Hey guys, I hope everyone likes the story so far, it gets a little more interesting, but this is my first story, so be gentle!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Vampire Academy, I am just playing with the characters.

Chapter 3: Gradutaion

I had run away before, and that hadn't gone so well, he put me down and I willingly went back with him to the Academy. The bond was pulling me so hard toward Lissa that it was almost painful as if she was making me go. I could finish the semester since there were only a few weeks left. Then, I would come back, more prepared with a better plan. I knew what I was dealing with now, and it'd break my heart all over again.

Lissa was waiting worriedly at the opening to the school when we got there hours later, the sun threatening to set with us still outside the boundaries.

"You found her!" she exclaimed running forward to meet us. She tackled me with a bear hug and I just stood there, lifeless. She pushed me away to get a good look at my body for any injuries, and then to my eyes. Anger set in me as I realized that she had been in on the rescue mission to bring me back here.

"You knew he was coming to find me and let him?" I asked surprised, I couldn't believe she would be so selfish to ask him to go get me. Sure we were friendly with each other, but to risk his life to find me was a mistake, because I would go back surely.

"Rose, you can't do it! Not yet at least, I think I can help him!" I thought this through and realized that my best friend had the greatest gift of all. Healing. Would it work that easily though? I didn't think so, because Dimitri wasn't hurt, he had just changed.

She must have seen the doubt in my expression immediately, because she hit me with an explanation as we walked back to her room. She had explained that she had found others with similar powers and had discussed what they could do. It seemed that some, like her, healed the physically injured. She explained to me others who could heal mentally as well as some other hard-to-believe healing stories she had read up on in the last few days with Adrian. They begged me to believe that there was another solution by using the powers all at once full on, but since using their powers in such a way would take so much out of them; it had not been tested yet.

"Tested yet? As in capture a Strigoi and 'test' your powers on it? What makes you think that one would be still long enough for you to try anything on it to begin with? You can't knock them unconscious and pull any kind of magic trick. You can't change back." I said. I wanted to believe their story, but it was giving me false hope.

The Academy accepted my arrival and dismissed the drop-out papers and it was as if I had never left to begin with. I was able to graduate to my surprise. I had been through so much; I guess they just wanted me out of their hair. Or did they?

The graduation ceremony was to be held this Friday, it was now Wednesday. Lissa and Adrian had been working non-stop on their powers together, forcing Christian and I to sit back and observe. I knew that he didn't like Lissa spending so much time with him, but at least he could be around while they did.

Adrian had left me alone, as much as he despised the idea. I was grieving, and needed to be left alone. He understood that. The graduation ceremony was when they called all the names of the graduates, and then let the assigned guardians know who they were assigned. Some wouldn't be assigned yet, and I had hoped that they wouldn't dare separate Lissa and me.

Friday came, and I was sitting with the rest of the guardians behind the royals as they called our names to come up to the stage and receive our diplomas. A part of me was glad that I had come to finish school. It was everything Dimitri would have wanted me to do.

As the names of the graduates came to a close, a professor came up with a short list of those from the school who would be paired together. It wasn't expected to get paired so soon, but we all wished for it all the same.

They began reading the names, pairs of people who would be inseparable from this point on. They got the the H's and passed right over without saying my name. Disappointment washed over me as I saw Lissa look back in awe at me. I had hoped that they would later announce that they had just not decided I was secure enough to handle it, but a part of me knew, they didn't trust me.

The list was almost finished, reading out the Z's, when the professor began. "That's all of the pairs from this school that will be together, you showed that you worked well with the person during the trial period and wish you all the best of luck. However, there is one more announcement. After much deliberation, Rose Hathaway will be guarding Lissa AND Christian." I was shocked beyond reason. I had run away, and they give me TWO royals to look after? Have they gone mental?

No, they hadn't. What they said now made sense to me. I could watch Lissa easily, and Christian wasn't afraid to use his affinity for fire. Together, no one could touch us! I could see my life folding before my eyes, Lissa and Christian living happily ever after, and me, watching over them. There was only one thought that drug me out of my fantasy life, Dimitri. I couldn't leave now, I couldn't leave them unprotected. I could not fulfill my promise to him. It was gut-wrenching.