Alright, everyone! Here is the next chapter in this story! As you can probably tell, we're nearing the end of this story. Actually, we've got about four or five chapters left in this story. But, who knows? Seeing as this one had so much popularity, there might be another VA story that I'll release after this… *looks away innocently* If you guys want to know if something will be released, you'll just have to keep an eye on my page! So, before you guys start reading this, I just want to thank my beta, DragonGirl323, who always does an absolutely fantastic job editing these chapters. And now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!

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Previously on A Friend's Courage…

Looking around, I saw that I was standing in a beautiful meadow; daisies, lavenders, roses, every flower that you could imagine covered the ground, making the air smell wonderfully. A beautiful river flowed a few feet away from me, the bright light making the river shine. Everything around me was so beautiful, peaceful. It was as if there wasn't a care in the world.

Was I in heaven? Did I even belong here? With everything that happened, it would have been obvious that I belonged in Hell. Guess I was wrong about that… But shouldn't there be more people around? I mean, there was only me and…

"Hey, Rose, long time no see," a voice said from behind me, making me slowly turn my head toward it.

And what I saw shocked me. The man standing in front of me had red curly hair, blue eyes, and dimples on his cheeks, making him look young and innocent. A small smile played on his face as his hands went into his pockets, approaching me slowly.

"I honestly didn't think I would see you here, especially not now."

"Mason…"

Chapter 37

To Live or Die

Rose's Point of View

"Am I dead?" I asked as he walked up to me, his eyes on mine the entire time.

But Mason didn't answer my question. Instead, he extended his hand to me and smiled warmly, just like he used to when he was alive. "Come sit down with me. I can explain everything to you then," he said, making me feel warm inside as my hand reached out to take his. His hands felt rough from all of the training we had received together as novices, but they were familiar, natural. Just the way I remembered.

He led me over to the river and we sat down on the bank, watching as the blinding light made the water glisten. Looking at him, he looked down at the beautiful flowers surrounding us.

"What is this place?" I asked softly, brushing my fingertips over the petals of a red rose.

"It's the first step toward a person's afterlife. Mostly, this place doesn't exist to those who have already decided to move on. It's like…the trials novices have to take to become a guardian. First, they get to decide if this is really the path they want to take, then train, then the field experience and then the trials. Except that you don't have to do so many steps here. Here, in this place, you get to decide if you actually want to go up or stay down on Earth. It rarely happens that someone has a choice like this," Mason explained, never looking at me. He always stared down at the flowers, as if he was contemplating something in his mind.

"Did...did you have this choice?" I asked softly, assuming that he might have been given this option. But if he had, then he would have decided to come back, right?

Mason shook his head and turned his attention to me. "I actually didn't get to make this choice. But hey, I'm helping you make yours, so in a way, it's like I am getting a choice: a choice to let the girl I like, maybe even love, stay with me, or let her go back down to the people that care for and love her."

"But you care for and love me as well, don't you?" I asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

Scoffing, he nudged my arm playfully with his shoulder and smiled. "You know I do. But it'd be selfish of me to keep you here when you can actually have the choice to live or pass on," Mason said, seriousness entering his voice as he turned his eyes toward me, both of us looking in each others' eyes.

I had missed those blue eyes of his... I had missed him. He was one of my closest friends and I had gotten him killed. All because I had used him...

"I'm so sorry, Mason... I never meant for you to end up here. If I hadn't used you like that, maybe—"

"Don't. Rose, I understand. I know that it wasn't your fault and I know that you've been beating yourself up because of this, but you have to understand that you're not the reason that I died. I wanted to help you and, honestly, did you really expect me to leave you there while you fought against two Strigoi on your own? You're good, but, Rose, sometimes you need help. I went out to help you and unfortunately, I died. I guess it was just my time. But I don't blame you at all for my death, Rose. And you shouldn't either, alright?" he said, but it was so difficult to believe him. After everything that had happened, it very hard to think that he didn't blame me. "Come on, Rose. Please believe me. What happened to the Rose that I used to know?"

"I don't think she's around anymore. I figured that part of me would be either up there or in Hell right now," I said, wrapping my arms around my knees and resting my chin on my kneecaps, looking down at the water. "Look, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. If I could have prevented it, I definitely would have."

"Oh, I know that. I've known that since the minute I died, Rose, which is why I've been trying to help you since," Mason said and even through the corner of my eye I could see that he was still looking at me.

"So I hadn't imagined you," I said, plucking a rose from its stem and staring at it fondly before smelling it, closing my eyes at the beautiful scent.

"No, you hadn't. I know that you didn't. Ever since you became shadow-kissed again, you've been seeing her ghost, haven't you?" Nodding, he continued speaking slowly. "I've been trying to keep her away from you, so that no one could hurt you anymore. But she's a stubborn one, really thinking that you were the cause of her death."

"I technically was…"

"No, you weren't. He was, that Strigoi you killed a few minutes ago. He tried to make you feel guilty about this and attempted to lure you to him in the end with more deaths. I know that you wanted to, but your friends held you back. I also know that ever since Lissa said those things to you, you've doubted your skills as a novice, which is exactly what that Strigoi wanted," Mason said softly.

"Can you really blame me?"

"Not really, no. But you do realize that she's actually trying to help you, right? Ever since you came back from that hellhole she's been honestly trying."

"I know... It's just hard, you know? I mean, I just can't forget what she said. I've been trying, but I can't seem to forget. What if she actually believes that I'm nothing more than a screw up and she's just not saying anything?" I asked, looking at him now. But it seemed like he didn't know what to say. "I mean, I might have killed a dozen Strigoi on the way to kill Gabriel, but it doesn't make me a good novice. I don't even know what it makes me." Mason began laughing at something, which completely took me by surprise. "What is so funny?"

"You think that by taking down a dozen Strigoi, you're not a good novice?! Are you kidding me?!" Mason asked between his laughing fit. "The fact that you killed all of those Strigoi makes you the best novice out there! No one knows how to kill a Strigoi like you can Rose. And you shouldn't sell yourself short. Could Eddie have done what you did in the last hour?" Shrugging, he rolled his eyes and looked at the water. "Okay, maybe he isn't the best candidate to choose. But think of the other novices in your class. Could they have done what you just did?" Shaking my head slowly, he smiled at me. "There you have it. You have your answer. You're the best novice at the Academy and everyone knows it. Lissa knows it. Christian knows it. Hell, even Lissa's parents know it."

"Her parents? I didn't think they'd be watching me… I just figured no one would be watching over me."

"We might be dead, but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy seeing how my sister's best friend is doing these days," a voice said from behind me, making me spin around and stand up in shock as I looked at the Dragomir prince…or should I say dead Dragomir prince.

In front of me stood Andre Dragomir, his blond hair shining from the blinding white light to our side and his jade green eyes never leaving mine, a soft smile playing on his face as he watched me. Two figures walked up and stood behind him, smiling at me. I recognized them as well… Lissa's parents, Rhea and Eric Dragomir, and her brother, Andre. They'd all died in the accident that was supposed to have killed me as well. But since Lissa had healed me and bonded us, I hadn't joined her family in Heaven.

Looking at them now, I began fiddling with my fingers, not sure how to act in front of them, considering they were Lissa's parents—who I had gotten along with well in the past—and that they were dead. "Mr. and Mrs. Dragomir… Andre… I…I didn't think I'd see all of you here," I answered honestly, only thinking that Mason would have been here with me. This whole place was starting to surprise me more and more with every second that ticked by…

"We've always been around, in a way, Rose. We have all been watching you since the accident and we're very proud of the way you've kept our daughter safe, even as you have put your own life at risk, especially at such a young age," Lissa's father said, approaching me slowly with a smile plastered on his face. "And we're very proud of everything that you've done for our little girl."

"She really has been trying to make it up to you, Rose. I don't think I've ever seen her try so hard for someone… Well, maybe her boyfriend, but I know my sister. She would never try this hard for someone other than you," Andre explained, standing beside his father. He was almost the same height as him… It was uncanny alike they looked.

"Our daughter has come a long way. There might have been bad things that she said and did in the past, but, as most say, everyone needs to put the past behind them," Rhea said, advancing to stand beside her son, a soft smile playing on her face as she looked at me. "And I believe that you need to do the same Rose."

"But… I…I know I should… I want to…but it's difficult…" I admitted, looking down at my hands. "I…I can't right now…"

"I know it won't come easily, Rose. But it will come in time. We know that you've been through a lot. And we all know that, with the ordeal that you went through, forgiving my daughter is not going to be easy. But we know that you can do it," Rhea explained, placing a soft and gentle hand on my arm, which made me look up at her. "There's a part of you missing, we know. But…maybe we can help you with that."

"What do you mean…?" I asked, looking at them in confusion. What were they talking about?

They stepped aside and Mason stepped forward, smiling as he turned his attention toward something behind me. Turning around to see what he was looked at, my eyes opened wide as another figure approached me.

This figure—to say the least—was me…or at least a ghostly, broken version of me. Her skin looked like parchment, paper thin, pale, and crackled. It seemed as though one touch—if it were possible—would kill her. I knew she was a ghost and everything, but it still looked…frightening. There was a large black hole where her heart should be and her eyes… Her eyes were the most terrifying and hollow things I had ever seen. There was absolutely no expression to them. It seemed as though her eyes held no life, no strength, no…nothing. They were still the same shade of dark brown, but there was no pupil to it; just dark brown, maybe even lighter. And it looked like she was fading.

"Is that…me…?" I asked in complete shock, simply staring at my ghastly form as it stopped just a foot or two away from me. "What exactly happened to me…?"

"When the guardians found you, this ghost came up to this field and has been walking around ever since. Trust me, she looked a lot worse when she got here. But ever since you've been back at the Academy, it seems as though it's been getting…'wholer', if that's even a word," Mason explained.

"Actually, it's not. But continue," I said, simply staring at myself.

"Well, anyways, it's just been moping around, waiting to be fixed. I think it's been waiting for you to come here so that it can finally join with you again."

"But why? What is…it…exactly?"

"It's you, or was you." That didn't really answer my question, but nevertheless I let Mason finish, curious as to what he would say. "Ever since you came back from Bozeman, you've felt as though you've been missing something, right? That something inside of you died?" Nodding, I was met with a soft smile in response. "This is the part that died. It's your…spunk, as people would put it. It died, sure, but it's easily fixable. You see how broken and fragile it looks? It used to be a lot worse. When I first saw it, I thought that it was going to turn to dust with one step."

"How long have you been here then, Mason…? I mean, I saw you as a ghost just a few days ago," I asked, starting to get a small migraine from all this.

"I've just recently gotten here. But when I came up to Heaven and they sent me down to this valley—so that I can help you with this choice of yours—I saw it. I saw your spunk and frankly, I got scared for you. So I started watching you from up here, seeing how you were faring with things," Mason said, walking over to stand next to Andre and Lissa's parents.

"You know that's considered very creepy, right?" I said, pointing to him and looking at him with a disturbed expression.

But Mason simply chuckled and placed his hands in his pockets, just like he used to when he was alive. "I know. I only watched when there were interesting things to see, like you kicking Jesse Zeklos and Ralf Sarcozy's asses, or when you were killing every Strigoi in sight to get to Lissa and the others. And I've got to say, you've come a long way since you came back to the Academy with Lissa just a few months ago. You've gotten stronger, faster, and a lot scarier," Mason said, smirking as he kept staring me down with those soft, friendly blue eyes of his.

"Still find the whole spying thing creepy, but thank you… It means a lot, what you just said," I said with a soft smile of my own.

Mason smiled and let Andre speak for a change. "Not to rush anything, but your time here is starting to run out. I believe it's time for you to make a decision," Andre said, looking at all of us.

"Okay…what are my choices?"

"Simple: live or die."

"That seems simple enough… But not the easiest decision to make," I explained, placing my hands in my back pockets while my eyes stared from one person to the next, trying to decide what to do.

The choice should be simple, right? I should decide to live, simple as that. But…would things be better if I did die and join Mason up there? Would Lissa and Dimitri and my mother be better off if my heart simply stopped beating forever and my soul went up to a different afterlife? But my mind was conflicted. It didn't know what it wanted. It was torn between going back to the people I loved or staying with the guy that had liked me for years.

"Here, maybe this will make things easier for you," Rhea said as she stomped on the ground and it opened up a little, making an oval hole in the ground and turning the empty space into water, clear water.

But this was no ordinary water. The liquid shimmered to reveal my mother doing chest compressions on my dead body, tears running down her face as she pleaded with me to come back. Alberta was kneeling behind my head, gripping the dirt beneath her and never removing her eyes from my chest, trying to find any kind of movement to reveal that I was truly alive. Dimitri held my hand in both of his, kissing my knuckles and pleading with me to return, just as my mother was doing now. Lissa and Adrian were both trying to fight the guardians and even using compulsion to get them to let them go, but nevertheless, they never approached my body since two more guardians would come and hold them both down. Christian looked away from the scene, squeezing his eyes shut, and trying to stay calm during the whole situation.

They were all trying so hard to keep me alive…

"They want you with them. You see how they are devastated by your death? Imagine if you stayed here with us. They would never be able to go back to how they were. They would be forever changed and be absolutely miserable without you. This Dimitri cares about you, more than you can possibly know. My daughter is trying so hard to help you, to be the friend that you need. And your mother…" Rhea sighed and looked at me with a soft expression, lifting my chin with her finger so that I could look her straight in the eyes. "Speaking from experience, it's hard losing a child, whether it is you who dies or your child. And now, your mother is feeling this grief. She might not have been a strong influence for you during your life, but she is trying now, more than ever. Your mother can't afford to lose you, none of them can."

"But is it the right choice to go back…?" I asked in a small voice, afraid of what my choice may cost others. "I mean, how would it hurt others in the end?"

"I believe that the only time that they will be hurting is when they are about to lose you, which is happening to them at this very moment," Eric said, walking over to us and placing an arm around his wife.

"They need you more than you think, Rose. Lissa needed you when she was a kid and she still needs you now as her guardian because you will be her guardian in the future. There isn't anything that they can do that will keep you from being Lissa's guardian in the near future. You want that, don't you? To protect her like you promised all those years ago?" Andre asked, standing beside me as he looked down at his sister, longing in his eyes. He missed her like crazy. They used to be very close, those two, like magnets in a way.

"That's all I've wanted to do…protect the ones I love," I explained, looking down at my mother blowing air into my mouth, trying desperately to revive me. Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at all of them. "I've made my choice. I…I want to live again. I want to be with the ones I love."

Everyone smiled at me and Mason nodded in approval, knowing that it would probably pain him to have to watch over me all the time, but he wanted this for me. I could see it in his eyes. He knew that this was the right decision to make. Smiling a little, I glanced down for a few seconds before looking back up at them.

Lissa's mother approached me, her hand touching my wrist softly. She took my hand in hers and turned my wrist so that it faced upward. "Maybe this will help," she said before running her fingers softly from my elbow to my wrist, causing slight pain to form on my skin.

Wincing a little, I could see a black symbol being drawn on my skin. No…tattooed on my skin, were the better words to use in this situation. There was something being tattooed on my skin. It was a dragon with spread wings and spitting flames with its claws extended and its spiked tail raised in the air. It was the Dragomir symbol.

Looking up at Lissa's mother, she placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. "It's for everything you've done for our daughter since you've known her. And since you'll be Lissa's guardian in the future, it seems very fitting that you wear the Dragomir symbol."

I couldn't help but smile. This was a huge step in the right direction. Did they already know that I was going to be Lissa's guardian? Did Heaven somehow know the future? Well, if it did, then that would be perfect. It would truly mean that I had a future and that my future looked bright enough.

"Thank you…so much…" I whispered, too happy and shocked to say anything else. Lissa's family smiled at me and nodded.

"Now, there's just one more thing we need to settle before you go back down to your body," Mason said, turning me towards the ghostly figure of myself, just standing there looking at me. I looked at the ghost and it walked forward, making me step back in confusion. What was she gonna do? Pass through me? But in fact, she walked into me, making me gasp in shock and take another step back. Placing a hand on my chest, it felt as though something had just sparked to life inside of me. Something had reawakened in me… "Now, seeing as you're going to be whole again, you can go back now." Mason wrapped his arms around me and placed his chin on my shoulder, feeling like he never wanted to let me go. "I'll visit you in your dreams, if you want me to."

"Of course I do. Just…not too often, please?" I asked and he simply chuckled, giving me a small nod in agreement.

Looking at Lissa's parents, they smiled and nodded slowly. "Keep our daughter safe, will you?" Rhea asked and nodding came instinctively to me as I walked over to the hole in the floor, seeing that my mother was now sobbing over my body as she knew it was impossible to revive me. But it wasn't. I'd be back again in just a few seconds.

Closing my eyes, I let my soul fall into the pool of water, feeling it attach itself to my body once more. But the peace, the serenity of how it felt to be up close to Heaven, that faded when I returned to Earth. Now, I only felt extreme cold.

Dimitri's Point of View

Janine had just stopped giving Rose CPR, knowing that she wasn't coming back. Tears fell down her face as she gripped Rose's shoulders and rested her head on Rose's chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Looking away, I began to let the tears fall freely down my own face. She couldn't be gone… My Roza couldn't be gone. I felt like I had already lost her once, but…in the end, I did lose her. I lost her to a monster that had tortured and tormented her incessantly. And now she was gone forever…

"Rose! Please come back!" Lissa screamed, looking at Rose's body as she stopped struggling, knowing that Rose couldn't be healed now. We all knew that she was gone, that she wouldn't come back…

Oh, but how I wished that she would awaken now, to open those brown eyes of hers and whisper my name, or whisper anything for that matter.

Suddenly, I heard a deep gasp, making us all turn toward Rose again. She was panting for air ever so slightly, shivering against the cold as the water clung to her and made her skin feel horribly cold. Her lips had turned purple from the cold and her beautiful skin had become pale during the time we were trying to revive her. Her eyes were closed, but I could see that my Roza was trying to open them.

But she was alive.

"Roza?" I asked, cupping her warm cheek while looking down at her face.

Wait, warm cheek? Placing my hand on her forehead, her temperature seemed to be rising slowly, warming my hand slowly. Looking at Janine, she briefly met my gaze, then turned her attention to Rose, trying to stroke her arm, thinking that Rose was cold.

"Janine, she's getting a fever. We need to bring her to Dr. Olendzki before it rises any further." Janine nodded and let me lift Rose into a marriage carry in my arms, feeling her head fall limp against my arm.

"Dimitri…" Her beautiful voice was raspy, probably due to the amount of times Gabriel bit her and strangled her.

Holding her close to me, Alberta took off her jacket and wrapped it around my beautiful love's body, trying to keep her warm. But Rose was boiling by now as she started breaking out in a cold sweat. She needed to be brought to the infirmary.

As we ran, I kept whispering soothing words to her, trying to keep her awake as long as possible. "You're gonna be all right, Roza. You're gonna be just fine. We'll get you back safely. Nothing is gonna happen to you, Roza. I love you so much. Stay with me now, alright? Just stay with me, Roza. I love you," I kept saying as we rushed toward the Academy.

She was all right. She was alive and in my arms, somewhat conscious. My Roza was alive. Rose was gonna be fine…

So, what did you guys think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Could be so much better? Please let me know in some REVIEWS!

Mortal-paralight

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