THEY HAD JUST gotten off the plane when Renesmee ran forward and hugged Mayla with so much force the dirty-blonde stumbled backward.

"I beat Felix!" Renesmee exclaimed. Mayla smiled. "Good job."

"Can I go against you then?"

"Sure," Mayla smiled.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Mayla's smile widened and she nodded.

When they got back to Volterra, Mayla led them to the throne room.

As soon as they got into the room, Mayla fell to the ground clutching her head in pain as the spirits started screaming in her mind. Edward put his hand to his temple, hearing what she was.

"Mayla?" Esme asked. Mayla continued to hold her head in her hands.

Eventually, the spirits quit and Mayla stood.

"Ahh, Mayla. How lovely to see you again." Aro smiled as he walked into the room and up to Mayla. He took her hand in his, causing her to tense up.

Aro laughed the same concerning laugh Mayla had heard hundreds of times.

"Well, well," Aro released Mayla's hand, "seems like there's quite a bit I've missed."

Mayla nodded stiffly. "I'm going to go finish some of the papers in my office."

Aro nodded before Mayla walked out of the room.

"Carlisle, dear friend, I have a favor to ask of you."

Carlisle nodded, his arm wrapped tightly around Esme's waist. "What is it?"

"Would you mind staying in Volterra to keep an eye on Mayla for a short while? Your family can stay if that's what you wish."

Carlisle nodded causing Aro to clap his hands together once and smile. "Wonderful! Thank you, Carlisle, thank you!"

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"HE ASKED CARLISLE to stay because he wants to keep Mayla alive," Edward said.

Bella nodded. "She has a very powerful gift. Why wouldn't he want to keep her?"

"That's the thing. He doesn't want to keep her because of her power, — though he finds her ability to be a powerful asset — he wants to keep her for Caius."

"What would Caius want with Mayla?"

Edward sighed. "I don't know. Aro's thoughts were very guarded."

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

IT HAD BEEN a few days since the Cullens had arrived in Volterra.

Mayla smiled at Esme. "Would you like to see the castle grounds?"

Esme nodded. "Sure."

Mayla smiled and picked the blanket off her legs to reveal a plain black dress. It had sleeveless straps connecting to an open back. The dress was tight-fitting and came to her knees.

They walked through the castle, Mayla showing Esme different specifics.

When they had gotten back to Mayla's room she frowned.

"What's wrong?" Esme asked. Mayla shrugged. "I don't know."

She grabbed onto her bed frame to steady herself as she started to feel dizzy.

Esme looked at Mayla. "I'm going to go get Carlisle, okay?"

Mayla nodded.

"I'll be right back."

Mayla nodded before Esme sped out of the room.

A few moments later Mayla rushed to the bathroom and threw up the contents of her stomach. Seconds later, Carlisle walked into the bathroom with Esme following.

"Mayla are you alright?" Esme asked. Mayla didn't answer.

Carlisle placed his hand against her forehead. "Her temperature seems normal."

He carried Mayla to her bed and gently set her on it. Esme carried a small trash can and placed it next to the bed.

"Mm sorry," Mayla mumbled. Carlisle shook his head. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

WEEKS PASSED and Mayla wasn't able to keep anything down. They tried her normal human blood and when that failed, they tried animal blood.

They suggested human food, but the thought still disgusted the dirty-blonde.

"I want to go to the garden," Mayla said softly.

Esme nodded and helped the girl from her bed. The two walked to the garden with Carlisle following behind them.

Mayla sat on a bench and smiled widely.

Jasper walked out and nodded at Carlisle and Esme — telling them he would watch Mayla.

The two walked away smiling and laughing with each other.

Jasper sat next to Mayla. He watched as she sat in silence, slowly losing herself as she watched the couple in front of her, the empath knew that. And he didn't know how much longer she would last.

Mayla sat for hours, watching the trees and the birds.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Mayla mused as she continued to watch the nature around her before she looked to Jasper.

Jasper smiled at Mayla sadly. "Unless you're able to keep something down..."

Mayla nodded and looked back at the nature that surrounded her. "What's it like?'

"What's what like?" Jasper asked. Mayla smiled sadly. "Taking your dying breath."

"Oh," Jasper paused. "I don't know."

Mayla smiled sadly and nodded.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"HEY, ROSALIE." Mayla smiled softly at the dirty blonde. Rosalie rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Mayla asked.

Rosalie rolled her eyes again. "I don't hate you." She started to walk out of the room, but Mayla grabbed the blonde's wrist, accidentally seeing Rosalie's past through an ability.

Beauty. Love.

Pain. Heartbreak. Denial.

Mayla froze, so Rosalie yanked her wrist out of Mayla's grasp.

Right before Rosalie left the room, Mayla spoke up, "I'm sorry."

Rosalie walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"CAN YOU at least try?" Esme asked.

Mayla shook her head causing Esme to sigh deeply.

"Mayla," Edward spoke up. "You have to at least try. For me. And Carlisle... And Roslyn."

Mayla sighed. "Okay."

She scrunched up her nose as a tray of meat was placed in front of her. "What if I want to be vegan?" (A/N: That's not against vegans.)

Edward sighed. "Mayla, please."

Mayla frowned before she picked up a small piece of meat and put it in her mouth.

She scrunched her nose up and gagged.

Mayla eventually swallowed, disgust painted across her face.

"Keep going," Edward encouraged.

Mayla sighed deeply before she continued to slowly eat the mystery meat.

After she had finished, she ran to the bathroom — stumbling a few times — and threw up the mystery meat.

Esme held the dirty-blonde's hair back until she leaned back. Mayla coughed, leaning forward over the toilet causing the brunette to hold her hair again.

She leaned back again before standing up and slowly walking to her bed. When she had gotten to it, she grabbed the frame of the bed and closed her eyes, her body swaying softly.

"Mayla, what's wrong?" Carlisle asked.

Mayla shook her head.

"Mayla, you need to tell me what's wrong," Carlisle said.

Mayla shook her head again.

Carlisle sighed. "Mayla, please."

The blonde's breath became quick and shallow.

"Mayla?" Carlisle asked worriedly.

"Blurry," Mayla murmured quickly.

"What's blurry?" Edward asked.

"Everything is blurry. thoughts are spinning. Worried." Esme helped Mayla stand straight.

"Everything's so blurry."

Mayla fell forward into Esme, the dirty-blonde's knees giving out on her. She let out a strangled cry of pain as the spirits started talking louder and louder.

Esme and Carlisle helped the dirty-blonde into her bed. Tears started streaming down Mayla's cheeks. "Make it stop."

"What can I do?" Carlisle asked softly. Mayla just shook her head and continued crying.

After a few moments had passed, Mayla screamed before the room fell into complete and utter silence.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

DAYS HAD PASSED and Mayla's health had become progressively worse.

Now she was more offer asleep than awake.

The blonde king walked up to the doctor. "May I see her, Carlisle?"

Carlisle nodded and opened the door for the hooded man.

The man sat next to Mayla and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry."

He sat next to the dirty-blonde for about an hour before she stirred.

"Caius?" she asked — her voice no louder than a whisper. The man nodded. "I'm right here."

Mayla smiled and moved to lay her head next to his hand. The girl looked up at him. "What're you doing he —" Mayla was cut off by a cough erupting from her throat.

Caius grabbed the trashcan that sat by her bed and placed it next to her.

Carlisle rushed into the room. He helped Mayla sit up while Caius continued to hold the trashcan.

Mayla sat hunched over the trashcan for a little bit, dry-heaving. When nothing came up, Mayla leaned her head back against the headboard.

"Are you okay?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm fine," Mayla whispered back. Carlisle eyed her warily. "Are you sure?"

Then, Mayla broke down crying. She leaned her head over onto Carlisle's chest. "No. I'm broken. I tell everyone I have everything under control, but I don't."

Carlisle stood with Mayla leaning against his chest until the dirty-blonde fell asleep.