A/n: please, please, please don't shoot me. i know this chapter has taken forever and a day to get out, but once i got back from spring break, i was so behind on everything at school that i had to make it up and whatnot. life has a tendency of getting in the way of things.

so, since this chapter has taken so long to get out, i decided to split it up into two. and this way it gives me more time to perfect the last chapter. hehe. um, there was so much more i wanted to say, but now i'm just coming up blank. so yeah, thanks so much for being patient. you guys are amazing. oh, and reviews are just as cool.

"Oh, things are going to change now for the better. And oh, things are going to change. Hands, like secrets, are the hardest thing to keep from you; Lines and phrases, like knives, your words can cut me through; Dismantle me down (repair!) You dismantle me…" – Dismantle.Repair, Anberlin.

There was no use in my trying to get someone to notice me now. I wouldn't be able to tell them what Edward was planning anyway. So I did the only thing I could: I begged him to do what he was going to do.

Nothing worked. The entire airplane ride I sat beside him, yelling, screaming, begging, pleading, anything. Nothing was helping. He wouldn't even look at me. I was hopelessly trying to keep the love of my life from truly dying and taking himself away from me forever.

I couldn't allow this to happen. Edward had finally gone insane, and it was all my fault. I shouldn't have stayed with him in the first place. I should have stayed with Charlie, or maybe Renee. Just someone other than Edward and his family. He wouldn't be in this situation now if I hadn't been there for him to see, to fall in love with. Maybe, just maybe someone in Italy would be able to see me the way that Edward sees me. The chances of that, though, were next to impossible. And I knew that all too well.

"Edward," I begged for one last time. "Edward, please just listen to me."

And for the first time in almost eight hours, he looked at me. He gave me his full, undivided attention…and I was completely speechless. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I couldn't think of anything to try to convince him that this was the stupidest idea in the history of stupid ideas.

The only thing that escaped my lips was, "I love you," and then I gave him this pleading look that I hoped would make him reconsider. But he just shook his head and turned back to staring at the seat in front of him.

Edward never even told me where in Italy he was going. Or exactly why. I knew he was going there to die; it was the only certain thing I was aware of. But why he needed to go all the way to Europe to do so, I was still clueless. But I followed, nonetheless, as he exited the airplane, and rented a car and drove through the Tuscan landscapes.

So, Tuscany. At least I knew the general area we were located in. Not that it was any real help to me, but I did like being able to place where I was. It made me feel a little more secure. I think Edward had more to do with that than anything, though. If I was with him, I was home.

I sat beside him, watched him focus on nothing but the road in front of him.

"Will you speak to me now?" I finally asked. I was being hopeful that he would. I missed his voice more than I'd like to admit.

He turned to me briefly, a grim expression on his beautiful face. "You should have waited at home for me." Oh, so now he was telling me this. Good job, Edward, tell the girl after she follows you halfway around the world.

"Why? It's not like you're coming back. You're leaving me remember?" The words came out of my mouth a little harsher than I intended – and without me thinking about them, really – but they got the job done.

Edward winced a little, but quickly regained his composure. He turned back to the road. "I'm not leaving you, Bella. I'm joining you."

"No. You're not!" I yelled suddenly. For some reason I was instantly furious. I mean, how could he do this to me? "If you love me even a fraction of how much you say you do, then you won't do this. You'll turn this car around and you'll get on a plane and you'll go home to your family, where you belong." I said everything in one big, jumbled mess, but somehow, he understood me.

"I belong with you," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "As much as I'm flattered by that statement, and as much as I really want to be with you, it just can't happen. You're supposed to stay alive. You're supposed to live for eternity with me by your side."

"I'm meant to die, Bella. Just like I was supposed to back in 1918," he let out another sigh, but this time it was much more frustrated. "I'm not discussing this with you any more."

"Fine," I huffed and folded my arms across me chest. "But will you at least answer one question?"

Edward raised an eyebrow curiously. "Depends…"

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"Volterra," he told me, like I should have already known. I wanted to slap him upside the head for using that tone with me, but I knew that even if I could, I wouldn't.

"And what's in Volterra?"

Edward eyed me curiously, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was debating on whether he should call me out on the fact that I asked more than one question or if he should just answer it.

"The Volturi live in Volterra," he answered. I opened my mouth to ask something else, but Edward held up a hand. "And before you ask, the Volturi are like the vampire royal family. They enforce the laws of our kind."

Suddenly, things were starting to click into place. "…And they're powerful enough to kill you." it wasn't a question, though Edward still nodded in acknowledgment.

"Any vampire is strong enough to kill another vampire, it's just that the Volturi have a guard, specially trained to kill vampires as efficiently and as fast as possible," he explained.

I didn't know what to say in response to that. I didn't think there was anything appropriate except maybe to beg him some more not to do this. But I told him I wouldn't discuss that subject with him any longer, so I stayed silent, and I stayed that way until the great walls that surrounded Volterra loomed into view in front of us.