Title: Necessary Evil

Author: WhimsicallyAwkward

Disclaimer: Nope. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one who created Vampire Academy. No copyright infringement intended. No profit is made, created purely for entertainment.

A/N: Well, this is my first in the Vampire Academy world. Hope you like :)

Rose's eyelids weighed ten pounds, but the images that appeared when she closed them keep her awake.

Blood. Mason's unseeing eyes. Bodies. Mia's cries. The unnatural position of Mason's neck.

So when she was finally deposited at her room, she shut her door and leaned her head against it.

Dimitri was on the other side. Along with Alberta, and her mother. All concerned. And honestly? She wanted nothing more that to wrap herself in Dimitri's arms.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't. Not when she was feeling so guilty, so weak.

She heard their soft murmurs, quiet footsteps. When she decided they were gone, she pressed her back to the door, and let herself slide down.

How much sleep had she had these past few days?

No more than a few hours total.

The sleep she'd fallen into on the plane hadn't been long enough to help. It only kept her that much more incoherent.

They'd arrived back at the institute, and she'd been taken off to the medical building along with the others. Given fluids, and a small meal.

Eddie was still there, Mia sleeping in a chair in his room. Christian had passed out once he'd fed from three different feeders.

And Rose had been cleaned up, then taken for questioning.

Dimitri had been there. So had her mother. They sat on either side of her, providing comfort when her hands wouldn't quit shaking.

That had been several hours ago. Only now was she deemed mentally stable enough to be left alone.

She stared across the dorm, holding her burning eyes open.

A piece of her hair fell in her eyes, tickled her face. She lacked the energy to bother pushing it back.

Mason was dead. Dead.

She'd led him to his death.

She let her head fall back to meet the wood of the door. Only ten minutes ago she'd wanted nothing more than to be alone, but now - in the pressing silence - she wondered why.

Nothing but her thoughts, and Mason's broken neck, and Isaiah's face. They all swarmed together, smothering her, but the tears didn't come. Maybe she'd used them all up.

She shouldn't be alone. Not now. Why had she insisted on them leaving her alone? She needed someone, anyone, to lean on. Her mother, Dimitri, Lissa.

Oh, her heart ached. Her eyes stung, tears building but not falling over.

Rose reached out for Lissa, wanting to escape her own mind.

Lissa was asleep, peaceful. She'd been told that they'd been found, told that Rose and Christian were okay. That Eddie and Mia were too. She'd lain down, fallen asleep in moments. Her feelings were of relief and sadness, but mostly of the tranquility achieved in sleep.

Rose blinked, returning to herself. Someone had knocked on her door.

She sat for a few moments, debating over answering it. Someone had come back to check on her. Ugh.

Managing to roll her eyes, she stood, opening the door and slapping on a sarcastic smirk.

"No I haven't thrown myself out of the window, or -"

She stopped, blinking at Christian Ozera.

He was hunched a bit, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. Face still pale and gaunt, eyes still a mile wide.

Rose cleared her throat. This was the first time she'd been left alone with anyone who'd been there with her.

"I thought you were sleeping."

He grinned, a flash so small and quick that it was barely there.

"I was. Until Tasha dropped something, and I woke up thinking I was still strapped to that chair."

Rose felt the gloom press down on her again. "Yeah. I think we'll wake up expecting to be there for a while."

Christian nodded.

Rose leaned her hip against the door, arching her eyebrow. "Well, why are you at my door?"

Christian made a motion as if he wanted to come inside, and Rose stepped back, letting the too pale Moroi pass.

Christian didn't say anything for a minute, just walked around looking at different possessions of Rose's.

Rose herself leaned against the door, eyes following Christian's movements.

When he reached her stack of books on animals, he spun on his heel.

He met her eyes; his own big, and blue, and haunted.

Nevertheless, his words were sarcastic - as always. "Lets see, I debated climbing into bed with Tasha like a four year old, whining to a guardian, or coming to see you. Despite, my desire to avoid you, this was the best option."

Rose was just to tired to bicker back.

"Why didn't you go see Lissa?"

Christian's cynical smile slipped. He wrung his hands together, and sighed, "I didn't want her to see me like this."

Rose arched an eyebrow, but she couldn't even summon up the energy to wonder about why he was talking to her of all people about this. She was too damn tired to care about anything, and right now she felt like she was holding herself together with tape and glue.

She was exhausted, but somehow she felt more relaxed here with Christian than with her mother, or even Dimitri. She didn't feel like she needed to hide her brokenness.

So she dropped her eyebrow, and felt all remaining energy drain from her. She reached out to grab her desk chair, pulling it to her and dropping in it. Christian watched as she slumped over, her head dropping to her hands, and her long hair hanging.

Rose sighed, "Yeah, tell me about it."

Although he'd been the one to come to her, Christian hesitated; his eyes wary. Then he sat on the floor in front of her bed abruptly.

"I thought we could call a truce for a night."

"Why?"

His jaw clenched, and he didn't look at her. "I thought it might do us both some good to be with someone who went through the same thing we did. I know I feel as relaxed as I've felt all night right now."

Rose bit back the sarcastic comment, considered what he was saying.

She felt better too. If she was honest to herself.

He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I hate that. That I want to be with you instead of Lissa. But I don't want Lissa to see me like this. This…mess."

He met her eyes.

"I just figured we could hang out, or something."

"You want to talk about your feelings, Ozera?"

He stood up. "Forget about it."

Then he was walking, but Rose jumped up and grabbed him before he got two steps.

She really didn't even remember telling her body to do it.

"No, wait. I…um, I think it's a good idea."

He just nodded, looking as uncomfortable as she felt.

Then he turned from her, walking over to the base of the bed and taking his seat back.

She stood there for a minute, just looking at him, then she followed him.

Sat down beside him, not close enough to touch him, but enough that she felt him next to her.

They stayed like that for a little while, and Rose knew that if she hadn't spoke first Christian would have never said anything. He'd already made himself vulnerable enough.

"It's all I see when I close my eyes."

He let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. "Same. All I see are tunnels, and red eyes, and you jumping at Isaiah."

His eyes slid over to look at her. "That was really stupid, you know. Stupid and brave."

Rose barked out a laugh. "Yeah well, that's ninety percent of a guardian's job. To be brave, and careless with our own lives."

"You're going to make a damn good guardian, Rose."

There was a ball in her throat.

"Th…um, thank you."

He nodded once. He didn't say anything until she spoke again.

"All I see is Mason. Mason, and the Strigoi, and the blood." She laughed again, "All of the blood."

Her eyes were burning again, and she didn't want to cry in front of Christian Ozera, but she felt them leaking out.

He wasn't even looking at her. Just staring straight ahead. "I know. I'm, well I'm sorry you went through what you did."

"You went through it too."

"I went through half of what you did. All my nightmares are about being tied up, and having to drink your blood. I didn't see Mason die, I didn't kill two Strigoi. I didn't even see the room after you'd killed them."

Rose let out a small sob, forced herself to calm down. "You went through a lot, Christian. I mean, you thought you were going become a Strigoi. Or that you were going to die. You were tied in a chair for days."

His breathing was shaky.

"We're going to get through this right?"

Tears kept leaking out of her eyes, and she kept trying to hold them back. At least until Christian turned to look at him, and tears streaked his pale face.

Then she let them fall.

She'd cried so much recently that her eyes hurt, but here she was, breaking down again.

And Christian was too, and it was okay, because they're both just kids. Kids who have seen to much, to early.

She leans into his side, and they stay there for a long time. Supporting each other silently, as they let themselves break. Let themselves cry, let themselves heal.

Then when it feels like hours have passed, and Rose can barely hold her eyes open, she whispers, "Yeah. We're going to be okay."

Then they pull the blankets off her bed. Toss the pillows down, and throw themselves down.

They both fall asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Neither of them wake up for the next twelve hours. Alberta opens the door at one point to check on Rose, and she shuts it back without waking either teen. She makes sure everyone leaves the room alone.

And later, when Christian wakes up, he leaves without disturbing Rose.

They see each other later that day, in Lissa's room. Neither of them bring it up, and they never will.

It's something they needed. A necessary evil, a breaking of their mutual dislike. It's something that will jumpstart their road's to recovery. A moment to be with someone who understood, and to fall apart.

But they won't act any different later. Christian still scowls, Rose still jaunts.

And everything is okay.

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A/N: So, well this is something that popped into my head one day. I really think that this is something that the characters need. A moment to be with someone who understands. To break down a bit, and start to heal.

Anyway, hope you liked...Please don't favorite without reviewing!