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Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, they belong to the amazing Richelle Mead.

Chapter 2-

Dimitri POV:

Roza's eyes met mine as her mom held her in place and the strigoi held me on the ground. I pleaded with my eyes for her to go, get out of here. Thank god Janine was restraining her, I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to Roza if she tried to save me

Funny, I was about to die and all I cared about was Rose.

I felt fangs sink into my neck, and then everything was chaos. Strigoi and guardians crowded my vision, blocking me from seeing Rose. Even over the sounds of everyone else, I still heard her screams.

Slowly, everything blurred together and my head started to spin. The sounds of battle sounded distant and far away, like I was in my own little bubble. I could feel the life draining out of me, but over everything else, I felt bliss. The bite was indescribable. I was floating away, and it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever felt in my entire life.

I don't know how long I stayed like that, lost in my own world, but it couldn't have been long because the next thing I knew the fangs were out of my neck and a weight was lifted off of me. Opening my eyes, I saw a guardian I didn't know fighting with the blond Strigoi.

I watched, dazed, as they fought. It was obvious the guardian was slowed down by other injuries, but his moves were calculated and precise nonetheless. He was favoring his left leg and winced every time he was forced to put too much pressure on the other one. On top of that, he was beaten and bruised all over, with a cut that ran from the top of his forehead down to the corner of his lips. One of his eyes was so swollen I couldn't tell if he could even see from it.

Tearing my eyes away from their fight, I realized that everyone but the guardian and blond strigoi was gone. The Strigoi had retreated back into the cave and the guardians had gone back to the academy. Bodies littered the cave floor. I could feel bile rise in the back of my throat.

As a guardian, we're trained to be indifferent, stone-faced, cold, brutal. We have to be able to handle anything, but no matter how many times you encounter death, it never get easier.

I snapped out of my haze as I heard a loud clang. The strigoi had gotten a hard blow to the guardian, and knocked his stake to the ground. It landed a few feet away from me. I watched as the strigoi landed one final blow to his abdomen, sending the guardian flying into the wall.

Slowly, the strigoi walked over to him, grinning wickedly and bending over to tear his fangs into his neck.

Seeing my chance, I crawled over and grabbed the stake. Pure adrenaline was the only thing keeping me moving. While the strigoi was busy finishing the guardian, I pulled myself over to him as quietly as I could.

By the time he realized I was there, it was too late. I plunged the stake into his back and through his heart.

I woke up from the dream in a cold sweat. Gasping, my eyes snapped open. My heart was beating out of my chest. I looked around, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

It was the second time that I'd had the dream. The scene just kept replaying back in my head.

Being bitten. Being saved. Killing the strigoi.

I'm still not sure how I'd had the strength to keep fighting, when my entire body was screaming at me to give up. Honestly, I think it was because of Rose.

Throughout the whole thing, all I could think about was her. She is what gives me a reason to live. Before her, my life was dull. I did the same, boring thing every day, never speaking more than a few words to anyone. It wasn't even living.

But then she came into my life, and everything changed. From the moment I saw her, I knew she would change my life. She became my everything, and I found myself telling her things that not even Ivan had known. Before I knew it, I was smiling and laughing again like I used to.

So the whole time I was struggling to stay awake, she was there in the back of my mind, yelling at me to fight, for her.

My eyes finally adjusted, and it took all my strength to sit up. I wasn't sure how long I'd been here, but it must've been at least a full day, maybe more. I've been in and out of consciousness the whole time, never really staying awake for more than a few hours. Even when I was awake, I wasn't strong enough to do anything but lay there.

Looking down, I quickly assessed my injuries as best as I could. From what I could tell, I had a dislocated shoulder, a few fractured ribs, a sprained ankle, and probably more. Everything hurt. Who knows what kind of internal injuries I have.

Now that I was finally able to sit up, I could get a better look around me. The cave entrance was probably about 100 feet away, and moonlight illuminated the ground around it. If I had to guess, I'd say I was at least a couple miles from the academy.

Taking a deep breath, I hoisted myself onto my hands and knees. Pain seared through me, and black spots clouded my vision. Every bone in my body was screaming at me to stop. Putting the pain in the back of my mind, I started moving.

Slowly, I moved through the cave. My lungs seared and my throat burned. Every few feet I had to stop and lay down for a few minutes and recover.

This is how it went for god knows how long. I lost track of time, but it felt like hours. By the time I reached the entrance of the cave, it was getting light outside.

I collapsed once I was outside. My skin was sweaty despite the chill in the air. Suddenly, my eyelids became too heavy to keep open. I welcomed sleep gratefully.

How the hell am I going to do this?

Rose POV:

3 days. It's been 3 days since the battle, and 2 days since I've been back from the infirmary.

I felt empty inside. Everyone had come by at least once to try and get me to come out of my room, but I wouldn't let them in. No one could get through to me, not even Lissa.

I knew she was worried sick about me, but I didn't care.

Why should I let them help me? They don't understand. They don't know what it's like to lose your soulmate.

And even if they did, I don't deserve their help. It's my fault he's dead, or worse. The thought of Dimitri being a strigoi made my stomach churn.

I closed my eyes and took deep, shaky breaths. Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. Soon, the silent tears turned into sobs as I clutched one of his old shirts to my chest.

It was the only way I could feel close to him. The scent of his aftershave still lingered on the shirt, and it was the only thing that kept me half-sane.

I don't know how long I stayed like that, but soon I had no tears left in my eyes and my sobs turned into heaves. I couldn't breathe. It felt like all the air was being sucked out of my lungs. My whole body shook and convulsed, and blood pounded in my ears.

I clenched my fists as hard as I could, Digging my nails into my skin and drawing blood. An overwhelming sense of dread consumed me. Why can't I just die? Then at least I could be with him.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on my door.

"Rose! Please open the door! You have to come out sometime," Lissa's voice called. I didn't answer.

"Rose, please," she said, only quieter this time. I couldn't mistake the fear in her voice as well. I still didn't answer her. I heard shuffling outside the door, and the sound of keys jingling. My doorknob twisted and the door creaked open. Lissa and Alberta slowly walked inside, looking around my room worriedly. They caught sight of my on my bed, and walked over.

I didn't move, my eyes stayed on the ceiling. This time it was Alberta that spoke.

"Rose, you have to eat something, we brought you some food." Ha, like I could keep anything down. I didn't look at them. Lissa turned around and took a deep breath. Alberta kept talking.

"Rose, what's going on? Please talk to us, we can't help you if you don't open up." I don't want your help.

"Get out." My voice was hard, and even I couldn't recognise it.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, get out." It hurt to talk to Alberta like that, after all, she pretty much raised me. But I needed to be alone right now. Sighing, she got up and turned around, setting down a bag of food in the process. She gave Lissa a look that I didn't understand on the way out.

Lissa turned around, and I rolled over and looked her in the eye. I noticed she had tears leaking down the side of her face.

"What happened to you, Rose?" I answered her by closing my eyes and turning back around.

Silently, she climbed up onto my bed and wrapped her arms around me. Surprisingly, I was grateful for her embrace. It felt nice to have my best friend here with me, even if she didn't have a clue what was going on inside my head. And honestly? Neither did I.

Dang, that was hard to write. I deleted Dimitris point of view and rewrote it at least twice. Anyways, I hope you all liked it! And don't worry, I'll make their reunion as soon as possible. I hate when they're away from each other:( Please review!