Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or Bloodlines or any of the wonderful characters that Rochelle Mead has created. I own the plot and any new characters.

Four words.

I had faced countless Strigoi—been held captive by them, fought them, and killed them—but in all my life, I had never been as hurt, as terrified, or as broken as I was after hearing those four damned words.

Love fades. Mine has.

They were replaying through my mind ever since I had bolted from the church. Who knew four words could cause so much damage?

Emotions warred within me, fighting for dominance. Devastation. Shock. Anger. Disbelief. I didn't know how to feel.

How could he have said that?

I knew that I had been pushing it. Going to the church, confronting him in a place I knew he would be unable to leave unexpectedly or raise his voice without causing a scene. I knew that he didn't want to see me, didn't want to talk to me, but I didn't care. After everything I went through to bring him back—to restore him—he owed me an explanation. One where he couldn't yell for the guards to take me away halfway through.

Why?

Why was he pushing me away? Why wouldn't he accept my forgiveness? Why wasn't he fighting for me when I had spent the last several months fighting for him?

I've given up on you.

The words were like a slap to the face.

How could he have given up on me? I had traveled across the globe to find him. Granted, it was for the sake of killing him, but still. I left school, left my friends, jeopardized my future...all to keep the promise we had made to each other from what seemed like a lifetime ago. I loved him. I loved him so much that it hurt and once upon a time, I knew he had loved me just as intensely.

How could he just give that up?

I didn't know what I had expected would happen once Dimitri became a Dhampir again. Even when I allowed myself to believe that he could be restored, I knew that I would most likely have to kill him to protect others, so I hadn't given what would happen once he had been restored too much thought. I'm not sure if I expected him to immediately run into my arms after Lissa had staked him, but I sure hadn't expected him to push me away like he had over these last few days.

I knew that he would have a hard time coming to terms with what he had done in his time as a Strigoi, but I thought that it was something that we could have worked through together. I was supposed to be the one who comforted him, who helped him heal. Not Lissa.

Lissa.

A spark of frustration and jealousy flashed through me and I shook my head, trying to rid myself of it. I knew I shouldn't be mad at her, but I was. I couldn't help it and I hated it. I knew she was only doing what she thought was best for Dimitri, but what about what was best for me?

What was best for me?

For months I had been convinced that I couldn't live in a world knowing that Dimitri was out there as a Strigoi and went through some admittedly insane ordeals to rectify it. Could I live in a world where Dimitri was no longer Strigoi, but no longer the Dimitri I knew—the Dimitri I loved?

Dimitri but not Dimitri.

A strangled laugh escaped my lips as I became painfully aware of how ironic this all was. Two Moroi women who had been gossiping with one another on a nearby bench looked over at me in shock after my sudden outburst. I simply ignored them as I tried to gain my bearings.

I had no idea of how long I had been walking aimlessly around court. My only objective after leaving the church was to put as much distance between me and Dimitri as possible. It only took me a moment to realize where my subconscious had taken me and I gave another half-crazed laugh.

I was standing right in front of Adrian's apartment building.

I debated with myself for a moment on whether or not I should go in, ultimately deciding that I should. While I was still reeling from the incident in the church, I wasn't the only one who was owed an explanation. As much as I was hurting over Dimitri, I knew that over the last few days, I had been a pretty terrible girlfriend. Hell, I had pretty much thrown myself at Dimitri, all but confessing my love for him, and I owed Adrian an apology.

I had made it to his floor when a sudden burst of emotion through the bond caused me to stop in my tracks. Dimitri had found Lissa and told her about what had happened in the church. I had been so consumed by my own emotional tempest that I hadn't been able to feel hers. She was upset and concerned, knowing that I wouldn't be taking what had happened well.

She was going to come looking for me.

I probed the bond a little bit more and sighed with relief. She was headed to my apartment which was on the opposite side of court.

I continued on and paused in front of Adrian's door. What if he wasn't here? I shook my head, mustering my strength. There was only one way to find out.

Within seconds after knocking, the door swung open.

"Little Dhampir! What a supr—"

His sentence was cut off as I fell into him, wrapping my arms around him in a desperate hug. For a moment he froze, shocked. Frankly, I was shocked too. I hadn't expected the swell of emotion that came over me when I saw him in the doorway.

Things had never been normal between us. It was no secret that he had been smitten with me from the moment we first met, where as I found him aggravating. He loved me when I loved no one but Dimitri and somewhere along the way, I had started to love him. Through all of it, he had always been my friend. Even when he was being manipulated by Avery and I had been drugged by Strigoi endorphins, he had still been there for me, his friendship a constant.

Adrian's arms quickly wrapped around me, his hand soothingly moving up and down my back. His clothes smelled like cologne and cloves and for once, I didn't hate the smell of his cigarettes. The smell was almost comforting. Familiar.

"It's going to be okay, Rose." Adrian murmured, pressing his lips to the top of my forehead for a quick kiss, "Whatever just happened, it's going to be alright."

I was dangerously close to crying.

"Can I come in?"

My face was pressed tightly against his chest, buried in what was no doubt an expensive cashmere sweater, so my question came out as a jumble of muted words. Adrian seemed to understand.

"Of course."

He ushered me in and he gently led me over to the plush sofa in his living room. I hadn't spent a whole lot of time in Adrian's apartment since moving to court, but it was huge—far bigger than mine. In fact, I was quite certain that my entire unit could fit in his living room.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked, after he made sure I was settled.

I slowly shook my head and fought to get my thoughts under control.

Adrian studied me and after a moment of heavy silence, it became clear that I was supposed to be the one to start this conversation.

With a heavy sigh, I began, "I'm sorry."

Adrian tilted his head confused, "Sorry? For what? For coming over here? Rose—"

"No," I interrupted, "I'm sorry for being a really shitty girlfriend."

"Rose—" Adrian began again, but stopped when I held my hand up as a signal for him to let me explain.

"Adrian, please. We both know that I haven't been that great of a girlfriend recently. First lying to you about Victor, going to Vegas, avoiding you these past few days…" I trailed off, daring to sneak a glance at him.

He met my gaze and I couldn't quite say how, we'd never been able to communicate wordlessly to each other like Dimitri and I had, but in that moment I saw that he knew about my visit to Dimitri in while he was in the palace jail.

"I'm sorry for not telling you that I saw him, that I spoke to him. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I don't love him anymore. I don't know what I feel. I just know that I care about you and you are too good of a person for me to be treating you like this. You deserve better and I'm sorry."

Adrian sat there for a moment, taking this all in. Pressing his lips together, his face uncharacteristically determined, he reached out for my hands. I let him take them.

"I knew what I was getting myself into."

I sat there shocked, "But—"

"Rose, it's your turn to listen now." He interrupted, giving me a stern, but slightly amused look, "I knew how much you loved him and like I said before, I was naïve to think that those feelings would just simply go away. Of course you're confused, you have every right to be with all that has happened, but you also need to be honest with me.

"Yes, you should have told me about visiting Dimitri—something I wasn't thrilled to hear for the first time from Lissa, by the way—but you also should have been honest with me about what you were feeling. If you were feeling something confusing for him, you should have told me. We could have talked about it."

He pressed a finger to my lips when he saw them open to speak, "I know that going to your boyfriend to talk about your ex is not the most ideal situation, but I'd rather us have a few awkward conversations than to discover you broke one of the Moroi world's top criminals from prison for said ex any day."

My mouth closed. He had a point.

"Just promise me that from here on out, we're going to be honest with one another. The truth may hurt, but lies hurt even worse."

I nodded, still a little stunned at his words, "When did you get to be so wise?"

Adrian's face softened a bit, his hand moving from my mouth, to my hair, tucking a little bit of it back behind my ear, "It comes and goes."

I smiled, leaning my head into his hand. My eyes widened as another meaning to what he said suddenly registered, "Wait, so does this mean that you don't want to break up with me?"

It was Adrian's turn to be shocked, "What? Why would we break up?"

I just stared at him, "After how I've treated you, I just thought…you know…I had no right to think that we would stay…"

"Rose," Adrian laughed, "I have an addictive personality. I'm sure you could do all kinds of terrible things and I'd still come back to you."

"I'll try not to do more bad things." I said, surprised at how relieved I was.

Adrian just smirked, "Well…be careful of how you define 'bad things.' I don't mind you doing bad things, say, in the bedroom."

I rolled my eyes. I had walked right into that one.

I gave his chest a halfhearted swat as a knock suddenly came from the door. I didn't even need to check the bond to know who it was.

"It's Lissa." I whispered frantically.

"Please, Adrian, tell her I'm not here." I whispered, my voice urgent.

The light atmosphere that had filled the room turned tense once more and after a moment's hesitation, he gave a terse nod and told me to hide out in the kitchen. Why Adrian had a kitchen this place, I had no idea. I don't think I had ever seen him boil water let alone hint at the fact that he even knew how to turn on a stove. Not surprisingly, the kitchen looked barely used, but it was full of the finest culinary appliances money could buy.

I heard murmurs coming from the living room and crept to the kitchen's doorway as quietly as I could.

"I haven't seen her all day." Adrian sighed. He sounded almost forlorn, "I'm afraid my mother has been trying her best at involving me in the intricacies and politics of living at court and I have been helping her plan yet another dinner party all morning. I actually just got home."

"I just don't know where she could be. I checked her apartment and she wasn't there. Christian is checking the Guardian café…" Lissa said, her voice full of concern.

"I'm sure she'll turn up sooner rather than later, Lissa."

"Yeah, you're right." Lissa muttered, sounding torn, "It's just that...he was really harsh with her, Adrian. She couldn't have taken it well. I know he's been trying to keep her at arm's length these past few days, but even I couldn't believe some of the things he said to her at the church."

I cautiously peeked through the door's tiny sliver of an opening and didn't need spirit to know that Adrian's aura had to be burning with anger. He'd never had patience as far as Dimitri was concerned and while I'm sure he had pieced together that I was upset over something Dimitri had done, I'm not sure that I wanted him to hear the full extent of what had taken place at the church.

"What did he say?" Adrian asked, his voice edged with barely contained restraint.

"That he no longer loved her and never would again. Adrian, he told her that he had given up on her."

Adrian's hands clenched into fists, "After all of what she did to bring him back, he had the audacity to say that?"

Lissa looked away, unable to answer.

"Well." Adrian stated, trying to compose himself, "I haven't seen Rose, but I'll let you know if I find her."

"Thank you, Adrian. She's just been through so much. I hate that this is all happening."

"Me too."

I backed away from the door, trying to get my breathing under control. All of the feelings that had warred within me as I ran from the church were starting to swirl back up again, blackness ebbing my vision, and threatening to take me into a spirit induced frenzy.

I leaned against one of the granite countertops and closed my eyes, trying to keep it together. At some point, Lissa must have left because Adrian came into the kitchen and once again took me into his arms.

For a while we stood in silence. Me trying my hardest not to cry and Adrian offering silent comfort as he patted my back.

How did everything become such a mess? Where did I even go from here? I would be assigned as Lissa's Guardian, but right now Dimitri was also her charge. How could I face him after this? How could I try to start anything with Adrian when I would have my heart broken over and over every day?

Suddenly the answer became all too clear.

"Compulse it away."

Adrian pulled away slightly, confused about what I had just said, "What?"

"The pain." I blurted out, "Please, it hurts too much."

I was begging and I hated it, but I was desperate.

"Every time I see him…I just want my heart to stop breaking."

I was surprised at how small I sounded and something in my voice must have shocked Adrian because he was looking at me with an expression I had never seen on his face. Pity.

"I don't think what you're asking me to do is appropriate. I don't want to make you forget—"

"I'm not asking you to make me forget him. I just want…"

What did I want?

Love fades. Mine has.

"I just want my feelings for him to fade. That's all."

"But surely with time—" Adrian started, but I just shook my head.

"I don't have time. Not with Lissa always spending time with him. Not with his archaic promise to serve and protect her. I won't get time to heal, not unless I leave again and while I don't think you would be all that opposed to an impromptu vacation, I can't do that to Lissa. I'm her Guardian."

Adrian stared at me for what seemed like hours and I could practically see his mind thinking my request through. Was it unfair for me to ask him to compel the love I had for Dimitri away?

Perhaps, but he of all people had the most to gain from doing it.

I saw the moment he made his decision and with a quick flash of what almost seemed like regret, he took my hands and held my gaze.

My mind suddenly turned cloudy.

"Rose. The love you have for Dimitri is gone. Everything that has happened this last year, everything you experienced, you will still remember, but it will seem as though it happened months ago. You will remember your relationship with him, you will remember that you used to love him, but your relationship with him is over. You have accepted this and decided to move on with your life for good.

Adrian's eyes flashed again, only this time there was no regret. His eyes were filled with something else. Anger?

"You will remember everything he has said to you, how he has treated you these past few days since being restored. You will remember each and every time Belikov has broken your heart with perfect clarity. Maybe you two can eventually become friends again, but you're leaving that entirely up to him. Until then, you will be perfectly cordial towards him whenever you're around each other."

Adrian paused for a moment unsure of what he was about to say next.

"You will forget that you asked me to do this, but if I ever say the word 'şti,' you will remember everything that I have just compelled away. Do you understand?"

I nodded and he released me, blinking as he dropped his gaze to our hands. Mine were neatly nestled in his, and I silently watched him as he studied every detail. After a moment, he looked up, meeting my gaze once more.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, giving my hands a gentle squeeze.

"Hungry. I don't suppose you have any food in that pristine kitchen of yours?"

Adrian stared at me with what almost appeared to be shock before amusement began to fill his features.

"Has there ever been a moment in time when you were not hungry?"

I tilted my head to the side and scrunched my face in mock thought. His eyes danced with laughter as he awaited my response.

"Once when I was seven, but I was so young then. So naïve. I didn't even know there were things in the world called Pop Tarts."

Adrian laughed and I found myself joining. I felt so…happy. Free.

"Pop Tarts?"

My jaw dropped, "Do you not know what a Pop Tart is?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. What exactly about this tart makes it pop?"

"Oh, Ivoshkov." I tsked, shaking my head in mock sorrow, "You poor little royal. Your world is about to get rocked."

I stood up, pulling him up with me, and headed towards the front door.

"If my world is about to get rocked then why are we not heading towards the bedroom?"

I rolled my eyes and gave his chest a halfhearted slap.

I had walked right into that one.

A/N: This chapter was way longer than I anticipated. Thanks for getting through it all! I promise they'll be shorter/more manageable moving forward. I just felt that to really set this story up and really make this "Love Fades" story my own, I couldn't rush things. As much as I LOVE Romitri, I really want to give Adrian and Rose a shot in this story, but not because Rose forgot Dimitri entirely. If enough time had elapsed for Rose to heal and move on, would she have? And how will this affect Dimitri on his own path to recovery?

Let me know what you think!