Dimitri
It was a long day of standing around, drowning out the Moroi as the talked. I knew Christian wasn't happy that he was dragged to a meeting like this, where they just invite him – or force him – to attend, just because he was the future Queen's boyfriend. I looked blankly around, making sure there were no dangers, but after 8 hours of standing against a wall, standing straight, with arms behind my back, I was ecstatic when Christian stood up while two Moroi where in the middle of speaking, beckoned for me to follow him as we walked out. When we made it outside the meeting chambers, Christian let out a breath.
"Remind me to never do that again." Christian grumbled as he wiped his hands on his dress pants. Dimitri let out a soft laugh.
"I did. Lissa wanted you to go, so you did." I reply, clamping a hand on shoulder. "You did make some good points – it does make sense for Moroi to learn how to defend themselves." They started walking the familiar way to their homes.
"I know! We can't just allow you guys do all the work! We're the ones that can control the elements!" I chuckle at him.
"You don't have to try and convince me." I reply, shaking my head.
I left Christian at his home door, waiting for him to open and close the door, waiting for the familiar sound of the lock engaging before I walked next door and unlocked my own door. I smiled at the gym bag lying by the door. I rolled my eyes and picked it up.
"Roza!" I called out, smiling as I take her bag and start to walk up the stairs. "Roza?" I called again after there was no answer. I walked slowly towards our bedroom, slowly opened the door and stepped inside. I rolled my eyes again as I spotted her clothes on the floor and I picked them up with a small smile, threw them into the clothes hamper emptied the gym bag, but the towel in the hamper as I walked towards the bathroom.
No sign of her.
My eyebrows fused together as I left the bedroom, looking in the other 3 rooms before making my way down the stairs and searched the living room. My Roza wasn't home.
I forced the panic inside me to calm down. It was her day off, she probably went out and lost track of time. She's probably with Lissa. I shake my head and make my way towards the kitchen, unbuttoning two buttons on my shirt and rolling up my sleeves as I washed my hands. The kitchen was the same way they left it this morning. She probably went to eat with Lissa. The rationally part of my brain said, but that did nothing to settle my growing worry.
I busied myself cooking dinner, checking my phone often to see if Rose texted me. When Dinner was nearly finished, I sighed and decided to call her. The phone started to ring, but there was a distance humm coming from upstairs. I slowly walked up stairs found Rose's phone on the bed and mumbled. I put her phone on her bedside table and called Lissa instead. She answered after I made my way down the stairs and turned off the oven hobs.
"Hey, Dimitri!" She sang as she answered.
"Hey, is Roza coming home for dinner?" I asked. Roza and I always made sure we had breakfast and dinner together. It was really the only time we would be able to see each other and talk – catch up. Lissa made a funny sound.
"Rose isn't with me; I haven't seen her all day." I pause mid taking plates down from the press. I swallowed.
"She's probably in the gym. She left her phone here." I reply, dishing up dinner.
"Are you sure?" Lissa asked.
"I'll go and check. Have a good night Lissa."
"You too Dimitri!" She hung up. I left the dinner plates on the counter as I slip my shoes on and grab my keys from the table. I walk the short distance through Court to the gym. I opened the door and look around. There were many guardians there, but none of them were my short little firecracker. I clench my jaw and walked in, asked a female guardian to check the women's locker room and bathroom to see if Rose was there – nothing. I sucked in a breath, thanked her and walked out. I wondered around the Court, looking into the shops and restaurants, but there was no sign of her.
"Hey Belikov!" I turned around and look at who called me
"Hans." I reply, giving him a curt nod. "Have you seen Rose around?
"Yeah." He answered. "She left Court his morning."
"She left?"
"Yeah, I think she was going to the mall or something." I nodded.
"Do you know if she's back?" Hans shook his head.
"I was finishing my shift before she left. Blake was starting, he'll be able to tell you." I thank him and make my way towards the gates. She has been acting funny, but she wouldn't just leave, would she? Her things were still at home, it didn't look like she took anything with her - her phone was still in the house.
"Hey, Blake!" I call as I walk closer to the guardian post. "Did Rose come back?" Blake shook his head.
"Not yet." He replied. "I'll let you know when she does." I nod at him and walk home numbly.
I sink into the living room couch, dinner long forgotten waiting for Rose to walk through the door. I flexed my hands as I stared blankly at the TV, watching the channel change from one show to another, as the hours continued to click until eventually, the sun began to rise.
I grumble, grab my keys from the table and knocked on Lissa's door. There was no immediate answer, so I continued knocking.
And knocking.
And knocking.
"What the hell?" Christian grumbled as he pulled the door open quickly, just as my fist was about to pound again. I pushed past his sleepy frame and stood in front on a yawning Lissa.
"Rose didn't come home last night." I start. "Did she say anything to you?" Lissa looked up at me and back to Christian and then back to me. She shook her head, her eyes clouding with worry as her forehead began to crease.
"She didn't say anything to me." I sigh and sit own on the couch, putting my elbows on my knees and rubbing my face.
"Hans said she left early yesterday morning and Blake said she didn't come back when I checked. He still hasn't called me to let me know she's back and she didn't come home."
"Maybe she's just driving, you know, blowing off some steam?" Lissa chewed on her lower lip nervously.
"She would have come home by now." I reply, clenching my fists.
"You don't think she's hurt do you?" Lissa whispered as she sank down beside me. Christian walked over to Lissa, put his hands on her shoulders and soothing her.
"I- I've been using Spirit a lot lately, you don't think somethings happened, do you? Did I cause this?" Tears clouded her eyes as she looked at me.
"She's been a little restless the last few days but she'd tell me if she couldn't handle it. She would tell you." Lissa nodded. She would tell me, wouldn't she?
"Let me get dressed and we can go look for her. Maybe you should go home and get dressed too. I'll call everyone – we'll find her." I think Lissa was trying to make herself believe the last part and it showed but I nodded anyway, went home, had a quick shower and dressed and was back outside in 10 minuets. Lissa and Christian came out not too long after.
"Eddie and Mia are going to go in their car and Abe and Janine in another. So, we have three cars, we'll find her." Lissa said she opened the back door to my car. "She probably ran out of gas or something." I walked to the driver's side of the car and drove towards the gates. We were followed by two others.
"Blake, open the gates." I barked. He looked at me.
"She didn't come back." He swallowed as he opened the gates. "Find her, she's one of the best guardians we have." I nod and drive out, followed by Janine and Eddie as they drove their cars.
We didn't find Rose that day. We didn't find her that week. We didn't even find her that year.
We handed out flyers, asked so many people if they've seen her, nothing. We searched and searched – but came up empty.
We didn't find her the next year.
Or the next.
But life was slowly and painfully moving on, even though we continued to search.