So this is chapter 12! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Richelle Mead's VA characters!

Chapter 12

Soon it was dark and any food I had eaten was long digested. My stomach growled, but nothing could be done. The more I walked, the more energy I would use and that wasn't something I could afford at the moment. Nonetheless, as much as it was a bad idea to get up and move, I had to find my way out. I had been stuck in the maze for a decent six hours and each time I swore I was getting close to the exit, the maze would shift.

"Sir, you have to go find her!" I heard Kevin's voice suddenly.

"I don't have to find her at all! She brought this upon herself!" My father's voice boomed. He was obviously angry, but it wasn't my fault to begin with, right? He was the one who had kidnapped me!

"Sir! She's your daughter!" Kevin argued. "I thought we were doing this to protect her. All she was going to do is kill some people here and there and then we let her go and get back on with our lives. You're not treating her like your daughter! You're treating her like a prisoner, and right now, your goal is at stake too! If she dies, you have no one to help you," I heard footsteps heading towards the maze. "Rosemarie! Are you okay?" He yelled from outside of the maze. I walked towards his voice as my vision blurred. The blood I drank from before wasn't helping at all either. I had no strength. "Rosemarie! Answer me if you can hear me! Let me know that you're okay!" He yelled. I tried to walk in a direction, but soon my body collapsed and I hit the ground. "ROSEMARIE!" Kevin yelled again.

"Blaze…" I whispered. Soon the hedge maze caught on fire and my powers, using any last energy to save myself, gave an opening for Kevin.

"ROSEMARIE!" I laid on the ground as he sprinted towards me. "Rosemarie! Say something!" He shook me as he picked me up. I felt him running as he brought me back into the house. The minute he laid me on the bed though, that was when I closed my eyes. All my energy had been sapped by the maze and it wasn't enough to keep sustaining my body. "I told you to stay. I told you not to run! Why did you run…" Suddenly as the door slammed open, my eyes opened again. It was my father. "You did this to her! You destroyed your own daughter! How could you?" Kevin fought against my father now.

"Shut up!" My father pushed Kevin out of the way to get to me. I didn't have any energy, but I did what I could to move away from my father. In this state, anything could happen. He gave me a hard stare, but at this point, I was more scared than anything else. "Revive," He placed his hand gently on my heart and a pulse of his energy was forced into my body. I gasped in pain a bit as he forced more energy.

"What are you doing? You're hurting her!" Kevin yelled.

"You idiot! I'm healing her. I never said it would be painless," Kevin suddenly held my hand. When my dad stopped and left the room, I turned to Kevin.

"Why…why are you trying to help me?" I asked. Kevin gave me a look and let go of my hand.

"I'm not helping you. I'm helping your father. We need you alive meaning you can't go doing reckless things like that again," He spoke. "What do you want to eat? I'll make you food," I didn't answer him. Something made me sleepy and soon I stopped moving. "Rosemarie, hey, what do you want to eat?" I closed my eyes and the last thing I remembered was grabbing Kevin's hand before I lost consciousness and let go again.

An hour later…

I slowly woke up to see Kevin still in the room. Like always, he was doing his job.

"You're finally awake, I see," I turned to him and saw him staring at me like always too.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"An hour. I thought something serious had happened to you physically so I had a doctor check up on you right after you passed out. She said that you were simply exhausted. Here," He handed me a sandwich. "Eat up. You'll need your strength," I shook my head. In this environment, who knew what was in the food. For all I know, someone could've poisoned it. "Rosemarie, I'm not asking you to eat it. I'm ordering you to. It's my job to make sure you're in good condition," He told me stoically.

"Is that all you care about?" I finally asked. "It's been job this, job that. Do you seriously have no feelings for me cause it really seems like it," I challenged him. He scoffed.

"Get over yourself. Look, your father's hosting a welcome party for you tomorrow. You need your strength," I finally started eating the sandwich slowly. Somehow, because I hadn't eaten for a while, my stomach didn't seem happy with food either. I ate about half of it before I stopped. "You're not going to finish it?" Kevin asked. I didn't answer him. He grumbled before snapping at me. "My God, what is wrong with you?" He yelled. "I'm trying to play Mr. Nice Guy here and you're not even giving me a chance. How can I prove to you that I'm not here to hurt you?" He asked.

"You can't. Your kind killed my friend and anyone who is a Strigoi is an enemy of mine. The only Strigoi who was my friend was my brother before he was changed back. But you're not going to change. You have no intention of changing. You're a cold-blooded killer, just like every Strigoi out there. And what's worse is that you're helping my father, who tore me away from my family and the love of my life," I told him. He sighed before leaving the room. I looked at the window again. The barrier around the house was probably still there, but maybe I could figure a way out before he came back up. I headed to the window and slowly opened it. A rush of cold wind blew in and the curtains fluttered against it. I looked down to see that I was on the second story of the house. After, I looked up to see the roof. I was closer to the roof than I was to the ground. Maybe I could get onto the roof and then work my way from there. At least if I was missing, it would take a while for them to realize where I was first. I slowly worked my way out the window and grabbed onto the roof. Lifting myself up, I got onto the roof quietly. Should I make a sound, that was probably going to get me killed. So now what? I looked around and suddenly saw a seal right underneath me. This was probably the spell to the barrier.

"Break," I whispered and the seal started to glow.

"Rosemarie!" I heard Kevin's voice suddenly. Startling me a bit, I stepped back so even if he were to look up, I'd be out of his line of sight.

"My, aren't you being a bad girl," I looked behind me to see my father right behind me. I quickly stepped back, a bit off guard. "Trying to escape again? You know it won't work. I put a level five barrier around this property. Unless you are on level five spells, you're not going anywhere," As he walked closer to me, I stepped back further. When I looked back, I was close to the edge of the roof.

"Just give up, you're not going to win this," He told me. I looked at the seal on the roof again.

"Maybe I don't have to break the spell," I told him. I ran towards him and then jumped to flip over him.

"What the-" I reached the seal and put my hand over it.

"Disable!" The seal sparked and soon the barrier started to flicker. It wasn't enough to break if, but if I timed it just right, I'd be able to leave.

"Why you little-" I ran and jumped from the roof. Just like I thought, I timed it correctly so I ended up on a tree just outside of the barrier.

"Father, surely you didn't think I was that stupid, did you?" I teased him.

"Kevin, go after her," He said on what seemed to be a communication device. I looked down to see Kevin beneath me.

"Rosemarie, don't do this!" I looked at Kevin's face. Why was he so worried about me? "Don't make me come up there!" He shouted. I turned and started to run. But problem was that I was no match for him. His Strigoi speed kept him ahead and that was a problem. "Rosemarie, please stop! You're just going to get into more trouble if you keep this up!" At this point, I already started running so there would be no point turning back. As I kept my speed up though, I ran into a lake. Wait, a lake? I looked and recognized the place. Covering my mouth with my hand, I knew where I was.

"Oh my god, I'm in Russia…" Kevin suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Are you done now?" He asked me in an angry voice. I pulled my arm back and walked over the frozen over lake. "ROSEMARIE!" I turned around to look at him. "Please don't move any further. It's really thin ice!" Why was he still so concerned over me? He started to slowly make his way across the ice. When I took another step, I heard the ice cracking. If I could just make it to the other side of the lake, he would have to stop. I took another step the ice continued to crack. But as I stopped moving, the cracking still continued so I ran. But the first step I took, my foot broke through the ice and I fell. The ice from underneath me gave out and soon I fell into the cold lake. "ROSEMARIE!" He dove after me. The cold water made it hard to breathe as I started to flail in the water. As I swam up though, something snagged onto my foot. I looked down and saw some seaweed or algae wrapped around my ankle. 'Shit.' I swam down and tried to release my foot. Cold as it was, I was losing air quickly. My vision started spotting and I was rushing. I saw Kevin come down for me and he looked at my foot, then at me. He pulled me towards him and suddenly kissed me, transferring the air that he held. I started working and pulling and soon my foot was loose and I swam up to the surface. Gasping, Kevin held onto my waist and pushed me up to the surface. I collapsed after surfacing onto a thicker part of the ice. Kevin got up with no problem so he kneeled by me to check up on me.

"Come on, we have to get you back," He said. I shook my head. I wasn't going to go back. "Rosemarie, you'll freeze and die out here if you don't get inside!" He told me. I tried to get up, but my lungs felt as if they were frozen. I started to cough up blood quickly. "ROSEMARIE!" He quickly picked me up and ran back to the house. "Please hang on!" Within due time, I was back where I started. My father was worried too. He started to heal me with every bit of strength he had. In the entire healing process, Kevin held me in his arms. Even now, he was still trying to protect me.

"My lord, please hurry!" Kevin begged my father.

"I'm trying, but her body's giving out on her!" I coughed up blood again and turned towards Kevin, slowly drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Rose, you have to hang on!" He yelled at me. I felt my heartbeat slow. Maybe this time I really was going to die. "Please…"

"Why…" I whispered. "Why save me?" I asked as I curled myself into his arms. Kevin's hands were shaking beneath me.

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! HAPPY NOW?" He yelled as loud as he could. "I love you!" Tears trickled from his eyes and I smiled. A glow came for my body as a warm feeling started to spread.

"She's healing herself…she'll be fine," My father left the room as I relaxed in Kevin's arms.

"You know, I'm happy that you said you love me, but you know that's a lie, right?" I told Kevin.

"What are you talking about?" He looked at me, hurt.

"It's a lie right? There's no way you can love me. You've only recently met me. Plus, I have Dimitri to go back to," I told him. Kevin stood up quickly and I looked at him confused. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is you just humiliated me. I told you I love you. I wasn't kidding nor was I joking," Kevin stormed out of my room. I curled up on the bed. When he was out of hearing range, I sighed.

"I know it wasn't a lie…" I whispered to myself. After regaining strength from before, I got out of bed. This was as far as it was going to go. I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted Dimitri to be here. If not, I wanted to go back to him. I started to head downstairs until I heard Kevin's voice.

"Yes, I fell for her. Is that such a big deal?" He yelled.

"Only if you compromise your mission. Your mission is to watch her. Make sure she doesn't escape. That's your duty. Scare her if you must, but she is not going back to the school until she fulfills her part in this plan," My father replied.

"You're going to kill her just like you killed Ryan almost…" I heard Kevin speak again.

"Ryan was weak. She's different. Rosemarie is strong. She's very strong and if she turns against us, there will be major problems. Right now, she needs to know her place. If you love her, so be it. But as long as you fulfill your job, I will have no complaints," I started to sneak downstairs a bit more. I was out of their visual range in the meantime so I kept going downstairs.

"Rosemarie, what are you doing out of bed?" Kevin suddenly turned to me. I didn't answer him as he simply heard me rather than see me. My father stepped out and so did Kevin.

"I don't want to play this game anymore. I've had enough," I opened the door. My father as usual, slammed the door shut.

"You're not going anywhere. I won't allow it," He growled at me. Kevin gave me a cold glare now. I smiled to an extent. It was better he hate me than love me. I opened the door again and walked out.

"You really are an insolent child!" My father yanked my wrist back and I cried out in pain.

"Let go of me!" I tried to pull my wrist back. "Kevin!" I screamed. When I looked back though, Kevin just stood there watching. "I said LET GO!" I pulled again and got out of my father's grip. When my father took a second chance at trying to grab me, a barrier of my own formed, and it shocked him. "Don't touch me!" I roared. I had enough of hurting people, and I had enough of being hurt constantly too. Kevin suddenly started walking briskly to me and just when I thought he was going to hug me or something, I was wrong by a long shot. Instead, he slapped me in the face.

"Know your place, Rosemarie. You're not at home anymore. So face your fear face to face. Grow up," I was shocked. Well, I couldn't say that he was to blame. I made him feel miserable after my last comment to him.

"That's right…I hurt you, didn't I?" I laughed quietly. Tears streamed down my eyes and I touched the barrier. Right then and there, it shattered like glass.

"Summoning portal!" I yelled.

"How did you do that?" My father exclaimed.

"Don't underestimate me," I told him simply. Sadness and anger were the only two emotions I felt so all my powers doubled up from the darkness. "Take me home," I whispered. Then through the portal, I saw an image of St. Vladmir's Academy. "Kevin, you're right. I'm not at home anymore. This was never my home and you were never real. I can tell you I love you, but even then, my heart doesn't even exist here. My heart is back at home with Dimitri. So I'm sorry if I hurt you, but I rather have you hate me than love me. It'll be better for you," I told him.

"Is that why you're doing all of this? Because you think it's better for me?" He yelled.

"I'm sorry," I stepped into the portal and it closed behind me. Before I knew it the portal threw me out into the garden of St. Vladmir's. I quickly ran back to the school dorms, specifically Dimitri's.

"Dimitri? Are you there?" I pounded on the door. I was still crying from the incident with Kevin. "Please…open the door…" I begged before collapsing onto my knees in front of his room.

"Roza…?" I looked down the hallway to see Dimitri. "Oh my god. Roza!" I ran as fast as I could into his arms. "Roza, you're back," He held me tightly.

"Yeah…" I started to cry.

"What happened to you? Did they hurt you?" I shook my head.

"I'm fine…I just want you to hold me. Tell me that I'll be alright…please tell me I did the right thing…" I sobbed.

"Shh…it's going to be okay. That's all that matters," He kissed the side of my face. He quickly called the other guardians informing them that the mission was cancelled. When he brought me in, he sat me down. "Do you want to talk about it?" I felt defeated after leaving Kevin like that.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" I asked Dimitri.

"Why? I guess it depends on the situation. What happened?" Dimitri asked. I laid my head on Dimitri's lap. My father has a Strigoi working for him named Ryan. If I were to guess, he'd be around twenty one years old? Well, turns out that he fell in love with me and I totally humiliated him…" I told Dimitri.

"How did you humiliate him?" Dimitri brushed my hair gently.

"Well, before that I fell into an iced over lake. We were in Russia apparently. The lake was the same one from when I fought Abe and you to an extent. Anyways, my physical condition was terrible after Kevin saved me and I kept asking why he was willing to save me time and again. He then literally yelled out to me that he loved me to keep me conscious. I managed to heal myself in time so I told him that he was lying when he said he loved me. I treated it as a joke because I had to. I loved you. I didn't want to keep his hopes up so I humiliated him to crush his hopes. But then I tried to escape and my father caught me. I yelled for Kevin but he didn't help at all. He just stood there and watched. And even though he was the one who loved me, I felt like I was the one heartbroken," I started to cry again. "Then I just left. I came back here through a portal after breaking the barrier around the house. I left Kevin with the words "I'm sorry"…" Dimitri kissed my neck and just kept me calm. "And now I just feel like I'm the one who got my feelings run over…" Dimitri sat me up so I was facing him and he started to rock me back and forth.

"You're going to be okay. You're just overwhelmed by everything that's happened. You didn't love him back so that's why you felt guilty," Dimitri kissed me quickly and I relaxed my head on his shoulder. "Come on. Go to sleep now. It's late already. I'll be here when you wake," Dimitri kissed me on the forehead as he got into bed with me. He wrapped his arms around me though, keeping me warm which felt really nice. I snuggled close to him and he only held me tighter.

"I love you, Roza," He whispered.

"I love you too," I kissed him once more before I fell asleep.

So Rose has gotten home on her own, what now? Stay tuned to find out!

A/N: For people who are wondering about Two Choices, Feeling Horrible, I decided to discontinue it. The original writer has decided to continue it her way again so I'm giving the right of the story back to her. Also, it has also come to my attention that there are certain people who didn't like how Two Choices, Feeling Horrible turned out in my version, but they are still people who kept reading the story. Seriously, if you don't like it, don't read it. But don't go around telling people that it was terrible just because you didn't like it.