Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, so usual disclaimers.

Xpov (Guardian Xavier)

I was walking around the quad making sure no one was ditching class, when I saw a female novice walking about. There aren't that many female novices at the Academy so I had a sinking feeling that I knew who it was. I walked up to them and as I got closer my suspicion was confirmed. I walked up behind her. After reading her file and talking with one of the Guardians at breakfast this morning, I expected her to react faster. But it wasn't till she heard a twig snap under my shoe, that she spun round and just looked at me.

"Rose, what are you doing out of class?" I asked

"I got kicked out of Stan's class again." She replied,

"Who" I asked confused. Part of me wished I had asked more questions from my breakfast companion. She seemed to like and admire Rose but I felt that she was trying to fortify me with Rose's positive aspects. I got the feeling that most people ether thought very highly of Rose or very poorly.

"Guardian Alto," she explained. I wonder if he was the one that stopped by my table this morning. He didn't sit or introduce himself he just said "Hathaway has great potential and skill but that won't be worth shit out there if she doesn't learn to buckle down." Then he walked off. I set the memory aside and focused on Rose.

"Oh, what did you do?" I exclaimed.

"Nothing really!" I raised my eye brows in disbelief. "I wasn't paying attention, then he snapped and I snapped and he told me to get out, the usual." I shook my head.

"Rose..." I started to point out that I was just able to walk up to two feet behind her before she noticed me, but she interrupted.

"I know, I know. If I don't pass, then I won't be able to become a Guardian and protect Lissa." The look in her eyes told me that she truly understood the ramifications of her actions but for whatever reason she wasn't able to rain herself in.

"Okay, come on. We'll do a bit of training." I said grabbing hold of her hand. I pulled her towards her dorm. Something strange happened when I took hold of her hand. It was as if I was momentarily shocked by a current. If Rose felt it she didn't acknowledge it at all. "Go and get changed." I told her, as we walked up to her room, while she went in I leant against her wall and waited. I don't know what it is about this girl. I felt the strongest need to protect and care for her. When I first took hold of her hand I wanted to wrap her up in my arms instead of leading her to change. Rose Hathaway just turned 18, is very beautiful and I can defiantly appreciate her physique but for now my emotional pull to her supersedes anything physical.

"What are we doing?" She asked when she came out.

"It's what you're doing," I corrected her, and she groaned, I snickered at her. My first thought was to have her work off her anger with the dummies.

We walked back towards the gym, which was currently not in use. There went the plan for physical work. I decided to teach Rose some meditation techniques that one of my former teachers taught me. I went got out some mats, and told her to sit with me. We sat down in silence, I waited for her to question me. Neither of us said anything for several minutes until she opened her mouth.

"So, did you bring me down here to sit in silence or to bore me to death?" She asked sarcastically. I could see her level of frustration had grown in the few minutes we had sat.

"No Rose, I brought you down here so you could learn self control, and get you calmed down. When you are on guard you have to have a clear and calm mind. There are many ways to control anger. One which I know you are familiar with is working out your aggression physically. Sometimes that is not going to be possible. Meditation is a non-physical way to deal with stress." I told her, and she sighed and muttered something under her breath. "What was that?" I asked. She looked up surprised.

"Err. Nothing," she said too quickly, my eye brows creased. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her muscles tensed.

"I'll ask again," I said. "What was that?" waiting for her to tell me.

"I said, 'Bloody Zen lessons,'" she snapped. Her challenging eyes had gotten darker and lost any of the warmth I had seen this morning. What was wrong with her?

"Rose, what is going on with you?" I asked concerned.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter," she mumbled getting up. No I can't let her go yet, there was something about her. I grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her back down and she landed next to me on her back.

"What the hell?" she snapped trying to shake my hold on her arm.

"What is wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing so let me go," she shouted trying to get loose. As she struggled for control her eyes lost that dark cold edge from a few moments ago but they still held a storm of emotions.

"Don't lie to me Rose," I could see there was something wrong.

"You won't understand, so get the hell off me," she whined, and she was starting to get loose, so I pinned her down making sure she couldn't move. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "That's cheating."

"You're not moving until you tell me," I told her again, she stopped moving and just lay there limp. What the hell? She closed her eyes, and it looked like she was sleeping, is something wrong with her. "Rose," she didn't move. "ROSE," I repeated a little louder.

"What the hell? I can hear you, you do realise that." she snapped.

"Then why ignore me?" I asked confused. Trying to work out if is this was normal behaviour from her.

"So maybe you'll get bored and let me go," she replied. Oh, like that was going to happen.

"Nope, I'm not letting you go until you tell me what is wrong," I told her. I couldn't work it out, why did I care so much. I didn't know her. She shook her head. "If we are going to be training together now, and guarding Princess Vasilisa then any issues that you have either with me or any students or teachers would be nice to know so it won't affect our training and lives."

It was like something snapped in her. A tear fell down the side of her face followed immediately by more. Her eyes looked at me but not focusing on me as if she was looking through me, they held more pain then I could imagine someone so young could possibly know. She was sobbing, and mumbling something, like "He doesn't love me, he used me and left, why? Was I not good enough?" I didn't know who she meant, but I let her get up and I pulled her to me stroking her hair, and cooed to her in Russian.

"Ne plach, Roza. Vsio budet horosho. Shh, ne plach," (Don't cry, Roza. It will be okay. Shh don't cry) I murmured. Her tears stopped, and Rose was just whimpering, after about five more minutes, she looked up.

"Sorry." She croaked.

"No it's okay," I told her. And she blushed, and wiped under her eyes. "Um Rose who where you talking about?" I asked, wanting to know who hurt her. Her face crumpled and she buried her face in my chest. "Rose who is He?" She didn't say anything, she just held on to me. I could feel my shirt was wet from her tears but I didn't care. She pulled herself closer to me, and just stayed like that.

We didn't move for another ten minutes, I just let her calm down. Soon after her grip on my shirt loosened and Rose didn't move, I looked down and I saw her eyes were shut.

"Rose?" I said to her, but there was no response. Hmm is she asleep? I moved her so I could free my hand, and I moved it up to her neck were I found her pulse. Rose's pulse was slow, but normal so she was asleep. I picked her up in my arms, and walked towards the doors. As I walking out class ended and students were going to their next class. Students looked at us curiously but it almost seemed like it was not entirely odd seeing a limp Rose being carried by a Guardian. Novices do tend to get hurt during training but from what I read in her file over breakfast it sounds like she spent more time in the infirmary than average. I walked out on to the quad and I heard someone shout my name.

"Gaurdian Skyle!" I looked round and I saw Guardian Petrov walking towards me. She stopped in front of me, and looked at Rose. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she had mascara under her eyes. "Is Rose okay?" Guardian Petrov asked me.

"Yes, I think so," I replied, she looked back up at me, and frowns.

"What happened?" she asked, looking back at Rose.

"Well, I was walking round and I spotted Rose out when she should have been in class. She confessed to getting kicked out for giving attitude. I figured it would be a good time to teach her to calm herself. I told her to go and get changed, and we would do some training. We went to the gym, and we were sitting and talking a little. I asked her what was wrong and she got more agitated, she wanted to leave but I refused and then she snapped. It was like something broke her. Then she started crying, so I just held her until she stopped crying. She cried so hard that she fell she wore herself out, as you can see she fell asleep. I was just walking back to her dorm so she could sleep it off." I explained, she seemed upset with what I told her.

"And there was me thinking she was going to get through this," she sighed.

"Can you explain? She kept mumbling about 'someone leaving her, and using her. She asked why she wasn't enough.' Do you know what that is about?" I asked, thinking she did.

"Yes but come on and let's get her back to her room, so we won't have students staring at her." She said and started walking. I kept thinking about what Rose had been mumbling.

Guardian Petrov led the way up the stairs to Roses' room, she opened up the door. Guardian Petrov pulled back her covers and I laid her down. She pulled off her shoes and set them by the bed as I pulled her cover back across.

"Come with me, we'll go to my office," Guardian Petrov said while waiting for me to walk out. I looked back for a moment resisting the desire to stay by her side guarding over her. I still don't understand the need to care for and protect her.

Alberta POV (Guardian Petrov)

Guardian Skyle and I walked out of the girl's dorm and towards the Guardian building. I noticed a few Guardians looking towards him, and they smirked. None of our existing Guardians wanted to be Rose's mentor. Those who like her and think she will be great, felt that they were not good enough to mentor her. The rest don't want to waste their time on training someone they felt was too volatile to be a good Guardian.

I shook my head, as we walked forwards my office. I held the door open for him, and he went in and sat down on one side of my desk while I walked over to my chair and sat down facing him.

"What is this about Guardian Petrov?" he asked.

"Do you know Guardian Belikov?" I asked him.

"Belikov is listed as her former mentor in her file. He went to the same academy as I but was a few years ahead of me."

"Well he left for 'personal reasons." I quoted with my fingers". "He and Rose were very close, closer than student and mentor." I waited for him to respond, and from what his facial expression told me, was not getting it. I sighed mentally.

"What do you mean?" He asked, frowning.

"He and Rose were involved." I didn't want to say too much. He should work it out for himself.

"When you say involved..." he trailed off. Oh for Christ's sake.

"I mean, he and Rose were in a relationship. Rose was distraught when he left, and she hasn't really got over it yet. It's still very fresh."

"How far did they go? If you mind me asking." He asked. "Just it may explain her behaviour." His eyes showed suspicion. I could see his jaw tighten along with the fists on his lap.

"I'll will not tell you. It's not my place. Rose has had a few trials in the past school year. The basic details you will find in her file but there is always more to it then what is on paper. Dimitri had always been there along with myself but he understood her in ways other people couldn't. He stood by her when Vasilisa, who she already fully thinks of as her charge was being stalked and no one believed her till the Princess was later kidnapped. He helped her deal with the pain of losing one of her best friends, making her first kills and become a better novice while at it. He was Vasilisa's sanctioned Guardian, they would have gone on to be Guardian partners." I told him.

"Okay, I think I'll go up and see if she's awake, thank you for letting me know." He replied and then walked off. His hands were still in fists.

Author's Notes:

So... Rose snapped and lost it a little. What do you think for Xavier? And his connection with Rose? It's not going to be what you think. :P Any guesses?

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Vickie-Louise