Alberta's POV

He answered after only two rings. "Croft."
"Is it true?" I asked.
"Who is this?"
In my haste to ask the question that had been on my mind for the past few hours, I had completely forgotten to say my name. "It's Petrov."
I heard him sigh and the creeking of his chair reached me through the phone as well, indicating that he had leaned back. "Alberta, how have you been?"
"I'm good, but I didn't call for a chat Hans. I've been hearing rumours, I want to know if there's any truth to them."

I knew I was being somewhat rude, but I honestly didn't care at the moment. When I entered the guardian lounge this morning I heard Ruben telling some story he had heard from his cousin. Apparently a group of royals had been attacked last night and at least one, as well as several guardians, had been killed. Then the Court guardians, Ruben's cousin included, had gone on a rescue mission to save the other royals who had been with the group and were captured by the Strigoi.

That in itself would've been unbelievable enough. In general, we don't launch rescue missions. While royals being taken by Strigoi was always a blow to our society, they were usually considered dead and mourned accordingly. The Queen would make a pretty speech, the Royals would declare that whoever had been lost was their closest cousin and would demand more guardians, and the Guardian council would be left to inform the families of the ones who had died, their names never even being mentioned by the Moroi. That was the way things worked in our world.

But while rescue missions were pretty much unheard of, with the exception of the one here at the academy several months ago, that actually wasn't the most astonishing part of this story. According to Ruben's cousin, or so he told us, one of the royals involved had managed to stake a Strigoi, and he had turned back to himself. As in, alive. It was simply impossible.

Honestly, at first I thought Ruben, or his cousin, had had a little too much to drink last night. Over the course of the morning I heard more rumours flying around the school though. A Voda girl was crying because her aunt had been killed. A glum 16 year-old dhampir was picked up by his mother because his half-sister Serena had survived the attack but was in the hospital with critical injuries. One of the teachers who had gotten in a call to another guardian friend who also confirmed there had been a rescue mission, but refused to tell him anything else because Hans had ordered all of them to keep quiet.

So here I was during my lunchbreak, sitting at my desk and calling Hans. We weren't friends exactly, but we had known eachother in school and I respected him, not just as my superior but also as a guardian and a decent man. In return he was one of the first to truly accept me, in a time where female guardians were still scarce. After all the rumours I'd heard today, I figured he would be my best bet for information, and I could only hope he would be willing to share it with me.

Hans had been quiet while those thoughts were running through my head, perhaps considering what to tell me or possibly how to get rid of me. He knew me better than that though.
"What exactly did you hear Alberta?" He sounded tired, exhausted even, and I felt somewhat bad for bothering him. I needed to know though.
"There are rumours flying around the school. Something about an ambush, several casualties and a rescue mission."
He instantly confirmed this part of the story. "That's correct."
"I also heard.." I paused for a moment. "They say a Strigoi was.. turned back I suppose you could say? That he's alive again?"

There was silence on the other end of the line before Hans swore loudly. "Damnit, I'd hoped to keep that part quiet for a little longer. At least until we know more."
"It's true?" I gasped.
He was still swearing under his breath but then seemed to take a deep breath before answering: "We're not entirely sure what happened yet. The doctors are still examining him and running some tests and I'm currently waiting for the Dragomir princess to get back from visiting him. Hopefully she can shed some light on the situation."
My heard stopped for a moment. "Lissa was involved?"
He sounded resigned as he said: "I guess I'd best tell you the whole story, or at least the whole story as I know it."

After a moment to collect his thoughts he started: "Yesterday Princess Voda, Princess Dragomir, Lord Ozera and five guardians left Court for a two-day trip. After they returned from dinner they were ambushed in the carpark by a group of Strigoi. Princess Voda and four guardians were killed on the spot. The remaining guardian was severely injured but managed to call it in, informing us Princess Dragomir and Lord Ozera had been taken. She said the Strigoi leader seemed to know them."

My heart felt heavy in my chest. A situation like that was about as bad as it could get. No wonder they launched a rescue mission, Lissa was the last of her line. "Thank God that guardian was able to inform you. Was it.." I was scared to ask. "Was it Rose Hathaway? Is she alive?"
"No, Hathaway was at Court. She actually came to tell me what happened just seconds after I hung up on Serena. That bond really is quite useful."
"She wasn't with Lissa?" I asked in surprise.
"No, she had been down in the archives after a recent unauthorized trip." He sounded honestly exasperated. "I don't know how you put up with her and even got her to graduate with those marks Alberta. That girl has been a thorn in my side since she got here."

I allowed myself a small smile. I knew Rose was a handful, but I wasn't afraid to admit that I had something of a soft spot for her. She had stolen my heart as a heartbroken four-year-old when she her mother left her at the academy and I'd kept a close eye on her since. In some ways she was the daughter I never had.
"I know she isn't your average guardian Hans, but she really is exceptional. I understand you need to punish her, but don't keep her on a desk job. She could be a great asset," I pleaded.
He grunted. "Yeah I can't argue with you there. She did great on the rescue last night, very professional and I've rarely seem someone as talented in a fight. I just hope she manages to fix that attitude problem of hers."

He continued his story: "Anyway, we organized the rescue. With Hathaway's inside information we were able to come up with a plan and it worked well. We were able to get to the Moroi but I'm not really sure what happened after that. We were fighting and then there was fire," that had to have been Christian, "and then suddenly there was a flash of white light. When all turned back to normal the Princess was sitting on the floor, comforting the Strigoi leader who had stopped fighting and was instead completely falling apart. He was crying and everything. And he looked.. normal. Tan skin, no red ring around his eyes, no fangs. He was even out in the sunlight when we got back to Court."

He was quiet after that and so was I, trying to take in all of what he had told me. Finally I asked: "Do you think it's true? Is he alive?"
Hans took a moment to consider before answering: "It seems unlikely but.. Yes I think it's true."
"You do?" I knew I was repeating myself, but it just seemed too good to be true. If we could find out how this happened, if it could be replicated.. This could change our whole world. Perhaps the people we'd lost through the years could be returned to us, to their families.
"Yeah I do Alberta. I really do." I could hear the same hope I felt in Hans' voice.

"Thank you for talking to me Hans. I know you must be busy with all this going on."
"No problem. Honestly, it was nice to get it off my chest. It just seems so.. crazy."
I smiled. "Crazy sounds about right. Who is it by the way?"
"Oh right, I didn't even tell you. You know him actually. It's Dimitri Belikov."

My jaw dropped and several pieces fell into place. Of all the people who could have been taken, why attack three well-guarded royals? Why, rather than drain them immediately or turn them on the spot, keep them alive, knowing someone would come for them? Why would Lissa endanger herself to save and comfort a former Strigoi? It all clicked and I knew. Rose. It was all for Rose. Like Rose had left school, left everything, for Dimitri. And now he was back.

I'd guessed there was something going on between them quite a while before the attack. While Dimitri still wasn't the most social guy, he did seem happier and a little more open to interacting with his coworkers soon after he started training Rose. I'd even seen him laughing, actually laughing, a couple of times, but only when Rose was around. In return he seemed to ground her, making her more focussed and more dedicated. She also seemed to enjoy herself more during morning practice those days than she ever did at all of the illegal parties I caught her at.

So I'd guessed, and my suspicions only got worse after the dance, the abduction and Spokane. Still, I never caught them doing anything inappropriate and I never confronted Dimitri about it. If they really loved eachother there would be plenty of obstacles in the way of their relationship. I didn't need to be another of those obstacles when really, I just wanted them to be happy. If they loved eachother, who was I to interfere.

In the end, faith interfered, and my suspicions about their relationship were confirmed when Dimitri was lost in the caves. After everything that had already happened to her, this was actually the first time I saw Rose truly heartbroken, and I seriously doubted she'd ever recover fully from losing him. I wasn't even surprised when Rose dropped out on the morning of her eighteenth birthday. Troubled, yes, but not surprised.

And now he was back and they might have another chance. If any two people in the world deserved a happily ever after, it was them.

Hans had kept quiet while I digested his information, but my thoughts were interrupted when I heard yelling on the other side of the line and Hans sighed heavily. "Right, I gotta go Alberta. I've got to rescue the guy at the front desk from the wrath of Hathaway junior."
"Rose? Why?"
He answered in a gloomy voice: "Because, she's trying to get in to see Belikov. And he has begged us not to let her in."

He hung up and I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes, muttering to myself: "Damnit Dimitri."
I sent up a prayer that he'd come around, and soon. If he pushed Rose away now, she might never recover. Decent guy or not, I loved Rose and if he broke her, he'd have to answer to me.

Author's note: Right, this one is a little shorter, but I thought it'd be fun to find out how Alberta found out about Dimitri's restoration. This seemed as good a guess as any and I hope you liked it!

As for those who wanted me to do a second part to the previous one-shot about Tasha, I'm going to have to disappoint you. I tried, but honestly, I pretty much like it the way it is, and I just couldn't come up with a believable continuation. Sorry! I might do some other one-shots that involve Tasha at a later date though. She does tend to make things interesting :)