973A.N: Hey Guys!
I know you've been waiting for this chapter and I really hope it will meet your expectations. I also made it SUPER EXTRA long for you ( my longest chapter to date =D).
SO I closed the poll on my profile on Sunday and the winner is Vampire Diaries so it will be the subject of my next story.
I also did a new video on you tube called: 'Adrian/Rose/Dimitri: It's you I love.' if you want to check it out ( link on my profile).
I wanted to thanks Natasha for reading through this chapter =D
A HUGE thank you to all my reviewers, I can't even start to explain how much your kind words mean to me.
Well don't forget to review and tell me what you think.
You guys rock!
Steffy.
(P.S: Just a reminder, i do not own VA or any of its characters...i just wish i did lol)
Chapter 20:
"That's…" I looked around and it was like a parallel world except that everything was in shades of grey. It was like I would imagine the world after a nuclear attack. So many layers of dust in the air that you could not even see the sun anymore.
"Creepy?" Tried Andre taking my hand.
I chuckled still looking around. I guess you can say that. It looked a lot like an abandoned city that would be shown in horror movies. "Where are we?"
Andre shrugged slightly. "I don't really know but I think I would call it 'purgatory' I guess."
"Purgatory uh? And the lights… what are the lights?" I asked pointing to the weird looking stars flying around.
"Lost souls" said Andre sadly. "Just like us."
"But we're not lights!"
"Well that you know of," He said keeping his grip on my hand. "Spirits…Spirits only see what they want to see."
"So what I'm seeing is just an illusion?" I wondered gesturing around.
"How would I know?" He smiled guiltily "I sound far more sure than I am really but…well I think that is the reality because let's face it, who would ever want to see such a lame place?"
I grimaced. "Point taken. But how am I supposed to find Dimitri? They all look the same!" I almost shouted as the panic increased. "I can't stay too long."
"Don't worry I'm sure that when you'll find his soul you'll know it. As for the time well it goes a lot faster here than there. An hour here…" he shrugged "it's merely minutes there."
"Uh…" I grunted. "Well let's not take the chance anyways. We need to find his soul as soon as possible." I said a bit harsher than I intended, but it was a way to hide my fear, not that I thought I had fooled him for even a minute.
"You're the only one able to find it Rose. I… you're the one who knows him best."
"I guess…". I said jadedly.
"Ok, in a world like that, where you see only what you want to, where would his soul be?"
"I…" I looked around trying to think. Dimitri and I were very similar, we completed each other. I could read his heart as easily as he could read mine. Andre was right, if anyone could find his soul, it was me.
"Don't panic, we still have time Rose." He said still keeping my hand in his and it felt good to have an ally here.
"Well I can think about 2 or 3 places" I said unsure.
"Ok then close your eyes and visualize yourself there. It should take us in this part of that world."
I looked at him. "How…how do you know all that?!"
He shrugged burying his free hand deep in his pocket. "After the accident I…I was lost. I saw my parents once but I didn't see Lissa. I didn't know she survived so I started to look for her…and for you for what seemed like months. After a while I realized that you probably made it, that you were both alive, but I couldn't move on until I was sure you would be ok, both of you. I looked for a way to exit this purgatory for months afterwards." He took a deep breath. "That's how I know time doesn't work the same because I thought I spent at least a year or two here, but when I came back to the 'real' world only a couple of months had past."
"But why didn't you move on?" I asked curiously. Now that he was a talking ghost I rather liked asking the questions. Trying to understand the mime was tiring, hearing his voice was like a vacation.
"Well I couldn't move on before making sure that you guys handled it then…then I got worried as Lissa grew, lets say, unstable." He sighed. "After a while I just noticed that I couldn't, didn't want to leave."
"And yet here you are." I said truly impressed.
"The ultimate help." He smile "Maybe I will be able to move on now."
"So every soul that is here has-"
"Yeah something to accomplished or feel like it." He shook his head. "Anyways let's concentrate on the problem ahead."
"Dimitri…" I whispered. "Well I was thinking about the Academy chapel first."
Andre grimaced. "Religious dude?"
I smile sadly. "No he is not really religious it's just…he liked to go there, he found peace there." There and in my arms I added to myself.
"Ok…close your eyes and visualize it." Said Andre securing his grip to my hand.
I closed my eyes tightly and envisioned the Chapel. I even saw Dimitri, head down, on the back pews.
When I opened my eyes, we were in the chapel, standing in front of the altar. Everything was in black and white but there were no spirit…no Dimitri at least.
"Damn!" I shouted before pursing my lips, eyes wide, remembering where I was...In a chapel in the freaking Purgatory.
"It's ok" Andre chuckled 'believe me, I swore so much when I tried to find my way out that I should have been stricken by lighting at least a thousand times."
"But is the chapel, like, real in that world?"
Andre shrugged "I don't think so. As I told you in that reality spirits only see what they want to see but I'm pretty sure that, if you both want to see the same thing, you'll see each other."
" 'Pretty sure'?" I groaned.
"Very pretty sure?" He tried with a wink.
"Yeah well… that's better than nothing" I said already grateful he was there to guide me knowing that he was costing him the small freedom he had left.
"Where next?"
"Baia…His mothers' house." I said closing my eyes and tightening my grip on Andre's hand.
"Siberia it is" said Andre squeezing my hand.
When I opened my eyes this time, I was in the middle of the small living room. Everything was there, but seeing it in different shades of grey made it cold and impersonal…maybe that's what 'purgatory' was all about.
I hoped to find Dimitri's spirit sitting on the sofa, reading one of his mother's precious books, so much that it actually hurt me to see the sofa empty.
"Maybe he is in another room." Andre said probably noticing the hurt on my face.
"Yeah…" I whispered mostly to humor him because I was completely unconvinced by that.
"Dimitri?" I called and felt completely silly. I walked up the narrow stairs trailing Andre behind and went straight to his old room, the one that Viktoria had when I stayed in Baia.
"Dimitri?" I called again from the top of the stairs before opening the bedroom door and it was empty but the little pinch in my chest made me realize that I had hoped to find him in there.
"I'm getting low on options here." I said getting worried and scared at the same time. I was scared of failing so close to my goal. It was all up to me now and I was also scared of being stuck in this place for the rest of eternity. Robert told me, the more I stayed in the spirits world, the more I'll start to blend in, making it harder and harder to find a way out.
"Well just try to focus on your next step, the finish line is irrelevant for now."
"For you maybe," I mumbled.
"Panic is not helping is it?" He asked rhetorically. "So you said 2 or 3 places, what's the third one?"
I nodded. It was annoying to admit it, he was right, but my soul was at stake here…I had the right to panic a bit.
"So…"
"The gym, St Vladimir." I said closing my eyes. I envisioned it but this time I included the fighting session with Dimitri, the one when we shared our kiss. The first time I kissed him after the lust spell.
When I opened my eyes and saw the gym empty, I sat on a bench with my head between my hands.
"I'll never find him." I said defeated.
"Hey hey! What's this kind of talk? Where is the bubbly, slightly crazy Rose that believed everything was possible once she set her mind?" Asked Andre sitting beside me.
"She grew up…and lost her illusions."
Andre stayed quiet, his hand on my shoulder. "Rough year eh?"
I snorted. "Rough life." I took a deep breath and threw my hands up in defeat. "I don't know where to find him now." I locked eyes with Andre and did my best to contain my tears. "He could be anywhere. I thought of the main places that he could be, I don't know," I shrugged slightly. "In his room, at the Academy in Siberia or-"
"Maybe we don't take the problem from the right angle."
"Oh yeah?" I snorted. "Please enlighten me."
"Maybe he is somewhere that means something to you both. I mean right now you are looking for places that meant something to him."
"I….don't know."
"Each time I heard people talk about you two it was like you were meant to be, like you knew each other better than anyone else. So tell me Rose, if it were you, where would you go?"
"I…" I could feel my cheeks starting to burn as I had flashes of Dimitri's long strong hands on my bare hips, of our naked bodies tangled together.
"Now we're talking" Said Andre with a grin. Apparently even if we were in shades of grey he could notice a blush.
"So Rose…Where is it this wicked place would be?"
"A Cabin… in the woods just behind the Academy."
"One of those old slums?!" Andre grimaced. "Not cool dude."
"Oh shut it! I heard you did much worse esp-"
"He is falling over the edge!" Lissa shouted.
"What do we do?!" Asked Oksana.
"He is going to be shadow-kissed" Said Victor.
"Do you hear that?" I asked jumping from my seat looking around.
"No, what?"
"I'll do it!" said Adrian
"We'll have to stop soon. Since Lissa and I can't risk it. It will drain you Adrian, it's not safe." Said Oksana apparently worried.
"I don't care I have to do it, Rose deserves it."
"We need to find his soul now!" I said taking Andre's hand. "Dimitri's is dying."
"I…How do you know?"
"Trust me." I closed my eyes envisioning the cabin.
When I opened my eyes I let out a sigh of relief. "Dimitri." I gasped as I saw him sitting on the bed.
"Roza?" He looked at me like I was an apparition which was rather ironic since I was a spirit. "Roza!" He shouted jumping from the bed and pulling me into a bear hug.
"What happened?" He asked letting go of me and resting his hands on my shoulders, his eyes boring into mine. " The last time I saw you, we were in the caves, and I saw you by the exit. I was following you and I felt a sharp pain on my neck. I think I passed out because…because I woke up I was here. I spent years and years looking for you my Roza, but you were nowhere to be found."
It had been 4 months since I lost him, it had to be an eternity here.
"I wanted you to know that I loved you, even if we weren't together it was fine and…" he stopped dead looking at Andre. "Are we…are we dead? Oh Rose," his voice broke. "What did you do?"
"Well it's a bit more complicated but-" I took his hand. "we're not dead, at least not yet, but we need to move." I added reaching for Andre's hand.
I pulled them out starting wander in the woods. I could remember Victor translating Roberts' thoughts to me. 'You are part of the rare one who went to the land of the dead and made it back alive. You are special, you are linked to this place. Only you can find and materialize the exit'
"Roza I-"
"Shush, I…We'll talk later okay, I need to find an exit." I said trying to concentrate on the people on the other side, where my body was.
I tried to visualize the faces of all the people I loved back with the living.
I heard them before, I knew it was not an illusion, I was still connected to them…to my body. Save his soul…it's in your hands. I said to myself and feeling his spirit hand in mine, I'd never been closer to the truth.
"I…don't know how much longer I'll be able to do it by myself." Adrian's voice was strained.
"How can we even know if his soul is back?" Asked my father and I could hear both worry and anger mixed in his voice.
I decided to follow the flow of voices, that was our best bet.
"When the light reenters the body the healing hands will know. He will have an aura again" Said Robert flatly. The dude was really out of it.
"Precious!" Said Adrian through clench teeth. "Well it better be fast I can't even think straight anymore."
"Your aura is all over the place" Said Lissa with worry in her voice. "I really don't know how much more you can take. I…It can be dangerous."
I shook my head and started to look for an exit even more frantically. I tried to concentrate only on the voices and not on the meaning of the conversation because the worry and stress wouldn't help me and I knew it.
We were almost at the end of the forest behind the Academy, almost at the road and the voices were so clear it was like they were beside me.
"It has to be here somewhere…Very close" I said stopping, but still holding Dimitri's and Andre's hand. It was silly, I bet that to an outsider we looked like three little kids holding hands.
"We probably won't see it, you'll need to guide him in it." Said Andre squeezing my hand.
"I know…" I whispered scrutinizing the place around me. I frowned seeing a faint light coming from our left.
There were no lights in this world, it had to be it. The exit
"This way" I said jerking my head on the direction I was seeing the light. "Do you see anything?"
"No nothing…why?" Asked Dimitri.
"Well if you don't see it, it's good a good sign."
The closer we got, the brighter the light became and there it was, a huge and beautiful hole of light.
It made sense, a black hole to go to the land of dead, a bright hole to go back to the land of the living.
I felt so relieved that I couldn't contain my laugher.
"Roza are you ok?"
"She is fine. It means 'it's-okay-I-found-it' in exhausted Rose language."
I quickly looked up at Andre and couldn't help the little twinge of pain in my heart. I realized now why I missed Andre and it would be like… it would be like losing him a second time around.
"It's just there!" I said letting go of Andre's hand pointing right ahead. "Can't you see it at all? Not even a tiny glitch of light I mean wow…it's literally blinding me."
"Nothing," Said Dimitri narrowing his eyes.
"Nada, but after all I'm dead meat so…" Andre shrugged. "No surprises there."
I couldn't help but chuckle, everything would be right from now on.
"Dimitri you-"
"No Roza you go first." He said with urgency standing straight looking at me like he did so many times when he had set his mind to something and wasn't ready to budge.
I smiled and reached up to cup his cheek. "That's very noble of you comrade but I'm the only one seeing the door, keeping it open. For once, just this once, do as I say and go first."
Dimitri looked at me, lips pursed. He finally nodded reluctantly.
"Don't worry, I'll see you on the other side." I said smiling.
"I don't want to lose you again" he said in a breath.
"You won't." I let go of his hand and went to stand beside the hole. "Okay now you take five steps to your side…Okay and walk toward me in a straight line."
Dimitri nodded. "Roza…Stay with me."
"I will, trust me. Come on." I smiled widely. "I'll meet you there."
Dimitri walked a straight line and entered the light.
"Wow he disappeared! That's awesome." Said Andre with a smile.
I looked at him and reached for his hand.
"Are you sure you don't want to try too? I mean…Maybe if we go together it might work."
Andre smiled and shook his head negatively. "No I think I'm done here. You're both going to be alright."
"Sure?"
Andre nodded.
"I'll miss you."
"Of course…I'm Awesome!"
I chuckled and when I stepped in the bright light it was like colliding with a force field that sent me backward into Andre.
"What the-" I looked at Andre who shrugged loosing all his smugness.
"He is back!" Said Lissa from the other side. "Holly jolly it worked!"
"Why isn't she back then…she has no aura." Said Adrian and I could hear the increasing anxiety in his voice.
"I have to go back" I said straightening up. "The hole is still here."
"She possibly won't make it back" said Robert.
"What?!" Roared Adrian and my father simultaneously.
"Her light might be stuck on the other side." Robert said.
"Oh really? And of course you…" Adrian literally growled. "You're a fuc-"
"She knew the risks." Said Victor coldly. "She knew she might not make it back"
"Of course she did! Rose is Rose. Idiot!" Adrian added but I knew it was only fear and anger talking.
"What's happening?" Asked Andre dumbfounded.
"I don't know but it's not good." I didn't even bother to try and hide my panic. "I can't cross again!"
"Try once more."
"Right, you are not the one getting electrocuted!" I mumbled approaching the hole warily. I reached for it with my hand and was rejected. "Damn it!" I shouted.
"Do you think I fucking care?! Give it to me!" Shouted Adrian.
"No!" Said Sydney stubbornly.
"Give me that fucking potion or so help me god-"
"Adrian! Do you think Rose would want you to put yourself in danger like that?!"
"I need to find her! I'll go and look for her there. I-"
"You are just as stupid as she is!" Said Victor emotionless.
"I swear to you Dashkov, If she doesn't make it back, you won't exit this house alive. Mark my words! I-"
"Andre help me!" I said with despair. "Things are getting out of hands there."
Andre looked thoughtful, almost sad and that was a first with Andre Dragomir. "Are you sure you want to go back?"
"What?! Of course!" I said containing the urge to hit him.
"Are you sure? There is not a little tiny part of you that -"
"No! I would never even consid-" I stopped frozen.
"Yes?" Andre encouraged.
"Well I was thinking that maybe…maybe it wouldn't be so terrible if I fell but it was before all that…Before I succeeded."
"Rose please, Rose come back." Adrian said almost begging. "I brought him back. We made it. You can't give up now."
"I won't…" I said concentrating on his voice only. " Please, please let me go back. I will never take life for granted ever again." I took a shaky breath. "I need to get back to them."
I was in the purgatory after all, it was the best place to pray. I closed my eyes and tried to get through the portal once more and this time…this time it worked!
"Be happy Rose." I heard Andre whisper as everything faded to black.
"Why isn't she waking up?! She is back in! I can see her aura," I heard Adrian say frantically from beside me.
I was trying to open my eyes but my eyelids were just too heavy.
"I don't-"
"Roza!" I heard Dimitri shout with a voice I barely recognized.
"Somebody restrain him!" My dad shouted.
That was when I really passed out.