All of my love, my emotion, my anger, floods through me, and I take a deep breath.

In one fluid motion, I spin, stabbing my stake into Nathan's unbeating heart. It's not the most graceful movement, and I end up breaking several of his ribs. But he freezes, then collapses to the ground, sliding off of my stake like a puppet with cut strings.

"I lied," I murmured, looking at the man that I hate, more than anything.

Rose takes this opportunity to jerk her arms away from the two strigoi, bringing her fist upwards to hit one in the jaw, than slamming her forehead against the other strigoi's jaw, too short to reach his forehead, and drops to the ground and rolls away.

I run forward, throwing myself between the strigoi and Rose. One lunges forward, but I, having at least a half a foot of height on him, step out of the way, cracking my elbow into his back and forcing him down.

The next man comes for me. I punch him, square in the nose, and send him stumbling backwards. I take this time to step down on the back of the first man, who is attempting to rise. I thrust my stake downwards. It is an uncoordinated shot, and doesn't hit the mark, but it buys me time.

The second strigoi shoves me, hard. I take a step back, swinging my body and kicking my foot outwards, kicking him in the chest. He falls back, and I leap, my knees on his chest, and slip the stake between his ribs.

Pushing off, I turn and face the third strigoi, who has not yet recovered, and finish him off as well. With one final breath, I turn to Rose, who is huddled in the corner of the small clearing, shaking and defenseless without a stake. I kneel before her.

"Roza-"

"I didn't mean it," she sobs. "I'm so sorry. I...I-"

I cup her face and kiss her, long and gentle, my lips moving in sync with hers, her one hand slipping onto my shoulder, and I pull her tight against me.

We pull our lips away, foreheads bent together, still holding each other.

"That," Rose murmurs. "Was the very definition of stupid. You were... you were supposed to wait until I could at least distract Nathan. Then you could stake him."

I look back at the three bodies laying on the ground, and turn back to Rose, shrugging. "I was impulsive. You're rubbing off on me."

Rose smiles warmly through her tears, and pulls me against her lips again. When I feel her wince, I pull away, moving to her side, cradling her.

"What did they do to you?" I murmur, gently taking hold of her arm. Rose winces and I help lift her arm, where her forearm in twisted and moved at an unnatural position.

"Oh, Roza," I say softly, not really talking to her, but kissing her forehead anyways. I slip out of my coat and unzip my sweatshirt, immediately feeling the cool rush of air hit my arms.

Still supporting Rose's arm, I make a crude sling out of the sweatshirt, tying the sleeves around her neck. She leans her head against my neck as I work.

When I finish, I slide the jacket over Rose's shoulders. Taking her by her one good hand, and sliding my arm around her waist, I help her off of the cold ground, leading her away.

"Where are we going?" Rose mumbles, exhaustion taking over.

"Roza, I'm taking you to the chapel, okay? You can sleep there. Vasilisa will heal you."

Rose nods and cuddles into me, and I immediately feel the warmth of her. And although surrounded by destruction, my heart is light.

Unfortunately, strigoi surround the church, Guardians fighting them off, obviously trying to clear the path for any wounded Moroi or Dhampirs. I hold Rose protectively to my chest, and start to push my way through. I am shoved back several times, and I am forced to push Rose back to slam my stake into the back of one strigoi, but I immediately grab her hand and quickly pull her inside.

The injured lay on the wooden benches, and I see the Princess scurrying around, trying to attend all of them. She looks up when we enter.

"Rose! Dimitri!" She immediately runs to our side. "What happened? Rose, are you alright?"

She nods. "My arm is broken, but yeah, I'm alright."

Vasilisa leads her to an empty seat, and pushes her down. "Okay, we're going to have to reposition the bone. This is going to hurt, okay?"

Rose winces and nods, squeezing my hand and burying her face into my neck. I hold her, and soothingly rub her back while the Princess moves Rose's arm.

She closes her eyes, and takes Rose's broken hand. I imagine the flood of warmth, of magic. Vasilisa drops Rose's hand, and it falls solidly, in one movement. Rose pulls away, slightly, to embrace her.

"Thanks, Liss."

Vasilisa tells her she'll return, and runs off to attend a patient.

I lay Rose down on the wooden bench, pillowing my sweatshirt beneath her head and draping my jacket over her body.

"Dimitri," she whispers. "Stay. Please stay."

I sigh. "Oh, Roza, I wish I could, but I have to go out and fight to keep the Moroi safe, to keep you safe. I'll be back, okay? I'll be back."

Slowly, she nods, and I press my lips to her forehead, brushing away several strands of hair, and walk quitely out of the church, away from Rose, and into the path of death and destruction.

...

Bodies. Everywhere I look, every space, every path, lay bodies.

This part of fighting is almost worse than the actual killing. These people were someone's son or daughter, parent, aunt, uncle. And they're gone. Hours before their family even knows.

The sky gets lighter and lighter, and the numbers of the warriors battling begins to thin.

Everyone here seems to be counting down. Just minutes left, seconds, until the sun breaks over the horizon, and we all pause. The sun warms my skin, sending relief through me. Freedom of the light.

All of the guardians look at one another, unable to process the silence.

"Everyone, report to the auditorium for further instruction," one of the top Guardians demands, and slowly, we break up, and begin to move towards the buildings.

I want to run to Rose, but I know she will be taken care of.

As I walk through the blood-coated grass, I hear a soft moaning.

Looking down, all I see are bodies. One is moving.

I drop to my knees. Blood covers his face from a gouge in his forehead, and blood is layered thick in his hair.

One of Rose's friends.

Oh, what was his name...

It dawns on me. I gently shake the boy.

"Edison, can you hear me?"

Oh no! Not Eddie! Lol Please review!