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Chapter Four: Past: Third person point of view

Rose Hathaway was sitting on her bed inside of her dorm room. She was going through her clothing, decided on what she was going to bring with her for this so called advanced field experience trip. She had a funny feeling that the Queen was personally doing this to her, to get her out of Lissa life, even if it was less than a year. She wasn't all that surprised that Kirova smiled a triumphed smile towards her before she left the meeting. She knew that they were probably planning something like this since she was brought back to the academy less than two weeks ago.

Rose bites her bottom lip, as she saw all of her folded clothing lying on her bed in several neatly folded piles. She didn't know exactly where they were sending her to; so she was planning on bringing everything she owned. She grabbed her largest duffel bag from her desk chair and started piling all of her clothes into it. She didn't even care if they somehow came unfolded, as long as they were all in there.

By the time that she was finished packing up all of her clothing; she had three large duffel bags filled to the top. Another duffel bag held all of her personal items; shoes, make-up, pictures, and everything else she owned laying around her small down room.

A gentle knock sounded on her dorm door. Rose pushed herself off of the bed and headed towards her door. Before she reached the door, she tiredly called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Lissa."

Rose opened the door for her best friend. Lissa was standing there with her blond hair a mess. Her make-up was smudged right under her eyes. Her jade green eyes were bloodshot, and it wasn't from the lack of blood or food. "Is it true, Rose, are they making you leave me?"

"Yes," said Rose, as she looked her best friend in the eye. "There was nothing that I could have done to get out of it. How do you know?"

"Miss Kirova and the Queen told me," said Lissa, as her eyes started watering a bit. Lissa peaked inside of the room, taking in all of the duffel bags that were sitting on top of my bed. Her jade green eyes met Rose's brown ones. "Were you going to tell me that they are making you leave?"

"Yes, I was going to tell you after I finished packing," said Rose, walking further inside of her room. "I also wanted to tell Mason and Eddie also. I wanted them to look after you while I'm not here. I want to know that you are protected no matter what."

"Rose," said Lissa, with a sigh. She followed her best friend inside her room. "I will be okay. The only problem that I have is Mia, and I can take care of her. I'm worried that the Queen will go back on her word about making you my guardian at the end of the year."

Rose looked at Lissa with a small frown on her face. "I know what you are talking about. I was thinking the same thing several minutes ago. When you graduate, you can demand me for your guardian. You will have the pull of being the last Dragomir if you need to."

"I know," said Lissa, with a sigh. "I have a feeling that I'm going to need to pull the last Dragomir card several times. It's something that I hate doing, but if I need to, then I will."

Rose and Lissa were standing there in silence, enjoying one of the last moments with each other when there was a sudden knock on the door. Both of the girls looked up to see Dimitri Belikov; Lissa's guardian was standing there with his arms crossed. He was wearing his brown duster that he was known for wearing at the short amount of time that the girls have met him. His brown hair was surprisingly in a ponytail, as he usually has it.

Rose glared at Belikov; she was pissed off that he just had to say something to the headmistress. He was probably one of the main reasons why she was being sent away. Her anger was getting high to the point where she stomped her way over towards him. She knew that she couldn't do any real damage towards him. She didn't know a lot of moves like him, but it did feel good to her when she slapped him right across the face.

"Rose!" exclaimed Lissa, walking over to her friend. She wouldn't have been able to do anything towards Guardian Belikov, but she was going to stand next to Rose just in case she needs to compel him. "Why did you slap him?"

"He is the main reason why I'm being sent away," muttered Rose, angrily.

"Rose," said Dimitri, in his thick Russian accent. "I know you are going to hate me, or already hate me for making you leave Lissa. But this training is necessary towards protecting your best friend. Strigoi are going to try and get her, she needs the best protection right now, and that's you. The Queen advised a plan with two excellent guardians that anyone could wish to train with, for you to be prepared out in the field for when the Princess graduate this upcoming year."

"I kept her safe for a whole year by myself," said Rose, glaring daggers at Dimitri. "In case they haven't noticed our absence last year."

"Rose, they want you to protect someone in the outside world that you have to ties to," explained Dimitri. "They want you to be able to protect someone that you don't have a bond with, and someone that you don't know. That's why they are assigning you Miss Sydney Sage. She an alchemist that knows about our world and the alchemist agrees with having Miss Sage their for your training."

"What's an alchemist?" asked Rose, as she crossed her arms.

Dimitri sighed. He wondered if he already said too much. "Alchemists are humans that know of our world. They clean up Strigoi attacks and try to keep our world hidden from human knowledge."

"Oh," said Rose. "I've never heard of them."

"Neither have I," said Lissa.

"Rose you wouldn't have learned it until later this year. Lissa, you wouldn't know about them unless you become queen," said Dimitri.

"Oh," said Lissa, somewhat surprised. "That's not fair."

"Well, it is very rarely that the Moroi handles alchemist problems unless it's political," Dimitri told the two teenage girls. He then turned his attention towards Rose. "Are you ready to go, Rose? I'm afraid that we need to hurry up before the plane leaves without you."

"Oh," said Rose, with a small smile on her face. "I think that would be a good think, wouldn't you?"

"No," said Dimitri, shaking his head. "Sydney is already on the plane waiting for you. I should also mention that alchemists don't like being in the presence of dhampirs or Moroi. They will think that you are unnatural Rose, and you can't harm her at all."

"Well there goes my fun," said Rose.

Dimitri looked at his watch on his left wrist. "I will help you with your bags."

Dimitri walked over to the bed, where Rose had all of her duffel bags. He grabbed most of them, but there were three that she was going to carrying them on the plane herself.

Rose turned towards her best friend slash sitter with sadness showing in her eyes. She walked over to Lissa and gave her a tight hug. She didn't care that she was hugging the crap out of her. She didn't want to leave her in the academy's hands. She didn't think that Lissa wasn't going to be safe without her protecting her.

"I'm going to miss you, Lissa," muttered Rose into her ear.

"I'll miss you too Rose," said Lissa, with tears sliding down her pale face. She was trying her hardest not to cry, but it didn't seem to work. She didn't even care if her makeup was going to get ruined. "I want you to be careful while you're out there. I want you to call me and text me every day. When you were talking to Dimitri, I took the liberty to text Mason and Eddie, to meet you down at the airship, since I know that you weren't able to get a chance yet."

"Thanks, Lissa," said Rose, as she hugged her friend for the last time in a while.

"Rose, I hate to break this up, but we need to go down to the airship now," commanded Dimitri.

"Fine," snapped Rose, with a roll of her eyes.

Rose grabbed the rest of her duffel bags and her purse from her old bed. She knew that she wouldn't ever be in this same bed again. She went back over to Lissa, gave her a quick kissed on the cheek before walking out of her old dorm room. She hated that she was going to be leaving Lissa, but she was glad that she still had the bond with her.

Rose and Dimitri walked out of the dhampir dorm building and started heading towards the airstrip. Both one of them decided to say anything to each other, and that was a good thing for Rose. She knew that she wouldn't be able to have a normal conversation with him without her venting her frustration at him.

"I will protect her, Rose," said Dimitri.

Rose glared at him. "You better. If I find out anything happened to her while I'm not with her, I will hurt you. I'm not messing around with this. I don't know exactly what I'll do yet, but it will cause you a lot of pain if she is hurt."

"I understand," said Dimitri.

"Good," said Rose.

As soon as they made it to the airstrip, Rose was tackled by two of her closest guy friends; Mason Ashford and Eddie Castle. Both of them saddened and disappointed that she would be leaving them again, more so Mason; since he was the one that has more romantic feelings towards her.

"Mason, Eddie, I'm going to miss you guys," said Rose, as she had both of her arms wrapped around their shoulders. "Please, keep in touch with me."

"We will," said Eddie, letting her go of the hug.

"Is that all you're bringing?" asked Mason, looking at the bags that Dimitri gave to one of the flight workers.

"That is everything that I own," said Rose, biting her lip. "Can you keep an eye out for Lissa for me?"

"Of course, we will," said Mason. "She's our friend too."

Rose rubbed the back of her neck, "She will need some help keeping Mia away from her, and possibly Christian Ozera."

"Christian?" asked Mason, with a shocked looked on his face. Eddie had his mouth opened. He wondered when they started talking since he never saw them together. "I didn't know that they talk to each other."

"They do," muttered Rose darkly.

"Rose," said Dimitri walking over to her. He took one look at Mason and Eddie, before saying. "I need to talk to Rose quick before she leaves. I will give you a minute to say your goodbyes to her before I pull her away."

"Alright," said Eddie, as he pulled Rose into a quick hug and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "I will miss you, Rosie."

"I will miss you to Eddie," said Rose with a small smile on her face. She let go of Eddie before she walked over to Mason. She wrapped her slender arms around his waist. She held on tightly to him before she let him go. "I'm going to miss you to Mason. Be safe and kept in contact with me."

"I will, Rosie," said Mason, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek.

Rose and Dimitri walked closer to the steps of the plane. Dimitri turned towards Rose. "Everything that you need to know is on the piece of paper so don't lose it. It has the number of the house you will be living in, and the car that should be at the airport. It also includes the names and the dates of the guardian that will be training you. A guardian will be escorting you and Miss Sage to Mystic Falls. He will also be going over information with the both of you. Be careful, Rose, you're going to have your work cut out for you. It's going to be one hundred percent harder than the training that I have put you through."

"I will be all right," Rose told him, giving him a small smile.

Dimitri smiled, "You should go on the plane now, and meet Sydney. I know the pilot wants to take off soon."

"I'm going," said Rose, as she turned towards the steps of the plane. She looked over towards Mason and Eddie and noticed that Lissa was there with them. They were standing in the middle of her like they were her personal bodyguards. Rose waved to them, and they waved back.

Rose had taken a deep breath before she climbed the stairs to get inside of the plane. Once she was further inside of the aircraft, she noticed two other people already sitting in seats. One of the passengers was a teenage girl not that much older than Rose. She had layered blond hair. She was wearing a cute beige skirt and a white blouse. She knew that this female must have been Sydney Sage the human. The other guy was clearly was a dhampir in his mid-twenties. He was wearing regular clothing, and a pair of sunglasses.

When she walked passed Sydney, she noticed that she flinched, and scooted over in her seat. Rose had rolled her eyes before she took a seat that was in the very back of the plane. She didn't know if she will ever be able to warm up to Sydney's personally. She sighed; as she put her headphones in her ears, and closed her eyes and she felt the plane started moving.