POV: Emilia

"So we get engaged and the first thing you do is run away?", I chuckled handing Adrian another pair of socks.

"I'm sorry Gorgeous, but Lissa said she can't trust anyone other than me to overlook the retesting program in the Academy. You know how important this is. Besides, it's only for two days and once I get back we'll celebrate, some special place, you and me with all of our friends."

"Sure thing Handsome, but it better be one hell of a party", I teased him.

I didn't really mind that he was leaving. I didn't expect him to be around twenty-four-seven, though I have to admit I've gotten so used to him being near me all the time it was going to be strange without him, despite it only being for two days. The worst part of it all was that for the first time since I've taken residence at his place, I would spend a night alone, without him to chase the nightmares away and that was terrifying.

"Are you going to be okay on your own?", he asked, probably thinking about the same thing I have, the very fact that he seemed to be the only thing keeping me stable.

"Don't worry, I'll survive somehow", I replied in a dramatic voice, cracking a wide smile, trying to run his worries away along with mine.

Maybe this was going to be a good thing. Regardless of the fact that we were a step away from agreeing to spend the rest of our lives with each other, it was past time I've tried to get myself used to sleeping without depending on him to be there. This probably won't be the last time we'll have to separate and I didn't want to be so codependent, it wasn't healthy. He was my rock, my safe place, the best support I could wish for, but I was never going to be able to be the same thing for him if I don't toughen up.

"Good", he said firmly, but kept a small smile on his face.

As soon as he was done packing I walked him out, knowing he needed to leave straight away or he was going to be late for his flight. We stood on the threshold in an embrace reluctant to let each other go. We exchanged countless small kisses as I whispered in between them: "Stay safe."

"Stay sane", he replied making me laugh.

"I love you", I added kissing him one last time before taking a step back.

"I love you too", he answered kissing my hand and giving it a light squeeze.

I leaned against the door, waving at him and watching him go until he was lost from my sight. The house felt even more empty without him than I thought it would, but I pulled on one of his sweaters, letting his scent mix with the lingering traces of his perfume in the air around me, instantly feeling better. I considered going back to bed since it was too early in the morning, but I knew there will be no sleeping for me now that I already felt so restless. Work was always the best antidote for overthinking, so most of my day was spent in cleaning the house, studying and making my meals.

While I was having breakfast I heard my phone buzzing and I rushed to it, my lips automatically twitching up as I saw a message from Adrian.

Just landed. Got welcomed by a group of sexy school girls. The engagement is off. :P

I chuckled and replied:

Your house just accidentally caught on fire. Don't know what happened ;)

His response was instant:

Fine, fine, I'll disappoint all the lovely ladies here by telling them the most eligible bachelor is off the market. ;) Talk to you later! Ily *

When the night came, he called me just before going to bed and we talked for about a solid hour. After finishing our conversation, I picked up the remote control, but just as I was about to finally relax while watching some random movie, I heard another short ring that notified me of a new message. I frowned and reached for my phone, only to find that the message wasn't from Adrian this time.

I'll see you when you fall asleep. Sweet dreams, A.

My blood froze in my veins. I blinked a couple of times and reread the message, before throwing the phone away and pulling the blanket tighter around me like that could chase away the fear that was consuming me. This is going to be a long night, I thought. And it was. I spent hours staring at the TV screen, before exhaustion finally took hold as the sun began setting down again and I got dragged into the sleeping world no matter how much I wanted to stay away from it.

POV: Rose

"Nothing? Two weeks and you've got nothing? How is it even possible to be that stupid and incompetent?", I fumed pacing around the room.

"Rose", Lissa voiced threatened me to back down, but judging by how tense she sounded, it was clear she was just as irritated by all of this as I was.

"Guardian Hathaway, solving a case with no witnesses, no camera footage, no paperwork and patients files, no traces of any violence and no leads whatsoever is a lot harder than you might think", guardian Miller tried reasoning with me.

"So you try harder!", I retorted, stopping in my tracks to glare at him.

"It's like Fox Recovery Center never existed. There is no staff, no patients, it's a freaking ghost town", he tried explaining further, but upon seeing my pissed of expression fell to silence.

"Thank you guardian Miller, please keep me notified about the progress", Lissa demanded, dismissing him quickly before I had the chance to change my mind about gauging his eyes out.

"Yes your Majesty", he responded, bowing and rushing out of the room.

As soon as we were left alone, I turned to Lissa now completely losing my cool as I almost shouted: "Lissa, please tell me you realize how disastrous this is? First there was an attack on that village a month ago, they didn't solve it, they still can't trace the phone Emilia's been receiving messages from and now this. You do know Emma's going to freak out when she hears her crazy ass cousin just puffed into thin air?"

"I know Rose", she breath out, "But I can't exactly magically whip up a solution for everything. I'm sure they truly are doing everything in their power, but these things aren't common. I mean sure the attack on that commune is something we've dealt with before, but Fox Center is, well, I have no idea why and who would do whatever they did to all those people there. I'm afraid the only thing left for us is to wait."

"And do nothing?", I fumed again, feeling a strong temptation to punch a hole through something with my fist.

"No, not nothing", she stressed leaning against the edge of her desk with clear signs of exhaustion, "I'll press down on them harder, have them working day and night until all three of these cases are solved, but until that happens we keep this quiet, from everyone."

"You really think we shouldn't tell her, Emilia?", I questioned walking over to sit next to her, since I too was running on no sleep and triple doses of coffee.

"No, why worry her before we know the whole story?", Lissa pondered out loud, "Especially now that Adrian is away."

"I don't think we should lie to her, she is a lot tougher than she looks and she deserves to know", I argued thinking of how much I myself would hate to be in the dark.

"Okay, so we'll tell her, but not today. Let's just hold on a second and let the entire situation about her and Adrian dial down. We owe them that much. They deserve some happiness without an impending doom handing over their head for once."

"Agreed", I confirmed, even though I could still feel this itch at the back off my head warning me that this was a wrong decision.

POV: Emilia

My eyes jerked open and I lazily cast a look at the watch hanging on the wall. I was shocked to realize I've actually slept for several hours, more than several. It was almost time for Adrian to board the plane back. As soon as his name bumped into my thoughts my phone rang and I tapped blindly to reach it. It got stuck under a pillow so I barely managed to answer in time.

"Hey Handsome, back a bit early I see", I happily blurted into the phone through a yawn.

"Emi-lia", he stammered his voice dry and broken up.

"Adrian? Is everything alright?", I asked sitting up in alarm, the blanket I was covered with rolling to the ground.

"Car crash. Close to Court. I need help. Hurry", he breathed out before the call got disconnected.

Never in my entire life was I this scared. I ran to my car so fast it felt like I was flying. I raced towards the front gate stopping for a split second in order to yell to the guardian on post: "Call Dimitri Belikov, tell him to drive towards the highway and find me. It's an emergency."

I've barely managed to see him node before my tires left him in a cloud of dust. I pushed the gas pedal so hard I thought I might punch a hole through the bottom of the car. My heart was pounding so loud it was deafening, the landscape around me was a blur and the only thing I could manage to do was to focus on the road ahead of me. Ever second seemed like an eternity before I finally noticed something on the side of the road. I hit the brakes almost losing control of the car. As soon as I managed to pull to a stop, I pushed the door open and threw my body towards the wreckage in the nearby canal.

"Adrian", I screamed at the top of my lungs grabbing the smashed passenger door with shaky hands.

The door got unhinged as soon as I touched it, falling over me and almost knocking me down in the process. The driver was in his seat, crushed to an unrecognizable mush. It took every ounce of strength I had to stop myself from puking. Since the seat next to the driver was empty, I cast a look towards the back but Adrian, apparently, wasn't inside of the car. I turned around frantically scanning my surroundings.

"Adri-", my voice trailed off as I finally noticed something dark in the grass a couple of feet away from me.

I rushed towards him and fell to the ground next to him grabbing his shoulder, jerking him with all my strength as I wept: "Adrian! Oh no, Adrian, please open your eyes! Open your eyes!"

His forehead was cut, a few tiny pieces of glass still stuck in his skin, there was a big scar over his left cheek, the grass around him was dark, stained with blood coming from the back of his head, his clothes torn and covered in mud. His face was still, too still and I couldn't hear his heartbeat. I began crying uncontrollably as I gathered all of the Spirit I had inside of me and forced it towards him pleading as my voice cracked and broke up: "Adrian, no, please, ADRIAN! Please open your eyes!"

Be careful what you wish for, I heard a voice in my head saying before his eyes began fluttering. A sob escaped me as I rejoiced: "Adrian, thank God, I-."

His eyelids finally opened completely and a scream rippled through my chest as his dark, red-ringed eyes, with their usual green color almost unnoticeable underneath the bloody circle, fixed on me coldly.

"WAKE UP!", I heard a roar before feeling immense pain on my cheek.

I jumped up in panic, knocking into Rose who was hovering above me. She pulled back, rubbing her forehead and mumbling: "Ouch."

"Thank heavens", Mitya exclaimed showing up behind Rose.

"Wha-", I began saying, but as soon as I opened my mouth I felt my cheek stinging.

I reached towards it, running my palm over the hot skin. Rose watched my fingers with an expression of guilt before she responded to my unasked question: "Sorry about the slap, but you were on the verge of having a heart attack. I needed to wake you up somehow."

"What are you doing here?", I asked looking up at them.

It was a bit rude, but could they really blame me? I swiftly assessed the situation noticing the front door unhinged and cracked, lying on the ground, the coffee table knocked over and all the cushions and my blanket on the floor. Rose chuckled nervously as she lowered herself on to the couch next to me: "We promised Adrian we'll check on you in the morning. We were naturally going to knock and all, but when we heard your screaming, well, let's just say Dimitri decided to break things first and ask questions later."

"Oh", I simply replied feeling my cheeks blush, though I was pretty sure the blush wasn't all that visible underneath the already existing redness from where Rose's palm collided with my face.

"Are you alright Eka?", Mitya asked his eyes still swimming in worry.

"I'm fine. I just had a really bad nightmare, that's all."

"About Adrian?", Rose prompted taking me off guard.

"Yes, I, how did you-?"

"You cried out his name", she cut in, now being her turn to blush, "Repeatedly."

I stayed silent, because I really didn't want to have to tell them about the nightmare. Living through it once was already horrible enough. When nobody said anything for a few minutes, I awkwardly stood up and gesturing towards the kitchen offered: "You guys want anything to drink, or eat, or something?"

"No we should get going, unless you need us to stay", Rose answered cause Mitya was too busy scanning me for any signs of the lingering instability.

"I'll be fine on my own", I reassured them, giving them the toughest expression I could muster up, "You two have more important things to do than babysit me. Besides I should get somebody to fix that door."

"Are you sure?", Mitya questioned carefully.

"Absolutely", I confirmed with a forced smile, "Thanks for, um, waking me up. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They were still worried when I walked them out, so I promised to check in with them later in order to let them know I'm still okay. As soon as they crossed the threshold and Dimitri did his best to close the door behind them, I broke down. Tears immediately washed over my face and I rushed towards my phone unable to stop myself. I dialed Adrian trying to push the lump in my throat down. After a couple of rings he picked up with a cheerful voice.

"You just can't live without me, can you?", he joked oblivious to the fact that just minutes ago I thought I've lost him for good.

"No, I can't", I replied trying desperately to keep my voice normal.

It was no use. He knew me too well, which is why the next thing out of his mouth was: "Emma, what's going on?"

"Nothing, I just, I missed you. I know, stupid right? It's been like what, less than twenty-four hours, but I can't wait for you to be back home", I babbled nervously.

"It's not stupid Gorgeous. I miss you too. My bed felt really empty last night without you in it, cooped up next to me. And this morning it was annoyingly miserable not to have your hair all over my face and the covers stolen from me, tucked underneath your feet. But just a few more hours and I'll be home."

"Yeah", I mumbled before an idea bumped into my head and I spoke up, "Hey, I was thinking, perhaps I can come and pick you up from the airport?"

"Sure, sounds good", he agreed not knowing that my desire to drive him home wasn't only about seeing him sooner rather than later, "I'll see you there then."

"See you", I said before he hung up.

You think you can protect him, keep him safe? You're wrong!, Ava screamed inside of my head,

"Go to hell", I mumbled marching to the bathroom and opening the drawer with my meds. My hand lingered above the bottles for a while, until I pulled it back and slammed the drawer shut. I'm stronger than this. We'll see about that, was the last thing she said before she went away.

POV: Adrian

I promised Emma a celebration upon my return, so as soon as my plane touched the ground I was on my phone making reservations for tomorrow night. She picked me up at the airport, kissing me until I was out of breath. She looked genuinely excited to see me, like I was away for months, but there was this moment, this tiny little moment, when she looked at me in a way that made me think she was afraid of something. I didn't press her to tell me what it was that got her so obviously upset during our last phone call and our reunion, but whatever it was it seemed to have faded away with my presence. By the time we got home she was already back to her usual, happy, babbling self.

I called Lissa to report a few things aside from the paperwork that was already filled out at the Academy and used the opportunity to ask her to inform everyone to clear their schedules for tomorrow. I thought that way I'd manage to keep it all a secret from Emma, but naturally she figured out I was up to something straight away and wouldn't let it go until I told her. I did however decide there was no way I was telling her where exactly the whole thing was going to happen.

"You have to tell me where we are going so I can know what to wear", Emma pleaded as she followed me around the house.

"Gorgeous, you can wear whatever the hell you want, you'll look amazing either way", I chuckled seeing her brooding expression.

"But-."

"Emma", I cut in turning around and taking her hands in mine, "It's a surprise. The whole point of those is that they are kept secret. I already spoiled it enough."

"Fine!", she growled in annoyance.

I knew though, she was nowhere close to giving up, so it didn't surprise me when a few minutes later her face lit up as she suggested: "How about this, I'll pick something and you just tell me if it's fitting? It's compromise."

"We can do that", I smiled at her stubbornness as she grinned and rushed off to the closet.

I joined her as she pushed the hangers from side to side scanning her clothes. I looked up at her hand, a sparkle catching my eye. I felt a wave of joy as I once again saw how beautiful the engagement ring looked on her finger. It wasn't a typical one, but then again neither was our relationship or either one of us. I had it made exactly how I wanted it, silver, curved and thick coming together around a small amethyst heart and four tiny diamonds. It matched her necklace perfectly. It was elegant and gentle, but bold and strong in the same time. Just like her. She followed my gaze and smiled upon fixing it on her hand as well. She stretched her fingers out and admired the ring with me.

"Looks beautiful, doesn't it?", she whispered as I glanced at her, meeting her eyes that were shining even more than the ring was, as a heartwarming smile spread over her face, "I can hardly wait. I wish the wedding was like tomorrow, or something."

"Well, we can always hope on the plane and go to Vegas", I joked pulling her hand to tangle my fingers with hers.

"Nah, you are worth the wait", she chuckled giving me a light peck.

"Emilia Johanna Ivashkov, sounds kind of awesome doesn't it?", I whispered against her lips.

"It sounds perfect!"

Chapter song: Sweet dreams (are made of this) - Marilyn Manson/ Eurhythmics/ version from Sucker Punch by Emily Browning (take your pick!)