"Would you like to know the rest of the story? It's all rather interesting you see. In a fit to keep control of some amazing plan, a young vampire killed his sister all so her mate could remain loyal to some cause of gaining power. Wouldn't you agree that it sounds intriguing?" I heard Marcus on the other end of the phone as if he was standing right beside me. Aro's voice stayed even, but I could tell he was ruffled by what he was hearing by his faltering smile, that he wasn't as collected as he tried to appear.

"How?" He simply said and I wasn't sure what he meant.

"I've always known, if you want the truth. I just couldn't do anything because of Chelsea. But then, our Bella came along and released me from that prison you built for me. I've waited and waited for an opportunity to present itself, and just as I counted on, your greed has done just that."

"What do you want?"

"You'll leave Bella, the Cullen's, and myself alone for all of your pathetic existence. No order from you, Caius or rogue guard member may lead to the direct or indirect harm of that family or anyone they protect. And I will grant you two things: I'll leave Sulpicia alive, a mercy that you did not afford me. And finally the entire vampire population will be kept in the dark in regards to the faux pas that you were about to commit. And order will be restored and you still have all of the power."

"And if I don't concede?" Aro's stern voice was alien to me. It was more than stern it was tense and strained, something I never heard in Aro's voice ever.

"One flick of my wrist, and Sulpicia will be no more dead than Didyme. What say you?"

"You do one thing to harm her, and I'll kill Bella." Aro threatened, refusing to be backed in a corner.

I could hear Marcus chuckling lightly through the phone. "You could try to make that idiotic move, I guarantee that Bella isn't there alone. And tell Demetri there's no use in scanning where the Cullen's are. Bella's shielding is rather superb." I hadn't even thought about blocking them until now, and I quickly sent my shield the hundred and fifty miles to Syracuse. I felt around for the Cullen's to enter my shield bubbles. "But I think you should just cut your losses."

"Will you be joining us in the Volturi once again, Brother?"

"Actually, I will, however, I must confess that before you start plotting my demise, the Cullen's have in their possession a few items that will ensure your fall Aro. There are actually three other safety features of my own that are in place that I could fall back on so that in the event something should happen to me, your entire empire will be in ruin."

"Fine Marcus. We will play this by your rules. We'll be home once the jet is refueled. Have Heidi have something ready for us by the time we get back." Aro huffed and growled as he ended the call and handed me my phone back. He stared me down and I stared him back. More and more people were being drawn to the scene that we were creating.

"Well uncle, I think for the sake of the humans that you so despise of, we should pretend that I'm saying farewell to all of you. They seem awfully interested in all of us." I took a tentative step closer to Aro who also moved hesitantly towards me as well. The hug was strained and non loving, completely different from the hugs we've given in the past. "Aro? Despite the fact that you were planning on killing the reason of my existence, I still love you. But I hope you don't expect me to ever forgive you."

"I wouldn't think of it dear." I was puzzled by his meaning but I didn't want to question it for too long. Uncle Marcus had saved all of us and there was no need to worry and look over our shoulders constantly. "Everyone say goodbye to Bella. Renata, tell the pilot we'll be leaving as soon as possible." Aro turned and waited for those who wished to say goodbye to do so. Which surprisingly, turned out to be Felix, Demetri, and Jane.

Jane practically ran towards me and steamrolled me into a hug. "I'll miss you little sister." I smiled at her usual greeting of me.

"I'm older than you are pipsqueak." I replied, knowing what she was going to say next.

"Only in human years." We both said at the same time. I gave her kiss on her forehead and she started to back away from me but I held her closer to me once more. "Maybe one day when everything calms down, I'll be able to visit. You know, we might have to wait about five centuries, but you never know." She laughed and I finally let her go.

"Okay Bella. You know I am not that easy on goodbyes so I am just going to say that I still think you're my little sister and I'm glad I don't have to kill you now." I raised my eyebrows at Demetri as he leaned in for a hug. He was right, he really wasn't good at goodbyes.

Felix gently pulled on my arm and led me away, a lot good that would do; vampires can hear everything. "Are you sure about this? I mean staying with Cullen." The name Cullen was profanity on Felix's tongue. "You sure you don't want to come back to the guard. To me?" Felix was pleading and my urge to keep everyone happy soared into overdrive.

I could see me and Felix together, for all of eternity. Leading the guard side by side. His brute and my shield, we'd make a formidable weapon. I did truly love him and I knew he loved me. A life with Felix would most definitely work. If I had never met Edward.

"I know what I'm about to say isn't what you want to hear. I'll always love you but Edward is my missing soul. I love him so much. After I was changed, I tried to force myself to forget Edward and to love only you, but it didn't work. It couldn't work. I loved you both, but he is the one. I never meant to hurt you and I know there are consequences for what I've done to you-."

"Bella, Bella. Don't worry about it. I understand, just do me a favor. If he hurts you, I want you on the first plane back to Volterra." Felix smiled weakly as if he knew that would never happen, and we both knew it. Felix then pressed his lips to mine, nearly rendering me powerless in his grip.

'Felix, if you don't let go of me. I will need to hurt you.'

"Sorry that was inappropriate of me. I guess this is goodbye?"

I raised myself onto my toes and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye for now. Maybe we'll visit someday." I tried to offer up a smile but it felt wrong. Besides Marcus, I was going to miss Felix the most.

I waved to Alec who barely looked at me and I was sad by how quickly he turned his back on me, but in his eyes, I had abandoned him first.

I stood and watch them retreat back to the plane.

"What was that all about?" Jacob said from right behind me once they were back on the plane and the gate was closed. His hand was on my shoulder and I peered up into his big brown eyes.

I took a huge sigh though I didn't need the sudden intake of air. "I don't even know, to be honest with you." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Marcus' number back.

"Hello Bella." Me and Jacob began walking back to the parking lot where we left Jake's bike. The eyes that were once on me and the group of vampires were no longer interested in my goings.

"Marcus, what the hell was that? You're really staying in Volterra? How did you even get to Italy so fast?" I asked instantly.

"When Carlisle said that we should take the remaining time to hunt is when I left. I'm ensuring a future where you can remain happy at Edward's side, and in order for me to do so, I must stay in Volterra."

"And what about the Cullen's. What is it that you gave them that Aro is afraid will get out?"

I heard him chuckling, trying to hold it in. I'd never seen nor heard him so happy before and I tried to imagine him sitting in his throne laughing. "You see that's the funny thing, I didn't pass anything off to Carlisle. But there is something that Aro wants to keep hidden, or else he wouldn't have reacted the way he did. And my dear, I do intend on finding that out."

"But Marcus that doesn't make any sense, Aro is going to know by the time he gets home and touches you. He'll know that there isn't anything for the Cullen's to release in case something was to happen to you. This was a stupid plan. A very stupid plan!" I contemplated buying a ticket to Italy but I didn't have my passport. The only way I could get to Volterra was if I swam for it, but I wouldn't make it in time. Marcus was about to be on his own in the lion's den.

"Bella I can't divulge everything to you just now, but I will tell you this, everything else is in place in the event I reach my final death. I can promise you that, but I don't believe such drastic measures will need to be taken. However this ends up Bella, you will hear some news about the Volturi very soon. But listen Bella, whatever happens, know I've loved you as nothing but a daughter." I grabbed onto Jacob's arm for support. Marcus was saying his final goodbye to me as if he expected to not make it out alive. It wasn't very comforting to me, the way I'm sure he had expected it to.

We had reached the motorcycle and Jacob was on the seat, waiting for me to hop on behind him. But I hadn't even said anything to Marcus.

"Can this not be goodbye Marcus?"

"It has to do for now, love. I do hope that we'll see each other again." Then suddenly the line went dead. Marcus had a few hours to get whatever he needed in place before Aro arrived back to the castle.

"How fast can you get back to the manor? I need to see Carlisle." Jake didn't even answer me, he just put the bike in gear and rode off. From behind him, I couldn't see how fast he was going, but it was definitely faster than the drive to the airport.

When we finally reached the house, I could hear everyone inside making some sort of commotion.

"Where did you take her? What did you do to her?" I heard Edward growl too late jumping from the second floor window. He landed on top of Jacob and started punching him, but before he could even lay the first punch into Jake's face, I grabbed his fist and launched his body into the woods.

"Stop it Edward. Jacob didn't do anything to me except what I told him to do." I held out my hand and stood between him and Jacob who was still picking himself off of the ground.

"Kinky." Emmett smirked from the porch and I wished I was standing next to him so I could smack his head.

"I had Jake take me to the airport. I needed to speak to Aro alone. I thought I could make a deal."

"Oh honey, you didn't." Esme rushed past her children to stand before me. "Bella we should have made a solid front here. Together."

"I know, but I felt it was something that I needed to do." I explained about Aro's reaction when he saw me there alone and went into the phone calls from Marcus. They reacted pretty calmly when I told them about the conversation that Marcus had with Aro and showed some concern when I mentioned that he planned on staying in Volterra even after committing the treason against Aro.

"Well the next time you feel the need to confront homicidal vampires can you at least call me first or at least pick up the phone when I call? When Billy called here looking for Jacob it sent us into panic mode. The only way we knew that you were okay was by knowing that you were still with Jacob, and Alice still couldn't see you." Edward's nose was pinched.

"I don't get it. How was that helpful?" I looked between Alice, Edward, and Jacob.

"Because she can't see me and they know that I'd protect you at whatever cost, even if it's with my own life." Jacob finally spoke up.

"And so as long as you couldn't see me, you knew I was still alive? Some might think that seems a bit selfish." I teased, I wasn't really mad.

"Well some might say you were selfish for hogging all the glory at the airport. But let's not split hairs." Emmett stood on the porch and pouted. I stifled a laugh at how pitiful he looked.

"Mr. Emmett, are you upset that you didn't get to fight any vampires today?" I stalked over to him with my hands on my hips.

"Maybe. Why? You offering?" The smile grew bigger the closer I got to him.

"I'm not sure you want to do that Emmett. She's gonna beat you in arm wrestling thirty times in a row." Alice piped up and everyone seemed to whistle or yell out a catcall of some sort. Rose rolled her eyes at her husband's ability to act like an infant at the drop of a hat.

"Well then we'll just have to go till thirty one." Emmett hollered and got into place. "I'm ready!"

"Bells?" I heard Charlie come in through the front door shortly after Emmett and Rosalie ran upstairs. Emmett was still mad that after sixty four tries, he couldn't beat me in arm wrestling. He insisted that the next time, it was full on wrestling, and then unsubtly added that he wanted to practice with Rose first. We collectively groaned as the rest of us settled in to watch a movie. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost eight p.m.

"Hey dad, we're all in here." I called out to him.

"Hey Bella. Everyone. Hey listen, I overheard you guys talking yesterday about the people from Italy coming by. Do you know if they made it okay?" We all looked puzzled because we didn't think that he would have been able to hear us. No one should have heard us.

"Ahh no, they called me early this morning and said they'd needed to postpone the visit. Why? What's up?"

"While I was out with Billy this morning there were reports all over the radio about plane crash over the Atlantic. They think the plane was from Italy but couldn't be sure because it wasn't on any airports manifest. It was just some phantom plane that shouldn't have been in the air. They couldn't even tell if it was leaving the states or arriving."

"Oh God, that sounds horrible. I guess I'll give my friends a call to make sure they weren't trying to surprise me. I'll call them in a bit though. It's a little after two in the morning for them. Why don't you get some rest dad. Hanging out with Billy all day has got to have you tired out." I exuded confidence to persuade him to do as I say. It was weird trying to dazzle my own father, but I really wanted him upstairs.

"Yeah, I already ate, so tell Esme that I hope she didn't cook a lot of food tonight. Though I'm sure we can give the leftovers to Billy and Jacob. Jacob eats like a horse."

"More like a wolf." Jasper said under his breath but Charlie didn't seem to hear him, I hoped. Alice elbowed him in his chest nevertheless.

"Ok, dad I'll let her know." While Charlie shuffled his way up the steps, I dug my cellphone out of my back pocket, and walked outside.

"I can make him lethargic if you want." Jasper offered and I nodded a thanks to him.

"We're making calls outside now? It's not like everyone in the house won't be able to hear you." Edward, Jasper and Alice followed me to the front of the house. The crickets were loud at this time of night but the second we walked outside, the woods quieted.

"Precisely. You heard Charlie, he heard us talking about my Italian "friends" remember. I need to talk to Marcus. Hell, I'd even settle for Aro if it meant getting some answers." I retorted.

Edward nodded and I went ahead and dialed the number to the castle.

"Bella. I would have thought you would have called a bit sooner. A plane crash is kind of major." Marcus' voice rang through my end of the phone without so much as a greeting.

"Marcus, what happened? Was that Aro's plane?"

"It was. But before you get upset, apparently you have your former guard members to thank. It would seem that once the plane took off, Aro started conspiring with Caius about killing us. All of us, including you and the gifted Cullen's. His exact words were, 'If I can't have them, Carlisle won't either.' Felix, Jane, Demetri, and Alec all over-powered Renata, Aro, and Caius easily. The only way to dispose of the bodies, was to dispose of the plane."

"And they swam to you." I chuckled lightly before continuing, "so, what about the Volturi? Who's going to lead them with you." I assumed that he was going to take Aro's position especially now that he didn't have to look over his shoulder.

"I wouldn't suppose you and Edward would mind joining me?" Marcus laughed quite loudly through the phone but I didn't have much time to react. "Jane and Demetri will sit on either side of me. But I must warn you, Sulpicia and Athendora are no longer with us. I had to kill them as well, but it was more out of mercy. They couldn't handle the responsibility to mourn for their mates." Marcus was truly sad about what was probably his first act as the ruler of the Volturi.

"So that's it? This is all over?"

Marcus took his time, pondering my question. "It's the end."

A/N: Okay, I'm kind of tired from life right now, so I'll be taking a break from posting stories right now, but only for a couple of weeks. But don't despair, I'll be back with new chapters for the newest story, Celestial. Please review, and I'm sorry for all of the delays in between postings. Love you guys and REVIEW!