Everything Changes

Summary: Rose and Lissa decide to run away again. This time something happens, but can Lissa get to Rose in time to save her life? Pre- Shadow Kiss

Chapter ONE: Leaving

Rose POV

"Rose, are you sure about this?" Lissa asked me for the hundredth time tonight. We were in my room planning our next escape.

"Liss, yes, I'm sure. We need to do this. You've been in pain ever since your break up with Christian and if you want to get into a good college we can't stay here. You know that, you need to stop being scared. You should know by now I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Don't you trust me?" I could feel how perplexed she was as to why I was suddenly saying we needed to leave, so I added my reasoning. Well, at least the reasons I was going to let her know. I never liked Christian much, but he's good for Lissa, and now that they broke up that little dark seed is back in her. There's one more reason, I need to do this for me. Last winter when everything went to hell and my world was turned upside down, well I'm not completely healed from that. With everything that happened in Spokane, Mason's death and me killing his murderers. Why couldn't I love Mason? Which brings my next point, Dimitri. I love him, it's forbidden and I have to learn to fall out of love, it's going to be hard because…. well, it's more than just love, we're perfect for each other.

"Of course I trust you, Rose!"

"Then, trust I can get us through this!" I cut her off. She looked at me for a moment before nodding. "Okay, so we're leaving. Now, we just have to make a plan," we talked about what we were going to do once we got out and how we were going to get out. About a half hour before curfew Lissa went to talk to the Moroi by the front door of my dorm, she used her compulsion to be able to spend the night in my dorm room. That way it would be so much easier to just get up and leave in the morning. The only downfall of the plan is that we have to leave during the day, like most Moroi, Lissa is uncomfortable in the sun. She's wearing a hat and borrowing my dark sunglasses, hopefully it's enough to get us to where were going. We decided were going to New York.

Lissa has always wanted to go to New York. I found a, supposedly, great high school, so that's good for Lissa. It's not that big either, which is a bonus for me to watch over her. I helped Lissa pack only what she needed, since it was supposed to be only over night the bag couldn't be huge. When we were walking back to my dorm we ran into Dimitri, "Hello, Guardian Belikov," Lissa said formally smiling. I had been avoiding him, only seeing or speaking to him at practices, just nodded.

"Princess, Rose, it's almost curfew. Where are you going?" he eyed Lissa bag.

"Oh, I'm staying in Rose's dorm tonight. Girls sleepover, you know," she smiled.

"Rose, can I speak to you for a second?" Dimitri asked.

"Oh uh, sure, I guess. Here, Liss," I said handing her my keys. "What's up?" I asked when Lissa left.

"You have been avoiding me." He said.

"Yeah, I have. I'm sorry, but I… " I trailed off.

"Roza, I know you're going through a lot, but you can't avoid things forever. You can't avoid me forever."

"A couple months ago that's all you wanted me to do, we still can't be together. I can't keep putting myself through this pain. You know I love you, but going through this is killing me." I looked around to make sure no one was around, since there was none I put my hand on his cheek. "You know I love you," I repeated.

"I'm sorry Rose, I'm sorry about Mason and everything that ever happened with us. I guess you should go back to the princess before she worries." I took my hand away and started walking away, "Wait, Roza?" I turned, "I love you, too."

"Well, who wouldn't?" I laughed and he just shook his head, "Goodbye, Dimitri." I sprinted back to my room; Lissa was sitting on my bed reading some book about something we were supposed to be reading in English. "Um, Liss, I'm just going to get a shower really quick," I grabbed a towel and all my shampoo and conditioners and stuff and headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall. I didn't really need to shower, I hadn't taken one after training this morning, but I needed to be by myself. Lissa see's me as this strong, indestructible person that I'm just not. I put on a front for her, I don't want her to see how much I hurt, and right now I can't let her see me cry. Five minutes later I was fine, I washed my face so you couldn't see that I had been crying. "I'm back!" I smiled walking in the door.

"Hey, Rose!" I closed the door behind me and locked it, "We should probably get some sleep, and we're leaving in a couple hours." I nodded. I had shared a room with a senior novice, but she had graduated so I had the room all to myself. Liss slept in my extra bed, while I tried, and failed, to sleep in my own. What if we get caught? What if it's Dimitri going on guard? We had decided it was best to leave at noon, when shifts were changing. But, what if it's Dimitri coming on duty and he catches us? Damn Rose get a hold of yourself! Be strong for Lissa, you have to do this for Lissa, they come first. I slept for about an hour before Lissa jolted me awake, "Rose, come on! It's time to go!"

"Okay, grab your bag, don't forget the sunglasses or hat. You ready?" she nodded. I slung my bag across my shoulder and unlocked my door. The Moroi at the main door had fallen asleep and since we were a minute behind schedule the guards outside the doors were already gone too. We kept close to the building, with me leading, looking around the last corner, the coast was clear. "Come on, Liss, run!" I whispered. We ran towards the front gate, which were about to close. We had planned this around the gates a little too, when they were open and closed. Right now Moroi are bringing in their feeders. Narrowly slipping past the gate was probably the hardest part of getting out. Now we just have to hot wire a car, no big deal.

We spotted the fastest car and jimmied the lock, I cracked open the part under the wheel and grabbed the necessary wires. "Do I even want to know why you know how to hot wire a car?" Lissa asked sarcastically.

"No, probably not," I laughed. Since we only had a few more precious seconds before we were caught I gunned the car into start and headed for the highway. It took far too long to get to New York, we were both exhausted by the time we got there and we still had to find a place to stay. We had taken some money out of Lissa's bank account before getting on the train so I checked Lissa into a hotel while I went to look for an apartment.

Finding one was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Since we have Lissa's inheritance money we can get a decent apartment by the school without any problem. I made my way back to the hotel as fast as I could, I wanted to make sure Lissa was okay and I needed some sleep. I think I crashed before my head even hit the pillows, I slept for a day nonstop, and Lissa just let me. She said she's a big girl and she can handle herself every once and a while. After having something to eat we went to talk with the landlord for the apartment I had found. At first he was leery about having two young girls as tenants, but with Lissa we can basically get anything we want.

Getting all our stuff wasn't that hard because we didn't really have anything, we'd have to go furniture shopping later. "Hey, Liss, I'm going to go for a run. I need to run everyday, don't let me forget one day, okay?" she nodded. I tied my shoelaces and headed out onto the street towards the park. It's not a very nice day, very cloudy and overcast. I hope it doesn't rain while I'm out here. Out of habit I look at the faces of people around me. Looking for the tell tale red eyes of Strigoi.

I didn't see the red but I did see very familiar eyes. Ivashkov eyes. It was a girl, she hid it well, but I could tell she was Moroi. She looked just like Adrian, only in a woman. I slowed down, "Excuse me, sorry for my interrupting your morning, but are you an Ivashkov?"

Her eyes flickered over towards me, "Uh, yes. No," she started walking away.

"Wait! What does that mean?" I could easily keep up with her.

"It means, I am. But they didn't want me, so I'm out in the world by myself, Dampir. Now, is there something you want, or are you just trying to annoy me?"

"I'm sorry I don't mean to annoy you, it's just you look like some one who… you look like a friend." I didn't know how to categorize Adrian in my life. A friend? An acquaintance? Some random guy I know who likes to flirt with me?

"Adrian Ivashkov. He's my twin brother, he doesn't know it though, and he never will. Here, come with me," I followed her into a small coffee shop. They seem to be everywhere around here. I'm so confused. Adrian has a twin sister, is she a spirit user too? "My name is Adrianna. Our father only wanted a son; he got rid of me as soon as he could. No one even knew about me, except my parents and the doctors, of course, I almost didn't find out. But, you don't need to know about me, who are you, and why are you here?"

"My name is Rose. I can't tell you much else, can't risk being sent back. I do have a question though. If you live around here, where do you get your blood?" I whispered my question.

Adrianna laughed, "Rose, look around you. Moroi and feeders are all around you. This is a place for that type of thing. I figured you'd ask about that sooner or later. Oh, and they aren't looking for you yet," she smiled.

"What?" who isn't looking for me? Well, I hope nobody is looking for me because when people come looking for me it tends to get messy.

"St. Vlad's people. They will be soon though, when they get a lead. It won't be coming from me, so don't worry," she was still smiling.

"Then how do you know that?" I'm still so confused.

"Like my brother, I'm a spirit user. I know things; predict the future, if you will. It doesn't always work out like I see it, but most the time it does. Just like I know you want me to go meet Lissa Dragomir."

"That's what I was about to ask, yes… so, do you want to come. I know she would love to meet you. She'll have so many questions. You don't have to," I stood up, either way I was ready to go.

"I'll come," she stood too. I lead the way to the Lissa and my new apartment, making small talk as we went along. It wasn't that bad, she's nothing like Adrian and she doesn't seem to have any problems with insanity at all. She doesn't drink it away either, she's completely sober. I wonder how she does it.

Opening the door I say, "Well, here we are. Liss, I'm home!"

"You're back sooner than I expected… Oh, hello. I'm Lissa Dragomir," Lissa outstretched her hand to shake Adrianna's.

"I'm Adrianna Ivashkov. It's very nice to meet you. Now, before you say anything yes, Adrian is my twin brother, and yes I'm a spirit user. Rose brought me back here because she thought you might want to ask me a few questions," she said very straightforwardly.

"Wait, what! Adrian? The Adrian that lives on campus and drinks all day?" I nod, "I'm so confused. If you're his twin why didn't you two grow up together?"

"Let's just live it at our father isn't exactly a kind man. He only wanted a boy, so he got rid of me. Let's try to keep the questions spirit related." The rest of the conversation was in spirit talk so I just sort of tuned it out. "Well, if there's anything you need here's my cell number," apparently Adrianna was leaving. Wow, it had been four hours.

For the next week we got all our furniture and clothes we would need for the duration of our stay here. Then, we registered for school. Lissa used her power to make sure we would be in the same classes at all times. Since we're not on campus anymore I have to be extra careful with her. Over this time I'm feeling that dark seed growing. I know I can heal it, I just don't know exactly how I do that. "Liss, how do you feel? Like you're happy?"

"Of course I'm happy, Rose! I'm with my best friend, living out on my own, well basically, and I'm eventually going to get into a great college! Why do you ask?"

"Just making sure," at least she's not depressed yet. She smiled and went back to arranging her books. It's the first day of school. It feels kind of weird not knowing everyone in the class. A lot of girls looked at Lissa in envy, it made her feel bad. She didn't like how they were looking at her. At first, she just wanted to think it was because since she was Moroi she had the extra beauty. Then, it started to really piss her off.

"Liss, calm down. They're just jealous. It's not worth your time to be this upset. It'll be okay," I did a one of those little half smile things.

"When did you become the calm, cool, and collected one? Ugh, it's just really pissing me off! Like just leave me alone!" I've never seen her like this. I've seen her sad, depressed, happy, confused, joyous, etc. but never this angry. I don't think she's ever even been angry! Then, I felt it. Like a dark wave hitting me, it was so strong I actually staggered. "Well, whatever. They can think whatever they want," just like that her fury was gone.

The next few weeks were great for Lissa. For me, not so much. I kept randomly getting depressed. I can't let it affect Liss though, it's my problem not hers. I'm probably just overwhelmed from all the honors classes we're in. Yeah, that's it, it has to be, right? But, it's getting worse, "Liss, you're still okay, right? Spirit isn't doing anything crazy to you is it?"

"Actually, no. I feel great. I think being out in the real world is a lot better for my mental health. I think it's because I'm not around so many other Moroi and under so much stress to be perfect," she smiled and laughed.

"Good, that's good," I tried to smile. She was talking about the biology project that we're doing when the squealing started. We both looked up, there is a out of control taxi speeding towards us. I had just managed to push Lissa out of the way before it hit me.