Haha, two chapters in one day? Hell yeah, that's how I roll. Um, actually it's mostly because I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Finals are next week and I'll spend next weekend studying for them. But, afterwards, expect regular updates! So yeah, I don't own Vampire Academy, etc. etc. You know that.

DO YOU FEEL?

CHAPTER TWO.

Adrian and Lissa talked in hushed tones in the hospital room while Christian and Sveta waited outside. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sad girl. Her aura was much too sad for a girl her age, and it worried her. "You said that she can control emotions. How so?" she asked.

"She takes feelings away from people and draws them into herself. She can take all the negatives away, like she did with you, or she can take all the positives away." He looked over at her and stated quietly, "Or she can take them all away."

"And then she feels it?" Lissa asked carefully.

Adrian nodded. "I've only seen this happen with you and..." He stopped, knowing Lissa got his point. He looked back over at the girl. "She's thirteen. I pulled some strings and got her a tutor at Court, so she can study with us. Speaking of court," he said, changing the topic, "are you all packed?"

Lissa nodded, still not looking away from the sad girl. Christian was trying to amuse her by setting things on fire. It wasn't working. Dr. Olendzki came back in and gave Lissa the thumbs up to leave. She and Adrian left the room and parted ways, him and Sveta going off to the guests' rooms and Lissa and Christian heading towards their own dorms.

As Lissa slipped her hand in his, she felt a small piece of metal in her hand. He curled her hand around it, smiling a little. She smiled back at him. She had almost forgotten. "You want to do it?" she asked, holding the ring back to him. He took it and slipped it onto her finger. They laced their hands back together and walked in silence.

"You seem to be doing better," he noted. "Haven't seen you this happy in a while."

She nodded absently. Somewhere, she knew that this wasn't her happiness. Sveta's sad face came to the forefront of her mind. "So, you ready to go?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, just need to run in and get my stuff. I'll meet you out here in a few minutes?" She nodded and the two went into their separate dorms. Lissa barely looked around when she got up to her room. Well, her former room. She'd never be here again. She didn't want to think about all the memories she had here. Almost all involved Rose. And Rose was gone.

Lissa felt the sadness set upon her once more. The ring on her finger felt heavy with importance, as it held her future. A future without Rose. A strange, foreign future that Lissa didn't think she could handle. She slammed her suitcase shut with unnecessary force. The tears came again, but she didn't have time to have another breakdown. A knock came at her door. She walked over to it and opened it slightly. She caught sight of Kirova and opened it wider, revealing Eddie who smiled at her.

"I was hoping to catch you before you left," Kirova said, walking into the room. Eddie hesitated, but Lissa waved him in. "Since Rose unexpectedly dropped out, we had to do some shifting with the guardian assignments. We finally decided that Eddie was the best choice. He'll be your permanent guardian. You'll have another one once you get to Court, but he'll only be there until Rose becomes a guardian. Then, as planned, you two will be together."

Lissa looked down at her feet. "Assuming she's still alive."

Kirova nodded and cleared her throat. "We're just hoping for the best." She nodded and left Lissa and Eddie alone. "Good luck, Princess," she said before leaving.

She looked up at Eddie. "Well, at least I'll know you'll do a good job," she said quietly. She went back to her bags.

"Lissa, I'm not going to try and take R—" he started, but she interrupted him.

"Don't talk about it. Don't say her name," she said, through gritted teeth. She yanked the zipper on her suitcase shut with anger. She walked over to her purse and searched through it. Pulling out the bracelet she had given to Rose what seemed like ages ago, she walked over to Eddie and dropped it in his hand.

He looked down at it, understanding the gravity of what he had just been given. "Thanks Lissa," he said, pulling the bracelet on. "I won't let you down."

"I never thought you would." She sniffed. The pang of not having Rose resonated in her heart. "Eddie," she choked out, tears finally falling from her face again. He was at her side quickly, wrapping a protective arm around her. She showed him her hand. "I'm engaged to Christian." He looked at her, a little confused at why she should be sad. "But... Rose isn't h-here." She swallowed. "She's not coming back, I can just feel it." She fell into his arms and he awkwardly hugged her.

"Rose will be fine," he reassured her.

Lissa nodded, pulling out of his arms. "I know. But... She's never coming back to me."

"I don't believe that," he argued with her.

She shook her head. "I know her. She's gone. She's never going to bounce back from Dimitri's death. I..." She fell back onto her bed, sitting down. "I should have saved him. I could have saved him! I didn't want to. I told her that I couldn't pick and choose and..." She shook her head, covering her face with her hands. "She could be here... Right now... And it's all my fault that she isn't."

Eddie looked down at her, saddened. "You can't blame yourself." She looked up at him. "It's not your fault. Not all the magic in the world could have saved Dimitri. You have... no idea how long I blamed myself for Mason's death." A shadow passed over his face, making Eddie seem vulnerable for just a second. "But, the truth is, you can't do anything about death. It happens. All you can do is move on." He straightened up. "Now, come on. We have a plane to catch." He beamed at her, which she struggled to return. He extended a hand to her to help her off the bed. She grabbed her purse while he grabbed the suitcases. The two walked out and met Christian and his new guardian, Lukas.

Eddie clapped Christian on the back as they approached. "Congrats, man!"

Christian blushed a little and muttered his thanks. The two guardians met and formed a plan, the standard far and near guard. Then, they started walking towards the Academy's runway. Adrian and Sveta had already arrived and they were ushered onto the plane quickly. "Christian," Lissa started, "I'm going to sit with Sveta. You and Adrian won't kill each other, right?" Christian mumbled a sarcastic reply but went and sat with Adrian nonetheless.

Lissa approached the girl and didn't even have to try to see her aura. It was much different now, radiating happiness. "Are you going to sit with me?" she asked excitedly.

She smiled sweetly at her. "Sure, if you'll have me."

"Of course!" she piqued. Her voice was high-placed and sweet-sounding with a hint of a British accent. Lissa strapped herself in the seat next to her. "I'm sorry I was so rude earlier. When there's lots of sadness in the people around me, I tend to get a bit moody." She studied Lissa like she was a book in a library. "You're sad. Why are you sad? Do you want me to make you feel better?" The girl blinked up at Lissa, waiting for permission.

"I'm fine, really," she assured her. She wasn't really interested in being cheered up unless it was coming from Rose. "So how do you know Adrian?" she asked politely.

Sveta shrugged. "I'm an Ivashkov. I think he's my third cousin or something crazy like that." She smiled and shrugged again. "He was visiting my family and they mentioned how they didn't think I was going to specialize, just like him. And he insisted on meeting me, so he came to school and told me about Spirit and how I wasn't crazy or anything. That was like two months or so ago. He came back for me a few days ago and we came here and now we're here, on a plane, heading to Court!" She seemed so excited.

"Two months?" Lissa asked incredulously. He had hidden it from her! Sveta nodded. "What was he doing visiting family?" she asked curiously. She had noticed he hadn't been around recently. She just figured he was busy giving himself alcohol poisoning.

She frowned. "Um, I think Momma said he was looking for a friend. He'd lent some money to her, and he just wanted to check up on her. Or something. Why do you ask?"

She swallowed. He was looking for Rose. "No reason," she said, through gritted teeth. The pilot announced they would be taking off.

Sveta gulped. "Would you mind holding my hand?" she asked softly. "I hate taking off." As soon as Lissa saw the girl's big, round green eyes her heart melted. Without a word, she took the girl's small hand and laced her fingers in it. "Thanks," she said, blushing a little. As soon as they were in the air and at cruising altitude, Sveta slipped her hand out of Lissa's. The pilot switched off the seatbelt sign and Lissa excused herself. She left her seat and marched over to Adrian.

"Two months, Adrian?" she hissed at him, waking him up from his drunken slumber. It was hardly one in the afternoon and he was already beyond drunk. "Why in the hell did you keep this from me?"

He rolled his eyes and sat up. "I didn't want to give you more to think about. You were so upset about Rose leaving and I—"

"Oh, right, because I was the only one moping because she was gone." She glared at him. "I know you went looking for her." At this, Christian perked up and looked over at the two.

"Yeah, is that a crime? I was worried about her!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she pressed.

Adrian sighed. "About what?"

"BOTH!"

He cringed. "No yelling. We use our inside voices, Princess."

"Shut the hell up and tell me."

He was taken aback. "I kept it from you because I wanted to make sure she actually was a Spirit user. She's still young, you know. She could specialize still. And I didn't tell you about Rose because... I didn't want to get your hopes up."

She glared at him and went back to her seat, fuming mad. Sveta looked up at her with her wide, green eyes again. She lightly placed her hand on Lissa's arm and she suddenly felt a rush of tranquility fill her. She looked over at Sveta, who only smiled sadly at her. When all the anger at Adrian was gone from her, Lissa smiled at Sveta.

But, instead of that sad smile again, Sveta clutched the armrests angrily. "He's such a butthead," she growled. "Why didn't you punch his face in?" She kicked the empty seat in front of her.

Instead of acknowledging her question, Lissa engaged the girl in a conversation about her eminent marriage to Christian. "How would you like to help me plan it?" she asked nicely.

Sveta's lips turned up in a kind of half-smile. "I'd like that." And the two launched into a whole discussion about colors, flowers, dresses, and dates. It soon became clear to Lissa that Sveta worked in extremes. She was always at the highest high or the lowest low. She was never really happily in the middle. To be honest, she was worried about the girl. Halfway through the flight, Lissa turned the conversation to Sveta. She wanted to learn more about her.

"Oh, well... There's nothing really special about me," Sveta said, shrugging. "I mean, at school the kids would make fun of me." She looked down sadly. "I'm really small and they all called me a kid." Lissa felt bad for the girl, especially since she had been one of the bullies in a similar situation with Mia. "I didn't have many friends. I mean," she sighed, "who wants to be friends with the school loser? I had friends, I guess. But only when it was convenient for them. The kids also made fun of me for being a vegetarian. Well, as vegetarian as a vampire could be. They would stand up during lunch and ask if I wanted some of their hamburger or steak or bacon or... whatever. Like, really loud. And everyone would laugh and..." Her aura darkened to the pitch black state it had been in when I first met her. "I would eat lunch in my dorm sometimes." Despite being an overall sad girl, Lissa couldn't help but notice how open Sveta was. "My family kind of saw me as the disappointment. My brother was always better than me. Smarter. He specialized when he was thirteen. And... Well, I didn't."

She shook her head. "When Adrian came, it was like a dream come true. I felt special for the first time in my life. Wanted. He's been nothing but nice to me." She sighed and looked back at him. He, again, was passed out drunk. "I just wish he would let me make him feel better. I hate seeing him so sad."

"Sad?" Lissa scoffed. "Adrian isn't sad."

Sveta shook her head. "He's the saddest person I've ever met. You included. He won't talk about it though. And I tried to cheer him up once and he yelled at me." She looked back at him again, frowning. "I think a girl broke his heart." She shook her head sadly and looked up at Lissa with those sad eyes again. "I hate seeing people sad, for obvious reasons." She peered out her window. "I mean, I would rather be the saddest person in the world than have the entire world sad." She frowned. "The kids at school used to call me a wannabe-martyr." Her aura, if possible, grew darker still.

"Nobody's going to make fun of you anymore," Lissa promised. "And if anyone gives you grief, let me know, okay?" She suddenly felt protective of the poor girl. She needed somebody in her life to set a positive example, to make her feel better. And, well, she couldn't help but see the parallels between them. She healed people physically, and Sveta healed them emotionally. And they both felt the side-effects of doing these kind acts. She could even see the martyr spirit she felt a lot of the time in Sveta.

"My real name is Svetlana," she suddenly told Lissa. "I hate it."

Another parallel. Lissa smiled. "Mine's Vasilisa. I hate it too."

Thanks for reading! Leave a review and make a sad puppy smile! XD