Hi guys. Against my better judgement, I've come to see my genius plan was actually not so genius. I have several reasons for removing option B of the story, which I shall outline:
- Firstly, that several people told me they felt slightly confused, or in one case, someone felt that A was better than B.
- Secondly, we all know what we want to happen, particularly in this fanfic.
- Thirdly, as far as I saw, no one actually reviewed for the option B chapter.
- Fourthly, I've decided that doubling my work was suicidal.
- And lastly, after some hefty scanning of the fanfic rules, I have come to realise that actually, I was going against them with this idea.

Sorry to anyone that liked the option B, then.
On with the story!


Mom?!

"So what do you advise, then?" Came an unknown voice, with a thick accent. "Seeing as you're so sure that your daughter is being honest?"

"I think you need your security checked." Chair legs scraped on the floor. "Check your wards, and check who is monitoring them. We don't know who we can trust these days, do we?"

More chair legs. I think everyone in the room was on their feet at this statement.

"Are you suggesting that you think that one of our Guardians is disloyal, Ms. Hathaway?" Asked the unknown person in a clipping tone. I decided I didn't like him all that much. He sounded like one of those snobbish slimy gits that you saw in movies sometimes and just really wanted to kill.

"I'm suggesting that your security is sloppy. It could be your Moroi for all you know. People seem to be willing to do almost anything for money."

My mother appeared in the doorway and fixed me with a blank stare.

"Rose, you're up. Good. We need to talk for a bit." Valik and Anton appeared beside her; Valik gave a friendly smile. Anton was staring at the floor.

"Rose, we've got a room prepared for you. You gave us quite a scare, though. We carried out the full drills and... erm. Well Anton can show you up to where you'll be staying this evening." He nodded briefly, and turned heel, striding away from the room.

"Shall we go now, then?" Anton mumbled. Janine shot him an almost disdainful look.

"Yes, we shall. Stop dithering about, boy." I sort of felt sorry for the guy, to be honest. A lot of people seemed to love to hate him. Anton went slightly pink as I clambered off of the couch I had been on. My legs felt slightly unsteady, but I shook off the feeling.

We walked out into the evening in an awkward silence that sort of lingered over the three of us until Anton had shown us into a building, led us up three flights of stairs and unlocked the room they'd prepared for me. I was bunking in the guest quarters, it seemed. I wasn't used to this sort of luxury. I collapsed onto the massive bed and let out a huge yawn.

"How're you feeling?" my mother asked. I turned to regard her from where I lay. She was hovering by the door like she felt she shouldn't be in here.

"I'm okay..." I replied. I glanced away.

"You said you saw a Strigoi."

"I did see a Strigoi. The blond one that was with the group that attacked us." She paused, but remained neutral.

"Really?" I huffed, rolling my eyes.

"You even said yourself; you don't think I'm lying." She smiled weakly, then.

"You heard that. How long were you awake?"

"Long enough."

She sighed, then, and sat down almost tentatively at the foot of the bed. She watched me for a while, in silence. I started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Was it worth it?" she asked me, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Sorry?"

"Was it worth it? Leaving the Academy, running away from your duty. Was it worth it?" I hissed out a breath, now annoyed.

"I was not running away," I told her.

"It was your sworn duty to protect Lissa. It was your life duty. And you left it."

"It may have been my life duty, but it was not my whole life," I snapped. The hard look that had appeared in her eyes now faded slowly again. She looked sort of sad.

"I know." My own eyes widened.

"You know..."

"I know about Guardian Belikov — uhm. Dimitri."

I swear my heart stopped. My eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What about him?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"Don't make me go into the detail of what I know, Rosemarie," she said in a tone that told me she knew more than enough.

"Okay... so you know," I said nodding slowly. "Are you going to launch into some lecture about how low and despicable we are? What a pathetic excuse of a daughter I am? Go ahead. I'm as ready to hear it as I'll ever be." I screwed my eyes shut and buried my head in my arms.

"It's okay, Rose," she told me.

"See! You d— Wait, what?" I stared at her.

"I understand what it feels like. I was young, once upon a time." I rolled my eyes.

"So you're not going to lecture me?"

"No... But I am going to tell you a story."

And she did. She sat and told me the story of a Turkish Moroi named David Ibrahim. She told me how he'd been a few years older than her, when she'd been training at the Academy to become a Guardian. She smiled sometimes, but also looked like she wanted to cry.

"I was in his final year when he approached me at a party one night," she said in a scarce whisper. "He'd come back to visit for the Christmas period. This particular evening, I'd slipped... had a little bit too much to drink, I suppose."

And that was how she'd hooked up with him. A drunken evening.

"We didn't stop seeing one another, though. He visited me every day, and I mean every day until you were born. And then..." her eyes were puffed up and red, by now. "And then there was a Strigoi attack. He'd got caught up in a fight, trying to protect someone who'd been seriously hurt. They told me how he'd died, just before you were born. Literally minutes before. And so I had to avenge him, by taking up my duty as a full-time Guardian."

I sat there, staring at the wall ahead. I was... shocked, to say the least.

"Rose?" My mother whispered. I couldn't meet her gaze.

"I think I need to sleep," I told her tonelessly. She sighed once more, and shaking her head, she left the room.

"Goodnight, Rosemarie. Sleep well."


Review, dammit! (Pretty please?)
Sorry for not updating sooner, but like.... I can update quite a bit now. No more tests/exams 'til September!