Stained Glass Windows || Jasper Hale

Thirteen

They started the movie at six in the evening and by the time Tinkerbell was betraying Peter, Nessie was asleep across her mother's lap. Her brown curls cascading across Bella's jeans as she gently stroke her fingers through it softly. San was nodding off by the time Hook was attacking the lost boys, animations colour on the screen. His head lolling to lean back against the sofa cushions as his breathing depended. Jem pretended not to notice how Seth, who was sitting next to the sleeping boy, gently shifted him so that San was pressed against his side. The boy's head resting on the wolf boy's shoulder at a far more comfortable angle than it had been previously. Seth not touching the boy any further than necessary and Jem was secretly relieved despite the knowledge that the wolf would never hurt his brother. (Even with San's gifts and his own knowledge, sometimes he needed to see to trust).

Peter and Wendy were escaping Hook when he leaned his head against the back of his arm chair. The Cullen's on th other sofa and chairs all pretending to watch the movie as he felt his eyelids droop. Jacob, sat in Seth's other side, munching on popcorn while Emmet and Alice commented on the film from their positions cross legged on the floor. Annabelle murmuring softly with Rosalie on the other sofa, Bella and Nessie taking up the last of the space. Carlisle and Esme were half curled calmly together in another arm chair while Edward perched on the arm of the sofa beside his wife. Jasper taking up the last armchair in silent contentment. Jem swept his gaze over them all as he felt the drowsiness take him. Outside, the sun had already fallen and the dark of the night was blanketed with snow. It was soft and soothing. The other vampires having left to hunt or return to wherever their own lodgings were, as not all of them stayed with the Cullen's. He listened to the forest, the movie and the quiet conversation as he drifted off.

He dreamed. At first, it took Edward a minute before he realised what was wrong. The bronze haired mind reader too distracted by the soft fluttering lights of his daughter's dreams and the familiar background murmurs of his family's thoughts in his mind to notice the change in the oldest hybrid. San was dreaming of storms and warm blankets and the sound of rain. It was a quiet background movement of sounds and images and colours, much more peaceful than his waking mind that seemed ti be a mixture of greens and yellows. The younger boy was a interesting one, with a mind more suited to colours and shapes than thoughts of language. There was language there, but it was mixed with the colours. It reminded Edward of watching a animated movie in a different language and with the wrong subtitles. The whole thing reminded him of studio ghibli, which Alice had made them watch for Nessie a week ago.

Jem's mind was not so colourful. In fact, it was almost monochrome. Listening to it was like listening to a continuous whispering. A child in a house made up of black shapes as snow drifted from the sky. There was seemingly never any stop to the voices, a continuous thought. New information constantly being acquired or repeated in his head. Like a painting with a never ending soundtrack. Not fast paced, but not too slow either. Edward found it easy to let fade into the background, not a loud mind but not one he could easily understand with how little he knew Korean. So it was easy not to notice the nightmare, the way the whispers turned slightly sharper and began to speed up. Soft muttering beginning to sound like the hissing of snakes. It was only when a vivid flash of red caught Edward's attention did the male look up and over at where the hybrid was sleeping.

Jem was curled in his armchair, body made small in it's hold. His head was resting on the back and if it wasn't for the rising noise in his mind, then Edward wouldn't have been able to tell that the man was having a nightmare at all. His sleeping face was calm, blank and without expression. Edward sensed as as red splattered against Jem's mind. The monochrome broken by red dripping on snow, tears dripping down a dead woman's face, voices rising and becoming loud. Then there was a man, face contorted in a disgusted snarl as his red eyes narrowed. The screaming cry of a baby. Jem's heartbeat had begun to speed up and the rest of them all paused.