Sooo it's time for Lissa and Dimitri to talk. If that isn't very long, I may add Rose' s POV. But it probably won't be very long… But since I love your reviews sooo much I might just make this have Rose's POV and Dimitri's POV…

Oh, and MAGS: Yes, if an anonymous reviewer asks a question, I try to answer it :) Dimitri's dad is an insolent ass. Him saying he loved Olena and the kids were just his way of trying to make Dimitri feel guilty. Plus he was drunk. Nick will be disappearing for a bit, but he'll reappear later. And thank you :D I'm glad you like it, and I'm well aware it's depressing. I hate it and I'm trying to make it better, but when I wrote this, I was going through some pretty serious stuff and my emotions sorta reflected on my writing. And when I revisited this story, it just felt wrong somehow to change it, if that makes any sense. THANK YOU!

MOLLY: Was this soon enough? ;) And ha, the Strigoi in my story are going to be super-stupid :D Don't worry, she remembers for real really quickly here.

LISSA POV (Haha! Surprise! I thought it'd be interesting to see Lissa's emotions during the talk… I think this might be a 3-person POV chapter…)

I jerked away from Christian. "Dimitri!" I smiled up at him, though my heart was pounding. He had just scared me half to death. The only reason Dimitri would want to talk was if it was about Rose. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about Rose, especially now. I had a sneaking suspicion about the exact thing Dimitri wanted to talk about. Could I handle a conversation about the best friend I'd failed?

"Of course we can talk." Damn courtesy… Being a princess meant I had to please everyone I could. "Christian, move," I hissed.

Christian gave me a look of concern. "You sure? He's gonna wanna talk about…" He trailed off, obviously unwilling to say it. Rose. It hurt my heart to think about her. It was all my fault that rose had lost her memory. I must have done something wrong when I healed her.

I nodded at him, even though I wasn't sure at all. Christian frowned and stood up reluctantly, giving me a quick kiss on my forehead. I knew he'd be close by, ready to jump to my aid and comfort me if I needed it. God, I loved him.

I tensed ever so slightly as Dimitri sat next to me. Trying to keep the mood light for as long as possible, I asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Dimitri tended to suck the happiness out of anything and anyone these days, so I wasn't surprised when he turned to face me and I felt my mood drop considerably. . Ever since Rose had lost her memory, we'd all noticed that he'd been falling into a greater and greater depression. To be honest, I wasn't sure if anything could ever pull him out of it, if he continued descending.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts just as Dimitri started talking.

"It's about Rose," He said. I closed my eyes, desperately wishing for a black hole to appear and swallow the plane up. It would put an ending to this conversation. I knew exactly what he was going to say. "I don't understand, Princess. How could you just leave her?"

I opened my eyes and looked directly at Dimitri, instead of running away and crying like I really wanted to. "Dimitri," I said quietly. "I can't talk about this right now." My throat was closing.

"No," Dimitri said firmly. I opened my eyes wider in shock. I hadn't heard Dimitri use that tone in a very long time. Rose had always complained about it, calling it his "mentor" tone. "You are going to tell me why the hell you left Rose behind." More shock.

Like I needed a reminder of what I did? Rose would do anything for me, and I'd left her behind when I got one damned phone call. I had my reasons for leaving the academy for good, but none that Dimitri could know about. I'd promised I wouldn't tell him the truth. Anything but the truth.

"There is no Rose now," I said in a low voice. I hated saying that, but Dimitri couldn't know that. He had to believe that I'd moved on, because if he knew the truth, he'd want to do something. And that couldn't happen. If he got hurt, Rose would never forgive me when she came back.

In the next instant, Dimitri was gripping my arm, hard. "What did you say?" He growled. I held back a whimper. Oh my damn. He was pissed. God help me.

"There is no Rose anymore!" I repeated, feeling fresh tears roll down my face. "She's gone, Dimitri! She—she doesn't even know us anymore! She left us."

At my words, Dimitri's face became agonized. My heart twisted. It killed me to pretend I was trying to move on from Rose. I felt like I was betraying her.

"How can you say that?" He gripped my arm tighter, but I didn't think he knew he was doing it. I was fairly certain that my circulation was now completely cut off. "Rose would do anything for you. And you're leaving her?"

I let out a sob. I hated this so so much. Leaving Rose made me feel like I was betraying my own sister. Even if leaving was my best option if I wanted her back. "She's gone, Dimitri," What more could I say? "She's gone and she's not coming back. The Rose we knew is dead. It's time for us to move on. Obviously she has." I squirmed uncomfortably. Dimitri's grip had not lessened at all.

"I refuse to believe that," Dimitri gripped my arm even harder More tears came rolling down my face.

I couldn't help my shriek of pain. "Ow! Dimitri, let go! You're hurting me!"

Christian was there in an instant, soothing me with just one look. "Dimitri, let her go." He said to Dimitri, using a bit of his royal control. It was something Christian hated using. I tugged at Dimitri's hand uselessly, looking up at him with teary eyes. Reflexively, Dimitri clenched me tighter. Looking at his vacant, pain-filled and far off face, I realized that this wasn't really Dimitri. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it.

After about ten seconds of failing at prying off Dimitri's hand, Christian gave up trying to use physical force. "Guardian Belikov, I demand that you let go of the Dragomir princess." When Dimitri's hand didn't move from my arm, Christian made his voice even harder. "Now! Or I will have you stripped of your guardian title."

That was a bit extreme and really not something Christian could pull off. Dimitri seemed to know that as well, because he continued to grip my arm, staring at me intently.

"Princess," He said earnestly. "You can't really believe Rose is gone, can you? Please," Desperation tinged his voice. I winced. "please, we have to go back, we have to find Rose."

And… cue the tears. I turned my face away from Dimitri and Christian, letting the tears drip down my face.

Suddenly, Dimitri's grip was released. Startled, I swung my face around to see Felix dragging him away. Christian dropped into the now vacant seat.

"Hey," He whispered. "you okay?" Looking at his face, so open and loving, I burst into tears. He was so caring and kind. I didn't deserve him in any way. I didn't deserve Rose, either.

Christian pulled me to his chest. "I'm a terrible person!" I sobbed. "I ditched my best friend for a fucking phone call. I abandoned my best friend!"

"No, you didn't. Liss, you the only thing you could do. You made the right choice." Christian said soothingly. "It's the best thing right now—and it's our best shot at ever seeing Rose again."

I nodded into his chest, though I felt far from comforted. No matter what anyone said, I still felt like I was leaving Rose behind. Only Christian knew about the phone call, the real reason I was leaving the academy for good.

Damn it, Zmey. I hope you know what you're doing…

Okay, so I know I promised Dimitri and Rose as well, but I thought this chapter would be waaay too long… So I'll post Dimitri and Rose POV chapter later today, I promise.

Another note: Lissa isn't really abandoning Rose. She got a very important phone call. It's her best shot at getting Rose back. But what does Abe have to do with Lissa's important phone call? (Really, if you can't figure that out, you need some help. I recommend a psychiatrist. Seriously.)

Review, tell me what you thought of Lissa's pov