Hey, guys. This is a rewrite of the old 'Reformed' which I deleted. It's because I found that it was difficult to write the second chapter, and I think it would make more sense and will be better this way. Without further ado, I present you...the new and reformed...'Reformed.'
I glanced out of the window, my long dark brown hair, obscuring me from the view. I was in an airplane, courtesy of Zmey and Adrian. I sighed, brushing my long hair aside. My father, Abe, looked at me with concern on his face. I didn't blame him. I've been having nightmares, and it always ends up with me crying a river. Most people thinks I'm tough and crying seems like the last thing on my list to do. I was strong before, but I'm weak now. Ever since that day...
"Love fades, mine has." I stare at Dimitri for a second. He was serious. Shock and hurt was on my face, but I quickly put on my blank guardian mask and left church before tears started running down my face. After all this time, after everything I have done, he doesn't love me anymore. I traveled across the world to Siberia, to save him. I broke a person out of jail, to save him. I risked my own life and my friends' life...for him. Get the point? My heart was shattered in a million pieces, a million pieces that can never just come back together. I ran to Lissa. I always did. Whenever I had problems, she was the person I confided in. However, when I spoke to her, tears running down my face, she seemed disinterested. I was somewhat annoyed. After all, I have heard her speak about all her troubles, I felt like I deserved it myself. I asked her about it.
"Hey, Lissa, you seem kind of off today..."
"I am not off, thank you very much." Lissa snapped, her jade eyes flashing.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, somewhat confused.
"I've been wanting to tell you this, but I've been brushing it off. I suppose now is the time to tell you."
"Wait, are you marrying Sparky?" I exclaimed, thinking that was the news that Lissa wanted to tell me.
"NO, Rose. Look, stop with your bitching and moaning about Dimitri. Get this across your head, Dimitri is not interested in you. Seriously. Like, I'm tired of hearing you groan about Dimitri. He doesn't like you anymore. Get over it. I have a date with Christian in thirty minutes, and I don't have time for you bitching." Lissa looked outraged, as she stood up and walked over to her mirror.
"Lissa...are you sure you're okay? This isn't you. And for your information, I wasn't bitching and moaning."
"God, listen to yourself. He'll never like you okay? I know that's, like, hard to get across your head. I'm really tired of you, Rose. You can never do anything right. Like at Spokane. For god's sake, Mason died. And if it wasn't for you, he might be here right now. The more you do, the more damage you do to everyone. For all we know, Victor's out there, plotting some revenge or some crazy kidnapping for me." Lissa glared at Rose. "Get out of my room. I don't want to see you."
I stood up numbly, going out of Lissa's room and slamming the door behind. I sprinted back to my room, barely making for it before tears started running down my face. What have I done wrong? I cried for a long time. I rarely cried, so this was unnatural for me. After two hours or so, my tears had finally ran dry, and I was laying on the floor, surrounded by a tissue box, a trashcan, and droplets of my tears. My hair was a complete mess and my eyes and nose were red. There was a knock on my door.
"Little dhampir?" It was Adrian.
"C-come in..." I call, sniffling.
"What's wrong, Rose?" I rarely hear Adrian call me that. He always called me by my nickname. Adrian sat down on the floor beside me, and held me in my arms, murmuring nonsesical words as I explained my story, crying rivers. I buried my face into his shoulder, relaxing in his scent of clove cigarettes and the fancy cologne.
"Why would Lissa say something like that?" He growled. I pulled back, running a hand over my eyes. I rarely saw him that angry. "It makes me mad, for her to treat you like this. For that..." He paused. "Russian god," He spat out. "to say that...what are you going to do, Rose?" Adrian asked me.
"I've already graduated...I think I'm going to go to Russia and meet up with Denis, Lev, and Artur." I sigh, pulling my hair up in a messy bun.
"Who are they?" Adrian asked, raising an eyebrow. Damn, why does everyone know how to do that?
"Friends I met when hunting for...Dimitri." It hurt to say his name, as if a cut opened every time I said it. Adrian nodded.
"That would...probably be good for you. Here, I'll get you some tickets and some cash to get you by." I almost started crying.
"Thank you...Adrian. This means a lot to me." I tell him earnestly, as he stood up and made several calls on his cell phone. "But...why are you doing this?"
"Because you're my friend, Rose. I know you'll never feel the way I feel about you...but, I'm doing this because it'll make you happy." Adrian grinned at me, flashing his white teeth at me.
"So...how am I supposed to go to Novosibirsk?"
"You'll find out soon..." Adrian smiled mischievously at me.
Soon was 3 days later and the surprise came in the form of Abe Mazur.
"Zmey!" As much I hated to admit it, I liked Abe. He was practically like a father to me.
"Ah...little girl," He wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear. "Do you want my bodyguards to take on Dimitri? They're more than ready." I rolled my eyes. Overprotective...as usual.
"It's fine, Old man. What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.
"I'm going to be your ticket out of here. I have a private jet, we'll be heading to Novosibirsk...Adrian's been keeping me up to date on you," Abe explained. "What do you plan to do at Baia?"
"I'm going to go with Denis, Lev, and Artur. I met them the last time at Novosibirsk. We're going to be hunting for strigoi..." I trailed off, seeing the dangerous look in Abe's eye.
"You're not going to do that. You might as well put a sign 'I want to die' on your forehead." He snapped.
"Look, Old Man, you're not in charge what I'm doing. Believe it or not, I'm an adult now and I can make my own choices," I shot back. Abe sighed.
"I'm not going to be liking this, but if you ever want, I have a position for you to help me with the Alchemists. Your...little friends would be welcomed too." He said, as he took my duffel bag and handed it to Pavel. "We have to leave now...I want to get back to Baia as quickly as possible."
I grinned and turned to look at Adrian. "I'm going to miss you, Adrian..." I sigh.
"Same...I'll be visiting you in your dreams." He told me, giving me a hug. I was going to miss him.
"That'd be good," I tell him truthfully as I boarded on the jet without another look back at the court. I was going to miss it, but it was time to start a new life. A new Rose Hathaway. A reformed one...My heart wasn't mended yet, but maybe...I can build it back, piece by piece, like a puzzle.
"We're here," Abe interrupted my thoughts, as he stood up to grab my suitcase and my duffle bag. I smiled at him, although it was somewhat forced.
"Thanks, Abe...this really means a lot to me." I tell him earnestly, giving him a hug. We stood like that for a couple of seconds, before Abe stepped back.
"Don't do anything dangerous...and, Rose-" He paused, handing me a cell phone. "I already entered my phone number in your contacts. Stay in touch, alright?" He inquired. I nodded, grinning as I took my suitcase and duffle bag from him and stepped off the plane. I wasn't sure where Abe was going, but I think he had to go to some important meeting somewhere else. I waved good-bye to him as I stepped off the plane and onto the soil of Novosibirsk.
It took me awhile, but finally, I got in touch with Denis and arranged a meeting with him. I sat in a cafe, eating some cheesecake and sipping on some coffee, when Denis stepped into the cafe. He changed, a lot. He was muscular now, and had a dangerous look. The fact that he was wearing leather motorcycle jacket didn't help. He had more people on his team, a couple, in which I didn't know. The waitress glanced at them and back to me, obviously wondering why I had such friends. However, I stood up and gave Denis a hug.
"Where were you?" Denis said, stepping back from our embrace and sitting down on a chair.
"I went back to Montana. I couldn't get a hold of you..." I trailed off, glancing at his face. I looked at Tamara, Lev, and Artur, grinning as I did. It was nice to be with them again.
"So...not to be rude, but why are you here?" Lev inquired, straddling the chair. I shrugged.
"Well, there was some complications back at Court. I already graduated, so I decided to come here...and, well, start a new life, I suppose." I explained, feeling a pain in my heart. Lev nodded, accepting my answer.
"Well...then, welcome to our little crew." Denis exclaimed, holding up a hand for a waitress to bring some donuts.
"You've gotten more people," I nodded at the two unfamiliar faces.
"Yes. That's Damien and Aaron." Artur spoke up, gesturing at the two. They were both...extremely hot. Damien had a sexy and dangerous look to him, dark eyes and brown-blonde hair that was messy. Aaron was more muscular and fit, looking like a wrestler with black hair and dark brown eyes.
After the coffee, I stood up, along with the others.
"So, what's first?" Denis asked me, assuming that I was the leader of their crew now. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Damn, I still couldn't do that one-eyebrow raising thing.
"I want to get a makeover first. Trim my hair, dye it red, get azure contacts..." I trailed off.
"I'm going to be the new and reformed Rose Hathaway."