I was going to do a LPOV for this chapter, but I decided it would be confusing if I did it in hers. So this chapter is in RPOV

NICOLE: Lol, I will continue this story :) Hah, I'm not as religious as the Alchemists, but I am religious… And thank you! If you were a man who wanted to make out with me, I would be ecstatic that you'd want to ;) (Yea, I'm weird)

MOLLY: The site is www(.)fictionpress(.)com It looks exactly like this site, only it's red :) Good luck. And lol, there's a reason she's the embodiment of death… SHE'S ALREADY DEAD :D Hahaha, no, I'll run out of ideas long before we reach 100 chapters. HI BACK!

Disclaimer: I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I owned VA… Speaking of which thank you guys for reviewing my awesomely pathetic story! They mean the world to me and I cherish every word!

Oh, and btw, this chapter is at the same time that Lissa hits her head and blacks out.

RPOV

Just as I was about to take the woman's hand, there was a brilliant flash of light. Everything dimmed, and the wind whipped around us. Frightened, I pulled my hand back and covered my head. The woman yelled something, but I couldn't make it out. Suddenly, the wind stopped and abruptly everything was calm and serene again. I cautiously lifted my head.

"What the hell was that?" I exclaimed. Before the woman could respond, movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I whirled around and saw Lissa.

"Lissa!" I screamed. She looked up and I saw desperation and fear written all over her face. "I thought you said she was safe!" I yelled at the woman, panicked. "She's not safe! She's dead!"

"She isn't dead, Rosemarie, merely unconscious and under stress. Look, she's already fading from this plane." She nodded her head. I looked at Lissa; the woman was right. Lissa's form was shimmering and rapidly turning transparent. "Now, let's go. You don't belong with her. This in-between state you're in is only causing her stress. Once you leave, she can fully move on." Her voice was smooth and compelling. It pulled my subconscious mind to her and made me forget things.

I hesitated, staring at Lissa. She gave me another sad look, and that's when I made up my mind, breaking free of the woman's spell and the field's magnetic beauty.

"Sorry," I said, "but I love living too much to go right now." I threw myself at Lissa's almost invisible form, praying that holding on to her while her spirit made the journey back would work. Desperately, she reached for me, nearly gone.

"NO!" As I grasped Lissa's arm, the woman's inhuman screech made me turn to see her hurtling towards us. With the wind whipping her hair around and the expression on her face, she truly looked like a fallen angel, and again I had to wonder what her purpose was. Was she a guide for the lost souls, or the one who punished those who'd escaped death before? I flinched away from her and closed my eyes, terrified she'd drag me off Lissa and I'd be stuck here forever.

There was a rushing sound in my ears, and then I felt myself being sucked backwards. I opened my eyes to see the field rushing away from us, and then there was a blinding white light. It dazzled me, but I couldn't close my eyes. And then there was nothing but swirling darkness.

I groaned and opened my eyes to see a man peering down at me. I sneezed and frowned at him.

"Holy shit!" The man leapt back, a look of total astonishment on his face. "What the hell is going on? They told me you were dead!" I barely suppressed a grin, remembering that I had actually been dead.

"Well, obviously I'm not." I snapped. "So are you going to help me off this cart thing or not?"

He was still staring at me, mouth wide open. I sighed. "I guess not," I sat up, positioning myself to slide off. The man was still staring. I think he was in shock. Briefly, I contemplated saying something else, but decided that would probably not help him recover from the shock of seeing a dead person sit up and start talking.

I slid off the cold metal table and shrieked as pain shot up my leg. The man snapped out of his dazed stupor at my scream and lunged forward, catching me just before I did a face plant on the floor.

"Careful," he said, helping me back onto the table. "Your ankle is badly sprained. Putting any unnecessary pressure on it could really hurt."

"No shit, Sherlock." I growled at him. "I figured as much out. What else is wrong with me?" I asked as I did a quick assessment of my body. As expected, pretty much every part of me was bruised, and my left hand looked pretty mangled. I didn't even want to know what my neck and face looked like.

"You have a broken left arm, and you need surgery on your left hand. If you even want to gain back fifty percent of your strength in your hand, I suggest you do physical therapy for about 9 months after the cast is off. 9 months is a minimum time frame." He warned. "Also, you have some cracked ribs, bruises covering every inch of you, a few nasty cuts that we already cleaned up for you, a concussion, and strange markings on your neck, that vaguely resemble tooth marks from a wolf or something." Reaching for his stethoscope, he gestured at my chest. "May I…?"

"What—Oh, yea, sure" I pulled up my shirt, trying to hold in a gasp at the ugly purple bruises surrounding my stomach and ribcage.

He gave me a sympathetic smile and carefully placed his stethoscope on me, trying to avoid hurting me. I breathed evenly as he listened to my heart beating with a growing look of amazement on his face.

The man leaned back. "Amazing," he breathed. "You truly are alive again."

Sighing, I pulled down my shirt. "Yea, you didn't really think you were talking to a corpse or a ghost did you?" He flushed, looking down at his shoes. "Now, can I get out of here? There are places I have to be, and people I have to see." I thought of Lissa and Dimitri, and my heart sped up. It had been too long since I'd seen either one of them.

"Uh, hang on. There are a few calls I have to make. There are no protocols for a dead patient coming back to life after being dead for such a long time." He said with a nervous laugh.

I pointed to my ankle. "Where am I going to go?"

"Right. I'll see what is going on. This is madness!" He muttered.

I shrugged. "Ah, I'm used to dying."

The man blinked, taken aback. "You're-used to dying?"

"Used to what?" I asked innocently, hiding a smile at his confusion. Messing with humans was so much fun.

He shook his head at me and walked away, grabbing his phone. He opened it and dialed a number.

"Yea, this is Connor. So I've got an odd situation down here. The patient Rose Hathaway, e. 1207, is alive and coherent." He paused and I heard the sounds of someone yelling on the other line. "No, I'm not joking." He argued back. "I was having a conversation with her and—what?" I strained my ears, trying to hear what the person on the other end of the line was saying. "Right. Okay, yea. I'll bring her up for examination and ToSgJ (I made that up, lol. Just pretend it means she needs surgery on her left hand, 'kay? :D). Give me 10 minutes." Connor hung up.

"Well?" I asked expectantly. "Can I go soon? Or at least use the phone to call my friends and tell them I'm fine?"

Connor shrugged. "No can do. They want you up there ASAP. You need surgery on your hand now. Look, if you just cooperate, you'll get to see your friends sooner." He turned and started fiddling with the drawers and cabinets.

"Fine," I sighed. "Just sedate me and get it over with." I laid down and closed my eyes as he injected me with the anesthesia. Soon I was drifting away on blissful darkness.

LPOV

"Lissa? Honey, open your eyes." Christian's soft voice echoed in my ear. I opened my eyes, but shut them again almost immediately.

"It's too bright," I mumbled. Christian sighed and I heard the sounds of shuffling feet, and the light disappeared.

"Try opening them now," he advised. Slowly, I cracked one eye open. When the light didn't scorch my eyes, I opened the other one too. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked

I put a hand to my throbbing head. "I have a headache, but other than that, I'm fine." I frowned, recalling what had happened before I hit my head. "Why do you care?"

Christian frowned back. "Why wouldn't I care?"

"Well… Because I thought you hated me now." I answered cautiously. "After the things I said to you…"

Christian moved closer to me. "Lissa, I know it wasn't you. It was the darkness. If I thought you hated me, I wouldn't be here. Or with you."

I smiled slightly. His faith in me was astounding. "But how do you know?"

Christian blinked, hesitating. "What?"

"How do you know I don't feel that way?" I persisted. "For all you know, what I said could be true…" I trailed off, unsure why I was arguing with him.

Christian smiled and leaned over. He kissed me and my world exploded. It was passionate kiss, filled with longing and love and I never wanted it to end. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to lose myself and forget everything bad that was happening in my life.

He pulled back and chuckled slightly. "That's how I know, Liss. I love you, plain and simple."

I smiled up at him like a big idiot. "I love you too. What happened while I was unconscious? How's Rose?" I asked worriedly.

Christian's eyes filled with regret and disappointment. "She's still gone."

I stared at him. "Are you crazy? She's not dead. I know she isn't. Stop messing around."

"I'm not messing around… Remember? Her surgery? Something went wrong and they couldn't save her in time?" Christian asked gently, brushing my hair away from my face.

I recoiled. No. That wasn't right. She wasn't dead. I would know if she was dead. Something in my head was telling me she still existed. "No, Christian, I swear to God. She's not. I'd know if she was."

Christian got up and started pacing. "You wouldn't know Liss. You didn't know. It came as a complete shock to us all. This isn't some fantasy world where you get a feeling of deep loss as she dies! You didn't know!"

I opened my mouth to reply that, yes, indeed, I would know, when the door opened. Adrian sauntered in, looking shell-shocked. "Adrian?" I asked in confusion. "What the hell?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're not drunk, are you?"

"Always assuming the worst, Cousin. No, I am not. There is no alcohol allowed in this building and I seem to have left my cigarettes at Court." He grimaced.

"Wow, you must be ready to shoot someone." Christian commented dryly. Adrian glared at him.

"I just came in here to tell you two to shut the hell up. Some people are trying to sleep in this place."

"Adrian, seriously?" I said. "You couldn't fall asleep unless you had a bottle of vodka in your hand."

"Well, that and the assistant Abe threatened just gave us a report."

I shot up immediately. "Well, what is it? How is Rose doing? Can we go see her yet?"

Christian threw up his hands. "She's been like this since she woke up. Denying Rose's death." I glared at him.

"She is alive now, you idiot. Didn't anybody tell you?" I asked. Why did people keep acting like she was dead. I knew she wasn't. She had been, but now she wasn't. What was so hard to believe about that?

"Actually, fire-crotch, she's right. That was the assistant's report. He said that she just sat up in the morgue. Nearly gave the coroner a heart attack. They ran some tests on her and she's completely and wholly alive. They were stunned—until I compelled them into forgetting she'd ever died." Christian was speechless as Adrian turned to me curiously. "But how did you know she was alive again?"

I frowned, immensely confused. "Well—I don't know… I just did."

Christian laughed. "God, you people are fucking crazy. Remind me why I hang out with you two?"

Adrian smiled. "Because you love her," he pointed to me, "and I make everyone joyful." He spun around with his hands outstretched. Yep. Definitely his spirit wackiness coming out.

Christian snorted. "Ivashkov, the only thing you make are cigarette butts and mistakes." I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. Tears started streaming from my eyes and I couldn't seem to stop laughing. Christian started laughing too.

Adrian sighed. "Yes, haha. Very funny. Very clever. Like I haven't heard it before. If you were wondering, Rose wakes up in about two hours," he left. Abruptly, I stopped laughing.

My heart hammered in my chest. "Are you serious?" I shrieked. "In two hours, I get to see my best friend again?" I was excited, but also kind of nervous. There was no way to know if she remembered anything, because she wasn't awake, and hadn't been around lately. If she didn't remember, she was going to be one traumatized girl. I felt sick with anticipation, praying to myself that she remembered.

Sensing my feelings, Christian gripped my hand. "Everything will be fine," he said in a low voice. "She probably remembers."

"Probably," I agreed, then asked wryly, "but when has anything happened the way it should?" Christian had no answer to that so we sat in silence, his arm draped around my shoulder, both of us hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

DPOV (While Lissa's unconscious)

I thought things couldn't get worse. I was wrong. My hopes had been briefly ignited, only to come crashing down with no warning, leaving behind a shell of the person I had been. My despair was so deep I could hardly express it. I retreated within myself, stunned into a nonresponsive state. Surely, surely, the world had stopped spinning and life ceased to exist. Was it possible for a life where Rose's spirit no longer wandered? I certainly didn't think so.

"Dimitri? Dude, are you okay?" I heard Felix ask. A flicker of annoyance briefly crossed my mind. That was a stupid question.

"I am fine," I responded automatically. Felix bit his lip.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. You can talk to Serena now. I'm fine." I said with a robotic smile. I'd noticed the two of them talking with each other and even laughing at one point over the past few days. I could not let anyone see how much the pain was ripping me apart inside. My chest clenched and suddenly I couldn't breathe. Without waiting for Felix's response, I strode away, trying not to completely break down.

I found the bathroom relatively quickly and luckily there was no one else in it. I closed the door and locked it, ensuring nobody else could get in unless I wanted them to. Now knowing what else to do, I started pacing, my thoughts whirring.

I was furious with the world, with God—if there even was a god. I doubted His existence, for how could He have let such a horrible thing happen to us? We'd had everything worked out, and we'd been living in a fairytale. And then everything was horribly messed up. Roza wasn't my Roza anymore, she was stuck looking like Lissa and then I realized that I'd rather have her be Lissa because surely there was nothing worse than having the love of my life not know me. But now I know better. Now I know that there are worse things in life—and I hate myself for realizing it. Now nothing could hurt me because the worst had already happened to me. My love was dead, dead because I couldn't protect her. I broke the promise I'd made, to protect her and never hurt her. It was too much knowledge to deal with.

Shaking, I turned around and slammed my hand into one of the stall doors. It bent inward, and I noticed a giant, fist shaped dent. I smiled grimly to myself. Causing destruction to another person's property was soothing somehow, like I knew I wasn't the only one or thing that had been destroyed.

"Dimitri, come out of there!" That was Felix pounding on the door. I sighed and shook my head at the door, refusing to break my silence. "Come on! This is the only bathroom that's not gross near us and I really have to pee."

I let him in, refusing to look at him. As he came in, I left, unwilling to stick around and hear what he had to say about what I'd done to the door. I found a chair in the corner of the waiting room, away from everyone else, and sat in it, staring at nothing in particular.

Time passed, but I was unaware of it. Felix came over to me and tried to talk, but I brushed him off. Eventually, I became aware of someone shaking me and saying my name.

"Dimitri, come on. Listen to me," Felix said, sounding frustrated. "I know you can hear me."

I shook him off of me. "What?" I asked, annoyed. Couldn't I be left to grieve in peace?

"That assistant guy… He has news on Rose."

"What news could he possibly have, Felix? She's dead! What, does he want to tell us that they're fucking sorry and they're willing to pay for a coffin?" I shouted. How dare he come in here and tell me there was news on Rose? That was beyond cruel, to try to raise my hopes that I'd just been dreaming, and Rose was fine.

Felix backed away slightly, raising his hand. "No, he said she wasn't really dead. He said they must have made a mistake, because she's alive."

My heart stopped. "W-what? She's really alive?" I asked softly, not daring to believe it. It was too good to be true. I had to be dreaming.

Felix nodded, a smile breaking out on his face. "She's alive and well. Apparently she gave the guy crap about not letting her leave."

I laughed. That sounded like her. "Where is she?" I asked, feeling giddy.

"In surgery. She can see visitors in about two hours." Butterflies rose in my stomach. In just two hours, I would get to hold my Roza again. And this time, I promised to myself, I would never let go.

Whew! Long chapter! Sooo, how was it? Crap? Great? Lemme know by pressing that little button down there and typing words :)

Ha, you guys who thought I killed off Rose… I'm no good at killing off characters… Last time I tried to kill someone off (It was Felix) I ended up sobbing and deleting it because I couldn't go through with it…

Anyways… Guess what next chapter is? That's right, the REUNION!

And sorry if you thought it was ridiculous Rose came back again… I just really wanted Mason to be happy.

The next chapter might take a while… School has been freaking ridiculous with all the homework I've been getting and then there's my recent health issues… My life is so screwed up atm.