A/N: Everyone, everything that starts with a * and ends with it is copy pace. I couldn't think of anything that would describe the scene so I copied instead. Sorry about that but I hope you'll fine the chapter okay so here you go. – KC
"UH OH"
BPOV:
I heard a bang at my door and saw Rosalie standing on the doorway.
"Sorry to interrupt your dreams but something happened" she pulled my covers and laid out some clothes on my bed in a heartbeat. I dressed quickly as I can and ran downstairs.
Everyone was staring at Alice intensely. I stood beside Esme and waited. After a short while, Alice came back to us. She turned her back and forth as she looked into our faces.
"It's Edward" her voice was quivering, "He going to the Volturi" my eyes widen in shock.
"No" I said. I pulled my hand to my mouth.
"He thinks Bella's really gone" she looked at me, "He believes you"
I shook my head. This wasn't meant to happen.
"How could he?" I screamed, "Bella's not dead. I would know! What I said is true but—"
I smacked my head. This is absurd!
"It's complicated" I let out a deep breath and tried to stop panicking, "How long?"
"What?" she asked.
"How long will it take to reach him?" I said to gritted teeth, trying to control my rage. I felt a sea of calmness through me. I looked at Jasper and mouthed a 'Thank you'
"About 8 hours through a plane"
"Let's go" I started to head upstairs.
"He won't believe you if you told him she's alive. He won't believe anyone"
"I don't care. Call Tanya will you, tell her to follow us" I ran for the bedroom. Grabbed some clothes, my wallet, toiletries, and my passport and put them all in a backpack. I moved as fast as I could then, went to the living room again. Everyone seemed ready. Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie and Emmett took Rosalie's car while me, Alice and Jasper took the Volvo. Jasper sped as fast as lighting.
"Tanya said ok and your brother's furious. Apparently, he didn't know about your knowledge of the vampire world" Alice said. Her back was to the door and her feet were bent in front of her. I smacked my hand on my forehead.
"Dammit, I forgot" I was firing up again. Jasper let out waves to calm me. I let them in. I need it. I looked out the window and saw nothing but blur of colors outside.
"How will you convince him, Izzy?" Jasper asked. He'd never spoken much.
"I have something. It'll be a shock but I think it's strong enough to convince him" I replied still looking at the window. I can't tell them now. I'm still debating what to do and I don't what to do exactly. I looked at Jasper. He seemed in thought.
"What? You have something in mind?" I asked this time.
"Uh, well. I don't know" he shrugged, eyes on the road, "Maybe we need Bella. That's all"
I smiled at his words. Bella, Bella, Bella. This all too funny but I suppressed a laugh.
"I think I can manage, Jasper. Thanks"
"Will she be there?" It was Alice who asked.
"I don't know. Can't you check?"
"I see us but—she's no where" Alice stared at her hands, "I'm starting to think you're right. I mean, you're right about her future, Edward couldn't find her and you told us she's not out there and now, you tell us to stop Edward 'cause she's not dead. It's all confusing" I could hear her stopping her sobs. I tried to grab hold of her hand.
"Hey, I'll tell you why I told him that" she looked up. Sadness filled her eyes, "Honestly, looking for her is a waste of time, Alice. How you ask? You'll know soon" I tried to soothe her with comfort. Then, she hit Jasper in the ribs with her foot. Jasper just let out a apologetic smile. I guess Jasper was trying to help.
Somewhere along the ride on the plane, I fell asleep. Good thing I didn't have dreams. I'm worried enough about everything. I woke up with Esme beside me. I stretched my arms a bit. I felt a little stiff but what did you expect I was on a plane.
"You hungry, dear?" she asked. I told her I'm fine. I didn't dare open the window on my left. I just rested my head on it. To some this must've look like I'm sick but I was just simply thinking. I don't really have a plan was once we're there.
"This is my entire fault" I mumbled. Esme heard of course.
"No it's not, dear. It was Edward's decision" she tried to tell me, "Whether you told him that or not, he would've thought this way somehow" I looked at her.
"I didn't lie when I told him that" I responded. I suddenly felt that they might be thinking the same thing as Edward about Bella being dead or gone. I saw a hint at Esme's eyes.
"I'm sure Bella's fine" I told her. She merely nodded at my words.
"Hard to believe but its true anyway" I added, "They both are"
I bet everything that it hardly helped. How could she be safe if she's not out there? But it's true, especially at that time. Esme told me to rest and I tried. I closed my eyes and started to think of everything all over again. Edward's action, everyone's reaction at my words but I stay true to my words. Esme wakes me up every time we landed. Somehow I was in a car again. It was morning again. We were in a van. I have no idea how I slept that long but I feel up and well rested. I let out a yawn as I sat up. I shook my head.
"All right, anybody have a plan?" I asked. Everyone looked at me with wide eyes.
"I don't really have a plan but any suggestions on how to stop Edward. Um, what is he really going to do anyway?" I said. It was Alice who answered my question.
"Just walk out under the sun"
"Oh. Well, any idea?" I asked again.
"It's sunny, Izzy. We can't go after him. It's St. Marcus Day. Cars aren't aloud. We have exactly an hour to stop him. He'll do it at noon. So I think you'll have to run and stop him" Alice answered. I tried to think straight but I felt panic again.
"What if I can't get there in time?" I asked.
"I'm not sure but please try" I shook my head.
*The sun continued to climb in the sky while Alice raced against it. It was too bright and that had me panicking. Maybe he wouldn't feel the need to wait for noon after all.
"There," Alice said abruptly, pointing to the castle city atop the closest hill.
I stared at it, feeling the very first hint of a new kind of fear. Now, as I stared at the ancient sienna walls and towers crowning the peak of the steep hill, I felt another, more selfish kind of dread thrill through me. I supposed the city was very beautiful. It absolutely terrified me.
"Volterra," Alice announced in a flat, icy voice. Everyone was quiet.
As we wound higher, the cars became too close together for Alice to weave insanely between them anymore. We slowed to a crawl behind a little tan Peugeot.
The cars continued to edge forward, one car length at a time. The sun beamed down brilliantly, seeming already overhead.
The cars crept one by one toward the city. As we got closer, I could see cars parked by the side of the road with people getting out to walk the test of the way. At first I thought it was just impatience—something I could easily understand. But then we came around a switchback, and I could see the filled parking lot outside the city wall, the crowds of people walking through the gates. No one was being allowed to drive through.
I tried not to panic. Everyone was saying anything at all so I just kept to my thoughts. Somehow Alice got through the guard and we were inside.
"Edward will be under the clock tower, to the north of the square. There's a narrow alleyway on the right, and he'll be in the shadow there. You have to get his attention before he can move into the Sun." she told me.
The street was very narrow, cobbled with the same color stones as the faded cinnamon brown buildings that darkened the street with their shade. It had the feel of an alleyway. Red flags decorated the walls, spaced only a few yards apart, flapping in the wind that whistled through the narrow lane. It was crowded, and the foot traffic slowed our progress.
"Just a little farther," Alice encouraged me. I bet she felt my panic and so did everyone. I was gripping the door handle, ready to throw myself into the street as soon as she spoke the word.
She drove in quick spurts and sudden stops, and the people in the crowd shook their fists at us and said angry words that I was glad I couldn't understand. She turned onto a little path that couldn't have been meant for cars; shocked people had to squeeze into doorways as we scraped by. We found another street at the end. The buildings were taller here; they leaned together overhead so that no sunlight touched the pavement—the thrashing red flags on either side nearly met. The crowd was thicker here than anywhere else. Alice stopped the car. I had the door open before we were at a standstill. She pointed to where the street widened into a patch of bright openness.
"There—we're at the southern end of the square. Run straight across, to the right of the clock tower. I'll find a way around—"
Her breath caught suddenly, and when she spoke again, her voice was a hiss. "They're everywhere?"
I didn't think twice. I ran out.
Coming out of the dark lane, I was blinded by the brilliant sunlight beating down into the principal plaza. The wind whooshed into me, flinging my hair into my eyes and blinding me further. It was no wonder that I didn't see the wall of flesh until I'd smacked into it.
There was no pathway, no crevice between the close pressed bodies. I pushed against them furiously, fighting the hands that shoved back. I heard exclamations of irritation and even pain as I battled my way through, but none were in a language I understood. The faces were a blur of anger and surprise, surrounded by the ever-present red. A blond woman scowled at me, and the red scarf coiled around her neck looked like a gruesome wound. A child, lifted on a man's shoulders to see over the crowd, grinned down at me, his lips distended over a set of plastic vampire fangs. The throng jostled around me, spinning me the wrong direction. I was glad the clock was so visible, or I'd never keep my course straight. But both hands on the clock pointed up toward the pitiless sun, and, though I shoved viciously against the crowd, I knew I was too late. I wasn't halfway across. I wasn't going to make it. I was stupid and slow and human, and we were all going to die because of it. I listened, above the angry exclamations, trying to hear the sound of discovery: the gasp, maybe the scream, as Edward came into someone's view.
But there was a break in the crowd—I could see a bubble of space ahead. I pushed urgently toward it, not realizing till I bruised my shins against the bricks that there was a wide, square fountain set into the center of the plaza.
I was nearly crying with relief as I flung my leg over the edge and ran through the knee-deep water. It sprayed all around me as I thrashed my way across the pool. Even in the sun, the wind was glacial, and the wet made the cold actually painful. But the fountain was very wide; it let me cross the center of the square and then some in mere seconds. I didn't pause when I hit the far edge—I used the low wall as a springboard, throwing myself into the crowd.
They moved more readily for me now, avoiding the icy water that splattered from my dripping clothes as I ran. I glanced up at the clock again.
A deep, booming chime echoed through the square. It throbbed in the stones under my feet. Children cried, covering their ears. And I started screaming as I ran. I felt a little déjà vu.
"Edward!" I screamed, knowing it was useless. The crowd was too loud, and my voice was breathless with exertion. But I couldn't stop screaming. The clock tolled again. I ran past a child in his mother's arms—his hair was almost white in the dazzling sunlight. A circle of tall men, all wearing red blazers, called out warnings as I barreled through them. The clock tolled again.
On the other side of the men in blazers, there was a break in the throng, space between the sightseers who milled aimlessly around me. My eyes searched the dark narrow passage to the right of the wide square edifice under the tower. I couldn't see the street level—there were still too many people in the way. The clock tolled again.
It was hard to see now. Without the crowd to break the wind, it whipped at my face and burned my eyes. I couldn't be sure if that was the reason behind my tears, or if I was crying in defeat as the clock tolled again.
A little family of four stood nearest to the alley's mouth. The two girls wore crimson dresses, with matching ribbons tying their dark hair back. The father wasn't tall. It seemed like I could see something bright in the shadows, just over his shoulder. I hurtled toward them, trying to see past the stinging tears.
The clock tolled, and the littlest girl clamped her hands over her ears.
The older girl, just waist high on her mother, hugged her mother's leg and stared into the shadows behind them. As I watched, she tugged on her mother's elbow and pointed toward the darkness. The clock tolled, and I was so close now.
I was close enough to hear her high-pitched voice. Her father stared at me in surprise as I bore down on them, rasping out Edward's name over and over again.
The older girl giggled and said something to her mother, gesturing toward the shadows again impatiently.
I swerved around the father—he clutched the baby out of my way—and sprinted for the gloomy breach behind them as the clock tolled over my head.
"Edward, no!" I screamed, but my voice was lost in the roar of the chime.
I could see him now. And I could see that he could not see me. It was really him, no hallucination this time. And I realized that my delusions were more flawed than I'd realized; they'd never done him justice.
Edward stood, motionless as a statue, just a few feet from the mouth of the alley. His eyes were closed, the rings underneath them deep purple, his arms relaxed at his sides, his palms turned forward. His expression was very peaceful, like he was dreaming pleasant things. The marble skin of his chest was bare—there was a small pile of white fabric at his feet. The light reflecting from the pavement of the square gleamed dimly from his skin. I'd never seen anything more beautiful—even as I ran, gasping and screaming, I could appreciate that. The clock tolled, and he took a large stride toward the light.
I slammed into him so hard that the force would have hurled me to the ground if his arms hadn't caught me and held me up. It knocked my breath out of me and snapped my head back. *
Out of nowhere we were pulled back. I saw Emmett and Jasper gripping his shirt. We were in the shadows now. I think Edward let them pull him aside. I took a few steps backwards and looked at Edward. I was furious.
"What were you thinking?" I could have smacked him but I didn't dare try. Everyone was letting me do the talking, "I can't believe you did this, this is completely ridiculous!"
"What would you do if the one you love is gone?" he replied. He gave me a glare.
"Don't you get it she's alive for crying out loud, Edward!" I screamed, "I thought you were smart" I turned to the others,"I thought you would understand what I said. I thought you'll take it literally!"
After a second Ben barged in with Tanya and everyone else behind him and pushed me on the wall.
"ISABELLA MARIE SWAN-DWYER!" he was beyond furious, "What's going on?"
