I am soooo happy with the response this story is getting! I'm so stoked that you liked the first chapter, and I hope that you like this one too! So far, this has been one of the funnest stories to write! The next chapter is going to be jammed full of action, after all we are breaking a 'criminal' out of her jail cell! :)

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
-E.E. Cummings

I expected Dimitri to say something, anything to let me know that he understood what needed to be done. When I pulled back from the bars to look at his face, only to see that perfect face blank of any emotion, I felt my mood plummeting. I needed Dimitri to do this for me.

He was giving me one of those long measured looks that were so common from him, and again I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. A pathetic guardian locked behind bars for a murder she didn't commit or the fiery, sexy Rose that he used to know, the Rose he used to love.

I was waiting for him to answer me, and after every moment that passed I realized he wasn't going to give me an answer.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the look he gave me cut me off. A strand of hair fell into his face and he absently tucked it back behind his ear, only to have it fall in his face again. I felt a smile turning up the corners of my lips, and Dimitri's eyes grew soft.

He turned around and walked down the halls, his guardians falling into step behind him, and my guards came back to my cell.

"What was that about?" One of them asked, arching one eyebrow.

"Nothing," I muttered, my mood dark once again. I was sulking.

He shrugged and went back to looking at the wall in front of him, his face as blank and emotionless as Dimitri's.

When Dimitri reached the end of the hall, he turned around and looked back at me. There was something in his eyes that gave me hope, but it also gave me doubt. I wanted to scream after him to tell me what he was going to do. If he was going to do anything. He promised me, and Dimitri had always been a man of his word, but I knew how he felt about duty. About doing the right thing at all times, and feeling the guilt of all the wrong that he has caused. Breaking me out of jail might be too much bad for him, especially after all the hurt and pain he had been causing innocent people.

I threw myself on the cot, taking some comfort in the fact that Dimitri had laid on this cot not too long ago, and easily slipped into Lissa's head. For just a second I felt guilty about using Lissa as my way to escape this cell, as a way to keep in touch with reality, but it passed just as quickly as it came on.

She was with Christian, thankfully fully dressed, but what they were doing made my already bad mood even worse.

He was still teaching her how to fight.

They were practicing in Lissa's suite, the furniture pushed to the sides of the room. Reminding me of their Lehigh trip, when they were learning how to 'stake' pillows. I would much rather Lissa be learning to punch than stake though, so I wasn't too mad.

Especially if I was going to die, then she needed to know how to protect herself.

"Lissa," Christian sighed, his voice exasperated, "don't hold back on me."

"I'm not!" Through the bond I could tell that she was holding back,because she didn't want to hurt him, it just wasn't in her nature.

"Yes, you are." Just like always Christian knew when Lissa was lying, he knew her so well.

She balled her fist up again, just like I showed her that day when trying to save her life, and took a swing at his face. I could tell that she was still holding back, but she put a little more force into the punch. Not enough to hurt Christian, but enough for him to notice a difference. Her fist made contact with his face, and she felt pain flare up her arm. She didn't think she was ever going to get used to that.

Christian rolled his eyes, but looked as if the punch didn't cause him pain, but Lissa and I both knew it did. He clasped his hands together, and said "Okay, Liss. Take another shot."

Lissa had pulled her arm up, when there was suddenly a knock on the door, then it opened to reveal Dimitri. He looked from Lissa's arm, still pulled back, to Christian, who was obviously bracing himself for the next punch. Lissa dropped her arm, shocked, and Christian smiled a little.

"This isn't what it looks like," Lissa said, indicating between her and Christian, a little embarrassed. "We aren't fighting…"

"He's teaching you how to fight?" Dimitri guessed, allowing himself a little smile.

Seeing that smile, made me smile.

"Oh, well then it is what it looks like," Lissa said looking up from her feet, her face still a little flushed.

Dimitri cleared his throat and looked around the room, his eyes rested on Lissa and I saw that devotion flash in his eyes. I couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy. "I just saw Rose," he announced.

"What?" Lissa exclaimed, "I have been trying to get down there and I can't."

"I told her just to compel them." Christian added, a smirk on his face.

"There are too many guardians around her."

"I just asked," Dimitri said, that small smile still playing on his lips.

"What did she say, is she okay?" Lissa asked, worry radiating through the bond and in her eyes.

"She wants me to do something, and I'm going to need your help," Dimitri said, his voice hesitant.

Lissa didn't hesitate, her voice strong and sure when she answered. "Okay, anything. We're in."

"We need to get her out of jail."

There was a silence in the room, and then Lissa spoke, "Rose, I know you're probably listening. We're coming to get you."

With that I left her head, knowing that her and Dimitri would come up with a sound plan. A plan that was going to get me out of this jail, and hopefully a step closer to clearing my name. Or at the very least something that would help Lissa in the future, if I was executed.

I felt a sharp pain, radiating from my heart, at just the thought of leaving Lissa. When I went to Russia, I felt like I lost half of myself, and it had felt just as horrible to her. Robert's face flashed before my eyes. The way he lived in fear and paranoia, secluded in a cabin where the only person he was willing to see was his brother. He lost a shadow-kissed guardian, it made him that way.

And I vowed, in that jail cell surrounded by God knows how many guardians, that I was not going to let that happen to Lissa. I was going to protect her, no matter what. I had to stay alive, I had to live.

I had to keep her safe, even if it was the last thing I would do.

Please review! :)
-Tay