He stood in a dark alleyway, barely concealed, his eyes closed and serenity written over his perfect face as he took one slow step nearer to the sun-filled plaza. He would have to take his final steps quickly; Felix and Demitri's eyes were boring into the back of his head, warning him. He didn't care. Eyes still shut, he took a final breath- not that he needed it- and with a final burst of courage he strode out into the plaza.

He couldn't see what was happening, but he knew what he looked like as the brightness enveloped him. The sun's rays scattered off his paper-pale, granite-hard skin as if he were carved out of diamond. Even his golden hair glittered. The voices and thoughts of the surrounding crowd assaulted him; there were a few intermittent screams (though why they would be screaming, he didn't know- he didn't look terrifying), a lot of gasps, and many Oh my Gods.

God.

He wondered if there was one. Hopefully Carlisle was right and they did have souls and his would fly to heaven and would be greeted by Bella…he would see her again, soon.

His thoughts flashed to his family and he thought I'm sorry, while two pairs of stonelike arms (belonging to Felix and Demitri by the smell of it) gripped his body and started dragging him back to the shadowed alleyway. He did not fight back.

The mental image of Bella throwing herself off a cliff started replaying, and pain and guilt surged forward and he couldn't stand seeing the image anymore. His eyes snapped open and the golden irises locked onto the vision of the clocktower. The hands of the clock still ticked relentlessly on, counting down the minutes and seconds he had left until his existence was ended. Eternity was slipping away from him.

Felix and Demitri turned a corner, and the clocktower was wrenched from his view. They were almost to the entrance of the tunnel. The darkness of the surrounding shadows made him think of Hell, and suddenly a horrible thought occurred to him: What if Bella was in heaven but he was damned?…No, he couldn't think like that. He clung instead to the hope that they would be together in the afterlife.

The open to the tunnel clattered open and he briefly wondered whether he would be forced to suffer under Jane's excruciating gaze before they destroyed him. It would be worth it. He would suffer through anything to see Bella again. He focused on the image of her, pale and beautiful and surrounded by celestial light, reaching out to meet him. A smile quirked the edges of his cold lips as he imagined her.

He could hear her already.