I don't own VA.
Vampire Academy.
Shadow Kiss.
1.3
Considering the times, I had been to Kirova's office, I should have become an honorable member or something. But in my senior year, I had indeed broken my record of going to Kirova's office. My freshman year consisted of me meeting Alberta or Kirova and sometimes both of them at least twice a week.
The corridors were empty, except for a few Guardians and a handful of students. A couple of times I peeked into a few classes. It made me glad that I didn't have to attend any class for the next few days. A lot of students had left the school, especially the royals. After all, an attack on a heavily guarded Academy was unheard of. This probably was the first school to be attacked in about five years or so. Strigoi usually stuck to attacking homes of Moroi or preferred to kill them while they were travelling. Or sometimes attack unsuspecting Moroi at parties or in clubs. Now, that was the easiest way of killing Moroi. But then again, the attack had (sort of at least) happened because of a bunch of really moronic and reckless royals.
The hall that led to the office was filled with Moroi. I realized all of them were or rather had been in the Mână. There were two Guardians keeping an eye on them. Once in front of the office's door, I knocked twice before peeking in. The sight was something I was not ready for. Lissa sat opposite to Kirova. Dimitri, Eddie and a few Guardians lined up the wall. For some reason, my heart started to beat faster. Maybe it was an involuntary response. Years of Guardian training helped me to put on my poker face.
They were all those who had raided on Jesse's group, and again I felt my heart pound when I saw Jean taking up the space where Celeste would have been. Jesse stood next to Lissa. My lips threatened to break into a smile when I realized that Jesse wasn't being given the same treatment as Liss. Alberta was sitting next to Kirova. I mentally groaned. Both of them were going to team up now. Great.
"You called?" I asked nonchalantly, the door was kinda hurting my neck.
"Come in, Miss Hathaway." Alberta said. Kirova didn't even look away from Jesse.
I went to stand next to Liss.
"Sit." Alberta ordered.
I sat, keeping my Guardian expression in place.
Kirova let Jesse go telling him that he had landed himself a week's worth of detention and two weeks of suspension. Jesse didn't even argue. I didn't even feel the smugness that I might have felt on seeing Jesse Zeklos being told off. Instead, I felt anger. Anger because it had been because of Jesse that the wards had broken in the first place.
Those outside, were going to suffer the same fate. Three guardians followed him out, perhaps to keep the Royals outside in check, leaving only Dimitri and Eddie.
"I want you to explain, in detail, about what you saw when you ran to help Miss Dragomir." Alberta said to me.
I had already submitted my final report about the attack. That had been something difficult to write. I had tried to make sure that my emotions were kept at bay while writing that report. I was going to do the same now. I began to talk, telling them that Adrian, Christian and Eddie had been with me when we had realized that Lissa hadn't arrived for dinner. I told them about what I saw, the stones hitting both of us, the two guys holding her, she telling her attackers again and again to stop. The torture with water and air. Eddie and I had arrived before they could attack her with fire, but Spirit had already taken control over Lissa, I hesitated on that part, but something told me that they already knew about it. Then I told them about me taking away Lissa's rage and going after Jesse.
"It wasn't her fault." Lissa said just as I finished. "She did that to protect me. It was me who lost control of Spirit. My friends and I are still figuring it out, we didn't know something like that could every happen."
Actually, we did know that, or at least, Dimitri and I did. My heart was pounding loudly in my ears. Spirit was the reason I took her away in the human world. Not just to keep her safe from anyone who might take her away, but also from herself. What if they took me away like they had done to Miss Karp? I felt myself shudder.
I didn't want to leave.
"We understand that she did those things to keep you safe, but the thing is, what if it happens again? She could even end up hurting you." Alberta said.
"No, I won't." I said firmly. "No matter what, I would never hurt Lissa. I know, I might not be able to control the darkness around other, but with Lissa, I know I would never lose control."
Kirova sighed, finally a response. "Overlooking this...problem, we all know that Hathaway is one of our best and dedicated students."
To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. Praise, for me, from Ellen Kirova's mouth; had the universe gone insane?
"Don't look so surprised, Rose. We all believe that you are going to be a great Guardian one day, you are one right now, even if you haven't graduated. Guardian Belikov has done an excellent job." Kirova said with a smile.
A great Guardian. My heart skipped a beat. I felt myself smile. My pride increased by a hundred. Guardian Rose Hathaway, that sounded cool. That sounded badass.
Of course, I knew that there was nothing badass about being a killing machine.
Lissa's was grinning widely. Alberta chuckled when I didn't respond.
"Well, it's rare to see you so quiet."
"She has her moments." Lissa responded, still beaming at me.
I scoffed. "I can stay quiet when I want to." I was still thinking about me being an actual Guardian. Oh, Vlad, I was going to be a Guardian. It nearly made me jump out of the chair. But I managed to maintain my cool.
I turned my head a little, watching Dimitri out of the corner of my eyes. His face didn't give away anything, but his eyes, his eyes were glowing.
I straightened up in my seat.
I felt like a little kid who had been told that she was getting an early Christmas present. Or maybe this was how little kids felt considering that I hadn't ever celebrated Christmas properly.
Alberta looked at some file in front of her.
"We have also been informed that the Queen sent out person invites to both of you. Is that correct?" She asked.
Just like the rest of us, she too was bewildered that Tatiana had sent personal invite to me.
Lissa and I nodded
"Do either of you have any idea why you have been summoned?" Alberta didn't take her eyes off me.
Translation: did you piss off the Queen, Rose?
I shook my head.
"The invite read that it was confidential." Lissa supplied.
Kirova sighed, suddenly looking her age for once. I hadn't noticed it before, but she had circles under her eyes. She was exhausted.
"We will take care of the arrangements and inform you." Alberta went back to 'guardian mode'.
"Dismissed."
Lissa and I left together while Eddie walked behind us. Lissa was deep in thought. I took that opportunity to fall behind so that I could walk with Dimitri.
"What's going? Alberta and Kirova seemed a little tensed." I murmured.
"Not here." He whispered, staring straight ahead. His arms were at his side and his guardian mask on.
Realizing that I wasn't going to get anything else right now, I, too, stared ahead.
But it was difficult when the love of my life was walking next to me. I couldn't help but take a peek at him. Staring at him made me smile. Something I had thought I was going to take care of when I graduated. After all, if, when Dimitri and I were sent off to missions together, I wasn't going to just ogle at him and smile like a fool.
His jaw was set, his eyes were sharp, focused. His hands were relaxed, but I knew if he felt that there was a threat, he would get in a fighting stance in less than a second.
"Are you done staring at me?" He said softly, a half, amused smile gracing his lips.
I felt heat rise up my neck and cheeks. "Can't help it, comrade. I have very handsome and hot mentor."
His eyes flashed dangerously, not in warning but something that would get us in trouble. I grinned cheekily at him.
He shook his head with a sharp exhale.
As we turned to corner, a high-pitched voice made our group turn.
"Guardian Belikov. Wait. Please." I saw a woman, a dhampir, probably around twenty with short blonde hair and a round face coming towards us.
I stopped. She was taller than me, her blue-grey eyes gave the rest of us a once over and seemingly decided that we weren't much of an importance of her. She nodded once to Lissa.
"Princess."
Lissa smiled in greeting.
Then she turned her attention back towards Dimitri. I didn't like the way she smiled at him. I didn't like the way she touched her arm or the way she kept on shifting her weight on one foot and then the other.
"Guardian James." Dimitri nodded. His guardian mask was back in place.
"I need your help, Guardian Belikov. The rotation schedules. There's some trouble with that." She said. She seemed way more casual than the other Guardians that I had seen.
Dimitri nodded, then turning to us he said, "Castile, will you be alright taking Vasilisa to her class?"
Eddie nodded, looking nothing but professional.
"And you Rose-"
I waved him off. "I'll be fine. Won't do anything reckless.I'll see you for our practice, Guardian Belikov." I smiled sweetly at him, like the obedient student I was.
He seemed startled. I stared at Guardian James for a moment and then linked arms with Lissa.
"Let's go, Liss. By the way, thanks for your gift guys. Even Adrian, for one, was considerate." I said happily.
Lissa, still oblivious to what I was actually doing, grinned.
"I know. That was so sweet of him. Right?"
Lissa, Eddie and I walked on without a backward glance. I heard footsteps getting further away by each passing second.
Then the three of us reached the Moroi dorms.
The Moroi dorm was completely deprived of the sun. I wasn't sure how long was it going to take for the authorities to change back to nocturnal schedule. I secretly hoped that we got the chance to see the sun for a few more days.
Lissa seemed to have the same thing in her mind.
"I missed the sun. I still can't sometimes believe that I am here. It feels like yesterday when we were laughing about you eating tacos with ketchup and Jeff and Kelly, they were horrified." Lissa laughed.
Eddie and I chuckled too.
"I remember when you did that here. What poor soul had to go through Rose logic? I can barely get used to it and I have known you since we were seven." Eddie said.
"Come on, my logic comes very handy in tough situations. It's like my version of spidey sense." I shot back.
Eddie snorted.
"Really, though. I remember how upset you were about the basketball thing. I know how much you loved it, Rose. I wish you could have taken it up here." Lissa said.
Basketball in the Academy was more like a hobby. There weren't actually any official teams. We had sports, mostly for the dhampirs.
I remembered how I had almost given us away while playing basketball one night. I hadn't realized that the coach there had seen me and tried to make me join the team.
A part me had wanted to join but at that time, I knew I couldn't have risked Lissa.
"I would still love to play sometime." I grinned. "But with all the training and stuff, I just can't." I went on towards the cheerful topics.
"Remember Cal? The guy you had a crush on. All you two talked about was politics and indie bands. Who does that when they are watching a live football game?"
Lissa smacked my arm. It barely even tickled. "Hey. He was nice."
"Well, better than Jeff. He just didn't know when to back off." I clicked my tongue. I frowned as I realized where we were. "Do you really wanna go to class?"
Lissa thought about it for a second. "Let's go somewhere else. It's been so long since you and I sat down and just, you know talked."
Yeah, it had been a while.
"Life, Liss. Life." I said in a dramatic tone.
Lissa gave a snort which probably would have earned her look had we been around some Royals.
"You won't rat us out, right?" She asked Eddie.
I answered for him. "Nah, chill. He's fine with it."
Eddie smiled. "I am just supposed to follow you. Not tell you when to ditch a class. But seriously, I have never met someone who studies so much."
Lissa grumbled something under her breath. I laughed.
"I know, right? And don't get me started on her 'extra reading'."
"I am not that bad. And you know Her Majesty is basically bribing me by sending us off to Lehigh. I am just excited."
"People get drunk when they are excited, Liss. They celebrate." I said dryly, "Wait, just celebrate and don't get drunk."
She made a face.
When we reached her room, she turned to Eddie.
"I hate to be rude, Eddie, but can you stay outside for a few minutes? I just want to talk with Rose, really quick."
I looked at her, slightly startled.
"Sure." Eddie said and went to stand next to her door.
Lissa all but dragged me to her room and locked the door.
"Sit down, Rose." She said pointing to the bed.
I sat. She began to pace.
I waited for her to say something.
"What's going on with you?" She asked abruptly.
I frowned, "what do you mean?"
Lissa stopped. "It's just, I feel like we are, you know, falling apart. Like, I don't know how to say it, Rose. I mean,"
I stopped her ramblings. "Lissa, you are my best friend. You can ask me anything."
She gave a smile, a smile full of disappointment. "Are we really? Friends don't hide stuff from each other! Something's bothering you and-" She raised her hand to stop me, "don't deny it, Rose."
I sighed and leant back against the headboard.
"I am fine, Liss." The lie came out easily.
Lissa gave me a look that said shut-the-hell-up.
"I am serious. I am okay." I knew no matter how many times I was going to say I was fine, she was not going to stop until she got a reasonable answer from me. "I am mostly worried about graduation. I mean, for my whole life, I knew what I was training to be. I knew what I wanted to be. I still do. But after what happened in Spokane, and this attack, it made me realize that I am not at all prepared." I stopped her when she tried to interrupt. Right now, the words were just coming out of my mouth. I hadn't realized how much I had missed talking to Lissa. We used to have endless talks about our future.
"I know everyone says that I am a great fighter. Hell, Kirova just complemented me. I am physically prepared. I know I can kill Strigoi, I know I can protect you. But mentally, I am exhausted, Liss. I am so tired. All this death and... it's just," I closed my eyes.
What if something happened to Dimitri? To Eddie? I remembered Stan once saying that a quarter of our class would die in our first year as Guardian. I had seen the statistics myself when Mason and I had worked for a project together back in eighth grade. Sure, it hadn't been about the Guardian numbers but we had accidently stumbled upon the file.
It wasn't just that.
I knew I was more anxious about Dimitri and me. Not just anxious, but excited and happy too. And yet, my mind somehow always ended to the time I had found out about the Badica's Guardians running away together. I didn't even know their names. They knew that their relationship would never be accepted by the Moroi world. It had caused an uproar at school. People still gossiped about it like Guardians were just killing machines and not someone who had feelings too.
What if circumstances for Dimitri and I became difficult? What if I had to choose between him and my duty?
My feelings were jumbled. I couldn't seem to get a grip on myself.
It made my head ache.
"One moment, I am badass Rose and the other I am weak-ass Rose." I snorted.
"You are not weak, Rose." Lissa shook her head. She took my hand and squeezed it. "You are anything but weak."
Oh, you don't know, Liss. I thought, as I remembered the terrible fear I had felt when Dimitri had been trying to calm me down in the cabin and then again in the hospital.
I suddenly froze as the realization dawned on me.
My mood swings, all the sudden up and down in my confidence. Of course, of course, it had to be the darkness making me lose my mind.
I had never felt like this before.
It had to be the darkness.
My little happy dance ended when I became aware of what the ghosts had said the last I had seen them.
"What?" Liss asked.
I hesitated. "I think it might be the darkness affecting my behavior."
"But I am completely cut off from magic." She frowned.
"I know, but I think what affecting me is the darkness that's already there. I am not taking it from you these days, so there's nothing to fuel it but my own thoughts." I said.
"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we were still out there." Lissa whispered.
I frowned. I wouldn't have been able to even punch a Strigoi. I wouldn't have met Dimitri.
I couldn't imagine not being with him. Dimitri was a huge part of my life. I felt my lips threatening to smile. I could imagine a future with Dimitri very clearly, even if that future had many possibilities. But I couldn't imagine it without him.
"What about Christian?" I asked.
Lissa nodded. "Last night I wasn't thinking about the good things of being away from Academy but then I sort of realized that the bad things outnumbered the good ones."
I nodded. "Yeah. It's hard to imagine. I mean we could have run away to L.A." Lissa and I laughed.
"You wanted to be an actress when we were seven." Lissa said, smiling.
"You could have been my manager."
"I would have loved to pick out your dresses and go like 'Rose, you have an interview at seven'. It would have been nice."
"Other than the fact that I can't act. And we would be risking our exposure." I shrugged. It was absurd, but still great to talk about.
I pulled Lissa's arm and looked at her wrist watch.
"Your class starts in ten." I said with a scowl.
I was really having fun. We hadn't had these stupid conversations in months.
"Yeah," She sighed.
She got up and started to gather her books. Suddenly, she stopped.
"Oh no!"
Startled, I looked at her. "What's wrong?"
"I forgot to ask you about the gifts."
I laughed.
Hi. I am sorry for the delay. It took me a while to type this out. I was intending to make a convo about Dimitri and Rose in this but then changed my mind, instead I steered towards some much required convos between two eighteen-year olds.
Did you guys watch Infinity War? Oh, Merlin. It was...not gonna say anything other than I cried in the theatre and then left as fast as I could and cried when I got home.
Back to VA. This one's not going to have a lot of chapters. It's going to be mostly one-shots with some chapters thrown in and some related to each other.
Tell me if you like it. And you can also suggest some other AUs.
I have a what if Abe and Janine were in Rose's life. Two Character deaths. A Tasha AU. And one in which Rose is taken instead of Dimitri but is not changed rather is turned into a blood whore. That was the first Au that I wrote. I have been working on it for a few months now. I got inspired from some documentaries about drugs. It's not complete. But I have nine parts of it written.
Thanks for reading, following, and reviewing this story. It makes me so, so happy.
See you soon.
Sacraa.
