Hello! :)
I'm back with another chapter. It's like a filler chapter but full of romitri. The first half is romitri as children and the second is the present time in planet Sietera.
We go back to the space stuff next chapter, for now just some romitri time :)
Enjoy! :D
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Richelle Mead
Get out the picture, blow off the dust
Take off the frame, its starting to rust
Remember the times that we had together
What happened to being best friends forever?
- Unknown
Past: Eighteen years ago...
"One day, I'll be there!" A seven year old Rose said quietly, staring up at the stars. "I'll even build a house there, among the stars. It'll be so cool."
Dimitri smiled, turning his head to look at his best friend. They were lying on their backs in Rose's garden, doing what they did every night: stargazing.
"You...you'll come with me, won't you?" Rose asked Dimitri, her excited smile dimming as she waited for his answer. She didn't want to go if her Mitya didn't.
"Of course," Dimitri answered lightly. "We'll go together. God knows what trouble you'll get into if I'm not there."
Rose elbowed him, grinning as he chuckled.
"Maybe I'll become a commander like Dad," Rose said wistfully. "Then, I'll get to fly a huge spaceship. Lita will be so jealous!"
Rose hated Lita, her classmate who unfortunately had drawn the ire of Rose Hathaway when she claimed that Dimitri was her best friend and not Rose's. It'd all started when Lita begged Dimitri to help her with her science homework. Ever the gentleman, Dimitri had agreed. Lita had hugged Dimitri with joy and invited him to sit with her for lunch. Since Rose had skipped school that day, Dimitri had agreed to sit with her. But actually, Rose had just taken the morning off because her father had come back to town. After spending time with him, she went back to school with her leave letter. What she found on entering the cafeteria was not a pleasant sight for her. Dimitri and Lita were talking and laughing over something. When Dimitri saw Rose, he came straight to her without a backward glance at Lita which the girl hated. Vindictive even at the age of eight, Lita cornered Rose the next day. Halfway through their fight, Dimitri had arrived and pulled Rose away from Lita, scolding the latter for initiating a fight with his best friend.
From that day, Lita and Rose became enemies, both girls trying to outdo the other in every way.
"I don't know about flying a spaceship," Dimitri said thoughtfully, ignoring the mention of Lita. "I'd like to fly a jet through."
"It's all the same," Rose told him. "Baba says it is. He says that only pilots get to fly spaceships."
Dimitri hummed. "Maybe that's what I'll be. A pilot."
Rose grinned. "Imagine...Pilot Rose Hathaway and Pilot Dimitri Belikov. Sounds good."
Dimitri laughed. "Sounds very good."
"We can take a spacecraft and fly away from there," Rose said, remembering her mother and father's discussion which she'd overheard. "Baba says earth will be destroyed in a few years."
"What?" Dimitri asked in shock,
Rose swallowed. "I heard him say so."
"Roza," Dimitri sat up and faced her. "Tell me exactly what he said."
Rose sat up too, the stars forgotten. "He was taking to Mom. He said that our river Naara is about to dry and something about freezing at the equator belt. He said that the earth has reached it's limit. It has some twenty years more at the most."
"Twenty years?" Dimitri whispered. "That's not good."
Rose nodded, looking morose. "Mom mentioned something about blue skies. How can the sky be blue?"
Rose had only ever known a dull gray sky. The blue skies from her parents' childhood had gradually changed to a gray color.
"I don't know," Dimitri admitted. "A blue sky would be nice...but-"
"-weird," Rose completed.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dimitri stood up.
"Come on," he said, extending a hand to help Rose up from the ground. Had it been anyone else, Rose would've slapped that hand away. But this was her best friend. "Let's not worry about this now. We have English test tomorrow, remember?"
Rose grimaced but followed Dimitri indoors to study for the test.
Present time: In the Klasana
"You should be in bed," a low and slightly husky voice sounded behind me.
"So should you," I retorted, not looking up from the reports.
I was sitting on the deck of the spacecraft. I loved this place, mainly because the glass walls forming one side of the deck allowed me to watch the outer space. It was dusk here, in Sietera; the only time this planet looked more beautiful than the earth.
The sky was pinkish red with a mellow shine. There were millions of stars already sparkling in the sky. Unlike the earth, the stars weren't tiny white sparkling dots. Here, some stars were so big than they appeared to cover a quarter of the night sky. The beautiful creases, crevices and sparkles were visible on the stars, since they were just a few light years away.
Shooting stars were a common occurrence here, particular at dusk.
Since the night in Sietera is very short, we retire to bed at dusk. But I rarely missed an opportunity to stay up and watch the sky at this time. I loved it. No one knew about this habit of mine...until now.
I heard his faint footsteps approaching me. Honestly, the man was so quiet that he could even mask the sound of his breathing.
The chair next to mine sunk as he gracefully sat down on it.
"Actually, I'm doing the routine maintenance checkup," he informed me, his tone light and relaxed.
I looked at him from the corner of my eye.
Dimitri Belikov looked as good as ever, even in T-shirt and pajama pants. His hair was free of its tie, framing his face nicely.
Stop checking him out!
"Maintenance rounds in your pajamas, Belikov?" I asked, trying to stop a grin from breaking out.
"I hate it when you do that," he said suddenly.
"Do what?" I asked, turning to face him properly.
"Call me by my last name," he said, a frown creasing his forehead. "As if we don't know each other at all."
I kept quiet as I took in his meaning. Yes, it did seem like that. Hard to believe that we'd been best friends years ago.
Looking at him now from the corner of my eye, I suddenly felt a dull ache in my chest.
How had we reached to this stage? How had we drifted apart so much?
But that didn't matter now.
And honestly? Despite how much he infuriates me sometimes, I like arguing with him.
"We do know each other," I said, trying to make a joke. It was an old stand-by when I didn't know how to react to some situation. "Can you imagine not knowing this amazing woman sitting next to you?"
Smirking, Dimitri turned to look at the side opposite to where I was sitting. "What amazing woman? I don't see anyone here."
"Doorak!" I said, fixing him with a glare.
Dimitri sighed exasperatedly, just like I knew he would. "I teach you one Russian insult and you never forget it!"
"I know," I said in a mock-horrified voice. "What were you thinking, teaching me that?"
"I really don't know what I was thinking," Dimitri said, leaning back on his chair. "As you didn't swear enough, even at that age."
I shrugged. "I just like to-"
"-express yourself, I know." Dimitri completed, looking defeated.
I laughed at his expression. "Poor you. No one would ever guess that you swear more than me."
"I do not," Dimitri protested, though a small smile tugged on his lips.
"No?" I mocked. "You swear when things don't go your way. You know that, I know that but the world doesn't know that...yet. I don't know what youe mother would do if she ever found out how much you swear."
"You're impossible," Dimitri said, rolling his eyes.
"You say that every other day," I said, rolling my eyes in return.
"I could never say it enough," Dimitri said wisely.
"Right," I said, turning back to close the file. Dusk had evolved into a full fledged night and I had no intention of sticking around and bantering with Dimitri. So far so good but just one little word could easily take us into an argument.
I'm very stubborn and he's just as stubborn as me, if not more. Neither would give in to the other and since the others were asleep, they wouldn't interrupt us and god alone knows how we'd ever end the argument.
"Go ahead with your pajama maintenance party," I said, then rethought it. "That came out wrong."
"When does it ever come out right with you?" He smirked.
Hitting his head with my file, I walked past him and went to the door.
"Good night, Belikov," I called looking back. "I hope you don't get a good night's sleep."
"Hence proved that you indeed are impossible," Dimitri muttered.
Laughing, I left for my room to get some sleep. There's too much to be done tomorrow.
AN: Okay, I know this is not good enough. I just typed it right now and posted it. This wasn't even supposed to be chapter 2 but I felt that I needed to put it out there. Next chapter will be better, promise.
What did you think of Rose and Dimitri's banter? More of it in the following chapters ;)
Also, more of romitri moments when they were kids!
But I'm still unsure whether I want to continue this story or not. I got amazing feedback for the first chapter, yes, but this chapter was a bit of a letdown according to me. Tell me what you think. Based on the number of reviews I get, I'll decide to continue or not! :)
Thank you! :D