A/N: So I was rereading the first VA book at around 12 last night before going to bed when all of a sudden I came to these scenes in the book and just absolutely HAD to do Dimitri's POV. I know I'm supposed to be finishing up The Banquet, but I just got this sudden urge to write about this and couldn't stop until I finished it. It's actually supposed to have a whole other part to it but I wasn't quite done with that yet so I just decided to post it as a double shot. Hopefully I'll have the second part done in a few hours. Don't forget to review and let me know what you guys think, I always really appreciate it!!!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to Richelle Mead

Over the past three weeks Rose and I had developed a routine. Early in the morning before her usual school time practices we'd have workout sessions for about an hour. I started with the basics: running, running and more running. During my time as a student, my instructor and mentor Galina had instilled in me the importance of stamina. At the time, I felt much the same as I'm sure Rose did, that I'd needed to learn to throw kicks and punches in order to survive. Although technique was important too, Galina had taught me it was stamina that gave you the strength to use those techniques for an extended amount of time. Many underestimated the strength of Strigoi, and I wanted to make sure Rose wasn't one of them.

Early one morning, I was in the small gym where Rose and I had been meeting for our daily practice sessions. I usually always arrived early to set up whatever materials we used that day, but finally catching on to Rose's schedule, I had been smart enough to bring a book while I waited for her to roll out of bed and run over in order not to be late. After our session the night before, I had noticed someone had brought in a CD player, so this morning I took full advantage of that. When Rose walked in I was rereading one of my favorite western novels and listening to a favorite 80's mix of mine.

I knew exactly when she walked into the room, a fact that surprised me and bothered me for some reason. Instead of acknowledging her I continued reading as she walked up to me and slung her bag on the ground. From my peripheral vision, I saw her crinkle her nose as she said, "Whoa, Dimitri. I realize this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"

Without moving my head up I flicked my eyes toward her and said, "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

She made a face at me and began stretching her hamstring, placing her foot on the bar that ran around one of the walls. "Hey," she asked, moving on to the next leg, "what's with all the running, anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

"Maybe you should hit harder," I replied drily, still looking down at my book.

"I'm serious."

"Hard to tell the difference." I finally gave up on my book and set it down, still sprawled in my chair. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and defeat dark creatures, right?"

"Yup."

I decided to throw a curveball at her. "So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?"

"Depends on what store we're in." I just looked at her. I was attempting to teach her something, but of course she just had to be a smartass. I wondered if this was how Galina felt in the beginning with me.

"Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake." Expecting an answer along those lines, I sat up and crossed my legs. "Oh?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

She looked away from me and scowled at the wall, annoyed I had stumped her. I barely managed to hold back a smile.

After a minute she said, "Okay. I'll cut his head off."

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you?"

She straightened up from her stretch, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was annoyed. "Fine, then I'll set him on fire."

"Again, with what?"

"All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

I looked at her seriously, not blinking then said, "You run."

Her face twisted in frustration and she took a deep breath as if to control herself from throwing something at me. It was harder to repress the grin this time but luckily she turned away to finish stretching so she didn't see it finally stretch across my face. To make her feel better and hopefully encourage her to keep working harder, I offered to run with her once she was done stretching. She looked surprised at my offer but didn't say anything as we set out into the chilly October evening. It only got colder as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, and I was thankful for the warm sweatshirt I had on. Noticing her heavy breathing, I slowed my pace a bit to match hers so we could stay together.

Once I slowed down a bit for her though, it seemed she had a new burst of energy all of a sudden because she began running faster. It was almost as if she didn't like the fact that I'd had to slow down to match her pace. Whatever the reason, she kept at her faster pace for the next couple of laps.

When we reached the third-to-last loop, a couple of novices passed by, preparing to go to the same group practice Rose would soon be at. I could see them all admiring her as we ran and for some reason it really annoyed me. "Good form, Rose!" one of the guys shouted. She grinned and waved to him, which only annoyed me further.

"You're slowing down," I snapped, causing her to jerk her gaze from the guys. The harshness in my voice startled her as well as me. "Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

Seemingly embarrassed, she increased her speed once more and concentrated on running. I couldn't say the same for myself though. For the rest of our run, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about my reaction and why I'd even had that sort of reaction...

We finally finished our twelfth and final lap, and when I checked, I found we'd shaved two minutes off her best time. "Not bad, huh?" She crowed when we headed back inside for cool-down stretches. "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

"If she was with you, she'd be okay." She looked up in surprise at my comment, which made me smile and I realized it was the first real complement I'd given her since we began our training sessions.

All of a sudden her expression contorted into one filled with excruciating pain and her eyes went blank.

"Rose? Rose, what's wrong? " I kept calling her name to no avail, then all of a sudden awareness shot back into her eyes. Without any kind of word or explanation to me she took off out of the gym like a shot. If I hadn't just gotten done working out with her, I would have thought she hadn't run at all with how fast and how hard she was running. I finally caught up and ran alongside her, asking her what was wrong and trying to figure out what was going on. It was like she didn't hear me. She just continued running towards the middle of campus and when we veered towards the dorms I suddenly knew. Something must have happened to Lissa, which would explain how she'd acted earlier. A second later I knew I was right when I saw Lissa running towards us, her face streaked with tears.

We both jerked to a stop and Rose immediately began questioning her. "What's wrong? What happened?" she demanded, clutching Lissa's arms. She couldn't answer, instead just flung her arms around Rose and sobbed into her chest. Rose began stroking her hair, trying to comfort and calm at the same time. Not knowing what was wrong, I went into Guardian mode and continuously scanned the area for any possible threat, while also watching the girls and waiting for Lissa's explanation.

It wasn't until half an hour later, crammed in Lissa's dorm room that I got my answer. We had been joined by Headmistress Kirova and the dorm hall monitor, not to mention the many girls that had accumulated in the hall, wondering what all of the commotion was about. Natalie, Lissa's roommate pushed her way through to where we were standing and gasped in horror at the sight before us.

Shock and disgust showed on almost everyone's faces as we stared at Lissa's bed. There was a fox on the pillow. Its coat was reddish-orange, tinged in white. It looked so soft and cuddly that it could have been a pet, perhaps a cat, something you'd hold in your arms and snuggle with.
Aside from the fact that its throat had been slit. The inside of the throat looked pink and jellylike. Blood stained that soft coat and had run down onto the yellow bedspread, forming a dark pool that spread across the fabric. The fox's eyes stared upward, glazed, over with a sort of shocked look about them. Lissa stared at it, her face deathly pale, and took a few steps toward it; her hand involuntarily reached out and I saw in her expression she wanted to help it. There was no helping this fox though. My face hardened, and I could feel the anger running through me. I couldn't fathom who would ever do something like this to Lissa as a prank.

Off to the side, Rose gently took Lissa's hand and steered her away from the gruesome scene. I took a closer look at Rose, and she seemed to be deep in thought. All of a sudden I remembered back to when we had first delivered Rose and Lissa back to the Academy, how Rose continually insisted that they hadn't just left on a whim, that Lissa was actually in danger. I had been skeptical at first but the dead fox on the bed in front of me was factual proof that something was very wrong. I couldn't catch their whispered conversation, only the tone of voice but I still continued to watch them. At one point I heard Rose's voice turn sharp as she said something to a tearful Lissa. She tightened her grip on Lissa's arm making her flinch, and continued speaking to her in a low but firm tone. Finally Lissa nodded, and my attention was pulled back to the bed by Kirova.

"Get this cleaned up," she snapped to the matron. "And find out if anyone saw anything."

Knowing Lissa needed Rose for support, I hadn't said anything to Rose about her not technically being allowed to be here because of her suspension, nor did I say anything about it to anyone else. Someone finally noticed though, and I was ordered to take Rose away, no matter how much she begged and pleaded with them to stay with Lissa.

I walked her back to the novice's dorm in silence, not speaking until we were almost there.

"You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke." Remembering back to her whispered conversation in Lissa's dorm, I knew she had to be hiding something.

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?"

She seemed to consider this, but eventually replied, "No, no clue."

Feeling a bit frustrated I said, "Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

She spun around then, taking her anger over the fox out on me. "Yeah, it is serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! Teach me how to fight. I already know how to run away."

I regarded her calmly during her outburst, not letting her see what I was thinking. It was easy to see how much this had affected her, and the helplessness she felt at not being able to do anything for her friend was written all over her face.

When she finished though, I simply beckoned her forward like she hadn't said anything. "Come on. You're late for practice."

She left for practice and I headed back to my room, deep in thought. The resolve she felt showed through clearly in her outburst. Recalling her passion and determination, I finally decided she had earned an early reprieve. We would start the real physical training tomorrow. Now was a good time to begin planning what exactly we'd be doing since I had some free time.

At this point, I had just made it to the entrance of the staff wing of the dorms when someone called out to me. I turned around to find another guardian I only knew by sight approaching me.

"Guardian Belikov, Headmistress Kirova wants to see you right away. She said it's urgent."

I thanked him and with a swift nod in my direction, he jogged off. With a sigh, I headed off to talk to the headmistress, most likely about the grisly discovery we had just made in Lissa's room. I'd have to plan Rose's new torturous curriculum later.