3-

We arrive at the academy a couple of minutes after and I don't expect the welcome we receive, I knew that someone would've noticed my disappearance but I didn't expect so many guardians on the borders. Maybe it wasn't related to me but to the protocol, however some of them were waiting for me like Lissa and Christian. Carefully watched by the guardians nearby, she was pacing back and forth nervously, anxiety all that I could feel through the bond, while Christian tried to calm her down, poorly failing. As soon as she sees me she run toward me careless that I haven't crossed the gate yet; the guardians try to stop her in vain but they calm down when they see that I got closer entering the safe zone. What follows is a breathtaking hug, not only because I didn't think I could embrace her again but for her relief.

"Enjoy this while you can, after your report your mom wants to talk with you" said one of the guardians making me come back to the real world. As usual I acted on instinct without thinking of the consequences, actually in that moment the possibilities of me coming back were so small that I almost feel justified for not thinking about it, but sadly this changes nothing. However I'd do the same and stand all the punishment and the scolding without thinking it twice. Now the only thing I have to worry about is to find an explanation why I did it in the first place, it'd be slightly easier if my presence really made the difference.

They're escorting us to the administrative building, Kirova's office to be more precise, that hosts other than the hateful headmistress some other guardians including Alberta and my mother.

"Rosemarie Hathaway would you please explain us the reason of your thoughtlessness?" asks Kirova, of course they start with my lecture and not with the fact that Dimitri is actually safe and sound, not because of me but they don't know it yet.

I just shrugged lacking a best idea, Alberta starts to speak now though I can see that Kirova wanted to continue.
"How have you managed to survive? When we left there were around twenty strigoi, a lot of them on guardian Belikov" .

At this point Dimitri intervenes explaining how he managed to escape at first arriving then to the more absurd part of the man and the woman with supernatural force, my arrival and the instantaneous healing. He told all of that with a great cure for details, except for the moment of our kiss of course, and even manages to highlight how my presence was fundamental, both in my arrival and during the return, when my ability to sense strigoi allowed us to avoid them. What follows is several questions about the strangers and it seems no one knows what they are. The most argued topic is the healing, Dimitri was asked to undergo a full medical examination to ascertain his health and try to figure out the reasons. For what concerns me the headmistress was too distracted to even notice that I still was in the room so Alberta told me to leave and that they would punish me when this is all over. To my surprise my mother follows me.

"What you did was unacceptable, I've never seen such an irresponsible choice. You could have died ".
"Thank you for your trust but as you can see I'm not dead so there's no reason to continue this conversation".
"What was going through your head? Did you really think that you had a chance against so many strigoi? Do you think you're stronger than professional guardians?" obviously she didn't listen to me, I let her vent til she calm down starting to find an answer to the question that is coming next.

"Why did you do it?" indeed.
"You know me, I act on impulse and as you said I stupidly thought that I could make the difference, by now you should be used to it".
"One thing is to flee from the academy convinced of helping your friend another is to run towards a score of strigoi for presumption and impulsivity"
"Dimitri did a lot for me, I could have never catch up with the other without his extra lessons, and don't think it was easy for him to bear me" I'm interrupted by her whispered "I imagine that" but I decide to ignore that and continue: "I think that trying to save his life is the least I could do to repay him".

Her expression makes clear that she still has questions but Adrian arrives interrupting her: " Rose, I heard of your latest adventure: beings capable of pulling strigoi's heads off with bare hand? You have to tell me about it".
"Maybe later, she's busy now" it's my mother's answer but I ignore her and answer: "of course, do you know where Liss and Christian are? They should hear this too" I say while walking away with him without giving her the time to debate.