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Green Tea ice cream = amazing invention. Tastes nothing like green tea but absolutely delicious.

Anonymous Reviewer Lola: Thank you! I really do feel happy when people love my story enough to read from chap 1 – 27 in one sitting. So many of you get in trouble because of me :P. And I believe you are the only anonymous Lola… :D

Disclaimer: I am not Richelle Mead. But this is my fanfiction.

Fuck was the only thought that was running through my mind. My heart was hammering, my body clenching in the anticipation for the fight that I was most definitely going to give. "How did they find us? I thought this place was all secure and unfindable?" I asked.

Abe shook his head. "I don't know. They probably followed me or snuck a tracking bug into my clothes. It was stupid for me not to think they'd use me to find you after they found out I had a working connection with you and your whereabouts."

"Yes, it was very stupid," Dimitri said. "I thought you off all people would know better, be able to see these things coming. But no, you endangered us all. Rose is not safe, and it is your fault."

"Woah, Comrade. Going a bit far in the accusations aren't we? I mean, yeah he made a mistake but I'm on trial tomorrow. It's not like they're going to kill me."

"Just because they can't kill you, doesn't mean they can't do anything else. He put my Roza in danger and there is no way around that." He door shook with the first of their attempts to break it down. "No one can do that and not have to fear my wrath. They," he nodded towards the shaking piece of wood separating us from a large group of heavily armed Guardians, "will feel it for being the danger."

That was deep. I was going to say something else but just then, the door gave one final violent shake before crashing to the ground and a mob of buff men rolled in.

We all immediately fell into defensive positions, forgetting any tiffs. All of us were surrounded. I kicked and lashed out to anything I could hit, shaking off those I hadn't gotten down on the first blow. Seven against one. Six against one. Five against one. Sweat poured down my forehead, clung to my back. One of the Guardians kicked out at my side and I spun, grabbing his foot and yanking it upwards. He instantly lost balance and fell, allowing me to turn my attention back to the remaining four who were keeping up a good fight and were obviously not as wiped as I was already. I blocked another hit, sent one out, broke a nose, crunched a collarbone, knocked someone out. More came in. Dimitri was faring well so far but I could see that he was slowly starting to become exhausted. Screw Dhampir and Guardian stamina, we had slept the night in a care and spent the morning 'exercising', never mind fighting off a dozen well rested Guardians. Abe was sending pots and pans and anything else in the kitchen flying at the door as more Guardians started spilling in. Our efforts weren't enough and the moment a rib cracking blow hit my side and I fell to the ground, I knew it was over.

XXX

My cheek was cold. Numb, I think. I tried rubbing it but found my cheek was blocked of. Some sort of door was between my hand my cheek. What weird contraption did they have like that? I opened my eyes and found my answer: a cold, stone floor of a jail cell. I groaned and pushed myself up, rubbing my cheek to check that it wasn't actually on the other side of some invisible wall.

I looked around, took in the steel bars, the miniscule window, bared also, the crappy cot with a tattered blanket on top. And the unenclosed toilet in the corner so that everyone could watch badass Rose take a pee.

All for my enjoyment during my stay in the Royal Court jail.

I sat up all the way, observing how I was lying on the floor, too far away from the bed to have rolled off. That means they must have unceremoniously thrown me in, on the floor, while I was unconscious. When the hell had I fallen unconscious? "Rose?" I scrambled to my feet, rushing to the bars keeping me away from the rest of the world and almost cried when I saw Adrian walking down the hall. As soon as he saw my face, he started running, hugging me as best as he could and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "Back in jail, are we? Always knew this was where your fate laid."

"Oh, shut up, Adrian. No need to ruin our tearful reunion my mentioning how criminal I am."

"Not a very good one by the amount of times you've been thrown in."

"What? Twice? Escapes equalling half of imprisonments is pretty good."

He rolled his eyes. "It's good to see you. In person."

I smiled, genuinely happy, despite the conversation I knew was impending. "You too. Really good." I said impending, not immediate.

"Your trial's in an hour. You ready?"

My face plummeted. "In an hour? I just regained consciousness five minutes ago! No, I'm not ready but I haven't been ready for anything that's happened in the past months."

"That's my Rose." I managed not to flinch at the 'my', but he read my aura anyways. His face saddened, almost breaking my heart. I took his hand, opening my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "I know, I know. You're with Belikov now. Trust me, I saw it coming. I've know the whole time that it would happen eventually and it was inevitable with the amount of time you guys were spending together." A light smile played at his lips. "You are pretty irresistible. You want something, you get it."

I smiled lightly back, but it was forced. "I'm really sorry, Adrian. I truly do love you I just…"

"Love him more, right?" I nodded, not able to meet his eyes. "It's okay, I get it. You've always been his. You went out with me so that you could get the funding you needed to save him. I always knew that you gave yourself to me for him. Everything always led back to Dimitri and trust me, I don't blame you. It'll always be the same for me. I may find someone else who I love, like you love me, but I'll always be led back to you, like you to Dimitri." His words, though true, hurt. I felt guilty that I couldn't love him the way he wanted me to, the way I wanted to love him. But facts were facts and I couldn't live without Dimitri.

The only thing I could say was, "I'm sorry." A tear slid down my face. "I really am sorry, Adrian. If things were different, if… if," he placed a hand on my cheek.

"Shh, Rose. I get it. I really do. I can see that you really mean it. But I refuse to have you feel sad or guilty about it, okay? Okay?"

I nodded, wiping away the tears falling down my face. "Shit, I'm gonna look like crap for my trial. Think they'll take pity on me if they see I've been crying?" I tried to laugh, but failed.

Adrian did better, managing to smirk. "No, probably not. But we can always hope."

"Why'd they lock me up, anyways? They know I'm not the killer so…?"

"They couldn't have a criminal lurking so close to home not under lock and key. Just because you didn't kill the Queen, doesn't mean you aren't dangerous. And you haven't been officially deemed innocent yet. But don't worry, after today you'll be a free Guardian."

"I better get some compensation for all the crap they made me go through."

"We don't do compensation. But, if you want, I can make it up to you later tonight, in my bedroom, alone."

I slapped his arm, though secretly happy to have easily made our way back to our 'old' relationship. You know, the one where Adrian continually makes inappropriate comments to get into my pants and I continually reject him? "Get out, Ivashkov. I've got very important things I need to attend to in this lovely jail cell of mine."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that code for 'I gotta pee and don't want you to watch me'?"

"Yes."

He smiled. "Then I'm staying."

I rolled my eyes. I was about to return with a traditional Rose retort when the soft footfalls of a Guardian echoed down the stairs at the end of the hall. We both snapped our heads towards the sound and watched as a tall, blonde Guardian, walked to my cell. "Hathaway, it's time for you to make your way to the court room. Prince Ivashkov, I have to ask you to leave." Adrian nodded and waved as he exited. The Guardian turned back to me and sighed, as if this bored him to death. "Back wall, hands placed above your head. Trying anything tricky right now will not benefit you so I don't recommend it."

I refrained from rolling my eyes and did as he said, placing my hands above my head and my feet shoulder width apart. I heard the door rattle open as the Guardian stepped in and the cool metal around my wrist as he snapped the cuffs shut. Satisfied that I was now properly constrained, he took my elbow and led me out of my cell, up the stairs and to the front of the jail. There, we were met with a group of three Royal Guardians. I assumed they were to escort me to the court room since we immediately all started walking in a pretty little circle, me in the middle, across the perfectly mowed lawn. I didn't like the setting they were placing me in. Portraying me as a criminal in front of everyone was not going to help me get out of any charges. By, hey, at least I wasn't the Queen's murderer anymore, right?

We marched into the building and went straight to the back door to where the trialee was taken to enter. Soon, I was urged in and I was looking upon the faces of my friends, my family and the rest of the hot shots in the moroi world who thought me important enough to watch my trial. To my left sat the jury, aka royal idiots and in the table in front of me sat Abe. I smiled weakly. The overwhelming noise of chatter abruptly stopped as everyone realized I was here.

"Order!" the Judge-Lady called out unnecessarily. I didn't know her. She was, obviously, Moroi with long, light brown hair with grey brown eyes, tall, thin build. I had no idea by looking at her if she was Royal or not but either way, she held herself as an apposing authority speaker. We immediately went through the whole 'do you swear to god that you won't lie' crap etc. I held back multiple eye rolls and sighs.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," I wanted to hiss when she used my full first name, "how do you plead to breaking out of jail, assaulting multiple Guardians and murdering Queen Tatiana?"

"Guilty, guilty and innocent respectfully." Abe had told me just to plead guilty in hopes of getting off on smaller fees and punishments but I was kind of shocked that they asked me about Tatiana. I mean, wasn't my innocence already cleared?

She nodded and made a note on her paper. "Where were you the day you broke out of-" she shook her head. "Alright, we're skipping formalities about alibis because, obviously, you were breaking out of jail the day you broke out of jail. Why did you break out of jail? What were your intentions?"

"To find Lissa's sibling, giving her her proper place in Court and to avoid being unfairly executed." Short, simple and to the point. Just keep your head, Rose.

"You were aware of Lissa having a sibling for how long?"

"Since the day of my first trial."

"And how did you become aware of such valuable information that no one else possessed?"

"I got a note from Tatiana."

"Queen Tatiana. And, pray tell, how did you receive a note from someone who was dead?"

"Ambrose delivered it."

"Did it ever cross you mind that it wasn't the Queen who had written the note?"

"It may have crossed my mind but, honestly, it was in my better interest to believe the note was true."

"Mhmm. Let me get this straight. You broke out of jail on behalf of note that you weren't one hundred percent certain held true information."

"…Yes."

She nodded again and wrote another little note. "How would you describe this action from an outsiders point of view?"

"Intuitive?" I asked it as a question. Really, what did that have to do with anything?

Another bob of the head. "So, breaking out of jail was an act of self preservation along with the dutiful need to protect your moroi and make sure that your best friends' life is as it should be? Even though you knew you would become a wanted felon, risking your life?"

Wow, was she on my side or something? "Yes. Correct."

She smiled at me and nodded towards the Royals. One of the old guys stood up and looked at me. "We sentence you to the minimal punishment of paying a fee of two thousand eight hundred dollars. This is a mandatory fee seeing as you did, in fact, break out of jail as a criminal." Score? I wasn't sure how great it was to pay $2800… where did they even come up with those numbers?

"Just one more question before moving on: How did you break out?"

I froze. "Why does it matter?" I asked, not snottily though. Just cause I got a break for this issue, didn't mean I was for the next ones.

"It matters because it is a security issue. We can't have anyone else breaking out."

I shrugged, about to break my vow of truth. "I just, did it."

She raised her eyebrows sceptically. "So, you just woke up one morning, decided you'd had it with your cell and walked out? There were no obvious attempts at breaking the lock or force being applied."

Eff, eff, eff, eff, eff. "Kind of foggy how I did it. Adrenaline rush and everything."

She took a deep breath and wrote something else down. "Very well. Why did you attack Guardians on the occasions of breaking out of jail, in Baia and at your house hold a couple days ago?"

My turn to take a deep breath. Seriously, were they actual idiots? "To avoid capture… for all of them."

"So, it was not your intention to critically injure any of them or with any malicious intent?"

"No, I just wanted them to go away."

"And what about when the Queen was first murdered and the Royal Guard came to get you? Why did you and Mr. Belikov attack then?"

"'Cause they wouldn't tell me why I had to come. And I'm not known for coming easy." I heard a loud snicker from someone in the audience, probably Adrian, but ignored it.

"Isn't it your first instinct to trust the authority? To do as they say?"

Stupid question. "No. Just never worked with me. But I've been getting better…"

Nod. Person from the Royals stands up, says to verdict "Normal assault charges apply."

This was getting boring.

"One last time. Did you kill the Queen?"

"No-o-o."

"Very well. This is done. Guardian Hathaway, you must pay your fees by the end of this month or you shall serve jail time for not following your court appointed sentence. Good day." With that, it was over. All of it. I wanted to whoop with joy. I was even a Guardian again. I looked out over to Abe and Lissa and Adrian and Christian and smiled widely. Abe was looked slightly miffed. For what, I had no idea but he still came up with the others to hug me.

Even Sparky gave me a hug.

"What's got your face all twisted, pops?" I asked after letting him go.

"You weren't paying any attention to my head shakes. You know, you're supposed to stop talking so that me, your lawyer, can say what's suppose to be said to keep you out of jail."

"I think I did pretty good."

"Yes, yes you did. Very well, indeed, Guardian Hathaway. When I become Queen, I think I might just appoint you my head Guardian." I smiled at Lissa.

"So, you in the running yet? For becoming the next Queen Bitch?"

"Well, I hope so. I mean, I can, thanks to you. Have I said thank you yet?" Through the bond, I could tell how thankful she really was. And how frigging happy.

"Yes, like, fifty billion times already."

"Well, thanks again."

"Anytime, Liss. Anytime." As long as I get to be alone with Dimitri. Wait, "Where is my dear Comrade?"

Is it longer? Satisfactory? Brilliant?

I meant to try and get it posted sooner but it didn't happen. In fact, I'm usually rushing to find time on the weekend to finish this. My social homework is suffering for you guys.

Well, the story should be coming to an end soon (funny how like, 15 chapters ago I said the same thing…) as long as nothing else insane and crazy happens :D

And sorry if I got the whole court thing wrong. My friend is borrowing my VA books so I couldn't check any references and well, I'm not educated in Moroi court, or human court for that matter.

Review dear readers… REVIEWWW