Gone to Italy
A/N When Edward hears from Rosalie that Bella is dead; he goes to the Volturi to ask for his own death. Here is my own version of that event, and his thoughts while leaning against the wall in Volterra. First fanfic, review please.
It was a sunny, noisy day in Rio de Janeiro; the usual. I was resting in the cool shade of a building, waiting for the night so I could keep on tracking her down. Not that I was all that good; this was more of a distraction, something I needed to do in order to forget my pain. But Bella was not something easy to forget. She had rocked my world so badly. Every single breath I took was for her, every step, every word was for her. Because I knew she was happy, and that gave me the strength not to go back right now, begging her to take me back. Maybe in a couple of weeks, after I hunted the only danger in this world I could protect her from (besides myself), Victoria. I snarled even at the thought of her. She would never touch my Bella…
My cell phone went off in my pocket. I sighed as I checked the ID.
"What do you want, Rose?" I said. My own voice surprised me; it sounded dead.
"Sheesh, where are your manners?" she answered. I took an impatient breath.
"Look, just tell me what you have to and then hang up," I told her, exasperated.
"I suppose Alice hasn't told you the news about Bella yet, has she?" she said in a bored tone.
My eyes widened in alarm. "What with Bella? Is she ok?" I said so quickly a human wouldn't have understood.
"Not quite, you see…" she hesitated, not knowing how to continue.
This is bad, I thought. "Rosalie, tell me what's wrong right now!" I growled into the phone.
"I guess she got a little too much pain, and has decided to end it," she answered slowly.
"I. Don't. Get it." I said, stunned. Ending it? Oh, no…
"She jumped off a cliff, Edward. Alice saw her and her whole future vanished. She's dead," Rosalie said in a low voice, almost mocking me. I snapped the cell phone shut. I didn't want to hear anything else.
I felt myself slowly sinking to the ground, until my knees rested on the hard ground.
She's dead. She's dead. I thought over and over. No, no, no! She couldn't have, could she? I had asked her not to, for Charlie….
Charlie. That was it. I would call Charlie, and if he said she was fine, I would go back and beg her to take me back; after killing Rosalie for pulling such a prank on me.
I dialed up the number and tried to recompose myself. Just until the call was over.
"Swan Residence," a husky, low voice answered. It was not someone I remembered, so I decided to play it safe.
"Hello. This is Dr. Carlisle Cullen. May I speak to Charlie, please?" I said in a near-perfect imitation of Carlisle's voice.
"He's not here," the voice answered. I cursed internally.
"Where is he?" I questioned.
"He's at the funeral," he answered coldly. The phone fell from my hand and clattered on the ground.
My heart, thought still and cold for nearly a century broke into pieces so little they could be passed through the eye of a needle. My Bella, my only reason to live was now gone. It was over.
Love, life, meaning. Over.
I had no more reason to live, to think, to breathe. I broke into helpless, tearless sobs.
At the funeral. I could picture my Bella in a coffin; cold, pale, hard, but still beautiful. I felt empty inside, like my heart had been torn away. I couldn't stand the pain; I wouldn't stand the pain. I slowly stood up and threw my cell phone in a garbage bin. Not that I would need it, anyways. The only voice I would ever want to hear was gone forever. No, not forever. Only until we found each other.
Death cannot stop true love, it can only delay it a while. I thought about this as I walked slowly, even by human standards, to the airport. The pain would be over soon.
"One ticket to Florence, please." I told the lady behind the counter. She nodded without looking at me, and typed something into the computer.
"One way or round trip?" she asked in a business-like voice.
"One way," I answered in a dull voice. Not that it mattered. Not that anything mattered now.
"Very well. For what date?"
"The sooner the better. If you can, for tonight," I told her. She bit her lip.
"I'm sorry sir, but the plane's full for tonaaahhh…" she said, glancing up at me for the first time. Her jaw dropped. I gave her a forced half-smile, releasing my eye power on her.
"Please, there must be something you can do?" I said with my best puppy-dog eyes. She hesitated.
"Umm, if somebody cancels, or doesn't show up, you can take the place sir," she said slowly. I smiled at her and winked as I thanked her. She handed me the ticket and I waited for the plane to arrive.
Luckily for me, a passenger cancelled last minute and I could take his place. I sat there in the plane, paying no attention to the movie they were projecting. Not that I cared. A nine hour flight was nothing to me. I closed my eyes and waited for it to end. All the while, Bella's face, Bella's wonderful, warm face smiled at me from behind my eyelids. She spoke to me, her voice still painfully clear even after all this months.
Edward, she said, I'm waiting. Hurry.
I smiled. Patience, my love. I'll join you soon, I thought.
Hurry.
The plane gently bounced as it landed, and I hurried outside. I had nothing else but the clothes I was wearing, so I could skip customs and baggage-claim. It was still dark outside and, as soon as I was away from anyone's view, I ran. The way from Florence to Volterra was very short, and I could do it way faster than any car. I pushed myself faster than I had ever gone, the feeling of exhilaration mixed with the feeling of anxiousness. Hours went by, and the sun slowly appeared in the horizon. I reached the walls of the city, now adorned with red flags and red banners and lots of other red stuff.
Volterra's Saint Marcus's Festival