I drum the tray on the back of the seat in front of me, practically bouncing in my seat.

Adrian laughs, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "Rose, calm down. You've seen these people a million times in your life. Except maybe your mom..."

"But not like this!" I whine, squeezing his hand in return. I lean back in my seat. "I can't do this. I can't do this, Adrian. I can't see them again, I ran away in the first place. They're going to be so mad at me, they'll hate me. I-"

Dimitri, sleeping on my other side, groans in his reclined place. He grabs my other hand and turns towards me, although his eyes are still closed.

"Shh, Roza."

His voice soothes me, and I sink into my seat. Adrian, looking a little uncomfortable, excuses himself, and heads towards the plane bathrooms. I quietly turn to Dimitri, feeling a sudden whiplash at his strong hot-and-cold emotions. We get on the flight, he ignores me. We're beginning to descend, and suddenly he's sweet-and-sensitive?

"What is up with you? I swear to God, you're bipolar or something."

This time, Dimitri does open his eyes. "Excuse me?"

I growl, pushing my head back against my chair. "Never mind."

"Rose..."

"No. I said never mind. And don't use your mentor-voice on me, I'm not falling for it anymore."

He looks taken aback, despite his sleepy state. "Mentor voice? I didn't mean-"

"Just leave me alone," I huff, closing my eyes, trying to end the conversation.

It doesn't work.

"Stop this. I haven't done anything. You have no right to just take out your fear and anger on me."

I laugh out loud, rolling my eyes. "No, no fear. Just anger. And all of my anger is because of you! I have every right to be angry with you."

"How long have you been angry with me? Why is this just coming around now?" he asks, eyes deep with concentration.

"Stop trying to psycho-analyze me! I'm so sick of you doing that!"

I stand up, shoving past him, into the luxorious 'aisle' of the plane.

It's is Abe's own, personal jet, and is ridiculously extravagant. There are three plush seats at the front, two are pushed together, where me and Adrian have claimed, and one across the aisle. The next 'room' contains a couch and armchair, and it is where I choose to storm off into, slamming the door shut behind me.

Anger boils within me, and I can feel that familiar foreign emotion that clouds my vision.

Spirit-enduced emotion.

But, as I have been trying to past few days, I repress my emotion, locking it tight inside of myself.

At least, I try to.

But it overflows like a steaming pot, spilling out before I can secure my exterior.

So I curl up onto the couch, letting all of my anger and darkness spill from my eyes.

...

"What the hell did you say to her?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I told you."

"Well, she's crying. Don't you think you've cause her enough pain?"

What the hell? I keep my eyes shut, just listening to the two men's conversation.

He sighs. "She was so angry, and I hadn't said anything to her."

The world begins to shake violently, and I wake with a start, and a scream.

The two men stare at me, and it takes me a minute to realize that I'm in a plane, and it's just landed.

"Where. The. Hell. Am. I?"

The tall guy rolls his eyes. "That's not funny, Rose. Stop it."

"Shut the hell up! Tell me who I am. I'm armed! I won't hesitate to kill you." I finger the stake that weighs down my pocket.

They exchange horrified glances. "Nice going, Belikov," hisses the shorter of the two.

"Roza? Rose, what do you remember?"

I push myself into the back of the couch. "I asked the question, here. Now where the hell am I?"

"Rose-"

I jump out, easily kicking the shorter one's chest, and he flies back. But the tall, dark-haired man effortlessly grabs my wrist and spins me against the wall, pinning my hands against my back.

"HELP!" I scream, my voice muffled. "HELP! Who the hell are you?"

"Adrian, get Abe and the Princess." His hands are shaking as he holds me in place.

"Let go," I whimper. "Please, let go. Please."

He sighs, peeling me off of the wall and allows me to sit on the couch, I curl up protectively.

He holds up his hand, as if to tell me he won't hurt me, won't touch me. The man backs up slowly towards the door.

"I won't hurt you, I promise. I won't touch you, Rose. You'll be safe here."

I bite my tongue, and begin to rock in place. "Look, I don't know what you want from me. I don't have any money, I don't have anything of value. If you're just going to rape me, why did you take me here?"

His eyes widen in shock, but he only shakes his head, unable to speak. "No, Rose, no one's going to do anything to harm you. We're going to keep you safe."

I don't want to believe him, but in being held hostage, this was the only hope that I had.

I nod.

But an enormous group of people enter the room, and I retreat farther back onto the couch.

"No!"

The man steps away from them, holding out his arms like a barrier. "Just give her a minute, alright? She doesn't remember a thing, and thinks we're going to hurt her."

The old man at the doorway sighs loudly, looking so sad.

"Rose, hon, don't worry. I'm your father."

"You're lying!" I cry. The terrified and helpless feeling was overwhelming.

"Dimitri, what's going on?" whimpers the little blonde girl, who clings onto the man's arm.

Dimitri sighs. "She's lost her memory, Vasilisa. You need to heal her. There's no time to explain."

They both step forward, but Dimitri pins me down onto the couch. I kick and scream, fighting him, yelling for help. My heart is pounding, my head running desperately, but he holds on.

"Shh, Roza."

His words drip down my skin, and I can feel the stress, ever-so-slightly, cool.

The tiny blonde girl steps up and puts her palms on my temples, closing her eyes.

I rush of hot and cold sweeps through me, making me sweat, then freezing me. But slowly, so slowly, I begin to feel the pieces rush back.

As well as the most painful headache I have ever experienced.

I groan and, once again, curl up, burying my face into my arms.

"Roza?"

"I remember," I moan. "I remember everything."

I feel large, cool hands on my back. "Roza, what's wrong. What's the matter?"

I groan again and turn my face back into the couch. "My head. Oh, God, my head."

Gently, he turns me, and I squeeze my eyes shut against the light.

"Belikov, can you carry her to her room?"

Dimitri looks guilt-ridden and clutches at his ribs. "I, I can try-"

"Dimitri, no. You're injured. I can wal-"

But before I can finish, Adrian leans down and sweeps me into his arms. "Got it."

I cling to his neck while we make our way to my room, the whole crowd of us. Adrian sets me down on the bed while Dimitri grabs me a glass of water and an aspirin.

I dry swallow the pill, and then down the glass of water as I listen to the soft sounds of Dimitri's chuckle.

In the background of my pounding and throbbing headache, I can hear Dimitri and Adrian trying to explain the situation to Lissa and Abe, as well as some others who only registered as blurs in my place of pain.

My name is mentioned every five seconds in conversation, and I slowly begin to tune in.

"A train wreck?" My mom sobs, and I nod.

"Yeah," I say. "We're fine, don't worry. Dimitri got the worst of the injuries, and he should be laying down..." I say pointedly.

"Roza, I'm fine. I've already gotten some sleep. I think I can stand for a few minutes on end."

I scoff and roll my eyes. I suppose it was this action at which Lissa decided that I was back to my former self, as she threw her arms around my neck and began to sob into me.

"R-Rose! I m-missed you so m-much! Why did you leave? Please never leave me again! I need you, Rose."

I hug her tightly to my chest. "Shh, Liss, it's okay. I'm here now."

Lissa was shaking in my arms, and my mom slowly walks over to join me. She sits on the edge of my bed, not speaking, but just staring at me, tears in her eyes.

"Mom," I whisper.

She breaks down, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, as she gingerly brushes my hair away from my forehead.

"You have got," she murmurs softly. "Stop running away. You have no idea how worried I was, Rose. I thought- I thought-"

"I know what you thought," I whisper, and gently embrace her.

The tearful reunions continue: Abe, then Eddie, then Mia, and even Christian. Exhaustion begins to take over, and I politely but firmly assure them that I'm fine and that I just want to sleep, but Dimitri and Lissa demand that they both stay, and I just don't have the energy to fight them.

...

I feel the small sense of joy flood through her body, and even though my body protests, I snap my eyes open.

Lissa is sitting on the couch, Dimitri in front of her. She has her hands running up and down his back. It looks like a massage, and he seems to be enjoying it. But when she pulls away, I can sense the joy fading, the thrill of her magic gone.

Dimitri pushes his chest forward, stretching, and smiles widely at her.

"Thank you, Vasilisa."

She healed him.

The thought brought me relief. Was I actually jealous? He had moved on, even though I obviously hadn't. But still, I wasn't about to sit around and mope about it.

"Morning," I mumble, and they both rush to my side.

"Rose? How are you feeling? Are you okay? Oh, Rose do you remember me?" Lissa begs frantically, and I smile.

"Yes, I'm feeling fine, and your Vasilisa Dragomir. We met when we were six. I threw a book at a teacher and called her a facist bastard. I know who you are, Liss."

Dimitri's eyes widen, then he bursts out laughing. His laugh is so natural, one that I haven't heard in a very long time. "That's how you met? Roza, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less."

I crawl out of bed. "I'm taking a shower. Now you to go and do whatever weird things you do. Dimitri, you need to rest. On a proper bed."

He sighs. "I'm fine, Roza."

I roll my eyes at him, gathering my clothes before going into the bathroom. I shower quickly, too glad to be back in my world to want to spend it cooped up in a shower.

But when I get out, Dimitri is there, wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, and he's brought me a bagel from the cafe.

"Thought you might be hungry."

I take a bite out of it before flopping down onto my couch. "You don't have to hang around me all the time. I'm not going to run again. You can go back to completely avoiding me or whatever you wanted to call that."

He tries not to narrow his eyes, I can tell. "I..." He sighs, running his hand over his hair. "I just want to make sure you're alright."

I sweep my hands out in a show-case gesture. "Well, I'm alright."

He nods, and looks like he's thinking about saying something. "O- Okay..."

He quietly stands up, nodding, and exits the room. I feel slightly guilty, I'll admit, but it's better to distance myself before he can hurt me, right?

Oh God.

It's better to distance myself before I get hurt.

Dimitri had always seemed to share my thoughts, knowing all of my thoughts, all of my weaknesses.

What if he felt the same way? Better to distance yourself before you can be rejected.

Oh God, oh God.

I jump off of the bed, running as fast as my legs could carry me, down the hall, into the staircase.

"Dimitri!"