RPOV

A cry of pure anguish ripped it's way through the air and I shrieked as I saw the Strigoi snap Adrian's neck. Sydney flung herself at Adrian, throwing Alchemist stuff at the Strigoi. Bad move. He was coming for her. I leapt at the Strigoi and stabbed my stake in it's back, over and over again until Dimitri gently pulled me off him and then wrapped his arms around me. I sobbed into his shoulder, crying my eyes out for Adrian who'd done everything possible to protect the others when we couldn't.

SPOV

No. This couldn't be happening. No way. Yet it was all there. All the blood, pouring there. Adrian had none of his normal charm. There was no soul in him at all. He was dead. I cried out manically and Lissa came running.

"Please," she said softly but quickly, "let go."

"I can't!" I sobbed.

"You have to. You have to let me help him." And then she placed her hands over him and began working her magic. The gold spread from her hands, glowing and pulsing, covering Adrian. I pulled back, gasping as she squeezed her eyes shut, obviously having some sort of connection with him. Her magic sparkled and glinted and then burst out in a powerful blast. I felt like it would be imprinted on my retinas forever. Once I'd blinked away the spots, nothing much had happened. My face fell. And then, the miracle happened...

AllPOV

He sat up.

AdrianPOV

I coughed weakly and looked around at all the astonished faces.

"What?" I asked. "Why the hell are you all staring at me?" They just gaped like goldfish. And then Sydney flung her arms around me.

"Adrian!" she cried. "You're alive! You're alive! Thank you, Lissa!"

"Woah, woah, woah, what's going on? Why wouldn't I be alive?" I was met with silence.

"You...you don't remember?" Rose asked softly.

"Should I?"

"There was a Strigoi attack. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's coming back..." I squeezed my eyes shut. The red eyes, flashes of gold, Christian shooting fire, the pain. My eyes widened. "How am I still alive?"

"Me," Lissa murmured. I froze.

"Oh. Shit."

"Aren't you grateful?" Christian wondered, protective of his girlfriend.

"Well, yeah, but...this is so complicated." I shook my head and started to probe my mind. There. At the back was a mixture of feelings that definitely weren't mine. Hurt. Amazement. Adrian. "Huh?" Adrian, it's me. Lissa. Can you hear me?

Uh, yeah, I guess. Wow, this is weird. Lissa gasped.

"It's a two-way bond," she exclaimed. "Because we're both spirit users. The bond is both ways." And with that, I felt the strangest feeling ever, and suddenly I was looking at myself.

"So that means," I was saying, but it wasn't actually me. It was Lissa, "we can both get sucked inside each other's heads!"

Oh great, she thought. I don't want to see inside Adrian's head.

I can hear you! I told her and she blushed. This was going to get really weird. I scrambled to my feet and looked at the garden around me. It was seriously trashed. But, amazingly, there were no tragedies. I shook my head in disbelief and then put a hand to my forehead, trying to fix the dizziness.

RPOV

The Moroi went inside with the Belikova's whilst we guardians helped Sydney clean up all the mess. She sprinkled some of her Alchemist chemicals all over them with that hard-working face on, but anyone could tell she was itching to get back there and talk to Adrian. But, as always with Sydney, business came first. I went over to Dimitri and wrapped my arms around him. He buried his face in my hair.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he murmured. "I don't know what I would've done if..." He trailed off, but I knew what he would've said.

"I feel the same way," I told him. "I can't believe we all survived it! Well," I frowned, "almost."

"You're happy that Adrian's safe.

"Of course I am, Dimitri! Adrian's my friend. Aren't you?"

"I am, Roza. I am. I just..." I shook my head at him and smiled. He probably didn't like me crying over Adrian.

"I'm yours," I whispered. "Forever. Who knows what would happen to you if I wasn't here?" He chuckled.

"I'm sure I would've been just fine as a guardian. In fact, since you came along, I've been in more trouble than I ever had in the whole 25 years of my life." I pouted.

"You were supposed to say, 'I could never live without you, Roza. My life would be a mess!" I tried doing a Russian accent but failed, and it suddenly reminded me of Christian's Dimitri impression before we came here. Dimitri and I laughed together. But, whilst we were laughing, I realised something. Dimitri had said '25 years'. I remembered the exact day he told me he was 24. Could it be...I had some investigating to do.

Could it be? :D