The Edge

All Falls Down

Twenty-Four Hours Later

Bella sighed, fighting back a yawn as her eyes fluttered and attempted to close. She was tired, but she didn't want to sleep. Her body was exhausted and she could have easily fallen into unconsciousness, but her mind was whirling and she knew that if she closed her eyes, terrible images from their time in the Italian underground would plague her dreams.

As she struggled to keep her eyes open, Bella felt Edward's fingers run through her hair, and then he was gently guiding her head towards his granite shoulder, holding her against him as he pushed his nose into her hair and breathed in deeply.

Bella shifted against him, trying to get comfortable.

It had been so long since she had felt Edward's body against her. She had almost forgotten what he felt like.

Bella frowned at the thought. She had once known how to situate herself against him exactly, but now his body was strange to her; too tall, too muscular, too hard. She had grown used to Alice's body, to Alice's curves, to the relative softness of Alice's female body ... to Alice.

Bella looked towards the front of the car. She could just make out Alice's profile in the moonlight and the light of passing cars. Alice's eyes were focused forward, staring intently out of the windshield, her jaw set, her face a mask of stone, utterly unreadable. And she was quiet, so quiet. Bella had never heard her quiet for so long. Alice had barely spoken a word since Aro had released them.

Bella's eyes scrunched together, and she directed her thoughts to Alice knowing that that would keep her awake. Well, she directed her thoughts to Alice and Edward really, because when she thought about it, she realized that it wasn't just Alice who had been acting strangely since they had been released.

Edward had been acting oddly as well. He talked to her, Bella, and he held her, Bella, but he had barely acknowledged Alice's presence. Other than the few words they spoke to each other when Alice informed him she was going to steal a car for them, they had been studiously ignoring each other.

Bella tried to think about it, tried to determine what was going on, but she was too exhausted and her mind wouldn't work.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of Edward's chest moving up and down. His breath on her was cool as Alice's, but she missed Alice's scent wrapping around her and found it difficult to relax.

She shifted, trying to get more comfortable and allowed her thoughts to drift to the events she had witnessed in Italy hoping that trying to piece together why Alice and Edward were acting so strangely would help keep her awake.

The plane ride over had been mostly a blur. She had been too anxious, and nervous, and scared and uncertain to take it all in. All she really recalled from it was: Alice briefly talking on the phone with Jasper, telling him that there was nothing he could do and to stay away, the nosy business man sitting beside her who kept trying to eavesdrop on her conversation with Alice, and finally curling up against Alice's side as she drifted into a troubled sleep for the majority of the trip.

The ride from Florence to Volterra was even more indistinct, all she could recall was flashes of green, yellow and blue rushing by the windows as Alice sped down the highway as fast as she could in the yellow Porsche she had 'borrowed' from the airport parking lot.

She had a memory of Alice's voice, sweet and soothing, talking to her, but the only part of the conversation she could recall at the moment was Alice telling her that Edward had decided on what he was going to do, and that they needed to get to the Palazzo dei Priori before noon in order to stop him. His plan, she revealed, was to walk out in the middle of the crowded square, and reveal himself to all the people around. It was a sunny day out, and at high noon, Edward's skin would have gleamed bright enough to blind. This display would have threatened to reveal the existence of vampires, and the Volturi would have no choice but to capture him and put him down for such flagrant disregard of the rules of the vampire nation.