke her. It was the light brush of something freezing lightly tracing her cheek that shot her eyes open to Jasper Hale.

He knelt beside her hospital bed like some dark knight, his hand that had been stretched out shot back to his side in a blur of movement like he touched something hot. Yet she could still see his tortured, guilt-wracked expression as he stared at her with emotion-filled eyes that had turned back to a shade of light gold.

"You came," Rory whispered happily as if his presence was world wonder despite his less than joyous disposition. She didn't care that it had been a whole day since she had been checked in or that the last time she had seen him he had lost complete control.

"I almost didn't," he said emotionlessly despite every inch of his expression showing the depth of guilt and turmoil he felt.

Rory pressed her dry, cracked lips in a line as he made it clear it wasn't a happy reunion. "Why?"

"Rory, you nearly died last night," Jasper growled out, "because of me, because I lost control. I put you here."

"It's more of my fault than anyones, especially yours," Rory argued tiredly. "Neither Bella nor I blame you. It was an accident, Jasper, everything was just a case of bad luck. I shouldn't have ran down the stairs. God, Alice even warned me earlier about tripping. I put myself here and I lost...the baby—oh God, I didn't even have a chance to tell you to your face—"

"It's fine." His jaw clenched and unclenched. "The others told me."

"I'm sorry, Jasper," she squeezed her eyes shut as if she would awake from the nightmare that was threatening to become reality.

He was expressionless again. "About what?"

She stammered, confused by his coldness and lack of emotions. Something was wrong with Jasper. "I...killed our...baby. I didn't even get a chance to tell you—"

He interrupted her with a cool raise of his perfect brow. "Cut the bullshit, Rory. We both know it wasn't mine. It's okay, humans aren't perfect, I understand."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Are you serious right now?"

"Unless you suddenly had an immaculate conception, I'm really not in the mood to hunt down whatever one-night stand you had," he said, barely holding in his fury he had forced himself not to feel. He drew in on his ability once more, taking away his own emotion to feel anything for the girl before him.

"What? I haven't been with anyone but you in over half a year," she argued in disbelief. "Deny it all you want, call me crazy or in denial, but somehow I was pregnant with your child. Was." She stared at her hands folded over her stomach.

"I'm sorry." He sighed again, looking at her apologetically. "I didn't come here to argue, Rory."

She grew tired of his unexplainable coldness. "What did you come here for then?"

"You should be the first to know."

She tried not to take offense at his petty jab, even if he didn't intend it. "Know what?"

"We're leaving Forks."

"Leaving?" She suddenly felt like a parrot, repeating every word as if there must be a different meaning than what Jasper was attempting to convey clearly.

Her mind immediately jumped to the most positive conclusion, which was more of a desperate delusion she wanted to believe. "Well, I think I can be checked out tomorrow, but I'll need time—" she stopped at the cold look that had taken over Jasper's face.

"You don't want me to come."

"But," her fingers went up to where her new Cullen necklace should have been, but was nowhere to be found. "I thought I was a part of your family."

"I let this go on far too long," Jasper said, meeting her eyes straight on, showing her he meant every word. "You don't belong in my world.

"—I belong with you—"

He shook his head. "—You don't."

"You're kidding me. After everything we've gone through—after last night—you want to break up with me? Whatever the fuck happened to the internet, Skype, texts, fucking email?"

"People like me aren't meant for long distance, Aurora, it would be a ridiculous and unnecessary. Besides, it would be healthy for the both of us to be with our own kind, who we can have futures with. Try to understand. Every second with you is about restraint. I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm not. Reining myself in so I can be with a human."

"I didn't mean what I said, you don't have to leave." She didn't care how desperate she sounded. "I could become like you. We could be together forever, like you wanted, I was already debating it—"

"Swee—Aurora," he corrected himself with a hard swallow as he gently touched her cheek. "We both know you don't truly want that. Humans heal over time, eventually you will want children of your own in the future with someone you'll grow old and gray with."

She ignored the tears leaving trails down her frail face. "I don't want anyone but you."

Jasper's expression didn't budge from the cold look he had since she awoke. He shrugged carelessly, standing from the bed. "You feel that way now, but in time—"

Rory desperately reached out to grab his wrist before he could back away completely. "—I meant what I said when I said you were the love of my life. There is no one else."

He tugged his hand away from her as if he was swatting a cumbersome fly away. Jasper's eyes were empty of emotion as he stared her down, both ignoring the loud beeping of the heart monitor that noted her increasing pulse as she grew more panicked.

"Well, I can't be with someone who would betray me."

Rory felt like she had been slapped.

Her chest was heaving as she struggled to breath properly, her panic growing worse. "I never cheated on you, please believe me. Maybe I was wrong about everything, it was a false pregnancy—those happen! The test was wrong, doctors, nausea—all of it. We can work this out, Jasper," she pleaded to no avail, she could see in his eyes he had made his decision already. That didn't mean she would let him go easily. "Couples go through rough patches all the time. Our love is strong enough, baby, please."

She felt her entire world collapsing before her eyes.

"Please."

He turned his back towards her as he walked to the door. Jasper wrapped his hand around the metal doorknob, molding it slightly in the shape of his hand like putty as he willed himself not to turn around. He clutched the gold pendant in his other hand he had gifted her just a day before, the last memento of them in her life. "It's too late." He hated himself for the words he was about to utter. "I don't love you anymore."

Her face crumpled in pain and devastation. The words were like iron-hot daggers digging into her heart and carving it out repeatedly. It was unrelenting. Her eyes squeezed shut in agony as rivers of heartbreak ran down her frail face.

Jasper glanced back at her. Even in pain and heartbreak, Rory was the most beautiful girl in the universe.

He loathed himself entirely for doing this to her, for breaking her heart after everything she had been through. For having to leave her even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. She was his everything, but he was her ruin. Jasper couldn't be with her anymore or else something worse would happen and he couldn't be responsible for her death.

His heart was screaming at him to run to her side and fall to his knees to beg for her forgiveness. He meant none of it, yet it was the only way to keep her from following after him and his family. As Edward had said, they were only killing them by staying. Jasper would only hurt her more if he didn't leave her.

He took one last look at Rory, his sweet, forever beautiful angel. With gold eyes filled with unshed tears of venom, he shut his eyes as well before leaving the room and the love of his life for good. "Goodbye, Rory."

Jasper would love her forever as he promised.

It was just time for her to forget all about him.

Alone in her hospital room, with her heart fractured into shards, Rory Aden fell into the cold, dark abyss.

➖

"I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE."

The words seemed to haunt Rory. They followed her every step and every thought in the days that followed the incident.

Rory kept her distance from everyone left in her life in the days and weeks that followed the Cullens exit from Forks, Washington. After the leaving the hospital, Rory stayed home in bed all day, doing nothing but a detrimental cycle of crying and sleeping. Her dog was sent off to live with Jacob and Billy Black where Orion would be cared for. Being a high school graduate whose friends all attended school, left Rory alone for long periods of time, a period of time in which she quickly fell into the abyss that had almost swallowed her before coming to the town.

The abyss was a dark, empty part of Rory that she had escaped with the unbreakable grip of Jasper Hale that had pulled her into a semblance of light. She was a fool, believing that Jasper had saved her from herself. She should've known better, should've kept far away from a boy who only promised more pain and heartbreak. She didn't catch herself when his steel grasp cruelly let her go.

She had forgotten that even steel shattered under enough pressure.

It was on Rory's tenth day without Jasper, without happiness, that Stella Reyes finally snapped.

Rory was sitting in the tub, her body wrinkled and pruned, with almost all the bubbles nonexistent as she glared at a tiny tempting silver razor blade lying on the white porcelain edge of the tub next to the array of shampoo and conditioner bottles. She wondered about the durability of steel, all it took was a little oxygen and it would rust and break apart as easily as glass.

She wasn't aware she had company, her mind less than sharp, until Stella reached over and snatched the blade up. Rory rolled her eyes. She wasn't about to cut herself. She was just wondering the prospects of the materials breaking point.

"No," Stella decided. "I'm not watching this happen. Not again."

Rory stood from the tub, the sight of her shivering naked body horrified Stella. She wasn't sure when the last time she had eaten something, the skin wrapped around each bone like a thin colorless wrapper paper. Rory had always been thin and willowy, but not like this. It was terrifying.

"Come downstairs when you're dressed. We have to talk."

Rory descended down the old rickety staircase with crossed arms and a blank expression. She entered the living room where her mother sat quietly waiting on the couch, watching Rory warily as if her daughter was some sort of dangerous creature.

"I'm not depressed. If that's what you're thinking."

Stella pursed her lips, eyeing the way Rory's clothing hung off her body too loosely, despite having perfectly fitted the relatively new t-shirt and jeans a few weeks ago. "That's exactly what a depressed person would say." Stella motioned for her daughter to sit in the spot beside her.

Rory scoffed, preferring to defend herself standing up. "So what? Am I being put back into therapy? Signed up to various therapy groups? A new subscription of happy pills?"

In truth, she had done it all before they had moved to Forks; the meager weeks after the accident in San Antonio were spent in hospital rooms and group therapy sessions. When Stella and Rory had moved to Forks, medicine was Rory's crutch per her request; she didn't want the people of Forks to know the extent of her issues. And as Rory believed herself to heal over the beginning months with new friends and memories and Jasper Hale, the container of prozac was left forgotten in her desk's bottom right drawer.

Rory expected her mother to confirm this conclusion, yet the words that left Stella's mouth made Rory's jaw drop in shock.

"You are leaving Forks."

There was a note of finality in Stella's tone, it was clear to Rory her mother had been wrestling over this decision for a while now.

"Leaving Forks?" She was confused by Stella's words.

"You can't stay here anymore, mija. You're only hurting yourself," Stella said sadly, reaching out to caress Rory's nearly skeletal face. "So, you have two choices: you either move to live with your aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania where you can be treated properly in their state-of-the-art facilities or you can go to Italy and take the internship before it's too late."

Rory's fury grew, deepening as her mother's decision weighed down on her, alighting the fire within her that she didn't know still existed. Rory guessed even depression and misery weren't exempt from a child's ire at their parent.

Rory burst into hysterical anger. "Why is it that every time I'm unhappy you think going to a new place is the solution? It's crazy, mama. The literal definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time—I'm not moving to Pennsylvania or going to Italy," Rory said disbelievingly, crossing her arms.

"It wouldn't be permanent, just for as long as you need to heal. Staying here won't make you happy. You have nothing else to do here, all your friends are still in high school and you are getting worse by the day. I know you're reminded of him every where you go—if you step out of the house that is," Stella shook her head. "I was the same way when we were still in San Antonio—everything about that city reminded me of your father, your sister...I won't let it happen to you and I'm not sending you back to Texas. My mind is made. Either you go to live with Tia Giselle and Tio Dante for a few months or you go to Italy and forget everything."

Rory felt her red-hot fury dampening already; she didn't really have the energy to fight anymore nor the heart to keep it going. "What about you? I can't leave you."

While Rory had obviously failed in Forks, her mother thrived with a great love for her job in Forks hospital and with the nice native man, Billy Black. Rory wasn't deaf to the whispers of Billy and Stella about the possibility of securing their future. Rory was happy for her mother, but she had no happiness for herself, at times she even selfishly despised the way her mother had Billy while Rory was left to rot in the dust of Jasper Hale's past.

"Don't worry about me, you are my priority, Rory," Stella said firmly. "You do whatever it takes and take as long as you need for you to be happy again."

There was a long pregnant pause as Rory thought over the choices she had been given.

"Can I have some time to think it over?"

Stella nodded, her eyes glossy with pain and hope for her daughter. "Of course."

Whatever darkness Rory had succumbed to, at the core, she knew herself. She couldn't go on longer like this and she was stronger than anything life had to throw at her. She knew she could get through this, just as Stella knew, she just needed time and distance.

Rory was an undisputed, depressed mess of a girl, but she was a fighter and more dangerous than anyone believed. She would heal and come back stronger than steel.

She'd be obsidian.

The next morning, Rory walked over to her mother's office, her bare feet padding along the old wood as a heavy decision rested on her shoulders. Rory opened the door and Stella's eyes lifted from the paper she had been reading. Rory had nothing else to say to her mother. She rolled her suitcase into the office with a sense of undeniable bitterness and strength.

"I'm leaving for Italy. Tonight."

➖

a.n.

im so sorryyyy i also cried writing this but when do i not cry over jaory?? rip my fav ship for now. also dont hate jasper bc hes just trying his best ok, boys r just dumb af.

its about to get wild up in here and if rory is going to italy, we all know nothing good can happen.

((also if you want to know what could have happened if rory chose to go to pennsylvania w her aunt and uncle instead of italy for the art school internship, check out my hemlock grove fanfic called harbor !! ))

also i wanna start doing Q&A's so comment some questions about anything pls!! my fav question that will be featured in each chapter will get an account shoutout / dedication

Q: which chapter was more heartbreaking/shocking, chapter 23 or 24?

A: chapter 24 bc i literally cry EVERY time i reread it to edit/remind myself of the pain/reply to comments. chapter 23 was more shocking as it built up the reveal that rory was pregnant