Vampire Academy: A Desperate Cause

Chapter 23 of my Vampire Academy story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead.

Chapter 23

ROSE POV

I had felt nothing, nothing but the sharp pain in my chest, surrounded by total blackness. Then suddenly, despite everything, despite what I thought, I could feel consciousness returning to me.

'What, but how, how could, I thought...I thought I was dead...She stabbed me, Tasha stabbed me.' I recalled. 'I should be dead, I could feel myself dying, how...'

Before long I could feel myself, fully regaining consciousness, although I still kept my eyes closed. I wanted to be sure before opening them. I felt warm, comfortable, I was lying in a bed, not restrained in any way so I knew I was perfectly safe.

I knew we had won, but I had been worried about dying, worried that someone would have me restrained for my safety; but the fact I wasn't had to be a good sign; I wasn't in danger of opening up a wound by moving around it seemed.

I could hear hushed voices nearby, very familiar voices which relieved me further. I slowly opened my eyes to be greeted with the sight of the ceiling of St. Vladimir's Infirmary.

'I...I'm alive...'

Smiling I tried to sit up, feeling the weight of bandages wrapped around my chest, it made sense, considering my injury.

"Rose..."

I looked around and smiled when I saw them, everybody was here, all of them gathered around, relief showing and I couldn't help but feel that, at last, everything was on the right track again.

Everybody else was safe too, their injuries had been cleared up, Lissa and Jill looked so well again, the only possible sign of what they had gone through was Lissa's missing finger.

"Rose, thank God." Lissa gasped.

I grinned and spoke. "C'mon, you're not gonna be rid of me that easily."

That brought laughter from everyone and then, suddenly, after seeing them obviously holding back, both my parents seemed to break, they immediately embraced me.

"Rose, I...God I..." Mom choked out.

Dad was smiling, I could tell, as he too spoke. "We're just glad you're safe.

I blushed and felt suddenly awkward, I wasn't used to such open displays of affection, especially from my parents. When we parted however I managed to smile, feeling grateful nonetheless. What mattered was that everything was okay, that I was alive and we were all safe.

It was clear from their reactions to me, that everybody knew that I wouldn't suffer lasting damage, that none of us would. While relief and happiness were prevalent, I still felt nervous, seeing Lissa, we still needed to talk after all. Not only that, I couldn't deny my curiosity for much longer. I needed to know, how did I survive.

Finally, I looked at the others, before asking at last.

"What's going on, how did I end up here, how am I still…?"

It was Dimitri who replied. "Rose, we were as amazed as you, your chances of survival turned out to be one in twelve thousand."

I froze at that. "What?!"

"It turns out, while you were stabbed and in danger...but your heart hadn't actually been pierced by the knife." Dimitri continued to explain.

The others nodded and I was even more shocked.

"What, but that's, impossible. I saw it, the blade..."

Dimitri shook his head. "You heart wasn't directly hit, you...Rose, you have a condition known as dextrocardia, your heart is in fact on the right side of your body, not the left, that is what saved you."

I bit my lip; it certainly would explained things. Whatever had saved me, I was glad for it, I was alive and hopefully, everything was over, hopefully I could also resolve things at last with Lissa. It seemed the others were considering that, for they all excused themselves in one way or another and left. Until finally, it was just me and Lissa in the infirmary.

There was an awkward silence while I fidgeted with a sleeve on my hospital gown, Lissa shifted her weight from foot to foot, until finally she stepped closer and sat down next to the bed.

"Rose, I-" She began.

At the same time I burst out. "Lissa-"

We both stopped then laughed and I shook my head, gesturing for her to begin.

She smiled lightly and spoke. "Rose, about what happened that time...I think we were both...a little too intense."

"I can't argue with that." I said, recalling that argument we had.

"Yes well, all the same...I still feel terrible about it and...after everything that's happened I just..." She stammered, clearly upset.

I smiled gently. "Lissa; I get it, it was messed up, and the kidnapping clearly messed things up worse but...it's alright. Let's try and put this behind us and focus on fixing things, going forwards, okay?"

Lissa smiled at that. "Rose, I...thank you."

With that she hugged me, a hug I gladly returned.

"I promise, we'll figure a way out, try and get you reinstated as my Guardian, especially after all the effort you put forward to rescuing me." Lissa replied with a grin.

I nodded, relieved, it seemed that finally, everything was going well. We could at last look to the future, with hope.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.