"Did she say she would call?" Carlisle asked from the other side of the room.

"No," I whispered, not moving. My voice wasn't working properly anymore. Everything I said came out either in a groan or a sob.

"I still think we should have gone anyway," Emmett grumbled. Also from the other side of the room.

They were all over there, huddled against the far wall, as far away from me as physically possible. I was sitting on the ground, legs to my chest and face buried in my knees. In the exact spot where I'd collapsed after that dreadful phone call.

I'd called Rosalie and Emmett as soon as I'd been able to think again, telling them to come back. They'd been moments from boarding their plane.

When Carlisle and Esme returned I explained everything to them, robotically reciting the events of the last forty eight hours. When I'd gotten to the part about the phone call is when my voice had started betraying me.

Tanya and the others had returned shortly after Carlisle and Esme. I was in no way able to control the outpouring of my anguish. So, even though Esme had bravely sat by my side with her arm around my shoulders for a few hours, eventually all of them retreated from the sickening torture that radiated from me.

"So, how will you know...?" Tanya asked Carlisle.

"I don't... We won't know. Unless someone calls," Carlisle answered in hushed tones, full of sorrow and dismay.

"Aro respects you. I'm sure he would have someone call if...you know..." Eleazar murmured.

Esme choked out another sob.

Rosalie just sat in Emmett's arms on the couch radiating dismay and guilt.

The rest were mostly shocked and horrified. All of their emotions registered as ripples in my sea of agony.

"How long...do you think...?" Kate whispered.

"There's no way to know. That depends on Edward."

I started tuning them out. I didn't want to listen to their speculations anymore. I had too many swarming around in my own mind. Little pieces of the puzzle fitting together in my head, revealing a ghastly picture.

Alice had told us not to come, because if Edward was aware of our presence he would act rashly. So Alice, herself, would not be able to get close to him.

She'd said that Bella was our only chance. And since Edward could not read her mind, he would need to see her to be convinced that she was alive. And amidst the narrow streets and high walls of Volterra, Bella would need to be very close for him to see her.

Therefore, In order for Alice and Bella to succeed, Bella would need to run, on her own, through an unfamiliar city, and in a highly agitated state of mind, to reach Edward. That was the best case scenario. And that was only if Edward didn't decide to provoke the Volturi in some way before she got to him.

This was impossible. Impossible! He would do something outrageous. They would kill him. And then they would, no doubt, consume Bella and execute Alice, too.

I groaned as agony twisted sickeningly in my gut.

I could see it. I didn't have to imagine what they would do. I'd seen it with my own eyes in the south when they'd come to settle out-of-control armies. I'd seen the carnage, swift and vicious and irresistible.

Then she would be gone.

I felt diamond-hard arms wrap around my shoulders. Esme again. She rested her forehead against my hair and sobbed with me. She was mourning for three of her children. Her sorrow was profoundly deep. This tragedy would scar her for eternity. But her world would not end. She would still have Carlisle and Emmett and Rosalie.

She would lose Edward and Bella.

She would lose Alice.

She would lose me.

If only there had been some way that I could have gone instead.

A new, fresh agony ripped through me then. I suddenly realized that if I had gone with her in the beginning, when she wanted to return to Forks, it could be me driving Bella through the tuscan countryside toward our untimely end. I would have found a way to make Alice stay behind. She could have been safe... if I'd only gone with her!

I didn't wail in the agony. I didn't roar in fury at myself. The only outward indication of my fresh inner torment was Esme. She released me with a choked gasp and retreated once again to the far side of the room, with a whispered "I'm sorry, Jasper."

The others continued their hushed conversations as the hours passed.

In my mind I was calculating the time in Italy, trying to determine when their plane would arrive in Florence, how long it would take for Alice to steal a car, how long it would take for her to drive Bella to Volterra. From there I was somewhat at a loss. I was pretty sure that Edward would act before sunset. If he was planning to flout the rules he would do so when there were plenty of humans to witness it, not after dark.

Hours ticked by one after another as I imagined what she must be doing. Flying over the Atlantic; landing; probably getting a vehicle; driving by now, certainly.

The agony somehow managed to intensify when I realized that they must finally be in the city. Every second that passed felt like a throbbing, searing pain. Like my heart had impossibly started to beat again, only to tear itself to pieces. Every passing moment could've been the last moment Alice existed in this world.

It was almost surreal that I didn't have some intangible connection to her, telling me whether she was still alive or not. Surely, the moment she ceased to be the whole world would cave in around me.

We would know by sunset, their time. If no call came...

I managed to pick myself up off of the floor and stare out the windows into the darkness. It was two thirty in the morning here. Half past noon in Volterra. The sun would set a few minutes before six for them. Less than six hours to go.

"What is it, Jasper?" Carlisle asked. I noticed with some surprise, that he was the only one in the room with me anymore.

"There isn't much time left before we'll know for sure," I whispered. "Five more hours, six at the most."

"What makes you think so?"

"Sunset. He'd do it before sunset. And if Alice can stop him, she'll call. If not, then...she probably won't."

I closed my eyes, fighting the raking pain those words caused me.

"Alice is an amazing creature," Carlisle murmured, almost as if to himself. "If anyone can do this, she can. I have to believe that there is yet hope."

Hope was the only reason I was still in this room, waiting with bated breath for that damned phone to ring. Hope was the reason I was not racing to the airport this very moment to end my pointless existence. I would not bother asking kindly for the Italians to put me out of my suffering. One quick hunting trip in their royal city would suffice.

But there was not much hope. And what hope I had continued to drain steadily out of me as every minute passed in tortured silence.

As the appointed time finally arrived I moved to stand by the end table next to the couch, where the phone rested. The agony and emptiness in my chest was slowly eclipsed by an intense sensation of anxious anticipation.

It was the moment of truth. The sun was setting in the Tuscan city. If she didn't call now, she probably never would. The rest of the family returned, gathering around the phone, hoping to hear some news. I barely noticed them.

A minute ticked by. Then another. And another.

Nothing.

I waited five more minutes, oblivious to the dry weeping of several family members around me.

Alice... My mind whispered her name softly once; like a delicate breeze that, even so, drops the last dry leaf of autumn.

No...No! Please, Alice. Please! My body was frozen as cold blackness seemed to creep up around me.

NO! Damn it! NO! You can't be gone! No, Alice! Call! Please, call! Please! PLEASE!

I stood frozen for another minute as a suffering I had never known before crushed me. It swallowed me whole, drowning me in merciless, impossible agony.

She was gone. My Alice...gone forever.

Author's Note: Before you freak out, this story IS true to the books. Don't worry. Jasper only believes that Alice is dead. I love reviews. And if you like this one, please take a look at my other stories. :)