"Edison, can you hear me?"

He moans again, and his eyes flutter open. "Guardian Belikov?"

I sigh in relief. "Edison, I'm going to take you to the chapel, alright?" I get a moan in response, and I pick up the boy in my arms.

Although he's probably only a little under a foot shorter than me, like a Guardian, his body has been trained and built, and he's heavy in my arms. He isn't regaining conciousness, and from the small amount of medical training every Guardian recieves, I know that this is not a good sign.

When I near the chapel, I hear a scream. Tensing, I scan the area before setting Edison down. A young woman, not much older than Rose, stands before me, sobbing. I stand defensively in front of Rose's young friend, but the girl, her large, blue eyes streaming, cries, "Thank God!" and throws herself into my arms.

"Are you alright?" I ask, but before she can answer, her long hair parts, and I can see bite marks littering her neck. She's human.

The girl pulls away, smiling wickedly through her false tears, and slams her fist into my chest, with such a force I didn't know a human contained. What the hell? I can hear the splintering of bone, but before the delayed pain can hit me, I quickly draw my stake and plunge it into her chest.

Suddenly, a tidal wave of throbbing pain crashes against my ribcage, and I fall to the ground trying not to breathe. At least two ribs are broken, possibly three or four, and who knows how many are cracked.

I've had broken ribs before, but this was entirely different. Something was punctured. And it wasn't good.

But that woman, the human, was working with strigoi. I crawl over, and slowly reach into her pockets. A stake.

This was sick. I had only seen this one other time. When Rose and I had been to the Badica house.

Rose.

I wanted so badly just to be with her, especially now that I couldn't breathe with so much agony, but I knew with the amount of injured Moroi who would be treated first, it could be hours before I would recieve medical attention.

I'll pass out by then, I think, and try to push the thought out of my head. Pain only exists in the mind.

But the words were shoved out of my head as another wave of excruciating fire takes over my body. I find myself slowly rocking back and forth, trying to relieve the burn in my chest.

Through the roaring in my ears, I can hear a moan of pain. Edison.

He needed medical attention. He couldn't wait hours. The wound on his head and the gashes on his legs would bleed out.

So, with a pain tolerance I never knew I had, I picked up Edison, trying to keep from screaming in pain.

I stumble blinding, starting to lose the edge of my vison to darkness. Not yet.

When all I can see through my blurred vison is the form of a building, I start to pick up the pace, my ribs pressing into me.

I shove the door open, staggering down the aisle, before someone takes the boy from my hands. I sprawl onto the floor, crying out with the jarring of my ribs.

"Dimitri?" a frantic voice screams, and I manage to raise my head.

"Roza?" I choke out, needing her, and suddenly feel her warm hands in my hair, on my back, gently rubbing circles into my shoulders. "Human..."

"Lissa!" she screams. "Liss, you have to help him! What's wrong with him! Dimitri, what happened?"

"I-" Another wave of pain sweeps over me, and I can distantly hear myself let out an animalistic roar of pain. "Chest," is all I can say, before I am aware of nothing.

...

"He's waking up! Do you think he's waking up?"

I moan and slowly lift my heavy lids. Rose hovers above me, her hair dangling in my face.

"Dimitri? Honey, do you recognize me?"

I suddenly realize my back is killing me, and I lay in one of the uncomfortable pews. "Honey?" I tease. "What happened to Comrade?"

Rose gently embraces me, her lips pressing against my ear. "I thought it would be nicer to wake up to."

She pulls away, and I see tears in her eyes. "Rose? Oh, Roza, don't cry."

She smiles and wipes her eyes. "Are you okay? What the hell happened to you? Dimitri, all of the sudden I got this weird feeling... I knew something was wrong! And then you show up here, and Eddie's passed out, and you just collapse. You were screaming, and you said something about your chest. What happened? Does it still hurt?"

My ribs!

"There was a human," I say groggily. "I was trying to bring Edison here, and there was a human woman. I thought she was a feeder, but she attacked me, and broke my ribs. She had a stake, but I..."

I gulp, my mouth suddenly dry, and guilt starting to rise within me. I had murdered someone, not a strigoi, not a monster. A person.

Rose quickly disappeared, then ran back, handing me a glass of water. She helped me sit up, as my ribs still held a dull ache that made me gasp.

"Lissa said you're going to be sore for a week or so. She couldn't heal you completely, she has a ton of patients, and it's already starting to take it's toll. Sorry."

I smile. "Don't be sorry. I'll take this over broken ribs any day."

Rose suddenly has tears in her eyes again, and buries her face into my neck, slipping her hands around my neck, sudden emotion flooding her. I will never understand women.

"Rose, it's okay! I'm fine. Don't cry..."

She laughs against me. "I know! But... it's that stupid connection thing. I knew something was really wrong... and then you said there was something wrong with your chest, and I was so scared. I'm so glad you're alright."

My memory begins to flash back. "Edison... Is he alright?" I ask.

Rose smiles. "Yeah, Liss healed him, of course. He would have died, Dimitri, if you wouldn't have done anything."

"Can I talk to him?" I ask, my protective side taking over.

Rose nods, helping me up, and supports my arms, making sure I don't jar my aching chest.

Edison lays on one of the wooden benches, as every one of Vasilisa's patients does, and his eyes flutter open to meet mine.

"Edison, right? Castile?"

The boy smiles.

"Eddie. But yeah. You brought me here, right?" I nod. "Lissa said I would've died if you hadn't." I slowly nod again.

"I guess I owe you my life."

I shake my head. "As long as your alright."

He smiles. "No, really. I heard about your ribs, man. You okay?"

I nod, suddenly feeling awkward. "What happened?" I ask.

"Both of my ankles. Broken." He gives out a short, sharp laugh. "God, after everything that's happened to me, I'm either the luckiest person on earth, or the unluckiest. I can't quite decide."

I smile. "Well, you're still alive. That counts as something."

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