CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR- GOODBYES

Hey, guys, i know i'm such an idiot, but i have my computer semi-working now, but i still cant access my email so i dont know if anyone is still reading this story, but u know, for the peopel who are, its almost done and i'm thinking about doing another one for Spirit Bound, maybe not because i want to finish my other stories, but we'll play it by this chap!

"Guardian Hathaway, I'm surprised to see you here," someone said and I glanced up to see another guardian approaching me.

"Do I know you?" I asked politely, slipping my phone onto the waistband of my pants.

"Not really, no; my name is Andrew Finish," I raised my eyebrows as I took his hand; he nodded, with a small smile. "Yes, that's really my last name,"

"Are you Finish?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, Scottish, actually," I nodded in amusement and he grinned back. "Do you want to shoot some?"

I looked at the gun he was now presenting me with. "Uh…I don't think that's the best idea," I said, raising on eyebrow and eyeing the gun.

"Don't tell me you've never been trained with one," he said dubiously.

"Of course I've been trained with a gun," I replied indignantly. "Though, in my current mood, I think that I might accidentally shoot someone," I explained truthfully.

"Who pissed you off?" He asked, sympathy mixing in with his voice even though he didn't even know what had happened.

I liked him already. "I don't really want to talk about it, thanks though," I added with sincerity.

He smiled kindly. "If we go to a private room, will you shoot?"

I couldn't resist the childish eagerness in his expression, so I caved and agreed to shoot in a private room. "You might want a bulletproof vest," I commented as he led me into a room with a heavy metal door. He closed it behind us and handed me the gun.

"I think I trust you not to turn around and kill me, but I'll watch what I say, just in case," he added jokingly and I smirked.

"That would be wise,"

He grinned back. "I'm determined to find something that the Remarkable Rose Hathaway isn't perfect at,"

I laughed. "That wouldn't be too hard,"

"Not from what I've heard," he shook his head seriously. "You don't know how many people worship you, do you? Even the guardians respect you enormously,"

I pursed my lips and turned to the target at the far end of the room. I lifted the gun, positioning to the side, like I liked to do – though, I knew it wasn't the proper way to wield a gun, I liked doing it anyway. I shot once, easily, absorbing the impact with my shoulder; my bullet made contact with the red bull's-eye. I shot a few more times, hitting my mark every time.

Suddenly, dummies removed themselves from compartments in the walls and they began to move across the room, targets on them as well. I deftly shot them on instinct. Aiming, firing, aiming, firing, aiming, firing…and I kept going even as the speed sped up and it became more complicated.

Abruptly, all movement stopped in front of me and I angled the gun towards the ground as I turned to look at Andrew. "Did I do it wrong?" I asked innocently before I noticed his shocked expression. "What?"

"No one but me can do that here," he breathed with wide eyes.

"Oh," I looked at the ground and then back up at him. "I'm sorry, I guess,"

"You're sorry!" he exclaimed, his eyes excited. "Why? There's no need to be sorry, you should be proud! That was amazing!" he moved towards me and we shared an enthusiastic high-five.

"Do it again!" he cheered, turning back on the dummies. I sighed and repositioned my gun before I set off back to shooting.

* * *

After I'd finished with Andrew, I called a guardian meeting. They all gathered dutifully, but looked annoyed that it was me to call it and not Alexander.

"Alright," I said, staring them down defiantly. "Alexander has left for a few days on personal matters and he's left me in charge,"

There was the initial shock, then an outburst.

"YOU!"

"Impossible!"

"Despicable!"

"I will not be ordered by a child!"

I slammed my hand down on the table, loudly, making the sound echo off the walls of the room. They all shut up, as expected. "First of all, I am not a child. I am an adult," Someone snorted and I saw it was the female guardian who loved the weather channel. "Is there something you'd like to say?" I looked at her.

"You are not an adult," she said primly. "You are merely a child playing dress up,"

My anger spiked and I imagined my eyes flashing with fury. "I'll fight you right now, if I win, you eat your pride and do whatever I tell you to, if you win, I'll admit I'm a child and get out of here, never to come back."

I read the desire in her eyes, but also the hesitance and fear – the fear of loosing. Then she got a quip, "I'm above fighting with those lower than my caliber,"

Snooty bitch, I thought in annoyance. "And I'll feel really bad for you when the novices kick your ass in the field experience," I snapped back. "If you want to bitch and whine, then get your preppy ass out of here because it will not be tolerated. You're supposed to be a guardian and guardians follow the orders given by their superiors and I will be your superior until Alexander returns. Understood? Is there anyone else who wants to voice complaints? Because I'm more than willing to discuss any issues,"

"Why did Alexander leave you in charge?" someone asked and I looked around.

"Because he obviously believes that I can control you," my eyes slowly slid to Weather Woman. "Even if some of you are incredibly stupid and rely on the weather channel,"

"It was perfectly valid information," she sniffed.

"Did it snow?" I snapped and when she didn't answer I smirked. "That's what I thought,"

"And how did you know that it would snow, Rosemarie?"

I glowered at her. "It's either Rose or Hathaway," I snapped at her before I went on to evade her question. "How I knew that doesn't matter, what matters is that you're making yourself sound more stupid by each passing moment, so I suggest that you shut your mouth,"

"Or what, Rosemarie?" she was pushing me.

"Oh, you really know how to rub someone the wrong way, don't you? I'll tell you something – you should shut up right now or I'm going to come over there and kick your ass," I threatened.

Everyone else was silent; watching like it was a tennis match.

"In your silk pajamas and sluty tank top?" she retorted.

"Are you saying I'm a slut?" I narrowed my eyes dangerously.

"You sure as hell aren't a guardian," she faked a cough and added, "Blood whore,"she sneered at me, her lips turning up.

"That's it," I growled, walking around the side of the table and stalking towards her, my hands balled into fists, ready to throw the first punch. She shoved away from the table, looking determined. I kept walking towards her – until she did something unexpected.

She lunged at me.

I neatly ducked out of the way and knocked her cleanly in the mouth.

Abruptly, there were restraining arms around my waist, holding me back even though I wasn't doing anything but watching her spit blood on the floor. She came at me again, her hands curled, nails long like razors coming at my face. Unfairly, I was being held back, so I used that to my advantage and gripped my captor's forearms and lifted up the lower part of my body and kicked her squarely in the chest. She fell down on her ass with a very audible smack and I grinned down at her in a not-so-nice way.

I wasn't resisting my captor; I was just staring down at the stupid girl who angered me. It was kind of like an embrace, but not. I was filled with a dark satisfaction as I watched her spit more blood onto the floor and glare up at me with a murderous look. I lifted my hand and held up my index finger, gesturing for her to come at me again, meeting her eyes the whole time.

She launched herself at my feet and I jumped so she made contact with whoever was holding me. Knocking us both to the ground, I quickly regained balance and pulled Matt, he was the one who'd been holding me, up before turning back to Weather Woman.

She threw herself at me again and I rolled out of the way, kicking myself on top of her and holding her arm in a lock that could cause extreme pain. Though, I really wasn't causing that much pain. Honest.

Her face contorted in agony and I met her gaze frostily as I applied more pressure to her arm, she cried out. I got off her quickly – she looked so breathless and shocked.

"I think that qualifies as an ass-kicking," I said, then she tried to swipe my legs out from under me. I jumped again, jerking her to her feet and shoving her in the direction of the door. "Get out and don't come back until you've learned your place," I hissed at her.

Stumbling out of the door, she gave me the dirtiest look I had yet to receive. I found it amusing and laughed quietly to myself. I sighed, realizing that I really should have kept myself in check.

Shocking me entirely, there was laughter coming from behind me. I turned and stared at the other guardians in shock.

"I never liked her," someone said and others voiced their agreements.

I blinked. "I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've gotten a good response for beating up a guardian without any real reason,"

"You've beaten up guardians for fun before, have you, Hathaway?" someone chortled and I looked away.

"You had plenty reason," someone called. "She was a bitch and she called you a blood whore,"

I winced at the term and cast my gaze down. "It doesn't matter," I sighed and looked back up. "You guys should probably report this to Alexander,"

"Yeah, right!" someone said sarcastically. "You did us a favor,"

I sighed. "It's done now, are there any other questions about anything else? The field experience is starting tomorrow," I reminded them.

"Yes, Hathaway, it is," Matt said as he brushed off his coat. "How're you doing? Healing okay? Will you be able to fight?"

I grinned at him. "I'm always able to fight, no matter how I'm feeling," A few guardians chuckled and I smiled. "Oh, by the way, is there anything that I need to know about the field experience, things that I need to do if I were being Alexander?"

"You will need to give the instructions to the novices and explain the basic procedure and then Arnold will explain the tactics the guardians will use and all that jazz and then you will assign the packages to the novices." A guardian told me and I nodded slowly.

"Alright, so that's all I have to do?" I asked with raised eyebrows, expecting some other big thing to complicate my life.

Matt nodded. "That's all you've got to do, Rose, then you're all good,"

I grinned tiredly. "That is a good thing," then I looked at the guardians. "Oh, Alexander probably won't want me to fight the novices, so please don't tell him, okay?" I asked hopefully as I bit my lip.

They all chuckled and agreed not to rat me out. Dismissing the meeting, I smiled at the guardians as they left. Then I slowly went back up to my room and sat down on my bed. I stared down at my right hand, where the gauze still lay; I unwrapped it and stared down at my raw flesh – though, I could clearly the see outline of the heart. I closed my eyes, put on a fresh bandage and lay down on my bed. Within moments, I was asleep.

* * *

I was woken up by a freezing cup of water being poured on my face. My eyes went wide and I sat up, sputtering and blinking rapidly. I saw Mikhail standing at my bedside chocking on his own laughter.

I yelled, "Mikhail Tanner!"

He brushed his eyes and sat at the end of my bed, unconcerned as he chuckled. "Oh, man, Rose, you should have seen your face!" he exclaimed.

I kicked him hard in the back and fell back against my pillow as he yelped. "I hate you," I grumbled, pulling my covers over my face.

He flicked my knee. "No, you don't, you love me," he smirked. "Now, get up, darling, you need to run the Academy,"

I jerked upright. "Oh, shit, you're right," I scrambled out of bed and quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweater. Mikhail discreetly put my pillow in front of his face as I hurriedly dressed myself.

We quickly made our way to the auditorium and on to the stage. Mikhail joined the other guardians and left me standing in the middle of the stage all on my own. I looked around nervously and the guardians made encouraging gestures.

I took a deep breath and faced the novices, the excitement was practically tangible. Suddenly, I wasn't a guardian; I was back in at St Vlad's as a student, as excited for the field experience as everyone else. I blinked and refocused looking at all the students, I wasn't nervous anymore, I was myself. I took a deep breath and quickly made some speech that I sounded at least somewhat professional and then I let a guy called Arnold do the other part.

Then came to assigning the charges, I didn't really pay attention to who was assigned who, but I knew Dereck was assigned Jane, Leo had Tristin, Laura had Carter, Madison had Tommy and Kevin had Julian.

After we'd dispersed, everyone was pleased with their assignments and I went to chat with Dereck and his crew. When I approached, Dereck had Jane tucked under his arm and she looked very content. They should get something going, I found myself thinking as I joined their group, slipping in beside Julian.

"Rose!" Dereck said happily. "This is going to be so great!" he enthused.

I smiled at him, "You bet, I get to fight all the time!" I had my own opinion of things to look forward to.

Jane looked at me curiously. "Do you really like to fight so much?"

I nodded and grinned. "I love it,"

"It's so…dangerous," she shuddered delicately.

"I live dangerously," I told her easily and then my eyes shifted to Dereck and the other dhampirs. "So are you guys ready or what?"

They all nodded eagerly. "I really hope I get to fight you," Laura said and I grinned at her.

"I want to fight all of you,"

"That would be so awesome," Leo said. "Do you think you could take all of us on and you just by yourself?"

"I –" before I could answer, I was cut of when Mikhail called my name.

"You have got to come with me," he said seriously, disregarding the novices and Moroi students around us. I looked at him in confusion, what was so urgent that I needed to attend to right away? "Now, Rose,"

I sighed and looked apologetically to my friends before I went to follow Mikhail. He wouldn't let me speak until we were in a relatively empty hallway – he handed me his cell phone.

I narrowed my eyes as I slowly took it. "Hello?"

"Rose," the voice on the other end was obviously familiar, unmistakable and very strained.

"Alexander," I said, tensing myself. "Is there something that you need me to do at the Academy?" I was strictly keeping it formal; I wouldn't talk about anything even remotely personal.

I heard him sigh in frustration and I imagined him pushing a hand through his hair. "Rose – I know what it looked like when Diana came to the Academy and I need to explain to you –"

"You don't need to explain anything to me," I said emotionlessly.

"Yes, Rose, I do; will you please just listen? I need to tell you –"

"There's nothing to tell," I cut him off again. "If there's nothing that you need to tell me about running the Academy and the field experience then I must go. I do need to do other things, Alexander,"

It was so silent on the other side, for a second, I thought he'd hung up. Then I kept listening and heard his breathing and my hopes crashed. I waited politely for him to respond and when he did, he sounded so sad and almost broken, but like he was trying to hide it – I felt bad for him, for about a second.

"Rose, after what we've been through, you want to forget it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said coldly. "I need to go, excuse me, Alexander," I handed the phone back to Mikhail and walked away.

Alex and I both knew I wasn't just excusing myself and ending a phone call. I was saying goodbye.

So, how was it? i'm kind of lacking insperation these days, but you know, i'll come around

pls review, even though i wont know if u did, i'll find another comp i can use to check

i love ya

alice