An: Oh my gosh! I love you guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews and alerts and such! They totally made my day! I love writing this and I love writing it for you guys! It's so much fun! I hope you enjoy this one! I also apologize because this one is a bit shorter than the previous one. The section in the book was really short so I tried to make it as long as I could.

She was a mess. She was covered with what looked like a clean sheet of sweat and breathing deeply, as if the world was going to end. Rose was hysterical, that was the only word I could describe her as.

"Mason," I could almost hear a sob escape her lips but that had to be my imagination.

"Mason, I need you."

I could not ignore her. Not when she was like this. It seemed like all of my previous anger had vanished the moment she called my name. As if someone had pulled the plug on her emotional stability.

But she was not alone. No, the princess was with her… Lissa.

I had not known Lissa that well, but I had heard a lot about her, from Rose and from others. She was thin, like most Moroi were, with blonde hair that almost mirrored the sun. She stood with tall, with her back straight and her chin held high. An air of confidence was in her step.

If someone asked me what was the best characteristic of the princess was I would have said her eyes. They were a brilliant jade. A green that was not usually seen, but rare. Right now they held worry. Worry about what was happening and what was going to take place.

I turned my attention back to Rose. She seemed to be getting worse by the minute. She was pale, pale as the moon. Her dark hair contrasted her skin dramatically, like day and night. I could tell that she was holding back tears from the way she bit the side of her lip. She did that to keep it from wobbling.

I went to her.

I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that she would bring him up. She was going to ask what had happened to him. I did not know if I could inflict that kind of pain on her.

"Mason, is Dimitri dead?"

I paused, trying to decide if I should answer or not. She would soon discover the truth. Was it better that she found out now… or later?

Shaking my head, I could feel my heart start to crack. It was chipping and only holding together by splinters. If she broke down, I would follow. I would follow her as I had for my whole life.

The feeble voice was filled with anxiety. She was miserable. I could not take that. I had hated her for loving him, for not loving me. I had hated her for every ounce of pain that she had caused me. For every piece of ice I had to chip from my heart after I saw her; for every piece of my soul that I had to place together, like a puzzle.

It was gone. And depression had melted the ice and frozen my heart in a new way; a way that I had not thought possible until now.

"Is he alive?"

I could feel her shaking from where I was, feet away. She trembled and for once in my life I saw a side of Rose Hathaway that I had not realized existed; a mixture of fear and more importantly worry.

This was not something I had been expecting. I wanted to go to her. I wanted to hold her in my arms and squeeze her tight. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine…

But I could not lie to her. No. Lying was worse. She would hate me forever. I could never live with myself if she did. I could feel that I would soon be leaving her behind… that is, until she…

I mimicked her and shivered. That was something I did not want to ever think about. A world without Rose was a world not living in.

I shook my head, finally answering her question and ending the ongoing debate in my mind.

It looked as if she had died.

Her face grew so pale that it was almost as pallid as mine. She could not stop the trembling. She was desperate.

I could see that Lissa was making an effort to not go to her side. She knew what her friend was going through, I could tell. Her eyes told all. But she struggled as she watched Rose, because she had to. She knew that Rose would not take being comforted kindly.

She had figured it out. Rose had. She knew what had happened to him. That was the only reason she could be like this. She wrapped her arms around her stomach as if she was holding herself together. As if knowing this information would tear her in two.

Rose took a breath. Tears streamed down her face. She could not stop them. She knew what had happened.

"Is he…" she choked out. "Is Dimitri a Strigoi?"

I hesitated. I had only one more chance to not destroy her world. I knew it would shatter; it would shatter along with my heart.

I would shatter from the pain she was experiencing. I would be destroyed by the fact that she did not love me… not at all. The force of this would nearly kill me again.

I slowly nodded, waiting for the reaction.

She fell to the ground, tears streaming from her eyes. It was killing me to watch. I could not do anything about it. I could not be her rock. I could not help her through this, make her smile. I had lost that freedom a while ago. Death came with the closing of that privilege.

I could almost hear the splinters break free. The pain was overwhelming. I almost fell to the ground, as Rose had. But I managed to keep from descending. Instead, I was plummeting to the worst pain I had ever experienced.

It seemed as if my whole body hurt. Everything shattered. Everything plunged into darkness. I felt hollow, as if I could not feel anymore. All emotions had left me. I was empty.

As I looked toward Rose, I saw that Lissa had finally resisted the urge to go to her side. She had her arms wrapped around her best friend and was murmuring things in her ear that were supposed to make her feel better.

But I saw the truth. This day would change us forever, Rose and I. We'd be connected because we had both suffered limitless pain. A part of our souls would forever be dead.

We were hollow. We had been torn apart by love and death.

I was empty. And as I watched Rose, I realized we would always be that way. We would always be empty.

An: There you guys go! Another one will hopefully be up tomorrow! I' m thinking about two more chapters to this story. These will cover most of the important points in the whole Rose/Mason (while he's a ghost) relationship! Hopefully you guys will keep reading! Thanks for all of the support and tell me what you think!