The sound of Tasha typing furiously away at her computer echoed around the small, cramped office. She was sat opposite me, fully engrossed with her work, as per usual. It seemed like Tasha never stopped working. She had such as endless supply of energy that I was even struggling to keep up. When she wasn't teaching her martial arts classes, she was doing her accounts, and when she wasn't doing her accounts, she was going over proposals and letters for Court. Watching her work was starting to become exhausting.
I looked down at my own computer screen, sighing in frustration as I lost yet another game of solitaire. It had been a little over a month since I had become Tasha's guardian, and although I had started to settle down in the job, it wasn't what I was expecting. Most of my time was spent watching Tasha work. And although I admired her determination and work ethic, it was also kind of boring. In fact, I often daydreamed about gauging my own eyes out for fun during days stuck in the office. Sitting down and being still was just not my forte.
Sure, I got to work out in the adjoining gym when I started to become too fidgety. And sure, I helped to teach some of Tasha's classes, but it was still a new routine that I had yet to become familiar with. That said, the time away from Court – the time away from Lissa and Dimitri – was doing me good. Of course I missed my best friend like hell, and of course I had yet to recover fully from Dimitri's cruel words, but the distance between us was starting to lighten the weight that had been crushing down on me recently.
Being apart from Lissa was quite strange for me. For years I had gotten used having her always by my side. For years I had gotten used to always following her around. But being free from her grasp was a new experience. The week after I had left, I was constantly checking in on her through the bond, making sure she was safe and sound, but recently I had found myself doing it less and less. Of course Lissa was safe. Of course Lissa was happy. She had a multitude of guardians watching her every move. She had Christian, and although he annoyed the hell out of me, there was no denying that the boy loved her like crazy. And she had Dimitri. He might have completely destroyed my chances of loving again, but I knew that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to my best friend.
I loved Lissa like she was my sister and that would never change – our bond made it impossible – but the last time I spoke to her, she had sounded like a right little royal bitch. I hated judging her like that, but she was no longer the sweet, naive girl I had once known. She had changed, and so had I. And although there was no denying that we were the best of friends – and hopefully always would be – we badly needed the space between us to recover from everything that had happened to us.
Things were still tough; there was no denying that. Often I felt like everything was so bleak that the world lacked light, even during the bright, sunny days of summer. But I had other things to focus on. I had my responsibilities as a guardian and I had to help Tasha out at the gym. I couldn't dwell on the past. I couldn't dwell on my heartache. Not only didn't I have the time to do so, but it was also unhealthy for me.
The tightened fist that seemed to be clenching my heart had slowly begun to release me from its grasp, but I still woke up at some nights covered in sweat as Dimitri's words haunted my dreams. I doubted I would ever find complete solace ever again. I loved him with all my heart, and in return he cut me up into a million and one tiny pieces, making it completely impossible for me to put myself back together again.
"Rose?" Tasha's voice awoke me from my troubling thoughts, causing me to blink furiously as if trying to force my way back into reality.
"What?" I asked, blushing slightly due to my stupidity. It was obvious by the amused expression playing on her lips that I had been out of it for a while, and I cursed myself and my guarding abilities. Stan would be having a heart attack if he saw how bad my attention span was lately. Often, I found myself staring into space, completely zoning out as Tasha talked to me about her work. It wasn't that I found it particularly boring – though the business side of it made me want to bang my head repeatedly against a wall – it was just that I seemed to have so much on my mind that it hounded down on me until I was unable to focus on reality any more.
"I said we better set up soon; we've got a class in five minutes," Tasha told me, standing up and stretching her tall form. I stared at her, dumbfounded. Today was Sunday, and we the gym wasn't open on Sundays. Either I was being a complete idiot, or Tasha was.
"How long had I been out of it?" I asked, standing up also, "because I'm pretty sure today is Sunday. And we don't have any classes on Sundays."
"Oh, but we do today," Tasha said mysteriously, her eyes twinkling brightly as she beckoned me to follow her into the gym.
It was small and dingy, and it was nothing like we have at Saint Vladimir's, but it served its purpose well. The smell of stale sweat and dusty mats might be to everybody's taste, but to me, it was like home. Though Tasha's house was beautiful, I was more comfortable here at the gym. The gym was my safety blanket. It was the place I went when I was feeling sad, or frustrated, or angry. It was the place I went when I felted like the darkness and bleakness in the world was becoming too much. It was my little beacon of light.
"What are you talking about?" I demanded exasperatedly, not having a clue what was going on. The gym was open on most days, but not Sundays. Sunday was the day Tasha tended to catch up on her filing and her paperwork whilst I spent my time trying to beat the computer in a game of chess. Unsurprisingly, I always lost.
Tasha walked over to the supply room, dragging out a couple of mats. Seeing her struggle to drag them across the room, I jogged over to her and took them off of her. She smiled appreciatively, but refused to answer my question.
We quickly set up, working quietly and methodically. Before long, we had put the twenty mats on the floor and dragged out a couple of practice dummies. I tied my hair back, surveying the room. Even though it was five o'clock in the afternoon, daylight still filtered in through the opaque skylights, and so the threat of a strigoi attack was low, but that didn't give me an excuse not to be vigilant. But, as per usual, everything was fine, and I quickly found myself relaxing ever so slightly, though the curiosity of what was happening was almost too much for me to bear.
I made my way over to Tasha, narrowing my eyes playfully to show her my annoyance of being left out of the dark. Obviously something was up, but I had no clue what, and Tasha seemed to be enjoying my confusion. She laughed, "Rose, you are the most impatient person I have ever met. You have three minutes to wait, and you can't even manage that."
"I want to know what's going on!" I told her, my voice sounding rather whiny and high pitched. Tasha laughed even harder, doubling over as I glared at her. I hated being left out in the dark. I wanted to know what was going on, and I wanted to know now, and I didn't care how spoilt or cantankerous I was sounding.
"I'm going to need you to take control of the fighting aspect of today's session," Tasha said, regaining her gracefulness. I nodded, still utterly confused. Though I was as capable of fighter as Tasha, she tended to take control of sessions, mainly because she was much better at martial arts than me. Sure, I had a basic understanding of them, but my guardian training meant that I lacked certain elements of control. I was used to hitting as fast as I could and kicking as hard as I could. I tended to observe the sessions, offering pieces of advice here and there.
That said, I did teach a self defence class on Saturday afternoons. I think Tasha had started to realised that I was starting to become a little bored and restless, because she changed the schedule around and suddenly discovered that she didn't have time to teach the self defence class. I was grateful of her lie; not only did it ease my boredom, it also made me feel like I was doing some actual good in the world. Most of the people who turned up were girls my own age; girls who could easily fall prey to both humans and strigoi. Teaching them self defence made me feel like I was almost protecting them.
The door opened, and instincts took over I quickly looked up to see who had walked in, as if a strigoi would use the front door before launching a violent attack. Though as soon as I registered who had walked in, I wished that it had been a strigoi, mainly because that would have been so much easier to deal with. A strigoi, I could kill. I doubted that I would get away with killing the people who had just walked in though.
"What's going on?" I asked quietly, as the two moroi males and a dhampir – who I guessed was their guardian – walked further into gym, smiling brightly at Tasha. I wasn't sure what confused me more; seeing them, or seeing their pleasant reaction to Tasha. Apart from a select few, I thought most moroi had ostracized Tasha from society, but obviously I had been mistaken, because one of the moroi men pulled Tasha into a tight hug.
"Rose, this is Pytor and Akim Taros, and their guardian Diana, and this is Rose," Tasha said, introducing us. Pytor and Akim, who I guessed were brothers due to their similarity to each other, were older than me, but a little younger than Tasha. Their guardian was an older woman with cropped hair, reminding me a little bit of Alberta.
"This is the famous Rose Hathaway?" Akim asked, still smiling brightly, as if shocked that I was standing right in front of him. Admiration filled his face, and I blushed a little as I looked at the floor, before taking a deep breath and recovering.
"I think infamous is more accurate," I replied, smirking at the arrogant and cocky tone I was using. It was months since this side of me had made an appearance – the side of me that was confident and sarcastic – and I had missed her. She was fun. She could handle herself. She didn't spend her free time crying in her room. I just hoped that I could keep a tight grip on her to make sure she wouldn't disappear again.
I looked at Tasha again, raising both of my eyebrows questioningly. She had yet to answer my question, and I was dying to know what was going on. Though the brother's were obviously royal moroi, they didn't act like it – them being here in Tasha's gym was enough proof for that – and I wanted to know why they were here.
As if remembering that I could explode any moment due to my curiosity, Tasha smiled apologetically, before finally answering my question. "I'm not the only moroi who believes in fighting beside the dhampirs," she started, causing me to look at the brothers. They were both so smiley and so slim that I couldn't actually believe that they were capable of fighting, but I guessed they have been seeing that they were here. "Every month or so a group of us meet up and train here. We learn to fight both physically and with our magic. We have to keep it quiet though, because if Court ever found out, there would be trouble."
I nodded, taking in her words. I couldn't quite believe it; this was a massive step forward. The thought that there were Moroi out there willing to fight and willing to stand up to the strigoi was almost too much. I was speechless. This was such a massive thing. This was such a huge thing.
As if noticing my awe, Pytor spoke up. "Pretty cool, huh?" he asked me.
"Cool? This is fan-freaking-tastic!" I replied, smiling almost as brightly as the two brothers were.
Slowly, the room started to fill up with more and more moroi. Some had guardians with them, but most of them didn't. There were now about eleven Moroi in the gym, and four guardians. Instead of standing by the walls, silently observing, the dhampirs were mixing with their charges and the other moroi, catching up and gossiping between themselves.
"Most royals are against Moroi fighting, and seeing as most royals get all the guardians, we have to do without," Tasha explained, answering my silent question regarding the lack of guardians in the room. I nodded, feeling bitter about how unjust the system was. What made the royals so special that they needed protecting? They were so lazy that they didn't do anything. There wasn't anything they needed protecting from.
"Okay, I think nearly everybody is here, so shall we start?" Tasha said, addressing the small crowd in a loud voice that echoed around the room. There was a murmur of agreement as the energy and excitement buzzed. "If half of you want to come with me, we'll focus on fighting with our elements, and if the other half want to go with Rose, who will help you with some conditioning, that will be great."
Quickly and efficiently, the group split, half following Tasha to one side of the room, and half following me. I felt a little nervous; it sounded egomaniacal of me, but most of the moroi and dhampirs in the room had probably heard of me, and I had no idea whether they admired or hated me. After all, I had abandoned Princess Vasilisa, who was pretty much beloved by everybody. How would these people react to me telling them what to do?
Luckily, both of the Taros brothers had followed me, and their smiles gave me a little encouragement. Standing in front of the six Moroi and two guardians who had come to observe me, I took a deep breath before starting. "First of all, we're going to warm, so grab a mat and start doing twenty push-ups and then twenty sit-ups," I instructed, instantly feeling a sense of relief when everyone moved quickly to a mat without sounding a complaint.
I watched the moroi work out. At times, it was painful. At times, it was side splitting hilarious. Some were better than others, but the level of quality was low, there was no denying it. After a quick – and easy – warm up, a couple of moroi were out of breath, their usually pale faces burning red. That said, I had to admire them. At least they were trying. There were many moroi who sat around, doing nothing all day. And then there were certain moroi who were encouraged and congratulated for doing barely anything. At least these moroi tried. At least these moroi were putting in effort.
The door opened again, just after I had told my small group where was best to hit on the practice dummy and instructed them to try and knock the head off of it. I glanced over, weary that it was getting later and later, but all I saw was a blonde head as it hurtled full speed towards me.
"Rose!" A voice cried happily, as the body collided with me and pulled me into a big hug. I hugged back, happy to see the familiar blonde.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, though it was a pretty stupid question and the look of exasperation on her face suggested that she thought it was a pretty stupid question as well.
"I'm here to shop," she said, deadpanned, before taking a step back. "Why do you think I'm here? I'm here to kick some ass!"
I laughed at her response. I couldn't quite believe how much I had missed her. It was so strange to think only a few months ago I had hated her. It was strange to think that I had actually attacked her and broken her nose. "I've missed you Mia," I told her truthfully, still smiling.
"I've missed you too, Rose," she replied. I looked at her; she had barely changed and yet she was so different. She still looked doll-like, what with her big blue eye and wavy blonde hair, but she was tanner and I could definitely see some form of muscles on her arms. "How have you been?"
I quickly looked back at my group, grimacing slightly as one of the moroi made a fist; complete with thumb in the centre of her hand. I took a step forward, ready to correct her, when Diana spoke. "I'll take over," she told me, obviously having witnessed my reunion with Mia. I nodded, quickly looking over at Tasha who was watching us intently. She smiled, nodding at me before gesturing me to go into the office.
"Come on," I told Mia, leading her through the mass of moroi and into the office.
"So?" Mia asked, not bothering to repeat her question.
"I'm great," I told her, flopping down into the office chair. I didn't sound convincing at all, but I was hoping that if I said it for long enough, slowly it would start to become true.
"Liar," Mia replied. I shrugged, watching her watch me intently. There wasn't much I could say to that. She was right. I was lying. But I had moped around for too long and it hadn't gotten me anywhere. I had dwelled too long on the past and it hadn't gotten me anywhere. Talking about my feelings wasn't going to help. So now I was just taking one day at a time, trying to move on, no matter how slow and painful that process was.
"How's Lissa?" I said, feeling obliged to ask after my best friend. I hadn't checked in on her in five days and although I knew I probably should, I just couldn't seem to convince myself to do so.
"Last time I heard, she was doing fine. She's making a right splash in Court," Mia told me, pulling Tasha's chair closer to mine before sitting down.
"That's good," I murmured quietly, as silence took over the small office. Although there were several bodies sweating away in the room next to us, it felt like we were in complete isolation. I stared at Mia and she stared at me, as if trying to read my mind.
"You did the right thing," Mia said, breaking the quiet spell that had fallen onto us. I looked at her, frowning slightly, trying to decipher her words. "I don't blame you for leaving. I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes. The Dragonmir's are as flawed as the rest of us. I for one should know."
I looked at her questioningly, before realising what she was on about. "Andre," I whispered quietly, as if for confirmation. Mia nodded sadly, and I realised that she was completely and utterly right. The Dragonmir's weren't perfect. It seemed like just because they were the smallest royal family, they could get away with their crimes – with their sins – and no one would bat an eyelid. "I'm sorry," I told her, though I wasn't quite sure what I was apologising for; it just seemed appropriate.
Mia got up, shaking herself as she did so, as if trying to rid the depressing mood that had filled the room. "Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up, causing me to be surprised by her upper body strength, "let's go kick some ass!"
I let her drag me out of the room, nodding at her words once again. I needed to get my mojo back. I needed to get out of this funk. I needed to start kicking ass again and being the awesome person I once was. If I didn't do something soon, I wasn't sure if I would ever see my former self ever again.
AN: And that is chapter seven over and done with! Thank you for reading, and thank you so much for all your lovely reviews. Seriously, they make me one heck of a happy bunny. Plus, we're over the half century mark! 50 + reviews! I can't believe it. You guys rock! I hope you enjoyed Mia's appearance in this chapter – she's actually one of my favourite characters in the whole series, so I had to include her somewhere. But be honest, who thought it was Lissa to start with? If all goes to plan, there should be two more chapters, and then we are back at Court. Which means...drum roll please...we get to see some more Dimitri. FINALLY! I do realise that this is a RXD story, and so far that's been pretty sparse, but I promise you, sometime, in the near (or not so near) future, there will be some interaction in between the two characters.
Anyway, THANKYOU so much for reviewing! I love you guys!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN VA!
