Disclaimer: Again I do not own the dialogue from VA, or the characters. That is given to Ms. Richelle Mead.

Chapter 5:

"Rose? Rose?" What the hell was going on? I snapped my fingers in front of her face. I nudged her.

"Rose? Can you hear me? Rose snap out of this." And I did this for a few minutes. She shuddered, blinking back into consciousness.

"Rose? Rose?" Her glazed over look deteriorated as she stared up at me. I was leaning toward her, holding her shoulders. "Are you alright?" Even if she was alright, I should probably escort her to the clinic. I was a little shaken, but I tried to keep a calm and steady voice as I talked to her. I sounded like my mother when I was young. She would coax me into calming down when I was crying, when I cried that is. She used it mostly on my sisters.

"I…yeah. I was…I was with Lissa…" She put a hand to her forehead, looking extremely bewildered. "I was in her head." She stated simply. If I thought I was freaked out earlier I was on the verge of hysteria now.

"Her…head?" I asked. I probably looked at her like she was mad. But the way she said that, so nonchalantly, I wasn't going to rule out the possibility.

"Yeah. It's part of the bond." She said shortly. Okay, now somehow I found rationality in that. I thought she had been crazy, but with Rose, she was somehow sane through all of this chaotic life of hers. She wasn't crazy, even though her life was.

"Is she alright?" I asked. I realized I had just asked that out of formality. I was more worried about Rose at this moment. I mentally slapped myself. Rose isn't your Moroi. Worry about Lissa not Rose. I tried to mentally chastise myself but a part of me couldn't help but worry about Rose.

"Yeah, she's…" Rose trailed off. She paused a few moments, as if trying to find the correct words. "She's not in danger." She said, more to herself than to me.

"Can you keep going?" I asked. Could she?

"Yeah. I'm fine." She nodded. I walked next to her rather than in front of her so I could see her if she fell back into that brain dead state. She went off to the dressing room, picking up the clothes I had left her on the way. She came out a few minutes later, looking ragged.

"Can we start this tomorrow?" She asked; hints of whininess in her voice. I laughed, thinking she was messing with me. She did have a reputation of sarcastic remarks.

"Why is that funny?" She hissed.

"Oh," I tried to drop my smile. "You were serious."

"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for two days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed," she whined. "It's just one hour."

I crossed my arms trying to look as intimidating as possible. I honestly questioned if she was as devoted as she said she was. But of course I knew that she was that dedicated to protecting Lissa, as if it were herself, and in a way it was. So I used the logistics of my sisters, handling this situation as I would if with Viktoria.

"How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?" I asked. She did look slightly strained, verging on exhaustion.

"I hurt like hell." She said simply, shrugging.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?" She looked at me as if I hadn't just answered her.

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel…not as bad." I used all my self-control to not break the tough Guardian face I had. I found that was happening a lot lately...

"What kind of logic is that?" She sniped. Obviously not thrilled with my answer. I didn't give in to her whining; I led her into the weight room, showing her what to do and how to do it. In all honesty today I was going easy on her. I decided to bide my time by reading one of my favorite Westerns. I could see her glance over at me in envy. She finished sooner than I thought a girl in her "near-death state" could. I stood giving her a couple cool down stretches.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?" She asked. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

School only made me think of home. This, of course, was something I tended to stay away from.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia." I responded, trying to keep the wistfulness out of my voice.

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana." That almost cracked my façade, but I kept my mouth taut. "After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." I could feel my face droop. I really didn't enjoy talking about that. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus." I shrugged. I really just wanted to talk about something else, or better yet, not talk at all.

"Did this lord die on your watch?" Her voice was little, and hesitant.

"No. He was with the other guardian. I was away." The cold tone I had, made her stop prodding. I thought about that.

"Hey," her voice pulled me back to reality. She had a kind smile tugging at the edges of her lips. I realized she had been analyzing me. "Did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that." I looked down at her, curious for the double standard to this compliment. I mean, I didn't know Rose all that well, but she usually threw in some sort of quip when complimenting others, or just trying to be nice. When she didn't enlighten me, I continued.

"You're complimenting me on that?"

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried." She smirked. Another bout of confusion.

"Last one?"

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds." Psi-hounds? No one ever mentioned this to me which means, we, the Guardians, had nothing to do with this.

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland." She sat up from her stretches and crossed her legs.

"Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it." I had a theory Rose was trying to excuse this for some odd, teenaged, hormonal, girl reason, but at the moment, I was really trying to find a bit of reasoning to this psi-hound hunt in Chicago then trying to discover what was bothering Rose.

"Maybe." I said dismissively.

So, yes, I know I took forever to update, but I am just going to say my teachers like to act like extreme hard-asses the last two weeks of school. So when I'm not doing homework I'm sleeping. But school is out and I'm trying to motivate myself. Really guys, I'm sorry I'm dragging, but please bear with me, at least until I get on to my summer sleep pattern.

I can't promise the next update will be in the near future, but soon.

XOXO- Emma