So here's chapter 3! Thanks so much for the reviews so far guys! Keep it up!

Disclaimer: I don't own VA or any of the characters!

Chapter 3

"Can you help me reach that box up there and then push it to the bottom of the bed, at the very back?" Tasha asked Dimitri while I sat on her bed. Dimitri smiled and of course, did the job while I sat there looking like an idiot, still trying to figure what had happened in the last ten, maybe fifteen minutes. When the job was done, obviously Dimitri and I left. But I could tell from Dimitri's face that he was past worried. Even before leaving, he looked at me. His thoughts were clear as day. He could keep up a guardian mask, but what happened in the gym, scared him. I sensed it. I smiled at him and finally got up to leave.

"Rose!" He came after me. I turned back to him and gave him a fake smile.

"Dimitri…?" I called his name quietly.

"What? What is it? Is everything okay?" He was definitely concerned.

"Nothing. Everything's…fine…" I kept walking.

"No! Look at me!" He pulled my wrist to force me to look at him. "Tell me the truth!" I looked at him, and then pulled my wrist back forcefully. I kept walking off. I couldn't see him like that, knowing I was the one that caused him so much worry. "Rose!" He cut me off and looked at me. Tears streamed down my eyes. Quickly, he embraced me. "I'm so sorry…I'm sorry…Rose…" He whispered. I pushed him gently, away from me.

"I need to rest," I whispered quietly.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried still. I finally shook my head.

"I don't feel well at all…" I took another step and stumbled. My vision was blurring and things were spinning. "Crap…"

"Rose!" Dimitri held tight onto me. "Hang in there! Hey!" Eventually I couldn't focus on a single thing and blacked out in Dimitri's hold.

In the early evening…

"She's coming around," I slowly opened my eyes and saw Dimitri and Dr. Olendski.

"Roza, how are you feeling?" Dimitri asked. I didn't answer him, though it wasn't because I didn't want to. Rather, I just felt like I didn't have any energy to.

"Her heartbeat is stable, she's fine. Just don't stress her out anymore," Dr. Olendski told Dimitri before leaving the room. I looked at Dimitri and he took the wet towel off my forehead, replacing it with a new, cold towel.

"How are you feeling? Better?" I looked at Dimitri.

"What…happened?" I asked.

"You don't remember? You passed out. When I brought you here, Olendski said it was due to stress and fatigue. You had a sky rocket fever for the last few hours," I reached my hand out and he grabbed it instantly. I pulled his hand over my eyes and just told him to stay there. After a while of just silence, I sat up and started to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Practice. I still have my test tonight," I told him.

"Rose, you're not going. I won't allow it!" He told me.

"You're not my father. You don't have a say in this. I need to pass this test. If I don't, you know the consequences. I have to stay behind the rest of the school year. This test tells me if I can be Lissa's guardian. I have to do it. There's no excuse to skip it," I headed back to my room, feeling fine now.

"Rose, you're going to collapse if you push yourself too hard!" Dimitri argued back.

"Will you just stop it already? My mind's made up. I know certain people get involved in the test. Apparently you got chosen right?" This was no time for me to just lie around sick. I was still the best and I still had to prove that to him apparently. I wasn't going to go down without a fight. Rose Hathaway doesn't do that. Dimitri eventually left knowing he couldn't change my mind. I started to get my stuff ready as I looked at Adrian's necklace lying on the desk. After staring at it for some time, I decided to not take it. I needed all the strength I had so I couldn't be restraining myself. By the time I got ready, all the students were at the gym. Dimitri was nowhere to be seen. 'I wonder where he went.' The proctors stood in front of us, none of which I recognized.

"Welcome students to your semester two trial. This will determine which of you students can continue to your next semester of being a guardian and which level at that. Each one of you will be put in your own trial. Believe me, this is no easy exam. Each of us has taken a person you love the most. Injured or not, you have to rescue them. There will be Strigoi in the forest, however, not real ones. They are simply some extra guardians here dressed up as them, but they have no intention holding back. To ensure there is no favoritism, all guardians will be ones from the Lehigh College," The screen in the gym was pulled down and a projection was created. "This is the roster. Find your number and your destination. When you get there, you have six hours to rescue whoever it is," Then it finally dawned on me.

"Dimitri…" I looked at the screen as they projected each and every "loved one". Everyone gasped as most of them were their parents. I looked at my number. "Sixteen…" I looked back at the screen and there Dimitri was, wounded and tied up. Tears stung at my eyes. This wasn't right. This wasn't fair. Then I remembered Dimitri's words. 'Not everything in this world is fair.'

"We have your numbers all in a roulette. The first number chosen is the first student to enter their trial," We saw the ball spinning in a roulette and I looked intently at the screen's projection.

"Number 16, you're up first," I stepped forward, hands clenched into fists. I won't forgive them…I won't forgive them for hurting Dimitri like that. "Rosemarie Hathaway, it seems you are in the forest just right behind this school. Here is a rocket flare should you decide to throw in the towel or if you are severely injured for any purposes. Good luck. Also, we will be monitoring your progress here so should anything severe injuries happen, we will stop the exam." I snatched the flare from the proctor and headed into the forest. There, a guardian gave me a watch set to six hours. This was cruel.

"Are you ready?" The lady asked. I didn't know any of these people.

"Yeah. Bring it," The lady clicked a button and my timer started. I dashed into the forest with only one thing in mind. I had to get Dimitri back. These people were relentless. 'Stealing our loved ones and hurting them just for a stupid test. Are you joking?' Then after what seemed to be an hour passed determined by my watch, I was getting nowhere. I didn't even have a map and this forest was huge. I slowed to a brisk walk. I couldn't just waste my energy running. But where would I even look? I started looking around for clues. The silence in the forest was deafening. As I kept walking, still no clues were to be found. I was losing time as well. How did this even work? Wait…there weren't any rules. Anything could be done. I climbed up into a tree to look from above. I started jumping through trees, taking my view into a bird's eye view. He had to be somewhere here. When I looked at my watched, another half hour had passed. "Shit," I cursed. Then an idea came into mind. Dimitri was wounded. He was hurt for real. That meant he couldn't have seen this coming. He probably thought he had been kidnapped for real if he didn't even recognize these guardians. Clues! Dimitri had to have left clues somewhere. I looked around. What type of clues would he even put up? This was impossible. I looked around again from the trees. There, lying on a path was a rose. I jumped down to it and took out my stake. I looked in front of me and there was a "Strigoi". The man grinned evilly.

"Where is he?" I asked menacingly.

"Who is he?" He asked back mockingly.

"Dimitri. Where is Dimitri?" I yelled at this point. I was losing time because of this idiot.

"Why would I-" I cut him off by launching a punch at his face. Because the punch connected, he was sent flying into the ground.

"Don't mess with me," I felt darkness bubble within me, but at this point, I couldn't care less. "I said where is he?" I asked again.

"I can't-" I punched him again, then two more times.

"ANSWER ME!" I started crying. Rage and fury showed in my eyes and the man eventually gave in.

"He's straight up ahead. He's tied to the giant tree in the back. Biggest one you'll ever see," I left him there and kept running. I looked at my watch. Three hours left. I pushed more darkness into my body and I sped up. I ran into three other "Strigoi" and attacked all of them with no hesitation, leaving them all bloody and unconscious. Then when I saw the tree, I saw Dimitri, unconscious and tied to a tree. "Dimitri!" I screamed. He didn't move. Just how badly injured was he? I walked slowly towards him crying along the way. When I got to him, I kneeled down and nuzzled against him.

"R…rose…" I sobbed as he called my name.

"I'm here…I'm here…" He chuckled lightly, and then coughed.

"My, my, what a romantic scene," I turned to the voices and saw eight guardians surrounding us.

"Give…up…you…" Dimitri tried to speak. I stood up.

"Don't worry," I gave him a smile with tears still running down. "I'm going to kill them," I turned to them. I triggered as much as darkness as I could until my body was emitting a dark aura, like a demon. "I'm going to kill them all. Just you watch," I growled. The guardians came at me with their stakes. "Pathetic," Just extending my hand in front of them, a dark burst of energy was shot at them. "You guys are pathetic. You can't fight me. I'm on a different level then you guys," I sneered at them.

"Rose…" I heard Dimitri, but ignored him. Anyone who hurt Dimitri, they were going to die. The guardians stood up and tried to get close again and again, I shot at them with darkness's energy.

"What? Can't put up much of a fight?" One individual person charged at me. A word came into my head. It sounded like a spell, but I was willing to try it. He charged and jumped back.

"Bahlskra!" I shouted with my hand faced to him. The guy was immediately captured by darkness. He froze and I lifted him up into the air.

"Scared now, are we?" I teased him. "How does it feel to be weak now?" I clenched my hand a bit and I heard his bones breaking.

"Stop! Please!" He started begging. I clenched my fist now and finally his bones in his arms snapped. I threw him aside as the other guardians tried to help him.

"Pathetic," I turned back to Dimitri who was conscious, but not to a full extent. He was weary as I bent down to him. "Spell error!" I yelled out another spell. The rope around him snapped and Dimitri relaxed a bit.

"Rose…you…have…to stop…" I turned back to them.

"I can't. They deserve to die," I glared at them still.

"You're going too far!" A guardian started charging at me.

"Signum!" He was lifted into the air and thrown into a tree. The leader of the eight of them glared at me.

"You're a monster!" He growled. He charged at me.

"Signum!" He dodged the spell and kept coming at me. "Bahlskra!" Again, he dodged the darkness's grasp. I kept backing as he approached quickly. I had to find another spell, but nothing was coming to me. I tried to think. 'Come on! I need a spell!' Finally another whisper came into my mind. "Sand coffin!" The man was finally trapped by sand from the ground. He tried to break free, but it didn't work. I sighed.

"I'll admit you're good. But I'm better," I slowly clenched my hand to torture him. He growled and yelled, twisting and turning.

"Stop!" I stopped suddenly to see Dimitri standing, a bit unstable, but standing. "Rose, snap out of it! This isn't you!" I looked back at the guardian.

"I have to kill them. They killed Mason!" I screamed at him.

"Rose, take a good look! They're regular guardians. They're not Strigoi!" I focused my look at them, and then looked back at Dimitri. "Rose, the Strigoi who killed Mason, he was dead! You killed him back at Spokane," He told me. The whispers returned. 'Signum, bahlskra, signum, bahlskra.' Suddenly I had a headache and collapsed in pain. "Stop…stop it…"

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled.

"Shut up!" I screamed as the voices in my head got louder. I was going crazy. My head felt like it was splitting in two.

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled at me once more.

"No!" My dark powers went out of control. Darkness started forming into sparks and trees were lit on fire.

"Get back! Head back to the academy!" Dimitri yelled at the injured guardians. All of them fled, but Dimitri.

"Rose, look at me! It's me! Snap out of it! You're getting out of control!" I turned to Dimitri as trees started to burn around us. "I have to get you out of here! Shut down the darkness. Fight it!" He encouraged me. "Let me save you!" He yelled. I stood there frozen as darkness emitted from my body continued to run rampant. Dimitri got struck by a spark and collapsed onto one knee, but he still got up as I watched.

"Run…" I whispered to him while I still could

"No! I'm not running. I won't run! How do you expect me to live with myself after I run if you die here?" He came closer to me. While my powers were out of control, I stepped back. "Rose, I'm going to come and I'm going to stop you from going out of control. Just stay there!" He yelled while trees around us started falling. Dimitri coughed as the smoke started to get to him. But once he got to me, he wrapped his arms around me. "It's alright. It's time to stop. I'm safe. No one is going to hurt us anymore…shh…" He just held me, unmoving. The aura around me dulled and finally disappeared. My legs gave out as Dimitri caught me. "You're safe now," I looked weakly at him.

"You're…alright…" I whispered as he picked me up.

"Yes, I'm alright now. You did a good job. It's time to rest now," He slowly walked back to the school where the result on my test was a "Pass" My vision started to blur and I saw spots.

"We need to get her into a hospital!" I heard Dimitri yell when we headed to the gym. I coughed up a lot of blood and Dimitri started yelling louder. "She's having a heart attack!" At some point after that, I passed out in Dimitri's arms.

One week later…

"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep," I slowly opened my eyes to see a bright light above me. 'Am I dead?' I looked to my side and saw an IV in my arm connected to a machine. The room was colored sky blue and white. As my vision focused onto farther objects, I saw Dimitri sleeping in a chair. 'Where was I?' I looked around. I realized after some time I was in a hospital. Oh yeah, I had a heart attack earlier. I felt the oxygen mask on my face as I reached for it. I inhaled and exhaled and the heart monitor reacted.

"Rose!" Dimitri ran over to me and I looked at him. "You're alive…you're really alive…" He hugged me tight and I hugged him back.

"Of course. You didn't think I'd given up the will to live that easily, did you?" I tried to joke. Tears streamed down from his face. "Why are you crying?" He looked surprised and wiped his eyes, trying to smile.

"During your operation, you died, twice. The doctors didn't know if they could save you, but you managed to get through it. But when you got to the room here, the doctor said, they wouldn't know if you wake. Roza…I thought you died," I looked deep into his brown eyes and saw them bloodshot. He had been crying before. Dimitri quickly called the nurses, evading my look. The nurses and doctors all looked at me happily as they all applauded. Wow. I evaded death a total of three times now. I sat up and Dimitri came back to me. I took a step and stumbled. "Easy there. You haven't walked for a week," He stabilized me and gently walked me over to a wheelchair.

"Thanks," Dimitri simply smiled. "Can I leave the hospital?" I asked the doctors but they all shook their heads.

"Miss Hathaway, it'd be best if you stay put for a while longer. We're hoping to discharge you within the week, but for today, you can go outside, but you're not allowed to leave yet," Dimitri wheeled me outside where I got fresh air after a long time. I took a deep breath and sighed. As Dimitri put on the brakes, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"Rose?" He spoke quietly.

"Hm?" I nuzzled at his arms around me.

"I know I don't say this much, but I love you, my Roza. And I was wondering if you would like to be my girlfriend," He stated simply. I turned to him and looked at him seriously.

"You're not kidding, are you?" I spoke.

"No, I'm not," He gave me a surprise kiss and I kissed him back with everything I had.

"So I'm taking that as a yes?" He asked again.

"Yes," I answered him. He had the biggest grin I had ever seen from him. He picked me up out of the wheelchair and turned in a circle, hugging me the entire time. "So what about Tasha then? You know she's literally out to get me, right?" I told him.

"Why would she be out to get you? Look, I'll deal with her. And if I have to resign because of you, I will," He kissed me again. I smiled at him, but now there was another problem. Tasha probably wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Hey there! Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter. I know it's a bit violent, but it's all part of the story. Review, review, review! I put a LOT of effort into this chapter so it'd be nice to see what you guys think of it so far!