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"Alice, wait. What's going on," I asked, trying on vain to pull my arm back towards my body and stop her.
" I was with Rosalie when I got the vision of you jumping. I think she must have called and told Edward that you were dead. He just called to check her story and because that damn puppy answered your phone he now thinks that Charlie is at your funeral. Bella, he's going to Italy."
"Wait, he thinks I'm dead so he's going to Italy? Why? To celebrate?"
I was more than a little confused. Why should Edward care if I died? Jack tensed next to me. I turned and saw a cold anger in his eyes. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides.
"That idiot," he hissed, before taking a deep breath to calm himself and turning to me, " Bella, he's going to attempt an assisted suicide. From what I gather, he wasn't entirely honest about his reasons for leaving and now we need to get to Italy to stop him."
I froze and let that settle in my head. Then I took off for the stairs as everyone downstairs shouted in confusion. I told them that I needed to grab some things and told Jack to call his parents. I grabbed a bag and packed a pretty blue shirt, some pants, and some money. I also grabbed my cell phone and my pillow before writing a note to Charlie to explain that I'd been invited on a camping trip with the Stevens family, and that he could call them to confirm that and to check on me.
When I ran down the stairs to leave, I was immediately assaulted by the sounds of an argument that had sprung up in my absence.
"Don't you even care about her? You're going to get her killed," Jacob shouted.
"Izzy makes her own decisions, and she wants to go, so if something happens, it won't be me that's responsible. Don't you respect her enough to acknowledge that? You are bound by the terms of the alliance not to interfere in matters that do not concern the pack or your tribe, so end this resistance or end the alliance," Jack replied with a sort of near pompous authority in his voice.
I had to stop them before Jacob could pick one.
"Jacob, I'm going no matter what you do. This is my responsibility and the world is at stake," I said, approaching him.
"But Izzy-"
"Jacob, do you trust me," I asked putting a hand on his shoulder.
"The last time you asked me to trust you, you jumped off of a cliff," he reminded me, skeptically.
"But I lived, didn't I," I replied, taking my hand off of his shoulder and asking, "Now where's Alice?"
"Right here," she said. She was standing in the doorway holding an expensive looking cell phone. "Our travel arrangements have been made. We have to go."
I made sure that my bag was secure on my shoulder and left the note on the kitchen table before walking over to Alice, with Jack following behind.
"Bella, please, don't go. I'm asking you as a friend," Jacob asked weakly. He knew that he couldn't stop me.
"It's Izzy, and if you were truly my friend, you wouldn't ask that of me. I'll see you when we get back," I said softly, turning to look into his eyes for a moment, then I nodded to Alice and we rushed out towards the car.
The airport was exactly how it had looked in my dreams, but the people and the noise were still slightly overwhelming. We rushed onto the plane and sat awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do now that our speed was in the hands of the pilot. Eventually Jack took my hand and I felt him slip into a meditative state. I joined him.
"Are you scared," he whispered across the bond. His eyes were closed and he was pretending to sleep. I stared out of the window as I responded.
"So very much, Milord, so much depends on this and it's our first real mission. We stand to lose a lot."
I thought about college, and about the life he'd had with his parents. I had the sudden urge to ask if we would be like that. I wanted to know, even if we never got to live it out, how it was supposed to be. I wanted to know that if we lived, we'd work out what we meant to each other and go on a date. I wanted a reason to think that I might someday hold a brown haired baby with Jack's green eyes. I wanted more certainty than I had, because we were about to race headlong into danger, and certainty about anything at all would have been a comfort.
"You're right," Jack said, breaking my train of thought and replying, "there's no getting around that but… if this doesn't go well, at least we had what we did. That said, I truly think that we might be able to do this. Mom's intuition would have tipped her off if we were going to die. She would have said something."
I resisted the urge to remind him that his mother hadn't had guessed that Alexandra was going to die, so there was no guarantee. I just drifted out of meditation and listened as Alice told Jasper what was going on. After a while I fell asleep.
My dreams found me wading endlessly through the crowds in the circle at the center of a city, a clock tower loomed over me and the hands seemed to be moving too fast. I pushed through the crowd, stepping on feet, kicking, and shoving, but I couldn't seem to move fast enough. I woke up as Edward's pale face became apparent in the shadows that were quickly dissipating as noon approached.
The plane was landing in New York as I wiped the sleep from my eyes, and I was still slightly disoriented as I was rushed onto another airplane, this one bound directly for Italy. Jack and Alice helped me into a seat in between them and let my head clear a bit as the plane took off.
When I was a bit more awake, I told them about my dream. I was clueless as to what it meant, but Alice had apparently had a couple of visions while I'd slept.
"Edward has found the Volturi," she said, frustrated and worried, " they're trying to decide whether or not they'll grant his request. They want him to join their guard, but there are other factors. If your dream is to be believed, I'd assume that the Volturi are going to refuse his request and he's going to try and force their hand."
"How," I asked quickly. The unseen book was thorough, but it was still a secondary source. I needed to know for sure.
"I don't know yet, Bella. They haven't decided yet, and so he hasn't had a reason to plan for that," she replied impatiently. There was a long moment of quiet, before Alice spoke, seemingly at random.
"You were going to be stunning, you know."
Her voice was a strange mix of regret and reprimand.
"I already am," I replied, unapologetic. Jack squeezed my hand, confirming my statement and reminding me of his presence while letting us talk.
"It was going to be perfect, Bella; you were going to be perfect. I saw it. You completed us. You were going to be my sister and you made him so happy," she insisted. I could hear some of the hurt in her voice.
"I might not be perfect now, but there's no saying that being with Edward for an eternity would have made me perfect. Alice, I like my life now. I have plans for a future, and great friends, and responsibilities. I am capable of so much more than filling a place and making Edward a little less brooding and maybe that's not enough for me anymore."
I was trying to make her understand, but she still looked hurt.
"It was enough less than a year ago. You wanted nothing more, before we left. Is this about him?"
Alice glanced at Jack, and he tensed beside me.
"No, it's about me. it's about my life and all the things that I would have thrown away unknowingly for a love that was less than complete, and an eternity of being satisfied with less because I made the one choice that would eliminate all others," I replied. The truth of what I was saying made me feel free somehow.
Alice moved to respond but was distracted by a vision.
"They said no," she murmured, relieved, "He's trying to decide what to do now, and that will give us time. He's going to try to reveal himself, but he hasn't decided how."
"He's going to step into the sunlight," Jack said, joining the conversation, "Izzy's dream showed her running to try and stop him."
Alice was quiet for a moment, presumably waiting to see if a vision would confirm Jack's idea.
"I haven't seen it, but it would make sense. It's dramatic enough for Edward," Alice concluded.
"I agree," I said before pausing to think about the dream again and asking, "Why am I running alone? Where are you two?"
"Mayhap the two of us are taking a longer way around. You said that it was going to be sunny, so Alice can't run across run across with you. Besides, he only really needs to see you. Alice wouldn't be able to stop him and he doesn't know me," Jack pointed out reasonably. Alice nodded in agreement.
"Then we have a plan," I stated, feeling the finality of that realization. After a moment, Alice turned her attention to the future and I closed my eyes, trying to sleep.
As I drifted off to sleep, it occurred to me that if we managed to save Edward from his own stupidity, I was going to have to deal with him. I had no idea how I'd act or feel. My dreams offered me no answers.
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The plane touched down in Rome, Italy at around eleven and we disembarked as quickly as the crowds would allow. I didn't have time to look around, or to marvel at the fact that I was in Europe for the first time, I just tried to keep up as we rushed though the various areas of the airport. Eventually we came to a stop outside and Alice went off to "find" a car to get us to Volterra. As she walked away, she turned and asked of I'd like to go with her, but I pointed out that I would slow her down.
After she was gone, I settled the bag with my stuff on the ground beside my feet and Jack started to stammer.
"Izzy, I…I …What I mean is-"
I squeezed his hand, trying to help settle him.
"Just say it, whatever it is," I encouraged.
"Bella," he said softly after a moment, removing his hand from mine and putting both of them on my shoulder, " I don't know what's about to happen. I'm just a lord, and you are only the most wonderful of ladies, and we're about to approach the biggest threat to world security in our generation. I know we've said that we'll stay with each other but if something happens…"
"Jack," I whispered moving closer. The crowds outside of the airport seemed to disappear.
"Lady, we have walked such a narrow line between what's safe and what's actually between us. I have no wish to hang on that line, or to leave you hanging by it, if something happens. I love you and I want to be more than just your friend or your match. It hasn't been a long time since we met, and we're young but-"
As he spoke, his head leaned down towards me and I was so full up with more emotions than I can describe that it was all I could do to lean in and kiss him.
It was perfect. My arms wrapped around his neck and his slipped around my waist. His lips were so soft and warm. I felt… cherished and safe and it was hard to pull away, but when I did I found his eyes and I knew that nothing else would ever be as beautiful. I smiled before laughing a little.
"I don't have a speech prepared, but I do love you. If we're left with nothing else when this is done, hold on to that."
Jack smiled back at me before jokingly remarking, "I promise, I'll never let go."
Then the sound of a car horn broke the moment, and I picked up my bag before running and getting into the back seat of the most awesome car I had ever seen in my life. We rushed away from the airport to the sound of Jack screaming about the fact that all of the women he knew were speed demons.
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Hey guys, it's late, but I've been worlds worth of busy. Did I make up for it? Ok so the review competition stands as follows: (these can still change but as of chapter 28 this what I have)
NotSoSlightlyCrazy (with 28 reviews!!)
PriestessOfFreya (with 14 reviews!!)
goldeneyes123 (with 6 reviews!!)
goldeneyes123 : I need to know which characters and a general idea of what you want to happen in your outtake. If someone pushes you out of 3rd place I'll message you and the new third place person.
Thanks to all my fabulous readers and reviewers and alert peoples. You guys rock my universe.
Da Future: Volterra and all that that may entail. ( would have tried to make it sound more epic but it's late and I want to post this a.s.a.p.)
…ps there's a movie reference and a shout out goes to whomever tells me what movie and, as always, reviews are appreciated.
