A/N: Hey! Well this chapter is one of those 'omg' moments. Review and tell me what you think is going on! Anyone who gets it right will get a prize! XD

Thanks very very much to my beta for beta-ing!

Thanks also to those who reviewed:

Me and Adrian 4ever

San

Sorry for the slow post, I had computer troubles!

Disclaimer: Richelle Mead. That's all you need to know.

No POV

As a bird soared through the sky carelessly overhead, Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir were forced to part ways. They had run from guest housing together but now they had classes.

Rose walked in apologising to the teacher for being late, there was only fifteen minutes of period one left, so her attention shifted off the teacher quickly. Her mind searched for ways to waste the time. One thing always present on her mind was trying to take centre stage: The day she had gone after Dimitri Belikov. She forced it down, remembering last night and her promise to be strong.

Could it really be only yesterday that she was lying on the gym floor crying in Lissa's arms?

It was only yesterday, however hard it was for Rose to believe.

Lissa was scrawling notes as quickly as she could, trying to catch up on the first half of the lesson. She was slightly angry to find Christian wasn't sitting in the back row where he normally would have been. He wasn't in class at all, as she had assumed when he had left Adrian's room. He had a lot of explaining to do.

As she walked to next class she let her mind drift to the look on Rose's face as they'd gotten ready this morning, seeking any sign that she wasn't okay. But she had seemed fine, if Lissa hadn't known her so well she might have believed that Rose was okay.

It seems it would take a little longer before this best friend fell for the trick, though she would fall for it. She always did.

Adrian however was harder to fool. Lissa knew Rose, she trusted her. She trusted that she wouldn't suffer alone after everything. Adrian had only ever known this new Rose who had sad eyes and a talent for concealing it. He had met her first when Belikov was saying he didn't love her, then he'd seen her after Mason was killed, he'd seen her witness the battle, the loss of her lover. Now he got to see how impossibly small that all was compared to killing your soul-mate.

Rose knew it too, she could feel the difference. Her mind was caught in the past as she pushed through the crowds of students to her next class; look happy even now she told herself. But she was thinking of all the wasted time she'd spent when she had had Dimitri, when she could have been with him.

Was it fate then Rose? That he was torn from you too soon? Maybe fate was the one who said what doesn't kill us makes us stronger or maybe it was someone fate had been playing with.

Fate is still playing with you, Rosemarie Hathaway.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

Lissa stopped walking as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out to find a text:

I know, I know.
I'll make it up to you.
Tonight.
Unless you feel like sneaking away now?
Love you.
xx, C.

She smiled to herself as she replied telling him he'd pay, telling him she didn't want to get into "MORE" trouble and telling him she loved him anyway.

Christian smiled at her message and went to lie down, his head ached, a constant reminder of how disgusting Rose and Lissa's hot chocolate was. He would never let them make the drinks again.

Lissa got his text moments after she had sent hers: Maybe lunchtime? Chapel attic?

She told him 'no' as way of punishment for getting out of classes when she had to sit here head throbbing, eyes stinging and teacher droning on. Really, she would have been better off with Christian, skipping class.

Rose wondered what Adrian did during the day other than getting drunk and smoking. She needed the distraction from Dimitri. She noticed one of the Moroi guys who sat with Jesse watching her and gave him a devilish grin. Lissa would be pleased. He look taken aback but recovered after a moment and grinned at her suggestively.

She winked but didn't mean it, she was thinking of the time Dimitri had stopped her from making a mistake with Jesse, if he were here he would have stopped her again. But she never meant it; she only did it for fun. Now she only did it to appear normal. Like she could ever be normal again, like she could ever look at life the same way.

Adrian sighed to himself; maybe he sensed Rose's misery even across the campus. He was exhausted, more so by watching everyone's sadness without doing anything. That was the thing with auras – you could see what they were hiding. But he couldn't do anything about it, even when he tried it didn't work. You had to let people go, let them live their lives however desolate and agonized they were. He was keeping his eyes on Rose though, he couldn't let her go. Maybe because she wouldn't survive by herself or because he loved her – it didn't matter.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, thought Lissa, Adrian and Christian. Lissa believed Rose would be stronger. Adrian knew it was killing her already. Christian wanted the anguish to go away, perhaps his plan wasn't to wait until she got stronger or inevitably died.

He was on the phone to Adrian a moment after the thought hit him, it wasn't a great plan, but plans have to start somewhere.

"Adrian, I can get rid of Lissa, you want Rose for lunch?"

"Christian, what?" He seemed confused.

Christian sighed and slowly explained, "Okay, so I don't really trust Rose – I'm sure you understand. I can distract Lissa if you want to spend lunch with Rose? It's only an hour but..."

"Look, what do you expect me to do? Why can't you spend lunch with Rose? I don't see how I'm supposed to be able to do anything." Adrian sounded frustrated.

Christian smiled, "You know that she'll listen to you, and even if she won't you have a better chance than me. I expect you to go, find out if she is actually dealing with this, then talk to her in whatever way you see best. I don't just want you to stop there either, do something to make her start actually being okay. So I'll get Lissa to not go to lunch, you can take Rose where ever, just have her back for class. Agreed?"

"Woah, isn't that asking the impossible? How am I supposed to do that?" Adrian asked.

"I always ask more than I expect, maybe you'll surprise me. Maybe you'll surprise her. Try." Christian said smugly.

"Sounds simple. I'll sneak up behind her, dump ice water on her head and yell 'hurry up and be okay because Christian said so', surprising and effective." Adrian replied sarcastically.

"Whatever works for you." Said Christian and hung up.

Kind of him, Adrian thought.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

Two Moroi girls were talking about Rose and Lissa in hushed voices, watching Lissa as they pretended to do the experiment the teacher had assigned.

"She looks... powerful."

"Yeah, it's different, like, way different."

"Rose was all depressed like yesterday."

"Hmm, Lissa always seems stronger or something when Rose is upset."

"It's like she's protecting her."

"They are so strange."

"I know."

"Who's strange?" asked a guy working at the next table.

"Oh..." Said the first girl, letting her eyes slowly drift to Lissa.

"Princess Vasalissa?" He whispered clearly shocked that they'd say that, "Isn't she friends with Hathaway? I wouldn't be talking about her if I were you, Hathaway is vicious."

"Not anymore," said the second girl, "Haven't you heard? She is like emo sad."

"Who are you, anyway?" said the first girl in an I'm-so-much-better-than-you voice.

"Cameron, we've been in the same class for years." He said rolling his eyes.

The girls looked over his shoulder at his friends trying to determine if he was worth knowing. He was with Ralf, who was kind of popular. They decided to play it safe and be nice to him.

"Ooh, right." Said the second girl, both nodding.

He turned back to Ralf, "They're saying that Rose Hathaway isn't scary anymore. They were even teasing Vasalissa."

Ralf smiled, "Yeah well, girls like to say that stuff, we'll have to find out for ourselves."

Sam, standing beside Ralf, shook his head, "No, they're wrong. Rose is exactly the same as before, I saw her earlier. She looked like she'd been partying last night and she was flirting with me – kind of. She smiled and winked."

Ralf laughed, "Don't waste your time. Anyway, Cameron, you should talk to her later, find out if those girls are right."

Cameron smiled, "Is that a dare?"

Ralf smirked, "Sure, maybe you'll have better luck than Sam."

Sam glared at him and pretended to be working on the assignment.

"Alright." Was all Cameron said.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

Lunch came, finally and Rose grabbed her notebook and walked out of the door. Leaning against the wall across the hall was Adrian Ivashkov.

"Rosemarie." He said in a sing-song voice smirking.

She walked over to him and hit his arm, "What do you want?"

"No, no, my friend, the question is what do you want?" He asked.

She stared at him for a moment and shrugged before starting to walk down the hallway. He ran to catch up with her, falling into step at her side and explaining,

"I'm whisking you away to an unknown destination for lunch. Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her off the path and onto the grass.

"Adrian... Where are we going?"

"Lunch. Wait and see." He said smiling.

She sighed and let him lead her to a grassy hill on the far side of the school, away from the rest of the student-body.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

Lissa's phone rang loudly as she walked to the cafeteria; she answered knowing it would be Christian.

"Come to the attic?" He asked.

"No." She said, trying to sound firm and failing.

"Oh, come on, you know you want to. I can make that hangover go away..."

She sighed loudly into the phone, about to say no when he said "See you in the attic."

Then he hung up.

She quickly turned and headed to the attic. As she climbed the stairs she smelt something that was suspiciously like Bacon.

"Princess..." a voice whispered and warm arms encircled her, whether in an embrace or in restraint she couldn't tell.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

A dark figure slid along the corridor of the girls dorms. A hand snaked out and opened Rose Hathaway's door quietly. The figure slipped inside unnoticed. The dark shadow walked to her bed, picked up her pillow, holding it to its face, smelling her on it. It put the pillow down carefully and moved to the desk, shuffling through her notebooks, staring at her writing intensely. Then, finally moved to the table near the bed and placed something flat down almost invisible against the dark wood.

"Rose..." The figure took one final look around and left, leaving little trace other than the object on the table.

Fate has no face, no name nor form. Fate may have none of those things but it did have a plan. Fate was not kind or harsh, whether fate enjoyed making people stronger or killing them, it was impossible to predict. But what was easy to predict when fate was around?

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

"Not this..." Rose whispered into the darkness.