"I am not a pattern to be followed,
The pill that I'm on is a tough one to swallow.
I'm not a criminal, not a role model,
Not a born leader, I'm a tough act to follow."
When They Come For Me, Linkin Park.

RPOV

We were on board a fairly spacious—and extremely luxurious—plane with four Guardians, excluding myself. I sat opposite Guardian James Lofton, a toned blonde with a hypnotising British accent. We were currently engaged in a head-on battle of checkers, and he exchanged enough witty comments to rival Christian.

"Jay, you are losing dramatically. To a girl." The words drifted down the sitting area—yes, this plane had a sitting area. I had only been on this plane for an hour, yet I could already identify Guardian Basil Carrillo by his voice alone.

Well, it sounded like a big feat, but a monkey could do it. It wasn't that hard to recognise Basil's rich, deep voice, laced thickly with a strong Italian accent that had grown on me.

"All part of the master plan, Bas," James replied with a wink in my direction.

"And would that master plan include losing, dear Jay Jay?" James visibly winced at the nickname I had created for him.

"Losing on your part maybe, but not on mine." He skipped his last playing piece three times in a row, taking out my last three pieces. He proceeded to jump up and throw his arms in a victors 'V' shape. "Winner!"

"In your dreams," I muttered, the sounds of Jessie's giggles and Basil's throaty chuckles floating up from the back seats.

As soon as they met, Basil and Jessie had hit it off. They were quite a sight—in fact, they looked like a perfect match, both with matching black hair and pale skin. They had been all cosied up on the back seat for at least forty minutes, ever since Basil had switched co-pilot roles with Guardian Jenkins.

Guardian Jenkins was a quiet Guardian, perfectly happy with his solitude. His olive face was tough and weathered, his eyes constantly alerted, rich with the haunted appearance of someone who had seen one too many horrors. I wanted to know more, to tell him that it was okay to share, to let him know that there were others who felt the same pain—others like me—but I knew all too well how difficult it was and how being pressured could make a person act. The only acknowledgement he had given me was a simple nod, as it was the other Guardians had to tell me that his first name was Travis.

Apparently the last Guardian's name was Frederick Malcolm, but I had yet to meet him since he was the pilot of the aircraft. Honestly, he was one of the few Guardians I had ever been truly looking forward to meeting.

A name like Fred? If, when I met him, he had bright red hair and a twin brother called George, I would probably scream.

All of us—well, with the exception of stoic Travis—had been getting along swimmingly. Both James and Basil were easy-going and friendly, so I had no problem getting to know them.

Of course, they already knew me. Apparently, there was barely a person in the world that didn't know of me. Both Moroi and Alchemist's had people specifically searching for me for the first few years, as well as my face on pretty much every single noticeboard and telegraph pole, a few training facilities and academies had been put on lockdown, and I was even on the human Missing Person's List. I had known they were searching, but not to that extent. I naturally assumed Sydney had taken care of everything, but surely that much hiding had required a few favours called in here and there. Who she had called and how she had managed them, I had no idea, but this was something I'd ask about later. Planes were already unnerving enough for me.

After they had informed me of the situation, I learnt about them. Basil and James had met when they were both in school, ironically at St. Vladimir's. Now, James was on Patrol at Court, and Basil was anxiously awaiting a new assignment. They truly looked as though they had a strong, deep friendship that ran through blood and bone. They joked with each other; they even finished each other's sentences and shared the same views.

Flashback

"Okay," I stood from my seat as soon as the plane was airborne and we were free to move. I crossed my arms defiantly and put my silent, no-emotion, you-better-watch-your-back Guardian mask on before continuing. "If we're going to last more than two minutes in a tiny aircraft shaft without ripping each other to shreds, I'm going to need to know a few things."

"Of course," James replied, his charming accent weakening my knees.

"Graduation age for dhampir?" I propelled myself into the questioning.

"18," they replied simultaneously with no hesitation.

"Moroi fighting – for or against?"

"For."

"Chocolate donuts or cinnamon?"

They shared an amused glance before continuing, again, astoundingly at the exact same time. "Chocolate."

I death stared them for a moment, glaring into their eyes just to watch them squirm. Basil actually physically gulped, the only show of his uneasiness.

"I approve."

Then, James pulled out a paper bag from underneath the table. No—it couldn't be . . .

"Are you going to play nice now? Good girl, good girl. You want this? Here you go girl, go get it!" He coaxed in a tone that suggested he was treating me the same way he would when training a dog. He then threw the bag a good 10 feet away.

I gave him another glare and shot down to retrieve the bag, revealing the sweet chocolate-covered goodness which I pulled out in victory.

"How did you know?" I exclaimed.

"Well, let's just say—" started James.

"—a little birdy told us of your unusual and concerning addiction," Basil followed James' lead.

"It really is a big concern for all of us, Rose. We believe that in no way should consuming that number of donuts be good for your internal organs—"

"—and we recommend you to take this matter to your health care professional," finished Basil.

"Hey, it's not good unless it has the possibility of giving you diabetes, heart disease, or both," I said defensively, defending all the donuts of mankind.

They both just chuckled in that weird twin-like way of theirs and sent me a wink.

End Flashback

James started another checkers match with Derek, whilst Basil went to swap with Travis. James hadn't been trained even the slightest bit of piloting, and therefore was barely allowed to even enter the cockpit.

I looked over to my right to see Jessie and Alex engaged in excited chatter over a magazine that Alex had brought with her, pointing at all the different articles and pretty much anything with sequins.

Travis emerged from the cockpit, carrying a book and a sandwich box. Wait, was that—

"The Fault In Our Stars?" I asked, apparently out loud as he nodded his head as way of reply.

"Good novel," he stated, his soft voice surprising me. The tenderness certainly didn't as if it would come out of his vocal box—with his lean, muscly build, I expected his voice to be rough.

"Is it? I've never read it." Although this was true, I had heard how it was a sad, moving romance novel—certainly not the sort one would expect a gruff, late-twenties Guardian to read. Jessie had tried forcing me to read it several times, but I just didn't have the motivation nor time.

"You should. If I'm not corrected, you can relate."

"How? I don't have cancer, and I certainly haven't lost anyone to it."

"But you may as well have," he whispered, more to himself than me.

"Oh. Yes. I can," I whispered back.

There was an unspoken so can I lingering on the tip of his tongue, and we both knew it in the thousand messages that passed between our eyes. Wanting to lighten the mood, I peeked over at the sandwich box.

"What's in this? If it so much as resembles a sandwich, it's not yours anymore." I leant over and opened the box, taking out a half of the chicken sandwich and cheekily biting into it.

"What? I warned you. You had time to retaliate. It's mine now." As I spoke between bites—well, more like monster chomps— I could see the faint ghost of a sad smile on his lips. His face winced, as though this particular expression had not encountered him in a long time.

We ate in silence, watching the boys' checkers match. By the end, James had won again, and he was really rubbing it in.

I turned on my phone to check the time, and was shocked with what I had unlocked it to.

"Are you kidding me, James?" I exclaimed. He had taken multiple selfies with me earlier on, and had evidently sneakily changed my background to the one where we were both goofing around. I had gone cross-eyed, and he had pulled his head back so it gave the illusion that he had more than one chin—four, in fact.

I laughed and locked it back up. I would keep the background until someone else changed it, as a sort of souvenir. Before, It was a picture of Jessie pulling a funny expression that only she could do—on average, one of my friends changed it about once a week. I had long since given up trying to stick with a simple picture, it was barely even worth the effort.

I looked up to see Travis' retreating figure.

"Jenkins! You forgot something." I help up his bright blue novel.

"You keep it. I'll be around Court for a while, just return it to me when you're done." He turned back around and exited, as he turned around I couldn't help but wonder who he had lost.

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Well, what are you waiting for? It's time to tell me what you thought, as well as your predictions! Although I'm overwhelmed at the amount of reviews TRD is already getting, a little more couldn't hurt, right? I believe an extra-early chapter requires extra reviews! Also, sorry it's just pretty much a filler chapter. Nothing much has happened here, but do you like the introduction of the new Guardians? What do you think is Travis' story? And, do you think Frederick will have red hair(and a hand-me-down robe)? ;)

Even if there could always be more(nothing will ever be enough for any avid fanfic author), I am still completely and utterly overwhelmed at the amount of faves, follows, and reviews I've been getting! With only 7 chapters currently under my belt, I am actually so, so lucky with the amount of support I've been getting, especially compared to some. Not only that, but every single last bit of it has been positive! Thank you all for that, but remember to tell me if you found a mistake, or if you just plain hate it. If you don't like my fic, I would actually like to know, because everyone deserves an opinion. Also, how can I improve upon my writing if I don't know what I've done wrong?

Lastly, if you guys want to thank someone for this extra-early chapter, thank my friend Chloe! Go check out her Instagram (nerd_girl_at_st_vlads), because she is the one and only reason you are getting an update tonight! Without her motivation, you'd still be waiting till Friday!

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