Extra-long chapter today, so enjoy!

BTW, I wrote this months before The Fiery Heart came out, lolz :P

Disclaimer: Not mine. Boo.

RPOV

When I woke, I could tell something was wrong. I looked around to see that it was still dark outside the tent, and that Dimitri was already awake, alert, and listening to something. He looked down as I moved.
"What is it?" I whispered.

He frowned. "It sounds like there's a fight."

I stiffened. "Not that kind of fight." He reassured me. I relaxed. "There's an argument in the next tent."

I listened, and heard the noise that had obviously woken me up.

"Is that Sydney and Adrian?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Probably. The guy's voice is too high for Eddie, and if it was Mia there would be a lot more theatrics."

He laughed in spite of the situation. I got out my phone, and texted Mia.

Is that Adrian and Sydney?-R

Yeah. It doesn't sound good :/-M

What they fighting about? -R

Instead of texting me back, Mia called me, just as Lissa and Christian came into our compartment. I put the phone on loudspeaker so we could all hear the conversation. We weren't being nosey, really, we just wanted to hear what our friends were arguing about. After all, if they wanted it private, they should be quieter, right?

"Hey, Mia. We're all here on this end."

Hey, guys? It's getting really intense over here. Mia said.

"What are they fighting about?" Lissa asked, concerned.

Well, Sydney got an email from the Alchemists.

"Shit." Christian and I both said. "But I thought Sydney had sort-of left them?" Christian asked.

I turned around, explaining, "well, she's left them, but they don't know it yet. Though she has no loyalty to them anymore, she decided it would be safer for them to think she was on their side- like a double agent, hiding in plain sight."

"Oh, right."

Yeah,anyway, from what I can gather, they want her to go to Russia to meet with some council people, and it doesn't seem as if they're going to let her come back afterwards. The email said her current transfer wasn't permanent.

Oh, shitty, crappy, insert Dimitri's favourite Russian swearwords here.

"That's not good. At all. Adrian doesn't want to go with her?"

Not particularly, no. But he would, it's just the second email that makes Sydney say no.

For some reason, my blood ran cold. "What second email, Mia?" I asked.

It's from Sydney's dad. He knows about Adrian, and well, he's not happy.

"Aah bulldermo." I said. Wait, what?

Everyone turned to look at me weirdly, and over the phone, I heard Mia and Eddie.
What the..?

Dimitri looked like he was trying not to laugh. It was his fault, anyway.
"Don't blame me! It's 3 o'clock in the freaking morning! It's not my fault my brain is mushing up languages! I am severely sleep-deprived! Anyway, back to the situation in hand, please?"

Oh yeah, so Sydney gets this email from her dad saying that he knows about her 'secret', and telling her that she has betrayed her family, the Alchemists, and humans in general. And the best thing she can do is go to the council meeting and ditch the 'bloodsucker' before they find out. He told her that there would be 'consequences' to her actions, but it was up to her how severe they were.

"Wow, what a dick."

"Yeah." Everyone agreed. I wanted to punch this douche in the face.

Ssh, I'm relaying this live now, so shut up and let me talk already.
So, when Adrian said that he would go with her to Russia, just not the meeting, obviously, she said she didn't want him to go, because it wouldn't be safe. Then he said that was bullshit, what could humans do to him? Then she said he'd be surprised, then he said 'what's that supposed to mean', then she said that the alchemists would 'kill him' and 'make her disappear', then he said-

"Woah, Mia, slow down. I don't speak girly gossip." Christian interrupted, and Dimitri looked a little flustered trying to keep up.

Sorry. So then he said 'well, my family isn't exactly happy about you, either.' So then she said, 'you actually told them? Are you mental?' Then he said 'what for telling my parents about the girl I'm in love with? Just because you're ashamed of me, doesn't mean I am of you.' Then she was like 'no, I just don't want them to hate me and disown you?'

The shouting got louder, and we could now hear every word without needing Mia.
"What is it with my girlfriend's dads? They don't think I'm good enough, then they threaten me with death!"
I couldn't help but laugh at that. It was true, after all. Dimitri looked a bit jealous, but I ignored it. I swear I heard someone laugh in the other tent. Was Abe listening to this as well?

Sydney screamed 'Ever think that maybe that's true? That you're not good enough?'

"I used to, but now I'm beginning to think differently. You know, my dad said the same thing about both you and Rose. Maybe my dad's right, maybe I do just have really bad taste, and pick girls with the same issues as their fathers.'

"Hey!" I shouted, and was out of the tent before anyone could stop me. I unzipped their tent door, and stuck my head inside. "Hey, Dickface! Right now I'm on Sydney's side! This is why you can't hold a relationship, if you keep slamming your exes when they're RIGHT HERE!"

Adrian shouted back. "Well, at least I have exes to slam, not like Sydney!"

My eyebrows shot up so high they were practically in outer space. Sydney recovered first.
"I see why Rose cheated on you with Dimitri, Adrian. You are a pathetic, selfish, bastard, and he is a better man than you will ever be! I was wrong, not all Moroi and Dhampirs are evil creatures of the night, just the ones like you! I hate you!"

I could tell the fight was over, and waited by the door as Sydney came running out, and I grabbed her in a huge hug. For once she didn't pull away, just clung to me, both of us standing out in the rain for a minute.

Eddie and Mia snuck out of their tent, and we all walked back to my tent. Well, I practically carried Sydney.
I had never seen her cry before, but she was sure making up for it now. She collapsed on the floor and Lissa and Mia immediately sat down on either side of her. The guys stood around awkwardly, until I took control of the situation.

"Go get all the blankets and pillows; I think we'll be staying here tonight." I said quietly. I was surprised at how calm my voice was.

They left to do as I said, and I turned to see Sydney already wrapped in a blanket, a bar of chocolate in her hand, that Mia had apparently given her. To my complete astonishment, she took a bite, tears still streaming down her face. What had Adrian done to the poor girl? If he had the nerve to show up here...

Right on cue, there was a scratch on the door.

Dimitri, Christian and Eddie were immediately behind me, blocking Sydney from view. I ripped the zipper on the door open, to see Adrian standing in the rain, looking upset and angry.
"Just piss off, Ivashkov. No one wants you here." I spat, venom lacing my voice.

"Please, Rose. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything, I just... she made me so angry-"

"Like I am right now, then. Just be glad you didn't try any of that shit with me, because you would have been dead in a moment. Though, that actually makes it worse; you're only picking on Sydney because she won't hit you."

He looked shocked at my assumption. "No, that's not." He raised his voice, trying to see inside the tent. "I'm so sorry, Sydney. I just -"

"I don't really care, Ivashkov." Then I punched him in the face. It felt good.

"That is for what you said about me, and what you said to Sydney. Didn't you ever learn in school? Don't pick on people bigger than you, or those smaller than you if their friend is Rose Hathaway. Good night."
I turned away, before changing my mind and crouching down beside him.
"You said that she's not got any exes. Well, that's right, because no one has ever hurt her before. Actually, she never trusted anyone enough to let them close enough to hurt her. So congratulations, think how many first's of hers you took. Should make up for getting nothing of mine. Have a nice night, bitch."

With that I stepped back into the tent, zipping it up behind me.
I stood just inside the tent, shaking my hair, before I surveyed the room. All eyes on me.
"What. A. Freaking. Douche." I said, before shaking my head in disbelief.

I saw that the guys had piled up all the cushions in the middle of the tent, with blankets on top of them. Sydney sat right in the middle, just staring into space. She was probably plotting her revenge already. At least, I hoped she was, the alternative was just too un-Sydney to think about right now.

Lissa and I took the first shift looking after Sydney, as Mia and Eddie had been up longest listening to them fight, then Lissa went to sleep when Mia woke up. We didn't speak all night, just kept a silent vigil.

As morning came, it became possible to see Adrian's silhouette on the canvas wall of the tent. He had been standing in the same position all night, in a vigil of his own. The next couple of hours moved quickly, and as each person left the tent to go to the bathrooms or fetch something or bring food (me), we all ignored his pleas for information on Sydney.

At 11 O'clock we were interrupted by my mom coming into the tent. Her steady gaze took in the 7 of us sitting in a pile of bedding on the floor before she spoke. "Sydney, I can go and get Sonya and Mikhail if you would like."

Sydney's head snapped up. "No, Janine. I can do it. Just give me 10 minutes."

My mom nodded once, before leaving. She was the first one to talk to Adrian, but her voice was too low for even the Moroi to hear.

Sydney stirred, and I helped her to stand up, Dimitri went to make her a coffee. 3 cups later, and she was good as ever. She turned her blank gaze to me. "Rose, will you come with me to my tent? I need my keys." She was already dressed from the night before, and being Sydney, not a hair was out of place, even after her chocolate binge.

As I escorted her out the door, Adrian jumped to life. "Sydney! I am so sorry, I didn't mean a word of what I said, I swear-"

Sydney's cold gaze stopped Adrian in its tracks. "Don't talk to me." She flipped her hair over her shoulder in a perfect imitation of an angry me, and kept walking.

Before she got into the car, she turned back to me. "Tell Adrian 'I'll still get it'."
I wanted to ask what she meant, but she shut the door and drove away.

I walked over to Adrian, and relayed the message. He just nodded, and stared at the spot Sydney's car had disappeared. When he could no longer hear the engine, he started walking down to the lake. I let him go; figuring he probably wanted some peace and time to think.

When Eddie asked where Adrian had gone, I told him.
We sat and ate breakfast quietly, but I watched Dimitri's face, seeing something was troubling him. I led him aside.
"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

He looked down at me. "It just doesn't fit, why would he do this?"

We really had come a long way in the last few months, for Dimitri to be the one sticking up for Adrian.
"I don't know." I sighed.

"He really does love her, that much is obvious. Earlier, it was just..."

"Vicious?" I finished for him.

"Yes. And the way he started on about you, when you and Abe were right in the next tents... that was stupid, even for him. Like when he got angry, he lost his higher..." He trailed off. "Reasoning." He finished. I was confused.

Dimitri gave me one of the looks that spoke more than words even could. I remembered his last words, remembered Adrian's crazy, impulsive argument earlier.

No higher reasoning... "Like an animal." I whispered, recalling the last words spoken by Victor Dashkov, and later by me.

Adrian was being affected by darkness, I realised. He had been acting a little crazy lately, just the Spirit side effects, but that had been overtaken by darkness. He had hit breaking point last night, and now he was in the most dangerous phase, for himself at least.

"Lost." Dimitri said simply, referring to the point when I had stared into space, in disbelief, much like Adrian had earlier.

We were both at the same point now, trying to work out where Adrian could be, and what danger he could be in. At the same moment, realisation hit both of us.
"The lake."

Dimitri grabbed his duster off the back of the chair, and headed for the door, me less than one step behind him.
The others had been watching our silent conversation with confusion, and now they just looked plain baffled.

"Come on, we have to get to Adrian!" I grabbed Lissa's hand, pulling her with me, and the others followed.

DPOV

We ran down to the lake, frantically searching the water, with no luck. Then, all the Dhampirs spotted them at the same time, as the branches of a lone weeping willow parted. On the opposite shore of the lake, Sydney sat clutching Adrian.

Rose and I arrived there first, checking Adrian for injuries. He looked fine, but the look on his face was one I had seen before, on Roza, after she killed Victor Dashkov. There was nothing any of us could do for him; only Sydney could pull him back from this.

I told her this, and she looked back at me with panicked eyes. "But what do I do?"

"Try and get him to talk to you, let him know that you're here."

I caught Roza's eyes, and saw the silent message in them.I turned around to the others. "We should leave."

Eddie stepped forward. "Is that a good idea? I mean-"

Rose cut him off. "Yeah, seriously, we should leave. I've been in this situation before, and so has Dimitri. Trust us, you don't want to stay." Everyone still looked confused, and when they didn't move, she gave an exasperated sigh.
"The 2 times I lost control because of the darkness, Dimitri pulled me back. Once was in the cabin, the other time was when we were on the run. Both ended the same way, which was great, but I do not want to witness the same thing with those two."

What she was saying clicked in their heads, and everyone all but ran out of there. Roza turned back to Sydney for a second.
"Call if you need us."

()()()()()()

RPOV

An hour and a half later, Sydney and Adrian came back. They were holding hands, keeping close together. Adrian came over to me.
"Sorry for what I said earlier, Rose. It was the darkness, you know? I didn't mean it; I was just angry and lost control."

I shook my head. "Stop, Adrian. I know it's not your fault. Been there before."
I hugged him, and whispered; "Did you sort out everything with Sydney? Properly?"

"Yes." He affirmed.

"Good, because she's the one for you, Adrian. The one I was talking about; don't let her go."
I pulled away, and Adrian went back to Sydney.

"Did anyone go get Sonya?" She asked.
I shook my head. "Well, that's us then. See you later." She waved us goodbye, before getting into the car with Adrian and James.

I turned back to Dimitri, noticing that Mia and Eddie were missing. Probably taking advantage of Sydney and Adrian's absence from the tent. They had the right idea.

"Hey, Dimitri, want to go disappear for an hour or two?" I whispered.

He grinned. "Let's go."

We were gone for a little longer than an hour, more like three. When we came back, we saw Sonya and Mikhail sitting around the campfire. She looked up, studying us carefully, looking through us, not at us.

She smiled, before greeting us.
"Well, nice of you to join us. Good to know where we come on your list of priorities."
She knew what we had just been doing. Oh well.

"Sorry Sonya. But he buys me diamonds."
I raised my left hand, ring glittering in the sunlight. Sonya looked impressed.

"Well, congratulations. I'm so glad you actually sorted everything out. Last time we were here, and I walked into your tent, I read your auras and hoped you would get together again. It was so frustrating."

"Try being me." Dimitri and I both said in synchronisation.

She laughed again. "If only you two could see what I can. You really are perfectly matched. When you stand close together, your auras link together like puzzle pieces. It's amazing."

I smiled up at Dimitri, and he took my hand.

Sonya suddenly turned to Lissa.
"Congratulations to you too, Lissa. You and Christian will be great parents."

She smiled nervously. "Thanks. Well, at least we can start rebuilding the Dragomir line, so Jill will be safe."

"It's not often the number of people in a Royal family doubles twice in the same year."

Sydney suddenly spoke up. "Wait, what? Doubles twice in the same year?"
I tried to catch up with her maths brain. Hold on...

"I'm having twins?" Lissa asked, shocked.

Sonya froze. "Didn't you know? I'm sorry, I didn't realise."

"I only found out yesterday!" She exclaimed, and looked like she was about to cry again. I stepped in.

"Hey, just think, Lissa. You couldn't decide if you wanted a boy or a girl first, now you might be able to get both! Think of all the baby shopping you will be able to do!"

She brightened up, just like I knew she would.

I, on the other hand, didn't. It was great that Lissa was pregnant, and I was happy for her, but I was just a bit envious. Here I was, I'd never be able to have a child with Dimitri, and she ended up with 2, without even really wanting one yet.

I pushed this jealousy aside, before anyone could see it. Of course, Dimitri noticed, but like I always did, I covered my unease with wit and sarcasm.
"You know, when I thought about post-graduation camping trips, I never expected to spend them, voluntarily, with 3 of my former teachers."

"Or that you'd be sleeping with one."
I scooped up a stone and threw it at Christian.

"Says the Queen's consort." He glared, he hated being called that. He would be that until he married Lissa, when he would become the non-ruling King. Hilarious, right?

Lissa stepped in.
"But they're nice teachers; who actually cared about us. Not like we had that many others to do that."
She had a point, but I hadn't finished yet.

"Oh, sure. Crazy Karp, Perfect Petrov and my personal Tor-mentor."

Lissa grinned, remembering the names we would make up for Dimitri.
"Mentor-turer." She added.

"De-mentor." I'd thought of that whilst watching Harry Potter.

Adrian cut in. "That second one sounds more like Rose." Men-torturer. I like it.

Eddie suddenly spoke up.
"Russian Jailor, Dimitri Bellend."

I burst out laughing.
"Oh yeah! That was Mason's favourite."

Dimitri looked hurt.
"Why so mean to me, Rose? I thought you loved me." I could tell he wasn't really offended.

"Oh come on, Comrade. You knew what you were getting yourself into from the start. When I found out you were Lissa's Guardian, I believe I called you 'cheap foreign labour'."

Adrian snorted.

"And anyway, don't pretend like you didn't have names for me. Just because just because they were in a language I didn't understand doesn't mean they don't count. I Google translated them when I got back to my room, and though true, they were harsh."

This time everyone laughed. "I'm sorry, Roza."

I smiled gratefully. "That's alright. Mason and I had great fun plotting your torture and eventual death. It involved rabid snakes and Canadian geese."

Everyone looked doubtful.
"Yeah, I wasn't so sure about the geese either. But Mase insisted."

Eddie jumped up. "They are! Geese are vicious. I was with him when we were attacked. I thought I was gonna die!"

Mia looked at him weirdly, seeming to be weighing up options in her head. She came to a decision, shrugged, and leaned back against him.
"So, Eddie's secret fear is geese. What is everyone else's?" Christian asked.

Lissa laughed lightly. "Aren't you going to tell us yours first?"

He shrugged. "Clowns." Boring.

We carried on round the circle.
"Lissa?" Christian asked.
"Sharks. They have dead eyes."

"Mia?"
"Spiders."

Eddie was obviously rebid geese

"Adrian?"
"Mice." Awkward silence. "What? They scurry around and eat stuff and they have no bladder control. They pee constantly. Now that is just weird." Coming from you, Adrian...

"Sydney?"
She blushed. "The dark." She mumbled.

"Really, Sydney? You know the dark can't hurt you, right?" Christian teased.

"It's not the dark, it's what it means. Things can be hidden, and its vampire time. For Alchemists, that's pretty understandable. Anyway, my night-vision isn't as good as yours, so you don't understand."
Fair enough.

"Rose?"
"Needles. Bleaugh." I shuddered.
No one disputed this.

"Dimitri?"

"Yeah, Belikov? What's your embarrassing, irrational fear? Don't be all stoic, everyone has one."
Dimitri gave Adrian a look that said he really didn't give a toss about their opinion, and said, with dignity, "Fireworks."

Okayyy. I knew Dimitri's true, darkest fears, like he knew mine, but he hadn't told me about this one.
Everyone around shared a WTF? Look. He explained.
"It's not so much I'm scared of them, I just avoid them if I can." We still looked at him imploringly. He sighed. "I don't like loud noises and flashing lights all that much. And, when I was 7, Karolina bought a box of fireworks and we set them off in the back garden. We were all out there, and it was right at the end. We had been saving the best one until last, but there was a problem with it. Instead of the rockets shooting out the top, they all came out the sides of the box. At first it wasn't too bad, but then one shot over our heads, and we all tried to run inside. I waited for my sisters to go in first-"

"Of course you did." I squeezed his shoulder affectionately.

"Before I could get in, a spark of one of the fireworks hit me. It burned by shoulder and singed my hair. It didn't grow back for months."
He laughed at the look of horror on my face.
"So that's why I don't like fireworks."

Later that night, I lay in the dark, warm in Dimitri's arms. He was already asleep, breathing steady. I was thinking about what we had been saying earlier, about our fears. That had only been a game, and had been funny. But it had got me thinking about my real fears.

More than anything, I worried about the lives of my friends and family, that one day I wouldn't be able to protect them. Then, if I did, I worried what I would be leaving behind if I died.

I didn't want to be alone. That was another fear of mine. That I would be left behind, with no one left, just myself and my memories. I would hate to be forgotten, too. To live a life so full, but to be forgotten the moment I left it. Not that I would know, of course. But still.

I let myself get caught up in my fears for a moment, before squashing them back down. Why was I thinking about this?

I knew the answer to that all too well.

It was exactly a year since I had lived all 3 of my great fears, in varying levels. I hadn't been completely forgotten, of course, but Lissa had replaced me with Avery. I knew that was down to Spirit, but at some times there I hadn't been missed.

Worse, I had been alone. I had set off to Russia, leaving behind Lissa, my other friends, and everything and everyone I had ever known. Except from Dimitri, the one I had already lost.

And that was the worst part. Dimitri had been ripped away from me, and the pain of it had crushed me. Even now we were back together, we were scarred. Me from watching him die and what he had said afterwards, him from what had happened in between. The wounds had long since healed, the scars were fading with time, but they would never disappear completely.

Just the thought of it made me hold him a little tighter, press a little closer to his body. I breathed in deeply, his scent helping me to affirm that he was really here with me. I didn't ever want to move away from his embrace, and wondered if he would let me stay like this all tomorrow. I didn't want to face everyone, who would undoubtedly be making comments about last year, making Dimitri feel bad and me feel like shit. It would be too awkward for everyone; it hadn't exactly been the best day for them, either.

Great, now I really was depressed. I checked my watch. 1:30 am. The day hadn't even started yet.
I was pulled out of my thoughts as Dimitri tightened his arms around me, mumbling something that sounded like my name. It was rare for him to talk in his sleep, but when he did, it was often when I felt low like this. Even unconscious, he seemed to sense my feelings.

I settled my head back down on his chest, and listened for his heartbeat. i did this whenever I was upset or stressed, as I knew that if I could hear that sound, everything would be okay.

I closed my eyes and listened to the steady rhythm until I felt my own breathing start to slow, and I drifted off to sleep.

Quick reply to a review/pm: RoseDimitriLoveJunky- Hi, I got your message, so it worked :) Glad you like it!

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Review and have Dimitri's heartbeat as your lullaby ;)