What sorcery is this? All through NaNoWriMo, Rose kept hijacking my main character's personality. In this chapter, my OC kept trying to get revenge by jumping in to steal Rose's lines. Annoying characters...

Rose: Hey! It's not my fault I'm so much more awesome than that boring human girl. She doesn't even realise that she's in love with the totally hot guy who's clearly interested in her. She's so not cool.

OC: Stop being mean. You were created by a literary genius, I was brought to life by a fanfic-writing amateur.

Me: Both of you, shut up and go back to your respective universes. If not, I'll cancel Rose's wedding and refuse to write the third book in my original series altogether.

See what I mean? They're driving me insane (probably literally ;P) On with the Dimitri POV, because at least he's behaving better than the girls. Such a gentleman.

Disclaimer: I doubt Richelle is subject to interruptions by her characters such as those seen above. Maybe one day I'll be able to make them actually do what I want, when there is a blank page in front of me.

Rose and OC: Never!

Me: *sigh* On with the chapter then...

DPOV

Despite having had a drink just before starting the course, I was very grateful for the bottle that was passed to me as soon as I had crossed the finish line. In this heat, even Dhampirs got dehydrated fast. The steward also handed me a small, damp towel from the cool box. I rested it across the back of my neck as I began stretching, enjoying the blissful cold against my flushed skin.

Though the course had taken little over three minutes to complete, it had been extremely demanding. My pulse was still running high and I tried to calm my heart rate like I had been practicing with Rose. As I began my cool down stretches, I felt twinges in muscles that were never normally exercised. That must have been part of the purpose of this course; to stretch us in ways beyond what was usually expected up us- literally. We'd likely never need to traverse monkey bars in order to protect our charges, but as the world's top Guardians, we were expected to be able to handle anything that was thrown at us.

I was just finishing a bicep stretch when the Guardians around me stopped murmuring incoherently and spoke loudly enough for me to hear.

"Hey... look at that!" The man that had spoken nodded at something behind me, causing the Guardian at his side to stare wide-eyed.

I turned around slowly, having a feeling that I knew what they were looking at.

Across the field, Rose swung her lower body up over the lip of the warped wall. The people around me were surprised that someone of her stature had managed to complete the obstacle at all, and it was with a feline grace that she got back up on her feet and began to run along the aerial pathway towards the cargo net. I felt a sudden rush of pride, and a whole lot of other things too.

Rose slowed a split second before grabbing one vertical rope, completely disregarding the horizontal ropes forming the rungs of the net. She was treating the net like the single suspended ropes that had lined one wall of the St Vladimir's gym- using hands and feet to push herself up the rope at an astonishing speed.

I knew then that I was not going to win this bet. Rose saw the world differently to other people. Where they saw an inconvenience, she saw an opportunity. Whatever life threw at her, she found a way to deconstruct the problem and make use of certain aspects to overcome others until the threat had been neutralised. If something in the world didn't work, she didn't stop until she fixed it. Rose Hathaway was the master of her own life so that the universe itself seemed to bend to her will.

At the top of the cargo net, Rose gripped the wooden pole and somersaulted over it before sliding down the other side of the net on her back, feet first. She hit the ground running.

The narrow tunnel was next, and in the brief moments that elapsed with Rose out of sight I tuned into the conversations around me.

"Guardian Hathaway? She's the Queen's Guardian, right?"

"Yes. I wondered why they'd give so much responsibility to a teenager, but I think I'm beginning to see now."

I smiled at that. Rose would be scowling if she were around to hear this. She hated people basing their opinions of her on her age, though it was a valid mistake to make. She was still young in years, even if her capabilities as a Guardian and attributes as a person surpassed what could be expected of her.

Rose came out of the tunnel on her hands and knees; since she was small, she had been able to get through the obstacle without dropping into an army crawl. That had sped her progress significantly.

However, that could be her downfall on the next obstacle. The opposition quad boards were a fair distance apart, and where I had found it easy to run almost normally across them, her shorter legs could be a disadvantage.

But no, of course Rose didn't let that beat her. On landing the first jump to the slanted board, she gripped the wood on either side before pushing off with both legs, using explosive power to maximise her strength. The second or so of speed that was sacrificed with this technique was worthwhile since she arrived at the other side safely, dropping into a forward roll to make the most of her momentum without losing her balance.

"Wish I'd thought of doing it that way," one Guardian complained. "Maybe I wouldn't have sprained my ankle..."

He trailed off as Rose reached the next obstacle- the monkey bars. These were a clever design- the bars that you were supposed to hold were free-spinning, allowing you to make the most of your forward momentum without hurting your palms. If also stopped you from just running across the bars, as one of the Guardians had tried to do earlier. Every man watching had felt his pain as one foot continued forward and the other remained behind, and he crashed down onto the bar. No man had attempted it that way since, instead traversing them in a more orthodox way.

Rose, it seemed, had a different agenda altogether. I watched with growing disbelief as she hauled herself up above the bars, like the unfortunate Guardian had done earlier. But instead of attempting to run down the centre, she veered to one side before tipping forwards and gripping the fixed meal bar. With the grace and precision of an experienced balance beam gymnast, Rose cartwheeled the length of the obstacle. She made it look so easy, but the discipline needed to hold that balance was immense. Coming to the end of the beam, Rose twisted in the air before landing on her feet and running on.

I heard a low whistle behind me. "Did you see that girl move? Now that's somebody who would be a whole lot of fun between the sheets."

My fists clenched. If he stopped there, I'd let him live.

"No shit," his friend said. "I heard she's dated Guardians before, so maybe one of us has a shot."

"One of us? That chick looks wild. I'm sure she'd let us take turns."

I spun around, startling both of the 'men' out of their stupors. "You two need to learn respect for your fellow Guardians," I growled. "Especially those of higher rank."

The first man smirked, running a hand through his bronze hair. "Oh, I respect her. Give me a horizontal surface and half an hour and I'll show her just how much."

The other Guardian lacked his friend's bravado and, looking scared, backed away a step. It was a move too wise for his cocky companion to contemplate.

I could send them running, I knew, if only I didn't have to adhere to Hans' rules about not revealing the nature of our relationship. I wouldn't even have to lay a finger on them. But I forced the rage down until I could speak without risking making them piss themselves with fear. "That is the Queen's personal Guardian and best friend. Unless you want to be fired by Vasilisa Dragomir herself, I suggest you apologise, shut up, and then make yourself very scarce for the foreseeable future."

"Why do I need to apologise? It's not like she heard me. Yet." I'd managed to remain in control until now, but I had almost reached the breaking point. This man, Guardian or not, was too much like my father for me not to hate him. He was just another arrogant osel trying to take advantage of a Dhampir woman. And he wouldn't shut up. "What's your problem anyway? Jealous? If you want her for yourself, it's kind of hypocritical of you to be so mad at us for wanting to get her into the sack. We're just saying what you're too afraid-"

I feinted towards him just as a new voice cut in.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I closed my eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath before acknowledging Eddie. He was sweating and breathing heavily from his run at the course, and frowned when he saw my face. "Dimitri, what's up?"

"These two appear to be infatuated with Guardian Hathaway," I gritted out.

Despite my euphemistic wording, Eddie could tell what I was trying to say by how worked up I was. His own eyes hardened.

"You should leave before my sister finishes the course," he said conversationally. "I have a feeling that she'd be less than flattered by your affections or whatever offers you were planning to make."

"Your sister?" the second, darker haired Guardian piped up. I'd thought he'd have run away by now, judging how uneasy he'd looked a moment ago. Maybe his memory wasn't very good, or he was just highly unintelligent.

"In everything but blood." Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, and the speaker backed away even more. "Now piss off before Rose comes back and makes you leave on a stretcher."

With a final glare in my direction, the remaining Guardian slunk away. I imagined throwing something heavy at the back of his head to try and release some of my anger, but it didn't help very much.

"You okay man?" Eddie asked.

I huffed out a breath through my nose, trying to expel my anger along with the air. "I've got used to people at Court knowing Rose isn't like that, or at least not saying things where either of us can hear. And if anyone did say anything, I'd be able to put them straight..."

Eddie stared off over my shoulder at the backs of the retreating men. "You realise you did them a favour, right? You could have just let them ask whatever they were going to ask and then get the shit kicked out of them by Rose."

I shook my head. "She'd get in trouble. And besides, she shouldn't have to resort to violence to get men to leave her alone when she's just doing her job." She'd dealt with enough slut shaming to last a lifetime.

Eddie clapped a hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing Rose isn't used to or can't handle."

"What if it was Mia?"

His jaw clenched. "Then I hope you'd have my back," he said a moment later.

I nodded. "I'm not sure if I could pass for her brother, but I'd give it a go."

A throat was cleared behind us. "As touching as this bromance is, I'm kind of annoyed that you didn't see my epic finale."

The last of my anger dissipated as I looked upon Rose's pink-flushed face. She looked tired, but her eyes shone with triumph and humour. I felt bad for having missed it; first her Trials, now this. It seemed I was doomed to miss her shining in any event.

"You finished that fast!" Eddie said. "Where did you learn to do that stuff?"

"YouTube videos," she said with a shrug. "Now that I have unlimited broadband, it seems a shame not to make the most of it."

Eddie's response was cut short when Hans appeared, leaning over the rope separating us from the competitors that hadn't yet completed the course.

"Belikov, Castile, two textbook perfect runs. Hathaway... I don't know what the hell you were doing out there, but it seemed to work."

She glowed under the slightly backhanded praise. "See Hans, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Break convention and all that."

"I thought that you were more likely to break your neck, but I forgot how stubborn you are." He stepped back, inclining his head slightly as he did so. "You did good, Hathaway. Just try not to give Belikov a heart attack before this Tournament is over."

Rose looked dumbfounded at Hans' joke, so I took the opportunity to play along and scare her even more.

"Don't worry, Guardian Croft. I'm used to it by now."

Hans smirked as he walked away, leaving as quickly as he arrived. He wasn't taking part in the competition, but was involved in the running of the event.

The rest of the trials went by mostly smoothly. After the third person fell whilst trying to copy one of Rose's moves, the rest of the Guardians seemed to give up and go back to focussing on polishing their own technique. Tamara joined us not long after Hans left, and she and Rose sat together pointing out every misstep or good move the contestants made. It didn't surprise me that they'd become such fast friends already- Rose could become either a great friend or a terrible enemy in moments, and most likely would stay in that opinion for life. I only wished that Hans wasn't making us keep our relationship under wraps, or I'd be right there beside her. Instead, I stood with Eddie. It wasn't a bad alternative, but I wasn't marrying Eddie.

In less than two weeks, I would be marrying Rose. One part of me wanted to parade around the course with a banner declaring that fact, whilst the rest of me wanted to whisk her away to the honeymoon destination already, wherever that may be. I had a feeling that Lissa would choose us accommodation better than that which we would be staying in tonight.

Things only got worse when we got back to the tent to see the paper that had been taped to the plastic side.

Sleeping arrangements- alphabetical order, from left to right. Please find your bed number listed below.

Considering the number of letters between B and H, this ought to be interesting. Especially when Rose caught up and saw this for herself.

RPOV

I stopped beside Dimitri to read the sheet he was looking at. I momentarily forgot my desperate need to pee as I sought out Hans' face in the crowd.

"What is this?" I asked, pointing to the sheet that was flapping against the tarpaulin as people entered the tent. "It's like we're on a school trip or something! I'm surprised you didn't ask for permission slips from our parents."

Hans sighed, but didn't look surprised at my outburst. "This, Guardian Hathaway, is not about treating you like children. As you can see, my name is on that list too. It's just a way to keep things simple and ensure that everyone is treated fairly. And when there are two women sharing a tent with ten men, I have to be especially careful about how these things go."

That made me roll my eyes. "Aside from the fact that one of those females is about to marry one of those males, I'll take your word for it."

My exit was less dramatic with my hair being too tightly bound to flip in Hans' face, but I had the toilet block in my sights and wasn't going to hang around to argue with the man any longer. I could kind of see where he was coming from, and knew it would be pointless to argue anyway. I'd think of something.

Tamara caught up with me just before I entered the building, but didn't say anything about the sleeping arrangement sheet. I didn't know if it was because she hadn't heard me kick off, or if she just didn't want to talk about it. Maybe she agreed with Hans. I guess it would be kind of weird for her, sleeping in a tent surrounded by men she barely knew. Being placed in a specific area would save the awkwardness of either being completely avoided by men, or being surrounded by those trying to hit on her.

Thinking about it, I was glad I hadn't made more of a fuss.

Thankfully, the facilities weren't as horrendous as I had feared. Though small, they were clean and well equipped with five shower stalls and even a couple of changing rooms. I dreaded to think what the mens' would look like after a couple of days, though.

Finding my back to the tent turned out to be harder than it had been to leave them, even with Tamara beside me.

"Our team better have a fire set up," I said as we walked. Campfires had been lit in what looked like upturned garbage can lids all across the huge field, and people speaking many different languages were talking as they prepared dinner. "And have the food ready."

"I can hold on for mine. The food that comes out of ration packs is barely a step above sawdust."

"Sawdust is fine, just so long as it keeps my stomach from digesting other important organs." I patted my quietly gurgling abdomen affectionately. "As our dear King told me a couple of days ago, if I don't eat by 6 O'clock, I basically turn into an ogre." That reminded me that I had to call Lissa soon. She'd be wondering how the first stage of the Tournament had gone, and I needed to check that she was safe.

"I guess you could cook something better than a ration pack, then, if you're used to feeding yourself."

"God no!" I laughed outright at that. "I can barely use a microwave. If it wasn't for Dimitri, I'd have starved long ago, or gone bankrupt from constantly ordering takeout."

"Dimitri cooks? He doesn't seem the type."

I smiled as I remembered thinking the same thing, back in Baia when Olena told me about Dimitri baking bread. "You'd be surprised. He makes an excellent housewife."

"So do you two live together?" Tamara asked, just as I finally spotted our group- or more accurately, Dimitri and a load of other people surrounding him.

"Yep. It's been almost a year now, and neither of us has driven the other insane." I wanted to tell her about the engagement. I wanted to tell her because not only would it mean getting one over on Hans, but I still hadn't gotten tired of saying it. I wasn't showing off- just telling people like I had been denied being able to for so long. I'd tell her. "We're getting married in two weeks."

That caught her attention, and her eyes widened. "Really? And you're still here, as Guardians?"

I nodded, the need to defend myself rising in my chest. "And nothing in the world's going to change that."

"Good for you!" I wasn't sure how, but I knew her smile was genuine. "This is exactly what Dhampirs need. Proof that you can do you duty and still have a life of your own."

"I guess," I said. "I haven't really thought of it as making a statement. Just that we love each other, and that it's something we both want, so we should do it before something happens and we miss our chance. In this life, things change too fast to put off your dreams for 'someday'."

"Sorry," Tamara apologised unnecessarily. "I didn't mean it to sound like that. I'm really happy for you two. I just spend so much time surrounded by guys that I've started forgetting how girl talk works."

"Really? Some of the guys I know do girl talk better than I do." We both laughed, even though she didn't know Adrian or Christian. When those two got talking after a couple of drinks, they could give Mia a run for her money in the gossip department. Between Adrian's tendency to know everyone who was anyone and Christian's skill for being invisible when he wanted to be, they could singlehandedly keep the Court rumour mill running for months.

Back in our little patch of field, everyone was sitting on blankets around the fire. It was nowhere as comfortable as the seating at the campground we had visited in spring, but at least sharing Dimitri's blanket allowed me to get closer to him than I had been all day. Our shoulders brushed, and he smiled at me. I smiled back, but had to look away as I remembered what I'd been thinking whilst watching Dimitri out on the course.

I focussed on the rest of the group instead. None of them filled out their standard-issue workout uniforms as nicely as Dimitri.

No, brain. Think of something else; not how the cuffs of Dimitri's short sleeves were hugging his biceps...

Focus. 10 other people were sitting around the fire, excluding Dimitri and I, and Hans was nowhere to be seen. Eddie was already sitting to one side, and Tamara had sat down next to the Russian guy Dimitri knew.

There was a rustling inside the tent, and I was instantly on high alert. Since it was still too light outside for Strigoi, it had to mean that either there was a wild animal making itself at home in our bedrolls, or...

The food had arrived.

Please excuse the rambling rubbish at the top of the page. It's almost the end of term, and my brain is fried. On that note, though, it's almost Christmas :D I'm going to write a short Christmas story, set after Last Sacrifice. Not sure if it will be part of this ALS series or not, but hopefully I'll get it up in time. Keep a look out for it :)

Thanks, as always, for all the lovely reviews. I've got over a hundred in less than 10 chapters, which is totally amazing. Please keep them coming!

Review and Dimitri will be assigned the bed next to you...