A/N: More reviews make my soul very, very happy. ^^

Sooo due to the fact that I gave Chapter 2 a major face-lift, this one now needs a face-lift. In fact, most of my chapters now require face-lifts. Just call me Demon of the Plastic Surgeries.

...That was lame. I'll shut up and get to the disclaimer now.

BIG SHINY DISCLAIMER (I know it's not really big and shiny, but use your imagination): I don't own Twilight. Which means I don't own Alice. This fact makes me cry and scream and pull my hair out on a daily basis. Because who the hell WOULDN'T want to own Alice?

Chapter 3: You've Stopped Singing

The light of a bright moon filtered through the window, falling across the face of the girl I felt so driven to protect. She was in my arms still, though I was surprised that she hadn't rolled in the night since I couldn't imagine that lying against a body as cold and hard as mine could possibly be comfortable for her. But she had lain in almost perfect stillness, her face a beautiful picture of peace as she slept soundly. She looked like an angel lying in my arms…no. Angels were not this beautiful.

I sighed very softly, being careful not to disturb Bella. I wasn't sure what I was going to do now. There was my family to worry about; now that my secret was out, what were they going to do? Where they going to be mad? Would they side with Edward and demand that all of us stay away from Bella? Would they not understand that, for me, staying away was now a physical impossibility?

The werewolves were also on my mind. Bella was close to them, but I had absolutely no idea where I should stand on that one. I knew without even having to think that, had Edward been here instead of me, he'd be doing everything in his power to make sure that she never saw them again. But…who was I to judge them? I'd never even met one face-to-face. And if this Jacob Bella spoke of had actually dived into the churning surf and saved her from her death…well, I should at least give him a chance, right? Though I'll admit, I hate the fact that I can't seem to see him in my visions. I do not like being blind. At all.

Last, but certainly not least, was Bella herself. There was absolutely no denying it: I was in love with her, with my whole entire dead heart. It was crazy, cruel, and unbelievable, but it was true. I wasn't sure if she returned my feelings at all; the future was blurring itself in my mind's eye, which left me unnerved. What the hell is wrong with me lately?

"Alice…" muttered Bella softly, a gentle smile ghosting her lips. I glanced down at the sleeping human in my arms and any worry I may have had vanished instantly. I brushed away the hair that had fallen over her eyes and took a deep, unnecessary breath to clear my head.

I couldn't go back to my family. I wasn't ready to face Jasper after the cruel way I had suddenly broken off a sixty-year relationship, and there was no way I could look at Edward when he now knew of my feelings for Bella.

Snooze you lose, big brother.

That wasn't very fair of me, but I still blamed him for making us leave in the first place.

I sighed, knowing full well I'd have to stay here, far away from the rest of the family, at least until the heat was off. Besides, there was no way I was leaving Bella. Not again.

As I watched her in my arms, I began to wonder what it must be like to sleep. I had no memories of sleeping or dreaming, and the concept had interested me for decades. I watched my human as she began to shiver slightly, clutching at my blouse. Her expression changed to one of fear. "A-Alice…" she whispered again, her voice more desperate now, "don't go…"

Her frightened words could have broken my heart. She was dreaming of me. I moved to comfort her, but froze halfway through the motion, my hand hovering in the air between us. Something was coming.

I scanned the future, but it had suddenly disappeared. That had to mean…

I turned my head and glanced out the window, taking a deep sniff.

Dog.

My entire body tensed as I picked up the sound of something running through the trees toward the house. I was barely aware of my body moving into a defensive crouch, hovering over Bella. I heard a loud knock on the front door, and a boy yelling for Bella to answer. I growled instinctively, making Bella stir. I listened as the door opened and someone entered, pounding up the stairs.

"Bella!" called the voice.

"Hmmm?" muttered Bella sleepily, easing her eyes open, "Alice?"

I hadn't even realized that I now stood crouched between Bella and her bedroom door, "It's alright," I muttered, "I think it's only your dog."

"What?"

"Bella!" the bedroom door flew open, revealing a tall, tan boy with an incredibly unpleasant odor. He wore only a pair of black shorts, and he looked at me, enraged.

"You!" he cried, his words coming out as a ferocious growl. "Why did you come back?" He took a step towards me, and I returned his growl, not moving from my defensive position.

"Jake!" yelled Bella, sliding off of the bed. "What are you doing here?"

His eyes flickered to her for the briefest instant before settling back on me, "What am I doing here? What is she doing here?"

I could see him shaking in front of me, and since I really did not want to fight a werewolf, I decided to try and calm him down, "It's alright, dog," I spoke through clenched teeth, "I came back to protect Bella."

"Protect Bella?" he roared, "haven't you 'protected Bella' enough already?" His words hurt, but I didn't let it show.

"Jake, please," said Bella, her voice shaking slightly, "calm down. Alice is only here to help me," she took a few steps toward him, and I forced myself to relax my defensive stance. Jake's glare did not soften.

"I don't trust her," he said, turning to Bella. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with them…" his voice now sounded slightly hurt, and Bella took another step towards him.

"Jake, she's not the one who broke my heart. None of the others are here,"

"But you let her in? God, what the fuck, Bella? I knew something smelled off when I came around here earlier, but I couldn't be sure because I'd never smelled one of them with my new nose," his head snapped back to me, and he sneered, "Now, I've got your scent, bloodsucker."

I fought back a growl, but discreetly pulled a waft of his scent into my nose. It wasn't pretty, but it sure was memorable. And now I've got yours, I thought, remembering my earlier promise to myself to give this boy a chance. Just in case.

"Jake…listen! I need Alice right now, she's not him, and you know that! She's not going to hurt me…she wouldn't dream of it. Jake, she's different."

Jake opened his mouth to speak (or yell), but he was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing on Bella's dresser. Since he was the closest, he snatched up the receiver and growled, "Hello?"

Bella bit her lip as Jake's face twisted in fury, "No he's not here! He's at the fucking funeral!" He slammed the phone down and closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead with two fingers.

"Jake…who was that?" whispered Bella softly.

He didn't open his eyes, "It was that bloodsucking doctor."

As he spoke, the world went black and I felt the extremely unnerving sensation of slipping into a mind that did not belong to me.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

The word echoed through my mind, though I refused to accept it. I couldn't. I had already expected as much, of course, but hearing Jacob say the word 'funeral' confirmed any doubt I may have had.

Bella. Dead.

What had I done? I had killed her. I had left her. Without me, she had taken her life. I should have listened to Alice. She had tried to warn me. What was it she had said? I tried to remember, calling up the memory...

"Edward!" yelled Alice, anger twisting her normally delicate features as she stormed into my room. I winced at her tone. I should have known she'd see my plans.

"Now wait, please…" I began before she cut me off.

"You want to leave? To protect her?" she roared. "That makes no sense, Edward! She just got attacked by a tracker and you want to leave her here?"

"Alice, please! Let me explain!" I raised my hands defensively, trying to read her mind, but I received nothing. I took a step back and stared at her, feeling unnerved, but I managed to answer her, "Why did the tracker go after her in the first place?"

No answer.

"What if we hadn't made it to the studio in time?"

Her expression softened slightly.

"And at the party, when Jasper attacked her?" she opened her mouth to speak, but I didn't even need my gift to know what she was going to say, "Yes, I know that it wasn't his fault, and I don't blame him for his instincts. But…Alice, I don't want her in danger. Of any sort. And ever since we've been here, she's seen nothing but danger."

Her black eyes lost focus, and her mind suddenly revealed itself to me as if a barrier had just been shattered. I read the vision from her mind.

A wild , red-haired woman, stalking the family, waiting. It was only a short flash, but it was enough.

'Not Bella. I can't let them have Bella,' she thought, her eyes slowly returning to gold. A strangled cry escaped her throat and she dashed towards the open window, land on the ground immediately and running off into the trees. Her mind closed itself again, quickly, and I picked up no more thoughts from my favorite sister. Watching her go, I felt a small part of myself die. I had almost been hoping that she would talk me out of it. But I had no choice now…

I did have a choice, but I had taken the wrong one. And now she was dead, and I had nothing left. I should have listened to Alice. No matter what her feelings for Bella are, no matter how angry I was at her for feeling them, she had been right. And I had been...wrong. I had nothing left now.

Nothing but Italy. I knew what I had to do.

I'm coming, Bella…

I was screaming, though I didn't realize it until I felt hands on my shoulders, shaking my body roughly. "Alice! Please Alice, come back!" I recognized Bella's frantic tones and forced my eyes open.

"What the fuck?" Jake's voice reached me, sounding almost like he was frightened.

"She had a vision," explained Bella as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"A bad one…" I whispered, taking a few heavy gulps of air. There was no time to think about the fact that this vision had been irregular too, since I had experienced it through the mind of someone else.

I found the worried eyes of my human and stared into them, "Bella…Edward's going to Italy."

I watched as confusion flicked across her face, followed by horrified understanding, "Oh my god…"

"Huh?" said Jake stupidly.

I growled, "That wasn't Carlisle on the phone. That was Edward. You used the word 'funeral', and he took it to mean Bella's funeral, since I left the house in a rush when I had the vision of Bella jumping from the bluffs. He thinks she's dead now, and he's off to an ancient royal vampire family in Italy to go kill himself. Thanks a lot." My last words were heavily laced with venom and sarcasm. Jake blinked, looking a bit sick.

"Alice…we have to stop him!" Bella met my gaze and I nodded. Whether or not I was pissed at him, Edward was still my brother.

Jake took a few steps back towards the door, clearly very unnerved by the current turn of events. Bella turned to him, "Jake…please, tell Charlie I'll be back in a few days. Don't mention Edward."

"Um…"

"Jake, I can't let him do this!"

Jake swallowed and nodded, anger still evident in his eyes. He was still shaking as he turned towards the door and pounded down the stairs. Bella sighed and buried her head in her hands, "What have I done…"

I rubbed her back soothingly with one hand while I dialed the airline with the other.

I just might be in love with this car, I thought as I zoomed down the road in the yellow Porsche 911 Turbo that I had just barrowed. Well, stole. No…barrowed without permission. That was it.

The whole situation gave me an eerie feeling of déjà vu, since I had just raced to Forks to stop Bella from killing herself days previously. Unfortunately, I doubted this one was going to turn out to be a false alarm, since few people travelled to Italy to be ripped apart by a coven of ancient vampires for fun.

The Italian countryside flew by at about 150 miles an hour, and Bella was clutching the seat as if it was her lifeline. Any other time, I would have thought this was hopelessly romantic. The fact that we were racing to stop my brother from committing suicide at the hands of the Volturi made it slightly less so.

"Can't you go any…" said Bella, trailing off at the end.

"Hmm?"

"I was going to say 'faster', then I realized that everything outside is a blur. Then I was going to say 'slower' until I remembered why we're here in the first place."

I bit my lip, edging the accelerator forward ever so slightly, "It's alright, Bella. We'll make it."

I fought to control the growing terror in my gut. In light of everything, it seemed horribly selfish of me to worry about what happened when Bella and Edward met again, yet there was plenty of room in my mind to worry about both the meeting and the suicide attempt.

What's going to happen when she sees him? Will she run into his arms and beg him to take her back? I wasn't sure if I would be able to stand the heartbreak that would cause me, but I knew that, for Bella, I would put on a brave face no matter what happened.

I discreetly glanced over at my beautiful passenger, sighing internally. She made no definite decisions, so I had no idea what she was thinking. I grit my teeth and introduced the accelerator to the floor of the car, earning a heartfelt "oh god!" from my human.

"It's alright, Bella. I won't hit anyone."

She didn't open her eyes, "I know."

I couldn't quite repress a grim chuckle. In the silence that followed, my thoughts once again turned to my brother. All the angry thoughts I'd had towards him up until this point now seemed to converge in my mind, making me feel horribly guilty. I sincerely hoped that he wasn't too aware of just how angry I had been, that I hadn't played a part in his suicide mission. I hoped…I really hoped he knew that, despite everything, I still loved him. My crazy, foolish brother. Angry or not, nothing could make me wish death upon you. If you commit suicide, I'll kill you.

Bella sighed softly beside me, her anxiety growing as time went on. I wanted to reach over and comfort her, but I knew that if I took my hand off the wheel and looked away from the road, I'd probably only manage to freak the hell out of her. So I bit my lip and let the silence fill the car.

"I'm sorry…" I finally whispered, so soft I was surprised when she turned her head.

"For what?"

I glanced over at her briefly, "This is my fault. I shouldn't have stormed out like that when I had that vision of you, I shouldn't have gotten mad at him like I did. And I should have called him first thing when I realized you were still alive." On the plane to Italy, I'd told her how I had received the vision and the events that followed, leaving out, of course, his discovery of my feelings for her and the bit about Jasper. She knew that, as far as the rest of the family was concerned, she was dead. And I had been so caught up in her not being dead that I hadn't remembered to pick up a damn phone and pass along the rather important piece of information.

My god, I was a fail psychic.

"It's not your fault…" she whispered softly, leaning closer to me, "It's my fault for jumping off of the damn cliff in the first place."

"It's my fault for leaving and making you jump," I countered.

"It's my fault for being a danger magnet and driving all of you away," she lowered her head.

"Oh Bella…you didn't drive us away," I looked at her for as long as I dared before turning back to the road, "we wanted to protect you. We just didn't manage to do it in the right way."

Bella smiled at me, "Promise me you won't run us off the road…"

"Promise," I grinned as she leaned over the seat to hug my quickly.

"Thank you, Alice…" she said as she leaned back in her seat.

"For what?" I asked softly.

"For coming back. For watching out for me. For…saving me," her last words were a quiet whisper that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to have heard or not.

"I told you, Bella. I couldn't stay away." I tried to keep the burning longing I felt out of my voice. I glanced around at the countryside and scanned the future quickly; my mind served me better than any navigational system ever could. "We're 20 minutes out of Volterra."

Bella sat up and looked out as the buildings of a distant city came into view. "Can you go any faster?" she asked nervously. I glanced down at the accelerator, which was pressed so hard against the floor that it was making a dent.

"Umm…no," I answered, noticing that the needle said we were going about 180 miles an hour. Damn, I love this car. "We'll make it, Bella."

She only nodded absently, her mind still invisible to me in its indecision, and continued to watch the distant city.

As we drove through the crowded streets of Volterra, Bella grew more and more restless.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she yelled out the window to an old lady that was trying to cross the street in front of the car. She earned an angry litany of choice Italian swear words and a flip of the bird for that one. Italian grandmas. Do not piss them off.

I looked up at the large stone clock in the center of the square and read 11:59. I stopped breathing.

Edward was planning on stepping out into the square at noon…

"Bella, get out of the car and follow me, now!" I yelled, throwing open the door and taking off through the square at a pace that was fast, but not fast enough to give me away to the huge crowd of humans that was gathering. I could feel Bella behind me, trying to keep up.

The clock started to strike twelve and my heart sank. I looked around, but I didn't see Edward anywhere…I didn't see anything at all…I didn't…see…

The ground came rushing up to me as I collapsed, hitting the ground hard.

He was sitting on a cliff, the same cliff she had jumped off of. He was staring out onto the water with a thoughtful expression on his face. He was dressed in a tuxedo, shiny black shoes, and his hair looked almost neat. He looked as if he was ready to attend a gala.

As I watched, he stood up and took a few steps towards the edge, looking down. What on earth was he doing? Seconds ticked by before he spoke.

"I need you to understand something," he said, his tone emotionless. "For decades, I have been alone. I watched my family grow and I felt some sort of comfort in that…in all of you. But this is not natural, Alice. I should have died on that bed a hundred years ago. I should have died like my mother did. Like my real family did."

I don't like where this is going.

"I want you to know that you're the one I felt I could identify most with. In all my years as a vampire, I always felt a void inside of me, as if something was missing. I imagine you must feel something of the same, never knowing your human life."

That hurt…

"You made me happier than anyone else in the family could, Alice. You made me happier than anyone could, just because you were kind and understanding. Your energy was infectious. You always were my favorite sister, little freak."He smiled gently, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I drew much of my strength and inspiration from you…"

Until Bella.

"…Until Bella. I love her, Alice. And I made a horrible mistake by leaving her. But…now I guess I know that we were never meant to be. I want you to be with her, Alice."

What?

"Understand that I can't spend another second here."

No…

"I will do what history would have had me do a century ago."

Stop it…

"Die."

Why can't I reach him?

"Take good care of her, Alice. It's all I ask."

I watched in horror as he pitched himself from the bluffs.

When I opened my eyes, a crowd of humans was surrounding me, looking worried and speaking rapidly in Italian. I breathed heavily and shook them off, standing up and looking around for any sign of Bella or my brother.

He was in the corner, shirtless, held in the shadows by two guards. Bella was on the ground in front of him, crying. I ran to them, kneeling down beside her and looking up at Edward. His eyes looked sad as he saw me.

That vision…what on earth…

There was no time to think of that. "Edward!" I cried out, "What are you doing?"

"I am glad to see you well, Bella. You too, for that matter," he said as he looked at me.

"Edward…" sobbed Bella, "why did you do this?" the guards were shoving him back into the shadows, clearly eager to get him into the palace. I assumed that they had seen him and stopped him before he could actually reveal himself.

He did not answer her, but instead kept looking at me. His black eyes seemed to see right into me, and I shivered, despite the heat.

"I knew it," he muttered, so soft and quick that I knew Bella couldn't hear him. I blinked in confusion, and he smirked slightly.

"Please, enjoy your stay in Volterra, both of you. I'm sure it will be much more pleasant than mine." As he said it, he broke into a smile.

"Damn straight," muttered the guard, "now get your ass inside, dead boy." He gave him another rough shove.

"All in good time, gentlemen," replied Edward. "Bella…I do hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me."

Bella looked up and suddenly rushed at him, but the guard stood between them, hissing at her. I stood up and hissed right back. "Is that all you're going to say to me?" she cried, her body trembling, "after everything you've done to me, after everything you've done to yourself, you're just going to ask for forgiveness?" A tone of desperation crept into her voice as she stared at him, more tears slipping down her cheek. "Why are you doing this, Edward? I'm not dead…look, I'm still here, I'm breathing, I'm alive!"

His eyes blazed gold for a moment and he stared at her for several seconds. He looked completely entranced before he took a long blink, his smile returning, though seeming far sadder than it had before.

"But you've stopped singing."

My sight faded again, blurring the figures in front of me. I fought to remain standing as my knees trembled, threatening to give way. A heart pounded furiously for several beats in my ear, its thumps sounding frantic and angry. I blinked rapidly, dispelling the strange images as the world shifted, hastily re-focusing itself. Edward was staring at me, his eyes darkening.

Bella's voice reached me, sounding thoroughly confused, "What are you talking about?"

He offered no answer.

The guards, thoroughly sick of this game, grabbed him roughly and pulled him back into the alley.

A/N: Homagawd. The tensionnnn.

I promised plot, and plot ye shall receive. Stupid, suicidal, emo Edward. Actually I take that back. I feel for the poor bastard. Sigh.

Just in case there was any confusion about the visions: The first vision Alice had was of Edward re-living a memory in his head. The second was of him jumping off of a cliff like Bella did.

As always, review! Review! If you do it, Alice will give you a kiss! (Not really, 'cause she's all mine. I mean Bella's. Damn.)

Edit: I'm having an issue with page breaks. If you get repeated alerts, I apologize. Still getting used to this and all. Dx