The Wilds of Montana - Wednesday Morning FH Time

[guardianborn]

Terrified and panicking, Lissa's thoughts pulled Rose into her head...

"Why are you doing this? What's going on?”


"Come, child," said Victor, moving into the cabin, unsteady on his cane. One of his guardians held the door open. Another pushed Lissa along and settled her into a chair near a small table inside. It was cold in here, especially in the pink dress. Victor sat across from her. When she started to get up, a guardian gave her a warning look. "Do you think I'd seriously hurt you?”

"Why?" asked Lissa. "Why are you doing all this?”

His green eyes widened, reminding her of her father's. They might be distant relatives, but that jade-green color ran in both the Dragomirs and the Dashkovs. "I'm surprised you even have to ask, my dear. I need you. I need you to heal me."

"HEAL YOU?” Heal him? Rose's thoughts echoed her friend's.

"You're the only way," he said patiently. "The only way to cure this disease. I've been watching you for years, waiting until I was certain.”

Lissa shook her head. "I can't…no. I can't do anything like that.”

"Your healing powers are incredible. No one has any idea just how powerful.”

"I don't know what you're talking about.”

"Come now, Vasilisa. I know how you healed Rose.”

She realized the pointlessness of denying it. "That…was different. Rose wasn't that hurt. But you…I can't do anything about -.”

"Not that hurt?" he laughed. "I'm not talking about her ankle-which was still impressive. I'm talking about the car accident. Because you're right, you know. Rose didn't get 'that hurt.' She died.” He let the words sink in.

"That's…no. She lived," Lissa finally managed.

"No. Well, yes, she did. But I read all the reports. There was no way she should have survived-especially with so many injuries. You healed her. You brought her back." He sighed, half wistful and half weary. "I'd suspected you could do this for so long, and I tried so hard to repeat it…to see how much you could control…”

Lissa caught on and gasped. "The animals. It was you.”

"With Natalie's help.”

"Why would you do that? How could you?”

"Because I had to know. I have only a few more weeks to live, Vasilisa. If you can truly bring back the dead, then you can cure me, cure Sandovsky's. I had to know before I took you away that you could heal at will and not just in moments of panic.”

"Why take me at all?" A spark of anger flared up in her. "You're my near-uncle. If you wanted me to do this-if you really think I can…" Her voice and feelings showed me she didn't really entirely believe she could heal him. "Then why kidnap me? Why didn't you just ask?”

"Because it's not a onetime affair.”

She worked hard to get a grip on this news and her own self-control. "That doesn't answer my question. It doesn't matter if I have this spirit thing or whatever. You didn't have to kidnap me.”

"Your powers - spirit, as you've seen, can heal physical injuries. Unfortunately, it's only good on acute injuries. Onetime things. Rose's ankle. The accident wounds. For something chronic- say, a genetic disease like Sandovsky's-continual healings are required. Otherwise it will keep coming back. That's what would happen to me. I need you, Vasilisa. I need you to help me fight this and keep it away. So I can live.”

"That still doesn't explain why you took me," she argued. "I would have helped you if you'd asked.”

"They never would have let you do it. The school. The council. Once they got over the shock of finding a spirit user, they'd get hung up on ethics. After all, how does one choose who gets to be healed? They'd say it wasn't fair. That it was like playing God. Or else they'd worry about the toll it'd take on you.” She flinched, knowing exactly what toll he referred to. Seeing her expression, he nodded. "Yes. I won't lie to you. It will be hard. It will exhaust you-mentally and physically. But I must do it. I am sorry.”

She leapt from the chair. the guardian immediately stepped forward and pushed her back into it. "And then what? Are you going to just make me a prisoner here? Your own private nurse?”

He made that annoying open-palmed gesture again. "I'm sorry. I have no choice.”

White-hot anger blasted away the fear inside of her. She spoke in a low voice. "Yes. You don't have the choice, because this is me we're talking about.”

"It's better for you this way. You know how the others turned out. How Vladimir spent the last of his days stark, raving mad. The trauma you've experienced since the accident comes from more than just your family's loss. It's from using spirit. The accident woke the spirit in you; your fear over seeing Rose dead made it burst out, allowing you to heal her. It forged your bond. And once it's out, you can't put it back. It's a powerful element-but it's also dangerous. Earth users get their power from the earth, air users from the air. But spirit? Where do you think that comes from?” Lissa glared. "It comes from you, from your own essence. To heal another, you must give part of yourself. The more you do that, the more it will destroy you over time. You must be noticing that already. I've seen how much certain things upset you, how fragile you are.”

"I'm not fragile," snapped Lissa. "And I'm not going to go crazy. I'm going to stop using spirit before things get worse.”

He smiled. "Stop using it? You might as well stop breathing. Spirit has its own agenda…You'll always have the urge to help and heal. It's part of you. You resisted the animals, but you didn't think twice about helping Rose. You can't even help compulsion-which spirit also gives you special strength in. And that's how it will always be. You can't avoid spirit. Better to stay here, in isolation, away from further sources of stress. You'd either have become increasingly unstable at the Academy, or they would have put you on some pill that would have made you feel better but stunted your power.”

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for you. But please don't make me do this.”

"I have to.”

She looked him straight in the eye. "I won't do it.”

He inclined his head, and someone stepped forward from the corner. Another Moroi. No one I knew. Walking around behind Lissa, he untied her hands.

"This is Kenneth." Victor held his hands out toward her free ones. "Please, Vasilisa. Take my hands. Send the magic through me just as you did with Rose.”

She shook her head. "No.”

His voice was less kindly when he spoke again. "Please. One way or another, you will heal me. I'd rather it be on your terms, not ours.”

She shook her head again. He made a slight gesture toward Kenneth.

And that's when the pain started.


Rose screamed with Lissa, the pain jolting her out Lissa's mind for a moment.

In the SUV, Dimitri's grip on the wheel jerked in surprise, making the car veer. Casting Rose an alarmed look, he started to pull over.

"No, no! Keep going!" she pressed my palms to my temples. "We have to get there!”

From behind the front seat, Alberta reached forward and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Rose, what's happening?”

She blinked back tears. "They're torturing her…with air. This guy…Kenneth…he's making it press against her…into her head. The pressure's insane. It feels like my-her- skull's gonna explode." The words out, Rose started sobbing. She freaking hated crying.

Dimitri looked over out of the corner of his eye and pressed the gas pedal down harder.

Kenneth didn't stop with just the physical force of air. He also used it to affect her breathing. Sometimes he'd smother Lissa with it; other times he'd take it all away and leave her gasping. After enduring all that firsthand-and it was bad enough secondhand- Rose was pretty confident she would have done anything they wanted.

And finally, Lissa did.

Rose didn't have any idea what to expect. She'd never been in Lissa's head before when she was healing. Lissa summoned up all of these things - color and light and joy and love, as many as she could, and sent them into Victor. The magic flowed through both girls, brilliant and sweet. It was alive. It was her life. And as wonderful as it all felt, she was growing weaker and weaker. But as all of those elements-bound by the mysterious spirit element-flowed into Victor, he grew stronger and stronger.

The change was startling. His skin smoothed, no longer wrinkled and pocked. The gray thinning hair filled out, turning dark and lustrous once more. The green eyes-still jadelike-sparkled again, turning alert and lively.

He'd become the Victor she remembered from her childhood.

Exhausted, Lissa passed out.

In the SUV, Rose fought back fainting as she tried to relay what what was happening to Dimitri and Alberta. Finally they were a quarter mile away from the cabin and Dimitri pulled over, the rest of the convoy following. Rose jumped out of the car, intent on going with the guardians, but Dimitri stopped her. "No, Rose. You stay here."

Rose glared at him. "The hell with that. I have to go help her.”

He cupped my chin with his hands, fixing me with his eyes. "You have helped her. Your job is done. You did it well. But this isn't any place for you. She needs you to stay safe.”

Only the realization that arguing would delay the rescue kept Rose quiet. Swallowing back any protests, she nodded. He nodded back and joined the others. All of them slipped off into the woods, blending with the trees as Rose sullenly climbed back into the SUV.





With a sigh, Rose pushed back the passenger seat and lay back in the seat. Sunlight was pouring through the windshield, but she'd been up all night, and there'd been kinda a lot of stuff going on. Between the adrenaline of her own role and sharing Lissa's pain, Rose could have passed out just like she had. Except that she was awake now.

Slowly, Lissa's perceptions dominated Rose's once more. She lay on a couch in the cabin and only one guardian stood to keep watch. He'd be easy to take out when Dimitri and the Badass Team burst inside.

Lissa studied the lone guardian and then glanced at a window beside the couch. Still dizzy from the healing, she managed to sit up. The guardian turned around, watching her warily. She met his eyes and smiled.

"You're going to stay quiet no matter what I do," she told him. "You aren't going to call for help or tell anyone when I leave. Okay?”

The thrall of compulsion slid over him. He nodded in agreement.

Moving toward the window, she unlocked it and slid the glass up. She was weak, but she didn't know when else she'd get a chance to escape, and spending the rest of her life there wasn't an option.

Any other time, Rose would have been thrilled with Lissa's boldness, but right now she was silently urging her to stay put, wishing so hard the bond went both ways so she could tell her to stay there and wait for Dimitri and Alberta and the rest.

Lissa climbed out the window, and Rose started up. "Goddammit."



From his concealed spot in the back of the van, Christian's thoughts had been limited to we have to find Lissa and Damn, my head hurts. Rose's swear startled him out of that.

"What? Did you see something?"



"Ow!" Rose jumped, hitting her knee on the dashboard as she tried to turn around see the source of the voice. "Where'd you come from?"



"Hid back here," Christian said, and sat up a little more. "I'm a stowaway."

Duh.



She made a face, seeing him finally and shook her head. "You stowed away." She repeated. "Don't you have a concussion or something?"

Not that Rose wouldn't have done the same. And not that she didn't very secretly think it was kinda awesome he did.



Christian shrugged. A concussion was nothing if Lissa's life was on the line -- that was one of the few things he suspected he and Rose would agree on. "Just tell me what's happening," he said. "Did you see something new?"



"She's trying to escape," Rose said, kicking off her strappy sandals and climbing out of the SUV. "She used compulsion on one of the guardians to climb out the window." That note of pride in Rose's voice? Totally not there. Really.



Christian followed her out of the car, wincing only a little when he moved his head too fast. "Think we can get there in time to help her?"



Rose gave him a Look, assessing his condition and how long it would take to make him stay at the car. Lissa was somewhere to the right of the cabin, but she wasn't going to feel anything more specific until she got closer.

"No, she's out of there. She doesn't know the guardians are coming for her. I'm going to get her before she kills herself from exhaustion."



Christian gave her a Look right back. He loved Lissa. He wasn't staying in the car unless she tied him up and threw him in.

"What about the school's guardians? You aren't going to tell them she's gone and let them take care of it?"

He was pretty sure she wouldn't.



"No time," Rose said, dismissing the suggestion out of hand. "They're probably already there. I'm going for her."

Of course she was.

She eyed him before starting towards the forest. "Yeah, I know. You're coming."



"Yeah," Christian said, a smile snaking across his face. If she wasn't a total pain in the ass, Rose would be pretty cool.

He followed her through the thick forest at a run. He couldn't keep up with her trained speed even at night; with the sun filtering through the leaves to weaken him, he quickly felt himself start to lag. When he noticed her slowing to match his pace, he rested for a second with his hands on his knees and gasped for breath.

"Go," he said, waving Rose on. Even if he ran into trouble, his fire magic would protect him. That would be enough.



Rose gave him a quick glance but took him at his word. The guardians were out here, and no one was after Christian, and Rose moved faster, lenthening her stride as she called Lissa's name softly, feeling herself draw closer.

A set of howls answered her, and Rose started. Psi hounds. Bigger and stronger than wolves and only answered to the Moroi. Now the psi hounds they'd run into in Chicago made sense. The Academy didn't send them, Victor had.

Rose burst into clearing, seeing Lissa cringing back against the tree as four psi hounds encircled her. She looked like hell, like she should have fainted ages ago, and only willpower kept her alert as the fear and exhaustion poured through the bond.

"Hey!" Rose yelled, hoping to draw the hounds off to her. Animals didn't like dhampirs to begin with, and psi hounds were no different. As the animals turned, teeth bared and orange eyes flashing, Rose took a quick breath. Okay, big ass wolves, four of them. She bent down slowly to grab a broken branch, still holding the psi hounds eyes. It was going to be like fighting Deadpool. Or the vampires in that other Fandom. Bigger and stronger opponents.

She slashed at two hounds as they leaped, trying to keep them away from Lissa. Rose didn't want to hurt them - they still looked like big dogs, but as claws and teeth dug into her, survival skills won out and she slammed the stick into one psi hound, throwing him to the ground.



Christian's breath came in rasps when he burst into the clearing, and he squinted against the full sunlight.

None of it mattered. Lissa was here. He grabbed a stick the same size as Rose's off the ground and swung it at a hound, channeling fire through the wood so it would burst into flame. The beast cowered back, clearly terrified even as it wanted to follow orders.

Dogs were afraid of fire. Good. He focused on that, ignoring Rose, not letting himself look at Lissa -- and not realizing that even as he fought the fourth hound was circling around to leap on him from behind.

It jumped onto Christian. The blow knocked the stick out of his hands, the fire doused. Christian fell back onto the grass a second later.

The hounds' teeth and claws as they pounced were pure agony.



Rose saw Christian go down out of the corner of her eyes, saw both hounds pounce on him, and turned back to slam the branch into the other psi hound attacking her, knocking him to the ground. He didn't move.

Breathing hard, she eyed the two hounds savaging Christian's body and wondered if she had enough left to take them on. She started towards them, branch at the ready.



Relief came in the person of Alberta, the guardians' captain, bounding through the trees. She didn't stand on ceremony as she pulled her gun, shooting both hounds without hesitation.



Both almost crawling with exhaustion, Rose and Lissa made their way with Alberta towards Christian's body.



Christian lay there, eyes open but vacant. He clung to life by the thinnest threads as blood gushed from his mauled skin.

If he could talk, he would have said it didn't hurt anymore.



Rose looked away quickly, her stomach lurching as she tried not to throw up at the sight. She didn't think he was dead, but...



Lissa's eyes, wide and distraught, drank him in. Tentatively, she reached out toward him and then dropped her hand. "I can't," she managed in a small voice. "I don't have the strength left.”



Alberta, leathery face both hard and compassionate, gently tugged her arm. "Come on, Princess. We need to get out of here. We'll send help.”



Rose took a breath, opening herself to the bond to let herself feel just how much Lissa cared for Christian, just what he meant to her, and she touched Lissa's dropped hand. "Liss," she said softly, reaching up to brush her hair away from her neck and offering it to her friend.



For a moment, Lissa stared, not understanding then she nodded, her fangs appearing as she leaned close and bit into Rose's neck.



Rose never remembered how long Lissa drank from her. A small moan escaped her lips as those fangs bit into her neck, and that sweet, wonderful pain followed by glorious wonder washed over her. Bliss settled next. Dizzying. Joyful. Like being in a dream. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed it.

Alberta caught Rose as she started to sway once Lissa finished and turned back to Christian.



Christian was still numb from shock when Lissa first laid her hands on him. Then, slowly, dumbly, he realized the pain he wasn't letting himself feel was fading and wonderful colors were flowing through him. Blood was no longer sticky on his torso and limbs, and his wounds closed and healed. He felt warmer as what little color he had returned to his cheeks.

And then he blinked his eyes and smiled up at Lissa.

I love you.



Oh God, it's like a Disney movie was Rose's last thought as she passed out onto the grass.

[OOC: NFB, NFI, and all that. Dialogue in parts again stolen from Vampire Academy And so many thanks to the ineffable living_endless for playing Christian]